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Sci-fi - Netflix - Altered Carbon
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Anyone watching? Just came on. I'm enjoying so far -- however some of the dialog is hard to understand and I'm using subtitles. (Pretty rare that I need to do that.) I haven't read the book.

I'm only two episodes into it. Anyone else? Please forewarn of spoilers.

________
It doesn't really matter what Phil is saying, the music of his voice is the appropriate soundtrack for a bicycle race. HTupolev
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Re: Sci-fi - Netflix - Altered Carbon [H-] [ In reply to ]
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Horrible. Terrible. Barely made it through the first episode. No interest in going back.

Great concept and I really enjoy Joel Kinnaman. But, this is really poorly done. Poor set up in the first episode. What is the point of putting an Asian into a white guy? Kovacs has been on ice for 250 years and the technology seems to be the same as when he went on ice. Seriously, we had sleeves when he went in and 250 years later, we have the same tech?

What was the point of Ortega apparently being unable to land? What the fuck was the point of the AI hotel? The AI hotel had no visitors for over 50 years, yet it remained open???

If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. - Will Rogers

Emery's Third Coast Triathlon | Tri Wisconsin Triathlon Team | Push Endurance | GLWR
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Re: Sci-fi - Netflix - Altered Carbon [H-] [ In reply to ]
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I haven't watched it, too busy working my way through Babylon Berlin.
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Re: Sci-fi - Netflix - Altered Carbon [H-] [ In reply to ]
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Just found it today, on episode 5 right now (literally right now - it's 1:30am and I've been binge-watching it).

Some interesting concepts, but I agree on the dialogue being hard to hear in a few scenes.

Seems a little reminiscent of Blade Runner.
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Re: Sci-fi - Netflix - Altered Carbon [H-] [ In reply to ]
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I just finished episode 4 and I'm liking it so far.

Pure speculation, so I'm not sure if it might count as a spoiler, but my theory about Bancroft's murder is as follows:

[*** POSSIBLE SPOILER: READ BELOW AT YOUR OWN RISK. ***]

In one of his early meetings with Kovacs, Bancroft states that he was "killed" 10 minutes before his satellite backup was to occur, so the 48 hours prior to his "death" are wiped from his memory. He then goes on to casually say that he closed a business deal after being re-sleeved and got through it somehow. My theory is that he was "killed" not to actually kill him (because of his backup contingency) but to wipe his memory for that 48-hour period. I suspect he found something in that time that would have led him to cancel the deal if he "lived". So, somebody effectively wiped his memory so the deal would go through.


"100% of the people who confuse correlation and causation end up dying."
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Re: Sci-fi - Netflix - Altered Carbon [JSA] [ In reply to ]
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JSA wrote:
Horrible. Terrible. Barely made it through the first episode. No interest in going back.

I dunno. Maybe give it another shot. I'm liking it so far.

Great concept and I really enjoy Joel Kinnaman. But, this is really poorly done. Poor set up in the first episode. What is the point of putting an Asian into a white guy?

Re-sleeving transcends race and even gender. There is a whole hierarchy of sleeves with the used-up crappy ones doled out to the masses, and premium ones even having some genetically enhanced abilities. Kovacs was given his "white guy" sleeve because it was a premium model with "combat muscle memory". I think they changed races just to show that it is routinely done.

Kovacs has been on ice for 250 years and the technology seems to be the same as when he went on ice. Seriously, we had sleeves when he went in and 250 years later, we have the same tech?

Yah. I agree with you on that one. Although it looks like there have been advances with sleeve design, stack backup, needlecasting, etc., and the whole idea of sleeving has altered civilization during the time Kovacs was on ice (for the worse, apparently.) I thought I recall reading in a review that the whole stack/sleeve tech is alien technology from some other world, so that might explain why it hasn't advanced.

What was the point of Ortega apparently being unable to land?

She's a cop, not a driver as she pretended to be. (Apparently driving a flying car isn't a universal skill in this world.)

What the fuck was the point of the AI hotel? The AI hotel had no visitors for over 50 years, yet it remained open???

