26

Re: Murderbot [Drama, Action, Sci-Fi]

Murderbot is fun, I like it, I get 'Lost in Space' and 'The Orville' vibes especially when Murderbot watches fake TV shows, but the eps are way too short; if this were a procedural, 20 minutes is fine, but it's a serialized dramedy; the story just gets started when it ends.

Wait and binge.

27

Re: Murderbot [Drama, Action, Sci-Fi]

I am enjoying this too.  Never read the books, but I may just do.

I like the snide commentary too.

DRM "manages access" in the same way that Prison "manages freedom".
http://xkcd.com/488/

28

Re: Murderbot [Drama, Action, Sci-Fi]

From a 'didn't read the books' watcher that learned something:

I learned the audio books version of the novella (not novel, novella) this season is based on is only 3 hrs.
Getting 5 hours of TV show out of a 3 hour short story really isn't bad when put in that context.

I'll probably finish watching episode by episode.  Then rewatch in like... two nights as two long movies... just to get a different feel for it once I'm not learning along the way.

29

Re: Murderbot [Drama, Action, Sci-Fi]

s01e04

Spoiler

I think its cute/fun/cool to see snippets of the show-within-the-show (Sanctuary moon) but...
It really needs to not be 50% of the 22 minutes of content of an episode.

30

Re: Murderbot [Drama, Action, Sci-Fi]

I agree.

I like the show, but it's not much content after waiting for a week...

31

Re: Murderbot [Drama, Action, Sci-Fi]

I love the books. Absolute classic of quirk. The Syfy version of Carl Hiaasen. Hope the series comes even close

32

Re: Murderbot [Drama, Action, Sci-Fi]

Yeah, too little happening for an Episode. But still enjoyed 1x04.

At least this show has 10 Episodes which is still not many, but with all the 6-8 Episode Seasons we get lately, it's at least a little bit better... smile

Shows that deserved more runtime:
Abbys | Dead Like Me | Devs | Firefly | Gangsta. | Jack of all Trades | Kevin (probably) saves the World | Lodge 49 | Mrs. Davis | NYC 22 | Powerless | Roadkill | Special Unit 2 | Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi | Stumptown | Surface | The Brave | The Company You Keep | The Crazy Ones | The Finder | The Middleman | Truth Seekers | Two Weeks to Live | Whiskey Cavalier

33

Re: Murderbot [Drama, Action, Sci-Fi]

Finally a good show!

I also hadn't read the books. By the end of episode 4 I was dying to know what happened. So I downloaded the first 2 books and read them last night in less than an hour.

Calling it a book is a bit of a stetch. It was basically a short story compared to what I'm used to reading. It was good. I've certainly read better though. It could have been fleshed out much more than it is, but if my chief complaint about the books are their length,  that is an endorsement because it's a sign I want more.

I think Eric from Trueblood is actually a fantastic choice for the role of Murderbot. I found him to be a little wooden, and lacking expression in Trueblood, but those are good things when playing a bioandroid. The one thing I thought he did well in Trueblood is expressing quiet exasperation, which is basically Murder Murderbots default state.

I don't get why a few people said things were changed from the books. There wasn't a lot to change because there wasn't a lot of book in the first place. If you've read my rants on The Wheel of Time thread you'll know I hate deviation from source material for the most part. Most of the changes have been the show filling in gaps in the books, which is weird for me because usually books are far more detailed than their corresponding TV shows. Honestly the fact that the books are so short and lacking in detail lends itself to being made to TV quite well.

Spoiler

so far the changes as I've seen them are very minor to the overall plot. Most of the changes center on the science team. The show gives them personality the books didn't,  due to the books shortness. It made the couple lesbian, which whatever,  and plays up them being a hippie commune.

They added scenes that didnt happen in the books. Him disabling his governor for example wasn't really shown until book 2. The scene where they showed them buying him over the upgraded model also wasn't in the books. They also added to the show the bit where they interact with the alien tech, which i thought was actually a really good change, cause alien tech gets barely an offhand mention and no interaction in the book. Other than that... the show is identical to the book. Which is a very good thing.

Despite my criticism of the books being too short, I am looking forward to burning through the rest of them in probably less than 2 to 3 hours this afternoon. The story is compelling and the main character is interesting.

