His Dark Materials

[Foxy-Woxy The Sandwich Scout]

Inspired by the upcoming movie release (which I am now utterly dreading), I took it upon myself to read Mr. Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, starting with, of course, The Golden Compass. I think I have to say that this is perhaps one of the best books I have ever read. Pullman's style is advanced but accessible, unlike Tolkien's, which is advanced. And that's it. I have seen traliers for the cinema release of the book, yet now I am wary of it. From what I have seen, it will be an extremely poor depiction of Pullman's wonderful novel.

I suppose, then, that this thread has been designed for discussing both the book trilogy, and the future movie release.

[Slyph]

I'm a major fan of the His Dark Materials trilogy. All three books are amazing, with the exception of the ending of the Amber Spyglass. I didn't like that as much.

Still, a totally epic series. I can't wait for the movie to come out, and the cast looks amazing. Nichole Kidman is perfect for playing Mrs. Coulter. I like Daniel Craig as Lord Asriel as well. I'm hoping that the girl who plays Lyra won't ruin the movie. *biased against child actors* Shame that the movie almost definately won't follow the storyline, but I'll hope for the best.

[Cooked Mongoose]

if the books are that great (and i have been meaning to find a good read recently) then i think i should wait till after i see the movie, cause it looked decent enough, so that at least i can enjoy it before reading the books.

[Redneckgamer]

I loved the books when I read them.  I'm praying the movie is good and if so that they continue the series and make the next two books into movies.  The little of it I've seen from the commercials certainly do make it appealing though.

As for the book I wish I could even find my copy of The Golden Compass.  Seems to be that I lent it to a friend...

[Bob Jr. of Bob Sr.]

I've been wanting to begin reading the series since...Well, since about the sixth grade, I'd say. Along with Disc World series.

I never really had the money to buy the books, and the libraries never had the books, so I've gone without, sadly.

[Sword Saint]

I have no particular interest in seeing it, myself, but anything that gets insecure religious crying and Faux "News" bitching is alright in my book. 

[Foxy-Woxy The Sandwich Scout]

Worst movie I have seen all year.

[DMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA JonnyJon]

Worst movie I have seen all year.

Expound on that thought.

[Foxy-Woxy The Sandwich Scout]

Bah, I don't have to, because it speaks for itself. it's a failed Fantasy-book-to-movie adaptation, which means lame actors, horrible dialog, and (what was) a deep plot turned into shallow fluff. Every bit of it is garbage. 

[DMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA JonnyJon]

Bah, I don't have to, because it speaks for itself.

No it doesn't. Not everyone here has seen the movie or read the books. Besides, what's the point of a discussion forum if you're not actually going to discuss anything?

[Foxy-Woxy The Sandwich Scout]

It's not that I don't want to discuss it, I just feel that there's not much to discuss. It was a terrible movie, certainly not worth the seven-fifty I paid for an admissions ticket, and does not deserve further discussion. The film ought to be buried, and utterly forgotten, so it won't besmirch the excellent reputation that the books have earned.

[Neofox]

Reading the synopsis of the movie, I'm not quite sure what makes the events in the movie more controversial than how religeon is dealt with in say... Tales of Symphonia.

Is there something in the movie that isn't covered in the synopsis that explains why it has so much controversy? Like does it specifically use a RL church or something for part of the plot? Or is it only getting any kind of attention because it's mainstream?

[General Veers]

Reading the synopsis of the movie, I'm not quite sure what makes the events in the movie more controversial than how religion is dealt with in say... Tales of Symphonia.

Is there something in the movie that isn't covered in the synopsis that explains why it has so much controversy? Like does it specifically use a RL church or something for part of the plot? Or is it only getting any kind of attention because it's mainstream?

I'm not sure about the movie, but the actual Golden Compass book isn't to bad from a religious point of view--from what I've seen most of it is just digging up the original controversy which surrounded the second two books in the series, which, if one chooses to take them that way, could be considered militantly anti-religious. I personally never really saw it, and I guess I'm what you'd call faithful, although not totally religious: I thought some of the points it brings up were interesting, and it was a well written Science Fiction adventure, that's it. My real bone to pick with it is I didn't like his characters. The only one I found really interesting was the Texan Balloonist, who was admittedly pretty awesome.

[Saeclum]

...Eh?
You mean, the first tome, where the Church is using childrens as guinea pig, and sacrificing them without an afterthought to establish their theories, is not quite enough to attract some zealots's attention? ToS's religion is just, as 90% of featured religions in JRPGs, deluded and used by the top members.

[General Veers]

...Eh?
You mean, the first tome, where the Church is using children's as guinea pig, and sacrificing them without an afterthought to establish their theories, is not quite enough to attract some zealot's attention?

Fundamentalists will always find something to set them off--I meant in terms of the mainstream Church. Anyway, worse, much more explicitly, Church blaming stuff than that is written all the time. The big controversy didn't come until later.   

[DMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA JonnyJon]

Reading the synopsis of the movie, I'm not quite sure what makes the events in the movie more controversial than how religeon is dealt with in say... Tales of Symphonia.

Keep in mind that the movie is a fairly toned-down version of the story and that the vast majority of "controvesry" doesn't actually crop up until the second and third book. I'm slow to critisize the series, having never read it, however I can't say I'm too wild about Philip Pullman.

That being said, the Church of Martel in Tales of Symphonia was a generic religion that worships a generic goddess whose orginizational structure (mostly at the lower levels) is obviously based on the Chatholic Church. In His Dark Materials on the other hand, the Magisterium is less generic; the name itself is taken from the actual Magisterium, a term that refers to the teaching authority of the church and characters frequently mention Christianity by name. The later books seem to be pretty direct on the matter, one character noting "The Christian religion is a very powerful and convincing mistake, that's all." I also don't recall Namco ever saying anything to the effect of "I'm trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief."

Again, I'm just taking notes here. I haven't read the books and have no real desire to do so, so I can't offer my personal opinion on the subject. While I think the respone to the movie is deplorable, I can at least see where they're coming from on this.

[Saeclum]

Albeit I agree with what you said about the similarities between Pullman's Church and the real life one, ToS's Church  is not that generic. Or, at least, it's generic as the only kind a religion that have an important role in a JRPG is a Christian like one. I mean, a centralized Chruch, with a Pope, working in a similar way, down to the missionaries and abbots, who feature as a core myth a savior sacrificing himself?

So, yeah, Pullman strictly atheist views are passed in his book, but it's not like he is the only person that feature this kind of thing.