His Dark Materials

The premise is surely better adopted than the already 13 years old Golden Compass movie. Even though it wasn’t as bad either. Nevertheless the premise was better spread in the episodes of this series. Moreover the makers created a great atmosphere as well, and therefore you should expect a premise that might come across as childish but it is mysterious beyond the existence of this planet. 8 episodes went by and I was enjoying it. This really is a great young adult fantasy series. And the opening song was fantastic! (12.09.2020)

Tedious, tedious, and even more tedious. In the eight episodes of the opening series, there's material for a perfect four episodes. There are many passages and scenes in each where it works exactly as it should; with emotion, information delivery and tension. The considerable production values and excellent cast can deliver and sell such moments well, but it takes time to get there. It's ironic that even though the creators weren't afraid to dig into how the source material is set up (there are parallel worlds going on from the beginning, for example, and it's also noticeably less religious pt about the original sin, yet it's still in the spirit of the source material, a young adult fantasy with consequences of actions), it doesn't work to the benefit of the cause (the anabasis of Will and his mother could have been wrapped up with the prologue of one episode, but here it's dragged out in a circuitous fashion across half the series; and that's the way it is with everything). And yet, even though there’s a lot of filler that shouldn’t be in an adaptation, it is not boring, at all. Everyone acts well, and it looks and sounds out of this world. It's just tedious and lacking in pace, and it shouldn’t have been like that. To make matters worse, there's another major problem; the core relationship and dynamic between Lyra and her dæmon doesn't work because Pan is a character without soul or personality, which is all the more striking because with other characters and their dæmons the relationship works perfectly. If that was the biggest criticism of the series, I'd be jumping up and down with satisfaction. | S1: 3/5 | S2: 3/5 | (15.03.2021)