Altered Carbon - a new Cyberpunk series from Netflix

[Ttaskmaster]

NSFW,but looks very costly for a small billboard!!

It's all over the internet, isn't it?
It only need the one billboard, shared across all social media...

[TheAnimus]

Did you see Dollhouse? Another slow starting show that I thought just got awesome. Don't think it is on Netflix any more though

Ah another cancelled Whedon project.

[Ttaskmaster]

OK, finally got around to watching it.
Yep... pretty good.... not bad.....


I liked the way it actually felt like it was based on a book as it added a real air of refinement to it, even the blatant 'sequel-seeking with any actor we can get' ending.

My main concern with futurey stuff is when they have Magic Sonic Screwdriver technology that fixes everything, like some Swiss Army Deus Ex Machina. They had some of that here but not too much, although the plot does kinda hinge around it a bit... but it is sci-fi, which is supposed to be mainly about technology and its impact on society.

Violence, meh. Barely noticed it, beyond the large amount of unnecessary martial arts moves that everyone in movies is so highly trained in. Cop girls especially seem to get taught lots of high kicks and spinning leg sweeps...
Nudity... Again, not necessary to show any of it, but neither am I complaining... mainly because Martha Higareda was awesome in everything she did.

Would happily watch Season 2.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I just think people have gotten desensitised due to GOT. I don't consider a major character walking around with a severed head not noticeable and everyone I know in the RL thinks it's excessive.

Then the scene where a women is cut up and her internal organs are removed one by one? Really??

It's the same thing which made the Ghost on the Shell film so poor and SAC much better. If they spent less money on SFX and trying to shock people they could have put much more into the story. It suffers from modern interpretations of cyberpunk trying to imitate the matrix, sadly.

[cptwhite_uk]

Sac?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Sac?

Standalone Complex - despite the obvious fan service in places is a far better Cyberpunk series. It even explains the whole body swapping thing in a better way.

Also even the violence in the series is on the context of the main characters being part of a counter terrorism group.

Altered Carbon is fun but in an OTT disposable way but seems more closer to something like the matrix or dare I say a computer game. But it's not what i would consider a deep experience which I expect from Cyberpunk.

It also for some reason gives me slight vibes of The100.

[cptwhite_uk]

Yeah I've never watched that, thanks for the reminding me

[Ttaskmaster]

I just think people have gotten desensitised due to GOT.

Been desensitised to all that ever since horror films in the 80s, mate...

I don't consider a major character walking around with a severed head not noticeable and everyone I know in the RL thinks it's excessive.

Passers-by would probably just think it was fake, especially in a world like this...

Then the scene where a women is cut up and her internal organs are removed one by one? Really??

Have you not seen things like Dexter?
The Wei Clinic is simply harvesting them as, I assume, organ donation is no longer optional in the future? ISTR a proposal that one would have to opt out of donation, rather than opting in and carrying a donor card as we currently do? If so, not too far off the mark there, then.
Also smacks of corporate interference and more fingers in pies, which is a classic cyberpunk theme.

It suffers from modern interpretations of cyberpunk trying to imitate the matrix, sadly.

Isn't that what will appeal to a wider audience, though?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Yeah I've never watched that, thanks for the reminding me

It's really worth watching. There are standalone episodes and complex ones which are part of the arc,hence the name. Another cyberpunk anime worth watching is Ergo Proxy which deals with existentialism(also the creator apparently likes Evanescence if you look not too carefully) and has a rather interesting way if conveying it's story,but is very slow.

[DanceswithUnix]

Nudity... Again, not necessary to show any of it, but neither am I complaining...

I was expecting to hear people ask if the drug enhanced sex scenes were really necessary to the plot, which in the book they are. I'm guessing for the screen they made the story a whole lot less steamy.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Been desensitised to all that ever since horror films in the 80s, mate...


Passers-by would probably just think it was fake, especially in a world like this...


Have you not seen things like Dexter?
The Wei Clinic is simply harvesting them as, I assume, organ donation is no longer optional in the future? ISTR a proposal that one would have to opt out of donation, rather than opting in and carrying a donor card as we currently do? If so, not too far off the mark there, then.
Also smacks of corporate interference and more fingers in pies, which is a classic cyberpunk theme.


Isn't that what will appeal to a wider audience, though?

But that's the thing it spends all the money on trying to hide a distinct lack of story. I don't criticise The Expanse or Westworld as the violence or nudity seems to be used in a way which feels natural to the story.

The book also suffers from being made after The Matrix so is basically just shows how much the author has been influenced by it. Since it needs to rely on sex and violence to convey a point then it's already failed before it started.

Its all kind of funny when if people really want nudity they can go onto pornhub.

I am a huge fan of the Cyberpunk genre and this is like eating meal that looks nice and flashy but has no substance or nutritional value,or does not even taste that special.

