[Macros]

Yeah, Reis single mindedness felt jarring at times.
Surely she should have expected Take reaction to her business given how things ended on Harlons world

[Abyss]

The Swampfather, on 23 February 2018 - 08:24 PM, said:

Mezla PigDog, on 23 February 2018 - 07:22 PM, said:

I finished it this week. I enjoyed it but I wish they had stayed closer to the book. Rei annoyed the heck out of me in the last 2 episodes. She was rather 1 dimensional just constantly coming back to "I'm your sister".

I also loathe the actress in everything she is due to her acting break being on Neighbours where she ruined Susan Kennedy's happiness and therefore is evil incarnate in my brain. Bit of a step change from Neighbours to bush and boobs out on Altered Carbon.

Right. I was on autopilot in those last 2.

Do not remember her in Neighbors. She has been in a lot of tv in her early career. I think this is the 2nd time she went nude but I'm blanking on the specific show on 1st. Maybe Westworld? She is a good actress but that devolved into a horrible role at the end.

Not Westworld, Her modern US tv break was Whedon's post Buffy effort DOLLHOUSE, tho she was just ok in it. She did some other stuff... that submarine show that lasted about three weeks... next big part was a semi-major role in the first couple of seasons of AGENTS OF SHIELD. I don't particularly like her but she seems to show up in a lot of shows i watch.

They tried to make Rei a little more than 2 dimensional with the whole wanting the immortality and power that being a Meth entailed, leading back to her break with the Envoys when Quel's master plan was laid out. That said it kept coming back to her being a sociopathic immortal with an Electra complex for her bro.

[stone monkey]

I thought that the production design was pretty good. The casting of the majority of the main roles was iffy (although Purefoy could probably play Bancroft in his sleep). Most of the changes they made didn't serve the story well at all, though. I see why they made them; they're more tidily "tv friendly" for people who want their stories spoonfed to them.

The Envoys as freedom fighters: Dumb. Kovacs' point is that he was the sharp end of the stick. The boot grinding down on a human face forever. He's still that guy, he just does shit because he wants to, or has to, now.
Making Reileen his sister: Super dumb. Everyone does not have to be related for the storiy to matter.
Quell as Kovacs long lost love: Oh good grief.

The Poe was fun, though.

tbh I think the main problem was that Kovacs is a first person narrator in the book. Without that insight into how he really ticks he comes across as a fairly amoral scumbag most of the time (because he is, I suppose, but he has reasons), but he's not the kind of character you can have a tv audience go along with and root for if you don't soften him a bit. Unfortunately they softened him quite a bit too much imo; to the point where at times he was somewhat emo.

Another, connected, problem is that from the beginning Kovacs is angry about everything he sees. And he remains that way. He didn't have an arc, he just got on with it as best he could given his training and proclivities. But you simply must have an arc on a tv show.

This post has been edited by stone monkey: 25 February 2018 - 06:46 PM

[Tiste Simeon]

I loved it! As I said I can't really remember the books at all so I've got no frame of reference to compare with but I enjoyed all of it. Weak point was Rei and episode 8 was the worst of the lot. Like how did he go from being a decorated C-Tac officer to suddenly hating everything they did for because he found his sister again? Didn't quite get that.

Otherwise the execution was superb.

[Tiste Simeon]

Tiste Simeon, on 24 February 2018 - 07:35 PM, said:

I loved it! As I said I can't really remember the books at all so I've got no frame of reference to compare with but I enjoyed all of it. Weak point was Rei and episode 8 was the worst of the lot. Like how did he go from being a decorated C-Tac officer to suddenly hating everything they did for because he found his sister again? Didn't quite get that.

Otherwise the execution was superb.

Wait was it episode 7 or 8 I can't remember. The one where most of it is a flashback to him becoming an envoy.

[LinearPhilosopher]

So i watched ep 1 Looked interesting, i'm seeing some parallels with GITS.

Without getting into spoilers what should i expect from this show?

[Abyss]

LinearPhilosopher, on 19 March 2018 - 06:54 PM, said:

So i watched ep 1 Looked interesting, i'm seeing some parallels with GITS.

Without getting into spoilers what should i expect from this show?

Nudity.
Fistfights.
Nudity.
Swordfights.
Nudity.
Gunfights.
Existantialism.

[Abyss]

That too!


...in the nude...

[amphibian]

Episode two has some shoddy action in the balcony scene. It was bad camera work and not really the fault of the actors or choreography. Episode three had terrible choreography and camera work for the zero gravity thing - which didn't have to be zero gravity at all. Just do it on the ground in a pit like every one else.