I'm with you here, too. AI hotels were portrayed as having a creepy/stalker personality (maybe a stab at current big data). But, so far, it looks like it's been an ideal place for Kovacs to stay. Maybe a stalker factor will unfold eventually...


"100% of the people who confuse correlation and causation end up dying."
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Re: Sci-fi - Netflix - Altered Carbon [H-] [ In reply to ]
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H- wrote:
Anyone watching? Just came on. I'm enjoying so far -- however some of the dialog is hard to understand and I'm using subtitles. (Pretty rare that I need to do that.) I haven't read the book.

I'm only two episodes into it. Anyone else? Please forewarn of spoilers.

The second half of the season is definitely better than the first half. I had to put the subtitles on, too, about 4 episodes in. I haven't read the book, either, but now I'm going to. I think the dialog parts where the Kovacs character is narrating are probably pulled from the book itself.

"Politics is just show business for ugly people."
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Re: Sci-fi - Netflix - Altered Carbon [WelshinPhilly] [ In reply to ]
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WelshinPhilly wrote:
Just found it today, on episode 5 right now (literally right now - it's 1:30am and I've been binge-watching it).

Some interesting concepts, but I agree on the dialogue being hard to hear in a few scenes.

Seems a little reminiscent of Blade Runner.

Especially in how "grounder" life and living is portrayed. My wife noted that it reminded her not only of Blade Runner, but a little -- here and there -- of Total Recall. She thought, as well, that the series pulled bits and pieces from The Matrix. I think, for the most part, Blade Runner and various detective stories, some from film noir versions of the Raymond Chandler/Philip Marlowe stuff.

Dystopian science fiction, such as how you see in Blade Runner (and in parts of Total Recall, and both source books/stores were from Philip K. Dick, who seems to be enjoying a renaissance of late), always plays better with readers and audiences than utopian treatments. It's just human nature, I guess.

"Politics is just show business for ugly people."
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Re: Sci-fi - Netflix - Altered Carbon [JSA] [ In reply to ]
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Pretty much never happens, but I feel the same as JSA. Made it to 45min of episode 1 and stopped.
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Re: Sci-fi - Netflix - Altered Carbon [Francois] [ In reply to ]
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I did the 3 book series on audio a year or two ago. Is a good series by a strong author.

Usually if you've read the book already, you'll dislike the movie/TV show, but my reaction's more positive to this. I've watched the first 4 now and I'll probably watch the rest. Most TV I've seen in months.

I think a season of "The Expanse" has just started too. That's based on another great book series. In that case tho, there's complexity that is harder to dumb-down for the screen.

Books @ Amazon
"If only he had used his genius for niceness, instead of Evil." M. Smart
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Re: Sci-fi - Netflix - Altered Carbon [RangerGress] [ In reply to ]
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RangerGress wrote:
I did the 3 book series on audio a year or two ago. Is a good series by a strong author.

Usually if you've read the book already, you'll dislike the movie/TV show, but my reaction's more positive to this. I've watched the first 4 now and I'll probably watch the rest. Most TV I've seen in months.

I think a season of "The Expanse" has just started too. That's based on another great book series. In that case tho, there's complexity that is harder to dumb-down for the screen.

We got through episode 7 last night. It's picked up a lot more steam since the intro episode and the following four after that. I haven't read the book, so I can't compare it, but movie or series adaptations typically always differ in ways from their source material. This was so even in the case of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movie adaptations. It's just the way things are, so people should probably just examine each of the two (book(s) versus movie/TV adaptations) in that light and take them for what they are.

"Politics is just show business for ugly people."
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Re: Sci-fi - Netflix - Altered Carbon [JSA] [ In reply to ]
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JSA wrote:
Horrible. Terrible. Barely made it through the first episode. No interest in going back.

Great concept and I really enjoy Joel Kinnaman. But, this is really poorly done. Poor set up in the first episode. What is the point of putting an Asian into a white guy? Kovacs has been on ice for 250 years and the technology seems to be the same as when he went on ice. Seriously, we had sleeves when he went in and 250 years later, we have the same tech?

What was the point of Ortega apparently being unable to land? What the fuck was the point of the AI hotel? The AI hotel had no visitors for over 50 years, yet it remained open???

