"His Dark Materials," Year One

I was a fan of kids' fantasy literature when I was younger, but Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy managed to pass me by completely. The only exposure I've had to it is the ill-fated, heavily compromised feature adaptation of "The Golden Compass," made by New Line back in 2007. I'm very glad that the BBC decided to take another shot at it, this time as a multi-season television adventure series.

Lyra (Dafne Keen) lives in a world where people are born with daemons, manifestations of a part of their spirit, that take the form of companion animals. Lyra's daemon is Pantalaimon (Kit Connor), most frequently seen in the form of an ermine or marten. She was left at Jordan College, an academic institution, by her uncle Lord Asriel (James McAvoy) as a baby, and raised by the masters there. Her best friend is a boy named Roger (Lewin Lloyd), who disappears one day after a string of strange occurrences. This spurs Lyra to leave Jordan College and journey toward the mysterious North in search of him. Other major characters include Mrs. Coulter (Ruth Wilson), an agent of the sinister Magisterium that functions much like the Catholic Church, an aeronaut named Lee Scoresby (Lin Manuel Miranda), Lord Boreal (Ariyon Bakare), who can slip between different worlds, and Iorek Byrnison (Joe Tandberg), an armored polar bear.

Logistically, the new "His Dark Materials" was a challenge. The daemons are mostly CGI, and look fabulous for a television production. There are multiple child actors who have a lot of screen time - so much so that other storylines with the adult actors were reportedly beefed up to avoid the production running afoul of child labor laws. You have fantasy versions of Oxford, London, Scandinavia, and the frozen north. There are major battle sequences with airships, armored polar bears, and dozens of extras. The special effects are so numerous, work started on the second season before the first even aired. In short, the BBC and HBO should be commended for putting a lot of resources toward a very ambitious project.

As for the resulting quality of the show, well, that's another story. The series looks great, the cast is full of strong actors, and interesting fantasy concepts are all realized and presented with all due care and consideration. However, I struggled to stay interested in the story from week to week. Though the material explores dark themes and the ending is famously a shocker, this is still very much a children's series and follows a very simple, episodic structure of moving from place to place, and crisis to crisis. The setting up of the world and relationships is important, but it takes so long for things to really get rolling. It's not until the fourth episode that the show's best characters are introduced, and their roles are fairly limited.

In addition, there's a sense that the story is constantly being padded out. Whenever the action is on Lyra, the show is engaging and it feels like events are progressing. And then we have to go follow Lord Boreal setting up the events of the next season, or drop in on various side characters debating over what to do with Lyra, or what to tell Lyra, and everything grinds to a halt. Frequently these scenes are played by very good actors, but there's only so much that they can do. The big shock ending is telegraphed so far in advance, it loses most of its impact. I've bemoaned film adaptations not having the narrative space to handle their source material, but "The Golden Compass" as an eight-hour series is clearly too much.

There are so many things that I like about this one, though. Dafne Keen as Lyra is great. Ruth Wilson as Mrs. Coulter is scary and wonderful. The Iorek Byrnison we meet here is so much more well-rounded and interesting than the one in the film, because we have the time to really get to know him before all the fighting and running around happens. The production values are strong across the board, with special kudos to a magnificent score. I like some of the adaptation changes - certain reveals happen at different times, and there's more information doled out upfront. And I like that though the series probably owes its existence to the success of "Harry Potter," it's not trying to be "Harry Potter."

I'm looking forward to the second series, because the show has done so much of the work setting it up, that it would be a shame not to be able to see it all pay off. As mixed as I am about the first series, I'm very glad that it was made, and made with faithfulness and commitment.
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