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Tactically Inept

[HBO][TV] His Dark Materials (2019)


kuhla

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First two episodes have been solid.  I think the main actress, Dafne Keen, does a good job with the character of Lyra.  There are times when a get a bit frustrated with Lyra's actions, but the character is a literal child and I assume part of the story revolves around her perspective and how her interactions with adults shape her experiences. 

I recall reading that the BBC funded most of the first season themselves (before HBO bought the international rights) but HBO decided to throw a bigger budget at season 2 and 3.  I'm curious if they'll be an increase in quality, although I don't have any complaints about the current quality, including the CGI elements. 

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I have watched the first two episodes.

I have not read the book (books?) so I don't know where this is going but, unless the story gets more serious later, this sort of feels like it is targeted at the young adult demographic. A lot of that is probably because the main character is a young girl. It's not bad though. Production value feels pretty high.

I will keep watching.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Unfortunately I'm getting the same feeling, combined with some shaky pacing and I've been less enthusiastic about watching this. 

Spoiler

Witch randomly flies up to the hot air balloon guy "you need to protect Lyra because she's the chosen one, this is of the utmost importance"

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Lyra gets booted out of the hot air balloon... *cue preview for next episode*  Witch says to the balloon guy "your task is complete, her fate is in the hands of another..."

Lul wut?

 

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  • 7 months later...
  • 3 months later...
On 11/11/2019 at 5:06 PM, Malaphax said:

I recall reading that the BBC funded most of the first season themselves (before HBO bought the international rights) but HBO decided to throw a bigger budget at season 2 and 3.  I'm curious if they'll be an increase in quality, although I don't have any complaints about the current quality, including the CGI elements. 

So this happened exactly as predicted.  The CGI budget has been expanded substantially, but the storyline still feels weirdly meandering.  I can't even place some of the character's motivations.  From what little I know about the books, puberty is a major plot point, and they seem to be really pushing that, but having dialogue of "you look like you're on the cusp of manhood" is just super awkward. 

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  • 1 month later...

This entire series has been a sequence of events that you think will lead somewhere but they just continually introduce new elements and seem to build towards nothing.  I have watched 2 seasons with literally no payoff aside from a mildly climactic cliffhanger in the last episode of each season.  Wow so we spent an entire season doing what exactly?  Getting more mcguffins?  Making incremental progress towards our goals?  Seeing characters with very little screen time and no interesting qualities show up and then leave?

This feels like a hostage situation, the show itself feels really mediocre but there's this underlying theme of we're slowly trudging towards a goal that just feels like lord of the rings but worse.  I'm sure there's going to be a grand climax, but I have a hard time believing that any sort of payoff is going to be worth this really meandering tripe I've watched through. 

What's worse is that I've heard the books are decent, but the show has absolutely ruined any chances of me showing any interest in them. 

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