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S2:E19 Part 3 - The Golden Compass (2007 Film)
11 Plays6 hours ago
Bonus! We couldn't discuss His Dark Materials without also covering what we thought of the 2007 movie! In this episode we discuss The Golden Compass, the casting, the author's thoughts, and how it holds up to the BBC/HBO series.
Hosted by Crystal with co-hosts Keri and Lindsey.
Books & Adaptations Mentioned:
- The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
- The Golden Compass (2007 Film)
- The Inheritance Cycle Series by Christopher Paolini
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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
(04:09) Book vs Series vs Movie Comparison
(28:09) Final Verdicts
(35:07) Making Predictions
Recommended
Transcript
Introductions and Personal Quirks
00:00:09
Speaker
the podcast with a soul, or at least most of one, we think. My name is Crystal, and I don't really like monkeys. I'm Carrie, and I think I need a break from all of this dust.
00:00:24
Speaker
And I'm Lindsay, but you can call me Ragnar, because my jaw was on the floor.
'His Dark Materials' Movie Overview
00:00:29
Speaker
Okay, so so this is part three of our coverage of His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman, the first book, Northern Lights or Golden Compass, the series um on BBC and HBO.
00:00:44
Speaker
And today we're going to talk about the movie, the 2007 movie, starring Nicole Kidman, Sam Elliott, Daniel Craig, and Dakota Blue Richards as Lyra Belacroix.
Plot and Audience Expectations
00:01:00
Speaker
If you don't know anything about this story, Northern Lights or the Golden Compass follows the orphan Lyra Belacroix as she unwittingly uncovers hidden political plots and theological experiments while attempting to rescue her best friend.
00:01:17
Speaker
Again, this is part three. We are going to have lots of spoilers. In parts one and two we discussed the series. We discussed the whole book, the whole plot from start to finish.
00:01:32
Speaker
Please go back and listen to that if you haven't yet, because we're probably going to ruin it for you in this episode if you don't. so having said that, ladies, what'd you think?
00:01:50
Speaker
Of the movie? Of the movie.
00:01:54
Speaker
like okay so I was really comparing this to the Percy Jackson movie ye and how I felt about that because it was kind of like a similar situation where watched this whole series, enjoyed it a lot, and then I was going to be watching a movie adaptation.
00:02:20
Speaker
That was done way before the TV series came out. who So i was but I had very low expectations going in. I didn't hate this as much as I hated the Percy Jackson movie. That's fair.
00:02:36
Speaker
yeah I didn't hate it. I could tell that the purpose was a lot different in the movie compared to the TV show. The movie had...
00:02:49
Speaker
You could tell that it was for a younger audience compared to the TV show.
Movie Adaptation Critique
00:02:55
Speaker
Like the movie was grasping what like, like the middle grade audience, in my opinion, like how the book, I mean, the book does have a lot of dark elements in it, but it is written for middle grade.
00:03:11
Speaker
Right. And I could see that they were trying to make it a tiny bit lighter yeah the movie. Yeah. But the TV show felt very dark. They were really grasping on all the political themes in the show and grasping onto to those very dark elements in the show.
00:03:30
Speaker
But the movie was much lighter. But I was okay for like a good 50%. I was like, okay, this isn't that bad. like This is actually somewhat enjoyable. Last 50%, I was like, what the hell is going on?
00:03:44
Speaker
The plot is changing, and i Do not like this. And they changed they changed characters' names. Mm-hmm. What was that?
00:03:56
Speaker
What was that? Yeah. Right? Mm-hmm. Lindsay, what did you think of the the movie versus the the show and your experience thereof? Yeah. I also went in with super low expectations.
00:04:11
Speaker
I remember there being a lot of controversy around the movie when it originally came out. I never saw it. Literally, the the opening scene, I was like, oh, you know, this isn't so bad. I feel like this is really fitting with the plot of the book. They're pulling out some stuff that the show the the TV series didn't cover.
