His Dark Materials

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May 12, 2019
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Well that was disappointing. My favourite ever books, so I was so looking forward to this, but it barely felt different to the dodgy film. It felt thin and juvenile, and oddly rushed, despite them having 8 hours to tell the first book.

And for all the supposed budget, why did only the main characters have daemons? I really hope this dramatically improves, but I have a feeling it won't. Mystified by the largely positive reviews.
 
Agreed. It’s not my usual type of viewing but I wanted to give this one a chance because of the hype. It felt cheap.
 
I just didn't have a fucking clue what was going on.
 
I wasn't exactly engrossed but will give it another go next week. The extended trailer at the end did seem to be desperately saying that 'exciting stuff is coming up, promise'.
 
I have not read the book. I tried this managed half an hour, but thought it was shit.
 
I watched about the first 40 minutes of this as I thought it would be great family viewing. Not for my family
 
the lines and the acting in the first episode were appallingly wooden
 
I know children are just trying their best and shouldn't be criticized but Lyra is just THE WORST

actually it continues to be pretty horrible. Lyra, Mrs Coulter so duck-lipped she can't close her mouth, the ABC script
 
I haven’t read the book and this is way beyond what I normally tolerate when it comes to fantasy. First episode was a struggle, by the second one it became interesting. This latest episode was shit... I can’t help but thinkint of Arya and Jon Snow and The North and it makes me want this even less.
 
Hopefully next week we can skip the North and the dirty wildlings and their boats and go back to Mrs Coulter’s nicely furnished flat.
 
Dropped nearly two million viewers from episode one to two.
 
I’m enjoying it, but I feel like this would work MUCH BETTER as a box set drop rather than weekly episodic.

I’ve not read the books, but it feels like there’s a lot of character & world building until the story really starts.
 
why is this so blah? i'm a few episodes in and it's incredible that such a big production has been handled in quite such mediocre fashion. just poor dialogue, a muddy story and no punch.

my favourite thing about it is ruth wilson and her apartment (i demand it immediately) and her monkey. apart from her however i don't like any of the cast. especially lyra and her stupid name.
 
why is this so blah? i'm a few episodes in and it's incredible that such a big production has been handled in quite such mediocre fashion. just poor dialogue, a muddy story and no punch.

my favourite thing about it is ruth wilson and her apartment (i demand it immediately) and her monkey. apart from her however i don't like any of the cast. especially lyra and her stupid name.

Completely agree with that. It was all so, so FLAT. I have serious problems with Keen's acting to be honest. She was fine in some scenes, but extremely wooden in others. The whole portrayal of the relationship between people and their daemons was the biggest failing though. When it came to the part where they're being severed from their daemons, it just didn't feel traumatic enough, because up to that point, daemons were portrayed as little more than talking pets. It's literally the biggest aspect of the books, and it was dreadfully handled. Not to mention the way they introduced events and characters in our world far, far too early. Extremely poor adaptation.
 
God I hated this show so much, and yet I had to watch all of it just because of this stupid obsession I have with having to watch everything. The story itself is incredibly stupid, I haven’t read the books and never will, but the show was insufferable because it’s mainly seems aimed to children? The characters and the dialogue are all basic.

As said before, the appartment was the only good thing. Hopefully next season that I’ll have to endure will all take place there.
 
God I hated this show so much, and yet I had to watch all of it just because of this stupid obsession I have with having to watch everything. The story itself is incredibly stupid, I haven’t read the books and never will, but the show was insufferable because it’s mainly seems aimed to children? The characters and the dialogue are all basic.

As said before, the appartment was the only good thing. Hopefully next season that I’ll have to endure will all take place there.

It's a shame it has turned you off from reading the books. They really are utterly wonderful and not at all as childish as this basic-as-f**k TV show would lead you to believe. The final book in particular, deals with some dark, profound stuff. No doubt it'll be watered down and rendered utterly banal by the makers of the TV show.
 
especially lyra and her stupid name.

Bel-ac-*vomit sound*

the final episode (yes we couldn't restrain ourselves despite the circumstances) was decent to be fair. maybe because it means it's over now for a year...
 
The episode with the kids in prison was great, but episode 7 was an ABSOLUTE SLOG - I remember some sort of bear fight and not much else. The final episode was quite good tho.

Whilst I appreciate it apparently setting up season 2, all the seemingly completely unrelated stuff with the boy and his Mum and letters (or whatever) was completely momentum-killing and a total distraction the rest of the show didn’t need.
 
The episode with the kids in prison was great, but episode 7 was an ABSOLUTE SLOG - I remember some sort of bear fight and not much else. The final episode was quite good tho.

Whilst I appreciate it apparently setting up season 2, all the seemingly completely unrelated stuff with the boy and his Mum and letters (or whatever) was completely momentum-killing and a total distraction the rest of the show didn’t need.

Absolutely. It’s done very differently and much better in the books.
 
I’m pushing through with this but it is as everyone said very flat. I don’t hate the actress playing Lyra but she’s written in a way where there are no stakes. She smarter than everyone and has a machine that tells her everything, she gets caught and she runs away, she falls from a balloon and it’s like nothing......I find the story in regular earth a lot more interesting.

I’ve read the first book and didn’t like it and never continued but I thought maybe I didn’t get it and this would be better. I can safely say it’s not for me.
 
so the first season was definitely a damp squib (I always wanna say squid) but I can't not watch season two. it's actually a bit better this time around. the acting in general isn't very good, but the story's interesting

are you watching with Jr, @big ron ?
 
so the first season was definitely a damp squib (I always wanna say squid) but I can't not watch season two. it's actually a bit better this time around. the acting in general isn't very good, but the story's interesting

are you watching with Jr, @big ron ?

No, but we did say he would love it just this week!
 
I might be the only one who LOVED the books and LOVED the first two seasons of this , and I’m not a huge fan of Fantasy..( gave up in GoT after 2 seasons) .
 
We finished this off with a binge Monday evening.

I loved the books and I loved the transition to TV. For me it was a spectacular representation. I wonder if they'll tackle The Book of Dust trilogy too? The last one is out this year I think.
 
I've really enjoyed this for the most part, Lin-Manuel Miranda and James McAvoy being the stand-out performances.
 

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