His Dark Materials

Following the dramatic success of the film (the golden compass, it got lost), it looks like Auntie Beeb is making a series of His Dark Materials.

I've read the books and they are pretty good, so I wonder how they are going to manage putting it on the small screen. It has to be better than the film adaptation but I don't hold out too much hope.

Me? I'm just looking forward to seeing Dafne Keen (who was totally excellent in Logan) more opportunity. Although the rest of the cast does not look too shabby.

 

Are they doing all the books or are they just covering the first like the film did?

 

Dammit. I missed it.

 

Caught the first part on catchup @Kindler and watched a couple of times.

It's pretty good and if it's 8 episodes for the first book only at least it's got a chance to play out fully.

 

Thanks for the heads up - I get the feeling, I'll be binge watching the lot in one go.

How do the characters compare to the film so far? Assuming you've seen it of course.

 

No idea what it's like compared to the film and I'm probably not gonna see it anyways.

Second Ep. was pretty good and I'll be following this one. Probably through iPlayer again, but at least it will be there for a while.

At least they've got Mrs Coulter as cruel and vicious as she needs to be.

 

Three for three in missed episodes now, although I'm seeing less adverts for it now.

I guess it's either got it's audience or it hasn't by now. Quality still holding up.

 

I'm not discussing anything on it until it's over. Spoilers and all that.

Nah, it's good so far, although I read the books ages ago, so if they have slipped something new i, I'm probably not going to spot it.

The CGI daemons are really good, and the main characters are well played. It's also as heavy handed as the books are, but that's shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.

 

Spoilers? How long have the books been out for?

Have they got to the giant armoured polar bears yet?

 

Umm not yet - although talking of animals, I'm hoping they don't start to go down the route of the humans acting like their daemons natural form.

See Mrs Coulter fights like a chimp.

Admittedly, chimps are absolutely brutal in a fight, but still.

 

Ok - so I missed it again, although I did see that the polar bears are finally out from a clip somewhere.

Bad CGI or half decent?

 

Catch up and watch it yourself, iPlayer is waiting for you.

Yeah, they're ok, but will probably look janky in ten years time like most current CGI. They just don't seem to have the weight or presence the real thing does.

 

Got a bit of time to catch up on all the episodes so far.

I'm kinda liking what I see although it looks like they are trying to set up for future series as well and tie them all together. No bad thing considering the massive jump between the first and second book.

I can see what you mean about Iorek Byrnison. Lot's of weight while charging around and things flying everywhere. Never leaves a foot print, can cross flimsy wooden bridges with less impact than a small girl. Don't get me wrong he looks fantastic, but its the little things they miss that can spoil the effect.

 

Ok I'll admit it - I wanna ride on a polar bear too.

 

Ok, I hadn't realised they had started setting from the sequels as well. That's bold of them, but given the source material a real necessity. I can't think of any other adaptation that has done this but if it makes the transition smoother between the first and second series and keeps the audience then fair play.

Acting quality has held up nicely, CGI quality is good for the most part, although that's the cleanest polar bear ever when eating a dead, whatever it was. I think it was a seal, or possibly a reindeer?

I'm...I'm actually finding this a guilty pleasure.

 

That's a good point about starting the next books now. I don't remember it being done for the Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit, apart from adding extra stuff that wasn't part of the books.

I have no idea Twilight if they did that as well.

Although...the stuff Marvel did was teasers is kind of getting close isn't it?

 

Marvel - sparingly. The only one that springs to mind was Civil War when they did the whole introduction with Black Panther to set up that film.

Book to TV, I'm drawing a bit of a blank as well, but I'd be amazed if this was the first time.

 

Well, there is only one last episode to go for this series and I'm impressed enough with the way they are bringing this to a close and the way they have set up The Subtle Knife.

Admittedly I was expecting more from the bear fight, but I can live with small disappointments when overall it is actually quite very good.

You can see why they got James McAvoy to play Lord Azrael. Big name star, only appearing for 30 minutes in the entire series.