00:04:29
Speaker
was like, this might be okay. And then, yeah, things just started changing and it just got weird. Yeah. I think I kind of feel the same way. Like I remember because I, i again, I had read the books not long after they had all come out anyways.
00:04:46
Speaker
And so, you know, I watched this movie. which was not long after that. This movie came out in 2007. The last book, I believe, came out in 2005. So it's not like it was, or even in 2000.
00:04:58
Speaker
But it was it wasn't like it was like far apart, right? And so I was kind of excited to watch the movie. And at first I was like, Nicole Kidman's in this. And she looks like Mrs. Coulter. like She just has this...
00:05:11
Speaker
she just has this She just really embodies the character really well. And so, you know, she was on all the posters. I was really excited, you know, to see this. And, you know, it does open very similarly to the show, right? It kind of gives us a quick rundown of like in this, you know, in there are many, you know, worlds, alternate reality, you know, universes.
00:05:36
Speaker
And in in this world, their souls live outside their body in the form of an animal in the form of a demon. Right. but It kind of tells us that. And it opens up on Lyra running around goofing off with Roger, just like the show did.
00:05:50
Speaker
And so I was kind of excited. and then about 45 minutes in, I was going, what's happening? what where Where are we going? How? That's not supposed to happen yet. you know and they really The pacing of the movie.
00:06:09
Speaker
Right? Yeah. So fast. And I know we just watched the show. i know they're able to do more and include more and draw it out more. But the movie was just so fast paced.
00:06:20
Speaker
And the author, Philip Pullman, did say in in a couple of different interviews that he knew they were going to have to leave a lot of things out in order to fit the format.
00:06:32
Speaker
You know, it's you can't put... a 300 plus page book into a two hour movie and get every single detail. It's just not Especially fantasy book. Right. And so he knew that he was okay with it. He wasn't mad about it.
00:06:47
Speaker
You know, especially like they did the same thing in the movie as they did the show, taking out the random kid, Tony, and replacing that with Billy Costa. know yeah You know, so...
00:06:59
Speaker
like A lot of similar things were were changed, but ultimately they they changed the the timeline and the the kind of elements of the story around so much. And then they really left out a lot of the the religious aspects of the show or of the story.
00:07:20
Speaker
and Philip Pullman was quoted as saying, like, they were true to the story. They just left out its soul. Which considering... the topic of the book, like, that's a, it's a big deal. Yeah, that, honestly, i feel that completely.
00:07:37
Speaker
Like, you can tell, like, compared to the TV show, the TV show had a lot of heart, had a lot of soul in it, and i had a lot of passion behind the project.
00:07:50
Speaker
The movie felt so surface level that, I mean, even when it came to, like, the alethiometer and how that they produced the alethiometer and showed how worked it was like giving like that's so raven visions in the alethiometer like they're like and she's like staring off and we're like seeing that like that's not how the alethiometer like works kind of you know what i mean that's not exactly how it works but they were like
00:08:24
Speaker
I don't know. They were like Disney-fying it. I don't know. They were really heavy on the graphics and heavy on the action scenes. Yes. Yeah. And they left out a lot of the intrigue, which is a lot of what the story is. Yeah.
00:08:40
Speaker
I also felt like they spoon-fed us a lot of the plot. Totally. Whereas, you know, we are – the book is from Lyra's point of view – And so we get a lot of problem solving.
00:08:55
Speaker
We get a lot of thinking things through. we get a lot of putting pieces together, you know, as we go. And i feel like the movie just...
00:09:07
Speaker
just just gave us all these answers right off the bat rather than letting Lyra figure them out, letting us figure them out. Also kind of changing Lyra's character in general. Like, for example, um she's very smart.
00:09:24
Speaker
Like, she's a very smart girl and very, like, curious and very strategic. And, for example, whenever she goes to...
00:09:38
Speaker
The one bear. I can't think of his name right now. you ah oh The other one. Jofur. Jofur Ragnar. in yeah Yeah. When she goes to him and
Casting and Character Portrayal
00:09:50
Speaker
she comes in the book, she comes up with this entire plan in order to, you know, get out of the situation.
