His Dark Materials gets fucked

[Adora]

Okay, so Earthsea sucks. Boohoo. I was never a Le Guin fan, so it kind of raises a shrug on my care-o-meter. But I'm sure I'm going to be comparably mocked for caring about another fantasy series...

Has anyone else heard teh shocking news (heh) that Phillp Pullman's trilogy is officially getting Fundie-Fucked when being made into a Hollywood trilogy of films?

Basically, they're removing all references to "the Church" and replacing them with "The Magistrate" because they don't want to piss people off. God's death is being dumped in the third part, and if Balthamos and Baruc's relationship remains intact, the devil's going to be wearing thermal underwear (and I may actually go see the final film).

Also, I hear they dumped an actual good script/screenplay (not sure which one) writer in favour of a crap one, because they didn't think he was writing "simple enough" for "children".

Blah, moral of the story: I don't care if you sell out, but for fucks sake, if you do, don't pretend like there's anything sacred left in the world and like you somehow don't want to "offend" anyone.

[Darren]

I didn't even know that the HDM trilogy was being put onto the screen. Alas that it should be down to Hollywood to do it.
I'm not at all surprised that it's going to be sanitized, on the other hand it's reassuring that not all the copies of the books have been burned over there yet! :D

[Godfather]

It's possible to make those specific changes without destroying the project completely. Not that I think the adaptation won't suck, but people put too much emphasis on the anti-religious sentiment of the books. Pullman isn't opposed to all religion per se, more to the idea of authoritarian theocracy.

I haven't read even so much as a synopsis of the initial screenplay that has now apparently been dumped, but with Tom Stoppard's involvement, it must have been goooood. He wrote Brazil and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, for the Authority's sake (both of which sit proudly on my DVD shelf, by the way. So does Shakespeare In Love, but that emphatically belongs to my girlfriend. I don't hate it, but clever schultz is still schmultz.) Basically, the man is a genius.

[Adora]

W00t! (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4097715.stm)

[seebs]

It's possible to make those specific changes without destroying the project completely. Not that I think the adaptation won't suck, but people put too much emphasis on the anti-religious sentiment of the books. Pullman isn't opposed to all religion per se, more to the idea of authoritarian theocracy.

Really? Because he sure comes across as generically opposed to the entire concept.

[Goliath]

An anti-xian fantasy series? Where do I sign up?

[seebs]

An anti-xian fantasy series? Where do I sign up?

Phillip Pullman. Might be in the regular fantasy/sci-fi section, or might be in "young adults", depending on the bookstore. It's a trilogy. The books are "The Goldan Compass", "The Subtle Knife", and "The Amber Spyglass".

Honestly, I mostly like them, except for the fairly heavy-handed "God is dead!!!!" bit in the last book. It felt a little pasted on, honestly.

[Adora]

Not really. The story was fairly obvious in its message about childish innocence and how it can see the truth through the complex systems of control adults make. The actual "death of god" in the book was such an innocent act by the child, and from what I gathered, by the end of the trilogy Will and Lyra never really realised what they'd done.

Y'know, I still like "The Northern Lights" better as the title to the first book. I dunno. Maybe that's just geographical prejudice though, and my impression that the compass didn't play that big a role in the first book that it should be given title rights. But yeah, I understand that if you're then going to go on an call them "His Dark Materials" (I still don't get the "His" part though. Anyone want to explain this to me?) you need to be consistant.

Everywhere I've been in Australia, it's sold under the "Young Adults" literature. It's not popular enough to have an adult version, like Harry Potter.

[ceptimus]

The title I read was the northern lights one, but I suppose the 'golden' title fits in better with the 'subtle' and 'amber' of the other two books. I seem to remember that the two titles came about over a mix-up of different publisher rights.

I read the four Pullman books in the Sally Lockhart series too. Not as good as the dark materials trilogy IMO, but still decent reads.

[Godfather]

I still don't get the "His" part though. Anyone want to explain this to me?

'Into this wilde Abyss, The Womb of nature and perhaps her Grave, Of neither Sea, nor Shore, nor Air, nor Fire, But all these in thir pregnant causes mixt Confus'dly, and which thus must ever fight, Unless th' Almighty Maker them ordain His dark materials to create more Worlds, Into this wilde Abyss the warie fiend Stood on the brink of Hell and look'd a while, Pondering his Voyage; for no narrow frith He had to cross.'

It's from Paradise Lost, by John Milton, the thematic inspiration for the trilogy. I think the passage is directly quoted in one of the books, but it's been a few years since I read them, so I don't remember exactly where.