Introduction

Northern Lights (The Golden Compass in North America) is a young-adult fantasy novel written by Philip Pullman and was published in 1995. It's the first novel in Pullman's trilogy called His Dark Materials, selling 15 million copies world-wide. Phillip Pullman is an outspoken atheist and wishes for his works to "kill God", which naturally drew ire from religious institutions. But in 2002, presumably as a response to growing Harry Potter fever, New Line Cinema bought the rights to Philip Pullman's trilogy. Five years later the world received both the film and video game based on this entry in the trilogy. The movie had an estimated $180 million budget with a star-studded cast: Daniel Craig (Casino Royale, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and Tales from the Crypt (TV series)), Nicole Kidman (Happy Feet, Dogville, BMX Bandits), Sir Ian McKellan (X-Men, X2, X-Men: The Last Stand ), Chistopher Lee (Hugo, The Curse of Frankenstein, The Hound of the Baskervilles), and Sam Elliot (Marmaduke). How could it ever fail?

The movie received a 42% on Rotten Tomatoes, grossing $70 million at the box office. Many critics blamed the incomprehensible storyline, others cited the jargon-loaded dialog, while some believed a plot by the Catholic church played a part. Whatever the reason, no followups were produced.

So with that out of the way, let's join Lyra 'Silvertongue' Belacqua along with her allies, Iorek Byrnison the Panserbjørne and Pantalaimon her daemon spirit animal in their quest to see Dust.

Did that last sentence make you want to kill yourself? Well, don't worry. I'm judge reinhold, and I saw the movie! I can explain all those words and what they mean, and I will be doing so along with my two bestest buddies in the whole world, Diaper "Skraeling" Chris and No Internet Name "Tartar" Anthony! We'll be doing a live LP this time, and because the game closely follows the movie, which I saw, I don't believe it qualifies as a "blind" run. More "lazy-eyed".

So sit back and enjoy...