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S2:E19 Part 1 - The Golden Compass & His Dark Materials (Series)
26 Plays10 days ago
Welcome to the first stop on our First in a Series journey! In this episode, Crystal leads us into the world of The Golden Compass (also known as Northern Lights) by Philip Pullman. We’re covering the first book in the His Dark Materials trilogy and the first four episodes of the HBO/BBC adaptation.
Hosted by Crystal with co-hosts Keri and Lindsey.
Books & Adaptations Mentioned:
- The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
- His Dark Materials (TV Series)
- A Court of Thorns and Roses Series by Sarah J. Maas
- The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
- A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
- A Discovery of Witches (TV Series)
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Intro/Outro Music - Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!)
Thanks for listening to Based on a Book - see you in the next chapter!
Chapters:
(00:00) Introductions
(1:33) Let’s Talk Ratings
(9:49) Book vs. Series Breakdown (SPOILERS)
(12:09) Episode 1
(32:42) Episode 2
(41:31) Episode 3
(48:33) Episode 4
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Hosts' Anecdotes
00:00:08
Speaker
to Based on a Book, the podcast that breaks plots down into small, digestible sections and still doesn't understand what's happening. I'm your host, Crystal, and I promise not to poison you.
00:00:20
Speaker
I'm Carrie, and apparently my demon would be a sassy Pomeranian, according to Lindsay. And I'm Lindsay, and I am not smarter than a fifth grader. To
Overview of 'His Dark Materials' Series
00:00:32
Speaker
kick off our month of first in a series titles, we're working our way through Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials, starting with Northern Lights, also known as the Golden Compass in a lot of countries, and season one of the BBC adaptation currently available on HBO Max.
00:00:50
Speaker
Our discussion of this title will be in three parts. This is part one. We will be discussing chapters one through 11 of The Golden Compass and episodes one through four of season one of His Dark Materials.
00:01:02
Speaker
In part two, we will discuss chapters 12 through 23 of The Golden Compass and the first little bit of The Subtle Knife and episodes five through eight of the show.
Personal Experiences with the Book
00:01:14
Speaker
In part three, we will recap, discuss more plot details, filming info, And then talk about The Golden Compass, the movie from 2007.
00:01:25
Speaker
To reassure you all once again, this is part one. You have not missed anything yet. But let's talk a little bit about how we felt about it before you decide if you want to go further or not.
00:01:38
Speaker
You guys, how did you feel about this one? Let's start with Lindsay. Oh, no. Lindsay always says that. Oh, no. i legit was caught off guard that time for some reason. Wait, I have to talk now?
00:01:52
Speaker
You don't have to, guess. I was just looking at my rating. I was like, okay, book rating.
00:02:01
Speaker
If I'm rating just the book, I'm giving 3.5 dust particles. Okay. dust particles ok I really enjoyed it. I did.
00:02:14
Speaker
But it was also really difficult for me. For some reason, there's a lot of world building right at the beginning. And I was just, I was trying to understand everything. I was trying to get through it.
00:02:30
Speaker
And it was really difficult with some of the the verbiage that they used and You know, they have the demons and these other species and these other things and these worlds. And yeah, it was a lot.
00:02:43
Speaker
But the story itself was really good. And right about probably chapter 14 for me, it it sped up and I really got into it.
00:02:55
Speaker
I see that. What about you, Carrie? I kind of feel it the exact same way. I gave it three demons. I... really, i mean, same thing that Lindsay said, I struggled so badly with this. And yeah I was doing the same thing I keep doing, where I'm like, this is a middle grade book.
00:03:16
Speaker
Like, it is identified as middle, it's not identified as young adult. yeah It's actually in children's section. yep And I was like, wow, like, I am struggling so bad to get this.
00:03:29
Speaker
This is crazy. And I mean, there was definitely a point like in the beginning, I was really struggling with it. I did switch over to the audio book.
00:03:40
Speaker
Narration is done by the author and a full cast, which was completely unexpected. I just kind of grabbed onto the audio book just to see what would happen. And full cast came out of nowhere. And I was like, oh, this feels like a movie right now. i'm kind down for this. It's really good. The audio is amazing. Yeah. So that was really fun. It helped me a lot.
00:04:00
Speaker
Something I really, really love in fantasy books are bonds. Bonds in a familiar, in a fantasy book will get me every single time.
00:04:14
Speaker
So when I saw that in this book, that hooked me immediately. And I think that's what kind of pushed me through the story and like wanted me, ah kept me going.
00:04:26
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. Totally. I'm the same way. I gave it 3.5 gobblers. I felt, you know, this is a reread for me. i did.
00:04:37
Speaker
i really love this story overall. Like the the trilogy is pretty amazing to me. i i have this was originally recommended to me in like 2006, 2007 by a very dear friend, Stu, whose like screen name on a lot of stuff was Jorick Bjornason. And I was like, what the heck, dude? And he was like, have you not read this?
00:05:04
Speaker
So it's it's kind of special to me and ah in a small group of friends because of that, like we all discussed it. But it there's no denying how hard this is to read. that This has a lot of political themes, a lot of religious themes, a lot of, you know, the the world building isn't even the hard part. It's a lot of it is just the the political overtones and the figuring out which agencies are which agencies and who's working for who and who's doing what on whose behalf or what group, it it's really complex.
