I got to watch New Moon on the day after the premiere, and I’m telling you, the whole experience was nuts. As soon as I sat down to watch the movie, and the New Moon title screen came up, the rest of the audience started to scream. I thought to myself, jeez, what a bunch of crazy fan girls. Now keep in mind that while I like the books and the movies, I will forever be a Vampire Chronicles fan. Anyway, again, everybody screamed when Edward and Jacob came on, as well as when Jacob took off his shirt for the first time. Now, I can understand why everybody was screaming when Jacob took his shirt off for the first time, but why for Edward? I’m sorry, but I think that Edward is a pasty-ass pansy. Anyway, overall, I think that the movie was ok. There were quite a bit of funny parts but I think the movie is just a bunch of notable scenes from the book that was just pieced together and made into a movie. I gotta admit though, it’s very Chris Weitz. I say that because it reminded me of the movie that he did before, The Golden Compass. Both The Golden Compass and New Moon were edited very similarly. Anyway, don’t let my opinion deter you from watching the movie.

I still wonder what prompted me to pick up ‘Northern Lights’ the first book of this dark trilogy by Philip Pullman at a bookstore but whatever it was it was a bad choice. For whatever reason this trilogy has been called ‘His Dark Materials‘, it comprises the titles – The Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass. All these 3 elements are quite fascinating on their own but combined they seem to make a deadly boring combination.

Set in an alternate Earth-like universe with its own Oxford university and all, the story revolves around the adventures of a girl named Lyra Belacqua who resides with the professors at Oxford courtesy her often aloof uncle, Lord Asriel. Her curiosity often lands her in trouble much to the reluctance of her spirit daemon, Pantalaimon. Oh yes, in this universe your spirit or daemon as it is called assumes a physical form, an animal that closely represents your inner attributes…. so in any case here’s how the story goes

1. The Norther Lights

There are unexplained disappearances of children near the university and rumors are abound that it is the work of a squad associated with the Church who are experimenting with separating the daemons from the children. When Lyra’s friend Roger disappears, Lyra sets out in search of him and is captured by the leader of the squad, Mrs. Coultier. The Dean of Oxford gives Lyra an Alethiometer that will guide her on her journey. As the story progresses, it is revealed that Lyra is the illegitimate daughter of Lord Asriel and Mrs. Marisa Coultier, and her parents in their own selfish ways try to protect Lyra from the church but Lyra being precocious tries in vain to save Roger with the help of her friends Serafina Pekkala, Iorik, Grumman and Lee Scoresby. Doesn’t work ofcourse, instead Lord Asriel successfully opens a portal in the multiverse and proceeds into an alternate world of Cittagazze.

2. The Subtle Knife

Here Lyra follows her father into the city of Cittagazze where she befriends Will Parry who is looking for whereabouts of his father. Lyra and Will start searching for the whereabouts of Dust, a curious material that streams through the universes and is highly concentrated around the children. In this quest, they befriend a scientist, Dr. Mary Malone who is also researching on the dust. Meanwhile, Mrs. Coultier catches up with Lyra through her friend Lord Boreal who holds Lyra’s Alethiometer ransom for a strange yet powerful knife that can create and close portals as well as cut through any material. Will and Lyra retrieve the knife but when the knife chooses Will as the next bearer, they escape with it.

On the otherhand, Lyra’s friends from book 1 – the headwitch Serafina Pekkala gathers the rest of the witches and Lee Scoresby to help Lyra in her quest. There is a prophecy at work here which says Lyra will be the next Eve (never understood the concept till date). To conclude, this book ends with Lyra being kidnapped by her mother while Will after a tragic parting with his father Grumman leaves in search of Lord Asriel with 2 angels – Balthamos and Baruch.

3. The Amber Spyglass

This is where the book gets fast paced as all the elements from the previous 2 books conglomerate in a complex and utterly fascinating plot. The events move at a faster pace with Will and Lyra meeting the Mulefa who provide them with an amber glass through which they can actually view the Dust (Hence the title Amber Spyglass I suppose!) On one side you have the army of heaven preparing to wage war under the leadership of the archangle Metatron who is acting as the God (the actual God or the One is locked away in a secret chamber and is quite lost). The good side or the better side is Lord Asriel’s party who are trying to stop the heavenly angels from preventing dissemination of awareness and knowledge. After an ardous journey, Will and Lyra reunite under Lord Asriel’s army and in a twist of fate or surprise, Asriel and Marisa Coultier sacrifice themselves to stop Metatron from winning the war. Will and Lyra sacrifice their love for the obvious betterment of all the portals and return to their respective homeworlds to build a better republic.

