Altered Carbon

[satael]

Altered Carbon Date Announcement

So this was announced for 2.2.2018 on Netflix.

Based on the award-winning novel, Altered Carbon takes place in a future where the human mind can now be digitized and downloaded into a "cortical stack" and placed into new bodies, called sleeves.

The series follows Envoy soldier Takeshi Kovacs (Joel Kinnaman), who is brought back to life centuries later to investigate the attempted murder of Laurens Bancroft (James Purefoy), the wealthiest man on Earth. As the investigation progresses, Kovacs comes to learn that his past isn’t nearly as buried as he thought.

I'm pretty excited since I'm a fan of Richard Morgan's writing (even the fantasy books).

[Ironwood]

Yeah, massive excitement over here.  Interestingly, some of the hints in the interviews suggest that they've changed some of the smaller details, but the big picture seems to remain exactly the same and the big worry for some fans (we require multiple Kovacs) has been confirmed on IMDB for over a year.

So I'm looking forwards. 

[Ironwood]

Yeah, that's the stuff.

[Khaldun]

The big change to Kovacs' background worried me but a lot of reviews say it works and it was kind of necessary because in the books we get his background through his thoughts, which you can't really do well on screen.

On the other hand, the reviews have been kind of mixed so far, so we'll see.

[Engels]

Only watched two episodes thus far, trying to pace it out, but I think it's just off the scale fantastic. It's one of those rare shows where everything is so exciting scene to scene that it's hard to find a moment to pause the stream to take a pee break.

[MahrinSkel]

It's a live action of a cyberpunkish sci-fi anime, which means that if you stop to think for 5 seconds about it as sci-fi, it all falls apart. But between Rule of Cool and some really tight plotting, you don't get many chances to pick at it.

--Dave

[Tale]

It's a live action of a cyberpunkish sci-fi anime

Isn't it a live action of a novel?

[calapine]

Altered Carbon is definitely I novel.

Source: It's on my bookshelves.

And looking forward to that show.

[Raguel]

I'm about 2 episodes in and I don't care for it. It's an interesting concept, I just think two of the main actors (the protagonist Kovacs and the lady cop) are really horrible and make the show hard to watch.

[Engels]

Wow, just goes to show that people's impressions can be wildly different. I loved Joel Kinnaman in the Killing and I'm loving him here. I also am enjoying the cop and the integration of her latin family into the story with the conceit that language barriers are eliminated through some sort of learning software implant and all that's left is different cultures without a linguistic divide.

As to the impression that it's based on an Anime, I can't really find fault with that impression, since some of the scenes look like straight up Japanese storytelling (not gonna spoil it, but you'll probably know it when you see it if you've watched just about any amount of Anime).

Another criticism I've heard is that the it's not as philosophical as, say, Westworld. I can't disagree strongly enough, as it's themes are grounded in pretty gritty questions about mortality and meaning, and its exploring them in the way that good scifi does; extrapolating the what-if to the n'th degree and seeing what questions emerge. Sure, its not Heidegger but its also an action drama so turning your nose up at it for this seems to be a bit off the mark, both in terms of missing the questions it does ask, and perhaps expecting the tedium of philosophic exposition that's the bane of many many boring sci fi attempts (Neal Stephenson, I'm looking at you).

[MahrinSkel]

It's a live action of a cyberpunkish sci-fi anime

Isn't it a live action of a novel?

Apparently, yes. Which seems weird, because it "feels" very anime. Not in a bad way.

--Dave

[Bzalthek]

This is hotness squared.  I'm four episodes in and quite impressed with it.  Especially all the side story and bit actors.  (I loves aryan mexican grandmama, he was fucking perfect)

[Viin]

I like this too. Good sets and good camera work. Plot moves along quickly. (only 3 episodes in so far)

[Ironwood]

I never thought I'd be satisfied with changes to the novel, never mind happy.  But I'm extremely happy at some of this.

[Bunk]

This is a new standard setter for TV sci-fi for me. Binged the first 9 episodes over the weekend. Sad that I only have one to go.

[satael]

I liked this but I wasn't too happy with some of the changes made like

[Der Helm]

I  Poe.

[Ironwood]

Changing The Hendrix into The Raven was inspired and the chap playing Poe gets all the love in the world. 

The Envoy changes were the only things that didn't really sit right with me and that mostly due to the fact that A - as mentioned, other books are now going to get HUGE sections rewritten if they decide to continue and B - It's so unnecessary.  Kovacs makes it quite clear he did bad shit for the Protectorate before joining with Quell, so there's literally no reason to change this except to make Quell's group more badass, which is really not needed.

I will say that perhaps one of the best reasons for the changes is so that blokes like me can actually see something new in the story.  It's nice when the wife says 'who's he' and I can genuinely reply 'I don't fucking know.'  The Bancroft Son thing at least put a different rail on the narrative.

And, let's just be brutally frank for a moment, Ortega is just super fucking hot.  Like, Super.

And who doesn't love a White Supremacist Granny Clone ?

[Bzalthek]

Dichen clone fight was absurdly hot and disturbing.

[Tale]

I   Poe.

Same. I've been an Edgar Allan Poe fan for a long time. Combining him with a cyberpunk world is perfect!

I'm only at epsiode 4 but the achievement here is QUALITY FUCKING CYBERPUNK. Cyberpunk as moving pictures has never been done this well before, unless you count Blade Runner or video games like Deus Ex. We now have an actual successful big-budget cyberpunk drama.

[Viin]

And, let's just be brutally frank for a moment, Ortega is just super fucking hot.  Like, Super.

Yes.

[Surlyboi]

Dichen clone fight was absurdly hot and disturbing.

That's partially because Dichen herself is absurdly hot and disturbing.

[Ironwood]

Also that.

[Bzalthek]

Dichen clone fight was absurdly hot and disturbing.

That's partially because Dichen herself is absurdly hot and disturbing.

Absolutely no argument from me there.

[Khaldun]

I am liking a lot but I don't find Dichen hot at all.

[Teleku]

Watched the first several episodes of this.  Really enjoying it!  Never read the books, so knew nothing coming into this.

Also,

And, let's just be brutally frank for a moment, Ortega is just super fucking hot.  Like, Super.

100 times this.  Holy hell.  Hollywood really needs to get on the ball poaching Mexican actress's at a much faster rate.

[Threash]

I am liking a lot but I don't find Dichen hot at all.

She was hot in Dollhouse ten years ago.

[Tale]

Just finished the series. Loved it. Perfect really. True cyberpunk television shows to binge on demand in 4k or multiple devices over a global network. I am in the future.

[Surlyboi]

The future is here, it's just not widely distributed. -Gibson.

[Polysorbate80]

Was about the third episode where it came together for me, and I stopped questioning the changes and just enjoyed it.

Had to buy Sune Wagner’s cover of More Human than Human, just wish it weren’t so short

[pxib]

The future is here, it's just not widely distributed. -Gibson.

"Unevenly" distributed.

[Surlyboi]

Thanks for the correction.

[MrHat]

I loved this show.

My only complaint is:

[kaid]

I loved this show.

My only complaint is:

[jgsugden]

Really liking this show.  Only 3 episodes in and I did not read the books (or have not yet I should say), but it is working for me.  The cast is great and the dialogue has been perfectly cliché in a good way.