All of this is answered in the book. The sleeve that is chosen for Kovacs was done purposefully and it has to do with another character. I can't explain more without spoilers. Ortega's landing was a statement. It's not clear yet in the first episode or two but she really, really hates meths. The AI hotel and Kovacs sort of "get" each other I believe as they are part of an era that is mostly gone.

I'm going to watch the whole series, because so far it has remained relatively true to the book's storyline and I'll be curious to see where that goes, exactly. I'm not a huge fan of how they've written Kovacs in the show, however, he's WAY moodier than he was in the book - in my opinion.

I assume this will also be fleshed out more, but "what" Kovacs is - an envoy - is fairly unique and is important to who his character is in the universe.
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Re: Sci-fi - Netflix - Altered Carbon [RangerGress] [ In reply to ]
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RangerGress wrote:
I did the 3 book series on audio a year or two ago. Is a good series by a strong author.

Usually if you've read the book already, you'll dislike the movie/TV show, but my reaction's more positive to this. I've watched the first 4 now and I'll probably watch the rest. Most TV I've seen in months.

I think a season of "The Expanse" has just started too. That's based on another great book series. In that case tho, there's complexity that is harder to dumb-down for the screen.

Yea I watched the first season of this - pretty good actually. Just finished the latest book the series as well.
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Re: Sci-fi - Netflix - Altered Carbon [H-] [ In reply to ]
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I watched the first episode last night. My wife hated it. Like many shows not on traditional networks it has overtly graphic violence and plenty of swearing.
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Re: Sci-fi - Netflix - Altered Carbon [Perseus] [ In reply to ]
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Perseus wrote:
I watched the first episode last night. My wife hated it. Like many shows not on traditional networks it has overtly graphic violence and plenty of swearing.

But there's nudity, too, bro. That can make up for a lot. ;-)

"Politics is just show business for ugly people."
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Re: Sci-fi - Netflix - Altered Carbon [big kahuna] [ In reply to ]
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big kahuna wrote:
RangerGress wrote:
I did the 3 book series on audio a year or two ago. Is a good series by a strong author.

Usually if you've read the book already, you'll dislike the movie/TV show, but my reaction's more positive to this. I've watched the first 4 now and I'll probably watch the rest. Most TV I've seen in months.

I think a season of "The Expanse" has just started too. That's based on another great book series. In that case tho, there's complexity that is harder to dumb-down for the screen.


We got through episode 7 last night. It's picked up a lot more steam since the intro episode and the following four after that. I haven't read the book, so I can't compare it, but movie or series adaptations typically always differ in ways from their source material. This was so even in the case of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movie adaptations. It's just the way things are, so people should probably just examine each of the two (book(s) versus movie/TV adaptations) in that light and take them for what they are.


My issue with "the book was much better", isn't about "differences", it's about losing the sublties and complexities that help make decent books interesting and imaginative. One can't take a 25hr audio book and distill it down into a 2hr movie, or a 6hr TV season (36min x 10 shows) without losing a lot of content.

I chose 36min for the length of a show because the TV show of 45min(?) of honest content has to adapt itself for the "first time series watcher" that is going to need enough historical references to have the context necessary to understand the current episode.

Books @ Amazon
"If only he had used his genius for niceness, instead of Evil." M. Smart
Last edited by: RangerGress: Feb 4, 18 7:51
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Re: Sci-fi - Netflix - Altered Carbon [H-] [ In reply to ]
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I just finished episode 6.

1) It's really drawn me in. I think it's even better than I did with my last post. If you gave up on episode 1, you might want to give it another chance.

2) Some of my theories, predictions and explanations up-thread were off. It's unfolding differently than I imagined.

Enjoy.


"100% of the people who confuse correlation and causation end up dying."
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Re: Sci-fi - Netflix - Altered Carbon [MOP_Mike] [ In reply to ]
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Finished the season and it was quite enjoyable. This series was definitely easier to get immersed in by knowing the universe of Kovacs back to front from reading the books a couple of times.

