Ambrosia Software Web Board: The Golden Compass - Ambrosia Software Web Board

I haven't seen the movie yet.. but I get to go see it in about 5 hours. I know there are more fans of the books out there than there seem. So what do you think?

Are the books better than Harry Potter? (In my opinion, that's a big.. DUH)
How big a fan of the books are you? (HUGE fan)
Favorite aspect of the books? (The first children's book series out there to really outwardly challenge Christianity)
Are you glad that they've released a movie? (YES)

And if you've seen the movie...

What was the most missed aspect that didn't transfer from the book?
What'd you think overall? Good movie apart from the books?
Sequels?


Yeah.. I'm decking out. Perhaps I'll post some pictures. I've got my dæmon, alethiometer, Northern garb, and some Chocolatl. (Oh yeah.. and I had an omelet for breakfast )

This post has been edited by moonunit4eva: 07 December 2007 - 12:53 PM

hey µ! long time no see!

I've only just discovered the books, half way through #2 currently. I found the first one a little slow, but very good once I got in to it. Very much looking forward to seeing the film.

Thanks!

Wait till you get to the third book. I've never truly cried my heart out whilst reading a book before.

Until I read The Amber Spyglass. I was on campus too :/

They are amazing. Definitely pwn Harry Potter.

I've been considering picking up the books myself, based on some of the editorial content I've been reading prior to the movie release. Uniquely crafted fantasy novels with deeper philosophical underpinnings have always been a big favourite of mine, with the possible exception of the later Dune books. My only concern is that, as children's books, the intended reading age might get in the way for me.

Incidentally, they have a daemon finder over at the official Golden Compass Movie Site. My demon, Euthalias, is a Tiger. What's yours?

My Daemon is a Wolf. I am yet to name her.

SA, after reading one of the books, I'd certainly say they feel a lot more grown up than any other children's book. Definitely more so than Harry Potter.

I've yet to finish my seventh round through the three books in the set. I tend to rapidly run out of things to read and read the same thing again and again.

Do these books pwn harry Potter? No and yes. They're even in some aspects. The His Dark Materials series was pretty even through out the various movies with certain factors such as character deaths, and plot changes. Harry Potter, They switched from thing-to-thing and person-to-person in a very confusing way. I've read all 7 of these books several times, and found that the more I read them, the more I dislike them. They make up a great series, but they just fall apart the last few books. The His Dark Materials series hooked me from the beginning and held tight 'till the end. I have almost no desire what so ever to see the movie. I've seen a preview, and do not like what I saw. They changed so much stuff. First Eragon, then The Dark is Rising, now this. I however am compelled to see this just becuase the books were so good.

This post has been edited by G-Spark: 07 December 2007 - 11:08 PM

A Song of Ice and Fire.

I have a crow daemon, most interestingly. I will likely go see this movie over Christmas break.

This post has been edited by Manta: 08 December 2007 - 02:59 PM

I have a crow daemon as well.

I love the backstory of the His Dark Materials trilogy, but I've always shied away from reading them because I would be inclined towards that backstory resulting in an immensely dark and extremely cynical series of novels, which I can't see the books really being.

-Pufer

I'll be reading the book and seeing the movie in about a week. Expect a report at that time.

To answer my own questions..

I thought the movie ROCKED. It wasn't the books, but never have I seen a movie from book adaptation that was. I didn't leave the theatre with that, "Wow" feeling after, but I was definitely satisfied with the level of staying true to the book-ness. The entire cast was spot on. (I especially loved Scoresby and Hester.) It's definitely worth spending the money to see it in theatres. But if ever you wanted to read the books, I'd do that first. The ending is totally different than the book. (Which makes sense if they don't end up continuing the series.)

I only have two complaints. Was anyone else disappointed that there was hardly any aurora? There was like.. one scene! But for those who like battle scenes, there's pretty damn good one. The other disappointment was the lack of a party scene at Coulter's. More than anything I wanted to see who they cast as Latrom. But that's alright.. it wasn't "necessary."

Oh yes.. and the alethiometer. Who liked it? Is that how you imagined it to look/act? I thought they did an AWESOME job with the alethiometer and spy fly. Oh yes...

I got a Crow daemon called Mayra.

Oh yeah.. I forgot to talk about my dæmon. He's a monkey! w00t.