The theme of the series seems to emphasize the Church and how it opposed other religions and culture often going as far as to destroying them permanently or even defaming them. Here I’m simply quoting history which has actually occured…how else would you explain the disappearance of many ancient artifacts and documents of knowledge or the burning of the great library at Alexandria.

As for the protagonists of this series, Lyra comes across more as a mischievous child full of curiosity but as the series progresses her curiosity tones down just a bit but deep down her thirst for adventure much to the reluctance of her daemon is still present. Will Parry comes across first as a angry young teen who is concerned about his mother’s health while also trying to find whereabouts of his father. And like Lyra, Will undergoes a tremendous transformation once he comes in possession of the subtle knife. He becomes more responsible and mature but sometimes ends up risking everything for the sake of Lyra.

The most curious and fascinating characters though are Lord Asriel and Marisa Coultier. Both of them love each other yet work on opposite sides during the war. They even stoop to the extremes to outwit each other but Asriel seems more forgiving than Marisa. Its not until the very end that you realize which side Marisa’s allegiance lies. I thought the first book to be an interesting read but as the series progressed realized that there are pages that you could simply skip to reach the ending. More than this, the whole series has a philosophical angle imbibed in it where the author explores theories of multiverses as well as portals not to mention the existence of the god particle in depth.

As you know, I recently finished His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman. That made me think about the publicity surrounded the movie. The publicity was negative and hence, the movie wasn’t as watched as Lord of the Rings. It was kinda the same with Inheart. It’s a part of a book trilogy and was made into a movie. But like The Golden Compass, it wasn’t watched as much as Lord of the Rings. That made me think about why that was. For Inkheart, I think it’s because it didn’t get as much publicity and the fact that the book series isn’t well know. I say that because I don’t really remember seeing the trailers for Inkheart on tv or in the theaters much. Plus, I never even heard of the series until the movie came out. The same sorta happened with His Dark Materials. However, with His Dark Materials, it didn’t help much that the movie got negative publicity but of the controversy surrounding it. I think that the only reason why Lord of the Rings became popular was because it’s been around for like 50-60 years. Because of that, many people have read the books, and the books/movies didn’t stir up any controversy.

I just finished reading The Amber Spyglass, the third book in His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman. Now that I’ve finished the trilogy, it made me think about movie version of The Golden Compass. Anyway, I’m kinda torn about how the movie was criticized as being atheistic. Well, in terms of the movie being faithful to the book, I wish that the ending of the book was included in the movie. I also wish that the fight between Iorek and Iofur was put back where it was supposed to be and that the whole spiel with the witches council was also put back in. Now, as for the movie being “atheistic”, I really don’t get why it could be construed as being atheistic. Because it’s not like the Magesterium is a religion. I consider it to be more like communist or dictatorial regime. And that it’s not just the Catholic Church that can be considered to be dogmatic and that tried to “eliminate” heretics. There are other religions that are dogmatic and whatnot. Anyway, that’s just my opinion.

Now then. We are using the time machine technique today and whizzing you back twenty four hours to New Year’s Eve.  I didn’t write a blog yesterday because I felt a very delicate balance had been achieved in some other worldly way, entirely unrelated to any of my actions, and I didn’t want to upset it by tempting fate. 

You see, and I hardly dare to say this, but nothing and I mean, nothing, went wrong yesterday. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it was the perfect day, I mean Tallulah still spent a large part of the morning on the naughty step and Oscar still threw his breakfast up the wall, but it was the usual levels of chaos, not the razor’s edge of madness we have been accustomed to living on recently. It’s complete insanity really. I could hardly believe it myself.  I did have to pinch myself on the arm quite hard several times just to make sure that I wasn’t actually asleep and in some kind of reverse Nightmare on Elm Street scenario, and that Freddy Krueger wasn’t going to suddenly come to the door and give me a hundred pounds worth of book tokens for Borders and a large Americano with room for milk.  

