M-must resist...urge...to...utter...fanboy...squeal...
Posted by Leonide (Member # 4157) on :
*very* exciting.
Posted by SC Carver (Member # 8173) on :
Never heard of it. Pretty cool. Looks like something I will have to read before seeing the movie. Is it a series.
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
Yes. If you are in North America, look it up under the same title. Elsewhere in the world, it's published as Northern Lights. There are two sequels, though the tone and content of the books shifts quite a bit as one reads further in.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
I liked the Subtle Knife even better, myself.
The third....well, it was OK.
Posted by anti_maven (Member # 9789) on :
Mmm, I read these a long time ago - time to revisit methinks. The trailer looks good, and if the film has Sam Elliot reprising his role from The Big Lebowski, count me in Posted by Earendil18 (Member # 3180) on :
Damien beat Puffy T. Posted by Snail (Member # 9958) on :
That was amazing. I can't remember when I've last been this psyched up by an upcoming movie. I can even forgive that they used the ridiculous American title. (Calling alethiometer a mere compass... hrmph!)
And I also liked Subtle Knife the best of the books.
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
quote:Originally posted by Snail: That was amazing. I can't remember when I've last been this psyched up by an upcoming movie. I can even forgive that they used the ridiculous American title. (Calling alethiometer a mere compass... hrmph!)
Blame Phillip Pullman. The Golden Compasses was still the working title of his trilogy when he sold it to a North American publisher, and it was only afterwards that he changed it to His Dark Materials. By that point, the American publisher was already devoted to the old title.
I couldn't get into TSK that much...for obvious reasons, if you know me. And TAS I found dry and boring.
Posted by Snail (Member # 9958) on :
Silly Mr. Pullman. I could have told him that was a terrible title, but would he listen to me? Oh no...
I thought TAS still had its good points, but overall Pullman didn't find a good balance between his serious stuff and the "message" and his adventure stuff.
Still, the movies have both Nicole Kidman and Eva Green in them. They could make it a musical and add Paris Hilton as a comic relief and replace God with midi-chlorians and it'd still be perfect.
Posted by Speed (Member # 5162) on :
What's up with child actors named Dakota? I guess seeing a movie with a young girl played by a different Dakota will be a nice change of pace, though.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
Looks pretty cool, nice use of "Mars" in the beginning there, and visually looks great. I wanted to see this after just reading the description, but after seeing the trailer I REALLY want to see it.
I worry though, is this a movie that I'm not going to understand as well having not read the book?
Posted by Stephan (Member # 7549) on :
quote:Originally posted by Lyrhawn: Looks pretty cool, nice use of "Mars" in the beginning there, and visually looks great. I wanted to see this after just reading the description, but after seeing the trailer I REALLY want to see it.
I worry though, is this a movie that I'm not going to understand as well having not read the book?
All depends on the script writers. You shouldn't have to read it to understand the movie.
Posted by Tarrsk (Member # 332) on :
Looks fantastic (Iorek especially), but am I the only one who found it a little distasteful that New Line is so blatantly taking credit for LoTR, and using it to promote The Golden Compass, all while embroiled in a legal dispute with Peter Jackson? It just feels kinda... icky.
That said, much <3 for all of the adult actors in the trailer. We didn't get enough Lyra "actor" moments for me to really evaluate how Dakota Whatsherface will do in the role, but I did love that impishly smug side glance she gives after Iorek's appearance. That moment was perfectly Lyra.
Posted by Permitheus (Member # 9957) on :
This looks like a fantastic movie, can anyone give me a couple of good 'book reviews'? from what i just read it doesn't sound like they were that great, but with all reviews, its a matter of opinion.
Posted by Tarrsk (Member # 332) on :
I loved the books (even "Amber Spyglass," which most people don't care for). Pullman's universe is one of the few in modern fantasy that isn't a poorly-disguised Tolkien ripoff- on the contrary, it's an incredibly rich setting full of brilliantly realized original ideas. His characters have a depth and moral ambiguity that I find very appealing, and he pulls no punches with the plot.
The one major problem that many people have with Pullman is his treatment of organized religion. Unlike Lewis and Tolkien before him, Pullman is an atheist, and believes that organized religion has been a profoundly negative influence on human society. The morality of "His Dark Materials" reflects this belief, though it never becomes allegory like "Narnia," and the real drama of the story is always character-based. Pullman's politics informs his writing, but IMO he's not out to lecture the reader about right and wrong. Admittedly, as an agnostic who does think that organized religion can (and does) often have a negative effect on the world around it, I'm not exactly likely to be offended by Pullman's worldview. Others differ.
Posted by Tarrsk (Member # 332) on :
Yeah, I should have pointed out that that statement applies mostly to the first two books, although I don't think "Amber Spyglass" is quite as anvilicious as, say, "Narnia." But I did think that, plotwise, "Amber Spyglass" was a good conclusion to the trilogy. The book needed some serious editing, and was the weakest entry in the trilogy overall, but I enjoyed all of the Lyra- and Will-centric aspects of the story.
