The three books comprising the original trilogy by Philip Pullman shine brightly in my memory as one of the best things I've ever read. I haven't gone back to re-read them since I first encountered them (now some 15 years ago), but I can still clearly remember being impressed by the cleverness of the setting and premise, engaged by the quality of the writing, and stunned by the ultimate conclusion and message. Any lover of fantasy owes it to themselves to read these books.
But I'd also be the first to admit, it seems to be a very hard sell in adaptation. The movie version of book one, made a while back with Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman, failed to take off. Fans of the books chalked that up mostly to the way the script abridged the source, postponing the most compelling and controversial material to later movies that would never come, attempting to make a "kids' movie" out of a tale with quite adult content.
HBO seemed to be the answer to that. A multi-part TV series would allow the time and space to capture all the book's twists and turns. And being on the prestigious pay channel would mean the harsh barbs of the story need not be sanded down.
But it hasn't seemed to me that His Dark Materials has taken off in this format either. Baby Yoda and The Mandalorian replaced Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow as the trendy topic at the internet's virtual water cooler. Few of my friends have mentioned watching the show at all. Among those who did, more than one said they tried the first episode and didn't get pulled in. And in the modern TV landscape, I get that -- there are so many things to watch that are good right out of the gate that who has time for something that doesn't grab you right away? (I just went through that myself with the first episode of The Witcher.)
Still, I have to jump in with the cliche and say: the show does get better. There's a lot of exposition needed to establish the world of His Dark Materials. Honestly, I don't remember quite how Philip Pullman did it all in his books... but that sort of thing is much harder in TV and movies anyway. As a result, the first episode of the HBO series (and much of the second) is a super-dense avalanche of world building that is admittedly short on action. I was willing to stick with the series because I knew from the books that there would be payoff.
If you hang in until episode three, I believe the hook will be set. The visuals are amazing throughout, from the steampunk qualities of the world at large, to the beauty of the Northern Lights and icy environments, to the convincing animation of the animal "daemons." Ruth Wilson gives a great performance as the doggedly driven Miss Coulter, young Dafne Keen grows more comfortable in her role as lead character Lyra, and the personalities of the many periphery characters begin to leave stronger impressions (including those played by James McAvoy, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Clarke Peters, Anne-Marie Duff, and James Cosmo).
It's a largely faithful adaptation, by my memory. What changes there are seem to be to accelerate more demanding story elements rather than defer them. The moral ambiguities of certain characters are introduced sooner than in the books, an entire character not added until book two appears partway through season one, and stronger hints are dropped about the ultimate thematic direction of the tale. By the end of the season's eight episodes, you're left with some jaw-dropping developments and a compelling hook for where the story will go next. I also believe that most people would be glad they came along for the ride.
It's possible that there's really just no way to adapt the His Dark Materials books and do them justice. But I do believe this series has done it about as well as it could be. Acknowledging the slow start, I think I'd give the season a B+ overall. Maybe people have dropped their HBO subscriptions right now, following the conclusion of Game of Thrones. But if you spin it back up in the future (say, for Westworld), you might also want to make time for this thought-provoking fantasy tale.
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