[Ttaskmaster]

I don't criticise The Expanse or Westworld as the violence or nudity seems to be used in a way which feels natural to the story.

You can still imply and even feature most of it without having to actually show it, though...

The book also suffers from being made after The Matrix so is basically just shows how much the author has been influenced by it.

No more than how anything made after 1977 will get compared to Star Wars, though...

Since it needs to rely on sex and violence to convey a point then it's already failed before it started.

That is part of the point, though, isn't it? That technology has advanced to the point where sex, violence and especially sexual violence are perceived quite differently?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

You can still imply and even feature most of it without having to actually show it, though...


No more than how anything made after 1977 will get compared to Star Wars, though...


That is part of the point, though, isn't it? That technology has advanced to the point where sex, violence and especially sexual violence are perceived quite differently?

Which still does not need graphic nudity or violence. You compared it to a film which had classification.

Look at photography - erotic pictures don't need full frontal nudity to convey the sexual aspect of things. Some of the scariest films or books don't need graphic violence to convey that the world is horrible and scary. It requires people to think instead of it being served on a plate to them - basically no thought process required. At least the Arnie films used the violence to comic effect.

Did shows like Firefly require all of this - nope. Yet it was a bleak and terrible world.

Does Star Wars need it to convey the oppression and excesses of the Empire?

Did Blade runner need severed heads and people running around starkers to convey it's dystopian themes?

It would not matter so much if the story was better - it really is average and other stories have conveyed body swapping,etc far better even down to the physical dissonance which happens down to it.

If you ever watch Idiocracy you can see how it takes the mick out of how modern TV shows are trying to one up each other on the violence,etc.

Even many reviewers commented on how the series looked awesome but the story was a jumble.

It's the same issue the GITS film had - all looks and coolness but the story was underbaked and this is the issue with too many TV/film interpretations of Cyberpunk - people think it's about a cool looking world with lots of neon clad stripper's and people's heads exploding all the tome. None of it is required for a good Cyberpunk story especially when it's used for padding it!

I will see how season 2 goes - if it keeps going the lowest common denominator way the current season goes,or goes the angst ridden The100 way I feel it will also go,I think it's another HBO series I will be ignoring. It's a shame when great series like Dirt Gentley's Hollistic Detective Agency gets cancelled even though it probably cost a fraction of this one.

Edit

Also aspects of the way the clones are made and stored make no sense at all.

[Ttaskmaster]

Which still does not need graphic nudity or violence.

I never said it did. In fact, I did say showing them was unnecessary, concurrent with my assertions made before seeing it.
However, since that is a main theme in the plot, it still relies on them being featured.

You compared it to a film which had classification.

??
So you can compare a novel to a film, but I can't compare anything to a film if that film has a classification?
Not sure you got the point there... Comparing anything to The Matrix (like it was an especially good film in the first place) is as much of a pointless exercise as comparing anything 'sci-fi' or 'set in space' to Star Wars... and just because a few dumb newspapers do it, doesn't mean it's right.

It would not matter so much if the story was better - it really is average and other stories have conveyed body swapping,etc far better even down to the physical dissonance which happens down to it.

Was that even supposed to be a theme?

I thought it was more about the perception of life once 'immortality' technology becomes an effective option for people...

If you ever watch Idiocracy you can see how it takes the mick out of how modern TV shows are trying to one up each other on the violence,etc.

I didn't find this one especially graphic on either count, though. Plenty more out there being far more graphic and even occasionally within justifiable context, although you've already said you haven't sen any of the examples I'd proffer.

Even many reviewers commented on how the series looked awesome but the story was a jumble.

Can't see the confusion, myself. What's this jumble, then?

It's the same issue the GITS film had - all looks and coolness but the story was underbaked and this is the issue with too many TV/film interpretations of Cyberpunk - people think it's about a cool looking world with lots of neon clad stripper's and people's heads exploding all the tome.

Ah, so we're down to personal definition of exactly what is proper Cyberpunk?
OK, question for you - Is AC a Cyberpunk tale or a Tech-Noir one?

Remember also that these are mainstream films and TV shows, so must sell to a mainstream audience too. Anime (seemingly the only thing anyone gives any credence to, which is a shame as I hate the style) is still very niche and regarded as the domain of teenage geeks, or men who still live in their parents' basements.
Even proper Sci-Fi is still a bit too niche for mainstream TV audiences.

Also aspects of the way the clones are made and stored make no sense at all.

Do tell....... Last I heard it was alien technology anyways, so make up anything you want.

[Smudger]

I'm up to ep8 after a bit of a binge over the weekend. I'm enjoying it. The nudity and violence don't seem to be overdone, just fitting with the kind of world that is being portrayed. Would have been watching the final 2 eps tonight, but MiL is over, the wife doesn't really want to be watching this with her mum...

[Jonj1611]

Started watching it last night. Police cars and umbrella's are quite blade runner but so far so good.