His Dark Materials (TV)

[selenak]

Source material knowledge first: I never actually read the books. I did, however, listen to the radio dramatisation of the trilogy and had it on tape. (There were still tapes in those days...) But that was a long, long time ago, which is actually helpful for dealing this this latest version as its own thing. I didn't have images of the characters in my head, and while I recalled the general points of the plot, a lot of details were lost to me, especially since I had liked but not loved what I had heard. I'm not sure, for example, whether or not the golden monkey, Mrs. Coulter's daemon, has a name in the books - I think he has one in the radio version? So I don't know whether this is a tv only thing. Also, being aquainted with the story via an audio dramatization first, I had no strong idea about how young or old anyone is supposed to be. (Well, obviously the children should be children, but other than that.)



So, my impression: I liked it. Dafne Keen, who impressed the hell out of me in Logan, doesn't have the mischievous playfulness I recall from early Lyra, but her fierce intensity works for the character as presented in this tv version, especially in the scenes with Ruth Wilson as Mrs. Coulter, and the tenderness in her scenes with Yorick is great.

In terms of the world building, I still have a basic problem with Pullman's set up, to wit, this whole idea of one universal church. Because any major religion I can think of that lasts longer develops factions, if not schismas. And that's leaving aside the question was happened to all the non-Christian religions in this world. (Maybe the novels cover that.) Where are the theological debates? The rival schools? I get that when you want to make a grand point against religion as ideology, depicting different factions debating over theologoical fine points is complicating things, but I still don't buy that the Magisterium on Lyra's world manages to run the entire show.

(So yes. Daemons? No problem. But religion without endless inner theological debates and squabblings about whether quote x of the sacred text means this or that? That's where my suspension of disbelief goes on strike.)

That aside, this season, the filmed version of the first book, Northern Lights, with some Subtle Knife thrown in, did draw me in even more than the audio dramatization had all that time ago. Incidentally, I think it was a good idea to let Will show up in this season already, not just because his mother is played by Bellino Nina Sosanya. Back in the day, I felt betrayed when The Subtle Knife suddenly switched protagonists on me, and never stopped resenting Will for that reason, even when Lyra showed up again. Whereas now watching, Will grew on me in a minor role, and far from minding his future increased screen time, I will look forward to him as second protagonist. Also, I don't remember Lord Boreal interesting me at all as a villain in the audio, whereas his screen self is impressive.

But really: other than Lyra herself, this season stands or falls with Mrs. Coulter, and Ruth Wilson is just superb. I mean, I knew she was from Luther onwards, and this role is right up her alley. She can be absolutely chilling (never more so when she just doesn't get why Lyra is upset about the other children once Mrs. Coulter has promised Roger will be safe), suavely manipulative and a great power player (whenever she has a scene with someone from the Magisterium), and then again showing messed up vulnerability (she does the Tricia Helfer as Six in the BSG miniseries trick where she commits an on screen murder of someone helpless and yet you can't help but focus on her feelings about this in the scene with the lobotomized nurse). I've heard there were complaints about not enough daemons and daemons-humans interactions, but this made me focus all the more on them when they did happen, and Mrs. Coulter and the golden monkey really sold that "the daemon is the person's soul" concept to me, precisely because the tv series used her daemon to show how messed up she is, as when she was distressed but slapped his paw away. I also noted that they try to let the characters fight similarly to the daemons (so Lee Scoresby kicks like a hare while Mrs. Coulter fights like a monkey), which I thought was a neat touch.

James MacAvoy as Lord Asriel had the much shorter part, and I thought he was good casting, because I remember the terrible shock when I first listened to Northern Lights along with Lyra at the end, and so you need someone who doesn't signal ahead that he's not actually the good guy. This said, the way MacAvoy played Asriel's initial reaction to seeing Lyra near the end - shocked out of his brusqueness and cool focus with that desperate "not you", before finding out she brought Roger along did immediately remind me of Jephta and his daughter, so I think even if I hadn't been spoiled, I would have figured it out at this point.

Seen Lin-Manuel Miranda relatively shortly after watching Hamilton for the first time, I wondered whether I'd be thrown, but no; he had a great warmth and charm as Lee Scoresby, and good chemistry with the rest of the cast. Including the bear. Speaking of Iorek, one thing I thought either the tv adaption or the story itself fell down on was selling me on the bear kingdom in that other than Iorek and the evil ursurper, none of the other bears had lines, and just silently went from supporting King Louie, err, the ursurper to supporting Iorek after the fight, and I'm sorry, but I've seen this plot with the Klingons on both TNG and DS9, and the other Klingons having reactions was rather instrumental when Worf challenges and kills someone. Otoh, Lyra's "I'm Iorek's daemon" gambit showcasing her bravery and ability to improvise came across beautifully, and of course her riding on Yorick was a fantastic visual.

