His Dark Materials Series

[BigFatCoward]

2 minutes ago, HelenaExMachina said:

Ugh, hurry up you cretins, you're all a bunch of bores and I want HDM not some dry sports presentation. Stick to your schedule damnit

QFT

[HexMachina]

Well shit it was delayed but damn was it worth the wait. Still processing but that was an absolutely fantastic and riveting hour of television. They really nailed the armoured bears, they looked excellent (again the only dodgy bit being the very very brief Neverending Story moment where Lyra and Roger are riding to Asriel) and Iofur was terrifying. McAvoy as Asriel... Yeah I'm sold, loved him, brief as is appearance was. So sinister, knowing what is coming. 

And everything in Will's Oxford was excellent. All the performances especially Lord Boreal (sorry, not sure of the actors name) and Will's mother (again unsure of her name). 

Ruth Wilson just killing it as ever. The opening scene of her losing control and steangling the nurse was terrifying! 

The final episode next week and it looks phenomenal. I've just enjoyed this series so much and I' m so happy with how it has turned out. Excellent stuff. 

 

Wonder though, why did they have the armoured bears... Fight without their armour? Wonder if it was a budget thing, or if it was intentional to suggest some kind of ceremonial thing or something

And the score! 

[Maltaran]

8 minutes ago, HelenaExMachina said:

 

And everything in Will's Oxford was excellent. All the performances especially Lord Boreal (sorry, not sure of the actors name) and Will's mother (again unsure of her name

Ariyon Bakare and Nina Sosanya.

I think McAvoy nailed the “I did not send for you” moment.

[williamjm]

48 minutes ago, HelenaExMachina said:

McAvoy as Asriel... Yeah I'm sold, loved him, brief as is appearance was. So sinister, knowing what is coming.

I think it would probably be sinister even for people who didn't know the end. I thought Lyra's look of baffled and somewhat frightened confusion was very appropriate.

Of all the things the film got wrong the saccharine ending was definitely the worst, and it looks like they should be getting it right here.

I think I found Lyra's 'silvertongue' moment with Iofur more convincing here than in the book. Dafne Keen had another good episode.

[Stannis Eats No Peaches]

Yeah I expect it was a budgeting reason. This way they could just model it on actual footage of polar bears fighting. It’s a shame, because it doesn’t make any sense in context. Also disappointed that we didn’t see Iofur’s lower jaw spinning across the room.

 

Great episode though, nitpicks aside.

[HexMachina]

I meant to add earlier, by the by, that the books actually directly contradict Mrs. Coulter being separated from her daemon - Father MacPhail intends to use the power from the intercession of her and the golden monkey to detonate the bomb in TAS. Strange, because I remembered that happening but somehow never Co nected it to my earlier question

[williamjm]

8 minutes ago, Stannis Eats No Peaches said:

Yeah I expect it was a budgeting reason. This way they could just model it on actual footage of polar bears fighting. It’s a shame, because it doesn’t make any sense in context. Also disappointed that we didn’t see Iofur’s lower jaw spinning across the room.

The end of the fight is one of the rare things that the movie probably did better.

[SpaceChampion]

2 hours ago, williamjm said:

The end of the fight is one of the rare things that the movie probably did better.

for reference:

 

[Isis]

Honestly don't know why people are getting their knickers in a twist about the bear fight not ending the way it does in the book (and film, blah). How much does it actually matter or affect anything at all?

If I'm bothered about any absence it's the interaction of Lyra and Pan. Especially after they are almost separated. It makes all the stuff from The Secret Commonwealth out to be meaningless...

Anyway. My favourite bit from this ep was the veiled contemptuous look exchanged by Mrs Coulter and her dæmon, where they seem to say 'goddamn, everyone here is absolutely bloody useless aren't they?' 

At least they are getting maximum effect from her dæmon, even if everyone else is shortchanged. Lovely cameo from Stelmaria this week though. <3 

[BigFatCoward]

Lyra's 'lying' wasn't great.  Otherwise a really good episode.  I never thought Eva Green could be matched but i'm loving Ruta Gedmintas. 

My wife refuses to believe this was written as a YA book, she thinks its horrific.

[Isis]

On 12/16/2019 at 1:44 AM, SpaceChampion said:

for reference:

 

I have seen the White Tower. Long ago.

[john]

On 12/15/2019 at 11:23 PM, Maltaran said:

I think McAvoy nailed the “I did not send for you” moment.

That was creepy as fuck.

Anyone who didn’t read the books: “huh, Lord Asriel’s a bad guy?!”

[HexMachina]

11 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

Lyra's 'lying' wasn't great.  Otherwise a really good episode.  I never thought Eva Green could be matched but i'm loving Ruta Gedmintas.

My wife refuses to believe this was written as a YA book, she thinks its horrific.

My love for Eva Green is huge but i completely agree. 

Though, thinking on what she could have done with this far superior script and adaptation...

(said it before, but i will say it again, i love this new design for Serafina as so incredibly scarred)

 

The great thing about the books is that they are superficially YA but re-reading them as an adult im catching all kinds of darker undertones.

The Book of Dust is another matter though...i would really hesitate calling that young adult at all.

11 hours ago, Isis said:

Honestly don't know why people are getting their knickers in a twist about the bear fight not ending the way it does in the book (and film, blah). How much does it actually matter or affect anything at all?

If I'm bothered about any absence it's the interaction of Lyra and Pan. Especially after they are almost separated. It makes all the stuff from The Secret Commonwealth out to be meaningless...

