How do you react when people are talking about the lack of closeness Pan and Lyra have in the tv show. I understand that the producers and stuff probably had to cut back some due to the fact that a lot of the animals are CGI and you can't exactly get real animals to cooperate and do things the daemons can do. What would you tell the producers/writers of the show if you could? What would you change about the daemons on the show?
Oh wow. Great question!Â
So. I absolutely adore Lyra and Pan’s relationship in the books. It really highlights what it means to have a daemon and is just a great way of externalising what is usually such an internal part of the character. A lot of Pan’s (and other daemons’) reactions tend to be voicing the subconscious parts of Lyra’s thoughts.Â
That said, television is a visual medium and as useful as it is to have daemons around externalising the characters’ thoughts, it’s not always possible. Like you said: budget/CGI/puppets/real animals not cooperating are all issues that must be overcome. That’s why I’m quite forgiving of the show on that aspect in general. Would I like more Lyra and Pan interaction? Most definitely! But the show is servicing me in all these other ways and I appreciate the hell out of that. (We already have Will and the groundwork for The Subtle Knife has been laid. Ruth Wilson is playing every single nuance of Mrs. Coulter. It’s truly incredible!)
As for other people, I don’t really mind what they’re saying? After all, what might be my personal nitpick probably isn’t someone else’s gripe, and vice versa. I’ve lived with these books in my head for so long that I’m just grateful for the careful and mostly faithful quality of this adaptations. I’ve found the changes made mostly interesting and quite economical in terms of storytelling. That said, I do hope the success and interest in this first season leads to a bigger budget for the second (and further) seasons so they can do their best to CGI in more daemons. After all, I’m pretty sure, a production company that hires puppets to get the insane responsiveness of the daemons we are seeing in each scene — especially the Golden Monkey — is more than aware that they’re missing so many daemons in large crowd scenes.Â
That said, I’d tell the producers/Jack Thorne, to maybe focus a bit more on the emotional beats of Lyra and Pan’s relationship and try and make sure those vita moments make it onto the screen. Because I don’t know if this was a production issue or a writing choice, but I’d have loved to see Lyra actually holding Pan close to her when they made that discovery in the shed. I always imagined Pan as trying to pull her away and getting them to leave and Lyra holding him as a way of comforting and soothing both of them, while allowing her to move on despite his protests? I definitely do hope they figure it out by the time we get to The Amber Spyglass because that is going to become mighty important.
But in general, the only changes I’d make is adding in more daemons whenever possible. And maybe seeing Pan actually turn into a bigger and wilder form than we’ve been seeing lately? (Early in Northern Lights, Pullman said he turned into a dragon when facing off against some Gyptian kids’ daemons — not that I’m expecting that!) One of the big advantages of kids having daemons that can change form is that they can swing for the fences and maybe defend themselves like that? (I’d been yelling at Pan to turn into a snow leopard, like Stelmaria, or something similar during the fight with the Golden Monkey.) However, in general, I’m a happy camper with the series.Â
Maybe I’ll have more of a critique once the season ends and I rewatch everything with fresher eyes and more of a larger view of how they tackled the book. Thanks for the ask though!
