Support NeoGAF

[More_Badass]

I'm quite certain there's much, much more to Dr. Ford. He may have presented it as you described, but I think he knows more about the situation then he lets on, or even is deliberately involved. After all, he is the direct source of the aberrant behavior.

You have to remember that they were being observed by others. To make that statement would cause the whole operation to be in jeopardy. If Anthony or Felix are planning a secret robot revolution, it wouldn't be wise to tip off anyone that it is happening.

Not only that, but it's also the Jurassic Park mindset. This is just a malfunctioning animatronic in a long line of animatronics that have been around for 30 years. Glitches are probably normal, especially after an update (and especially when your eccentric genius creator added stuff to that update). You just dump the broken one and replace it with a different equally disposable model. They're not seeing sentient AI; they're seeing a broken machine

They won't realize their hubris and mistakes until it's too late

 

[Lonestar]

This was really good. Jonah and Ramin continuing their good work.

I know he probably won't have a big role in this (maybe he'll have more in Walking Dead), but nice to see Stephen Ogg (Trevor GTAV) in stuff.

 

[Dalek]

By the way that shot of Evan Rachel Wood waking up is amazing. She's gorgeous.

 

[Brakke]

Really wasn't feeling it. It's playing way too precious with a premise that (obviously) isn't novel at all. I hope it picks up momentum quick.

I did like the Ed Harris stuff. But even then, that's weirdly an entirely different show than the rest of it.

 

[dead souls]

Well, that wasn't the show where HBO gets its drama mojo back. It's exactly what I expected--all the budget in the world can't overcome a dull, plodding and obvious script.

 

[golem]

Anyone enhance the audio yet to hear what Jeffery Wright said to the dad bot?

 

[dead souls]

Anyone enhance the audio yet to hear what Jeffery Wright said to the dad bot?

"I'm a great actor, so why am I always wasted on middling HBO shows?"

 

[Discotheque]

I was a little peeved by the creators' response to the father's revenge speech. "Holy shit, we created a sentient AI that just told us it hates our abuse" feels a lot more believable in the context of this universe than "meh, it was just quoting an old, old, old programming script or something. Don't worry about it. The other upgraded androids should be fine."

I immediately read that as Hopkins throwing out an excuse to appease the observers. No way is he that naive. Him and maybe Narcisse (don't know the characters name in here sorry lol) are certainly aware of the robots awakening. In fact I get the sense that he wants to see this too. In his technological curiosity.

Pilot was so good God damn. I loved it. And bless up to the cast too. It's good to see Ed Harris and Hopkins again particularly

 

[Corpekata]

The Gunslinger as some sort of sadistic meta-gamer is an inspired touch.

I'm not sure how long I can see this show lasting with so much of the cast being robots really. We'll see I guess.

 

[Socreges]

Some people already claiming plotholes, etc. Just let the show reveal itself to us. They've written it as a show that lasts minimum 11 hours, and likely for seasons beyond this one. Allow a little mystery for now

"I'm a great actor, so why am I always wasted on middling HBO shows?"

Didn't take you long

 

[Discotheque]

>>> person of interest pilot as well. Nolan upped his game and got a better channel and other variables to work with. Hope the rest of the season is as cool as this was

 

[More_Badass]

The Gunslinger as some sort of sadistic meta-gamer is an inspired touch.

I'm not sure how long I can see this show lasting with so much of the cast being robots really. We'll see I guess.

He may seem sadistic to us, but I don't think he's doing what he's doing because of sadism or enjoyment.

 

[WhiteRabbitEXE]

It's good to see Ed Harris and Hopkins again particularly

If more Hopkins is what you want, FilmGAF unanimously recommends 2013's Thor: The Dark World.

 

[Beer Monkey]

They won't realize their hubris and mistakes until it's too late

Shit could totally go all grey goo at the end. Maybe it won't just be the rich that get eaten, maybe it will be all human life.

If more Hopkins is what you want, FilmGAF unanimously recommends 2013's Thor: The Dark World.

What poll did you read?

