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His Dark Materials - BBC series

Started by Colin YNWA, 04 November, 2019, 09:26:47 PM

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Magnetica

I had never heard of this before and decided to give it a go. I had no preconceived ideas about what it is, what given characters should be like or what plot points should or should not be addressed at any given point and am just viewing it as its own thing.

I have say I think it is great and is currently my favourite thing on TV.

I thought the opening episode was a master class in how to set up a world. I didn't mind the very brief expositional text at the start; it was certainly better than having some clunky dialogue explaining the daemons and hey texted based explanation are what Star Wars does and no-one seems to mind them.

The opening titles scream Game of Thrones to me.

I thought the 4th episode was the weakest so far; I'm not sold on the idea of talking animals. Daemons are one thing and talking bears another.

It's interesting to hear that the aleithiometer is central to the whole thing. I certainly don't want it to just be a convenient way for Lyra to know things she otherwise couldn't possibly.

wedgeski

Quote from: Magnetica on 28 November, 2019, 08:36:00 AM
I thought the opening episode was a master class in how to set up a world. I didn't mind the very brief expositional text at the start; it was certainly better than having some clunky dialogue explaining the daemons and hey texted based explanation are what Star Wars does and no-one seems to mind them.
Can't say I agree. By the end of the first episode it would have been obvious what daemons were, that they're attached to these people, that they're intelligent, that they're shapeshifters until they come of age, etc. All of that was handled just fine by the script.

Bolt-01

With regard to Daemons talking - am I right in thinking that ep04 was the first time we saw a human respond to speech from a persons daemon other than their own (When Farder Coram spoke to Pan)?

Dark Jimbo

Quote from: Magnetica on 28 November, 2019, 08:36:00 AM
I had no preconceived ideas about what it is, what given characters should be like or what plot points should or should not be addressed at any given point and am just viewing it as its own thing.

I'm in the same boat, but conversely it's taken me a while to 'get' it. Episode 1 didn't grab me at all, and while I thought episode 2 was much better the [spoiler]parallel universe[/spoiler]reveal killed my interest a bit, quite frankly (no surer way to kill my immersion in a brand new world than [spoiler]link it straight back to ours - I always planned to start reading King's Dark Tower books, for instance, right up until I found out they start going through portals to the real world's present-day Maine; ugh, no thanks. I'm looking for some escapism, here![/spoiler]

Episode 4 was the one that finally 'got' me - it all clicked in my head, and this world is starting to excite me a lot more than it has so far. There was a real sense of high adventure and world-building that's got me dying to know more.
@jamesfeistdraws

Magnetica

Quote from: wedgeski on 28 November, 2019, 11:33:39 AM
Quote from: Magnetica on 28 November, 2019, 08:36:00 AM
I thought the opening episode was a master class in how to set up a world. I didn't mind the very brief expositional text at the start; it was certainly better than having some clunky dialogue explaining the daemons and hey texted based explanation are what Star Wars does and no-one seems to mind them.
Can't say I agree. By the end of the first episode it would have been obvious what daemons were, that they're attached to these people, that they're intelligent, that they're shapeshifters until they come of age, etc. All of that was handled just fine by the script.

Yeah maybe, but at no point has there been any reference to the daemons being the embodiment of someone's soul. Maybe that could have been inferred when the [spoiler] journalist died when her's was crushed in episode 2 [/spoiler] but then again that might just have been really confusing.

Tiplodocus

Well that's all pretty clear after episode5. Really enjoying this.
Be excellent to each other. And party on!

Jim_Campbell

Quote from: Tiplodocus on 02 December, 2019, 11:10:16 PM
Well that's all pretty clear after episode5. Really enjoying this.

Yep. Obviously, if I'd seen The Mandalorian then that would be my favourite thing on TV, but I haven't, so this is.
Stupidly Busy Letterer: Samples. | Blog
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sheridan

Quote from: radiator on 04 November, 2019, 10:31:53 PM
It's so cool to see the BBC doing a big fantasy show like this to air in the run up to Christmas.

Would love to see them redo The Box of Delights - that would be incredible with modern visual effects.


As long as they don't follow the book slavishly and have [spoiler]him wake up and it was all a dream[/spoiler] - and that was after everything else had been resolved!

radiator

QuoteAs long as they don't follow the book slavishly and have...

Haha, yeah, always hated that cop out ending!

Magnetica

Don't know if it's just me but I found the last two episodes weren't as engaging as the first three.

And how come the big talking polar bear [spoiler]took his armour off before going into the danger zone?[/spoiler]

JamesC

Quote from: Magnetica on 04 December, 2019, 07:02:35 AM
Don't know if it's just me but I found the last two episodes weren't as engaging as the first three.

And how come the big talking polar bear [spoiler]took his armour off before going into the danger zone?[/spoiler]

I wondered the same thing.

Bolt-01

Because [spoiler]Lyra would likely fall off or get crushed between the plates. Or it would be too heavy for Iorek to run a long way in. [/spoiler]

Take your pick - think both of those are used in the book.

Mardroid

Quote from: Dark Jimbo on 28 November, 2019, 12:32:46 PM
Quote from: Magnetica on 28 November, 2019, 08:36:00 AM
I had no preconceived ideas about what it is, what given characters should be like or what plot points should or should not be addressed at any given point and am just viewing it as its own thing.

I'm in the same boat, but conversely it's taken me a while to 'get' it. Episode 1 didn't grab me at all, and while I thought episode 2 was much better the [spoiler]parallel universe[/spoiler]reveal killed my interest a bit, quite frankly (no surer way to kill my immersion in a brand new world than [spoiler]link it straight back to ours - I always planned to start reading King's Dark Tower books, for instance, right up until I found out they start going through portals to the real world's present-day Maine; ugh, no thanks. I'm looking for some escapism, here![/spoiler]

Minor Dark Tower series spoilers:

[spoiler]They don't go to Maine until book 6... Although there are excursions to New York before then. So I guess it amounts to the same thing, if you don't like that. It's done in a very interesting way though. Not the usual thing.[/spoiler]

QuoteEpisode 4 was the one that finally 'got' me - it all clicked in my head, and this world is starting to excite me a lot more than it has so far. There was a real sense of high adventure and world-building that's got me dying to know more.

Yeah, really enjoyed it but agree that they introduced a [spoiler]connection to our world too soon[/spoiler].

radiator

Didn't Stephen King [spoiler]write himself in The Dark Tower? Because a writer writing themselves into their fiction is a surefire way to put me off.[/spoiler]

Mardroid

Quote from: radiator on 05 December, 2019, 09:07:25 PM
Didn't Stephen King [spoiler]write himself in The Dark Tower? Because a writer writing themselves into their fiction is a surefire way to put me off.[/spoiler]
More DT spoilers, then I'll shut up as this thread isn't about that.
[spoiler]Yes, he did do that. I did find it kind of interesting... but I'd rather be hadn't in some ways. Overall thought it a good series though.[/spoiler]