Norther Lights, oh wait, i'm a dumb american

[Bahumat]

YouTube - The Golden Compass trailer

They're calling it Golden Compass lol

Should be good if they follow the books, but someone mentioned they are not spending too much time on the religion side...

 

[old.Tohtori]

Err...looks a bit...well...partly good. Let's keep it at that.

Mostly boring trailer though.

Might be 'cause i've never heard of it, but what has religion to do with it?

 

[swords]

The books were very good, looks hopeful.

 

[Lamp]

Books are WELL worth a read if any1's not read them yet

 

[CorNokZ]

Looks Narnia~ish/Some sort of Harry Potter..

 

[Lakih]

Never even heard of the story.. what's the books called and who wrote them?

 

[swords]

If it follows the book, it should be simply a visual resemblence given all the fantasy based films being made atm.
His Dark materials trilogy by Phillip Pullman.

 

[Bahumat]

His Dark Materials is a trilogy of novels by the fantasy fiction author Philip Pullman, comprising Northern Lights (released as The Golden Compass in North America and published in 1995), The Subtle Knife (1997) and The Amber Spyglass (2000). The trilogy has also been published as a single-volume omnibus in the United Kingdom and North America, titled simply His Dark Materials.

The trilogy follows the coming of age of two main characters, Lyra Belacqua and Will Parry, as they wander through a multiverse of parallel universes and a backdrop of epic events. The story begins in Northern Lights with fantasy elements such as witches and armoured bears. As the trilogy progresses, it acquires allegorical layers of meaning, introducing a broad range of ideas from fields such as physics (quantum physics), philosophy (metaphysics, philosophy of religion and, arguably, a degree of hylopathism), and theology (biblical symbolism).

Err...looks a bit...well...partly good. Let's keep it at that.

Mostly boring trailer though.

Might be 'cause i've never heard of it, but what has religion to do with it?

The three major literary influences on His Dark Materials acknowledged by Pullman himself are the essay On the Marionette Theatre by Heinrich von Kleist (which can be found here), the works of William Blake, and, most importantly, John Milton's Paradise Lost, from which the trilogy derives its title as well as many of its basic ideas.[2] Pullman's stated intention was to invert Milton's story of a war between heaven and hell.[3] In his introduction, he adapts Blake's line to quip that he (Pullman) "is of the Devil's party and does know it." The novels also draw heavily on gnostic ideas, and His Dark Materials has been a subject of controversy, especially with Christian groups.[4][5] The verse from Paradise Lost in which the phrase "his dark materials" is used follows:

Looks Narnia~ish/Some sort of Harry Potter..

His Dark Materials can be seen as the antithesis of The Chronicles of Narnia, the seven-book fantasy series by C. S. Lewis, although Pullman denies any conscious connection.[6] This image has been reinforced by Pullman making public statements accusing Lewis of being "blatantly racist" and "monumentally disparaging of women" in his novels.[7]

Christianity and the Church are criticized by the characters. For example, Ruta Skadi, a witch and friend of Lyra's calling for war against the Magisterium in Lyra's world, says that "For all of [the Church's] history...it's tried to suppress and control every natural impulse. And when it can't control them, it cuts them out." (see intercision.) Skadi later extends her criticism to all organized religion: "That's what the Church does, and every church is the same: control, destroy, obliterate every good feeling." (By this part of the book, the witches have made reference to how they are treated criminally by the church in their worlds.) Mary Malone, one of Pullman's main characters, states that "the Christian religion…is a very powerful and convincing mistake, that's all.", which reflects her agnostic scientist nature.

On the other hand, Pullman portrays the Christian heaven to be a lie, and the books' real afterlife is a bleak place where people are tormented by "harpies" (only somewhat similar to the Greek harpies).

Pullman's "Authority" is a weak, false god. It is presented to be the Christian God ( but more similar to the Gnostic idea of Demiurge), as opposed to a dictatorial impostor.[8] Moreover, no distinction is made between negative and positive Christian practice.[9][10] Nearly all the Christian characters are portrayed as bad individuals, or are portrayed in a more positive light only after they give up their affiliation with the Church.[9]

Cynthia Grenier, in the Catholic Culture, has said: "In the world of Pullman, God Himself (the Authority) is a merciless tyrant, His Church is an instrument of oppression, and true heroism consists of overthrowing both."[11]

Pullman has, however, also found support from other Christians, most notably Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who argues that Pullman's attacks are focused on the constraints and dangers of dogmatism and the use of religion to oppress, not on Christianity itself.[12] Pullman himself has said in interviews and appearances[6][13] that his argument can be extended to all religions.

In terms of popularity, the trilogy is sometimes compared with fantasy books like A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle,[14] Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling[15] and the Narnia books themselves.[16]

 

[Bahumat]

Never even heard of the story.. what's the books called and who wrote them?

Dark Materials

Northern Lights aka Golden Compass
Subtle Knife
Amber Spyglass

 

[Lakih]

Amazon.co.uk: His Dark Materials Boxed set (His Dark Materials): Books: Philip Pullman
£14.30 from amazon... think ill buy myself a copy and read it

 

[Nate]

Does it have anything to do with LoTR? Bit miffed by the first bit, New Lines Cinema milking it?

 

[Lamp]

Nothing to do with LOTR

New Line Cinema released LOTR thats all

So they're allowed to piggy back off LOTR's success

 

[Azurus]

I actually enjoyed the books far more than the LOTR trilogy.

 

[DocWolfe]

Fuck me I've been waiting for this for a while.

 

[Maeloch]

Think it's a novel about blackpool illuminations tbh.

 

[cog]

The trailer was ok, I absolutely love the books though so I really hope they dont ruin them.

And I think they changed the name for fluency between the 3 titles (although its still silly )

 

[Overdriven]

As I'm not in a googling mood. (If I go near it, I'll be reading up on security/hardware. So I wish to avoid)

Can you summarise what it's about? Stick spoiler tags too

 

[Overdriven]

Okay, I just realised there was actually a first page to this. (I think I was seeing something when I posted this) - I'll just read what others have posted and watch the trailer.

Meh. Stupid eyesight.

 

[yaruar]

AFAIR the series has recently won an award as the best childrens fiction of the last 70 years and is the only book written for children to ever win the Booker Prize.

I'd reccommend anyone read the trilogy. Think of it being a bit like Harry Potter, if the person who wrote Harry Potter could actually write well and had a decent education.....

 

[fenrisan]

Orphan girl and her daemon run away to find her lost friend, meet boy along the way, travel between parallel worlds, get involved in war between the church and anti church elements, discovers truth about their parentage, rescue friend, save world, fall in love (with the help of talking bears, witches, cowboys, angels, gypsies and weird tricycle creatures)

Very brief description considering it covers three relatively long books, but the story works on various levels to describe the nature of sin, coming of age, religion and all the topics covered above.

Most importantly however it is a good story without any of the subtext.