The Dark Material Podcast: His Dark Materials read-along

Twitter: @darkmaterialpod

Instagram: @thedarkmaterialpodcast

Feb 08, 2022

01:19:04

Mrs Coulter is held prisoner by Lord Asriel in his basalt fortress in the mountains. We join the happy couple and Lord Asriel’s commanders on a tour of the iron works and for a demo of a strange new vehicle-weapon: the intention craft. Things don’t go to plan however… or do they? Who knows whether its all intentional or not….

Join us as we bask in the glory of Lord Asriel (Iain), admire Asriel’s forethought (Iain) and generally try to discuss other things that happen in the chapter (Amy).

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Here is a link to the artists impression Iain found for Pandemonium by John Martin.

We also liked this video on how industrial-scale steel making actually works.

Here is a link to the Eddie Izzard bit about trams and ALL THE LEVERS.

Here and here are some MUCH better fan art pictures of the Intention Craft…check out our social media pages for our drawings!

If you want to read an article on the state of Brain Computer Interfaces in 2017 (yes…quite behind the times…), this is an interesting overview!

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Music by: Jaymen Persaud, performed by Claire Wickes

Twitter: @darkmaterialpod

Instagram: @thedarkmaterialpodcast

Jan 25, 2022

00:51:50

We join Lyra, Will, Iorek and the galivespians as they set up a forge in a Himilayan cave, preparing for the daunting task of mending the knife together as a team.

Join us as we shout ‘It will cut’ at every opportunity, share our own forging stories and enjoy Iorek’s indescribable but effective bear-stares.

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We talk about the show Forged in Fire ALOT this episode…here is a little taster of what the show is like!

Here are some facts about Encephalisation quotient (EQ) so you can speculate about how smart a Gallivespian might be, relative to a being of the same size.

There’s a little more here on the general principles and metallurgy of forge welding.

Here are some photos of us forging and the actual knives we made! We have a long way to go until we are Iorek-level bladesmiths…We did this at Oldfield forge, which we heartily recommend!

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Music by: Jaymen Persaud, performed by Claire Wickes

Twitter: @darkmaterialpod

Instagram: @thedarkmaterialpodcast

Jan 11, 2022

01:19:10

We join Lyra, Will and the galivespians as they head back into the Himalayas to find Iorek and see if he can help them with their plan to fix the knife.

Join us as we make some of our worst noises yet, get tangled up with quantum physics and share some bizarre cures for whooping cough.

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Here are some fun facts about Encephalisation quotient (EQ) - the term Amy half-remembered for the ratio of brain size to body size.

Read more about Stradivarius and the European ‘Little Ice Age’ here!

This is the study about whale language structure which Amy refers to in this episode.

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Music by: Jaymen Persaud, performed by Claire Wickes

Twitter: @darkmaterialpod

Instagram: @thedarkmaterialpodcast

Dec 28, 2021

00:55:05

This episode we spend some time with Will, Lyra, Tailys and Salmakia as they bring Lyra up to speed on the Amber Spyglass thus far and hatch a plan to visit a new world…

Join us as we avoid repeating >10 episodes, give a great rendition of some slam poetry and agree (again) that Iorek really should have just solved everything.

Dec 14, 2021

00:49:34

We’re back! And for the most action packed chapter yet…the forces of the Magisterium and King Ogunwe are closing in on the Cave where Mrs Coulter is hiding. But Team Will has a plan of their own to try to rescue Lyra.

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Here is the photo we talk about in the podcast from the Oxford Natural History museum, showing just how large dragonflies were in the Late Carboniferous period.

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Music by: Jaymen Persaud, performed by Claire Wickes

Twitter: @darkmaterialpod

Instagram: @thedarkmaterialpodcast

Oct 03, 2021

00:02:25

This is a short announcement from Amy about why there is a pause in our readthrough - but we shall return!

Don’t worry, we haven’t been kidnapped and taken to a Himalayan cave or anything…

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Here are the photos of our recent trip to Oxford - on our Twitter and Facebook accounts.

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Music by: Jaymen Persaud, performed by Claire Wickes

Twitter: @darkmaterialpod

Instagram: @thedarkmaterialpodcast

Aug 24, 2021

01:15:11

In this episode, we join Ama and Kulang, playing in the mist-laden air of the Himalayas, as she stumbles upon a mysterious duo at the top of a waterfall: a huge white bear and a boy with a gruesome wound on his hand.

Join us as we enjoy some time with Strategy Will, learn several new words and talk A LOT about Mrs Coulter.

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If you’d like to read the full ‘Auguries of Innocence’ poem by William Blake (which the quotation for this chapter comes from) then you can find it in full here.

If you want to prepare a lovely fresh drink of juice that’s DEFINITELY NOT POISONED for your next cave guest, you can learn more about the wild Himilayan Pear here.

Like cool facts about spider silk? Us too.

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Music by: Jaymen Persaud, performed by Claire Wickes

Twitter: @darkmaterialpod

Instagram: @thedarkmaterialpodcast

Aug 10, 2021

00:55:36

In this episode, we rejoin Mary as she starts to learn all about the mulefa and their way of life, including some surprising developments in her communication with them.

Join us as we dive into evolutionary selection pressures, do some creepy mulefa voices and concoct some alternative mulefa defense strategies!

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The mulefa’s society and technology is far more advanced than this, but if you like a bit of slow TV and some experimental archaeology, then you should take a look at the Primitive Technology YouTube channel and blog. Some great content!

If you’re interested in research about oral history, then this is a fascinating article that Amy referred to in this episode about indigenous Australians’ collective knowledge and record on the scale of geological time…amazing stuff!

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Music by: Jaymen Persaud, performed by Claire Wickes

Twitter: @darkmaterialpod

Instagram: @thedarkmaterialpodcast

Jul 27, 2021

00:55:35

In this episode, we continue with Will, Balthamos and Iorek as they steam up river towards the Himalayas. Will shares his story so far, explains the danger Lyra is in and show Iorek the subtle knife.

Join us as we discover who the Swiss Guard are, invent snow leopard characters and possible Lost crossovers.

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Music by: Jaymen Persaud, performed by Claire Wickes

Twitter: @darkmaterialpod

Instagram: @thedarkmaterialpodcast