Halo - Paramount + TV Series (was originally going to be on Showtime)

[JPL]

1 hour ago, Stigweard said:

 

They've already said he is

I’m going to watch it out of morbid curiosity, but between them not even looking at the game, messing up how Cortana looks, Chief’s voice and now him taking his helmet off, I’m not holding out much hope!

[SeanR]

Great, Spartan-117 sounds like Captain Price…

[Alex W.]

Can’t they just use deepfake technology to match the lip sync to the dub?

 

Actually come to think of it they could cast a third guy for the face and do a full head replacement. First three-actor role in Hollywood.

[Mike1812]

Cast someone with a mustache and CG it out

[Lorfarius]

Lerave the tache alone, tis a thing of beauty.

 

[Nick R]

On 21/03/2022 at 22:10, Alex W. said:

Actually come to think of it they could cast a third guy for the face and do a full head replacement. First three-actor role in Hollywood.

 

Different actors for body, voice, and face, you say...?

 

[Benny]

It *is* possible to do a decent game to TV adaptation. The Shenmue series, against all odds, has actually managed it. Probably made more sense as animation though. The Netflix Castlevania series also.

[Fletch]

According to an article I just read this is only going to be on Sky in Germany and Italy at launch and UK viewers will have to wait until Paramount Plus or whatever it'll be called launches in the UK in the summer. 

 

I don't even know how to yarr anymore but I definitely won't be subbing to another streaming service for this. 

 

https://www.windowscentral.com/halo-tv-series-release-time#howtowatch

[Alex W.]

Paramount Plus, where streams go to die.

[Lothar Hex]

Watched the first ep of the new Halo series (YARRD it)

OK so...it looks like Halo, and sounds like Halo...but its not Halo.

It's not even Master Chief revealing his face. It's that it feels like a different universe with Halo stuff spray painted over. Not necessarily bad just...doesn't "feel" right.

Opening action scene was good, well shot, cgi Covies were decent.  Not sure how I feel about 

Spoiler

the Covenant having a human priestess/prophet on their side, but its an interesting idea.

 

It's a bit too early to to write it off but I'll give it another ep or two.

[Stig]

So episode 1. It were alright.

 

Spoiler

The opening action sequence was pretty great and showed just how brutal and huge the Elites are, likewise it did a great job in conveying how hard and effective the Spartans were.

 

I never expected it to be as bloody and brutal as it is with the violence. Limbs and heads popped all over the shop. But I do appreciate it not shying away from that.

 

I also enjoyed hearing the noises from Halo like his shield being hit, getting low and then recharging. Turns out they didn't just completely ignore the game.

 

Was not keen on his helmet coming off at all. I know they've said they don't think audiences would like not seeing his face, but we've had 20 years of not seeing it and it's been fine. It's not a deal breaker but it's not something I like.

 

My biggest critism would be thr way it looks. They've obviously pumped a load of money into this, with the costumes, set deigns, cgi etc but the overall aesthetic is giving off that DC-CW look. For big epic Sci-fi shows like this, you need to make it feel cinematic, which it doesn't at all. It makes it looks cheap.

 

Oh and I was fine with the voice. The more he talks the more you just shrug it off and get used to it. I think hearing it in isolation in trailers was the off putting part. In the show, it's fine.

[Hitcher]

I was impressed. It's doing it's own thing but I think that's the right way to go. I mean if you want Halo you know go play the games.

[Strafe]

I really enjoyed it. Some of the CGI looks a tad ropey when he’s bounding all over the place and I’m sure the covenant CGI is good but their more cartoony nature in the games means they look odd when made realistic. I like John Halo’s voice*.

 

I imagine that if you weren’t into Halo you would think this is bobbins, mind.
 

 

*In fact I could live with them recasting this guy instead of Steve Downes in the next game like they did with Kiefer Sutherland replacing David Hayter in MGSV. Steve just sounds wooden when Master Chief gets emotional.

[Don Rosco]

I thought this was decent - it looked great, the covenant were appropriately scary and brutal, I’m a fan of the unsc vs separatists dynamic which adds a bit of spice. If they’re leaning into human politics as opposed to the covenant’s factioning, I’m all for it. I’m a big halo game fan but that part of the lore bores me to tears. 
 

Spoiler

It maybe tried to cram a bit too much in to the first episode. I do like a fast paced story, but they might have left the chief’s turn until a wee bit later? 

