His dark materials

Year of release : 2019

 

Genre : Fantasy

 

 

 

Season 1

 

Run time : 55- 56min episodes , 8 episodes, tv series, mini-series

 

 

His Dark Materials is based on a trilogy of novels by Philip Pullman by the same name.The novels were adapted for the big screen in 2007 with the first movie of the trilogy named The Golden Compass,starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig.

 

The characters in the series are the same but with more information about them,and scenes which were probably cut from the Hollywood movie but filmed for these series,to stay true to the books.I honestly recognized a lot of scenes in this one from seeing them in the other one.

I honestly hated the Golden Compass but loved these series.

 

The series take place in an alternate world,a world where people have what they call a daemon,an animal representation of their soul.The daemon changes shape until their coming of age when they take a certain form and keep it.(I found it odd they need to be separated from their soul,and that the soul took the shape of an animal,also that it was called a daemon-which is demon).These animal spirits can talk,when they hurt the human hurts,and if the human dies,they disappear.The people cannot be away from their daemons because it hurts them,it turns them lethargic or robot-like with those who succeeded.Also,the daemons can be female although the human is male and viceversa,which I found weird.

 

The action centers around Lyra, an orphan,or so she thinks,who was raised by the scholars of the Oxford University.When her best friend,Roger, goes missing, she embarks on a mission to find him.During this journey she discovers her mother and finds out her uncle isn’t who she thought him to be,in more ways than one(SPOILER -he is her father and he kills her friend Roger to cross into the other dimension).

 

Lyra is given an alethiometer,a symbol reader,which in the Hollywood movie was called the golden compass,which only a few people can master as it comes with many books.

The alethiometer tells people the truth,and Lyra ends up reading it pretty easily,as if becoming one with it,the alethiometer even telling her of coming events.

 

The series have their own telling of the Bible and the Adam and Eve story.

The villains of these series are sadly,Lyra’s parents,who,one of them,the mother,separates the kids from their souls,their daemons.

 

Mrs. Coulter is apparently the only one who has a golden monkey as her spirit,and is also the only one who seems to be fine without her spirit animal.

 

The acting was great,all actors give amazing performances,I think Ruth Wilson who plays Mrs.Coulter might be the best because her character has mood swings,she’s unpredictable,a bit unstable .

James McAvoy plays Lyra’s uncle,Lord Asriel,and he’s also amazing whenever he’s on screen.

 

The visual effects are good,I keep on wondering how much of the daemons were real animals and how much visual effects.

 

 

Season 2

 

Season 2 has shorter episodes,about 43-45 minutes long,and there’s only 7 of them.In this season we find out what those things at he beginning are,in the credits dust,dark matter.

 

At the beginning of the season Lyra crosses over into a world with creatures called spectres which consume the soul of the adults.She meets Will there,as he ran from what he believes to be policemen,now trying to find his father.

She wants to know what dust is and in our world ,she finds a scientist who used to be a nun(I don’t know how exactly that works,was she a nun in her adolescence,how did she study science at this level?),who tells her dust is dark matter which apparently,at least to the writer is spirit,meaning angels.

 

The angels hate the authority which I’m guessing is God. They want to join Lord Asriel’s cause of fighting the Authority.I find Lord Asriel ridiculous,especially since he has no army to fight the Authority, he’s just asking stupid witch clans and what seem to be real demons and such to join him,HE’S ALL ALONE!

All this because he wants to end destiny and bring about the reign of free will.I didn’t know we didn’t have free will,or maybe in their world they didn’t, which I find ridiculous,considering the things they’re doing.If they didn’t have free will they wouldn’t have been able to do anything without the Authority’s consent.

 

Most of the characters wanting to fight the Authority for not having free will kidnapped,tortured and killed not only people but kids (lord Asriel killed Lyra’s best friend to cross over because he needed fuel ,and before that he considered killing his own daughter!;Mrs.Coulter and the church ruling that dimension experimented on kids,separating them from their daemons,killing them in the process )

,and they complain about not having free will.My guess is,if they didn’t have free will the things they've done would have been impossible.

 

From the moment I heard this name Asriel,in season one,I said to myself,this is a demon’s name.Apparently he is Lucifer,or at least that’s how I see him.And those angels are not good,since they fight against God,they are the fallen ones,the demons.Lyra is supposed to be Eve.

 

Will is important too,as he is the bearer of this knife which can kill the soul and cut the fabric between worlds,making the bearer able to cross through dimensions.

Will finds his father who ,what a shock,tells him to go to Asriel to tell him he has the knife to kill the Authority.I hate how everybody is telling the kids to fight for their sh!t causes.’You must do this,because I believe is right’.

 

I read that the books were banned when they were released and I understand why.I can see the direction this is going and it’s already annoying me.

 

Mrs. Coulter somehow has the ability to not only remain untouched by the spectres but to talk to them and command them,which I find ridiculous because she’s not a witch nor anything.

 

The visual effects were great,the landscapes amazing,the acting top notch,but I’m sorry to say I loved it until I watched the last episode which let me down.

 

 

Rating : Worth a watch ! I would have given it a higher rating if it wasn't for the last episodes.

 

 

The picture is penned by Leanna Crossan,illustrator for books, games and more,you can find her at  leannacrossanart.com