00:09:58
Speaker
But that plan in the movie, they switched it up to where the plan was actually put into her head by Mrs. Coulter instead of her coming it up coming up with it on her own. Exactly.
00:10:10
Speaker
It's very, i feel like Lyra in the book and in the show, she's also super precocious. She doesn't necessarily respect her elders the way she's supposed to. She's a bit of a troublemaker in in the best way, you know.
00:10:26
Speaker
But in the movie, I don't know how many times she was like, thank you so much. I, you know, I appreciate you. We're all, you know, like, respectfully, you know, it was just like that.
00:10:38
Speaker
Lyra ain't respectful ever. You know what I mean? she yeah She hasn't gotten to that point yet. She's still a kid and she loves to tell tall tales and she loves to prank and goof off and be silly.
00:10:51
Speaker
And I feel like in the movie, we saw a slightly more well-mannered child, which was kind of weird to me. I will say that the girl who plays Lyra in the show, i think her name is Daphne Keene. Mm-hmm.
00:11:06
Speaker
She does such a good... I don't think we talked about this in the parts one and two, but she does such an incredible job. Yeah. Like, she... I haven't seen her in anything else that I can remember, but her in that entire season, like i'm very excited to see the other seasons in that show because she just is... I love watching her.
00:11:30
Speaker
Like, she's very good and plays a great Lyra. And honestly, you know, the next two seasons... You know, we are going to cover them, but we're going to have to wait to cover them. And i it's kind of killing me already because I've seen it before. I love it. It's really good.
00:11:46
Speaker
It's one of those and that a lot of people are actually kind of mad that there isn't a season for. And like BBC, Philip Pullman, HBO, they're all like, because there's no book for Yeah. the it's The show's done because the seat the the books are done. but you Yeah. And we don't want that. We don't want them making up more stuff that doesn't exist. Exactly. Exactly.
00:12:08
Speaker
There is another book, I believe, called Lyra's Jordan that tells us some some more stories about Lyra. I have not read that one and it is not a part of the trilogy at all. It doesn't affect anything or change anything.
00:12:22
Speaker
So I don't see how they could even make that into a... Yeah. Into different. I have seen like stuff about different prequels and things. But what did you guys think about like how they ended it in the movie though?
00:12:33
Speaker
Because the ending was crazy. They changed the ending on purpose. And this might. This might change how you feel about it a little bit.
00:12:44
Speaker
They were going to make a second movie. Yeah. Yeah. You can tell. They decided to end part the The first movie, a little bit before the actual ending of the book or of the show, if you've if you've read the book or watched the show, they end the movie right after the Bullvanger escape and before they head to Svalbard to get as lord Asriel.
00:13:14
Speaker
And they do that because they thought that it would make for a smoother transition into the storyline of the next book movie going through the the gate or whatever.
00:13:32
Speaker
and then moving into that next storyline with with Will Perry. Obviously, there is no movie too. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. It's like there's no second movie. So then you just have this cliffhanger for no reason.
00:13:47
Speaker
That's unfortunate. That's because the movie bombed in the US. Yeah. It sure did. Because it had no soul. Yeah. it It really didn't. We don't really understand. It had many popular people in it.
00:14:00
Speaker
And again, goes back to the Percy Jackson movie. yeah It doesn't matter how great your cast is. If you have a crap screenplay, there's, there's no, there is no James Bond in the world that could save this movie. No Pierce Brosnan. No Daniel Craig. It just ain't gonna happen.
00:14:22
Speaker
but No James Bond as a half horse. Not even him as a half horse can save this. Nope. What I did love are the voice actors in the movie, though. um We have Ian McKellen as Yorick Bearnins in the Armored Bear. That was like chef's kiss. That was good.
00:14:42
Speaker
And then Kathy Bates as Hester, who is Lee Scoresby's demon. like that was that She doesn't have a ton of lines, but it was still like... Wow. Okay. I'll take it.
00:14:54
Speaker
Yeah. Also, Sam Elliott is Lee Scoresby. I was not upset about that. Perfect. That was pretty nice. Honestly, thought that I saw more familiars in the movie than I did in the show.