To be honest with you, I’m so highly attuned to things going horribly wrong that it was more than a bit eerie. First up was the boiler man.  Now, he was supposed to turn up at eight thirty in the morning.  I was convinced that this would mean he would saunter round casually at quarter to six in the evening citing difficulties on the Glenfield ring road, and then suck his teeth, tell us we needed a new boiler, which he would have to order from Mexico and would take three months to arrive and then scarper.  This is what would happen in the usual run of events. 

When I first moved to London with Jamie we bought a complete wreck of a house which needed absolutely everything doing to it.  We were under the foolish ‘Property Ladder’ influence of thinking it would be easy.  Sadly, in those days Sarah Beeney wasn’t around to give us a sharp slap up the side of the head with a spirit level and we were left to flounder around in our delusion.

Jamie couldn’t do any of it because a) he was allergic to tools, b) his motto was: ‘Why do it yourself when you can pay someone else to do it for you?’ and c) he had a high powered executive job and worked all the hours God sent being important and businessy.  This meant that I was left to deal with the house.  I had never even been allowed to so much as paint a wall before and I didn’t get my own pen knife until I was twenty.  Things were looking bad.

 Twenty four hours after we moved in there was a hideous gas leak and all our appliances got condemned when the gas man cometh.  This was somewhat problematic as it was January, and one of those years where it had decided to be seasonally appropriate and snow.  I was very, very cold, and very fed up of takeaways after two days. I eventually managed to find someone to come and ‘help’ with our problem with the aid of a trusty Yellow Pages.  With my unerring instincts I managed to pick someone whose only qualification were half a CSE in woodwork and a ‘can do’ attitude.  He claimed to be Corgi Registered, but with hindsight I think it was to do with the dog rather than the plumbing and heating qualification. 

He was terrible. It turned out that our problem was not just with the appliances, but that there were fractures in all the pipes throughout the house.  This meant that every floorboard had to be raised and new pipes put in, as well as new everything else.  This was very sad.  The saddest thing about it was that Jamie was out whilst all this devastation was happening and there was me and a house full of plumbers. 

Our bedroom was not liveable and we had been camping out in the lounge.  All this now had to change as there were no floorboards any more to put a bed on.  Every night when they had gone, I relaid all the boards so that I could rebuild the bed and get some sleep before getting up at the crack of dawn to reverse the process.  It was hideous.

The gas man had a Jack Russell Terrier which he used to bring with him every day and which he allowed to pee all over our house, as he said it didn’t matter because the floors were going to be ripped up anyway.  It did matter, as this now meant that I had to scrub the floorboards when I eventually got round to putting them back down,  but what can you say to a man who thinks it’s acceptable to charge you several thousand pounds to let his dog piss in your lounge and holds the key to your warmth in his hands?  There’s just no reasoning with some people. 

One day he didn’t turn up until five thirty.  When I asked him where he had been he said that it wasn’t his fault and that another lady who he had been working for had held him hostage in her kitchen because he had promised she would have her new oven installed that morning and she had invited her friends round for a celebratory dinner that night.  She bolted the doors and wouldn’t let him leave until he had finished.  He thought she was crazy and threatened to call the police.  I thought she had a very good plan, as that was the night that he left me with three floorboards intact and a large hole in my kitchen wall where the new boiler was supposed to be. 

As it was, it just let the drifts of snow in to mound softly on the kitchen table, while I balanced on a plank sobbing down the phone to my mother.  Jamie got home late from work because he’d been forced to have an executive dinner with some people and they had taken him to Gary Rhodes’ new restaurant (apparently it wasn’t very good.  For some reason this made me more hysterical than ever.  If only I’d have had the chance to slag off Gary Rhodes instead of eating beans out of a tin sitting on a plank. Bastard). 

He seemed quite bewildered to find me filthy and hysterical demanding to go to a hotel for the night.  He refused on the grounds that if I needed to imprison the gas man the following day I might need an early night, and if I overslept in the Holiday Inn at Brent Cross he might escape my evil clutches.  I agreed.  I was a fool to myself.  I should have just gone anyway. 

So, to get back to our non lunatic boiler man.  I got downstairs at quarter to nine (Jason allowed me to sleep in because his cold means he has to get up reasonably early to allow for unbunging of nostrils etc.) and he hadn’t appeared.  I was just about to suck my teeth and say: ‘I told you so,’ when Jason announced that he had just called and apologised for being late, but he would be with us within ten minutes.  All this politeness and irregularity before caffeine had been consumed was nearly enough to finish me off.  I asked if he was sure it was the boiler man and not just a prank caller mixing up New Year’ Eve with April Fool’s Day.

