HIS DARK MATERIALS (HBO/BBC series)

[Jay 37,266]

His Dark Materials 1x01 Lyra's Jordan

 

Well that was... ok.  It made me think of the Golden Compass movie more than a few times, which I suppose was unavoidable, but overall I didn't think enough interesting and compelling things actually happened in this episode to get anyone hooked.  I guess that can happen when you want to do a thorough adaptation of a book and you probably know ahead of time you're going to get renewed so can just do whatever, but they probably should have started with a double-length premiere so some more juicy stuff can happen to start.  We'll still check out the next episode but there really wasn't anything particularly compelling here.

[Quintus 5,399]

I skipped the failed movie adaptation so the new series will be my intro to this fiction. Should I decide to watch it (I believe it had rave reviews).

[Jay 37,266]

80% on rotten tomatoes and 66% on metacritic, though critics didn't see all 8 episodes before reviewing of course

[Wojo 2,453]

I'll stick with the books, which were really enjoyable. I'm not paying for HBO again for a long long time. 

[Jay 37,266]

His Dark Materials 1x02 The Idea of North

 

Oh man that was significantly better than episode 1!  Finally something actually happened.  They really should have aired this and the premiere back-to-back as a double-length premiere for sure.  That being said, I am actually surprised by how quickly they are moving through the story; 2 episodes in and they've already revealed Coulter is a bad guy, and the head of the Gobblers, and that parallel dimensions are real, and that "our" world is one of them.  It's supposed to be a big mystery through the whole first book / movie / season if Asriel is right about his ideas or not, not something you casually give away in the second episode.  Makes me wonder what other tricks the writers have up their sleeves.

[Jay 37,266]

His Dark Materials 1x03 The Spies

 

Pretty good episode, the show is coming together nicely.  I recently learned that they plan on adapting the entire trilogy over only 2 seasons, so I get now why they are basically splitting time with the main Lyra/Coulter story and Boreal's storyline (on top of that being a necessity due to the child actor's filming allowances).  I enjoyed getting to know the Gyptians better and Lyra feeling more at home with them than with Mrs Coulter, and learning the whole backstory of her parents and Ma Costa nursing her.  The raid on Coulter's apartment felt ill-advised (why not wait until daylight and do it when she's not even home?), but maybe they felt rushed and desperate?  Pretty cool to see Andrew Scott will be playing Grumman/Parry, and boy do I have no idea where that storyline is going since I've only seen the first movie.  The spy flys were kinda neat, and the weirdest parts of the episode had to be Coulter's monkey-like behavior at two different times (she she beat up Benjamin, and when she tore up Lyra's room).  My wife had a theory that  she was actually from "our" Earth too and didn't have a demon, and the monkey was basically just a trained pet, which is why she could be so far apart from it, but after seeing her behavior in this episode I think there's something else going on but I have no idea what.  I was glad at the end Lyra and the Gyptians finally headed north, as I want to get to the armored bears and other characters from the movie instead of all this time spent in Oxford and London.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,489]

16 minutes ago, Jay said:

His Dark Materials 1x03 The Spies

...instead of all this time spent in Oxford and London.

There's nothing wrong with spending time in Oxford, and London!

[Jay 37,266]

Have you seen the show?  Adventure awaits, and they spend 3 episodes dilling around the same plain locations!

[Naïve Old Fart 9,489]

There. Is. Nothing. Wrong. With. Spending. Time. In. Oxford. And. London.

[Wojo 2,453]

When your story takes place in the Arctic and other exotic, otherworldly places, thou shalt get out of England fast. 

[Jay 37,266]

Yea it's a fantasy world with talking armored bears, witches, airships, parallel universes, etc, and all we've had in the first 3 episodes is mostly an Oxford and London slightly different then ours.  There's been some good character development and world building, but it's time to get more exotic

[Jay 37,266]

His Dark Materials 1x04 Armour

 

Well, that was pretty good!  It was nice to spend an entire episode in one location like this, an important stop on the way to finding the children, with lots of backstory given, characters developed, and new characters introduced.