00:05:41
Speaker
So to see this as a middle grade book, it it really makes you doubt your own intelligence as an adult. I know. but like We've been reading so much middle grade lately, and I'm like sitting here, I'm like, Wow.
00:05:59
Speaker
Like, what am I doing? Like, what have I been reading lately? Because I write i feel like I read a lot of fantasy. I genuinely feel that way. And then I pick up these books that are identified as middle
Complexity and Themes of 'The Golden Compass'
00:06:12
Speaker
grade. And I'm like, wow, what have I been reading lately? Because obviously it's not that complex where I can't even understand what the heck is going on in this book.
00:06:25
Speaker
Right. So, i mean, maybe that's a good thing to where, you know, i guess also, you know what I was thinking too? I'm kind of sidetracking a little bit Where i think your first fantasy that you pick up will depend on like how you look at fantasy in the future.
00:06:47
Speaker
Like if this was your first fantasy when you picked up when you were younger, you probably think like a lot of fantasy later is like really bad. You know what I mean?
00:06:59
Speaker
like yeah. It's like this compared to like, even, you know, more, more of the like romantic fantasy like, I'm like a, mostly a Roman, a romantic person. Yeah. But this fantasy versus ACOTAR fantasy. Those are, these are two different sub genres and that are separated by a whole spectrum of You know what i mean? Like, if you're, like, mostly reading things like this, and then you pick up a romantic, you're probably like, what the hell is this? You're like, this is trash. What are these women reading? Well, like, people say that all the time, and I'm like, what do you mean?
00:07:32
Speaker
This is, like, so... I'm thinking, like, ACOTAR has, like, you know... elements in it that are somewhat complex. I mean, not super complex, but somewhat complex to me, at least. That's my personal opinion.
00:07:45
Speaker
But nothing compared to something like this. Like, this is wild. This is really heavy. Like, I just read Fifth Season not that long ago, and that was like... So complex and insane. I was like, I can't even like grasp my head around this.
00:07:59
Speaker
So it's just like completely different aisles of fantasy
Summary of 'The Golden Compass' and Lyra's World
00:08:05
Speaker
reading. And it's just interesting to me. And this is for fifth graders. Yeah. And this is for fifth graders.
00:08:11
Speaker
yeah but So a quick little synopsis, the Northern Lights or the Golden Compass starts out with orphan Lyra Bilacqua. She's running through the halls of Jordan College in Oxford as she unwittingly uncovers a hidden political plot and theological experiments while attempting to rescue her best friend Roger and other children rumored to have been taken by the Gobblers.
00:08:38
Speaker
This story follows Lyra, but there are so many political undercurrents in different groups. We have the Gyptians, we have the Pastor Bjorn, we have the Magisterium, we have the General Oblation Board, we have the the college and the masters and the scholars.
00:09:02
Speaker
it And they're all different castes almost of groups. um And so we're going to encompass a lot of that as we go.
00:09:15
Speaker
and y'all might have to slow me down if if I just kind of gloss over something. Because again, this was a reread for me. So part of it, to me, I all yeah i might just kind of like pass something by. But unless you guys have anything else to say, we can get into full spoilers.
00:09:29
Speaker
Yeah, I'm excited to get into it because I'm like, I'm ready to break this down and make sure even I understood everything correctly because this was wild. this is This is wild.
00:09:42
Speaker
Well, that's your warning, folks. Pack it up. Get off the roof. Go back to your room. it is wild. Time to move ahead with full spoilers, and if you have not read this or watched this, it might be time for you to press pause.
00:09:57
Speaker
It's okay if you do. We'll still be here when you come back. But for now, let's go back to Oxford College, or Oxford-Jordan College, and discuss what Lyra's up to.
00:10:10
Speaker
The book, this first paragraph, to me, really sets up the fact that we are not in our world. We are we're someplace else. And so I'm going to read that first paragraph.
00:10:23
Speaker
Lyra and her demon moved through the darkening hall. taking care to keep to one side, out of sight of the kitchen. The three great tables that ran the length of the hall were laid all ready, the silver and the glass catching what little light there was, and the long benches were pulled out ready for the guests.
00:10:39
Speaker
Portraits of former masters hung high up in the gloom along the walls. Lyra reached the dais and looked back at the open kitchen door, seeing no one stepped up beside the high table.
00:10:51
Speaker
The places here were laid with gold, not silver. And the 14 seats were not oak benches, but mahogany chairs with velvet cushions. So right away, that that's not present day. That's not us.
00:11:05
Speaker
and And what's a demon? Lyra's world, your soul manifests as a demon outside your body.
00:11:17
Speaker
When you're a child, they take form of animals that they can shift. between different types of animals. And once you start going through puberty, your demon will settle into its final true form. And in a lot of ways, where your demon settles tells a lot about who you are.
00:11:36
Speaker
All servants have dogs as demons. A lot of people who are like seagoing people or water people will have like seagulls or water animals People who are a little bit more cunning might have a cat of some type or a snake.
00:11:52
Speaker
or So what your're deep where your demon settles or what it settles as says a lot about who you are. And we kind of start to see that through the story.