It turns out he wasn’t.  It really was the boiler man. The man, well I call him a man, he looked about ten (Yes, I know I am getting old!), did actually turn up within ten minutes.  He then apologised again, refused a cup of tea and announced that he would rather get straight to work!  I checked to see if he was emitting an unearthly and saintly radiance that would explain his actions, but he seemed real enough.  I was going to ask Jason to kick him on the shins to confirm this, but decided against it.  I did feel better about the whole thinking he was very young thing when Jason came downstairs and said: ‘Do you think he has a note from his mother to say he’s allowed out?’  At least it wasn’t just me then. 

The shameful thing of it is, it turned out not to be the boiler at all, but the electrical supply to the boiler.  After much muttering and cursing we made an important and slightly embarrassing discovery.  It turns out that although we have a combi boiler, the man who built the house had originally decided to have an immersion boiler and had got the electrician to wire up one of the cupboards in the kitchen (?) to take an immersion heater.  He had then changed his mind, and installed the combi boiler in what is now the children’s bedroom (??).  There is however, an override switch for the electrics in what is now the cereal cupboard in the kitchen.   

Apparently, I (oh! The mortification), had rearranged the cornflakes rather too brutally and shut off the power supply to the boiler.  All we had to do was remove the cornflake packet and turn the switch back on.  I was both pleased, that we didn’t have to pay several thousand pounds for a new boiler system, and ashamed that I had denied us water and heat for two days because of a family sized box of cornflakes.  In fairness to me, as Jason pointed out, who would have thought that the emergency override for the heating would be in a kitchen cupboard?  That’s my defence and I’m sticking to it. 

It was brilliant to have heat once more and we turned the thermostat up and basked like lizards.  Oscar was pleased not to have to wear his snow suit indoors, because it’s very hard to bend little fat arms in something that resembles boiler lagging, and Tilly was pleased because she’d missed out on the bath at granny’s house the day before and even she noticed she was beginning to smell bad. Children can tolerate heavy doses of bad smelling things, so she must have been particularly ripe.

Our next plan, which I was convinced would go wrong, was to meet up with a load of our extended family for lunch in town.  We were going to a vegetarian restaurant which my parents have now been visiting for forty five years, so it’s a bit of a family institution.  My mum bribed the girls by promising them pudding to make up for the lack of chicken nuggets.  Jason couldn’t be bribed that easily.  He doesn’t see the point of food without meat products in it, and so elected to stay at home with some Kleenex Balsam and a flagon of tea watching poker and muttering. I really must see if I can write to Jim’ll Fix It and arrange a meeting between him and Jeremy Clarkson.  I feel they may well have been separated at birth.

I was sure something would happen to turn this meal into a family disaster of epic proportions.  We only usually manage to meet up in one place at times of deep family crisis and/or tragedy.  But apart from the fact that Tom has a chest infection which makes it difficult for him to breathe, eat and laugh all at the same time, and my aunt couldn’t hold her plate properly because she hit her thumb with a hammer the day before, all went well.  We managed to get through a whole meal without my dad telling anyone stories about a) cars b) carnival glass or c) the antiques trade in general.  This is probably a first, which is why I am noting it down here for posterity.  My mum did sit next to him, and I do wonder if she kept stabbing the back of his hand with a fork every time he looked like he might start a controversially dull topic.  I wouldn’t put it past her. 

The girls ate bread and butter, eyeing the rest of the food suspiciously.  My aunt tried to make them eat some vegetable bakes.  Tallulah accepted a large portion and then kept sneaking it back onto my aunt’s plate when she wasn’t looking, whilst pretending to eat it.  She got much praise for her fortitude, and I didn’t want to steal her glory, or find a naughty step.  I also wanted to see how long it would take my aunt to catch on.  She didn’t because she was too busy trying to persuade Tilly to eat hers, and Tilly wasn’t quick enough to work out how to dispose of hers.  I award Tallulah ten out of ten for originality and working a good angle and Tilly ten for being brave and eating a lot of vegetable bake she didn’t really want without throwing a wobbly of epic proportions. 

