Altered Carbon

[Transient]

[youtube]dhFM8akm9a4[/youtube]

I just got finished watching and it was pretty good. It diverged from the book it's based on in some key ways about halfway through the season, but it was still entertaining. When I first saw the trailer, I bought the Takeshi Kovacs trilogy and finished the first book right before watching the show. It stands up despite the differences, but I think it could have done just as well if it stuck completely to the book. There was lots of nudity and some of it lingered longer than necessary. It was like Netflix felt the need to tell everybody that they are competing with Showtime and HBO for realzies now. This is a grown-up show, you guys, and Netflix is super serious about it!

I'm tired of fantasy worlds and super heroes, so watching a competent sci-fi show was refreshing. The acting was pretty good all around and the visual effects were better than most primetime shows these days. I just hope viewership is high enough to recoup the costs and justify a 2nd season, however those metrics get figured out.

There has been a bunch of good science fiction lately. Blade Runner 2049, The Martian, Electric Dreams, Black Mirror, Westworld, now Altered Carbon. One of my few tastes from childhood that has stayed the same is my love for sci-fi (the harder the better), so I'm eating this shit up. Now if they'd just bring Farscape and Firefly back, my life would be complete.

Anyone else get into this?

[Whiskey 7]

The trailer looks captivating in a Blade Runner sort of way and as you said, competent sci-fi so I will be seeking this one out...
Wait...
Yes I see, grabbed so I will watch shortly.


Thank you Transient for the 'heads up'

[Whiskey 7]

What the whole season? I thought just one episode

[MKJ]

I was thinking of checking it out. Will do after finishing Black Mirror, now

[Mat Linnett]

Yeah, it's pretty damn good, although the divergence from the book is a little jarring at times, especially when some of the new plotpoints seem to be in place in order to drastically simplify the story.
[spoiler]Kovacs finding The Raven/Hendrix himself, the Envoys being an extinct, "terrorist" organisation, the merging of Virginia Vidaura and Quell and turning the resulting hybrid character into the love interest in place of Sarah, Kadmin's head being removed instead of Miller's, and the manner of that removal, etcetera.[/spoiler]

But some of the additions are great, such as the Raven being much more at the forefront of the story, Ortega's family background (I just finished the episode with "Grandma"), and Bancroft's false martyrdom amongst the plague victims.

Even more than it being nice to have more sci-fi on TV, it's great to have a strong representative of the Cyberpunk sub-genre.

[Don Carlos]

Gonna start watching this after finishing Ozark, which is also pretty good.

[Transient]

My guess as to why they changed The Hendrix into The Raven was due to getting the rights from the Hendrix estate, but it ended up making for a more interesting character. The Hendrix is more of a plot device in the book, after all.

I didn't really like Ortega in the show as much as in the book, and they didn't wrap up her character arc all that gracefully. Although it won't really matter if season 2 follows the 2nd novel.

[spoiler]And what's the deal with making Kovacs choose between which of his sleeve's memories to keep? It seemed a bit unnecessary to keep him from merging his memories just so the director could make Kovacs play Rock Paper Scissors with himself...[/spoiler]
Oh, and I got a kick out of the Max Headroom cameo.

[Eraser]

Does he win the presidential election this time though?

[Doombrain]

Ikr, I can't take him seriously.

[Mat Linnett]

Just finished watching this. I think that while it was good, the script-writers diverged unecessarily from the book, and introduced far too many cheap Hollywood tropes.
[spoiler]The worst offender being how they turned Ortega in to a damsel.[/spoiler]

And I'm really not comfortable with how they portrayed the Envoys and Protectorate. It feels like they closed off too many narrative doors in order to portray a one-note story of plucky rebels fighting an oppressive regime.
Fuck you Hollywood, not everything has to be Star Wars.

[Doombrain]

Fuckin Star Wars isn't Star Wars anyone.

[Κracus]

More like Bladerunner with more boobs.

[Don Carlos]

More like Bladerunner with more boobs.

SOLD

[Doombrain]

Can someone give an explanation about the worms, eye and gyroscope please? Because like wtf

[Eraser]

Can someone give an explanation about the worms, eye and gyroscope please? Because like wtf

Wrong thread.
And no, there is no explanation

[Doombrain]

So it is.

[vesp]

Just finished it - super impressed with everything.

The look and feel of the show reminded me a little bit of the Expanse, which is no bad thing (I guess similarities with Miller and Kovacs, "hard-boiled-noir-whodunit in space") - immersive and great to watch. The cast is top notch too.

I haven't read the books but I can understand there is simplification of the story to make the series flow well (and quickly) compared to the amount of world building you can get in print. Having said that, it didn not feel "simplistic" and I came away from the series with a sense of an incredibly rich and detailed world with a hell of a lot more potential. Apparently it's already been picked up for multiple seasons? Can't wait...

[losCHUNK]

It's pretty good, definitely worth watching for anyone interested in sci fi / crime noir shite. The storyline ran a little loose at times, a few dead spots and some of the characters could've been improved upon, those being the bad points. Visually it's great though, lovely concept and world building with some strong leads.

Can anyone tell me about the AI hotel guy -

[spoiler]Does he return in the 2nd novel ?[/spoiler]

Prolly best to send that through PM

[Don Carlos]

3 episodes in...cool so far

[Transient]

Can anyone tell me about the AI hotel guy -

[spoiler]The 3 novels are all self-contained stories. I'm on the 2nd novel right now and Kovacs makes mention of being on Earth, but the current sleeve he's in is on a planet some tens of light years away, so the cop chick from the 1st novel is in her 60s now. As for the hotel AI, he was a throwaway character in the book and unless Season 2 of the Netflix series diverges considerably from the books, I doubt he'll make another appearance. Of course, it would be easy to keep Kovacs on Earth and just tell totally different stories from the novels.[/spoiler]

[losCHUNK]

Ahh sweet

[Transient]

https://www.engadget.com/2018/02/21/ama ... e-culture/

It appears that Amazon is looking for its answer to Netflix's crossover sci-fi thriller Altered Carbon. Today, the online retail giant announced that it has acquired the global television rights to Iain M. Banks' space opera series called The Culture. Amazon Studios will adapt the first novel, Consider Phlebas, for television.

More sci-fi, excellent.

[Doombrain]

Shit, I'll be signing up to that.

Lost in space comes April.

[Don Carlos]

I finished this...it was OK. I think I need to watch it again.

[Whiskey 7]

Shit, I'll be signing up to that.

Lost in space comes April.

I read the words 'Lost in Space', put two and two together and searched...

Awesome! I grew up with the original and got goosebumps watching the trailer. Note the J2 on their spacesuits..
YouTube Clip