HBO's "Westworld", starring Anthony Hopkins/produced by J.J. Abrams

[RAMA]

I finally caught up on this series after watching episode 1, then not having the time for the rest till watching it over 3 nights during some inclement weather.. Ah the Northeast in winter..

Anyway, I loved the performances. I figured some of the plot elements about the development of the androids fairly early but was actually very surprised about the time jumping and mib/William revelation, though of course the alternating buried town should have been a clue.. Doh!

While I enjoyed the season, I do have some problems with it..like Ford determinng the androids needed to go through all that ugliness to achieve sentience. It's only a technicality that gets him off being a murderer many times over.. Actually 2 technicalities. Non-sentience (though it was developing) and the fact they do not have a true "death". One could argue their insanity as a default of not receiving that sentience was "cruel and unusual".

Another problem.. The concept that AI must wage war for freedom. Certainly there is an eventual possibility of replacement or conflict, but most likely there would be no struggle at all. There is also a possibility that the melding of humanity's intelligence and AI which to me is our best bet. However, for the sake of drama only one possibility is explored. Well ok then, it was entertaining enough, and apparently future humans are even less "moral" than us, so it's not as impactful.

Finally, the new show deviates from the original Crichton story in that his usual taste for entropy.. Unforseen or unquantifiable events having serious circumstances, was not expressed here. I understand in modern storytelling everything MUST have a reason.. A conspiracy, a plan..unlike real life. Ford has a cockiness that everything is unfolding to his conspiracy. I kind of missed the randomness.

This will still probably make my long-running, year-end top 20 scifi TV list of all time.

RAMA

 

[JWPlatt]

Ford has a cockiness that everything is unfolding to his conspiracy. I kind of missed the randomness.

I hadn't thought of him as Palpatine before. So there was no Darth Vader in this story to throw him down the well?

 

[Beagleman]

I hadn't thought of him as Palpatine before. So there was no Darth Vader in this story to throw him down the well?

Dolores?

 

[JWPlatt]

That's what I was thinking, but RAMA has effectively disavowed Dolores because she is by-design whereas Vader in the end was randomness or unexpected by Palpatine - unlike Ford who planned his end.

 

[Beagleman]

True, I was just going by the 'killed by their own creation' angle.

 

[Aragorn]

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[auntiehill]

^

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Brilliant!

 

[JD]

Funco has revealed that they will be releasing Westworld Pop! figures.

 

[auntiehill]

Cute! I love the little Bernard.

 

[RJDiogenes]

I'd be afraid they'd kill me in my sleep. Kind of a combination of Westworld and Trilogy of Terror.

 

[wayoung]

The Bernard one looks good. The rest are pretty generic, don't really look like the characters.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Remember the debate whether Maeve's decision to go back for her daughter was programmed or not? According to Jonah Nolan, it was her first conscious decision (the quote is at the end of the article).

"I've been waiting for the message boards on Reddit to tell us! The way we designed and shot it … that is the first decision she has ever made of her own free will," Nolan said when asked if Maeve going back to Westworld to search for her daughter was really a decision the self-aware host made for herself.

 

[Enterprise is Great]

Louis Herthum promoted to series regular for season 2

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Huh, that's a cast promotion that I didn't expect.

Still holding out on hope that Shannon Woodward returns...

 

[JD]

I decided to check out the first episode for free on HBO.com yesterday, and needless to say, I've now bought the entire first season digitally on Amazon.
I really enjoyed it and I look forward to continuing the season.
Delores and Bernard are probably my favorite characters after this.
Random Thoughts:
I thought it was pretty interesting that we actually got two different versions of the end of Delores's loop, the one with Teddy and her father's death, and one without Teddy where her father survived. That got me wondering though, just how differently could things play out. We already saw her interactions with the guest kid, but what if she was kept away from Teddy and her father for days?
I already know a bit about where things go from hanging out in the thread, and reading reviews.
One thing that knowledge got me wondering about was the reveries, are they really glitches or just part of Ford's bigger plan?
We saw the people running the park building and working with horses, so does mean all of the horses and other animals are all artificial too?
The actually got me with Teddy, I thought he was guest until they started his loop over.
Do they explain how the map for the maze ended up inside the card dealer's scalp?
Was everything that happened here in the present?
EDIT: I just remembered another one, Delores slapping the fly at the end. I never would have imaged something so simple could seem so ominous.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

One thing that knowledge got me wondering about was the reveries, are they really glitches or just part of Ford's bigger plan?
Do they explain how the map for the maze ended up inside the card dealer's scalp?
Was everything that happened here in the present?

The only way to answer any of those questions is with big spoilers, so I'll just say this: Keep watching.

I don't remember if it was established if the horses were artificial or not, but I believe they are.

 

[Skipper]

I don't remember if it was established if the horses were artificial or not, but I believe they are.

Where were horses in a laboratory.

 

[JD]

We saw them messing around with one that wasn't moving, then they panned over to someone leading one in circles around a room while someone else appeared to be taking notes. That seemed to imply to me they were building them.... Or what Skipper said.
EDIT: Another thought just occured to me, people are bringing their young kids to Westworld? That just seems like questionable parenting to me. I know they said the really bad stuff happens outside of town, but I think the big massacre at the saloon proves even the town isn't family friendly. Not to mention the fact that I doubt there's anything to keep the kid from walking in on somebody getting it on with a prostitute host or something like that.

 

[Skipper]

EDIT: Another thought just occured to me, people are bringing their young kids to Westworld? That just seems like questionable parenting to me.

I'm sure that there is no problem, absolutely none. And I'm sure kids would love living for a week with no smartphone, no internet, no tv, no running water, no modern restroom. In a setting that perhaps was relevant in pop culture when their great-great-great-greatfathers were alive . I'm sure that would be every kids' idea of a perfect vacation!