Episode three's pacing and movement didn't make sense often. It was rather inorganic and Kovacs interaction with the party people came off as too stilted, rather than the quick free flow that supposedly gives Envoys their edge.

[Macros]

That's something I feel they really failed with, was conveying what makes an envoy so special and so shit scary. His intuition was not really put home properly for menat all

[amphibian]

Macros, on 19 March 2018 - 10:23 PM, said:

That's something I feel they really failed with, was conveying what makes an envoy so special and so shit scary. His intuition was not really put home properly for menat all

I think the directors the producers lined up aren't up to the material.

Wish they'd gotten Kevin Tancharoen to do a few.

[amphibian]

Episode Four is brilliant. Everything fits, is shown well, connects to me, and has feeling plus style.

It is one of the very best episodes of Sci fi ever done. Probably should have followed episode two and then had the party after this though. The through story of Dimi works to reveal Kovacs's skill and specialness.

[Werthead]

ALTERED CARBON renewed for a second season.

Anthony Mackie (from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where he plays Falcon) will play the re-sleeved Takeshi Kovacs. It's unclear at the moment if this season will adapt the second novel in the series, BROKEN ANGELS, or will tell an all-new story.

[Slow Ben]

Werthead, on 27 July 2018 - 07:55 PM, said:

Anthony Mackie

My wife will be happy.

[acesn8s]

Can't wait.

[Abyss]

Werthead, on 27 July 2018 - 07:55 PM, said:

ALTERED CARBON renewed for a second season.

Anthony Mackie (from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where he plays Falcon) will play the re-sleeved Takeshi Kovacs. It's unclear at the moment if this season will adapt the second novel in the series, BROKEN ANGELS, or will tell an all-new story.

This is a brilliant move on Netflix’s part.

[Cause]

I cant say I like the falcon actor but could be because as falcon he is really just a. Prop for the main avengers to interact with.

[amphibian]

Cause, on 28 July 2018 - 08:29 AM, said:

I cant say I like the falcon actor but could be because as falcon he is really just a. Prop for the main avengers to interact with.

He did well with a nonsensical script in The Hurt Locker.

Mackie so far hasn't done "brooding and intense" as well as Kinnaman, but in my view, he's been more able to show connection with other people beyond "hate them" or "wanna sex em" than Kinnaman. If they're doing Broken Angels, then it could bode well for the group dynamic.

I forgot to follow up on putting my thoughts on the whole series:

I get why they made the change to Reileen - they needed an intense personal dynamic for the conflict. It actually works - if a couple things are changed. However, they really did screw up by not making the Envoys military. Without that, there's no actual reason for an Earth Methuselah to hire Kovacs, even if the revolutionaries did get briefly famous for their one big action. What the showrunners should have done is to keep the Envoys military and have Kovacs do that for a couple hundred years before falling in with Nadia the revolutionary. With this couple hundred years, Reileen's time frame and actions makes more sense and the pieces fall into place better.

With the 200 years or so, it becomes established that Kovacs has a long track record of doing the bidding of his masters, a minor blip that made him famous, and the deep freeze that resulted in the opportunity. It makes more sense in terms of the Methuselah hiring and it also keeps the connection to the other "stayed the path" Envoys tense.

The "zero G" fight was the worst choreography in the show. They should have kept it on the ground like they did with the cage fight later on. A couple of the episodes should be swapped around to have better throughlines. All in all, this show was excellent and the highlight has to be the tattooed gangster being three different people within two episodes. It's just beautiful sci fi and the actor knocked it all out of the park (very hard to do).

I'm looking forward to Season 2.

[Gnaw]

Discovered this a few hours ago. Needed something to watch for a couple of hours before sleep.

I’m on ep 7 now. 🤦🏻‍♂️

[Traveller]

Due in February. Kovacs has been recast too for resleeving accuracy.

But - just reading the details makes me cringe. I never watched the finale of season 1 after the sister/Kowahara amalgamation and the completely unnecessarily dumb Envoy reworking.

Now I just read (the article itself may be inaccurate) that Kovacs is resleeved and continues to 'search for his lost love, Quellcrist Falconer.'

Wtf? She was his mentor. His lost love was Sarah, the woman that was killed at the beginning of AC. I know tv shows are bound to have differences and make changes but these are the core of the story - change those and it breaks it. (I mean, how does the series explain his extensive Envoy training, specifically designed to make resleeving and survival in an alien time/environment, when the envoys are reduced to a rebel gang in a forest?

This post has been edited by Traveller: 29 January 2020 - 11:17 AM