00:12:02
Speaker
Episode one. opens with Lyra and her friend Roger literally running through the college. They are clearly causing pandemonium as they run. They're they're like troublemakers. They're troublemakers. They're running through the halls, jumping through the laundry, debt you know weaving between other servants and climbing out on the roof and going down into the crypt.
Discussion on Dust and Political Intrigue
00:12:30
Speaker
And you can tell right away that Lyra is kind of the instigator of a lot of this trouble and that Roger is super happy to tag along. But this more often than not, it's probably not his idea to do whatever they're doing.
00:12:46
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Lyra, we find out, is some sort of high-born, but an orphan. Her parents ah died in an airship accident when she was younger. at least that's the story we are told, and she was told.
00:13:03
Speaker
Her uncle, Asriel, is a scholar, was a scholar at the college, and he does different experiments and lots of traveling, and he's an adventurer of some kind.
00:13:13
Speaker
And he is coming back to the college to... kind of talk about his findings from his last expedition. And Lyra ends up in the room she's not supposed to be in and she sees something she isn't supposed to see. She sees the master slip poison into her uncle's wine.
00:13:34
Speaker
And once the master's gone and her uncle comes Lyra stops her uncle from drinking the poisoned wine. And then...
00:13:45
Speaker
That's kind of what starts her down this path of learning about things that she isn't necessarily supposed to know. ah Right away in the first episode, we start talking about dust.
00:14:00
Speaker
The dust is...
00:14:04
Speaker
It's, I don't want to say what the dust is because I know that like at the end we kind of find out what dust is, but it's just, they they do, a lot of groups are doing experiments on this dust trying to figure out why it affects adults or clusters around adults and not children.
00:14:22
Speaker
It can only be seen through certain types of photography or different lenses. it is um a lot, to it it seems to be filtering it. Asriel, Uncle Asriel has discovered that it has seems to be filtering in through the Northern Lights.
00:14:42
Speaker
Or it comes from from space from somewhere.
Lyra's Family Revelation and Implications
00:14:45
Speaker
And the church, the magisterium that seems to control this this whole world seems to be under some sort of global theocracy, right? It's this, the magisterium controls everything, the church.
00:14:58
Speaker
And the church does not want people talking about dust. It's heresy to be talking about any of this stuff. And the master at Jordan College said, didn't want Asriel to present this because he knew it was going to bring attention to the college from the magisterium.
00:15:16
Speaker
Well, isn't he also presenting it because he wanted like additional funding or something? Right. He wanted more funding, and he knew that if he presented it, that the scholars would vote to give him the funding. But the master knew that if they gave him the funding, the magisterium would see that as them promoting heresy. And he also showed...
00:15:36
Speaker
in the northern lights like an image that he saw of possibly like another world or something exactly of of a city in the lights which he says is proof of other worlds and of course the magisterium doesn't want people talking about also i want to asriel being um oh my gosh i forgot james mcavoy oh my gosh crazy i did not expect that at once because you know i we love not looking up the actors going in well you both already seen the show but even i didn't remember that and i was like oh thanks i forgot yeah that was like thanks for the reminder that was the only thing i remembered i love him i do too love love love him absolutely i love him so i was like oh
00:16:22
Speaker
He's in this. This is so exciting because he is in the very first scene whenever he's bringing in Lyra as like a baby. And I was like, hello? he's going to be one of the main characters here?
00:16:34
Speaker
This is amazing. Right. The first episode also kind of gives away, i don't want to say Lyra's origin story because it sounds Sounds fancy when I say origin story.
00:16:46
Speaker
But it kind of does give Right. It does give away right away that Asriel is her father, not her uncle. But she's not been told this.
00:16:57
Speaker
I want to say, guess what? I predicted it. o I predicted it correctly. I knew it right away. Look at you. who you're You're getting there.
00:17:07
Speaker
you figure out who her mom was right away? Okay, so I figured it was a family member. i did not think mother. i did know She wasn't giving me mom energy. she was
Gyptians and Cultural Depictions
00:17:17
Speaker
She wasn't giving mother. Yeah, she was not giving mother. and i was like...
00:17:22
Speaker
I also think like the mother and also connected to Lord Asriel. was like still struggling with that. I thought that was a little weird. But for real. I totally was like, she's definitely related to her somehow.
00:17:40
Speaker
And Asriel is 100% her father. I knew that right away. And i was like, I can't wait to tell them that I found out. I knew it. I love it when you figure stuff out. I i know you can do it. Yes. know you can do it.
00:17:53
Speaker
So right away, we we kind of learn about that Lord Asriel has been in the North and that he wants to go back to the North. Right away, we learn that that's her dad.
00:18:04
Speaker
We also get to see a kind of a flash into in episode one of the Gyptians. And the Gyptians are this whole culture, this whole group of people who they live on canal boats.
00:18:19
Speaker
They... you know, they, they're kind of more of a nomadic group of people. And a lot of the time they're looked down on in the book. They are kind of like, honestly, it's, it's a whole commentary on the Romani people, the gypsies and how they were treated as less than.
00:18:42
Speaker
And so when the Egyptian children go missing, nobody cares to look for them. nobody Nobody cares, you know, and because they're thought of
Show Adaptation and Production Insights
00:18:54
Speaker
as less than. They're thought of as like the lowest of all the groups of people.
