![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jedi_of_urth posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
tori_reviewsHis Dark Materials 1x07: The Fight to the Death
How to classify this one? It wasn’t bad. It was even good in places. However, the good parts were stretched across at least fifteen minutes longer than the episode needed to be. And this show continues to have major tone problems.
The first problem is fairly simple, I just think there are a lot of places where scenes aren’t furthering anything or linger too long and contribute to the tone problems. Or maybe I should say stretch a tone too far until it doesn’t hold things together anymore.
And I’ve said this before, but I know some of this is a problem with any adaptation of this material; it’s always going to lose something in the transition. Because you’re in an external viewpoint instead of a character specific one. And some things that work when you’re in a character’s head just don’t make sense when you play them objectively.
I’m mostly thinking of the last scene with Azreal on that last point; because to the best of my recollection, they’re using the material pretty much as written, but as written I seem to recall that Azreal comes off more…addled and weird and maybe some cabin fever thrown in, than the completely creepy way he comes across in the camera. Now, I know what’s coming, so yeah I’m going to be aware of where this takes us more than I was when I read it; but we also don’t have the same filters that the book puts over that interaction.
Because in the book, we’re focused on Lyra and her feelings about meeting Azreal again after all this time. Her confusion (and, let’s face it, selfishness) do color events. But I also don’t know that I can quite say that covers how creepy he is now.
As a note of how ahead I am, earlier I posted my review of the first episode, and reading back over it, I was reminded of one of my issues early in the show, it’s a bit lacking in identity. It settled down a bit once Lyra was with the Gyptians if only because there was a more clear plot line for them to be on instead of it focusing on the forcing characters’ lives into a plot arc. But it never did develop an identity.
I also think it’s trying to be a bit too grounded. Don’t get me wrong, this world should feel real, but it is also a world of daemon companions and talking bears and witches. Am I just complaining about desaturating the colors again? I think I might be. It’s as if the people behind this think that in order for people to take their fantasy series seriously it has to look like a humdrum grey world, like so many other things on television these days which it shouldn’t be. The LotR movies feel like their world is real, but they let the world be vibrant and alive. LotS might have felt a little like an over-bright cartoon in place, but I’d argue it feels more fully realized than this does and it definitely had a tone and an identity.
And contrast (or not so much) that with Will’s story kind of highlights what I’m trying to say. That the parts in the ‘real world’ have the same look of other shows that take place in the real world is less of an issue than when they use the same look for Lyra’s world. And I think Will’s story is too bland too, with weird camera choices that never look quite right. But at least I can see a reason to use such bland common framing in that plotline.
But really, how is there a full other episode of this? Aren’t there like five pages of the novel left for Azreal’s betrayal? Even if they drag that out a bit (which they’ll have to) I have a bad feeling about what the last episode will entail. Namely that they’re going to try and do a battle episode with the Magisterium, and I predict that will be super boring.
Also, I really hope Will becomes and actual character next season. Again, I get why this season flounders on that front because the book version tell us the backstory but we don’t live it with him. I think that so far it’s really been more his mom’s story with him just kind of there, instead us seeing him as a person and not just a dutiful son.
Which I think brings us back to the tone problems that, while not inherent to an adaptation, are easy pitfalls to fall into. Your lead characters are children and there are concerns with that beyond not knowing how good a child actor you’re going to get and so trying to take some of the weight off them. Taking a story that was written to the understanding of the child protagonists and trying to move it out of that viewpoint doesn’t happen cleanly. The more understanding you give in story of the complexities of what’s going on, the less you have the unknowns of a child’s perspective.
I may need to ruminate on this a little more because I’m sure I’m not explaining it well, but I suspect it is part of the crux behind a lot of what’s been niggling at me throughout the show so far.
How to classify this one? It wasn’t bad. It was even good in places. However, the good parts were stretched across at least fifteen minutes longer than the episode needed to be. And this show continues to have major tone problems.
The first problem is fairly simple, I just think there are a lot of places where scenes aren’t furthering anything or linger too long and contribute to the tone problems. Or maybe I should say stretch a tone too far until it doesn’t hold things together anymore.
And I’ve said this before, but I know some of this is a problem with any adaptation of this material; it’s always going to lose something in the transition. Because you’re in an external viewpoint instead of a character specific one. And some things that work when you’re in a character’s head just don’t make sense when you play them objectively.
I’m mostly thinking of the last scene with Azreal on that last point; because to the best of my recollection, they’re using the material pretty much as written, but as written I seem to recall that Azreal comes off more…addled and weird and maybe some cabin fever thrown in, than the completely creepy way he comes across in the camera. Now, I know what’s coming, so yeah I’m going to be aware of where this takes us more than I was when I read it; but we also don’t have the same filters that the book puts over that interaction.
Because in the book, we’re focused on Lyra and her feelings about meeting Azreal again after all this time. Her confusion (and, let’s face it, selfishness) do color events. But I also don’t know that I can quite say that covers how creepy he is now.
As a note of how ahead I am, earlier I posted my review of the first episode, and reading back over it, I was reminded of one of my issues early in the show, it’s a bit lacking in identity. It settled down a bit once Lyra was with the Gyptians if only because there was a more clear plot line for them to be on instead of it focusing on the forcing characters’ lives into a plot arc. But it never did develop an identity.
I also think it’s trying to be a bit too grounded. Don’t get me wrong, this world should feel real, but it is also a world of daemon companions and talking bears and witches. Am I just complaining about desaturating the colors again? I think I might be. It’s as if the people behind this think that in order for people to take their fantasy series seriously it has to look like a humdrum grey world, like so many other things on television these days which it shouldn’t be. The LotR movies feel like their world is real, but they let the world be vibrant and alive. LotS might have felt a little like an over-bright cartoon in place, but I’d argue it feels more fully realized than this does and it definitely had a tone and an identity.
And contrast (or not so much) that with Will’s story kind of highlights what I’m trying to say. That the parts in the ‘real world’ have the same look of other shows that take place in the real world is less of an issue than when they use the same look for Lyra’s world. And I think Will’s story is too bland too, with weird camera choices that never look quite right. But at least I can see a reason to use such bland common framing in that plotline.
But really, how is there a full other episode of this? Aren’t there like five pages of the novel left for Azreal’s betrayal? Even if they drag that out a bit (which they’ll have to) I have a bad feeling about what the last episode will entail. Namely that they’re going to try and do a battle episode with the Magisterium, and I predict that will be super boring.
Also, I really hope Will becomes and actual character next season. Again, I get why this season flounders on that front because the book version tell us the backstory but we don’t live it with him. I think that so far it’s really been more his mom’s story with him just kind of there, instead us seeing him as a person and not just a dutiful son.
Which I think brings us back to the tone problems that, while not inherent to an adaptation, are easy pitfalls to fall into. Your lead characters are children and there are concerns with that beyond not knowing how good a child actor you’re going to get and so trying to take some of the weight off them. Taking a story that was written to the understanding of the child protagonists and trying to move it out of that viewpoint doesn’t happen cleanly. The more understanding you give in story of the complexities of what’s going on, the less you have the unknowns of a child’s perspective.
I may need to ruminate on this a little more because I’m sure I’m not explaining it well, but I suspect it is part of the crux behind a lot of what’s been niggling at me throughout the show so far.
