His Dark Materials ~ (Not Quite) Lost in Adaptation

I love it. Especially because ive spent a lot of time learning about what gnostic Christians in teal life believe... oh you think jk is transphobic? Ya nvm im not watching ur bullshit

Bruv, why would you say that JKR is afraid of trans? 😅 I liked the books more, the show had too many changes and various scenes were just wrong 😂

The Magisterium does NOT rule any countries! Unlike the depictions in the movie and series, in the books Britain is ruled by a parlamentarian monarchy, just like it would have been in the early 20th century! With it's own secular ministries and civil service!

The Magisterium wields it's power like the vatican did in the middle ages, and in the way churches in the US influence politics now: by being a moral authority; by having a devouted majority electorate that all politicians have to appease/can't speak ou against; by having strong onganisattions (both cirectly subordiante, and (semi) independent)equivalent to the likes of opus dei, monastic orders, the templars, the inquisition (which, again like in the middle ages, operate partially outside of the jurisdiction of the local government); by lobbying/think tanks etc.

While they are very powerful, they are not a theocracy directly ruling nations, and unlike what is shown in the tv series, there isn't a magisterium building in the place of buckingham palace! The King still lives there!

you talk a lot but you didn`t even touch more significant aspect: when lyra wanted to go world of death and will was against her. that really ruined their dynamics. in book will was only against her at the beginning then their relationship grew and she was more important to him then his dad wishes or anything else. it was was very sigificant development before teir actual lovestory

I love the series and loved the adaption. Felt it was incredibly accurate and the things they did change I feel made sense.

The Gummy Bears song made me happy. 🤩

They want me to love lin-manuel Miranda as Lee scornsby and I just can't do it. I miss my cranky cowboy. Also Mrs coulter is just.. not quite selling me on this beautiful sweet nice lady that little children would happily follow to their deaths you know? It wasn't quite right. Beautiful to watch though.

It's funny how people call jk Rowling transphobic and yet they can't give any examples to what makes her transphobic kinda sad really

Rowling is not transphobic. Humans have only 2 genders.

Dafne Keen was the series's downfall for me. Her 3 facial expressions simply didn't sell Lyra's complexity to me. And if the main cast is of ... the rest also is.
I've fought myself trough 2 seasons and then decided to not continue.
Very disappointing show.

If this was a BBC production, shouldn't it be available on Britbox? I don't want to have to add an HBO subscription just to check out one series...

I just finished listening to the audio books of all 3 books and GOD they're so good. I was way too Christian to appreciate them when I read them back in the early 00's. Now, post-deconstruction (if that's ever something you stop doing), I appreciate it so much more. Just an incredible series.

I love that you used gummy bears theme for your ending credits haha

Calling someone transphobic for simply stating biological fact is both disgusting and evil. Why you injected that in your video, insulting many in your audience is hypocrisy.

Bever watching your channel again.

Ok so Mrs. Coulter in the series is a different person to the boik version. And because the Show focused so much on her relationship with Lyra, I can understand some scenes in the show. But gonna be honest. Lyra screaming Mother in the intercision chamber and Coulter's interaction with Asriel at the North just feels a bit wrong even as those characters. It makes sense that Lyra would never consider Coulter a mother given the things she had seen done by her hand.

“transphobic author JK rowling” oh stfu, PLEASE

Dew it

It's a shame. I think it would have been a perfect adaptation if they just had a better CGI director or screenwriter. Most important part of the books is the human/daemon connection and I think I can count on one hand how many times a human/daemon even touched one another lol. The stark lack of daemons in the show was very off putting just across the board. They did like crowd shots and there would only be two visible daemons in the entire crowd. While they are supposed to "blend in" with the background. Not a single one being visible at all besides the main casts daemons is bizarre.

Ironically, that's like the one thing the original movie did right. Basically every single scene in the movie. The humans and daemons would be almost uncomfortably close to each other. Which made them being separated way more impactful. They are a literal physical extension of the person and you could feel the distress of their separation. Losing a literal part of themselves. So many things just don't work in the show because this isn't focused on. Like the significance of a character without a daemon or how it's taboo to even touch another person's daemon.

I skipped a head a bit cause I had zero clue how they were gonna manage to show the betrayal properly under this context and I was pretty much right. It felt off and was poorly written to fit the context that this show is setting up. In the books, Lyra betraying Pan was very obviously written as her betraying herself. Pan is furious and completely unforgiving cause it's literally Lyra's thoughts being put out loud. In the show, it's like she betrayed a pet and is sad to let it go. Then Pan basically immediately forgives her later on. The events are all there but it's basically a different story.