00:15:09
Speaker
Yes. I actually saw more animals. More more demons. yeah Yeah. I was actually like, paying attention to that a lot in the show and like trying to make sure everyone had their demon because that would be like something that's very hard to ensure in like a tv show because that's in this world that's how it is and i was making sure that in the movie as well and i actually noticed they were on top of it more in the movie than they were in the show I feel like though in the show they they kind of again they worked in more of the like the potential for insect demons didn't see any of those in the movie they were all somehow furry or feathered you know.
00:15:54
Speaker
I think Pan was a moth a couple of times, but yeah I think that was the only one. Exactly. And so I feel like that in a way that was a really good thing because the movie represented this world a little bit better visually because of that.
00:16:09
Speaker
In the show, the journalist had like a moth or like a butterfly or something. Butterfly. Yeah. Yeah. and There were a lot of changes between the movie and the book. Again, you know, we knew it would probably happen, but there were definitely some big ones.
00:16:32
Speaker
the The biggest one to me is is changing Joffre's name to Ragnar. is But apparently that was because they didn't think that American audiences would understand the difference between Yorick and Joffre.
00:16:45
Speaker
That we might not hear the difference.
00:16:49
Speaker
i I like Ian McShane, who did the voice of Ragnar. He's really good. And that's, you know, we had, again, we had a great cast. We had a great cast.
00:17:03
Speaker
I mean, ah well, we didn't even talk about how in the book we have two Tonys. In the book we have two Tonys. But that didn't that didn't bother me near as much as it bothers you. I know it drives you insane, but...
00:17:17
Speaker
I cannot believe that they had two characters with the same name that was two completely different people in one book.
00:17:28
Speaker
I remember getting to the second Tony in the book and the first thing I thought was, what's your name? Tony!
00:17:44
Speaker
yep yu I was literally so upset because I was like, this is just a complete mindfuck right now. Like, I cannot. i was like, I thought this person was kidnapped. I thought this person.
00:18:00
Speaker
i i don't know what's happening. I thought... Because Tony in the book, he's the one that actually died. Right. and Second Tony. And then all of a sudden we have a Tony. He's talking again. And I'm like, well, wait a minute. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Back up, back up.
00:18:17
Speaker
Different Tony. Yeah. There's than one Tony. Just like there's more than one Crystal in the world. More than one Carrie. Okay, but this isn't real life. This is a fantasy book. This is not real life.
00:18:29
Speaker
I get it. i do. i get it. we couldn't think of any. yet Like, I already struggle when we have similar names, like super similar, like names in books.
00:18:41
Speaker
Yeah. I'm like, oh, come on. Especially like fantasy books. Like they do that a lot. But the same exact name. Aragorn, Aragorn, Aragorn. Like, yeah. no i get it. The same exact name is crazy. Yeah.
00:18:54
Speaker
I couldn't believe it. ah So we did, but that was the same from the movie as it was to the show, getting rid of that Tony. So that made sense. Because they knew, they knew it was a bad idea.
00:19:06
Speaker
I messaged you guys. ah Is it just me or they're two Tonys? Maybe, maybe
00:19:17
Speaker
One of the other reasons they they ended it the way they did though is because they wanted to leave it on an upbeat ending.
Screenplay and Thematic Changes
00:19:24
Speaker
Yeah, I mean- Because let's face it, the ending of the book and the ending of the show, they are not a beat.
00:19:30
Speaker
Well, they were Disney-fying. Yeah, they were Disney-fying that movie. You could tell. They were making it very Disney-like. And they were trying to- to of pressure from the church to leave out a lot of the religious overtones of the magisterium and so like we don't even really understand in the movie what the magisterium is.
00:19:53
Speaker
um They don't, we know that dust is something that they're upset about, but we have no idea why they're upset about it. In fact, I don't think they ever mention like in detail what the whole dust situation is. They kind of gently gloss over it.
00:20:09
Speaker
um We get, i don't think we saw outside of Billy any of the kids without their demons. Do we? I don't remember.
