The Golden Compass

[Huggles]

Why have I never heard of it when the movie will clearly be made of awesome and copious amounts of win? There's gunna be a talking polar bar in it! Is this what the golden compass on Neopets is referencing? I demand to be informed by something other than google and wikipedia for a change. Discuss!

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1808718640/video/3485607/

[Twofold Black]

I actually only read the book a few months ago -- I was in a bookstore, so was it, sparks flew, the rest is history. It's the first book of a trilogy by Phillip Pullman, the His Dark Materials trilogy, and it may be the finest work of young adult literature I've ever read. And I have read <u>The Dark is Rising</u>, so I'm not just talking out of my ass here. I am cautiously optimistic about the film, which is at least very well cast and looks pretty; if nothing else it should be a beautiful visual guide to the books, which is all I ask of adaptations of SF films.

The His Dark Materials trilogy does go a little south after the first book. It's just not as tight, I suppose in part because many more characters have perspective than in the first book (the first one is almost all Lyra and occasional omniscient), and Pullman's anti-Christian sentiments become more and more obvious, almost to the point of preachiness. It strays into 'a less focused <u>To Reign in Hell</u>' territory. I don't think I could bear not to read the other two having read the first, though, even knowing how it goes, and they're worth it for Will, who is my favorite character in the series, after that bear.

God, that bear. A talking, armored polar bear is freaking awesome, and yet Iorek Byrnison is <i>even more awesome than that</i>.

[Kidnemo]

I'm a huge fan of His Dark Materials, they're possibly one of my favorite series of books. I'm not sure about the film though, the cast is pretty decent but I heard they're going to avoid mentioning God which.. will make them very different to the books, they might have changed this though; they've been through loads of different directors.. well like three or something.

I always pictured Serafina to look more Amy Lee-ish than Eva Green but I'll wait till I see the film before I moan more. =D

[thelonetiel]

The books are incredibly awesome. Very good fantasy. There is The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass. They are the His Dark Materials Trilogy together, all by Philip Pullman. If you have not read them, you should. They are brilliant.

The video trailer looked awesome. Dæmon graphics looked questionable, but better than some talking animals I've seen.

I wish I was going to be here in December to watch it in theaters. ;_;

[Goldenchaos]

*Flail* ..Watching the newest trailer made me shiver.. AHH..

Yea, the leaving out of some parts will be iffy, since thats what most of the later books focused on..but thats alright, so long as they don't pull a Harry Potter and change this and add that, Itll be good.

So , cant, wait.

[bonecrivain]

The play they made out of the books was AMAZING, so I'm horribly excited about the movie, just to regain a little of that visual experience. This just means I have to re-read the books before the movie comes out. That shouldn't be too difficult, right? I read all three in...the two or three days before Christmas, so I could wrap them and give them to my brother.

Yes, I read his copies before giving them to him. Shh. They needed to be broken in a little.

[Cranberry]

Those books are three of the best books I've read in years, of any genre. I've been excited about this movie for AGES now, and I'm heartened by the fact that Pullman is reportedly happy with the script, and that Chris Weitz (the screenwriter/director) absolutely loves the books and says he will not dumb anything down.

Mr Weitz has had extensive meetings with Philip Pullman. The director remarked that he has "a tremendous resource in Philip Pullman. Part of the reason that I am writing this now is that Philip saw my treatment for the film and liked it, and we'e been in constant and very fruitful conversation, and I hope to continue that correspondence and collaboration. This is possible in large part because he is a very amiable and reasonable man. It takes a great deal of fortitude to watch someone adapt your work, but I believe he knows that I will do my very best to see his creation to the screen. He also knows that I am the first person to go to if there is any aspect of the film that violates his sense of the work's meaning."

From here.

This entry by Pullman (from back when Chris Weitz withdrew as director, before he reconsidered and came on board again) is also good.

The 5 minutes of new footage is also amazing.

[Teragram]

I actually only read the book a few months ago -- I was in a bookstore, so was it, sparks flew, the rest is history.

That is beautiful.

I just watched harry potter and saw the trailer for this. That talking polar bear is, in fact, made of win. I was interested. The graphics look pretty good, and I think the movie might be pretty awesome. I mean, I'm sorry to say I only made it to the middle of the second book (I gave up, out of frustration that the two characters were, like, both searching for each other and they kept missing each other by this much, and not even knowing it. I was like, all, god damn it they are right there i don't care about the freakin' suspense or story or whatever, stop leading me on!) but that was a long time ago. So I can't compare, but the book was exhaustingly serious and dark and complex, and I think the movie will help in that it will make it pretty, and cool, and stuff.

[Huggles]

Well that explains it. I've yet to see the new Harry Potter or Transformers. You have no idea how grumpy that makes me. I mean, grumpier than my standard grumpy. I pretty much will watch any sort of fantasy movie solely for eye candy. A talking polar bear is enough to warrant the $20 ticket price or whatever ungodly amount they will demand and I will grudgingly pay. But, books! I like the idea of reading books I will probably like since I've had bad experiences with the local librarians. We had a falling out, and not the fun kind you'd want with naughty librarians. It was the bad kind with stodgy old ladies who secretly smoke crack. Or, what they believe to be crack and might just be 20-year-old potpourri. I digress. Damn. I need money.

[Spivsy]

I never read the golden compass, but I did read the other two. I liked them, though.

[hebdenhippy]

I'm probably one of the few people who didn't like these books, I've read them all and found them all rather tedious ^^ but still, I'll go see the film so at least I can enjoy the special effects and polar bears, if not the actual storyline

[rebelheart]

It's been a while since I read the books but what I remember is that, while I absolutely loved the first one, the two later ones lacked a bit. I have to agree with Twofold, the author starts to push his view on religion there.

[Monkeyguy]

Well that's what the entire series is about so I didn't really have a problem reading about it.

[Anubimon]

I really enjoyed the books a lot, despite the rather blatant religious views... I just ignored them though and enjoyed the story.
I did think the series got a bit sloppy toward the end though. I'm not terribly excited by the movie, but that's just because it's rare to see a book to movie adaptation I really enjoyed.

[tallan]

Pullman. <3 Love love love the books, and probably need to reread them very soonish cause it was a long time ago now.
And Pullman himself is super sympathetic. He was in Stockholm for our Fantasy Festival a whole bunch of years ago, and did some Q&A sessions, and read some from The Amber Spyglass which hadn't come out yet, and he has a great voice for storytelling.
Oh, and he told us about this letter he'd got, that I will never forget, and which included a picture of a squirrel. The letter went something like "See this squirrel? Isn't it absolutely adorable? Don't you just want to hug it and pet it? IF YOU DON'T FINISH YOUR BOOK SOON, THIS SQUIRREL WILL DIE."