00:19:00
Speaker
But we get a peek of the Egyptian adulthood ritual, which I thought was really beautiful when Tony Costa's ah demon takes its final form as a hawk and they are they like the whole community comes together and sings to him and welcomes him in you know into adulthood and it was just really beautiful that's not in the book but i just thought that was a great little yeah nod to their culture something i really love about adaptations in general
00:19:32
Speaker
is the fact that we get to see their interpretations of things that would happen in the world or in the story that don't but we don't necessarily see on page.
00:19:44
Speaker
right um We get to see different perspectives of events that we hear about in the book. But we get to see that in the show or in the movie. Yeah. And we get to see that so much in this TV show, things that we heard that had happened or things that we would we would want to see.
00:20:03
Speaker
Exactly. And Philip Pullman, the author, was an executive producer on this project. And so I you know i couldn't find any specifics where he had a ton of input. But you can tell that That this really honored the book way better than the movie, but we'll get into that in part three.
00:20:23
Speaker
Yeah. in In a way that I think, again, honored the different representations of the different cultures, honored the storyline and the political intrigue and the the influence of the church on society. it was it They did a really good job, I thought.
00:20:38
Speaker
I will say that my my one comment is that this is done by Bad Wolf Production Company. And they're actually the same company that did Discovery of Witches.
00:20:51
Speaker
And I could tell immediately Right? Because I've watched Discovery Witches like a million times. It's one of my favorite adaptations. And I could tell immediately it was done by the same company. didn't even look it up.
00:21:05
Speaker
Just with the way it was shot and like the aesthetic of it and the music. Like you could just tell like, so if you like the show... And you like the vibes and you just like, hey because it's also a fantasy series as well, but it's more like urban fantasy. Like there's witches, vampires, things like that.
00:21:22
Speaker
If you like this show, you like the vibes, the aesthetic, how it's shot, everything. I highly, highly recommend checking out Discovery of Witches because like the vibes are there too. It's really, really good.
00:21:35
Speaker
For real? You sent me that book. I still haven't read it. Yeah, you need to because I know for 100% fact that you will love it. I probably will. There's time travel in it. Oh, well, then I
Lyra's Realization and Escape
00:21:46
Speaker
definitely will. Yeah.
00:21:48
Speaker
So we meet the Gyptians. Tony Costa comes of age. Billy Costa, who his younger brother, goes missing. In the book...
00:22:01
Speaker
Billy doesn't go missing yet. Billy does go missing. But in the the series kind of combines Billy with another character. i think but I understand why they did it.
00:22:12
Speaker
Yeah. But there was another character that we're introduced to a a young, just a ah street kid whose mom doesn't seem to really pay any attention to him. And he goes, he disappears. His name is Tony.
00:22:25
Speaker
Asriel goes back to the North with his funds from the college, leaves Lyra behind. She is devastated. Because that's all she wants. She wants to go to the North. She wants to go the North. She wants to go to the North with Uncle Asriel.
00:22:38
Speaker
We get a peek inside the magisterium. we We get a moment in this episode, in episode one, where we see a couple of...
Alethiometer and Lyra's Journey
00:22:49
Speaker
Priests.
00:22:50
Speaker
i I don't really know what to call them. i mean, it feels. Cardinals, priests. It's very, it's a lot of articles online talk about how this was specifically written to mirror the Catholic church.
00:23:06
Speaker
And I can kind of see that for sure. Philip Pullman in a couple articles just said organized religion as a whole. it it kind of represents, um but it was modeled more on the Catholic church just because it's a little bit broader reaching.
00:23:21
Speaker
um And at one point did have a lot more hold on law. So, and we meet Mrs. Coulter. Mrs. Coulter comes to the college for a visit and wants to meet Lyra.
00:23:37
Speaker
she, Lyra right away is just taken with her. Like here's this woman who seems to be some sort of scholar, seems to be some sort of adventurer. She's she's doing the things that the men are doing. So and she's not wearing like the dowdy attire of a lot of the other scholarly women that she's met. This is like a fashionable, exciting woman.
00:24:01
Speaker
and so right away, Lyra is really excited when Mrs. Coulter offers her the opportunity to be her assistant and go with her.
00:24:10
Speaker
Lyra says she'll go on the condition that Roger can come to, but she can't find Roger. Right away, she feels like something's wrong, but the master has called her into his office before she leaves to say goodbye and to give her one gift to take with her, a secret. Don't tell anyone about it.
00:24:32
Speaker
It's an alethiometer. It tells you the truth. And This is where the name The Golden Compass comes from. The Golden Compass originally was supposed to be the title of the entire trilogy.
00:24:45
Speaker
But then he decided, the author decided to go with his dark materials, but the publishers in the United States love the title so much. That's how we got the title The Golden Compass instead of Northern Lights for the U.S. version of the book.
00:24:57
Speaker
However, this is where Lyra gets the alethiometer. So she goes running after to find Roger one more time before she leaves. Mrs. Coulter says, if you can't find him, i promise I'll help you find him with my resources in London. But you have to come with me.
00:25:13
Speaker
Lyra goes one more time back up to her room and decides to use, try the alethiometer. know how to use it, but she knows it tells her the truth. And let me tell you, this moment was so for real. but She just opens it up and she's like, where is Roger? yeah Like a magic eight ball. It was so perfect.