 

Not sure how I feel about Lin-Manuel Miranda's take on Lee Scoresby.. something about him the entire episode just felt a little fake to me.  Like I wasn't seeing an actor playing a role.. I was seeing Lin-Manuel Miranda doing his thing.  Sam Elliot felt a lot more suited to the part.  I enjoyed his banter with Hester though, as seeing the relationship an adult has his with demon is refreshing to see after Coulter's terrible relationship with hers, and most other demons so far barely or never speaking, and the children having a slightly different relationship than an adult would.

 

Iorek Byrnison was pretty cool, but I felt they didn't explain his character enough.  I remember from the movie something about him getting into a fight over the throne and killing his opponent, which is forbidden under bear law, which is why he was exiled.  Maybe they'll get into that in a future episode, but it seemed to me like it would have been a better opportunity to tell it before he joins the crew rather than after.  I dunno, we'll see.

 

It was cool seeing Lyra use the Alethiometer too, but I dunno, I dont really like how she went from never seeing one to being an expert at it overnight.  Some more trial and error and mistaken readings during these 4 episodes would have been a lot better, I think.  I have no idea what's going on with all the various Magisterium members who seem to sometimes have their own agendas, sometimes not... it's kinda messy but maybe it's supposed to be right now.

One of the coolest scenes was Coulter meeting with another lion at the end, that dude looked cool.

[publicist 4,643]

I saw the first episode on Sky - or rather, glanced at it - and the talking CGI animals kind of kills it for me.

[Jay 37,266]

It's not for everyone

[publicist 4,643]

A much more successful blend of fx and the (post) Victorian age is Amazon's ' Carnival Row, though it's more of a noir than fantasy. It's really solid stuff!

 

[Quintus 5,399]

1 hour ago, publicist said:

A much more successful blend of fx and the (post) Victorian age is Amazon's ' Carnival Row, though it's more of a noir than fantasy. It's really solid stuff!

 

 

From the snippets I saw it all looked a bit Good Omens for me.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,489]

23 hours ago, woj said:

When your story takes place in the Arctic and other exotic, otherworldly places, thou shalt get out of England fast. 

 

23 hours ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

There. Is. Nothing. Wrong. With. Spending. Time. In. Oxford. And. London.

 

 

 

[A24 4,326]

10 hours ago, publicist said:

A much more successful blend of fx and the (post) Victorian age is Amazon's ' Carnival Row, though it's more of a noir than fantasy. It's really solid stuff!

 

 

These two leads are enormously boring though ... 

[Wojo 2,453]

I wanted to watch that but I couldn't last more than 35 minutes. Sorry Bloom. 

[publicist 4,643]

I enjoyed it. Diff'rent strokes and all that.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Looks like LXG '03.

[A24 4,326]

I preferred that other Gothic show ... with Timothy Dalton.

[Edmilson 7,370]

Penny Dreadful was hit or miss for me, specially when the show started to stray away from horror and mystery and more into the melodrama area. But Josh Hartnett's story arc on the American Old West on the beginning of season 3 was great, and Korzeniowski's music was my favorite TV score of the decade.

[Jay 37,266]

I don't get why Korzeniowski doesn't get more work

[Edmilson 7,370]

Indeed, he is an excellent composer. I guess either he is too old fashioned for Hollywood big movies these days (his Penny Dreadful and Romeo and Juliet scores are very European and melodramatic, which I like, but many people inside the industry don't), or he got typecasted as a composer only for gothic horror stuff.

[Jay 37,266]

Yea my favorites from him are Escape from Tomorrow, Copernicus' Star, and Battle for Terra.  Not so much into his gothic or dramatic stuff

[publicist 4,643]

Copernicus' Star is a really lovely score.