Anyway. My favourite bit from this ep was the veiled contemptuous look exchanged by Mrs Coulter and her dæmon, where they seem to say 'goddamn, everyone here is absolutely bloody useless aren't they?' 

At least they are getting maximum effect from her dæmon, even if everyone else is shortchanged. Lovely cameo from Stelmaria this week though. <3 

I want more Stelmaria because Helen McCrory had that kind of voice. Given the calibre of both McAvoy and McCrory, i womder if they intend to expand Asriel’s role in Season 2, e.g. follow him as he makes his way to the empty world and builds his Republic

[williamjm]

12 hours ago, Isis said:

Honestly don't know why people are getting their knickers in a twist about the bear fight not ending the way it does in the book (and film, blah). How much does it actually matter or affect anything at all?

It is a very minor point, and I think the rest of the fight might be better in the TV show, the setting is more atmospheric for one thing. I think the end of the fight is one of the main things I remember about the film because the suddenness of the conclusion meant that it was one of the few bits that didn't feel like a bland children's movie.

58 minutes ago, HelenaExMachina said:

My love for Eva Green is huge but i completely agree. 

Though, thinking on what she could have done with this far superior script and adaptation...

(said it before, but i will say it again, i love this new design for Serafina as so incredibly scarred)

I think Serafina was one of the character worst served by the movie adaptation, from what I remember she didn't have much to do.

[Isis]

11 hours ago, HelenaExMachina said:

The great thing about the books is that they are superficially YA but re-reading them as an adult im catching all kinds of darker undertones.

The Book of Dust is another matter though...i would really hesitate calling that young adult at all.

While we were out last night we got talking about TV shows and someone asked me if the show was YA or adult. I was like: kinda both?

[Ran]

Finally caught up to the latest episode. Two observations:

1) The Will sections are useless. They're disjointed and uninteresting in contrast to the material they keep interrupting. They actively detract from the mood they achieve in Lyra's story. The cut from her joyuously riding Iorek with Roger to Will moping about his school was just an absurd choice.

They should have covered all that material, and led him to the end of his part of this episode, in the first episode of the second season to throw people off with a bit of surprise. Don't even introduce Lord Boreal until the second season as well, just make him seem like what he claims to be until the moment Elaine sees his daemon. It would have worked well!

2) In a similar vein, this could have been 6 or 7 episodes for the first season. The first half of the season had some real pacing problems even before we were introduced to Will, and it's gotten both better and worse at the same time -- better because the North has been excellent for the story, with high and obvious stakes, and worse because, well, Will's story keeps interrupting. 

The production values are amazing for a TV show, and I can't blame them for avoiding showing daemons. When they do show them, they're uniformly spectacular, and the panserbjörns are  amazing. As far as the end of the fight scene, I'm guessing it's just a BBC decision to fit their standards. Not sure how I feel about it, entirely, but it's not a massive deal if it's one of the things they felt they had to do to make it something they could produce, I guess.

[HexMachina]

33 minutes ago, Ran said:

Finally caught up to the latest episode. Two observations:

1) The Will sections are useless. They're disjointed and uninteresting in contrast to the material they keep interrupting. They actively detract from the mood they achieve in Lyra's story. The cut from her joyuously riding Iorek with Roger to Will moping about his school was just an absurd choice.

They should have covered all that material, and led him to the end of his part of this episode, in the first episode of the second season to throw people off with a bit of surprise. Don't even introduce Lord Boreal until the second season as well, just make him seem like what he claims to be until the moment Elaine sees his daemon. It would have worked well!

2) In a similar vein, this could have been 6 or 7 episodes for the first season. The first half of the season had some real pacing problems even before we were introduced to Will, and it's gotten both better and worse at the same time -- better because the North has been excellent for the story, with high and obvious stakes, and worse because, well, Will's story keeps interrupting. 

The production values are amazing for a TV show, and I can't blame them for avoiding showing daemons. When they do show them, they're uniformly spectacular, and the panserbjörns are  amazing. As far as the end of the fight scene, I'm guessing it's just a BBC decision to fit their standards. Not sure how I feel about it, entirely, but it's not a massive deal if it's one of the things they felt they had to do to make it something they could produce, I guess.

Couldn't disagree more about the Will sections, I feel like they have been a real highlight of the season and I particularly like what they have done with Boreal. It helps that the actors for Will, his mother and Boreal are all doing some fine work 

[Ran]

I just find it a bad adaptation choice. I've no problem with the performers at all, and Will's material could have been the focus of an entire episode rather than this bouncing back and forth, and still have been a highlight while not detracting from the other story. But mileage does vary, obviously.

[Zorral]

Whose, or who is, the cat in Will Perry and his mother's house?

It's been years since I read the books, and the reading progressively got like skimming as they went along.  Evidently teleologic issues as fiction don't work so well for me?

 

 

[Werthead]

12 hours ago, HelenaExMachina said:

Couldn't disagree more about the Will sections, I feel like they have been a real highlight of the season and I particularly like what they have done with Boreal. It helps that the actors for Will, his mother and Boreal are all doing some fine work 

Agreed. The Will sections are well-written and directed, and their jarring integration into the Lyra stuff I think is a deliberately good choice, by flipping people between the multiple universes. It's more usual to start in the real world and go into the fantasy world, and to flip that over here the other way is a much more interesting choice.

I also think frontloading Season 2 with new characters and situations would be a bad choice. Like The Expanse, taking elements out of later books and setting them up better in early seasons makes the entire story feel like a cohesive hole and less episodic.