I will say this though. Murderbot is more Murder autistic, his personality and mannerisms are so obviously allegorical to autism that I feel like the author is putting up neon signs at this point. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but yeah it's definitely a theme.

34

Re: Murderbot [Drama, Action, Sci-Fi]

xxFelixDCatxx wrote:

Finally a good show!

I also hadn't read the books. By the end of episode 4 I was dying to know what happened. So I downloaded the first 2 books and read them last night in less than an hour.

Calling it a book is a bit of a stetch. It was basically a short story compared to what I'm used to reading. It was good. I've certainly read better though. It could have been fleshed out much more than it is, but if my chief complaint about the books are their length,  that is an endorsement because it's a sign I want more.

They are novellas, which are longer than a short story but shorter than a novel. But only the first four in the series are novellas and they basically go together as a novel, as a plot involving the science team runs throughout and concludes on the 4th. So yeah, it's a novel split into four parts, really. I read them together as though they were a novel and things flow together more coherently that way - I honestly don't understand why she published them separately (kind of like with Stephen King and The Green Mile - weird choice to just do sections). After the novellas there are some actual novels which aren't as good IMO, but still decent.

35

Re: Murderbot [Drama, Action, Sci-Fi]

liandera wrote:
xxFelixDCatxx wrote:

Finally a good show!

I also hadn't read the books. By the end of episode 4 I was dying to know what happened. So I downloaded the first 2 books and read them last night in less than an hour.

Calling it a book is a bit of a stetch. It was basically a short story compared to what I'm used to reading. It was good. I've certainly read better though. It could have been fleshed out much more than it is, but if my chief complaint about the books are their length,  that is an endorsement because it's a sign I want more.

They are novellas, which are longer than a short story but shorter than a novel. But only the first four in the series are novellas and they basically go together as a novel, as a plot involving the science team runs throughout and concludes on the 4th. So yeah, it's a novel split into four parts, really. I read them together as though they were a novel and things flow together more coherently that way - I honestly don't understand why she published them separately (kind of like with Stephen King and The Green Mile - weird choice to just do sections). After the novellas there are some actual novels which aren't as good IMO, but still decent.

They've been fairly independent stories though with a common thread of the science team and the original 'book' connecting them. I don't think they would have combined well, personally, but I'm only a few chapters into the third so far. I think they would have been better if they'd been fleshed out into full novels personally.

Sad to hear about the drop off in quality once we get into the full books though, but I'll reserve my opinion until I get to them.

36

Re: Murderbot [Drama, Action, Sci-Fi]

I thought I'd check this out last night and binged 3 episodes last night and watched the 4th ep just now. I'm enjoying it but I'm not sure I will enjoy only 26 minutes of episode that I have to wait a whole week to watch from here on out.

paisley1 wisely recommended to wait and binge.

37

Re: Murderbot [Drama, Action, Sci-Fi]

xxFelixDCatxx wrote:

I will say this though. Murderbot is more Murder autistic, his personality and mannerisms are so obviously allegorical to autism that I feel like the author is putting up neon signs at this point. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but yeah it's definitely a theme.

Interesting, I didn't get that while watching...

I finally should finish watching https://next-episode.net/love-on-the-spectrum big_smile

38

Re: Murderbot [Drama, Action, Sci-Fi]

lighton wrote:
xxFelixDCatxx wrote:

I will say this though. Murderbot is more Murder autistic, his personality and mannerisms are so obviously allegorical to autism that I feel like the author is putting up neon signs at this point. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but yeah it's definitely a theme.

Interesting, I didn't get that while watching...

I finally should finish watching https://next-episode.net/love-on-the-spectrum big_smile

It may be one of those things in books where you get internal dialogue and thoughts more than TV so it's easier to pick up on... it also may be that it becomes more apparent as things go on. I'll be more careful to use spoiler tags since I've read all the books now, my bad. I rewatched the 4 episodes again, and my thoughts are that he actually is a good actor to portray the character Murderbot is, and that the show so far is doing a great job of staying true to the books with the changes made being overall positive ones.

I really think the first 4 books really make good adaptable material for TV too. Let's hope the show catches on and we get to see it all!