I have zero thoughts regarding this show, but I know the buzz is pretty big. HBO is looking for their next Game of Thrones. Is this it?
I may actually choose to wait a few episodes to join in the fun.
Is anyone looking forward to it?
Looks very much up my alley. I think there were some development issues that have made me nervous, but the early reviews are quite good.
…I’m not going to be watching because its the “next game of thrones” as I don’t like Game of Thrones. I’m in because its being co-created by Jonathan Nolan who was behind “Person of Interest”: a TV programme that started out as a bog-standard crime procedural and turned into something else entirely. Spoilers for Person of Interest:
Ultimately Person of Interest was a TV series about the birth of the worlds first artificial intelligence. Over the course of five years we watch the “machine” from birth, to death, and then to new life. It matures, it protects itself, it grow a conscious, it defy’s and protects its creator. Its brilliant.
So I’m in. Watching a show by your favourite show-runner is like reading a book by your favourite author.
I think by next Game of Thrones, they mean the next big thing on TV, not that it is similar.
Saw the HBO trailers and it looks good. I barely remember the original movie with Yul Brynner as the gunslinger. Looks like they’re going with cloning/genetic engineering rather than robotics this time. I’ll definitely be tuning in.
I love how the series is being produced by J. J. Abrams’ Bad Robot productions. 
I had no idea Jonathan Nolan is behind this. I’m in.
I’m on board the hype train. Choo choo!
I’ve never seen the movie and have only a vague idea of what it’s all about. But given the people involved and the overall tone of the teasers I’ve got high hopes for this show.
The early reviews have been pretty good. I’m kinda stoked about this one.
Having been fascinated by the original when it first came out, I’m in.
Strange as it may seem this SF fan has never seen the original. I might give this a try but I’m watching too much TV as it is.
Here’s the trailer to the original: Westworld (1973) Trailer - YouTube
I was never a big fan of the original (before the LSC ran the film at MIT, they preceded it with a slide giving Asimov’s Laws of Robotics, which sums up many of my objections. Even if you ain’t got the Three Laws, you’re an idiot if you don’t have an “off” switch). Crichton later used the same basic plot for Jurassic Park, showing that he doesn’t think engineers can properly build in safety factors. So I’m not over-excited about this. But I’ll probably watch, out of curiosity.
One nice thing about Westworld (and its forgettable sequel, Futureworld) is that it gave us another look at Yul Brynner as a kick-ass gunfighter. Whenever Brynner played a western gunman, he wore a black shirt. He did it first in [I[The Magnificent Seven* and then in Catlow before donning the Black Shirt in Westworld and Futureworld. I’ll bet we don’t get a blackshirted gunslinger robot (or clone or whatever) in this incarnation.
Well, I was intrigued by the first episode enough to plan on watching it next week.
Anyone else watch? I really liked it, but it looks like from the previews things get crazier as the season goes on and it could be really fun.
I’ve seen the original and it’s fun but not essential. Yul Brynner is great as the killer unstoppable cowboy robot, there’s definitely some Terminator shades in him, but other than that the movie doesn’t have a whole lot. It looks like the TV show has nicely expanded both the rules of the theme park and doing a whole lot more about artificial intelligence and identity, just as you would expect from the creator of Person of Interest.
Looks like there’s not a straight match with the movie, because there was a blackshirted gunslinger robot in the Hector outlaw host, but it looks like the more main villainous type will be the Ed Harris character. I have a theory about him that I’ll put in a spoiler box since it’s partly from what I’ve read about the show and hasn’t been in the show so far:
I’m guessing Ed Harris is Anthony Hopkins old partner. I’d read something about how Hopkins started the theme park with someone else and the partner was pushed out. Maybe Hopkins was too compassionate to them and Harris enjoyed treating them like toys. It would explain why he’s trying to find the game within the game.
I’m on the west coast, so I’m still about half an hour away. Very much looking forward to this. The 9PM Sunday spot is pretty empty right now, so I’m hoping this is good. Still several weeks to go before The Waling Dead.
Saw it and liked it a lot. Great cast and it looks like no expense was spared in filming it. I liked the different iterations of Dolores’s day. The show was an interesting mix of suspense, terror and pathos - I’ll keep watching.
Did anyone catch what was playing on the player piano? It wasn’t playing old-timey western saloon music but rather modern tunes. I didn’t get clued in until the last song, when it was playing “Black Hole Sun”. (The background music to the big gunfight was “Paint It Black”, but that wasn’t on the player piano.)
Excellent show. I’m sure Michael Crichton would have been delighted if he could have seen the new version of his creation. The acting, especially the leads, is top-notch and ditto for the direction, camerawork, etc. Another fine show from HBO and I’ll definitely be back for more.
I noticed Black Hole Sun and Paint it Black, I didn’t notice the music before that. Black Hole Sun made me wonder how far in the future this is set. I didn’t know if the expected response from visitors is “oh listen honey it’s playing Black Hole Sun,” or if this is far enough in the future that it’s just some song that most people don’t know. They obviously aren’t going for total accuracy, the place is like Western movies and not actually like the real old west, but I didn’t know if deliberate obvious anachronisms would be inserted like that.