Ironically. I think this writing direction the series went in would actually work well for The Book of Dust when that trilogy is finished. I've heard they at least discussed adapting it due to His Dark Materials success.

😮❤

"Transphobic author J. K. Rowling" hahaha ok, the review ended up there. What a waste...

part of me really wished that Sam Elliot reprised his role as Lee Scoresby

A very big American fan of the books here who read the entire series 4 times and listened to the audiobooks - yup The Golden Compass was a "uniquely American" dumpster fire with the absolute waste of Nicole Kidman (at least we still have The Hours). I haven't had the pleasure of seeing the HBO series yet but there is no possible way you could spoil it for me and I really like your comparisons between the books, crappy USA movie adaptation attempt and the new series - please continue. My one big "fear" is that they may bungle the two gay angels and the cool former nun character.

Compelling and flattering

Please do the following seasons as well, Dom! I really would like to know how they fare as adaptations without being compared and contrasted to a pre-existing film like the first book/season.

Nice nails lol

I wanted to like this adaptation so much... but I just did not like Lyra. That ruined it for me.
Between odd writing choices, them aging her up, how she doesn't resemble Lyra from the book and, yes, the sub-par acting (I know she's a child, but it doesn't change things) I just couldn't engage with her character.

Just finished the series and found your channel. Great stuff! I loved the series and cannot wait to dig into the novels.

I thought the jumping between different worlds were confusing. So I only watched a few episodes. 🙄I prefer the books.

Jeff Bridges should've played Lee

I'll be the first to admit that the books are a slog at some points with how dark shit can get. My main memory from book two was Will Nearly Bleeding Out for like... Two thirds of the book because the Subtle Knife is not unlike the Nasty Knife in Zork XD

But there is release at the end. It's bittersweet, but all the horrible did come to a satisfying and deeply affecting conclusion for me.

There's a scene with Iroek that got dropped and it drives me nuts that they did.

The whole thing with the bears is that Iroek was usurped by a bear who wanted to be human and abandoned their traditions. What it meant to BE an armored bear. Iroek was convinced that he'd failed to be a bear by a bear that had no INTEREST in being a bear, just getting him out of the way in persuit of his own goals. Iroek falls into deep depression and drink, enslaved to a town by loss of his armor and the armor itself fallen into disrepair from neglect. When he describes it as part of his soul, and then hearing how fucked armor was, gives the reader an idea of how far Iroek has gone from who he was.

And there's a scene where Iroek goes hunting. He shucks of his armor, dives into the sea, comes back with a fresh kill, and uses the seal blubber to restore his armor back to its former glory.

He recognizes the state he's in, and takes action to correct it. Engaging in self care after years of neglect.

That shit was POWERFUL to me and without that scene Iroek's character arc feels somewhat incomplete. Its the Want vs Need thing. He WANTS to go back to his people, and to do that he NEEDS to get his shit together and look after himself well enough to take on the difficult task of returning home and confronting those who expelled him for failing to be a bear.

There's a theme here, about a people and a way of life, that felt rushed through. Lyra saw that not all societies are built on lies; they fall into lies when someone decides a society is a tool for their own ends.

So as a kid I got into reading because I was bullied a lot and the things that got hurled at me most often was 'stupid' 'dumb' and the R word that actively makes me flintch to this day. So I started reading non fiction thinking kids would like me better if I was smarter.

It didn't help, but I'd discovered a voracious appetite for books. I tore through everything my school library's non fiction section had to offer, began testing way above the reading level of my peers, and found myself even MORE separated from them when the bullying didn't stop. Then my family moved. I picked up my first fiction series, Diadem, and around the same time made my first legit this person doesn't hurt me just for giggles friend.

Diving into fantasy involved expanding myself past the real, and making friends meant expanding myself past what people said about me to knowing myself well enough to share myself with someone else. It was a big deal to me in 3rd grade and I felt like my brain was exploding every other day.

After John Peel's Diadem had started my book collection, Garth Nix entered my library with Sabriel, Keys To The Kingdom, and The Seventh Tower. When I ran out Nix in my library I needed a new author to dig through and found Phillip Pullman's The Golden Compass ( I'm from the USA, didn't know about the og title ). These books were part of my tastes maturing past YA fantasy fiction and wanting to write a fully fleshed world of my own.

I hope my literary forebears are still alive when I publish. I'd like to send them each letters of thanks.

ksdjfksksdfj why was there a need to call jk rowling "the transphobic author"? got any proof?