Posted by Leonide (Member # 4157) on :
There's a fun little link on the Golden Compass official movie site that allows you to find out who your daemon is -- pretty neat, especially since it looks like they have upwards of about 107,000 animal choices programmed in there. I got a raccoon named Zotius.
I was a whippet, or a raccoon.
Posted by Luet13 (Member # 9274) on :
I was a chimpanzee named Lutheus. Cool.
Posted by Evie3217 (Member # 5426) on :
I was a tiger (boo yah!) named Diodium. Pretty cool.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
I'm a whippet named Androme.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
the last two books were very preachy, but the third had more than the first two combined.
Posted by airmanfour (Member # 6111) on :
I hope they keep going. The visuals for The Subtle Knife would be fan-freakin'-tastic.
Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
Bryanna the chimpanzee.
'Cause I'm
quote:Modest, assertive, humble, spontaneous, and solitary
Posted by lem (Member # 6914) on :
I am an Ocelot named Athenestia. I am one of 16647 wildcat daemons of the total daemon population of 108398.
Look at me! Look at me!! I am modest and solitary. How cool is that everyone?! Hello? Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
quote:Originally posted by Tarrsk: I don't think "Amber Spyglass" is quite as anvilicious as, say, "Narnia."
The thing is, I personally know many people who read all seven of the Chronicles without even once discerning the "Deeper Magic" behind the story until someone else told them. And they aren't alone. Hop by the "NarniaWeb" forums sometime.
Conversely, it's impossible to read the second and third volumes of His Dark Materials without realizing the author explicitly thinks that Christianity is misguided at best, innately evil at worst.
Posted by Tarrsk (Member # 332) on :
*shrug* I suspect that may have something to do with when you read the books- on average, the first-time readership for HDM seems to skew older than for Narnia. Certainly, the few people I've met who read "The Golden Compass" for the first time prior to middle school age didn't pick up on the anti-religious themes any more than I picked up on the Christian allegory when I read Narnia for the first time as a 7 year old.
I also suspect that HDM has been so heavily tarred for Pullman's politics that older readers today would almost certainly have heard about the controversy even prior to picking up "The Golden Compass"- similar to how "Harry Potter" has been decried for its "occultism."
And I disagree that Pullman considers Christianity as a whole "innately evil" in any way. I'll grant you "misguided," but that's hardly vilification. He does have a strong dislike for organized religion, in any form, which he does believe to be the source of great evil in the world.
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
Religion has been corrupted, especially Christianity, but a lot of things that can be good have been, such as politics, the family, sex, anything you can think of. I liked the message of The Amber Spyglass myself... Also the first time i was a crow, now I seem to be a lion named Agapius
Posted by FlyingCow (Member # 2150) on :
My Daemon is a tiger named Aditi. w00t.
Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
My daemon is a whippet named Inachus.
Posted by porcelain girl (Member # 1080) on :
I was a gibbon. /shrugs.
I just started the Golden Compass a few weeks ago, and I am having a hard time getting pulled into the story, mainly because I have a hard time identifying with Lyra. I'm currently trying to put my finger on what it is exactly...not sure, but I'm not captivated thus far.
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
I love the first book. When it ended I was so alarmed. But Lyra is not much like me... She's very... hmmm... she's cool, but we have little in common in terms of truthfulness...
Posted by Earendil18 (Member # 3180) on :
Hermestra is my daemon. She is a beautiful ocelot.
I always thought "daemon" was pronounced more like Latin, "dei-mon" not "dee-mon".
I sure hope that isn't how the whole movie is going to be.
"Quit mispronouncing!!! ARGH!" Posted by MyrddinFyre (Member # 2576) on :
And all this time I thought it was "Leer-ah"
Posted by Damien.m (Member # 8462) on :
Yeah I always pronounced it Al-thee-ometer. But its actually Aleehte-e-ometer. That sucks.
*Edited for spelling*
Posted by FlyingCow (Member # 2150) on :
I'm also in the "Leer-ah" and "Day-mon" crowd.
Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
I got through the first two books without seeing much religious hatred.
The third book, though...hard to interpret that as anything but a screed against religion, and organized Christian religions specifically.
Oddly, I wasn't offended. The God figure in HDM isn't the God I recognize; the underlying philosophies that run Pullman's world don't mesh with mine. I had the feeling I should have been upset, but I wasn't.
I *do* wish we could have seen some non-monstrous believers in HDM, but other than that, I really enjoyed the series. Spyglass went on a little too long, and I was uncomfortable with Lyra and Will's relationship... but all in all, I think it's an excellent series.
Posted by Carrie (Member # 394) on :
I'm with everyone on the "Leer-ah," but it's always been "dye-moan." I think it's a function of my Greek - which actually had me figuring out just what that alethiometer did rather early on. Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
I too mispronounced Lyra and Daemon but this is probably because I am American and not English and not well versed in Greek.