00:25:31
Speaker
Where is Roger? I could just imagine like handing someone from Lyra's world a cell phone and just being like, oh, you can talk to people on it.
00:25:42
Speaker
would be the same thing. you know, they don't know what to do and She didn't know what to do. This poor kid. She just looked at it and started talking to it. Nothing happens, of course. But then she decides to run to the airship, which is some sort of blimp thing.
00:25:58
Speaker
and And jump on board. And that's the end of episode one. Can we talk about like the demons in the show? I was so curious how these they were going to look in the show.
00:26:08
Speaker
And I think they did these so well. Like they were so immediately i'm like attached to all of them. Right. yeah Immediately I'm so invested and attached to all of them. I don't want any harm to come to any of them.
Demons: Symbolism and Show Portrayal
00:26:22
Speaker
and Then I see this monkey that's Mrs. Coulter's demon and that monkey was freaking me out. That golden monkey? That golden monkey's like the the eyes were very human-like on the monkey and it was kind of freaky. i don't know how you guys felt about it, but it was kind of scaring me.
00:26:43
Speaker
the The golden monkey is creepy. It's supposed to be creepy. Yeah. I know. i know. I'm saying they did that well. But they did it so well. What I what i think is interesting about the demons in the book or in the show is that the demons talk. They have names. They're they're they're fully sentient beings.
00:27:02
Speaker
These are not animals. They they look like animals, but they're not animals. They're they're a soul. And- they They talk to they're their person, their bond.
00:27:16
Speaker
They talk to other demons. They don't usually talk directly to other people unless it's a very intimate you know relationship to begin with. but and And you should never address anyone else's demon. Yeah. Yeah, you shouldn't touch them that. You should never touch them. They're very... It is a very intimate bond between person and their demon. And it's taken very seriously.
00:27:44
Speaker
Demons can't go too far from their person. They they can't be separated by like too much distance even. Like, even across, you know, a house or across a room might be too far.
00:27:58
Speaker
They... There's lots of unspoken rules around the etiquette with demons, but they're they're really, they're expressive. And the way your demon is acting, if your demon is kind of pacing and being agitated, then it's a tell about how you're feeling.
Mrs. Coulter's Enigma and Actor Performances
00:28:14
Speaker
So people kind of take those clues in.
00:28:17
Speaker
And Mrs. Coulter's golden freaking monkey demon never speaks, never speaks. We never learn its name. And they hardly ever are close enough to like cuddle or be near each other. And a lot of other people have their demons on their shoulders or, yeah you know. Well, it tries to. Like it tri tries to connect to her.
00:28:41
Speaker
Well, i have I have a theory about about it. Okay. Tell us theory. I have a theory that she's like a witch. Yeah. I considered that too.
00:28:51
Speaker
So I'll be honest with you. This is a reread for me. I don't remember. So I'm not going to spoil it for you. have a theory she's a witch because and she's able to go really far from. She's able to go far from her demon.
00:29:03
Speaker
But the witches still have a relationship with their demons. They still yeah can can speak and soul bond, you know. well Whereas Mrs. Coulter doesn't seem to care about her demon at all.
00:29:17
Speaker
I had another theory Okay. You make me nervous when you laugh. So, which which was totally proven wrong throughout this entire book.
00:29:28
Speaker
by Okay. oh I should probably bring up this theory a little bit later, actually, because it kind of spoils what ok we're going to Okay, pretend you didn't say anything. Okay, okay. Rewind. Rewind. I will say it's the return of Kit Conner, too.
00:29:41
Speaker
Yes. Yes. I just realized that because that is the voice of pan Yep. And he was Bright Bill in the Wild Robot. Yeah. And I want to say that they make, like you said, the demons are supposed to be very expressive.
00:29:57
Speaker
And the show does that really well yeah with the demons. They make that their faces super expressive. so But i was I was, every time when I saw a person, I was looking for their demon.
00:30:08
Speaker
Every time. Every time. And, you know, they weren't always there. They weren't always there. no i but you has i like There were a couple of times, though, that like people had like snake demons that were like inside down their sleeve or bug demons, insects, and they would be like just sitting on their neck or in their hair. And so they weren't necessarily like super noticeable.
00:30:31
Speaker
There were a few times that I was like, where's the demon? Yeah, where's your demon at, You ain't got no skull. and Sir, where is your demon? There was one person that was like... walking like a husky dog whenever it was like one of the Egyptians that was like walking as they were traveling they were walking in on on a leash and I was like that can't be their demon because you know I was thinking that whenever you see like an actual animal this how do you know it's a demon versus an animal like if you go up to an animal and you're like hey and it doesn't talk back you're like oh so you're an actual animal gotcha and look no I totally wondered that too also why didn't
00:31:11
Speaker
We didn't see any like... really big demons. I'm over here like... I was thinking that too. I think that was like a cop-out. Why didn't you turn into a tiger? Why didn't you turn into an elephant? Why didn't you turn into a dragon if you can turn into whatever you want? Like, there were a handful of times that I was like, y'all supposed to be fighting and you're pretending to be a rat right now? Like, come on.
00:31:32
Speaker
You can shift still. Shift into something useful. You're telling me that nobody needs... Like, they're the demon that they need isn't like something crazy? like... like Like is a demon, you know how like certain animals are native to certain areas and there's certain natural habitats.