[A24 4,326]

On 11/27/2019 at 4:03 PM, Edmilson said:

Penny Dreadful was hit or miss for me, specially when the show started to stray away from horror and mystery and more into the melodrama area.

 

I honestly don't remember. When did the show make the switch?

[Edmilson 7,370]

1 hour ago, Alexcremers said:

 

I honestly don't remember. When did the show made the switch?

 

There were already some hints of melodrama on Season 2, but it started to focus more on this from the final episodes of S2 onwards, specially on the season finale, when

 

Spoiler

Lucifer is defeated very fast and disappointingly, and then the rest of the episode is a whiny fest until the end, when Ethan surrenders himself to the Pinkertons and everyone leaves London, except for Vanessa, who is left on a deep depression, despite having defeated her enemies. 

 

It was this what disappointed me the most: on S1 Vanessa is introduced as an intriguing and mysterious woman with great knowledge about the occult and the underworld, but then she is slowly turned into a whiny and vulnerable character, crying because she can't bang the hot guy from Pearl Harbor and then falling in love with Dracula. Pretty underwhelming character arc from what should've been one of the most badasses female character on TV this decade.

 

So what could've been a great horror show instead became a soap opera-like melodrama for 14 year old girls.

[A24 4,326]

Yes, I vaguely seem to remember S3 was getting annoying, even to the point that I wasn't sad it was the last season. 

[Edmilson 7,370]

By the end of S2 and almost all of S3 they were trying so hard to force an atmosphere of profound sadness, loss and tragedy that it became tiresome and dull instead of riveting.

 

Ethan's arc on the Old West and confronting his family was cool, though.

[Jay 37,266]

His Dark Materials 1x05 The Lost Boy

 

Ooof Lyra being sent by the alethiometer to find Billy Costa was sad, especially when he died so soon after.  The big reveal about why the Gobblers are kidnapping children seemed to be handled better in the movie from what I remember.  I'm not even sure if any characters even understand why they are doing it.  The final scene where she gets kidnapped and sent to Bolvangar was kinda goofy, I didn't really get why she just instantly did everything she was told including stripping naked before finally thinking something was wrong - it was all rally bizarre.  The other main plot with the Parry family was interesting.  It instantly engages you and makes you want to learn more about the father, why the mother is so freaked out, and what the son is going to do about it all.

 

 

[Jay 37,266]

His Dark Materials 1x06 The Daemon-Cages

 

That was pretty good!  Fairly exciting throughout, with the stakes I suppose the highest they've been all season.  And finally the show is explaining the connection between Dust and Sin and everything else.  The witch showing up to win the big battle was simultaneously cool and simultaneously kind of over the top, they make it seem like the witches could simply take over the planet if they really wanted to.  I was surprised that after the entire Bolvangar sequence the episode continued with the hot air balloon ride sequence, and didn't see it coming that Lyra will fall out as a cliffhanger!  (Kind of a pointless cliffhanger since we know she'll survive). 

 

And now the show's caught up to where the movie ended so I have no idea what'll happen next!

[Jay 37,266]

His Dark Materials 1x07 The Fight to the Death

 

How did Lyra survive falling out of the balloon?  Why did Lee crash? Why does Ms Coulter want to kill Asriel now?  Despite those questions, the bulk of the episode was good.  I loved the way Lyra thought on her feet and tricked Iofur into fighting Iorek and how all that played out.  Shame about the TV14 rating hiding all the violence though.  The alt world stuff with Will finally getting the letters but having to kill in self defense along the way, I hope there's a good payoff for this long subplot because the Lyra story has been way more compelling all season.  The cliffhanger ending leads me to think next week's finale will be heart breaking!

[Arpy 4,145]

@Jay Yeah, seems like eventually Will and Lyra's paths will intersect at one point. So far the alternate world is a disappointing diversion from Lyra's story.

[Jay 37,266]

Supposedly it had to do with child labor laws, since Dafne Keen is still underage they can only film so much with her per day/week, so they constructed the entire season to be a blend of Lyra and Will's stories instead of just following Lyra's story like the first book/movie did.  I guess it kinda works.

