BBC’s His Dark Materials Releases First Teaser
by Tito W. James
In a world where human souls exist outside their bodies as animal companions (daemons) a girl named Lyra (Dafne Keen) is sent on an expedition to the North Pole to save her uncle, Lord Asriel (James McAvoy), who is held captive by a race of armored polar bears. Lyra must learn how to divine the truth from a golden compass while being pursued by Ms. Coulter (Ruth Wilson) who represents an oppressive religious authority known as the Magisterium.
Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials, more commonly known as The Golden Compass series, is revered for its unique retro-futuristic fantasy world, sexually subversive themes and religious satire.
The book’s darker elements couldn’t be explored in the PG13 film adaptation. But that appears to change with a TV series produced by the BBC and distributed in America by HBO.
From the trailer fans of the original series can take heart that the core characters will be rendered faithfully on screen. The cast is fantastic but I was concerned by the lack of VFX shown on screen. The quality of the CGI used for the daemons and armored bears could make or break the series.
I’m hoping that His Dark Materials is as epic as Game of Thrones on HBO. It’s a superb fantasy journey that deserves only the best adaptation.
