The lack of extras on this Blu-ray makes it difficult to justify the purchase of the third season of His Dark Materials. At least, if you have a subscription to HBO Max or have already seen the television series on BBC One. Where the first two seasons came in a nice box set with the necessary extras, this third season is just a standard edition in a plastic cover. Since my first two seasons are the British version, I also looked at the offer in the United Kingdom. Unfortunately, no extras there either and just a simple plastic case with two Blu-ray discs. Apparently, the financial problems at HBO also killed the physical offer.
Where the first two seasons came in a nice box set with the necessary extras, this third season is just a standard edition in a plastic sleeve.
When it comes to the story of His Dark Materials, it is of course perfectly fine. Fortunately, the imagery and production of the series have not been skimped on. The image is sharp and colorful. That fits perfectly with this excellent fantasy series. The image was shot in 2.00:1. The difference between our world and the fantasy worlds is also shown by the color difference. The sharp details ensure that you are carried away in the fantastic story. Personally, I find it difficult to distinguish between the stream via HBO or Blu-ray. Real puritans will probably notice the difference in sharpness and color. Especially if the television is larger than mine (49 inches).
The sound is covered by a nice DTS HD MA 5.1 track. There is nothing to say about that either. It provides a cinema experience in your own home cinema. However, it also has enough depth to clearly display the quiet(er) passages. In that sense, the image and sound quality are probably the most important and for the third season the only reason not to stream but to give the Blu-ray version a chance. Whether that is enough to justify the purchase I leave entirely to you as the reader. Combined with the first two seasons with all those extras and the maps provided, I can't help but be happy with the third season on Blu-ray.
His Dark Materials is of course a joy to watch.
His Dark Materials is of course a joy to watch. The different worlds, the daemons and other visual effects are beautifully designed. Philip Pullman's story is beautifully and respectfully told. With this third season, the story is also neatly completed. There is tension, spectacle and it has a subtle depth. For more content about the story, read the other reviews on MySeries. Can I focus (once) on the added value of buying the physical product? Although this time it's more about the lack of added value.
Of course this beautiful series deserves a high rating. So I give it just that. That's because of the story. The production quality also calls for the rating I give. The lack of extras is a pity, but personally, it doesn't bother me too much. The episodes themselves and the reproduction thereof are always number one for me. There is not a negative word to say about that.
About the writer, Karzal
Mike (1995) has been a member of MySeries since 2016 and is mainly active on the English version of the site. Since 2018, he has been actively translating news articles, columns, reviews and basically everything that ends up on the Dutch site. The original articles, columns and reviews were actually written by others. During the week Mike can be found at IKEA, where he is a national systems specialist and occasionally also in the classroom to teach an English lesson. In addition, Mike logically enjoys watching series and has actually been spoon-fed this from an early age. The genre doesn't matter, there is a place for everything in the otherwise busy life.