SPOILERS: (highlight)

I don't really understand why they made the main villain his sister. It was not that way in the book and I don't see how it makes it more compelling. I suppose it makes the overall story arc a little easier to fit into the season. But they've set it up nicely for a season 2 (good thing there are 3 books!).
Last edited by: jkhayc: Feb 11, 18 15:26
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Re: Sci-fi - Netflix - Altered Carbon [jkhayc] [ In reply to ]
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I have one episode to go before finishing.

It is unfortunate that it is too damn hard to follow for someone who has not read the original material. I think I finally started to understand enough of the background and universe around Episode 8 when they did the entire episode as the flashback to his Envoy training and team. They should have shown that content in episode 2 and it would have been so much better served to fill in the background story as context.

The lady cop is a really annoying actress that does not fit the character she's trying to portray. She just can't pull it off. She is in total bitch mode all the time and is maybe 4'10" tall and 85lbs soaking wet. Yet somehow she's a stone cold alpha fighter and everyone is scared of her.

Overall though, really good show and well done, the back half of the season gets better for sure. Mostly for me, is that I finally start to put some basic pieces together of the universe at the end of the season. I'm still kind of lost though. It's unfortunate.

.
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Re: Sci-fi - Netflix - Altered Carbon [Endo] [ In reply to ]
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Finished it this evening.

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It is unfortunate that it is too damn hard to follow for someone who has not read the original material.

I enjoyed it despite no familiarity with the book.

Spoilers follow:



I was really enjoying it and was about to update here after episode 7, but I thought, make sure it finishes strong.

Then the dramatic climax came in Episode 8. I was thinking: shit, with all the cool body/consciousness/religion/class themes this comes down to a family squabble. Good mom and evil dad beget good son and crazy evil sister. But the final episodes were good. Even after the action climax in episode 10, there was still a nice character finish to come.

One technical complaint: why is going on "ice" viewed as any kind of punishment. I mean you go to sleep and boom you wake up and are alive again. If you had young kids you might miss them grow, but Rei, for instance, has been around for hundreds of years. What are you going to miss by taking a nap?

________
It doesn't really matter what Phil is saying, the music of his voice is the appropriate soundtrack for a bicycle race. HTupolev
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Re: Sci-fi - Netflix - Altered Carbon [H-] [ In reply to ]
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For others, uh.... "of a certain vintage"... anyone else spot Max Headroom just from his voice?
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Re: Sci-fi - Netflix - Altered Carbon [WelshinPhilly] [ In reply to ]
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Nope. He did seem eerily familiar. But my vintage was a bit earlier anyway.

________
It doesn't really matter what Phil is saying, the music of his voice is the appropriate soundtrack for a bicycle race. HTupolev
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Re: Sci-fi - Netflix - Altered Carbon [WelshinPhilly] [ In reply to ]
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WelshinPhilly wrote:
For others, uh.... "of a certain vintage"... anyone else spot Max Headroom just from his voice?

Absolutely.

His voice is instantly recognizable, even without seeing him. I recognized his voice first, then had to work through matching his face as it took a bit longer. I kept thinking he has to look older than what I'm seeing.

.
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Re: Sci-fi - Netflix - Altered Carbon [Endo] [ In reply to ]
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Endo wrote:
WelshinPhilly wrote:
For others, uh.... "of a certain vintage"... anyone else spot Max Headroom just from his voice?


Absolutely.

His voice is instantly recognizable, even without seeing him. I recognized his voice first, then had to work through matching his face as it took a bit longer. I kept thinking he has to look older than what I'm seeing.

Took me about 2 episodes to catch on watching Timeless last year :D
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Re: Sci-fi - Netflix - Altered Carbon [WelshinPhilly] [ In reply to ]
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WelshinPhilly wrote:
For others, uh.... "of a certain vintage"... anyone else spot Max Headroom just from his voice?

Instantly.

Hey! That's Max Headroom -- still playing the same character.

*SPOILER BELOW*

I think my favorite scene in the whole series was when Rei shows up and cuts her way through a dozen of Carnage's (aka Max's) henchmen to rescue Kovacs and Ortega. Nobody knew who she was (or how evil she was) at that point, so I never understood why Ortega tried to fight her right after being rescued. Maybe it was just bad editing an Rei took a swipe at Ortega or something...


"100% of the people who confuse correlation and causation end up dying."
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