His Dark Materials
When His Dark Materials introduced Lyra's Earth in Season 1, it did so directly and straightforwardly. One might even say (and I did, several times) that it was so matter-of-fact in its delivery, it drained the magic out of a mirror universe to our own, which
His Dark Materials
This week's His Dark Materials begins with Lyra taking a chance that she can get away with infiltrating Will's Earth twice without getting caught. Even without Pan sounding the alarm, audiences can guess that the second round won't go nearly as smoothly as the
His Dark Materials
His Dark Materials landed in Cittàgazze for the premiere episode, introducing a third world between Land Will-Earth and Lyra-Counter-Earth, sort of an "Earth Mark 3," in which Dust is a malevolent force. This week, Will and Lyra take their leave of the city of children
His Dark Materials
The His Dark Materials trilogy is made up of three very segmented novels. Book one, known either as The Golden Compass or The Northern Lights, depending on which side of the pond you're on, exists utterly in Lyra's world. It's a mirror universe where
His Dark Materials
I often group Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials with George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire when discussing its impact on the fantasy landscape. That's because both play on the same stereotype of the genre — the heroic white male whose plot
His Dark Materials
Critics have complained that His Dark Materials has failed so far in its ability to emphasize the importance of the daemon-human bond in Lyra's world. Up until this week, I was inclined to argue with them. Though Lyra and Pan are not in constant contact in quite
His Dark Materials
Last week's His Dark Materials picked up steam with the addition of Will Parry and a second storyline on our Earth. This week, Will is mostly benched. Despite Boreal's orders to search the house, his minions are perfectly happy to sit outside watching, unnerving Elaine and
His Dark Materials
One could argue that the problem with His Dark Materials so far is that it insists on staying slavishly faithful to the source material. It's an understandable decision, especially in light of the 2005 film, which excised all of the religious overtones to reduce it to a story
His Dark Materials
Lin-Manuel Miranda arrives as Lee Scoresby in this week's His Dark Materials cold open, floating along in his hot air balloon and singing. It's the first time the show has seemed, if not cheerful, at least as if it has sprung into full color. It
His Dark Materials
Last week's His Dark Materials ended with Lyra's capture by the gobbler goons, unaware the child they collected was the last one Mrs. Coulter ever wanted to see go North for experimentation. In other circumstances, this might have been the worst thing to happen. Since these
His Dark Materials
When we last left Lyra at the end of the first episode of His Dark Materials, both she and Roger were on their way to London, though each had no idea the other was on board, as Lyra traveled first class, while Roger was taking the caged child route. This
His Dark Materials
It's been a long road to the television adaptation of His Dark Materials, the obsessively popular young adult fantasy series from Philip Pullman. After a disastrous first outing as a Harry Potter-like film series (starring Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, and Dakota Blue Richards), the series never made