"His Dark Materials" series being released by New Line Cinima in 2007

For those of you that have read the series by Philip Pullman, the first being The Golden Compass, this will be very exciting to watch as details stream out.

Wow... that's really neat. I loved those books and always wished I could have a daemon. I hope the movies will be as good or better than the books!

Oh, man!

I am so glad to read that New Line Cinema is making these films. For some reason, I thought that DISNEY was making them. I'm sure New Line can make movies that do the damn books justice, and this makes me happy indeed. And, of course, it's obviously a good thing if the author of the book supports the director!

I hope they keep the movies as close as possible to the books.

Originally Posted by Alehandro

For those of you that have read the series by Philip Pullman, the first being The Golden Compass, this will be very exciting to watch as details stream out.

The Golden Compass? What the hell!
Don't you mean Northern Lights?

I see that you are from the U.K.

It was published in Europe under the title Northern Lights, wheras over in the States it was called The Golden Compass for reasons that escape me.

The movie title will also differenciate across the pond.

It was the Golden Compass here in Finland too... (in Finnish of course)

I loved the first book, and the second one was good too, but the third one had some really weird ideas... But all in all it is a great story, and I can't wait to see it on the big screen! It will be interesting to see how they do everything. The books are quite long and have a lot of different things there.

Also I'm happy they're making it now, when the daemons etc. can actually be done so that they look right. (not that the story has even been complete for very long, so worries for it being made before the animation and all was good enough were quite needless...)

Hmmm, 2007 is so far away...

Cool, I hope that they can do justice to the books. Although they proably won't.

I loved the first book, and the second one was good too, but the third one had some really weird ideas... But all in all it is a great story, and I can't wait to see it on the big screen! It will be interesting to see how they do everything. The books are quite long and have a lot of different things there.

I know what you mean, the third one was quite wierd, I'd like to see how the make those creatures that use nuts as wheels (I forgot what they were called) I guess we won't find out or a while

Very exciting... except of course, for the fact that the films will have all references to God removed.

For anyone who has read and loved the books, you'll know what a stupid idea this is. The story is about the absolute corruption of the Church in the novel; its quest to eliminate original sin. The excuse for the changes is that New Line fears the films will be looked at as 'anti-religious' and don't want to get into a fight with the Christian Right - especially not in "Bush's America."

It sickens me.

What is a powerful fantasy trilogy with strong themes of morality and justice is going to lose one of the things that made it so compelling to begin with. It infuriates me that the censorship of ideas - especially such dangerous ideas as 'the Church is not always right' - can happen so easily and with such little fuss.

Originally Posted by pipking

Very exciting... except of course, for the fact that the films will have all references to God removed.

Okaaay.... How are they going to make that work? The whole story is about the stuff with God, what's there if they take it out? Some random events about moving through some worlds? Me can't understand. People can be so stupid... Well, lets just wait and see, and try to be optimistic... Maybe they still can make it work. But that did push my expectations real low for now...

Sounds pretty interesting. I really liked The Golden Compass when I decided to read it for school summer reading a few years back so I picked up the other two books and loved them too.

Originally Posted by Meralia

Okaaay.... How are they going to make that work? The whole story is about the stuff with God, what's there if they take it out? Some random events about moving through some worlds? Me can't understand. People can be so stupid... Well, lets just wait and see, and try to be optimistic... Maybe they still can make it work. But that did push my expectations real low for now...

What? Let me rephrase that. The movies will have all of the book's substance removed.

I have low expectations of most hollywood films, as they seem to ruin whatever book they get their grubby little paws on. Well, most of the book to films I have seen.

Besides, there is no way the film can be enchanting as the play was.
Easily one of the best things I have ever seen in the theatre.

I'm sure they will leave the religious stuff in, but at the beginning perhaps put a short caution/warning. Eg: "This film contains references that you may find perverse, however it tells of a fictional universe and the opinions and facts expressed in this motion picture should not be taken literally." Well you get the idea!

Northern lights is what its called here. I loved those books, I wonder how they will do everything. Do you have a sorce for this?

Yeah, I heard about this awhile ago. Too bad it's never going to turn out as it should. A billion $$ say it'll be another "Chronicles's of Narnia", or "Never Ending Story" type of fantasy movie.

Well, I seem to be in a slight minority when it comes to those books. I thought they were far from great. They were good, yes, but I didn't find the plot enormously enthralling, unlike most people. It was mostly a good read, though.

I thought this movie might still be OK. After all, the story still had good parts, especially in the first book. But then I heard there won't be any references to the church. That pretty much removes most of the interesting stuff from the story. Damn that American Bible Mafia.