His Dark Materials

[Russell Nash]

Go with your first answer, Russell.  The Golden Compass is an amazing book, but while I do believe it's technically classed as Young Adult, it's far more complex in both its language and plot than Harry Potter. 

I found three used copies of HP1 at a low price on Amazon.de (Germany).  It wasn't the edition Amazon wanted me to get, so I had to search before I found it. 

Thanks for confirming my original thoughts.

[Tango Alpha Delta]

I am relieved to see several folks with similar opinions on HDM -- I was worried that my vision was clouded by sour grapes.  See, I've been kicking around ideas on using intelligent sub-atomic particles as a basis for a story for years now, and I had only recovered from the shock of seeing Michael Crichton's sheissburger about nano-critters that eat people when I saw the Golden Compass trailer.  Cracking the book and seeing that it revolved around Dust nearly sent me through the roof.

My 11-year-old has been bringing home Madeline L'Engle books lately, and I thought Amber Spyglass felt like it could have been one of her books; I liked the ideas, but they were tossed together in a stilted way, and kind of shuffled to a rambling ending that was as difficult to care about and reach as the end of this sentence.

I guess the tough question would be, how to fix a boring fight with God?  Here's what I was expecting (skip to avoid near-spoilers):

(scene: atop a mountain, many lightning bolts)

God: I brought you into this world, and I'll take you out!

Girl with inexplicable powers: You've been in charge too long, and are drunk with power.

Boy with big, glowing knife: I will use my inexplicable skill with this device no one understands to unseem you from the nave to the chaps.

God: Zap!  Ha, now you are dead.

Girl: No!  My first knee-weakening crush is dead!  My free will is back!  (stabs God in groin with subtle knife)

God: Ow!  I am undone, Horatio!  (blinks out of existence, taking everything with Him)

Girl's atom, floating it nothingness: Are you alright?

Boy's atom, likewise: I think I lost an electron.

Girl's atom: Are you sure?

Boy's atom: I'm positive.

(publishers leave town before readers can beg for refund)

[Russell Nash]

Girl's atom, floating it nothingness: Are you alright?
Boy's atom, likewise: I think I lost an electron.
Girl's atom: Are you sure?
Boy's atom: I'm positive.

I'm regretting that PM already

[Tango Alpha Delta]

Girl's atom, floating it nothingness: Are you alright?
Boy's atom, likewise: I think I lost an electron.
Girl's atom: Are you sure?
Boy's atom: I'm positive.

I'm regretting that PM already

Sorry... I've been shut in with the kids all week.  I believe the phrase in Arabic for my condition is "aqali maqali".

[Loz]

I loved all three books, anything that introduces kids to Gnosticism can't be all bad 

[Listener]

I liked the books, but I didn't really follow all that stuff with the Dust, and the part at the end of the third with the former nun just went on WAY too long after the actual climax.  For me, the big boss was Metatron, not G-d and once he was done for, I was done too.

Regardless, I still think the film of the first one is going to roxxorz my soxxorz.

[DarkKnightJRK]

I loved His Dark Materials--in my opinion, it's better then LOTR and Narnia combined.

[Heradel]

There's an article about the movie in this issue of Wired— The director says that the Magisterium is going to be more political and vaguely religious, and that Pullman's endorsed it ( "Religious tyranny is one form of tyranny, it's tyranny that's the bad thing. Totalitarian ways of thought are just as bad when they're inspired by religion as some other body of doctrine." )

[Listener]

There's an article about the movie in this issue of Wired— The director says that the Magisterium is going to be more political and vaguely religious, and that Pullman's endorsed it ( "Religious tyranny is one form of tyranny, it's tyranny that's the bad thing. Totalitarian ways of thought are just as bad when they're inspired by religion as some other body of doctrine." )

There are a lot of films where religion is the bad guy.  This one, however, is I guess so high-profile that they were afraid to turn off the younger audiences whose parents wouldn't let them go because it bashed their deity.  If you have to be afraid of a movie impugning your faith, perhaps there's something wrong with your faith.

After my distinct dislike of the first film, I'm probably not going to run out to see the next two.  I'll wait for DVD.

I do plan to reread the books sometime next year.

[Darwinist]

   Interesting that Kidman's gone on record about the Catholic elements and her feelings about it.  For what it's worth, I'm a Catholic myself and I loved the books, largely because that element, for me, speaks not to a specific religion but to the fact that any body, once it gets large enough, is inevitably going to be corrupted.

Just wondering Alasdair - did your priest recommend boycotting this movie?  A couple of people I work with said that their priest (Catholic) and pastor (Lutheran) told them not to see the movie.   

[Alasdair5000]

Nope, didn't mention it once.  Interestingly, the only element of the church over here that reacted badly to it was the media, and even then they took the 'Dust?Talking polar bears?We don't understand' approach instead of outright slamming it.

[Tango Alpha Delta]

Nope, didn't mention it once.  Interestingly, the only element of the church over here that reacted badly to it was the media, and even then they took the 'Dust?Talking polar bears?We don't understand' approach instead of outright slamming it.

The media is an element of the church?  I'm even MORE glad I never paid a TV duty while I was stranded in the Midlands!  (No, I only had an American TV set, and yes, I let the nice TV tax enforcer come in and look at it.)

I have never understood the knee-jerk boycotting of shows that "portray religion in a bad light" in recent years.  I crossed a picket line of two nuns to see "Jesus Christ Superstar" in 1994, despite my dad's concern that the show "makes fun of Jesus", and yes, in the show, Herod vamped it up and mocked Jesus... just like in the Bible.  The lesson I took from that was: the people making the accusation have rarely actually seen the show, but will pass on the most spurious and superficial criticisms. 

I'm also confused because the same people that boycotted "The Last Temptation of Christ"  told me I should see "The Passion of the Christ".  The closest I have come to re-opiating myself with some kind of Faith in the last 17 years was after seeing Willem Dafoe's Jesus actually face temptation and choose to remain on the cross... but I couldn't see how sitting through Mel Gibson's "snuff film" (to borrow a South Park description) would make me feel more spiritual.

Now, if I was a religious person, you know what I would call for a boycott on?  That "Left Behind" crap, that's what.  My mother sent me a big box full of that garbage with a note that said, "You like sci-fi... you ought to enjoy these!"

I didn't make it out of chapter three.