After lunch my mum and dad took all the children away.  This was a key moment where usually one of the children spikes a fever or announces that they’ve got a funny rash/itchy head/ third arm, that they’ve been meaning to getting around to telling me about but haven’t found the time until now.  I held my breath until I had waved them off.  Then I held my breath, and my mobile phone for another twenty minutes, until I was sure they were well out of range.  I then called Jason with the all clear.

Shortly thereafter Jason and I went to the cinema and turned our phones off! The cinema is a great place to hide when you have children being watched by someone else, as it is one of the few places where you can legitimately turn your phone off and be uncontactable.  You know that for at least a couple of hours you can genuinely relax without too much guilt. Although having been educated at a series of Catholic schools I do like to squeeze a bit of guilt in where I can anyway.

We went to see The Golden Compass.  Now I was in two minds about this film.  The His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman, on which this film is based, are three of my favourite books of all time, and the first book, Northern Lights, is my favourite of the three.  This was the volume up for cinematic treatment.  As with all books which are turned into film, and which you treasure, there is a high chance that the film will be wildly disappointing and you will hate it (apart from Trainspotting which was rendered much more comprehensible filmically, having not been filmed in broad Scottish dialect in which the book is written.  The book doesn’t have the added advantage of Ewan McGregor either).  I hoped however, that rather like The Lord of The Rings, that they might actually do a reasonable job of adapting it. 

Actually it isn’t really fair to compare it to LOTR, because heretical though it is to say so, I thought the books were very, very dull in comparison to the excellent Hobbit, and I loved the films because they took out all the dull bits and the poetry and made it really exciting. 

Anyway, to return to The Golden Compass.  My cousin told me it was terrible and she hated it (she too loves the books).  I on the other hand, didn’t think it was too bad.  I thought the girl who played Lyra did a reasonable job for a kid actor, and Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman were well cast as Lord Asriel and the evil Mrs. Coulter.  The special effects were cool, and the story wasn’t too mangled.  I did think it was a bit dumbed down and terribly ‘explainy’ in parts, but it worked a lot better than I’d hoped. 

It was good enough for me to not lose interest and want to go home, nor did I fall asleep or lose the will to live.  I will also go and see the next one when it comes out, so about a 7/10 for that.  Mind you, I did have the great good fortune to go and see it as a play at the National Theatre about four years ago, and that was far superior in every way.  So if you get the chance and they ever revive it, I would go and see that instead.  It’s breathtaking, and the theatrical effects are amazing. 

We came home, ate Thai curry, watched crap television and were in bed by 11.30.  Poor Jason had just drifted off when all the fireworks in the known universe went off under our bedroom window and he woke up thinking someone had blown up the local church!  Happy New Year indeed…

At the outset of this final book in the His Dark Materials series, Mrs. Coulter has defied the Church and taken her daughter, Lyra, to a remote cave where she keeps the girl imprisoned in a drug-induced sleep. Will, still in the world of Cittagazze, enlists the help of two rebel angels, Baruch and Balthamos, to rescue Lyra. However, Will is not the only one searching for the girl. Lord Asriel has sent a host of gyropters piloted by the soldiers of King Ogunwe as well as two Gallivespian spies to retrieve her. The Church’s zeppelins have also been sent with a single mission, kill Lyra.

(Image by John Howe, www.john-howe.com)
Battle ensues. Will rescues Lyra with the help of the armored bear, Iorek Byrnison, but he breaks the subtle knife, the knife that allows him to cut openings into other worlds, in the process. Lord Asriel’s soldiers capture Mrs. Coulter, who soon steals the intention craft, an air vehicle directed by the pilot’s intentions, and goes to spy on the Church. Iorek Byrnison helps Will reforge the subtle knife, but not before warning him that the knife has intentions of its own.

At the same time, Mary Malone, the expert in dark matter, travels through the world of Cittagazze and into a strange new world populated by antelope-like creatures, called mulefa, who travel on wheels and have human consciousness. In this world, Mary discovers the true nature of Dust. She forges the amber spyglass, which allows her to see Dust, and finds that all of the Dust is being sucked out of the world, causing the end of human consciousness.

http://www.useless69.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/pages/mulefa.html

Meanwhile, Lyra and Will have set out on a mission to the land of the dead so that Lyra can apologize to Roger, the boy whose death she caused, and Will can see his father, John Parry, again. In order to enter the world of the dead, Lyra and Roger must leave their daemon’s behind and meet their own deaths. In the end, they realize they have a greater purpose in this world.

