The Golden Compass - Lost in Adaptation

You should do Possession by AS Byatt next which is without a doubt one of the most fabulous books I have ever read, however, the adaption I found to be lacking.

Is...is that a parodied theme of the Gummi Bear's Adventure?!

Helena Claybrook

Growing up in a fundamentalist evangelical church and now living with a metric fuck ton of religious trauma, I can absolutely agree that the “excessively religious have no chill.” I can vividly remember the conversations at church when this movie came out. Consensus by a roomful of people who hadn’t read it was that it was written to convince children that God was evil, the devil and demons were cool, witchcraft and human sacrifice was awesome, and that you should disrespect your parents (which was obviously the most important part 🙄). And people wonder why I am an atheist now... all my childhood love for Liam Neeson Lion Jesus can’t outweigh how tedious their bullshit was.

Season 3 is set for 2022.

Lavish Jules

Will you be doing a video for the HBO Series His Dark Materials as well? Only 2 seasons are out & they've done a much better job than this movie adaptation. I forgot how the nerfed the end by leaving it out. I remember when reading it, I was Gutted when Roger was cut & barely finished it.

Lavish Jules

I loved this book as a child, loved it as an adult. I really appreciated that the topics were not talked down to children, one thing that parents forget is that protecting your children from the world is going to ill-prepare their children for reality. The book did a fantastic job at telling kids that adults MAJORLY FAIL and to trust in themselves. My childhood was filled with adults who never listened to me, even when I knew I was right. Lyra helped me process that b/c she was always doubted.

Ly Jalao

When I read the book I was not a parent. Now as a parent the scenes of the young boy dying alone clutching a piece of dried fish skin and the death of Roger are just horrendous to read. Both Lyra´s parents are shown to be complete monomaniacs and utterly dreadful people. Mrs Coulter´s daemon was very well done, I felt sorry for the daemon, but not her. The film is ok within the limits it set itself but the TV series is a much better adaptation (although they shyed away from the complete horror of the boy in the shack). When we were watching the series my child said "are they actually going to kill Roger correctly?" and they did. This truly is a children´s story in the vein of Brother´s Grimm, or even Hans Christian Andersen...Little Match Girl freezing to death as respectable middle class people walk by her in the street, anyone?!

Eustacia Vye

I heard an interview with Pullman (with a priest) where he said "yeah, I'm an atheist, but I'm an Anglican atheist!"

Vox Aquila

I did like the movie as a kid. I find the new series better but that is at least as much about me prefering tv to movies as it did objective quality.

HungryWinner

Out Word for demon is also " Dæmon"

Yes ^^

wait, Björn translates to bear? (i don't have the crossed o :D) nice

Caro Schulz

Fun fact : The danish Word for polar bear is " isbjørn " which litteraly translate to Icebear.

After the-series-that-shall-not-be-named, this is, I think, the first book on LiA where I have both read the book and watched the movie, yay! Back when the movie was the only adaptation us HDM fans had, I kinda liked it by the sole virtue of being the only adaptation... AND because I had skimmed through "the book of the film" in a bookstore (which was just the book, but with a handful of stills from the movie in the middle), and that included an image or two of the proper ending. My brain thereby convinced itself that the ending was actually in the movie, an idea that I only got disabused off when I watched the movie again years later in "preparation" for the HBO/BBC series. Lastly, from what I recall reading, Iofur was changed in the movie to reduce the similarity to Iorek, because it's apparently the *viewers* that have bad brains.

Flix

Romani, not Romanian. Common mistake. Also, I'm not crying that much for Stoppard, since he sides with JKTerfling.

Sam M the Demifemme

YES I've been waiting for this one and it did not disappoint. (MST3K and the Room references were icing on the cake!) As a fan of the books I did have fun with the movie and enjoyed some of the performances/production design, but liked it more as a separate story of its own than an HDM adaptation. The TV show is a much more solid adapation imo.

Sarah H.

I may have lost track, but I think this is the first film adaptation that you have done, that I actually worked on the film version of (doing vfx for it for Rhythm & Hues, focusing on the Daemons). And yeah, the work that was being done vfx wise for the final "sequence" was ... really nice and such a shame that it got nixed, there were a lot of artists a bit out of sorts the day that started with the news that not their shot but the entire sequence had be cut.

