16 episodes
The Authority: Exploring the Worlds of His Dark Materials Slate Podcasts
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- TV & Film
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4.7 • 84 Ratings
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Go deeper inside the world of HBO's adaptation of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials. Join Slate's scholars of experimental theology, Laura Miller and Dan Kois, as they discuss Dust, daemons, the Magisterium, and more—and, of course, break down the events of each episode. New episodes air Mondays at 9 p.m. on HBO.
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Æsahættr
Welcome to The Authority, Slate’s deep dive into the world(s) of HBO’s His Dark Materials. Each week, Slate’s scholars of experimental theology Dan Kois and Laura Miller discuss the HBO series and Philip Pullman’s original trilogy. This week, they cover the Season 2 finale, “Æsahættr”, in which Will finally meets his father, Lee Scoresby visits the Alamo, and Mrs. Coulter puts a kid in a trunk. Plus: an interview with Jack Thorne, the adaptor-in-chief of Philip Pullman’s books.
Email: asktheauthority@slate.com
Podcast production by Phil Surkis.
Dan Kois on Twitter: @dankois
Laura Miller on Twitter: @magiciansbook
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Malice
Welcome to The Authority, Slate’s deep dive into the world(s) of HBO’s His Dark Materials. Each week, Slate’s scholars of experimental theology Dan Kois and Laura Miller discuss the HBO series and Philip Pullman’s original trilogy. This week, they cover Episode 6 of Season 2, “Malice,” in which Mrs. Coulter controls Spectres, Lee loses control over his balloon, and Mary Malone spends a nice afternoon reading Let’s Go Cittàgazze. Plus: Actual daemons respond to HBO’s My Daemon app.
Email: asktheauthority@slate.com
Podcast production by Phil Surkis. My Daemon segment written by Marissa Martinelli.
Dan Kois on Twitter: @dankois
Laura Miller on Twitter: @magiciansbook
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The Scholar
Welcome to The Authority, Slate’s deep dive into the world(s) of HBO’s His Dark Materials. Each week, Slate’s scholars of experimental theology Dan Kois and Laura Miller discuss the HBO series and Philip Pullman’s original trilogy. This week, they cover Episode 5 of Season 2, “The Scholar,” in which Will and Lyra steal back the alethiometer, Mary Malone makes a big decision, and a monkey wears a seat belt.
Email: asktheauthority@slate.com
Further reading: Archive of Our Own: Temptress - Chapter 1
Podcast production by Phil Surkis.
Dan Kois on Twitter: @dankois
Laura Miller on Twitter: @magiciansbook
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The Tower of the Angels
Welcome to The Authority, Slate’s deep dive into the world(s) of HBO’s His Dark Materials. Each week, Slate’s scholars of experimental theology Dan Kois and Laura Miller discuss the HBO series and Philip Pullman’s original trilogy. This week, they cover Episode 4 of Season 2, “The Tower of the Angels,” in which Will meets the subtle knife, Lee meets the Hot Priest, and Mary Malone meets Dust. Plus: a deep dive into the Guild of Philosophers and the mysteries of the subtle knife.
Email: asktheauthority@slate.com
Podcast production by Phil Surkis.
Dan Kois on Twitter: @dankois
Laura Miller on Twitter: @magiciansbook
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Theft
Welcome to The Authority, Slate’s deep dive into the world(s) of HBO’s His Dark Materials. Each week, Slate’s scholars of experimental theology Dan Kois and Laura Miller discuss the HBO series and Philip Pullman’s original trilogy. This week, they cover Episode 3 of Season 2, “Theft” in which Will loses Lyra, Lyra loses the alethiometer, and Mrs. Coulter has a meeting of the minds with Lee Scoresby. Plus: a deep dive into the character of Lee and the series’ attempt to give this cowboy aeronaut a tragic backstory.
Email: asktheauthority@slate.com
Podcast production by Phil Surkis.
Dan Kois on Twitter: @dankois
Laura Miller on Twitter: @magiciansbook
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
The Cave
Welcome to The Authority, Slate’s deep dive into the world(s) of HBO’s His Dark Materials. Each week, Slate’s scholars of experimental theology Dan Kois and Laura Miller discuss the HBO series and Philip Pullman’s original trilogy. This week, they cover Episode 2 of Season 2, “The Cave,” in which Lyra meets Mary Malone, a theoretical physicist in our world. She, and we, make some major discoveries about Dust.
Email: asktheauthority@slate.com
Podcast production by Phil Surkis.
Dan Kois on Twitter: @dankois
Laura Miller on Twitter: @magiciansbook
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Customer Reviews
I haven’t seen the show, but still love to listen
I do really love the books though
Great discussions and interesting opinions
I read the book series as a teenager in the mid two thousands and frankly had forgotten most of it, except for the major plot points. I really enjoyed the HBO series, even though it had some failings. Listening to Laura and Dan discuss this series with so much love and attention to details was really fun! It brought back memories from the time I read the books. They also do a very interesting deep dive segment which definitely piqued my interest and is tempting me to buy the book series so that I can revisit them. I think fans of both the show and the books will enjoy this pod and love the intellect and passion behind Laura’s and Dan’s discussions.
Lot of F-words for a show about a kids’ series
I generally enjoy this podcast except for two glaring exceptions.
One, His Dark Materials is a middle reader book series. This means its target audience is, like, 9–12 years old. But Dan Kois, presumed grownup, thinks nothing of liberally sprinkling his commentary with f-bombs and s-sparklers like he’s a flower girl at a metaphor-mixing wedding. I know children aren’t likely listening to this, but it’s still kinda gross. To compound the offense, Kois is just bad at cursing. Some people can cuss and it sounds like poetry. Kois sounds like a little kid looks, wearing his dad’s overcoat and hat.
Two, the hosts pretend to have daemons. Groan; cringe. The bits are infrequent, poorly written, and poorly performed (I can’t tell if the daemon voices are the hosts’ voices or not; you should be able to tell). Just stop. Please.
Other than that, good work. Carry on.
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