Review: HBO's excellent 'His Dark Materials' finally gets 'The Golden Compass' right

In 2007, "The Golden Compass," the first volume of "His Dark Materials," Philip Pullman's alternate-world, cosmological science fantasy for young people, became a movie. It had a starry cast that included Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, with a Kate Bush song over the closing credits, and wasn't very good at all. It underperformed at the U.S. box office, and plans to adapt the remainder of the trilogy evaporated.

Now HBO, in partnership with the BBC, has begun what looks to be, if the weather holds, a new, three-season, 24-hour translation of all three books, debuting here Nov. 4. (Only the first four episodes have been made