max Philip Pullman: His Dark Materials BBC/HBO co-production

[Innula Zenovka]

His Dark Materials review – a riveting realisation of Philip Pullman's magic

Religion, mortality and talking animals combine to gift us a series that captures Pullman’s magnum opus in all its glory

www.theguardian.com

Not watched the first episode yet, but I'm certainly looking forward to it:

Whatever flaws may develop as the eight episodes unfold, the show has vehemently eschewed repeating those of the dismal 2007 film, which (after much supposed studio interference) excised most of the questioning of the church and other such tricky subjects that don’t traditionally play well in the US. Despite the new series being a BBC co-production with HBO, it looks so far as though these ideas will not be compromised this time round.

So much so, in fact, that there have been concerns raised that this is too dark to be suitable for children. But children will take from the material whatever they are ready for – be it insights into the convoluted heart of man, or delighted fascination at the idea of having a talking animal to accompany you wherever you go.

 

[Beebo Brink]

I watched episodes 1 & 2 last night and loved it! I was just going to take a quick look, wasn't going to commit to the series because I want to cancel HBO, but I'm hooked. So looks like I'll keep HBO until 2020.

 

[Pancake]

I’m really pleased with it. Episode three has been my favourite so far. My kidlet (ok grown assed man) is watching with me and felt nothing happened in the third episode but it was full of world building, backstory and foreshadow which I love once in a while.

 

[Beebo Brink]

I’m really pleased with it. Episode three has been my favourite so far. My kidlet (ok grown assed man) is watching with me and felt nothing happened in the third episode but it was full of world building, backstory and foreshadow which I love once in a while.

I'm saving up 3 & 4 to watch over the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend. I've got five glorious days off from work!

 

[Innula Zenovka]

I'm saving them all up to binge watch at some point.

Initially I was a bit nervous about watching them at all, since I loved the original books so much and I feared the dramatisation wouldn't live up to my expectations, but you folks have persuaded me that my concerns were misplaced.

Curiously, I didn't mind the much-panned movie that much, I think because I knew that it was highly unlikely to adapt well to a Hollywood movie, so I had no particular expectations it would be much good, and wasn't so disappointed that it turned out to be an OK-but-a-bit-meh adventure movie with talking (and fighting) polar bears.

Has the original's subversive and atheistic intent carried over to the adaptation, and, if it has, has it provoked any reaction for the Christianist Taliban, or are they still too busy worrying about who is allowed to pee and where?

 

[Kara Spengler]

I watched episodes 1 & 2 last night and loved it! I was just going to take a quick look, wasn't going to commit to the series because I want to cancel HBO, but I'm hooked. So looks like I'll keep HBO until 2020.

Or use a VPN in the UK.

/ducks

 

[Beebo Brink]

Or use a VPN in the UK.

Oddly enough, I'm not inclined to theft.

 

[Kara Spengler]

Oddly enough, I'm not inclined to theft.

Actually the only time I watched a show that way was the opening ceremonies for the London olympics because the network that got it here did such a terrible job. I would have been more than willing to pay for a UK TV licence to do so but that was not an option.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Or use a VPN in the UK.

/ducks

I think you'll find that the BBC won't now let you watch their content via a UK VPN, since that would make it too easy for Brits to watch without paying a licence fee.

 

[Kara Spengler]

I think you'll find that the BBC won't now let you watch their content via a UK VPN, since that would make it too easy for Brits to watch without paying a licence fee.

It is like those mythical bbc vans ..... technically there is no real way to detect it. Which means it is like whack-a-mole, they find a suspect ip so block it and then the vpn companies just rent another server. As I said, I used that method to watch the opening ceremonies for the London games but would have loved if I could have just paid a fee somewhere to watch it legally. If britbox had existed then that may have been carried on there and been a great solution but it did not exist at the time.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

When first I heard this, some time last year, I tried it using my VPN service (PureVPN) to place myself in several different British cities, and each time the BBC player said it detected I was using a VPN and would I please reconnect through my regular ISP or, alternatively, could I give it (as I recall) my TV licence details.

YMMV

ETA -- well, this is odd. While what I posted above was certainly the case last year, I thought I'd better check and this time it allowed me to download His Dark Materials. PureVPN must, between then and now, have fixed some issue that allowed the BBC to detect their proxies.