Posted by Tarrsk (Member # 332) on :
It was always "Lie-rah" for me (as in "lyre"), but I did mispronounce "daemon." And I originally read "alethiometer" as "ah-LEE-theo-MEE-ter," but realized about halfway through the first book that "ah-LEE-THEO-me-ter" sounded better.
Posted by Irami Osei-Frimpong (Member # 2229) on :
"alethiometer" is a perfect name, though I don't know if I dig the spelling. Alethea is Greek for truth, especially a truth that's disclosed.
Alethiometer is more etymologically sound than "proactive," a word I'll never use as I bone deep suspicion about it, and I'm suspicious about people who use it. Following the Latin, I can't understand why the word isn't "Preactive." I blame that class of people who made up White Zinfandel.
[ May 23, 2007, 11:23 PM: Message edited by: Irami Osei-Frimpong ]
Posted by Tara (Member # 10030) on :
**bump**
The time has almost come!!! We're only a couple weeks away.
The board for this movie at imdb is ridiculous... Dozens of people screaming about how it's anti-religious and dozens of other people screaming back at them to shut up...Kind of entertaining actually.
Anyway, I'm excited!!
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
All boards at the IMDB are pretty much "bottom of the internet barrel", from my experience.
Posted by Tara (Member # 10030) on :
Well, you're used to Hatrack. Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
Okay, when I went to see Enchanted the other day, they had the old voice for Iorek back in the trailer. That seemed a glaring error considering how new the movie was, so it got my hoping they'd changed the voice back...
Any hope Puffy?
Posted by brojack17 (Member # 9189) on :
I know nothing about the book or movie. It does look good. My wife got an e-mail from her aunt saying the book is basically anti-God. The e-mail said the movie was not so much so, but that it may get the kids interested in the book and therefore could be exposed to that thought. My family knows better than to flood my in-box with that stuff, but my wife doesn't mind getting them. Then again, she doesn't get 50+ e-mails a day for work.
Is there any truth to that? Just curious.
Posted by Jhai (Member # 5633) on :
Well, brojack, if you feel like diving into this thread, you'll probably get some information about it. There's an awful lot in the thread, though, and it tends to wander a bit...
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
As far as I know, Iorek is still voiced by McKellen.
Which is a stupid bit of 11th hour stunt-casting by New Line. Posted by brojack17 (Member # 9189) on :
Thanks Jhai, I'll take a look.
Posted by Lisa (Member # 8384) on :
It's funny... I was talking with Havah earlier tonight about the "choose your daemon" thing. I thought fox might be a good choice. Sure enough, I came up with Eamon the Daemon. He's a fox. Though I think I probably should have gotten a female daemon, if I read the books correctly.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
Eamon the Daemon? Heh.
Posted by Carrie (Member # 394) on :
Daemons have the opposite gender from their human, so unless there's something you're not telling us, yours should be male. Posted by steven (Member # 8099) on :
Lisa has already told. It's a fascinating tale. She's...pretty unique.
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
quote:Originally posted by Carrie: Daemons have the opposite gender from their human, so unless there's something you're not telling us, yours should be male.
As I recall, there is a peripheral character in the first book with a same-gender daemon. Pullman has said that having a same-gender daemon was not meant to indicate said character was attracted to the same gender, though that's the conclusion many readers drew.
Posted by Lisa (Member # 8384) on :
quote:Originally posted by Carrie: Daemons have the opposite gender from their human, so unless there's something you're not telling us, yours should be male.
I thought it was clear that people who are gay have daemons of the same sex.
Posted by Lisa (Member # 8384) on :
quote:Originally posted by Puffy Treat:
quote:Originally posted by Carrie: Daemons have the opposite gender from their human, so unless there's something you're not telling us, yours should be male.
As I recall, there is a peripheral character in the first book with a same-gender daemon. Pullman has said that having a same-gender daemon was not meant to indicate said character was attracted to the same gender, though that's the conclusion many readers drew.
That was the conclusion I drew.
Posted by Carrie (Member # 394) on :
Ah, I forgot that. My bad.
(ETA: The book thing, that is. )
[ November 27, 2007, 08:21 AM: Message edited by: Carrie ]
Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
The narration about that character implied that he was notably gentle and kind, and that he suffered some social stigma from having a daemon of the same gender.
Posted by Ron Lambert (Member # 2872) on :
I thought all the Daemons were busy enabling UNIX to run.
Posted by SenojRetep (Member # 8614) on :
Asprasa the tiger; although I wouldn't personally describe myself as "modest, solitary, shy, a leader, and assertive." But there it is and who am I to argue.
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
quote:Originally posted by Scott R: The narration about that character implied that he was notably gentle and kind, and that he suffered some social stigma from having a daemon of the same gender.
I do not think he had a social stigma. He was a solitary man though.
But... if that indicated gayness, I don't think he had much opportunities to do something about that.
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