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His Dark Materials

GNC

King-Sized Canary
Joined
Aug 25, 2001
Messages
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Thought we could do with a His Dark Materials thread. I was engrossed in the trilogy when I read them, in a "worthy successor to The Lord of the Rings" way, only with a lot less faith in The Almighty, they're a cracking read that I much preferred to all the other YA efforts I tried (not many, I'll admit). Then they made a film franchise out of the books that was a huge hit - er, nope, the first one flopped and the next two were cancelled. Just as well, they omitted all the anti-religious stuff, making it a mockery of Philip Pullman's originals.

Anyway, bang up to date and the BBC and HBO want to do it right, so here's the trailer:

Consider me very optimistic about this one, it does look very good - and faithful, importantly. I heard James McAvoy saying he was a big fan of the books so he signed on as quick as he could. If this lot are passionate about the project, then it could be great, just the thing for the autumn evenings.
 
Loved the books, not that interested in the follow ups and will avoid this adaptation. I generally avoid adaptations of stuff I really enjoy.
 
Loved the trilogy. Fun fact: when I was 14 or so I emailed Phillip Pullman to ask if the city in the sky had been inspired by Charles Fort! He wrote back saying no, he'd heard of Fort but never read him but he'd give it a go to see if it gave him any ideas.

I have a copy of the follow up and I'm interested to read it because it is set a mile or so from where I grew up (but a universe away, of course).
 
This is handy, the new Adam Buxton podcast has Pullman as a guest:
Adam Buxton Podcast

Nice "ramblechat" as usual, but it gets really interesting when Pullman starts on his hatred of C.S. Lewis and his view that cultural appropriation isn't a bad thing. Good that Adam admits he was trying not to sound like a dum-dum in the presence of this supermind.
 
I also enjoyed the books...looking forward to the film series.
 
I enjoyed his books very much but I didnt like the anti religion (as long as its Catholic; The Author has seemingly never heard of any other brand of faith) propaganda...I dont like heavy handed messages.

And I was unhappy with the idea of thirteen year olds having sex.

(Im sure they do, but as adults we do not need to know that, any more than we need to know how they get the semen out of the bull for artificial insemination.)

(I had someone tell me once.)
 
Ooh, there's a nice cosy, nights are fair drawing in tone to this series, just watched episode one and the cast is excellent, I know Ruth Wilson isn't blonde, but it's not too much of a difference. Nice to see Mat Fraser too, don't see him enough. Looks like they're not shying away from the religion, unlike the cowardly film version. Will definitely watch episode 2.
 
Oh, and I was going to ask the board, what would your daemon/soul animal be, but then realised it would be pointless because 90% of the answers would be "cat".
 
Oh, and I was going to ask the board, what would your daemon/soul animal be, but then realised it would be pointless because 90% of the answers would be "cat".
An elephant or a whale. Nobody would miss it then.
 
Oh, and I was going to ask the board, what would your daemon/soul animal be, but then realised it would be pointless because 90% of the answers would be "cat".

I've just done three online quizzes to determine this and two said 'cat' and the last one said 'swan'. So 'Swan-cat'.
 
I've just done three online quizzes to determine this and two said 'cat' and the last one said 'swan'. So 'Swan-cat'.

Well, you do sometimes get cats with wings, so an appropriately Fortean choice.
 
Really enjoying this, though to those who say it's confusing: it's supposed to be a mystery, you're not meant to know everything that's going on immediately.

Anyway, excitingly, Fortean fans, we can witness the birth of a new Mandela Effect! Because a lot of people can't understand what they're reading, they've started calling the series His Darker Materials, adding an "er" to the title. I don't know why they're doing this, but watch out in the future for people getting the name wrong so you can point out the error of their ways and feel suitably superior.
 
Really enjoying this, though to those who say it's confusing: it's supposed to be a mystery, you're not meant to know everything that's going on immediately.

