Westworld - Watching ?

[Michael Hardner]

I hate Sci-Fi. It's mostly unwatchable to me. So when Joan put this show on I was ready to give it about 5 minutes. But I liked the premiere so much, I wanted to start a thread - mostly because I figure there must be people on here watching it.

Are you ?

If so... tell me something... who am I supposed to be rooting for here ?

[Guest]

Don't get HBO, but I love science fiction, so I'll watch it eventually. Root for the good guys.

[?Impact]

There was a movie with Yul Brynner in the 70's on which it is based. I'll have to wait for the DVDs to see it.

[Derek 2.0]

who am I supposed to be rooting for here ?

From only seeing one episode (and the movie waaay back) I'd have to say all the characters have their flaws.... from first impression, Ed Harris's character seems dark and twisted, well Hopkins is clearly conflicted and longing for the "good old days" when nothing was "perfect"....we'll need more episodes to "flesh it out".......right now I'd say "root for" the robots.

[Boges]

I hate Sci-Fi. It's mostly unwatchable to me. So when Joan put this show on I was ready to give it about 5 minutes. But I liked the premiere so much, I wanted to start a thread - mostly because I figure there must be people on here watching it.

Are you ?

If so... tell me something... who am I supposed to be rooting for here ?

I suspect the Ed Harris character is actually the good guy. He's doing evil stuff but only to robots. He's looking for a deeper meaning to them. Edited October 5, 2016 by Boges

[Derek 2.0]

I suspect the Ed Harris character is actually the good guy. He's doing evil stuff but only to robots. He's looking for a deeper meaning to them.

That's what I was kinda thinking.....or maybe a corporate spy? What I question, as he said, he's been going to the park for decades, "screwing and shooting the robots"..........what meaning is he looking for? I'll go out onto a limb and submit Harris's character is some sort of "anti technology" revisionist and is in league with Hopkins character........both attempting to put the robot genie back in the bottle.

[marcus]

Don't get HBO, but I love science fiction, so I'll watch it eventually. Root for the good guys.

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[Michael Hardner]

...right now I'd say "root for" the robots.

That is what I was thinking too. The scientists all seem conflicted - some you like more than others. But clearly you like the 'oldest robot in the park', her boyfriend and you HATE Ed Harris though he's human.

[Michael Hardner]

I suspect the Ed Harris character is actually the good guy. He's doing evil stuff but only to robots. He's looking for a deeper meaning to them.

Interesting take.

[Ash74]

I really enjoyed it. It kept my interest.

The Ed Harris character theory is a good one.

I thought at the time when I was watching it that the show is missing the part that has people screaming for "robot rights"

[overthere]

The first episode was a bit confusing, but a good start nonetheless.

The premise was the creation of a more-than-fantasy world where wealthy humans could act out their darkest impulses of sex and violence on androids. It is the step that is well beyond Virtual Reality. Rape and murder as part of the bottom line of corporate America..... a Heart of Darkness brought to you in the closest simulation of reality possible...

I wonder if the strategists, futurists and financiers at Disney and Las Vegas and Google and Apple are watching Westworld and thinking.... how far away is this, and how can we monetize the idea?

[Benz]

Seems very interesting. I did not watch it yet but I will give it a try someday.

I remember the original movie in the 70's.

[Michael Hardner]

I remember the original movie in the 70's.

They seem to have only taken the basic premise, ie. robot-populated fantasy world goes wrong, endangers humans.

[Guest]

I'm not much of a sci-fi fan but I've watched the first three and am now hooked. 

[Boges]

This is one of those shows where the result is obvious, The Hosts are going to revolt and start killing Guests and Staff. But what causes it? Will it be Bernard's fiddling with Dolores' code to make her more "human" create a bug that spreads to all the Hosts? Will it be what the Man in Black has been doing? Dolores sees him before she breaks the script and kills her attacker. We don't actually know what he did to her in that barn. Now her loop is broken. 

The Man in Black has been visiting the Park for so long that he can help Hosts remember things that the people behind it don't want them to have access to. In the previous episode we saw him get the Hosts break character.

Obviously the "Stray" attacking a staff member will be a game-changer for how the Hosts are treated. That was actually a suspenseful scene, because they were both likeable characters, and I thought it was plausible that they would get killed. 

 

[Guest]

I love hearing songs by bands like Soundgarden, Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails coming out of player pianos. I wonder if Arnold managed to find a way to live on as a host.

[Boges]

23 minutes ago, Slick said:

I love hearing songs by bands like Soundgarden, Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails coming out of player pianos. I wonder if Arnold managed to find a way to live on as a host.

There are theories that Bernard is actually a host that's trying to do what Arnold wanted. Perhaps his consciousness.

The other theory, that I hope isn't the case, is that William is a younger version of the MiB and we're seeing two completely different timelines. 

