Beating Harry Potter.

I just read some big news on the entertainment front. The BBC has recently finished filming the 1^st series of Philip Pullman’s trilogy, His Dark Materials. It was first adapted back in 2007 as a single feature film called The Golden Compass. As I recall, that version only covered the first part of the trilogy and plans to continue the story were subsequently shelved.

So, let me offer an opinion here: This production promises to outdo Harry Potter by some way. It has magic, intrigue and characterisation to match, but it has the added virtue of considerably more depth. Bear in mind that Harry Potter – which I’m not criticising for a moment – was written as YA fiction by an author who was competent but not outstanding. His Dark Materials was written as true adult fiction by a master, and it shows.

The 2007 film was under two hours long, and the main criticism of it was that it was far too short to do a complex story justice. The first season of the BBC’s effort will consist of eight hour-long episodes, and that’s only the first book. It appears, therefore, that a whole 24 hours will be allocated to the complete story, and that should ensure a far better adaption of it than the film.

And I might just add that the heroine of the story – Lyra Belacqua – is every bit as compelling as Hermione Granger. It might even be said that she’s more compelling because she retains the qualities of youth throughout. It starts in Britain and the US on 3^rd November. I’ve no doubt it will be shown elsewhere, too, so it’s something worth looking out for. Having been a big fan of the books, I can say that this is the first time in many years that I’ve been excited by an upcoming TV production.