His Dark Materials ★★★☆


Until the next truly smashing science fiction or fantasy series comes along, His Dark Materials will help a bit to tide us over. Some reviewers seem to think that it’s a Game of Thrones knockoff. It looks more like Harry Potter to me. Still, there are strong elements of originality. A big part of what makes it worth watching is purely visual — an imaginary world with lots of gothic and steampunk elements. The animal sidekicks are charming and are used to excellent dramatic effect.

My main criticism might be that it’s a touch too young adult for the total immersion of someone as old as I am. But it’s good enough, I think, to make up for that. Anglophiles will love it, and unfortunately for those who live at Oxford, the flood of tourists is only going to get worse. I thoroughly enjoyed my brief visit to Oxford back in August. I’ve watched two episodes of His Dark Materials so far and have downloaded the third.

His Dark Materials was produced by the BBC and HBO. You can stream it from HBO Now or HBO Go.

One thought on “His Dark Materials ★★★☆”

  1. I enjoyed the books very much – some unknown years ago 🙂
    – also other of Philip Pullmans series, novels, short stories.
    Young adult – that normally means without violence and sex – very appropriate 🙂

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