Halo? Anyone?
UPDATE
Paramount is now offering the first episode for free.
Here it is if anyone wants to check it out.
Halo The Series (2022) | Series Premiere | Full Episode | Paramount+
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The Halo live action TV show premiered on Paramount+ yesterday. The genre is military sci-fi.
I've been aware of the game franchise since it began in 2001, but somehow never managed to play any of it. It's become a bigger deal than I'd realized.
I gave the TV premiere a try today, and honestly liked it. The effects are great, and it looks like it could turn out to be a decent show. Pablo Schreiber (Lev Schreiber's younger brother) plays the Master Chief.
Here's something interesting that I didn't know before — Cortana, the AI assistant in the Halo franchise, was the inspiration for Microsoft's Cortana virtual computer assistant, and the same voice actress (Jen Taylor) does it all, including the new TV show. How cool is that?
Here are the two trailers released before the premiere...
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And here's the aftershow that followed the premiere. There's a Halo primer in there, starting around the 9:43 mark, explaining the lore of the franchise.
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Has anyone else checked it out yet? If so, what did you think of it?
I just saw this...
‘Halo’ Sets Premiere Viewership Record For Paramount+
I've watched the pilot episode twice now, it's pretty good. First half feels a bit forced, as is the occasional first person shooter views, but I like where they took the story so far.
Have not seen it but now I will. Thanks, Dig.
I will def check it out.
On a different note, I have to tell you that Picard is soooo good.
Come on over to the latest Picard article.
Will do!
''HALO'' High altitude, low opening jump. Once a paratrooper always a paratrooper.
I had it possibly in 2001-2002 and wasn't challenged by the game
but I will look up the "show".
Watched the first episode yesterday. Not really impressed so far. I think this is going to turn out to be one of those things where there's tons of Halo canon they could have used but don't and give the whole thing their own "interpretation". Not going to say more than that because I don't want to give any spoilers but will be interested to see what everyone thinks when they've seen it themselves.
Lucky for me I don't know the canon, so I get to watch without knowledge of changes or errors, lol.
Hard to tell from one episode but this (albeit a different storyline) strikes me very much like the Mandalorian (a good thing).
I had the same thought.
I was going to watch some this weekend.
I just watched the second episode, and it still looks good. To me, this one had a vibe like a cross between Attack of the Clones (the alien animation) and Total Recall (the Rubble outpost).
I also noticed Steven Spielberg listed in the end credits as an executive producer, which is friggin' awesome.
I don't want to ruin your experience but, I had the opposite reaction. Other than naming conventions, there doesn't seem to be much relation to the game narrative. I'll give it one more chance in the third episode but I don't hold out much hope.
I'm not familiar with the game narrative, so I wouldn't know. How different is it? A total re-write?
Is that the major thing you don't like about it? What do you think of the production itself? If you didn't know the game story how would you rate it, as general sci-fi shows go?
In my opinion, yes. It's a total re-write.
In a word, yes. In the game series, Master Chief always knew what the right thing to was. Also, the UNSC wasn't the dystopian entity portrayed in this production. AI's, such as Cortana, were not controversial but, rather, taken for granted.
In my opinion, to this point, the only connection between the Master Chief of the game and this production is the name and imagery.
I understand how a departure from an established story can suck. I've felt that way about a few things in Star Trek over the years, as new shows have come out.
Sorry you're not liking the Halo show. Being in the dark about the game story, I'm rather enjoying it so far.
Seriously, I don't want to spoil your enjoyment so please do not put too much into my take on things. I think that what I am saying would only be pertinent to those who "grew up with the game", so to speak. Those people would be the ones I speak to, not you. That is, beyond telling you that the series doesn't match the game universe. Other than that I hope you enjoy your experience.
I'm with you Drak. I have only watched the first episode. Looking beyond the issues you raised, I still enjoyed it though.
Although I am not familiar with the game version, I can relate here (I think). The new series on The Wheel of Time is based on Robert Jordan's 14 volume masterpiece. The poetic license is rather harsh.
I am overlooking that and I do enjoy the screenplay version even though I wish they would have stuck strictly to the book. Omitting parts is fine, but rewriting characters, switching the order of events and inventing new events generally sucks. There are 14 damn books, plenty of material to work from.
But with this series, since I know nothing of the game, it seems rather good to me.
That made me laugh. I tend to be a stickler, but, more and more, it seems that you can't. If you do, you're going to be too disappointed to watch. With all of the trash offered these days, I'd rather watch. You and I have discussed GOT in the past. The first few seasons were entertaining, which made it easier to look beyond some of the original elements that were not made a part. The last few seasons? I'll save the discussion for another dedicated article.
I've been wanting to watch Wheel of Time. Haven't read any of the original material, but it looks like my kind of story. Finding time to read or watch anything has been difficult of late.
The watching will be substantially less time consuming than the reading. Given your time constraints, I would enjoy the series and then later on crack open the books. The differences are somewhat difficult to reconcile so separating the books from the series is probably a good approach.
When things quiet down, I'll pick it up.