00:20:22
Speaker
No, that that was like complete. Well, honestly, you know what really drove me so crazy was whenever. so they switched around the timelines, right?
00:20:33
Speaker
Right. And where after she like she was supposed to be taken by the gobblers and taking to that place.
00:20:44
Speaker
hmm. And then York saves her from there. And then, you know, they go in the hot air balloon and then, you know, and then they crash. Right. Yeah. Then he fights Yopher or whatever.
00:20:56
Speaker
Yeah. But that all gets mixed up to where the bear fight happens first. And then she travels to that location and she walks up to the front doors. And it's like, I'm Let me in.
00:21:10
Speaker
Yeah. Let me in the north. Yeah.
00:21:15
Speaker
Open this door! I'll throw a box through your window, you dumb
00:21:25
Speaker
whore! You guys.
00:21:33
Speaker
You make me laugh so hard sometimes.
00:21:38
Speaker
wow It was Lindsay and I trying to say it at the same time and not being careful doing
00:21:48
Speaker
Now the cats are dis distressed.
00:21:56
Speaker
Okay. All right. All right. Okay. Pull it back together. Pull it back together. We got this. she Do we got this? I got this. yeah My stomach hurts from laughing.
00:22:09
Speaker
Oh my gosh. Okay. Okay. okay Lindsay's like, I'm not going to say the last part. And I'm like, you don't.
00:22:24
Speaker
You can't not say the last part. This is supposed to be middle grade. Sorry. Okay.
00:22:32
Speaker
so okay no yeah Okay, I'm done. I'm done. All right. All right. We're good. Okay. Okay. So Daniel Craig as Lord Esfiel. How do we feel about that?
00:22:45
Speaker
I'm not mad about it either. not not mad about that either. Yeah. And again... the The cast itself was good. They acted what they had well, but the changes that were made and the stuff that was left out.
00:22:59
Speaker
i know. Kind of killed it. I know. We also had a, what's her name? ah Serafina Pecola. hello Is it Eva eva Green? Is that her name?
00:23:12
Speaker
Yeah. She was in Casino Royale with Daniel Craig. oh There you go. James Bond and a leading lady from James Bond.
00:23:23
Speaker
Also, so Serafina meets Lyra. There is no, like, witch consulate or whatever in the movie. Like, the Serafina just meets up with Lyra and asks Lyra to prove that she can use the alethiometer. And she's like, can you tell me who on this boat was my lover?
00:23:46
Speaker
Who said that to a 12-year-old? She's like Raven and she's looking like this. She's having her vision. Who says that to a 12-year-old? inappropriate.
00:23:58
Speaker
So inappropriate. You know. Yeah. i yeah Ask a a question like, what's my demon's name? Like, right. Oh, and then when she like when we're before the bear fight, she says to Ragnar or Ragnar says, like, tell me how I became king.
00:24:16
Speaker
And she's like, you killed the previous king and and then fought his heir whatever. it was like that also is not how that went all.
00:24:30
Speaker
But okay. It's like they they, again, they tried to like, they didn't want to say you killed your father. You know, it's not a, I feel like they really softened the weirdest parts and then made awkward a lot of other parts, you know?
00:24:49
Speaker
Yeah. Who else did we have in I did. I did like with the witches, like that they had more of them coming in. Yes. I thought that was really cool. I like that.
00:25:00
Speaker
In the book too, they talk a lot a lot more about the witches and the witches having a prophecy and the witches knowing about the other worlds.
Comparisons with TV Show
00:25:08
Speaker
And and so like, and the witches do play a large part in the next two books too. So like, yeah,
00:25:16
Speaker
To only have the one witch really represented in the show, I'm wondering how they're going to bring other witches in. Because it they really are kind of a big part of the story.
00:25:30
Speaker
And I don't remember how they did it because it's been a while since I watched it. so Well, they have said that some, like the witches were divided and they thought that yeah they were going to be starting a war and they didn't. Some of them wanted it. Some of them did not. Mm-hmm.