Back at Lord Asriel’s castle, war wages between the forces of the Authority and Asriel’s armies. Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter have realized that Lyra will determine the fate of the battle. They fight Metatron, the Regent for the dying Authority, in a final attempt to save Lyra’s life. In the land of the mulefa, Lyra and Will finally meet the “serpent,” Mary Malone, who will awaken them to the temptation that will decide the fate of all humankind. Will they make the right choice? Or will all of the Dust go out of the world forever?

Pullman has crafted a masterful universe suffused with deep human truths. This is one of my favorite books of all time. I cannot say enough good things about it. In 2001, Pullman became the first children’s author to ever win the prestigious Whitbread prize for literature for The Amber Spyglass. (Read the Guardian article about Pullman’s victory).

DweebMeter: 5/5

Philip Pullman’s Website

Amber Spyglass on Wikipedia

Random House Info on His Dark Materials

Golden Compass Movie Info

Books about His Dark Materials:
2007. The Rough Guide to His Dark Materials.

Colbert, David. 2006. The Magical Worlds of Philip Pullman.

Freitas, Donna. 2007. Killing the Imposter God: Philip Pullman’s Spiritual Imagination in His Dark Materials.

Frost, Laurie. 2006. The Elements of His Dark Materials.

Gresh, Lois. October 30, 2007. Exploring Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials: An Unauthorized Adventure Through The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass .

Gribbin, John and Mary Gribbin. 2005. The Science of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials .

Lenz, Millicent. 2005. His Dark Materials Illuminated: Critical Essays On Philip Pullman’s Trilogy.

Squires, Claire. 2006. Philip Pullman, Master Storyteller: A Guide to the Worlds of His Dark Materials.

Wheat, Leonard F. 2007. Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials: A Multiple Allegory: Attacking Religious Superstition in the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Paradise Lost.

Yeffeth, Glenn. 2005. Navigating the Golden Compass: Religion, Science and Daemonology in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials (Smart Pop series).

(Originally published as The Northern Lights)
The epic trilogy begins as Lyra, an eleven-year-old orphan living at Jordan College in Oxford, overhears her uncle, Lord Asriel, telling the scholars about a strange substance called Dust. Lord Asriel proposes the concept of multiple worlds and asks for funding to further research this idea, but the scholars view his assertion as blasphemous.

The information Lyra overhears will change the course of her life forever, but before she can go on the journey that will decide the fate of all humankind, she must rescue her friend Roger, who is taken by a mysterious group of childnappers called the Gobblers.

With Roger still heavy in her thoughts, she agrees to leave Jordan College with the elegant Mrs. Coulter, a visiting scholar to Jordan College, and Lyra’s mother, who promises to educate Lyra. Lyra, however, soon finds that Mrs. Coulter is not what she seems.

Lyra flees Mrs. Coulter’s flat and seeks to find her friend Roger. On her journey, she meets boat-dwelling Gyptians, witches, armored bears and an aeronaut named Lee Scoresby. Will she find Roger in time? Or will Lyra fall to the many dangers that block her way on her journey north?

This is a masterful introduction to a science fiction trilogy that is destined to be considered one of the greatest of all time. Pullman has done more than craft a fantastically detailed universe. With this series, he delves into the most essential questions of science, psychology, philosophy and religion, and comes up with an answer that is both refreshing and revolutionary.

DweebMeter: 5/5

HisDarkMaterials.Org

Golden Compass Official Movie Website

The Golden Compass on Wikipedia

Meet Anicetos, my Dæmon. He is one of 10288 snow-leopard Dæmons within the total Dæmon population of 150383.

I have the same Dæmon as Lord Asriel! Okay. He may not be winning an award for morality and affection, but I still like his character. Oh, and if you don’t know what a Dæmon is, it’s the human soul manifested in the form of an animal that always stays near its human counterpart. Meet your own Dæmon here.
Catch His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig [James Bond in Casino Royale] on December 7, 2007. For now, you can just watch the trailer.