00:31:51
Speaker
Like so because I was born and in Michigan, am i is my demon only going to be something that's native to Michigan or can I have a demon that's a flamingo?
00:32:03
Speaker
You know what I mean? You're telling me no one that lives in that area yet doesn't have a demon that's like an armored bear? Right. Oh my God. That'd be so cool. You know what I mean, though? Like, is that not possible?
00:32:14
Speaker
I don't know. Well, I wonder if there's, like, any correlation to, like, you don't become a demon when there's, like, predators that are, like, competitive.
00:32:25
Speaker
That could be competitive with them in the area or something like that. don't know. Maybe I'm looking too deep into this. we Maybe it's not that serious. Okay. It's probably not, but it's still fun to think about.
Episode Two Developments and Character Interactions
00:32:37
Speaker
Yeah. Okay, so episode two. We get a tour. we We arrive in London and we get a tour of Mrs. Coulter's flat, which is just this super opulent, luxurious, like nothing Lyra and Pan have ever seen before. And they are so excited to be there.
00:32:56
Speaker
Mrs. Coulter again has promised that she's going to help Lyra find Roger, that she's going to use all of her resources in London because obviously the Gobblers are taking children back to London. The London's a big city that they can hide better in a big city.
00:33:13
Speaker
So we flash to Roger and Billy who are being held in some crappy rundown little warehouse type place.
00:33:25
Speaker
And then we flash to the Egyptians who are already planning to try and find these children. They're already attempting to get more information, to figure out where they're going, to kind of track the movements of these suspicious people.
00:33:42
Speaker
And they get a clue as to where they might be holding the children and they go break in And the children are already gone, but they do find Billy's sweater. And so they know they're on the right track.
00:33:56
Speaker
That does not happen in the book at all. But I do, i I feel like it could have though, right? Because we find out that the Egyptians have been tracking the movements of the gobblers. They have been tracking all these children, these Egyptian children that have been have been missing.
00:34:15
Speaker
And so it could have happened in the book and or like in that story, in that world. i didn't It didn't feel too out of place for me.
00:34:23
Speaker
We flash back to the master at Jordan College who's being threatened by the magisterium. Like, why did you give Lord Asriel his funding?
00:34:39
Speaker
And what did you do with the head of this other explorer that he so apparently brought back because we need to prove that it was him? And they're like, well, it's already been treated and it's already in the crypt where it's supposed to be as a scholar of Jordan College.
00:34:52
Speaker
And the magisterial the guy from the Magisterium, Boreal, is like, I want to examine it. um I will say I like that the Magisterium was more involved in the TV show just for like context purposes. Yeah.
00:35:08
Speaker
I feel like it made it feel... Because the Magisterium, we're going to find out in the next book or two a lot more of their movements. But it comes as kind of a shock. We don't really... but you know, they explain it a little bit in in Northern Lights, in The Golden Compass, about how...
00:35:28
Speaker
The general ablation board that we find out Mrs. Coulter is running and a couple other different organizations are in fact all being funded by the magisterium. And so we kind of hear in the book that the and magisterium has their hands in a lot of different things because if one of them works, they can say like, look, we knew all along. But if any of them fail, they can turn around and say, we have no idea what those what they were up to. It's heresy. We didn't know they were going to do that.
00:35:59
Speaker
whatever yeah because the book is all in lyra's perspective and it's what lyra is learning as she goes and lyra is 12 yeah she's a child you know what mean she's child so her perspective is not gonna tell us the whole story so i really did love that they brought a little bit more of it in in the show so that we get a little bit better idea of what's happening mm-hmm But we do get another flash into the magisterium where I wrote priest dudes talking about gob.
00:36:33
Speaker
um where Where some priests are talking about the general ablation board, which is the first time that we we hear that term. And that it's making too much noise. It's drawing too much attention. We might have to do something about it. ah Pan and Lyra start to hear noises within the apartment at night.
00:36:54
Speaker
kind of trying to figure out what that is. And then we see Lord Boreal, the magisterium dude that was threatening the master at Jordan, walk through a gate into a different world.
00:37:08
Speaker
And it's our world. This obviously doesn't happen in the book. We don't get much more than that flash of him walking through the gate, coming into a world That's obviously ours. There's cars and stuff. You know what i mean? So we're like, wait a minute, what's going on here? That's not in the book.
00:37:30
Speaker
But that's really all we get. And he gets parking tickets. And he gets parking tickets. I mean, there's no telling on how long he left that car sitting there, though.
00:37:41
Speaker
Lyra listens in on Mrs. Coulter talking with Father McPhail. Instantly... Mrs. Coulter is like peeved and agitated, but, you know, she shows Father MacPhail and his buddy out.
00:37:58
Speaker
And then the golden monkey goes after Pan. and there's Like a switch. like Like just a switch is flipped.
00:38:08
Speaker
That settles and Mrs. Coulter basically slips to Lyra who her real dad is. In the book, The Egyptians explain to Lyra who her dad is later on.
00:38:22
Speaker
So the fact that she learns this this quickly – I mean, doesn't hurt, but I don't i don't feel like it had quite the same impact personally.