00:25:45
Speaker
And I think that they... it in my I thought it was okay in the show because it felt like they were still up for debate whether they wanted to like participate in what was going on. Serafina was going to help Fadr Coram no matter what.
00:26:00
Speaker
Exactly. That's what it felt like. Right. And so it didn't feel bad. i'm just... I can't remember how they worked them back in. And I'm interested i see that.
00:26:13
Speaker
Also, I feel like... Lee Scoresby didn't get the role in this like the in this movie, his character is... the way character is represented in and and not that like they did him dirty or anything but it was just such a small yeah it was compared to his heart in the book yeah and he again is another character that in the show you know seraphine is like you have a big piece to play here you know what i mean and in the book we kind of get that feeling and the movie was just kind of like he's got a balloon which was the weirdest looking double balloon well i don't know what that was
00:26:55
Speaker
I don't know. I don't and don't be trusting hot air balloon. It looked more like a Zeppelin than it did a hot air balloon. It really did. Let's talk about the modes of transportation. in this way We got hot air balloons. We got blimps.
00:27:13
Speaker
We got the airships. Now in the book, i there were no like cars or vans of any kind. But like in the show, they had some vans in Lyra's world.
00:27:25
Speaker
honestly like i wouldn't mind some blimps that sounds like it could be fun let's do that even like the egyptians like their way of travel was like on the water canal boats yeah but like i don't know the way i was picturing it was so much different but i just love like their um like their houses like inside of their canal boats and everything is just like so neat i'm on that side of tiktok and i get like they People take tours. Just like in the United States, we have van life.
00:27:57
Speaker
like Canal life is a real thing in Europe. yeah I think that's so cool. and I love going on the tours of people's boats and and like their little kitchen areas and then their garden on the roof. and it's It's pretty cool.
00:28:12
Speaker
Yeah, it's very interesting. that's That's my next trip, I think, maybe.
00:28:19
Speaker
What did you guys kind of think between... Like of of the whole experience. Like what's your ah overall. What would you say your final verdict was? Like show.
00:28:31
Speaker
Movie. Or book. and Lindsay you go first. ah I'm going show. i really like the show.
00:28:43
Speaker
i get it. i get it. I'm going to have to agree. I want to say book so bad. i will say Because we're conditioned to say that the book is better. Yeah. um But the show's so good. i know. What is... Like, even with, like, the... I know I keep talking about the demons. Okay. I know I keep talking about it.
00:29:02
Speaker
But the way that they show... I think I've just... I haven't seen in a long time where, like, the demons are done so well where, like, they feel so, like... personable like where you can tell the bonded connection absolutely and that they're they're so expressive all the time and i just love it so much i think the show just does it so well and yeah i just love it like i'm so emotionally connected to what i'm seeing in the show absolutely everything else it's it's one of those that i feel like represents the story so well and in such a
00:29:45
Speaker
Again, you know, we've talked about this before, like true to the tone of the story, even true to the overall vibes of the story. And and it just feels so good.
00:29:59
Speaker
There's not a single part that I was like, they didn't talk about this. There was not a single part where i was like, that's not the way it was in the book. There's not, you know even though there were changes, none of it felt wrong. Yeah, I totally agree.
00:30:15
Speaker
So, no, I'm with you guys. I think I'm ah very much a ah show person on this one. And I do love the books. But this show is just really good. And I'm so glad it's on HBO since I don't have access to BBC.
00:30:29
Speaker
Mm-hmm. You know, they co-produced it or whatever, the two companies. So that's a good thing. Yeah, for sure.
00:30:40
Speaker
And now we have to wait. Right. And now we have to wait. Okay. You know, and I think it's so weird, though, that the show actually brought in a little bit of book two to smooth the transition. And the movie just left off the end of book to smooth the transition. Yeah, it's like two completely different approaches.
00:31:02
Speaker
Yeah. Maybe if they had put a little book two into movie one, we'd have had a movie two. More successful. Lindsay, what were you going to say? I think really the the main reason I like the show more than the book is, i know I talked about it a little bit in part one, but I had such a hard time reading the book.