Anyway, excitingly, Fortean fans, we can witness the birth of a new Mandela Effect! Because a lot of people can't understand what they're reading, they've started calling the series His Darker Materials, adding an "er" to the title. I don't know why they're doing this, but watch out in the future for people getting the name wrong so you can point out the error of their ways and feel suitably superior.
I must admit I too am enjoying this adaptation of His Darker Matials.
 
l haven’t read the books, but l’m watching as my wife has and is enjoying the telly series.

l find it enjoyable to look at, as the Beeb has obviously thrown money at it, but completely uninvolving. l don’t know if it’s the painful “wokeness”, the indistinct dialogue, the undistinguished music or the fact that the titles seem so obviously cribbed from Game of Thrones.

Still, l’ll give it a couple more tries. Perhaps it’ll perk up when the Nazis, sorry, Magisterium, get fired up.

maximus otter
 
Oh, the Magisterium aren't the Nazis, they're very much the Church.
 
Oh, the Magisterium aren't the Nazis, they're very much the Church.

Wearing black uniforms with four-lobed insignia, peaked caps, jackboots and carrying MP 40s. The church has changed since I last attended.

;)

maximus otter
 
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Wearing black uniforms with four-lobed insignia, peaked caps, jackboots and carrying MP 40s. The church has changed since I last attended.

;)

Well, you know Philip Pullman, kind of a Richard Dawkins with talent.
 
Not sure I'll bother with this series, as I don't really have patience for "young adult" material (no matter how dark) these days.

My problem is that, when a book, movie or series is very heavily politically preachy, I tend to support the "wrong" side, just to demonstrate my subversive streak.

With Starship Troopers, for example, I was rooting for the bugs from the start and in The Lord of the Rings books, I had a sneaking sympathy for the poor old Orcs, notably those in the 3rd book who long for the day the war is over and are making plans to found a community in the South.
Even in Toy Story, I kind of admired the much maligned but inventive boy who designed new toys from old ones!
 
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That was kind of the point of that movie... as by the end you realise the heroes are behaving like fascists!

I'd read the Heinlein novel many years before the Paul Verhoeven movie came out. The latter was only very loosely based on the book and played up the totalitarian imagery. The book is more about Heinlein bemoaning what he felt was a breakdown in moral values.
 
That was kind of the point of that movie... as by the end you realise the heroes are behaving like fascists!
I feel like Verhoeven accomplished a very neat trick with that movie, by delivering the opposite message to the book using the same content. The book is basically a case for militaristic fascism; the movie shows it ad absurbum and makes the case against.

The book was also fucking boring.
 
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I feel like verhoehen accomplished a very neat trick with that movie, by delivering the opposite message to the book using the same content. The book is basically a case for militaristic fascism; the movie shows it ad absurbum and makes the case against.

The book was also fucking boring.
Hmmm. I can't remember the book as I read it so long ago (40 years ago or thereabouts).
I read somewhere that Starship Troopers was an anti-war message, not an endorsement of fascism.
Verhoeven just made it more obvious with the film.
Maybe I need to re-read it to make up my own mind (if it's still available).
 
Hmmm. I can't remember the book as I read it so long ago (40 years ago or thereabouts).
I read somewhere that Starship Troopers was an anti-war message, not an endorsement of fascism.
Verhoeven just made it more obvious with the film.
Maybe I need to re-read it to make up my own mind (if it's still available).
It reads very much (to me) like a manifesto and a training manual. The reason the book's so boring to me is that it's all about the fine details of military training and not about having a storyline or anything like that.
 
It reads very much (to me) like a manifesto and a training manual. The reason the book's so boring to me is that it's all about the fine details of military training and not about having a storyline or anything like that.
Probably written like that because Heinlein was ex-military and wrote the book in just a few weeks. He bashed it together.
 
Oh, and I was going to ask the board, what would your daemon/soul animal be
On the strength of episode 2, not
a butterfly
.

Which raises an interesting point - wouldn't it be an evolutionary advantage to have a more robust daemon..? (Do daemons run in the family? All the Egyptians have birds...)

Would it be possible to have an armoured bear as a daemon, for example? And while we're at it, do the armoured bears themselves have daemons? And if not, why not? They are sapient, after all. Do the other great apes of this world have daemons..?
 
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