Westworld

[Setanta]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuS5huqOND4

I loved the original movie back in the day and the cast for this is looking good.

[apocrypha]

My interest is well and truly piqued by this. Anthony Hopkins, fucking yes.

[jgsugden]

I wish I had a good feeling about this one... but I get the feeling they're chasing the GoT tail here and think that T&A is all they need. We'll see, but the previews I have seen so far seemed a bit aimless.

[HaemishM]

I'm pumped for this one.

[Threash]

They stole the robot making process from fallout 4.

[Sir T]

2/3 of the movie was boring as shite. It only got good when the robots went insane in the last third, and it became essentially a chase movie rather than a "hey look at all this stuff isn't it cool" movie.

It would be hard to work a chase into a TV series but it could be done. Otherwise we will probably get yet another BSG "guess which actor is the Commie Robot Traitor PARANOIA" TV series.

[luckton]

It would be hard to work a chase into a TV series but it could be done. Otherwise we will probably get yet another BSG "guess which actor is the Commie Robot Traitor PARANOIA" TV series.

I dunno, I liked the trailer. Just because something's been done doesn't mean it can't be done again. As long as it's fresh and good, anyways.

[Venkman]

I dunno. It's tough to imagine this as anything but virtual reality porn decades after the Holodeck was first introduced and everyone was wondering that wasn't just virtual reality porn 

What makes this interesting is Hopkins and the kinda mysterious tone. But as a full series they're gonna need to drag out quite a bit. Of course, once they introduce the various different environments, I guess it can be stretched into wierd Saw-like horror environments or they can go full Dreamscape where a Quaid-like character eventually realizes they have god-like powers that can affect the environment.

But pacing will be key.

[jgsugden]

Humans (AMC / Channel 4) seems to have this space covered pretty well without being a T&A fest for the sake of T&A.

[Threash]

So not pretty well.  Also no cowboys.

[Miguel]

First episode was last night.  Pretty well done, and had a Leftovers feel to it:  HBO has raised the acting bar so much it pretty much makings network TV unwatchable these days.

I especially liked how they wove in modern music played in classical contexts:  I looked at my wife and said "Is that Soundgarden's Black Hole Sun in the background on an old player piano?"

[jgsugden]

What did people think?  Thumbs up or thumbs down?  I'm waiting to hear reviews before I decide whether to hit play or delete on the DVR.

[satael]

The acting and effects were good enough for a tv-show and the plot has potential if it keeps going forward and doesn't get too drawn out in hopes of making it a multi-season show.

[Rasix]

I don't know how you keep this up for multiple seasons. The quality is pretty astounding, both in the production and acting. It has that ever present Crichton-esque sense of dread. It's like Jurassic Park with replicants. 

I like it, but I don't know how many more cynical, dark TV shows I can tolerate at once. They seem to be all I watch nowadays.

[Khaldun]

Yeah. I kind of wish someone could make an anarchic romp, a crazy fun adventure, with the same production values and quality of acting. I watched Timeless last night on NBC and it was fine, but I was thinking, "Ok, such conventional casting, such by-the-numbers scripting: what if this series was done by HBO, but still with the commandment to be fun?"

[Signe]

I thought it was good but I don't know how long it will last.  Shows like this sometimes go way silly and end up annoying me.  It's okay if it's meant to be silly, like ZNation, but not when it's accidentally silly or it becomes too outlandish.  Good cast, though.  I'll be rooting for it. 

[Slayerik]

I like it so far!

[Raph]

It's "MUD administration the movie." Us virtual world developers were overdue for a series about our difficult lives, what with misbehaving NPCs, bugs, sploiters, and one self-centered clueless player ruining our awesome setpiece for everyone else.

[MisterNoisy]

Finally got around to watching this, and I'm in.  Looks fantastic, love the setting and has the kind of casting and production quality that only HBO will pay for.

[Setanta]

Just sat down and watched this - I really enjoyed it. The writing , setting and acting is spot on.

[Setanta]

Oh, I should really mention I loved the orchestral composition of Paint it Black during the gunfight.

[Threash]

And black hole sun playing in the cantina.

[jgsugden]

I watched the pilot.  It wasn't what I expected, but it seems to be slowly setting up what I expected.  I liked some of what I saw, but a lot of it was retread of other fiction that doesn't need to be retold over a series when an episode or movie handles it well.  I'm going to pass for now.  If the reviews are strong after the season I can go back and watch it later - the joys of HBO.

[Rasix]

So, are the hosts unable to harm the visitors due to their programming and/or do their guns just not work against regular humans? This aspect seems a little open to gigantic plot holes at some point.