00:31:23
Speaker
And then I did switch over to audio and it was easier for me to understand some of what they were talking about. So I really needed to hear it, but then having the show and being able to picture it too and seeing it all, it was so much easier to comprehend the the world building and the characters and everything. So I think that the show was just ah really well done.
00:31:47
Speaker
Was there a character that you feel like in the in the book you didn't kind of connect with or you didn't quite really get that the show brought to life in a really great way for you?
00:32:02
Speaker
Besides Yorick.
00:32:05
Speaker
Probably. um Honestly, I think I could have done with more John Faw. Because there wasn't a lot of him in the show. I feel like he was in the book a little bit more. Mm-hmm. But the Gyptians in general.
00:32:17
Speaker
I liked the representation of the Gyptians in the show because you really got to see the community and how they interacted with each other. And then when the kids are coming to age and their demons are transitioning to their permanent, like when they settle...
00:32:35
Speaker
I liked being able to see that. That was really cool. That was really cool. about I totally agree with that. Like, because it's all in Lyra's perspective in the book and we're seeing different perspectives in different areas in the show and seeing more of the Egyptians in the show and seeing their lives was really fun.
00:32:56
Speaker
But I have to say seeing more, i mean, this might be controversial, Seeing more of Mrs. Coulter in the show was super interesting.
00:33:09
Speaker
Not saying that like her, but I just was like, I don't know. She's just so intriguing as a like a bad person you in in the show.
00:33:21
Speaker
I find her like, I'm excited to see where that character is going. And usually I'm just like, oh, the bad evil person. Like, I hope all these bad things happen to the bad evil person.
00:33:34
Speaker
But I'm like, kind of like, what is going on with this person? Like, well I kind of want to know. Like, is she taking that first step into her redemption arc? Yeah, like, where are we going? Or is this all an act?
00:33:47
Speaker
We don't know. Also, like, what is going on with her demon? Like, I need to know what is going on with her demon. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Also, where the book is from Lyra's perspective, are we getting, like, an unreliable narrator when it comes to her her visualization of Mrs. Coulter? Because she seems so well put together in the book.
00:34:07
Speaker
And then you see the scene of the show where she's walking on the ledge. Mm-hmm. And you're like, she might not have it all together there. right She's losing it. Yup. Yeah. And, like, that part, like, made me so sad.
00:34:21
Speaker
Like, like... the The show is like changing your perspective in your head of you almost need to have sympathy for this character almost a little bit.
00:34:35
Speaker
They're like, they want you to. They don't want you to fully hate her. So that makes me think we might be getting a redemption arc. They don't want you to fully despise this person. You also think that she's so in control and she does what she wants to do. She doesn't listen to the magisterium.
00:34:54
Speaker
And then you see, and they they even did it in the in the movie, but she's really just controlled by them. Like she has no power. She has no authority. So yeah, you really might get proven wrong. She may go full evil on us.
00:35:10
Speaker
We have no idea. We don't know. You don't know. There is a part in the show um that is not in the first book. It comes in the second book where Mrs. Coulter gets to ask of the one priest in the magisterium that has the alethiometer question.
00:35:31
Speaker
And she, do you guys remember what question she asks? I can't remember. she says, who is... Lyra Bellacroix. hu hu And we don't find out the answer. i mean, we will and the next book, in the next season. Do you guys have any predictions on that?
00:35:51
Speaker
Any thoughts of who you... but I mean, because why would she ask? She already knows, right? Yeah. Or does she? She knows... She knows who she is. You know, that that's her daughter. That's Lord Asriel's daughter.
00:36:07
Speaker
But she's also this prophecy. Like that she is the chosen one. Right. I don't know what that is in this world.
00:36:18
Speaker
Right. So which chosen one? Right. So it gets really exciting. I'm really excited for you guys to see the next season to read the next book. um Whether you like the books or not.
00:36:31
Speaker
But we do see them at the end of the show. Will Perry stepping through the gate. Lyra stepping through the gate. We did talk about how like we were waiting for them to bump into each other or something.