The evidence to that is that Lawrence is killed by the MiB and a few scenes later he shows up with William, Logan and Delores as Alonzo. However, Delores has a vision of the MIB when she breaks protocol and kills another Host. 

Lots of questions left to be unanswered.  

Edited November 3, 2016 by Boges

[overthere]

It is still a bit hard to follow but what an ending to the last epsiode.  A nude and revived Maeve says 'Hello Felix, it's time you and I had a little chat'.

 

Wow. Chilling.  I don't see this ending well for Felix.

 

HBO keeps setting new standards for TV.   Their producton values are off the charts.

[Michael Hardner]

5 hours ago, overthere said:

 

HBO keeps setting new standards for TV.   Their producton values are off the charts.

I agree.  The scale of this is daunting.  I'm just afraid that we'll end up with another JJ Abrams untethered story.  I caught onto this trait of his and it makes it hard to watch this type of work.  The writers of the past worked out their stories to remove plot loops.  It doesn't work that way anymore.

[overthere]

17 hours ago, Michael Hardner said:

I agree.  The scale of this is daunting.  I'm just afraid that we'll end up with another JJ Abrams untethered story.  I caught onto this trait of his and it makes it hard to watch this type of work.  The writers of the past worked out their stories to remove plot loops.  It doesn't work that way anymore.

That is always a fear, that the network won't know when to let it go. Many times the writers and producers will keep going as long as somebody keeps buying it, like Law and Order.  But Law and Order was not serial, and any time an actor got too uppity(expensive), they just wrote them out.   It is happening now with Walking Dead, which is already a season or two past making any sense.  Now they have introduced yet another community of weirdos into a sagging thread.  Please, end it.

 

Mad Men did not let it drag on too long, and even the mighty Game of Thrones appears to be staggering towards an epic punch line.  I'm not saying Westworld has come anywhere near approaching the need to conclude, but I do hope they recognize it before they must.

 

The series that set the bar for me for bad management was Lost.  By the end of about season 2 I realized that there were something like 200 people on the crashed plane, and we were going to see the back story of every freaking one.  I was done then.

[Michael Hardner]

Actually, there is a formula for writing a long form cable series.  I read a fascinating article on it, actually.  I don't think I could find it now.

 

The Sopranos was the prototype but they had two problems: 1 ) a major actor died, whom the story was written around and 2 ) there was no end game.

 

Various shows then started writing so that if the show got more popular they could add 'in between' seasons to a long storyline.  Or, they could cut it short in 1 or two seasons.  Carnivale was clearly written for more as the last episode ever introduced some new elements for a 2nd season.  The Wire was, I think, written with an end point but they added the in-between seasons.  I will try to google that for you.

[overthere]

The Wire is a serial within each season, but not from season to season.  Many of the same actors, but each season can and does stand on its own.  That is IMO a strong point.  Very long episodic serials tend to lose viewers over time because people lose track of the plot or tire of it.  They are not replaced by new viewers because the new people have no idea what anything means.

 

Which actor died?  Tonys mother? 

[Michael Hardner]

I think the wire did have a season-to-season arc.  Very definitely so, with regards to McNulty.  

 

I think this is the article:

http://theamericanreader.com/the-cosmology-of-serialized-television/

As for your Soprano's question - I think so but it doesn't mention it explicitly in the article.

[Boges]

On 4 November, 2016 at 2:22 PM, overthere said:

It is happening now with Walking Dead, which is already a season or two past making any sense.  Now they have introduced yet another community of weirdos into a sagging thread.  Please, end it.

What? There's source material to work on with how Walking Dead is being told. The Graphic Novel is being followed by the show, with some changes with characters and timelines. They didn't just introduce Negan or the Saviours just cuz, he's part of the story's narrative. Same with the idea that there are more communities that are trying to rebuild civilization. It's sort of like saying they should end Game of Thrones because they have to keep inventing stuff to keep it interesting.

AMC isn't going to end the most popular show in cable's history because Kirkman's storytelling isn't to a handful of people's liking. When they veer off the source material dramatically, that's actually when the show gets worse. 

Edited November 7, 2016 by Boges

[Boges]

So are we not talking about Westworld? 

It appears whatever Arnold is, is the one behind all of this. He or it created the sentience of Mauve. And now she's somehow strong armed two staff members to make her super smart. 

So who is Arnold? He's the antagonist here right? He's the one telling the child Ford to kill his dog, or the one telling Delores to go off script. AND he's being Mauve's new found memory.

I'll actually be disappointed if this is just some case of Corporate Espionage. Delos is being taken over by William's future brother-in-law's company and they've been infiltrated to cause the Hosts to rebel somehow. 

But however it ends, Teddy will save the day, I'm sure.