 

[Discotheque]

Ah shit. Shoulda added an asterisk "in something good again" for Hopkins sake. Dude's been in a lot of trash in the last few years

 

[vinnygambini]

I'll give it another episode. It's a visual pleasure, but it felt overly long for nothing.

 

[golem]

He may seem sadistic to us, but I don't think he's dong what he's doing because of sadism or enjoyment.

Yep there definitely is purpose to his actions. It could be that he knows their previous memories are not always cleanly wiped and is trying to imprint memories/events in their so-called subconscious for future effect.

 

[johnsmith]

More random nitpicking -

Having a physical world like this seems so pointless. At this level of technological advancement a VR/holodeck type system would be feasible and have so many advantages. It'd be cheaper to run, no repairs and cleanup.

And you wouldn't need to have multiple guests in the same scenario. Because let's be honest, every group of guests would have some jerks whose sole goal would be to try to kill everybody in the world, kind of like how people will WRPGs and try to kill all the NPCs.

 

[duckroll]

Ah shit. Shoulda added an asterisk "in something good again" for Hopkins sake. Dude's been in a lot of trash in the last few years

- Thor 2 The Dark World

 

[-Plasma Reus-]

My kind of show.

It's obvious Hopkins is okay with them gaining sentience. He is secretly thrilled as a creator.

 

[TTG]

I'll definitely keep watching, but this episode was all premise and it's unfortunate(and ironic considering) that this has been done beat for beat before. Maybe it's just my luck stumbling on Vice not too long ago. That one had Bruce Willis playing Anthony Hopkins' role of all people. Anyway, a couple of things I thought they did really well:

-Acting. Ol' prairie dad quoting Shakespeare at the end especially. We'll see how well the characters turn out, but the performances were great.

-What they left out. From the surrounding "real" world down to minor characters, they all leave you wondering. The employee that kissed the prostitute host, how is she going to be put in play?

The thing looming over this show is eventually they're going to have to explain how it is that such breakthrough tech and resources are being used for a theme park of all things, there are a lot of potential pitfalls in that scene.

EDIT: Anyone find it odd that the opening episode had no guest to guest interaction that wasn't between people that signed up as a group?

 

[Corpekata]

He may seem sadistic to us, but I don't think he's dong what he's doing because of sadism or enjoyment.

I dunno, he sure laughs at for instance, the dealer struggling to get away. The "rape" could be excused as him trying to fuck with his audience of hosts around him, but his entire interaction with the dealer is needlessly cruel for what he needs. Like why drain the blood or fuck with him? It's not like anything he says gives him a clue to scalp him, he just does it because he already seemed to have know what he needed.

 

[Ferrio]

My kind of show.

It's obvious Hopkins is okay with them gaining sentience. He is secretly thrilled as a creator.

Ya his "mistake" was totally on purpose.

The thing looming over this show is eventually they're going to have to explain how it is that such breakthrough tech and resources are being used for a theme park of all things, there are a lot of potential pitfalls in that scene.

Didn't they already touch up on this? Basically it sounds like there's bigger goals beyond the theme park. I'm going to guess military applications or something.

 

[More_Badass]

More random nitpicking -

Having a physical world like this seems so pointless. At this level of technological advancement a VR/holodeck type system would be feasible and have so many advantages. It'd be cheaper to run, no repairs and cleanup.

And you wouldn't need to have multiple guests in the same scenario. Because let's be honest, every group of guests would have some jerks whose sole goal would be to try to kill everybody in the world, kind of like how people will WRPGs and try to kill all the NPCs.

I don't think so. The fact that it's tangible and there are physical limits and guidance works to limit that kind of behavior. Plus there's a big monetary investment so you'll want to justify it by making the most of the experience and not going off-script.

Plus physical vs VR opens the door for sentient AI uprising and gives the machines a sense of self. Digital avatars just wouldn't have the same impact

 

[Beer Monkey]

Ah shit. Shoulda added an asterisk "in something good again" for Hopkins sake. Dude's been in a lot of trash in the last few years

That's called "pulling a DeNiro".