So, all in all, an enjoyable first season. Bring on season 2!

Comments

[sovay]

And that's leaving aside the question was happened to all the non-Christian religions in this world. (Maybe the novels cover that.)

I don't recall that they do, which was one of my problems with them. (I have read all three books, but never heard or seen an adaptation. My feelings about the trilogy were diminishing returns.)

[selenak]

I liked the second and third book/audio play less than the first one, too, and I thought the conclusion in particular was just as doctrinaire and lecturing as he accuses C.S.Lewis of being, just in the opposite direction. Still, I liked the tv adaption of the first installment well enough to look forward to find out what they make of the tale.

[sovay]

and I thought the conclusion in particular was just as doctrinaire and lecturing as he accuses C.S.Lewis of being, just in the opposite direction.

Same.

Since the publication of the trilogy, it has become more obvious and less tolerable to how much Pullman uses "religion" to mean "Christianity," which is a common failure mode of New Atheists, but (a) I still dislike it every time I meet it, because it erases any non-Christian practice and/or folds them all into Christianity, which is also rather Lewis-like, Emeth the faithful servant of Tash whose goodness made him secretly the servant of Aslan all along (b) it makes me feel even sketchier about his incorporation of Judaism into his own mythology than I did in 2000. If his argument is with the Church, then do not make the ultimate series villain Metatron. If the model for the oppressive Magisterium is Catholicism, then do not claim that the Authority is named El or Adonai. That's not radical, that's just ordinary anti-Semitism, supersessionism with rationality in place of Christ: the outmoded and broken, vengeful Old Testament, ripe to be replaced by the new covenant of the Republic of Heaven. I don't need that in my fiction.

Still, I liked the tv adaption of the first installment well enough to look forward to find out what they make of the tale.

If they can improve on Pullman, I will be fascinated and approve.

[kalypso]

One thing about the Magisterium which I don't think I took in when I read the books some years ago is that it's a Church without Christ. It suddenly hit me when I looked at this map and saw the college names; some are the same as in our world, some are the original names, such as Durham for Trinity, Cardinal's for Christ Church, and some are names they never had, such as Foxe (after our founder Richard Fox) for my own Corpus Christi. So it's a world with saints, but any reference to Christ, even as an aspect of the Trinity, has gone.

I thought the casting was terrific - I was delighted that they had Wilson and McAvoy as Mrs Coulter and Asriel (though it's since occurred to me that I would also like to see Anna Maxwell Martin, who played Lyra in a stage version in 2003, as Coulter). Lord Boreal is Ariyon Bakare, who also played Stephen Black in Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell - I can't remember whether you watched that? Which reminds me that His Dark Materials has one huge advantage over Strange and Norrell, viz terrific opening music. (S&N did have good music, but the piece they chose as the opening theme was very low-key).

We did lose a couple of my favourite moments from the book - when Coulter and Asriel meet at the end, their daemons should be tumbling over each other in joy at their reunion, whereas in this version I think the monkey tentatively patted the leopard... And the moment that summed up the horror of a child separated from his daemon, when Lyra sees a boy clutching a dead fish as a substitute for what he's lost.

The bear, BTW, is spelled Iorek Byrnison.

[selenak]

That's fascinating about the Church without Christ; I hadn't realised, but you're absolutely right. I wonder how that historically was supposed to have worked?

I did watch Strange and Norrell, but poor Stephen was done wrong by that adaption (which by and large I did like), so I wouldn't have recognized the actor as Boreal.

Agreed about the title credits in both series and the music.

Bear: will edit!

[sovay]

I did watch Strange and Norrell, but poor Stephen was done wrong by that adaption (which by and large I did like)

Agreed. I am glad the actor is working, though. I had never seen him before Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, thought he was an excellent Stephen as soon as he appeared, and was then increasingly disappointed by the series' treatment of him.

[selenak]

He certainly gets more of the splotlight now - which by itsel is judgment, since Stephen is a far more important character in the novel of Strange and Norrell than Boreal is in The Northern Lights - but I should hope a future adaption of the former will ensure they not only cast a good Stephen but do his role in the narrative justice.