Wished I noticed this sooner. Don't know if you will notice my reply. What you call poetic license is what I would call SJW's running the script through their theology. The girls possibly being candidates for the Dragon reborn? How the hell does anyone sell that? I watched up to the third episode and I stopped. It was clear they just wanted to present a woke version of the story. And, yes, I'm taking into account the impossibility to remaining true to the books, but c'mon!
Your penchant for understatement is to be admired : )
I agree. It also ensures the characters cover all the demographic factors like race, gender, sexual orientation, etc. I have been trying to enjoy the series and I must actively put all those spurious diversions from the storyline aside to do so.
Robert Jordan's stories were already heavily focused on strong female characters so that part was already there.
Yeah, I get that, but I can't personally deal with the way they are destroying the story, so I simply stopped watching.
I'm still watching Halo because, to date, they haven't gone totally woke. Still, it's aggravating that they aren't playing toward canon. In my mind, the only reason I can keep watching Halo is to consider it an alternate timeline reality and not the actual Halo universe. Still, I consider it utterly retarded to take something like Halo and take "artistic license" with it. I mean, c'mon. The only reason for the project is the fan base but in making it you punch them in the face? Really?
Worse, we want to see Master Chief kicking Covenant ass, but so far, it's been touchy feely. A character that can't find her butt from her elbow no matter how many people explain reality to her.. Just a guess but I imagine there's some sort of "truth to power" angle coming.
I certainly can understand editing of content to fit the constraints of a series but these screen writers go way beyond poetic license. Do they not understand that it is net bad to change the relevant content and timeline of an established story (and that it is also bad to add utterly irrelevant changes such as Perrin being married in Two Rivers at the beginning of the story)?
For Halo this does not affect me because I know nothing of the storyline but clearly fans like yourself are totally turned off and will make their opinions known on social media (and by not watching). How can they not grasp this?
I wouldn't say I'm totally turned off, but....
What I don't get is, presumably, they decided to make this series because of the huge popularity of the Halo franchise but then say to themselves, "but we're going to change everything so that it isn't really Halo". It seems like deciding to open a steak themed restaurant based on perceived demand but when it actually opens, you can only get chicken.
Now I'm all worked up again. I think I'll write a letter to Paramount.
I agree, Drakk, it makes no sense. I know it is more fun to invent than to hold true to someone else's work. I suspect that is the real motivation here.
Just watched the second episode. Since I have no background in the game it is all fresh to me. My sense is that they are still establishing the storyline so I remain interested but certainly not hooked. I enjoy the effects and the general imagery and the story continues to make sense.
I'm liking it. The production value is every bit as high and The Mandalorian.
Speaking of that... I haven't checked it out yet, but have you watched any of that new Boba Fett show?
No, had not even heard of it until now. Worthy of a look.
I just read that it sets up The Mandalorian season 3, so now I definitely have to watch it.
Man, there's getting to be a lot of these little streaming shows. There's more coming, too, including an Obi-Wan Kenobi one with Ewan McGregor reprising the role. It's becoming a chore to keep up with them all.
A pleasant problem.
Book of Boba is an awesome show. It'll suck you in. But you should watch the Mandalorian first, as that show reintroduces Boba and hints at his backstory, which Book of BF delves into.
I'm quite interested in the Boba Fett series, but it brings up a frustrating problem. I long ago quit Comcast because I hated spending so much money on a lot of content I had not the least interest in. But, now, I'm back to the same problem. Spending money to watch what I want to but over several services. It's like being back where I started.
To try to reduce the problem, I figure I will wait until the desired series is complete, sign up for the service, binge watch the program and then cancel the service.
Anyone have a better idea?
You might even be able to binge it during a free trial period and pay nothing at all.
I thought I could settle on 5 streaming services – BritBox, Netflix, Disney+, Paramount+, and Prime, but now there's a new Game of Thrones prequel coming out in August on HBO+, so it looks like I'm going to have to add another one.
I am good there ... already have the Mandalorian under my belt.
I have Netflix, Prime and Paramount. I'm about to dump Prime because it's offerings are surprisingly sub prime. I plan on dumping Paramount. When depends on whether the third installment of Halo is too disappointing or, if not, after the series is done.
HULU is coming on strong this year, although I dont know what their offerings are like in the science fiction category. They have what is to my mind the best TV show of the year thus far , The Dropout, the story of the swindler Elizabeth Holmes and her blood testing machine fraud.
Excellent. Then you're good to go with Boba Fett.
I've watched all The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. The former is awesome and you need to watch a few episodes later in the Fett show to see what's coming as some of it was more Mandalorian than Fett. Over all The Book of Boba Fett wasn't good. The first three episodes were, but it just didn't work for me.
Did you see Moon Knight? I'm in.
I did see Moon Knight last week. It was different and I want to see where it's going.
I think I'm going to enjoy it. Don't know enough about it to say whether or not it lines up. But, I'm happy there are some offerings I think are worth watching.
Update...
Paramount posted the full first episode on YouTube free of charge. I've added it to the top of the page, if anyone wants to watch it.
I watched episodes 1 & 2 last night. I thought they were very good.