00:38:34
Speaker
Also, like, I think this is good to note, is that when you attack the demon, it literally... The human feels it. The human feels everything. Like, the monkey literally, like, grabbed the demon, like, by the neck, grabbed Pam by the neck, and, like, she's immediately, like, laying on the ground done. Mm-hmm.
00:38:56
Speaker
Yep. Yeah, and when one dies, the other dies. Yep. And the way Mrs. Coulter was yelling... And the monkey attacked. Mm-hmm.
00:39:07
Speaker
That actress, Ruth Wilson, I believe her name is. Yeah. Yep. She was so good in this. So good. like perfect. Perfect.
00:39:20
Speaker
It is shocking how good she was. Because we don't get a ton for about Miss Coulter from the book other than, again, from Lyra's perspective, right? We don't know her thoughts or her feelings.
00:39:33
Speaker
And watching her in the show like... like
00:39:45
Speaker
almost this super strong, super independent, super forceful and manipulative.
Lyra's Growing Skills and Emotional Stakes
00:39:53
Speaker
And then you can kind of start to see, see the surface cracks as she begins to love Lyra, but she fights it. She doesn't want to, she doesn't want to love Lyra like that. She doesn't want to become and more involved in this child than she has to be other than to groom this child to be more like her.
00:40:13
Speaker
That's, that's the ultimate goal. And so to see those – yeah, that actress did an amazing job. Yeah, her ability to have, like, this rollercoaster of emotions within, like, a few, like, frames and seeing it just all on her face.
00:40:28
Speaker
Just on her face. Yeah. Because she doesn't why say any of this. She doesn't even move or – it's just – it's pretty amazing. So this is when Lyra and Pan officially decide that, like, okay, we can't trust this woman anymore.
00:40:43
Speaker
She's clearly not helping to find Roger. She's clearly trying to manipulate us. She's not actually teaching us anything. She's not going to take us north. She's not going to do any of this with us.
00:40:56
Speaker
And so there's a cocktail party. And Lyra uses the opportunity and the distraction of the cocktail party to escape.
00:41:08
Speaker
the At the same time, we kind of flash to... The gobblers are moving the kids. They're going to take them north. And now Lyra's on the run.
00:41:20
Speaker
And we're in episode three. Episode three, Mrs. Coulter has the magisterium just trash Jordan College because she's looking for Lyra.
00:41:32
Speaker
And she knows, she she kind of can tell from what the master says that Lyra's not there, but she trashes the place anyways. Has them rip everything apart. Lyra gets, they attempt to capture Lyra in London on the run still, but the Gyptians interrupt the attack and Lyra recognizes Tony Costa right away and Ma Costa.
00:41:57
Speaker
And let me tell you in the show, Ma Costa had me messed up more than once. bawled at Ma Costa and her love and her grief and her rage and her everything she just and that was a lot for me but lyra joins up with my with the egyptians ma costa kind of takes her under her wing and says like this is you're with us now lyra tells the egyptians what she knows basically mrs coulter
00:42:36
Speaker
Is like the head of the Gobblers. the the The GOB. And. She's taking these kids. she's she's They're doing experiments on these kids. But she doesn't know what they're doing. Right.
00:42:50
Speaker
We flash to. Lord Boreal. Now he doesn't just have tickets. The car's been booted. um Can't go anywhere. We find out that he's spying on.
00:43:03
Speaker
a
00:43:06
Speaker
he's trying to find a man and he, he has a picture and it's, we know that it's this Gorman dude, Gorman, whatever his name was, the explorer that Asriel told Jordan college was dead and brought the head back.
00:43:26
Speaker
But Lord Boreal seems to think that this guy isn't, isn't In his world anymore, that this guy has crossed over into our world and and had a family. And so he he's paid and someone else kind of find this man. And the man says, well, I can't find him, but I found his wife and his kid.
00:43:46
Speaker
And so now Boreal is spying on them or trying to find out more about them. The Egyptians have a gathering called the Roping where they all get together. All the different tribes from all over the world come together. They discuss the fact that their children are missing and they decide what they're going to do.
00:44:05
Speaker
And they decide that they're going to go after these gobblers. They're going to go north and they're going to find these children. This is where Fadrkorum, who is like an elder of the Egyptians. He's not the king of the Egyptians. That's Jon Fah, who's...
00:44:22
Speaker
pretty cool but fodder quorum is like an elder and and lyra seems to really kind of have a connection with him and shares with him and john fa that she has the alethiometer and fodder quorum sits with her and talks with her about you know, like what the symbols could mean and how to use it. And Lyra begins to start really understanding the symbols more intuitively, knowing what these symbols mean. And she's able to answer a lot of questions correctly when asked at this point. She's getting really good at it. And John Fah...
00:45:07
Speaker
And fodder quorum kind of decide that Lyra is really important and special and needs to come with them. Because usually people need like the books or something to be able to learn how to read compare this to tarot cards, right? Like when you're trying to learn and figure out tarot cards, there are a billion different meanings to one symbol on each card and there's 20 freaking symbols on a card, you know?
00:45:31
Speaker
and And, you know, you see even like the sun, it could mean hot, it could mean bright, it could mean fresh and new, it can mean clean, it can mean a million different things. And depending on which symbol you saw first, it could mean something else.
