Studios can’t seem to get enough of Young Adult novel adaptations. Of course, it’s easily understandable why. The success of the “Harry Potter” films show that they can be great franchises. But aside from a couple of series, there aren’t a lot that have nailed the landing. One such attempt was when Hollywood tried to adapt Philip Pullman’s trilogy “His Dark Materials”. But when the first movie “The Golden Compass” came out in 2007, it wasn’t well received by audiences and criticized for watering down or even cutting out the best commentary and themes from the original book. But now the BBC have decided to adapt all three books into a TV show to be aired in both the UK and the US.

Welcome to the world of His Dark Materials! The world is ruled by the Magisterium AKA The Church, an international theocracy that rules the civilized part of the world. Outside of their influence are witches that possess a variety of supernatural abilities and a kingdom of talking bears that wear armor. And yes, that does sound as cool and as fascinating as it sounds. But regardless of where you live in this world, every person has what is known as a dæmon. These are the physical personifications of a person’s soul that can talk and interact with the world. However, the rule of the Magisterium is threatened when a scholar named Asriel comes across the possibility of multiple universes. But the story follows a young girl named Lyra and her dæmon Pan when she discovers Asriel is not her uncle but secretly her father and she goes on a journey to find where he is hiding and find her kidnapped friend. Along the way she joins a group of people who are also seeking answers and looking to fight back at the Magisterium.

First off, this is a well written show. It stays loyal to the ideas presented in the novels and the characterizations of the main players. Any major changes made have less to do with changing the message and more so with just having the show be a little more practical. While the books have people with a wide variety of dæmons with different forms, we don’t see a lot of them in the show. A line of dialogue establishes that people don’t feel the need to have their dæmons be visible all the time. While that does bring up the question of how far a dæmon can be from their person or how many different forms they can actually take, it doesn’t affect the quality of the show. There is a subplot in the first season that takes place on a parallel world, one that is supposed to be a stand-in for our own world following a young boy named Will. While this doesn’t show up until the second book, including it makes sense on a couple of levels. First, it helps establish what the main story will be in the next season. And second, it helps show the power and agenda of the Magisterium.

And the larger focus on the Magisterium in the first season is another change from the first book. “The Golden Compass” doesn’t spend a lot of time with them as it stays more with Lyra and the people she directly interacts with. But focusing on them in the first season not only gives the viewers a better understanding of who they are, but it also firmly established the main threat for the entire show. A big focus of both the show and the books is criticizing the behavior and methods employed by organized religions. How people with power are often corrupted and make decisions that contradict their own religious beliefs in order to advance their own agenda and rise up in the ranks. It also shows how The Church will suppress ideas that contradict the beliefs of their religion, even though a couple of members do know the existence of multiple worlds and even travel to them in secret. This is used to show the lengths an organized institution will go to in order to hold onto their power and keep knowledge they consider dangerous a secret. The show takes it’s time to explore it well.

And while there are good and bad sides, the show and the books do show there is still a lot of gray areas. Lyra discovers her mother, known as Mrs. Coulter, works for the Magisterium on an experiment concerning Dust. This is considered to be the result of Original Sin and the Magisterium hide it’s existence but allow experiments to be made. Mrs. Coulter believes it could be related to a person’s dæmon and conducts experiments in trying to separate the connection between a person and their soul. A lot of people have died, mainly young children. And yet when Lyra is about to go through with the experiment, she stops it from happening. And Asriel, while framed as a good guy throughout most of the story, goes through with the severing the connection between a young boy and his dæmon in order to open a door to another world, killing the child.

One of the main themes of the show and books is seeking out knowledge and thinking for yourself, which is well displayed in the first season. But another idea focused on the first season is realizing that nothing is as it seems and sometimes the morally right thing to do is not the easiest or the one you think it is. The first season does a great job at adapting the first book and I look forward to the future seasons.