I can’t help but think the first part of the trailer is related to New Line’s misunderstanding with Peter Jackson. Somehow they’re trying to ingrain in people’s minds that they were responsible for LoTR’s success in those few seconds. I like New Line, by the way, because of LoTR. And now, they’re behind The Golden Compass. Kewl.
The movie is an adaptation of a novel [a trilogy, in fact. Just like Lord of the Rings. ] by Philip Pullman. I’ve read all three books in the trilogy and I loved it. I seriously couldn’t put it down even if it was ‘wordy‘ and ‘descriptive‘, if you know what I mean. The story is unique, too, in a way [it was able to strike up some religious controversies, but it is fiction]…and so are the characters. I recommend you read the novels. Or if you’re not the reading type, then just go and see the movie when it’s out.

If the deadline for “Book to Movie challenge” was even a week later, this would have been my unhesitating choice.This seems to be the year of movies based on books. Considering the popularity of corresponding books, The Golden Compass (based on the novel by Phillip Pullman) is perhaps the most awaited after Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Plot for those who haven’t read the book yet:

The story is set in a parallel universe, where the “souls” of humans stand next to them as their daemons (familiars). Lyra Belacqua is a young lady growing up in the most prestigious college in Oxford, Jordan College. Her parents were killed in an airship accident, and her uncle, Lord Asriel is a famous scholar in Jordan College and an explorer. Lyra is taught sporadically by Master and other scholars in the college, and is growing up to be rebellious, fearless (and almost barbarous) child. But there is trouble afoot, in the guise of “Gobblers” who are kidnapping children across England, one of them being Roger, Lyra’s best friend.

Lyra meets the charming Mrs. Coulter, who takes her up to London. Lyra is supposed to be Mrs. Coulter’s assistant, and accompany her on her trip to North (where Lyra hopes she will meet Lord Asriel). But Lyra starts finding out hidden depths in Mrs. Coulter. When Mrs. Coulter finds out that Lyra was entrusted with an alethiometer (known as “golden compass”, which is supposed to help you learn the “truth”) by the Master of Jordan College, her reaction forces Lyra and her daemon to run away.

Lyra is taken by gyptians who have been following her from Oxford, and learns that gyptians are gathering their forces to rescue the children kidnapped by Gobblers (who Lyra knows by now are connected to Magisterium). She goes to North with gyptians to help rescue her friend Roger. On the way to North, she meets the queen of witches, Serafina Pekkala, an airship captain called Lee Scoresby and Iorek Byrnison, an armoured bear. She also starts learning to use alethiometer, although nobody knows how exactly it works.

Lyra helps the exiled Iorek Byrnison gain his rightful place among the armoured bears, and gains his help for their cause. They go to rescue children held in a station, guarded by Bolvangar armymen with fox daemons. While fighting Lyra learns that Lord Asriel may be in mortal danger, and goes ahead with her companions to save him.

In the movie, Dakota Blue Richards is very good as the rebellious, fearless, devious and curious (over-curious?) Lyra. The only thing is that her look of fear does not suit her properly (it looked to me more coy than afraid). Daniel Craig as Lord Asriel does look like a powerful man, as a scholar and explorer with political connections. Nicole Kidman as Mrs. Coulter is also perfectly cast, charming and dangerous at the same time.

From what I have read of the book, the movie is not so different. The mention of “Dust” (the cosmic uncharged particles which “connect” different universes) may be slightly reduced from the book. Lyra makes the “discoveries” on her own, or gets information (about her parents, about gobblers etc.) from other sources than in the book. She does start using the alethiometer perfectly almost magically, not start understanding it slowly. Yes, the Magisterium (the church, or what stands for church) is corrupt and power-hungry, but the anti-theocratic message for which the books are “renowned” seems to be much muted (or at least, it seemed to me). But at least, the changes made will not raise the hackles of the readers, as they don’t take away much from the main storyline.

The universe does have zeppelins and ships working on “atomcrafts”, with old-school buildings of Jordan College and majestic “London” vistas, and magnificent stretches of ice on the North pole. All these are beautifully created. But don’t compare the movie to Lord of the Rings, at least not in battle scenes (Is it just me or did the Bolvangars look like computer animations?). As a fantasy tale, the movie is pretty good, easily understandable even if you haven’t read the books.

Before I finish, there really are circles (or spheres) in every scene, right?

P.S. I saw the trailer of “Inkheart” before the movie. Didn’t know this book was also coming out as a movie. Must move it up my list of to-be-reads.

Quote of The Day:

It’s an alethiometer. It tells the truth. You are meant to have it.
- The Master of Jordan College

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– Also cross-posted on Desicritics