His Dark Materials (BBC serial)

[HareBrain]

Just seen this weirdly appropriate juxtaposition on the iplayer home page. Coincidence?

 

[HareBrain]

I thought ep3 was up to the mark. A shame there were no scenes between Lyra and Mrs Coulter, but Ma Costa kept up the standard, and added to the impression of the women acting the men off the stage (though to be fair, none of them were bad, apart from a couple of central casting villains.)

It's been a while since I read it, but I'd don't recall Lord Boreal's "excursions" (to avoid spoilers) from the book. Was that added to cohere with the rest of the trilogy?

 

[Mouse]

I don't remember either, but again, it's been a while since I read the books.

 

[HareBrain]

No, I didn't even remember there was a Lord Boreal!

 

[BAYLOR]

Seems like the final form taken by each daemon reflects the nature of the soul linked to it. Something like reincarnation. No surprise that the baddies are represented by nasty insects and serpents.
Must be limits for daemons which can still shapeshift, or Lyra's daemon would have changed into something that could better handle its attacker.

Thank goodness it wasn't a trouser snake!

I always found it interesting that we never see a demon manifesto that's human in appearance .

 

[Dave]

I thought ep3 was up to the mark.

It brought everyone up to speed, and we are now ready to move north. I'm sure several things have been revealed much earlier than in the books, but it's been so long that I can't remember that either. if they mentioned a Lord Boreal then I missed that part. Do you mean Lord Asriel? Coulter and Asriel were definitely Lyra's parents, but that is one of the things I thought was revealed later, and Asriel is definitely from our world. Again, I thought that came later, and they've updated and modernised his CV, but it makes sense to do that, because they are setting the story today (with the use of smart phones and computer image matching.)

edit: I confused Asreil with Grunman. Please ignore me.

 

[HareBrain]

if they mentioned a Lord Boreal

Spoiler

Boreal was the guy who went through the gate to our world, had his car clamped etc. His name was mentioned a couple of times.

and Asriel is definitely from our world.

Spoiler

Is that correct? I know "Grumman" (who later turns out to be Will Parry's dad) is.

 

[Dave]

Re: Boreal, Ah! I see, no I think he is a new character for the TV series (but I haven't read the new trilogy.)
Re: Asreil, yes I thought so in the book, but in this TV adaptation, didn't the guy that Boreal is meeting actually just say so. Apologies, if I got that wrong but it

Spoiler: mild spoiler

explains why Lyra is important and different.

 

[HareBrain]

no I think he is a new character for the TV series (but I haven't read the new trilogy.)

I've had a flick through the start of the first book and he does appear there, though I can't recall what he does. I might start a reread actually.

Re: Asreil, yes I thought so in the book, but in this TV adaptation, didn't the guy that Boreal is meeting actually just say so.

They were actually talking about Stanislav Grumman, the guy whose apparently lost expedition Asriel was trying to find in ep 1.

 

[Dave]

Yes, sorry I got that wrong. I confused Asreil and Grunman. Looking at Wikipedia for help, I'm not sure I remember very much accurately and anyway, this TV adaptation is free to change things from the books.

 

[ctg]

Does everyone in Lyra's world has daemons? Also the spy flies seemed more mechanical than organic.

 

[HareBrain]

Does everyone in Lyra's world has daemons?

They're supposed to, yes, but they haven't shown them all because budget.

Also the spy flies seemed more mechanical than organic.

I think one of the Gyptians says they're evil spirits trapped in mechanical devices. I don't know how they link in with the rest of the world.

 

[ctg]

I think one of the Gyptians says they're evil spirits trapped in mechanical devices. I don't know how they link in with the rest of the world.

Maybe they say it's evil because they don't understand biomechanoids. The beeping sound in the box also sounded like a classical tracking signal. Luckily they don't have to go to far to see before it becomes so deep that no electronical signal that the spyfly can put out can reach the surface, or the owner. Them sitting in the box also suggested a manufactured origin. And the Gyptians certainly wouldn't understand the mechanical beings, as they would likely call them evil than try to understand what it is that they have in their hands, and can it be used to hack back?

 

[HareBrain]

Maybe they say it's evil because they don't understand biomechanoids. The beeping sound in the box also sounded like a classical tracking signal. Luckily they don't have to go to far to see before it becomes so deep that no electronical signal that the spyfly can put out can reach the surface, or the owner. Them sitting in the box also suggested a manufactured origin. And the Gyptians certainly wouldn't understand the mechanical beings, as they would likely call them evil than try to understand what it is that they have in their hands, and can it be used to hack back?

That's possible, but given that the spy-flies are ahead of our world's tech, and everything in Lyra's world is behind it, I can't see how they would have been manufactured as computer-mechanical devices.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

It's a steampunk thing!
I liked episode 3, though it lacked a little pace. Still good, though, and that hour went by very quickly.
The portals et al by the way aren't mentioned in the books until book 2.

 

[ctg]

It's a steampunk thing!

There was nothing steam related in the spyflies. Why do you say that?

 

[Stephen Palmer]

Pullman's whole world has a steampunk flavour.
I definitely got the impression they were of that ilk.
Maybe just me.

 

[ctg]

I definitely got the impression they were of that ilk.

Well, they are coal black and when they fly, they emit that hot coal colour, but no steam. Maybe it's my SciFi mind that cannot conjure steam mechanoids.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

It's all good!

 

[Dave]

Pullman's whole world has a steampunk flavour.
I definitely got the impression they were of that ilk.
Maybe just me.

No, you are correct, it is steampunk, just driven by Dust. Steampunk novels don't all involve steam-driven machines. Those that I've read were just mechanical rather than electronic. The spy-flies were how I imagined them from the book, just possibly a bit larger. However, larger is indicative of them being mechanical, so that's all in keeping.