00:45:46
Speaker
and And that's why like the adults when they read... the alethiometer, they need all these books. And there's tons of books with tons of different meanings. And without the books, it's kind of useless.
00:45:57
Speaker
But Lyra has this intuitive um just just ability to to read this. And she falls into a very calm state. And they talk about it in the book, her almost trance-like state.
00:46:10
Speaker
And she says it's like she knows which meaning it is because as she reaches down in her mind for the meaning, She feels when her mind hits the right spot, kind of like when you're stepping backwards down a ladder and your foot finds the right rung.
00:46:27
Speaker
And so fodder quorum starts to really nurture this in her, like starts to really talk more about her to or to her with it, talk more about how to use it or when to use it or what types of questions to ask or what types of information would be helpful.
00:46:42
Speaker
um You know, a lot of other people seem to be a little leery of it. It's definitely... Not a good thing to be found with. the church The magisterium is supposed to have control of all of them.
00:46:54
Speaker
And so it remains hidden. This is also when Tony Costa and Benjamin, whose name I can't remember, from the Gyptians decide to go on a spy run. In the book, they go on a spy run.
00:47:05
Speaker
In the show, they go to Mrs. Coulter's house. Mm-hmm. And Benjamin ends up dying on the run. And Lyra finds out about it through asking the alethiometer and tells John Faw.
00:47:21
Speaker
And just as the news is coming to them, they find out that Benjamin's still missing and then they find out that he has died. Every single time someone dies with their demon, I'm crying. Absolutely. Crying every single Absolutely. Like, I didn't really – this is – it emotionally affected me in the book.
00:47:40
Speaker
Like, I did, like, tear up. Seeing in the show, was bawling my eyes out. I want to cry right now and just thinking about it. Oh, it it was – It was awful.
00:47:55
Speaker
Yeah, like when they die and then the demon like puffs up into like... Dust. Dust, basically. and it's like, oh my gosh, it's just so emotional. And like their bond, like bonds in fantasy are so, and like we were just talking about this, are so important and so significant. And I'm just imagining that bond breaking is like, makes me so emotional. yeah I hate it. i literally hate it so much. It's a rough one.
Preparing for the Northern Journey
00:48:24
Speaker
Episode four, the Gyptians are on the move. They're heading to Trollocent to hopefully get in contact with the witches Serafina Pekela, the queen of the witches, who Father Quorum has known in the past.
00:48:40
Speaker
i I need a Father Quorum and Serafina book. right i need their whole freaking lately i need that whole book and all their lore abso-freaking-lutely in the show oh my gosh him getting emotional when he would see her in the show i teared up oh it was so good it was was so good it was so good he did that oh my gosh i was living for it absolutely So they end up in Trellison. They're getting supplies. They're getting ready to to get sled dogs and get everything to to really hike across the the Arctic.
00:49:18
Speaker
When they meet up with a Texas aeronaut, Lee Scoresby. played by lin-manuel miranda he's back he's back they're everywhere and his demon hester who is like a long-eared rabbit type thing his his texas accent was sending me it was hilarious it was it was something it was something He was trying. He was trying. But you know, it's ah it's a fantasy and it's not a real Texas. It's whatever world this is, Texas. So yeah, the country of Texas.
00:49:57
Speaker
The country of Texas. He, I will say, one of my favorite characters in the book. Absolutely. Just because he's a character. He's a character.
00:50:07
Speaker
They meet up with Lee Scoresby. He is an aeronaut. He has a hot air balloon. And the Gyptians decide, you know what? Why not? We could we could use some aerial support.
00:50:19
Speaker
So they hire him. And he kind of convinces Lyra to use the alethiometer. To help his buddy York.
00:50:32
Speaker
Who is an armored bear. Who the witches. The consulate. At the witch's office I guess. Kind of told them that there's an armored bear in town. And you might want to secure his services if you can.
00:50:45
Speaker
York Berenensen. Has no intention whatsoever. Of leaving with them. Because it turns out the townspeople have his armor. And he's not going anywhere without that armor. and So Lee Scoresby.
00:50:57
Speaker
Convinces Lyra. to use the elitheometer, find out where the armor is, and go tell Yorick right away because they will move it if they think he knows where it is.
00:51:09
Speaker
So she does. Yorick goes and gets the armor and is forever indebted to Lyra at this point.
Closing and Part Two Announcement
00:51:16
Speaker
I love the armored bears. Mm-hmm. The Pastor Bjorn are just like the coolest.
00:51:21
Speaker
They don't have demons. They are they arere big, giant, huge, white polar bears with massive hands, but they can work metal, right? They have Dexter's paws that act as hands and can work metal. And so they are like revered for their metal work.
00:51:39
Speaker
But they're also really combative, super tough, super strong. And they will fight for whoever's willing to pay them. they hired them a bear. And now that the gang's all here, it's time to head north.
00:51:51
Speaker
And it's time for us to wrap up part one Of our coverage of the Golden Compass, his dark materials, northern lights, whatever we're calling it. Yeah.
00:52:04
Speaker
Don't forget to follow us on all of our socials for more thoughts and insights. We have Blue Sky Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. Of course, you can watch our beautiful faces on YouTube, which is where you'll find us for part two.
00:52:17
Speaker
And we'll see you then. Bye. Bye.