 

[golem]

Like why drain the blood or fuck with him? It's not like anything he says gives him a clue to scalp him, he just does it because he already seemed to have know what he needed.

My guess is the more traumatic the experience, the more likely it is to be retained. I'm thinking in the future the repaired dealer will remember this and then remember the map is inside of his scalp

That doesn't necessarily mean he isnt a sociopath however

 

[TTG]

Didn't they already touch up on this? Basically it sounds like there's bigger goals beyond the theme park. I'm going to guess military applications or something.

But then why figure paying guests in at all? The lady(she seemed like some sort of quality control and/or on the legal side) implied that it's a facade for something else, which would then mean they're hiding what it is from the government, the public, or both. That brings me back to my original point, it's going to be hard to explain in a credible way. Obvious path would be some sort of Assassin's Creed Abstergo-esque corporation, I hope there's more to it than that.

 

[WhiteRabbitEXE]

They won't realize their hubris and mistakes until it's too late

You. And I think the fates of John Hammond and Robert Doniger in the Jurassic Park and Timeline novels respectively (both are vaguely analogous to Dr. Ford in their own ways) are perhaps worth bringing up. Hubris is never without significant punishment in Crichton stories.

 

[liquidtmd]

That's called "pulling a DeNiro".

Bruce Willis has been DeNiro'ing with a Vengeance for many years.

 

[sans_pants]

But then why figure paying guests in at all? The lady(she seemed like some sort of quality control and/or on the legal side) implied that it's a facade for something else, which would then mean they're hiding what it is from the government, the public, or both. That brings me back to my original point, it's going to be hard to explain in a credible way. Obvious path would be some sort of Assassin's Creed Abstergo-esque corporation, I hope there's more to it than that.

they pay big money to go. it funds the research

 

[Robot Pants]

I'm just not a fan of Johnathon Nolan directing I think. Some of these shots and framing are very noticable and not in a good way. Made the show almost look low budget in quite a few places.

 

[Razgriz-Specter]

When the tech kissed the hooker it kinda had me wondering something weird,
I wondered if someone would actually pay to be a saloon girl.

 

[golem]

But then why figure paying guests in at all? The lady(she seemed like some sort of quality control and/or on the legal side) implied that it's a facade for something else, which would then mean they're hiding what it is from the government, the public, or both. That brings me back to my original point, it's going to be hard to explain in a credible way. Obvious path would be some sort of Assassin's Creed Abstergo-esque corporation, I hope there's more to it than that.

Lots of reasons. The guests could just be functioning as beta testers kickstarting a project. Or something such as Anthony Hopkins inventing the technology and establishing the theme park for entertainment purposes then getting bought out by a larger corporation that wants to militarize the technology. This in turn leads Hopkins to wish to free the robots by proving they are capable of sentience

 

[Beer Monkey]

When the tech kissed the hooker it kinda gave me a weird question,
I wondered if someone would actually pay to be a saloon girl.

Ever go to a Renaissance festival?

 

[More_Badass]

Just saw that Neil Marshall, Vincenzo Natali, and Michelle MacLaren directed episodes this season. And Brubaker was a writer on the Natali episode

 

[WhiteRabbitEXE]

But then why figure paying guests in at all? The lady(she seemed like some sort of quality control and/or on the legal side) implied that it's a facade for something else, which would then mean they're hiding what it is from the government, the public, or both. That brings me back to my original point, it's going to be hard to explain in a credible way. Obvious path would be some sort of Assassin's Creed Abstergo-esque corporation, I hope there's more to it than that.

they pay big money to go. it funds the research

Depending on whatever the end-game applications are, there's also large scale data-collection. 30+ years of data, both for research into iterating and advancing the technology, and also data for the artificial intelligences to build and learn from (we know that while they're being wiped they retain some information and this information is increasingly informing the behavior patterns, particularly through Ford's alterations). Hell, there's a shit-ton of data into the behavior of actual human beings to be mined from this all as well.

