His Dark Materials - Season 2 starts 8th November

[monkeydog]

I didn't find myself that engaged in the first episode. Seems well made but I can't escape knowing the first part of the story really well and I was just too tired. 

[Stanley]

Does anyone know if it will be available to buy in 4K, either physical or digital? 

[Chadruharazzeb]

So is this better/ different than the usual tea-time fantasy clag that the BBC shit out every year? 

[Popo]

As someone who stopped watch Dr. Who ages ago, yes I’d say it’s better than that but it’s not Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings either. 

[Pete]

I thought it was too fast! In my head it's much much more Gothic, and slow, and the dust reveal for me was completely wrong tonally.

 

But I'm pleased to see I'm in the minority and most people thought it was great.

[PK]

10 minutes ago, Pete said:

I thought it was too fast! In my head it's much much more Gothic, and slow, and the dust reveal for me was completely wrong tonally.

 

Completely agree.  Asriel's presentation was like one of those nightmares where nothing makes proper sense but it's all extremely urgent and loud and quick.  I've read the books countless times and I even found myself a bit overwhelmed by it

[MarkN]

I've not read the books, nor spoken to anyone who has about them, so knew absolutely nothing, but was pleasantly surprised by this. A few bits jarred - the airships looked like they came from a completely different production, for example, and the voices of the daemons which just stuck out like a sore thumb to me - every time one spoke I was just like "nope - that voice did not come from that".

 

But if I'm quibbling at the voice of a talking critter, rather than the fact that the critters talk then we're on minor points here. Looking forward to the rest of it. Thought the cast was mostly excellent too - the girl playing the lead rocked it.

[Thor]

Enjoyed it, but might wait until it's available in 4k somehow. The 1080p on iplayer looks pretty shit on my LG OLED. Close up shots are fine, but any landscapes/scenic shots look very poor. 

[luth714]

Hmm...underwhelmed and slightly disappointed by this...His Dark Meh-terials...loved the books, was disappointed with the other film yet somehow I miss some of the gloss of that with this...and feel Lyra in the movie had a bit more spirit...

 

 

(And lack of daemons is understandabl£ but still disappointing as without really establishing how symbiotic the relationship is and everyone having one makes the drama of what to come less powerful...)

[jonamok]

Frankie Boyle has asked the most important question:

 

 

[SpagMasterSwift]

I bounced off this pretty hard about halfway through the first episode. The cgi animals were cute tho.

[scottcr]

Enjoyed this... although having started the book, listened to the audio book and watched the film I felt like I knew the start of this a bit too well... so it wasn’t particularly exciting. Looking forward to the rest though. I actually really enjoyed the film apart from the ending.

[gospvg]

Is this more adult-focused like Game of Thrones or kid friendly Doctor Who. Would it be ok for a 9 year old to watch?

[Stig]

5 minutes ago, gospvg said:

Is this more adult-focused like Game of Thrones or kid friendly Doctor Who. Would it be ok for a 9 year old to watch?

 

Somewhere in between. It's probably on scale with the last few Harry Potters in terms of its kids stuff/maturity levels.

[gospvg]

Just now, Stigweard said:

 

Somewhere in between. It's probably on scale with the last few Harry Potters in terms of its kids stuff/maturity levels.

 

Ok so possibly some dark or upsetting scenes.

[Darren]

Was Pullman involved in this at all or are the extra embellishments invented by the screenwriters? I’m thinking in particular of the prologue with flooded Oxford.

 

Anyway, I thought it was great. Perfect casting for all the main roles so far.

[Mogster]

The flooded Oxford thing is from The Book of Dust. Pullman had an executive producer credit though, although that could mean anything.

[Darren]

Ah of course, I haven't read that and completely forgot there was all that extra (dark) material to draw from.

[PK]

Shit, I haven't read that yet either.  Hadn't considered there might be spoilers for it in this.

[Stig]

3 minutes ago, PK said:

Shit, I haven't read that yet either.  Hadn't considered there might be spoilers for it in this.

 

I think that's all you'll get. The prequel book is mainly centred around other characters that have no impact on the original HDM. The 2nd book of the new trilogy is set after HDM too so you wont see any if that.

 

I think Pullman had a bit more of a hand in this. For the Golden Compass he pretty much signed the rights away which is why they could change the ending.

[Mogster]

3 minutes ago, PK said:

Shit, I haven't read that yet either.  Hadn't considered there might be spoilers for it in this.

 

It's not really a spoiler, and other than the very start I don't think there were any more references in the episode. The second book is set after HDM, so you should be completely safe there.

[monkeydog]

21 hours ago, gospvg said:

 

Ok so possibly some dark or upsetting scenes.

If it follows the books, only in the way good childrens stories are dark and upsetting. 

[milko]

I struggled to keep my attention on this to be honest, not sure why. I enjoyed the books years ago well enough, and went to see the theatre show when Timothy Dalton was Asriel so I guess I should qualify as liking it. Still, I found myself wishing my 5 year old was a bit older as I think watching it with a suitable kid would've been better. Ah well, watching the immensely long 'coming soon' bit afterwards pretty much saves me from needing to bother with the rest of it!

[Thor]

5 minutes ago, milko said:

... watching the immensely long 'coming soon' bit afterwards pretty much saves me from needing to bother with the rest of it!

Yeah, I stopped watching that. They were showing everything that happens in the next episode.

[milko]

I had the impression that was several episodes-worth, or it's going to be at a real breakneck pace to get through all of that. 

[Mogster]

Yeah, that was a trailer for the whole series. In fact I'm pretty sure it was the actual trailer that came out before the series launched.

[Thor]

That's even fucking worse!

[Stig]

I've never once watched a coming soon/next week preview for any show. Going in blind is the best way.

[Mawdlin]

1 hour ago, Stigweard said:

I've never once watched a coming soon/next week preview for any show. Going in blind is the best way.

It's something the BBC has been getting worse at recently. Incredibly patronising. A couple of series ago they started doing a what-comes-next in the middle of Dragon's Den. Christ's sake.

 

For me HDM looked the business but I found it stodgy. It felt like a very long hour. It also suffered from the kids being plucked from posh stage school syndrome.

 

Will stick with it though.

[sandman]

5 hours ago, Mawdlin said:

It's something the BBC has been getting worse at recently. Incredibly patronising. A couple of series ago they started doing a what-comes-next in the middle of Dragon's Den. Christ's sake.

 

For me HDM looked the business but I found it stodgy. It felt like a very long hour. It also suffered from the kids being plucked from posh stage school syndrome.

 

Will stick with it though.

You've seen Logan right?