When Sir Philip Pullman’s trilogy’s concluding book, The Amber Spyglass, was adapted for His Dark Materials’ third season, there was one particular scene from the story that viewers were very interested in seeing come to life on television.
In the story, Dr. Mary Malone (Simone Kirby) visits a planet where Mulefa, extremely intelligent beings who speak their own language and can see Dust (particles linked to awareness) with the naked eye, live.
The Mulefa are depicted in the books as having no spines, diamond-shaped bones, trunks, and claw-like hooves that they latch onto big, spherical seed pods to enable them to move around by wheeling themselves.
In a recent conversation, visual effects supervisor Russell Dodgson of Framestore outlined the reasons why the Mulefa’s design had to be altered when it was adapted for television. He noted that while they still had familiar features like rolling around on seed pods, they lacked the diamond-shaped skeleton from the novel.
Recalling the input that Sir Philip had when discussing how the Mulefa would be translated for the third season of the BBC show, Russell said: ‘I’m pretty sure that Philip’s main angle was he really insisted and wanted them to still roll around on the seed pods. He wanted that aspect of them, and their symbiosis with nature. That was really important to him.
‘I think the minute details about how he described them was less important to him, but more their general overall theme and appearance.’
Russell revealed that discussions were held with production designer Joel Collins over the Mulefa’s diamond-shaped skeleton that was mentioned in the book.
‘That one sentence, which sounds cool, could really derail the authenticity of the creature or character for the rest of the show. So we decided that we weren’t going to try and come up with exactly that, because at the same time they were meant to be elegant. They were meant to be beautiful and seem super intelligent,’ he outlined.
‘We didn’t want everybody to be distracted by unorthodox weird movement, so that you couldn’t land the other bit, which feels more important.’
The team’s creation of the Mulefa presented a “slightly different method of moving, but isn’t exactly what was placed in the books” by combining the appearance of a tapir with an ancient mammal that had larger front legs and shorter rear legs.
They were aware that they didn’t want the seed pod wheels to be “huge,” preferring instead that they be tiny enough to fit in a person’s hands. Russell continued.
The team worked with a prehistoric animal expert zoologist who did a “deep dive” to determine the “mechanics” of how the Mulefa would move, including “how the shoulder planes would move, what kind of spine structure it would have, where the muscles would be, and how everything would work.”
‘A big thing for us is authenticity. You very quickly have to fall in love with a character and believe that they’re real. So we always want something that’s authentic and grounded so that the audience can get there quickly,’ he stated.
The visual effects supervisor acknowledged that the story’s timeline presented more of a challenge than actual implementation when adding the Mulefa into the His Dark Materials series.
‘Mary Malone’s story in the book has a very different timeline to everyone else’s timeline in the story. Everybody else’s timeline feels day to day and she feels like she’s there for about three years,’ he said, referencing Mary’s time in the Mulefa’s world.
‘So it was hard to find the way to fit that story and get the essence of it into the show without interrupting the rhythm of everything else. We spent a lot of time trying to work that out.’
Russell, who directed complex sequences in His Dark Materials season three, including Mary meeting the Mulefa, said he doesn’t look ‘too hard’ at fan reactions online because he’s’very confident in the idea that adapting a book to television, as long as it’s done with love and passion, is all you can do’.
‘If people want something different, then I will really look forward to watching their version of it. But everything I have heard, seen or had people speak to me – and I have looked at some reactions – has all been very positive,’ he added.
The creative director of TV at Framestore stated that he finds it ‘enjoyable’ to read conversations on forums among fans regarding deviations from the source material, ‘since it implies people care’.
‘So even if people criticise aspects of the show because they veer away from the book, it’s all very valid. We made our choices to make our adaptation with as much passion as we could with the resources that we had. If you don’t do that with confidence and pride, then what are we doing?’ he added.
At the London premiere of His Dark Materials season three, writer Jack Thorne emphasised the importance of Sir Philip’s portrayal of the Mulefa.
‘There had to be a way, and that way was extremely tough to pull off. But it was important to Philip for a variety of reasons,’ he explained.
Because she hadn’t previously worked with puppeteers on the production, Mary actress Simone recently told up on what it was like to film the Mulefa scenes.
‘We tried to figure out how we could move around each other without colliding. I had to remember that I’m only seeing the head, but there’s a massive body behind it, so I couldn’t walk through it. ‘There was a lot of practising and working out to do,’ she recalled.
His Dark Materials returns tonight at 7pm on BBC One and is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
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