Westworld: the next must-see cable series?

..and why not?
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billy
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Re: Westworld: the next must-see cable series?

Postby billy » 04 Dec 2016, 17:32

found it to be style over substance. a lot of money chucked at from so-so to hammy acting (the english guy ffs) and let-down by scripts that either telegraph the plot or a tad cornball. but people are welcome to disagree.
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Re: Westworld: the next must-see cable series?

Postby ... » 05 Dec 2016, 09:38

Started to watch ep 5 last night and fell asleep halfway through and have now deleted it. As Billy says above - a triumph of style over substance - the multiple storylines are way too indicative of how Lost soon lost its way for my liking

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Re: Westworld: the next must-see cable series?

Postby pcqgod » 05 Dec 2016, 15:19

Having seen the finale, I don't think the series quite lived up to the premiere episode, but there was still enough there to keep me watching. I kind of hope season 2 is completely different.
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Re: Westworld: the next must-see cable series?

Postby sloopjohnc » 05 Dec 2016, 18:02

pcqgod wrote:Having seen the finale, I don't think the series quite lived up to the premiere episode, but there was still enough there to keep me watching. I kind of hope season 2 is completely different.


Ditto.
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Re: Westworld: the next must-see cable series?

Postby Spec » 05 Dec 2016, 18:25

sloopjohnc wrote:
pcqgod wrote:Having seen the finale, I don't think the series quite lived up to the premiere episode, but there was still enough there to keep me watching. I kind of hope season 2 is completely different.


Ditto.



Tripditto

It was often style over substance but I enjoyed the style.

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Re: Westworld: the next must-see cable series?

Postby Dr Markus » 07 Dec 2016, 15:16

Thought the finale was good to be honest. I'm 98% clued in to what's happening. Actually looking forward to the 2nd season now.
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Re: Westworld: the next must-see cable series?

Postby Penk! » 07 Dec 2016, 20:16

Agree with comments above: the series wasn't what it wanted to be, and was frustrating in many ways, but there were enough good things and ideas to keep me interested (despite the odd lull) and have me looking forward to the second series... which won't be for another two years apparently.

I think it did a good job of filling the plot holes - a lot of them were perhaps deliberately placed - and having two new questions turn up for every one that got answered. The storylines were sometimes a bit too twisty, but that reflected the themes of mazes and the fight to establish identity.
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Re: Westworld: the next must-see cable series?

Postby yomptepi » 07 Dec 2016, 23:30

I thought it was great. I struggled with the first three episodes , but I am glad we stuck with it, as it was wonderfully complicated, and so beautifully made. I loved the player piano, the way the whole place re set itself every morning, and how Ford controlled the robots with a quiet " That's enough". I cannot wait for series 2.
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Re: Westworld: the next must-see cable series?

Postby ... » 10 Dec 2016, 16:56

Good piece that pretty much sums up why I stopped watching the show in today's Guardian (oddly enough, I watched the movie
before the show began and quite enjoyed it).

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/d ... hbo-robots

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Re: Westworld: the next must-see cable series?

Postby yomptepi » 11 Dec 2016, 12:40

fueryIre wrote:Good piece that pretty much sums up why I stopped watching the show in today's Guardian (oddly enough, I watched the movie
before the show began and quite enjoyed it).

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/d ... hbo-robots


Not a good piece at all. A lazy, half attempt to summarise a show he clearly did not watch. In other words, Guardian journalism .

Westworld was as good as you wanted it to be. If you wanted an immersive experience, enjoying the details of the mechanics, and the mechanics of the programming, it was superb. If you wanted am extended examination of the interaction between the living and the not living, and how we transpose our own mortality,morality and values on inert lifeless objects, it was great. If you wanted a long drawn out, beautifully conceived, and superbly shot epic, multi layered storyline, with some great characters and intricate sub plots, it was perfect, even if it did all add up to nothing. I had no expectations of it, but I ended being completely involved in the show. Of course it failed to connect with the non existent attention span of the hipster guardian reader. And of course it made no sense to those too busy posting 140 word replies to people they have never met.
But there was plenty there. And it looked amazing.
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Re: Westworld: the next must-see cable series?

Postby ... » 11 Dec 2016, 12:55

Congratulations on producing a post as pretentious and incomprehensible as Westworld itself, Chris!


yomptepi wrote:
If you wanted an immersive experience, enjoying the details of the mechanics, and the mechanics of the programming, it was superb.



Sorry, rather like the show, you've lost large numbers of us there.

Care to explain what all of the above waffle actually means?


yomptepi wrote:
And of course it made no sense to those too busy posting 140 word (sic) replies to people they have never met.



Rather like your incredibly pompous and contradictory post but without being subject to a 140-character limit.