As a Christian, I don't particularly like the premise of the books, but the summaries I've read sound good and I may read the books/watch the movie just to critique it and/or for the action. One of my many problems with it is the fact that Pantalaimon is officially named after a Christian saint, and Christianity doesn't name animals/objects/anything other than people any name that a saint has used. This may be different, though, seeing how a daemon is the supposed embodiment of a person's soul. My daemon is a mouse who's name I forget. BTW, portraying the concept of God as being out-of-place in the modern world is bogus. An independent study found that religion actually increases faster than the birth rate, especially in modern countries like the U.S. I'll see if I can find the exact source later. Anyway, I hope to see the movie soon and give my thoughts on it from a strictly cinematography-based standpoint.

Cosmic_Nusiance, on Dec 9 2007, 10:16 PM, said:

I've found over the years that, unless that phrase is followed by either "I'd like to give you [this/my] [money/car/book/food/undying affection]" or "I find you incredibly attractive and would like you to jump my bones this evening," it expresses an opinion that could be much more accurately stated in some other manner.

-Pufer

Pufer, on Dec 10 2007, 12:28 AM, said:

It's only constructive criticism if you give an alternative. Also, it was completely relevant as it gives the standpoint that I'm coming from and lets you know why I don't particularly like the premise of the books. Deal with it.

This post has been edited by Cosmic_Nusiance: 10 December 2007 - 12:38 AM

Cosmic_Nusiance, on Dec 9 2007, 09:16 PM, said:

That doesn't mean anything except that people are likely to agree with either you, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Dalai Lama, Jon Stewart, or L. Ron Hubbard.

I hope I'm not turning this into JC.

zurdo, on Dec 10 2007, 12:48 AM, said:

Natch. I'm just saying that the theory that god has no place in modern society and religion is doomed to being a minority (as implied by the aged weakling "authority") is totally false.

Cosmic_Nusiance, on Dec 9 2007, 09:58 PM, said:

Usually the fear is that religion or some other perceived oppressor won't become a minority. If Pullman didn't feel threatened by religion, would he have written the book? What bastard writes something about how well his cause is doing? Look at all of America's frothy writing from opinion. The religious conservatives talk about evil Hollywood liberals' grasp of society. The Democrats whine about what a jerk George Bush has been to him ever since about the pretzel incident. Kurt Vonnegut wrote about the impending end of the Earth.

Without a fair dose of pessimism, there's no motivation.

Pufer, on Dec 8 2007, 08:09 AM, said:

Well, I've just finished Northern Lights (known to you Americans as The Golden Compass - why do American publishers insist on renaming British children's books?), and I must say, there is definitely an underlying darkness to the world that you don't find in many children's books. It's a certain ambivalence regarding society and human nature that's very adult. That said, the story itself has a certain optimism to it, as most books starring children do.

zurdo, on Dec 10 2007, 06:09 AM, said:

When it comes to this matter, I think you need to be careful about generalising across cultures. While the US seems to be engaged in a perpetual "Culture War" with itself that motivates much of the public discourse, this motivation is far less pronounced in other English-speaking countries. In particular, while Secular Humanism is a powerful literary force in England, I'd hardly characterise it as motivated by a fear of religion - religion just isn't a dominant force in the politics of government there. Come to think of it, I've never seen an English-speaking country where religion is anywhere near as prominent in the political debate in the same way as it is in the US, and I've visited all of them except for Canada.

Anyway, the point is that a writer like Pullman or Pratchett doesn't necessarily have the same motivations as an American writer like... hmmm... help me out here, I haven't read any secular American writers recently...

Cosmic_Nusiance, on Dec 9 2007, 10:33 PM, said:

A good friend of mine is fond of saying, "As I'm a Christian, I find it necessary to work towards the utter ruin of organized religion." He's also fond of saying, "As a Christian, I can tell you that John Hagee is full of s###." He is, in fact, a Christian, but that doesn't mean much of anything. In the first case, he presumes that being a Xian has something to do with true belief with a necessary bent against dogmatic practice. In the second case, he presumes that being an Xian has something to do with his ability to accurately interpret Xian teachings.

In the way that you said it, I really don't think that you're taking the stance of not wanting to read the novels because you feel that being a Xian gives you a necessary bent against dogmatic practice, are you? In fact, I should think that you're saying almost exactly the opposite. The thing is, your statement that the phrase "As a Xian" gives me any idea, independent of context, of where you stand is entirely inaccurate. I'm quite certain that my friend would 'as a Xian' quite love the premise of the books, and would use the phrase in exactly the same way that you're using it. The alternative I provided was to use a more specific meaning, something like, "As a person who believes that established Xian religious organizations are sacred and above reproach, I find any premise based upon an idea to the contrary to be distasteful."

-Pufer

zurdo, on Dec 10 2007, 01:09 AM, said:

Naturally, but his point (which is that god is out of place in our society) is wrong.

I don't really think that's his point at all..