[jgsugden]

A fair review on Syfy:

Blastr Westworld Review

It hits my main problem - I don't care about any hosts, staff or guests.  You could wipe the board and I wouldn't care.  We needed to have one charismatic staff member that the audience saw a lot and gave us an anchor. 

[MahrinSkel]

So, are the hosts unable to harm the visitors due to their programming and/or do their guns just not work against regular humans? This aspect seems a little open to gigantic plot holes at some point.

Seems to be a bit of both, the guns don't actually do any damage to humans, and just tearing off an arm and beating the meatbags to death with it apparently doesn't occur to them because of programming.

How the gun thing works, I'm not sure, it seemed to leave a real hole in the outlaw that malfunctioned and refused to lay down and die. But the Gunslinger clearly took direct hits while grabbing Dolores.

--Dave

[Yegolev]

I'm not going to read this thread because I'm sure you fuckers all hate this, but at the moment this is the only TV show that I am excited about.  Strangely fascinating.

[HaemishM]

I've only watched the first episode but I'm loving it so far. The quality of acting and dialogue is really strong, as is the atmosphere.

The logistics on the gun thing is something I'd like to see them explain a bit more because it seems odd that one would equip random dipshits with real ammo when there is the very real possibility of a stray ricochet straight up killing a rich motherfucker. Also, knives can't be programmed to only cut robot throats.

[apocrypha]

Watched episode 2 last night, really liking it too.

The gun thing is definitely interesting - guest show noticeable impacts when they're hit by bullets, small puffs of dust, but they don't recoil from them and there's no injuries. You can see it most clearly when Ed Harris is getting repeatedly shot. So it could be that the bullets are small, low velocity, very frangible projectiles that break up instantly on clothing but the gun and.or bullets send some kind of signal to the hosts indicating impact which then simulate bullet wounds. I think, given that the technology to make the hosts exists, we can safely postulate very high tech possibilities.

Similarly, knives could be capable of distinguishing between host & guest and simply refuse to touch guest flesh, being repelled by it like powerful magnets or something. Dunno. Not gonna save people from broken bones, falling off of cliffs, getting run over by a stage coach, etc. Be interesting to see if they tackle any of those questions or just avoid them.

I'm intrigued by what the 'ulterior motive' that management have for the place could be. Military training? Creating covert infiltration agents?

Also, my only gripe really (there had to be one, it's f13), and something I harp on about a lot, I know, but the cinematography is a bit lacklustre. It's not bad, it's perfectly good technically, it's just textbook, humdrum, predictable, uninteresting. There's been so many opportunities for some fantastic camera work and they've just stuck to the safe, easy shots every time. Couple of examples from ep 2 (no spoilers): a shot where some guests & hosts are disembarking from the train and entering the town for the first time. The camera rises up from the train exit point and looks down the main street. It's the most cliched shot ever. Sure, it could've been done as homage to old Westerns but they do it repeatedly, there's so much scope from something more interesting there - even just simply rising up further, to an aerial view! Second example, when Anthony Hopkins is having a chat with someone (Lowe I think) in a room where hosts are being made, the camera work is all medium lens, close crops of their faces, always at 2/3rds framing. Nothing wrong with it, textbook dialogue shot, very daily bread. But the opportunities in that room full of amazing machines making incredibly balletic motions while crafting hosts were huge! It's not deal breaking at all, but it's just slightly disappointing to me.

Other than that, yeah, loving it.

[Setanta]

I'm wondering how much of the AI is AI and how much is human consciousness implanted in a synthetic body. The nightmares are there to waken the consciousness. The boy near the church spire, may he have met himself?  A way of transcending death. I'm also wondering if the staff are also synthetic - all of them.

For a series that hasn't created attachments to characters yet, it gives a lot to think about.

[apocrypha]

I'd also been thinking about whether the staff (or some of the guests) were AI too, as in Blade Runner's "How can it not know what it is?".

[Hayduke]

I like it so far though, but yeah I'm not really interested in any of the characters yet besides Ed Harris. It annoys me when the player piano plays modern music. It didn't happen with Paint in Black, but for the other songs it just left me frustrated that I couldn't remember the song.

Mostly I'm just worried that this is going to be another Lost-like show where it's really exciting while there's a lot of questions and mystery, but the answers are really not that interesting. Just seems like the kind of show that'll be all hype but won't reach a satisfying conclusion.

[Abagadro]

They have said in interviews they want to avoid the "Lost" situation and have plotted out the show to 5 seasons.

[Surlyboi]

Fucking min/maxers.

[Khaldun]

I am liking it so far. It reminds me a bit of Ted Williams' virtual world series, and some other stuff that mingles virtual world/real world.