Seth Brower

Yes, yes, yes, finally the LIA I've been waiting for for so many years! You did an absolutely fantastic job, Dom. This might be one of my favourite Lia's of all time. To be honest, I quite like the film as I have very fond memories of watching it during my childhood, and to this day, I really like some of the casting choices, and the world they constructed feels very similar to the sort of Steampunk, Victoriana, hyper-1940's blend of the book. But considering everything we lost in this adaptation, and the ending we never got to see, I was always championing for a TV show adaptation so we could have the proper time and effort put in to exploring the nuances of plot and characters. Oh and please, please, please consider watching the TV show. I have my issues with some of the adaptation and casting choices for the 2nd season, but the 1st season is absolute Gold! absolutely everything I wanted from a TV version. Not to be missed if you like the book series.

Rachel Denham-White

BEARS!!

Skemono

Alright, having *finished* the video, I'll say there's a key difference you, whom if I remember correctly are openly an atheist or at least not very committed to any one religious faith, are glossing over with regard to that *Stargate* comparison: while *Stargate* distorted a lot of real-world mythologies with its *Chariots of the Gods* premise, it at least went out of its way not to piss on the third rail of Abrahamic faith. I don't think any honest reading of *His Dark Materials* can escape that within the world of the novel, Abrahamic monotheism is an explicit sham religion created by a megalomaniac for the purposes of manipulating people into remaining stunted so as to sate his ego, then perverted by an even crazier megalomaniac for even more transparently and shallowly evil reasons. Yes, within the world of *His Dark Materials*, Yahweh is indeed a false god, but it's explicitly and openly intended to relate to real-world Christianity. I realize the religious nutters who blew up at the novels aren't exactly doing my side any favors... but it's not like there're any peaceful, reasonable people who just so happen to be Abrahamic in the novels either. At least C. S. Lewis could write a MacPhee, or even a Trumpkin. Pullman's open argument is that it's impossible for people like me to exist and that authoritarian thinking is an intrinsic part of all religious faith. See prior comments re: that one witch ranting about how all religions do their own equivalent to female genital mutilation, or the Magisterium lobotomizing kids in horrible experiments for no reason, because their final aim is turning all humanity into diminished and unfeeling automatons.

SpectralTime

I don’t care for this movie, but I gave it a fair chance. I never felt like it mocked my religious beliefs in any way. The main problem I had was finding Lyra completely unlikable from the start. She came off as bratty and disrespectful. Of course that was due to her lack of good parents, however, she failed to garnish my sympathies with her lackluster performance.

I haven't watched this movie or read the book since the movie was in theatres. I remember really liking it (because I was around nine) but then I read the book and I hated it so much. I can handle darker stuff now (though I still don't have much hope for it after I listened to the subtle knife at... 14 ish??), but little me just couldn't take it. Oh, also, I really like the tie choice.

Robin Hildebrand

I literally came here to say this!

At the point in the video where you're talkin' smugly down to religious people, just before the five minute mark. And, as a religious but non-fundie person, I just wanna get my voice in there. Tired old conflict thesis garbage I didn't even notice as a kid aside, I mostly agree that the themes of authoritarianism are pretty separate from the philosophical atheism... until the second book where I cut out somewhere around the witch council where one witch starts explaining, in such serious terms that I hear the author not the character, about how all religions everywhere do things just as bad as female genital mutilation. Shortly after the insane fanatic commits suicide by aeronaut because he just can't wait for his eternal reward. And man, C. S. Lewis might not've been great at writing atheists, but Pullman *really* sucks at writing religious people. I'm not calling to BAN THIS SICK FILTH or anything, but I don't think it's as cut and dry as it sure sounds like you're makin' it sound. It is not in the service of the take that "religious authoritarianism is bad actually," but that all religion everywhere is bad actually. Now to continue the video and see whether or not you end up talkin' circles around me and makin' a fool outta me.

SpectralTime

Would you say it's worth watching for a fan of the books?

Breanna Faretra

We had the first book as required reading in 6th grade and I loved it so much I immediately read the other two as well. The movie came out that same year and I was CRUSHED. I haven't trusted a movie adaptation since.

Breanna Faretra

Dope, now do the show! ;)...It has it's problems, but is overall a much better adaptation.

Dios

My Mom is Catholic and she loves these books. She got so mad when people in her congregation were telling others to boycott the movie. XD

Madegeeky

If they were actually going to make this into a movie franchise, I get changing the name - "The Golden Compass" fits better with the other two titles in the series ("The Subtle Knife" and "The Amber Spyglass"). I also understand why they changed Iofur's name - having an Ioreck and an Iofur who are mortal enemies and are constantly mentioned in the same breath got really confusing really quickly. (And this is speaking as someone who has only read the books.)

Timur Hahn

I went to Catholic school and they actually ENCOURAGED us to read these books

ArianeLP

I read that book when I was younger. I gave up pretty early into the second book.

WillRigby