00:36:45
Speaker
They were in completely different locations, though. But it wasn't crossing my brain for some reason. Their storylines do come together in the next series. So I'm really excited for you guys to see how that plays out.
00:36:58
Speaker
And we do see the the appearance of the title, The Subtle Knife. So... i I can't wait for you guys to find out what the subtle knife is, which I will say also we talked about the title of the book being Northern Lights when it was originally published in Europe and then changing to the Golden Compass for the United States and a handful of other countries because of the publishers in the United States liking that title a little better.
Title Changes and Adaptation Challenges
00:37:28
Speaker
Personally, I like it better too. ah Because that means that all three titles are objects that Lyra inevitably ends up using. So we have the golden compass, which we all know is the alethiometer. It's not really a compass, but whatever.
00:37:43
Speaker
And then the subtle knife and the amber spyglass. So, which, again, just reminded me of series of other books that i'm I did not realize and never thought about how much this story follows The Lord of the Rings.
00:37:58
Speaker
Yeah. like Until the other day, it just popped in my head and i was like oh crap it does so okay man had ah christopher lee in the i know right and so but you know again great actor like why how do we do this like how do we keep having these it was that mid early you know odds where we got all these movies all at one that were adaptations that were just crap because they've just kept what it was is lord of the rings had come out i think and all these people wanted to like
00:38:33
Speaker
you know catch on to this this trend wasn't it the same company that did it was the same so the newline cinema production yeah company and the director white what was his first interest chris white i think um actually visited peter jackson um on the set of king kong after the lord of the rings to kind of get ideas and inspiration how king kong is goingnna inspire you know the golden compass is beyond me but
00:39:07
Speaker
like the similar vibe of whenever you know hunger games was really successful adaptation and you know i mean twilight was it successful i mean was it good it was successful it was successful and but they tried to do the same thing they're trying to make push out all these adaptations all at once and then now we have all these adaptations that we continuously laugh at very much pretty much it's kind of like the similar vibe and then they get redone
00:39:38
Speaker
because it's like you know percy jackson was in that era of like hunger games time and all that stuff so it's like then we get them redone into things that people want to take time on instead of just pushing out a bunch of movies i mean it's the same thing and we'll probably read it at some point but you know like aragon the the dragon stories like amazing books by christopher peini and that movie
00:40:10
Speaker
again good actors good good casts just killed any chance of there being more movies i would not be surprised if that does not turn into a tv show very i hope so because it didn't it just have a knew another pet came out yup marta no i don't remember what it was maybe it was more time but yeah it's and excellent series and an amazing world building and and there's so many of it's almost like
00:40:40
Speaker
they threw screenplays and just waited for something to stick they just they they did them all you know shotgun style and and it just ruined it because i would love there are so many of these books that deserve another chance to do it right so i'm really glad we got that with this one and i guess final verdict from all three of us is you should watch the show for sure for sure think that wraps it up guys unless you had anything else you wanted to add that was ah
00:41:14
Speaker
we had a lot to say yeah we always have a lot to say i know i'm excited to continue and i'm happy we picked this one absolutely i mean crystal picked this one yep this time wait until my next pick you never know
00:41:30
Speaker
well thanks so much for joining us for three whole parts of his dark materials don't forget to join us again later this week for our episode on fifty shades of gray is that the next one that's the next one yeah lot twist but yeah as a that's a real smooth transition there one
Next Podcast Preview
00:41:54
Speaker
not it yes right so yeah join us again and then after that we'll be doing honker games right yeah wow you guys pretty cool stuff this month so yeah we are exciting but again thanks for joining us don't forget to check our socials to find our full schedule we have a lot coming up and you can find those schedules on blue sky tiktok instagram facebook of course you can see our beautiful faces on youtube as well and and we always
00:42:25
Speaker
have lots of fun things on our socials so join the conversation come hang out with us but again we hope you enjoyed this three-parter and go watch the show whether you are riding in a hot air balloon canal boat we on the back of an armored