A lot of the things in the series (that you say the show makers just made up) come from The Book of Dust, which is two volumes published after the three main books. You should read them. They are amazing and full of explanations!!

My favourite epsiode in the entire series is in season 3 when Mary Malone is learning the language of the Mulefa. I love the way they show her slowly learning the language and the subtitles slowly changing as Mary starts to understand what is being said and slowly translating it.. The only thing I didn't really like was the look of the Golden Compass. I much preferred the movie version

Sucks. The books were great, this adaptation is disgusting.

Thanks for the breakdown, as a reader of the books many times, seeing this on screen was magical. I tend to not actually read the ending of the amber spyglass so the magic can keep me captivated. Seeing it on screen however strangely shot it was turned out beautiful to me🎉

Funny how Sam Elliot and Lin Manuel Miranda are from NY and CA completely opposite of Texas

Svalbard is a real place, just like in the first video I feel unsure as to whether Dominic knows this. It's a couple of large islands close to the north pole and part of Norway

It is absolutely possible to not like Lin Manuel Miranda. I do not. He ruins his own work every time he sings.

Love the nail polish.

I would say I am a die-hard fan. I actually prefer the series to the books, as it expands the characters of people beyond just Lyra, such as Mrs Coulter.

I listened to this trilogy specifically on suggestion of the first video on the golden compass movie. Just finished the third audiobook and came running over to the channel to search it up again. Lovely video and outro music!

That can't-put-your-finger-on-it feeling is that the show is afraid to let its characters (and actors) breathe. Yes, it is a serious story, but every character is BEING SERIOUS in every interaction and it feels off. There's no humor. And I don't mean we need Marvel-style gags, but nobody has a personality other than desire and reaction to that desire. (The only genuine moment of humor in the entire three seasons is when Lord Boreal is trying to impress Mrs. Coulter with his sweet sound system controlled by a tablet. It was actually cute and endearing. Sadly, that moment was an anomaly.)
For instance, whenever the plot requires Mrs. Coulter to manipulate another character, that other character just become a passive reactionary that allows Mrs. Coulter to roll over them. Just once I wanted a character to laugh at her and say, "Haha, nope, bye!" And then we can learn what Mrs. Coulter needs to do when her one little manipulation trick doesn't work. But...no. Works every time because the story needs it to. It's a disservice to character development, and when it happens about once per episode, it's gets exhausting and boring.

This sounds like it sucks. I hated The Golden Compass movie though. The entire universe just isn't as interesting as other fantasy worlds.

Way to throw shade at J.K. Rowling in something that has NOTHING to do with her. Also, everyone, EVERYONE is allowed to have their own thoughts and opinions. We do not all agree on all things very obviously. Trans is not a black and white, fact vs. fiction issue! Get off her already. It's TIRED as hell!

I feel like it is disservice to fans of the genre not to mention how terrible literature the book series is; consequently, while a video adaptation can only be better (much like the Witcher series), any faithful one will be fundamentally flawed. The pacing is absolutely abysmal in the books, and sometimes doesn't feel worse with a bunch of subplots added in the show, so that should say enough. The characterization is poor; Lyra uses any real personal agency and pretty much becomes a plot device or a doormat in comparison to Will once he is introduced. There is an extremely weird sexual subversive message, which thankfully is omitted from the show, as it makes a bunch of scenes in the books quite uncomfortable. Oh, and all that is written in style that is best described as "wishes to be Dickens", and as while Dickens was quite the peak at his time, we have grown quite a lot since then - and with Pulman's prowess being obviously subpar that should say enough.

Honestly, it was the worst fantasy series I had read before I got my hands on the Poppy War. I truly cannot fathom how anybody likes it. The first book was the only one that was kinda good, and only before the ending.

I really hope you cover the other seasons. I know it has been a while since you made this video, but I was impressed by the show, and I wonder if you feel the same

An evil theocracy that is OBSESSED with original sin, wants to keep everyone ignorant, and does terrible things to children. Basically sounds like the Catholic Church never lost power in that world and eventually usurped all other governments

I know I'm late to the party and you're probably not going to read this, but I thought I'd put in my 2 cents. It's been a REALLY long time since I read these books (20+ years) and this show has made me want to revisit them so bad! It includes the bits that I do remember of Subtle Knife and Amber Spyglass, while also streamlining the parts that I remember disliking (pacing). I just finished the final episode of season 3 and my god, it WRECKED me. I think it would be awesome for you to review the rest of the show! I love your episodes and I think you're the only one who can really do it justice Lost in Adaptation-wise! <3