Not sure if I am the target of your ire re twitter, but I'm not - and never have or will be - a user of either it or Facebook.

yomptepi wrote:
And it looked amazing.



iirc, a lot of gullible folk said much the same thing about the King's new clothes...
Last edited by ... on 11 Dec 2016, 13:21, edited 6 times in total.

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Re: Westworld: the next must-see cable series?

Postby ... » 11 Dec 2016, 13:12

Sorry, DP

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Re: Westworld: the next must-see cable series?

Postby yomptepi » 11 Dec 2016, 14:11

fueryIre wrote:Congratulations on producing a post as pretentious and incomprehensible as Westworld itself, Chris!


yomptepi wrote:
If you wanted an immersive experience, enjoying the details of the mechanics, and the mechanics of the programming, it was superb.



Sorry, rather like the show, you've lost large numbers of us there.

Care to explain what all of the above waffle actually means?


I may have lost you Chris, but I am sure the rest of BCB will have no problem understanding me.


yomptepi wrote:
And of course it made no sense to those too busy posting 140 word (sic) replies to people they have never met.



fueryIre wrote:Rather like your incredibly pompous and contradictory post but without being subject to a 140-character limit.

Not sure if I am the target of your ire re twitter, but I'm not - and never have or will be - a user of either it or Facebook.


why is it always about you?

yomptepi wrote:


And it looked amazing.


fueryIre wrote:iirc, a lot of gullible folk said much the same thing about the King's new clothes...


I enjoyed the expansive way the story was told. I liked the twists and turns. I liked the scope of the resort, how it was so huge, and how it had become a real version of a modern day " sandbox " video game. I wasn't in hurry for it to finish as I just liked seeing the different plots, both in the park, and withing the company. You didn't watch the whole series. maybe you would have enjoyed it more had you seen it all. It definitely got more enjoyable as it went on.
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Re: Westworld: the next must-see cable series?

Postby Belle Lettre » 11 Dec 2016, 14:17

Why's he calling you Chris, Mikel ?
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Re: Westworld: the next must-see cable series?

Postby yomptepi » 11 Dec 2016, 14:21

Belle Lettre wrote:Why's he calling you Chris, Mikel ?


He 's not all there.
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Re: Westworld: the next must-see cable series?

Postby ... » 12 Dec 2016, 08:46

Belle Lettre wrote:Why's he calling you Chris, Mikel ?


Sorry for mis-naming you. It won't happen again (unlike your unnecessarily condescending replies each time I dare to differ with your views re a TV show!)

yomptepi wrote:
He 's not all there.


If being "all there" is dependent on my having to sit through the remainder of WW and indulge the increasingly Lost-like leanings the show's creators showed during the first four episodes, I can happily say I never will be.
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Re: Westworld: the next must-see cable series?

Postby Ghost of Harry Smith » 13 Dec 2016, 02:10

Just watched it, I'd give it 2.5 or 3/5. It has some interesting elements but doesn't quite stand up to the fundamental requirement of good speculative fiction - is it believable? Too many bits weren't, from the science of how the hosts were created, to how the park was practically managed, to how Maeve managed to manipulate the technicians to help her.

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Re: Westworld: the next must-see cable series?

Postby Dr Markus » 13 Dec 2016, 12:19

Ghost of Harry Smith wrote: to how Maeve managed to manipulate the technicians to help her.


Yeah found that weird, the Asian tech helping her didn't seem care that she and the other two were killing left right and centre/center to escape even though he was human. Didn't care that he'd be up for assisting murder or could be argued for murder. Could be ironic symbolism that she was controlling him for a change because he was infatuated with her rather than with controls like the humans were with her.
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Re: Westworld: the next must-see cable series?

Postby pcqgod » 13 Dec 2016, 23:59

Ghost of Harry Smith wrote:...the fundamental requirement of good speculative fiction - is it believable?


I've always felt that the fundamental requirement of good speculative fiction was to ask interesting questions, rather than to be strictly realistic.
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Re: Westworld: the next must-see cable series?

Postby Ghost of Harry Smith » 14 Dec 2016, 22:41

pcqgod wrote:
Ghost of Harry Smith wrote:...the fundamental requirement of good speculative fiction - is it believable?


I've always felt that the fundamental requirement of good speculative fiction was to ask interesting questions, rather than to be strictly realistic.


They're not mutually exclusive points. Maybe "requirement" is the wrong word but my point is that it's vital for speculative fiction to present its world/environment realistically, so that the reader/viewer believes in its internal logic*.

If that doesn't take place (and I'd argue Westworld is only partially successful), then it's difficult to feel a depth of connection with the narrative and characters.

*in realist drama anyway, I get that postmodern fictions etc are doing something different.


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