 

We haven't watched episode 8 yet

[Jay 37,266]

His Dark Materials 1x08 Betrayal

 

A decent end to a decent season of television.  I kind of liked that things slowed down a bit and we got some nice conversations between Lyra and Asriel, and between Lyra and Roger, plus some more discussion about what the heck Dust is all about.  When Lyra realized what Asriel was up to and she went outside and called for Iorek and he was basically right there for her, that was so sweet.  Unfortunately what should have been an exciting battle between the bears and the Magisterium's forces was so short and uneventful, it really felt like they just didn't have the budget to make it be what it should have been.

 

At the mountaintop, we are finally presented with the most gorgeous special effects I've seen all year.  The gateway opening, the  Aurora Borealis, everything just looked jawdroppingly incredible.  I thought it was interesting that Asriel and Coulter had a litlte conversation before he went through, and seemed to actually (?) still love her and want her to go with him, but she she decided to stay and not challenge The Authority/God (?).  Lyra saying goodbye to Roger was heartfelt, and then the sequence stepping through the gateway looked amazing.  I didn't really get what was up with Will and how he found the gateway in his world or why he went in to it, or really what he's thinking at all since he had no dialogue, but hopefully next season gives us a reason why we followed him at all this year.  I didn't really follow the whole bit with the prophecy or why him being the son of John Parry was important

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

I've been watching His Dark Materials. The first two episodes were fine, but I got a bit bored at Eps 3 and 4. Will keep going. The evil chick keeps me interested.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

His Dark Materials

 

This has the distinction of being the first HBO show that I've seen that didn't feature any tits, dicks or swearing. So weird! I wouldn't have minded seeing the evil lady in the nuddy though. Entertaining show, but I'm having some trouble following what all the mythology and religious stuff is all about. Maybe I need a primer on the rules of this universe that Bill Pullman created. I liked the talking polar bear, how'd they do that? I guess it must have been trick photography. I'll have to see the movie version now.

[Jay 37,266]

His Dark Materials season 2 trailer:

 

 

 

 

 

I hadn't realized they finished filming before the shutdown, so that's nice.

 

Also, season 2 will have a mini Fleabag reunion, as PWB will voice Andrew Scott's daemon

[Jay 37,266]

His Dark Materials Season 2 trailer

 

 

[Edmilson 7,370]

I haven't watched season 1 yet.

 

For the people who have, is it really Lorne Balfe's first good score?

[Jay 37,266]

No way

[Edmilson 7,370]

"No way" as in "he did other good scores before" or as in "the score is bad"?

[Jay 37,266]

The score is completely forgettable

 

I've yet to hear any music by Balfe I liked

[Jurassic Shark 12,008]

He makes music now?

[Jay 37,266]

His Dark Materials Renewed for a Third Season

 

Yay!

[Arpy 4,145]

5 hours ago, Jay said:

His Dark Materials Renewed for a Third Season

 

Yay!

Good news! I think this series has managed to make a successful alternative to the film adaptation, the cast, production and writing are all great! 

[Jay 37,266]

11 hours ago, Arpy said:

Good news! I think this series has managed to make a successful alternative to the film adaptation, the cast, production and writing are all great! 

 

Oh I wouldn't go that far, it's very cool and we enjoy it, and the cast is great, but there are tons of flaws in the writing and staging of set pieces.  But overall: It works!  And the story is cool

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

His Dark Materials, Season 2

 

Frustratingly slow build-up leads to fairly compelling and exciting second half. I snickered a bit a few times because some moments have such a Doctor Who vibe about them, especially all the gobbledygook about dark matter and "dust", I almost half expect David Tennant or Matt Smith to flail in asking the scientist lady "ask it what it wants!" The boss baddie babe is a stunner, I just watch it for her and her little red monkey. The girl though, ugh, she mumbles too much. Annunciate a bit, kid!