And of course beyond funding and data, it's likely helpful for the company to be very well known for providing a specific product, for many reasons. Particularly if they may be doing something a bit more questionable. Perhaps shadier applications are easier to hide when everyone thinks of the creators as some sort of modern Disney corporation just offering a product with a bit more bite. It could also be a very large scale proof of concept for a potential client. "Look how well we manage this in a decades old application with thousands of customers with almost no major incidents! Now continue funding us for your project please."

 

[Ampersands]

Great premiere. It was mostly set-up but I find it engrossing. Didn't like the British guy. I did have one question though. What stops the other newcomers from killing each other? I'm sure we'll find out in the upcoming episodes that shows how they get to Westworld in the first place but there's really nothing stopping someone from killing because intervening would be against the bots' directives.

 

[Beer Monkey]

And Brubaker was a writer on the Natali episode

It's kind of mindblowing to me that I was buying Lowlife twenty-one years ago after watching for two decades how far his career has gone. There were so many autobiographical comics back then, Lowlife didn't seem that noteworthy to me at the time.

 

[TTG]

they pay big money to go. it funds the research

Then they're not in concert with the military.

Lots of reasons. The guests could just be functioning as beta testers kickstarting a project. Or something such as Anthony Hopkins inventing the technology and establishing the theme park for entertainment purposes then getting bought out by a larger corporation that wants to militarize the technology. This in turn leads Hopkins to wish to free the robots by proving they are capable of sentience

Oh, Hopkins is like 80/20 a rogue agent, or at least a cook, but I don't know about the rest.

 

[WhiteRabbitEXE]

Great premiere. It was mostly set-up but I find it engrossing. Didn't like the British guy. I did have one question though. What stops the other newcomers from killing each other? I'm sure we'll find out in the upcoming episodes that shows how they get to Westworld in the first place but there's really nothing stopping someone from killing because intervening would be against the bots' directives.

I would assume like, the law?

 

[Discotheque]

I would assume like, the law?

That and also maybe the guns are special made to only be able to be fired against the machines

Sounds complicated but look at the tech we're seeing in this episode anyways lol

 

[WhiteRabbitEXE]

That and also maybe the guns are special made to only be able to be fired against the machines

Sounds complicated but look at the tech we're seeing in this episode anyways lol

EW said that's pretty much exactly the case. The guns sense what their targets are and load ammunition accordingly, with nonlethal ammunition being used for living targets. Granted, other methods of human-human killing would work just fine.

 

[duckroll]

Just saw that Neil Marshall, Vincenzo Natali, and Michelle MacLaren directed episodes this season. And Brubaker was a writer on the Natali episode

Wow Brubaker actually wrote an episode? I thought he just consulted. Cool!

 

[Cipherr]

DAMN this was great. The acting from the dad... Wow.

 

[Discotheque]

DAMN this was great. The acting from the dad... Wow.

Yeah the dad stole the pilot for me. Chilling monologue at the end.

There's a lot of creepy scenes in here actually. Any time they made the robots freeze just looked freaky haha. And the dude with the milk pouring it over the dead cowboy.

 

[Razgriz-Specter]

Ever go to a Renaissance festival?

Nope, sadly not.

 

[NotTheGuyYouKill]

Peter's "meet my maker" monologue at the end was the standout scene in a standout pilot. Amazing. I hope the actor comes back. I'm so in. This show hits all the right buttons for me, just like Nolan's previous show, Person of Interest.

 

[More_Badass]

Peter's "meet my maker" monologue at the end was the standout scene in a standout pilot. Amazing. I hope the actor comes back. I'm so in. This show hits all the right buttons for me, just like Nolan's previous show, Person of Interest.

"I shall have such revenges on you...both"
So good

 

[WhiteRabbitEXE]

Peter's "meet my maker" monologue at the end was the standout scene in a standout pilot. Amazing. I hope the actor comes back. I'm so in. This show hits all the right buttons for me, just like Nolan's previous show, Person of Interest.

"I shall have such revenges on you...both"
So good

It seems Jon Nolan shows are good sources of unsettling threat monologues. (significant Person of Interest final season spoilers)

 

[m4st4]

This was fantastic. Fully expecting five seasons and a movie now. Set in different simulations and eventually our own reality.