 

[Stig]

47 minutes ago, Don Rosco said:

I thought this was decent - it looked great, the covenant were appropriately scary and brutal, I’m a fan of the unsc vs separatists dynamic which adds a bit of spice. If they’re leaning into human politics as opposed to the covenant’s factioning, I’m all for it. I’m a big halo game fan but that part of the lore bores me to tears. 
 

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It maybe tried to cram a bit too much in to the first episode. I do like a fast paced story, but they might have left the chief’s turn until a wee bit later? 

 

 

I said as much on my podcast last night. The games have never shown just how scary and brutal the Elites can be because you play as Master Chief who is more than their equal. But put them against regular sized humans and it shows just how much of a threat they really are. 

[Lorfarius]

I really enjoyed that. Just goes to show you shouldn't list to all the negative rollocks until something actually launches. Heard similar moans and crazy stories about The Batman flick but its brilliant by all accounts.

[Thor]

Well, it sometimes looks very cheap (in the same way The Wheel of Time looks cheap), and whenever Master Chief speaks I can only hear this utter dickhead:

 

 

Playing this Mass Effect character:

 

 

Then Chief takes his helmet off, and it's this guy from The Wire:

 

 

Hard to reconcile the above with Master Chief from the games. But that aside, this was actually really fucking good! I really enjoyed this first episode and was gutted it ended. More please!

[Lorfarius]

Second ep was a lot more slower but by the end I really wanted to see the 3rd which is always a good sign. Its awesome when he puts the helmet on and I just want more action, wish they'd done more about the Spartan unit before the series kicked off but it is what it is. Prefer the Netflix way of dumping a hole show out at once as I'd have been happily rinsing this over the weekend.

[5R7]

They really have full blown Stallone Dredd'ed this haven't they 😂

 

The massive elaborate sets even reminded me of 90's movies in this 2nd ep!

 

Its so weird, its obviously got a massive budget, and stuff really does look the part, but it all feels off!

 

and 2 eps in, i already feel like we've had a filler ep!

[JPL]

3 hours ago, 5R7 said:

They really have full blown Stallone Dredd'ed this haven't they 😂

 

The massive elaborate sets even reminded me of 90's movies in this 2nd ep!

 

Its so weird, its obviously got a massive budget, and stuff really does look the part, but it all feels off!

 

and 2 eps in, i already feel like we've had a filler ep!

Yeah, it’s ok, but it feels nothing like Halo. They’ve totally missed the atmosphere of the games.

[Thor]

Well, I like where it's going, but they have a lot of ground to cover. As for the feel, I wouldn't say it's nothing like Halo, and Master Pablo is growing on me.

[Don Rosco]

22 minutes ago, Thor said:

Well, I like where it's going, but they have a lot of ground to cover. As for the feel, I wouldn't say it's nothing like Halo, and Master Pablo is growing on me.

 

Yeah, I think he’s doing a decent job of an angsty master chief, I’m buying it so far. It doesn’t feel 100% like the games but it’s close enough to intrigue me. Reading the halo subreddit, it seems his mate and the weird asteroid thing is all pretty close to established lore as well. Looking forward to seeing where it goes. 

[Harsin]

I don’t care if it’s faithful to the games or not. The plot of those is absolute bobbins. I care if it’s a good TV show on its own merits or not. But so far it’s about the quality I’d expect from the platform that brought us Discovery and Picard.

[JPL]

31 minutes ago, Harsin said:

I don’t care if it’s faithful to the games or not. The plot of those is absolute bobbins. I care if it’s a good TV show on its own merits or not. But so far it’s about the quality I’d r or t from the platform that brought us Discovery and Picard.

I wasn’t talking about the plot, although Halo CE didn’t have a bad story. I’m quite happy for them to have their own crack at it, but I think they’ve gone too far with how much Chief has his helmet off, in a bid to show some emotion from him. I don’t really care for his human side, I just want the relentless killing machine from the games. I want him to feel like the demon that the Covenant talk about. He’s like a low rent Jason Bourne in this.

 

I was talking more about the aesthetics and atmosphere, which I think this misses by a long way. All the elements are there, but it just doesn’t feel right to me.

[RubberJohnny]

I don't care about the helmet thing at all, but there's a weird borrowing from Young Adult stuff in this so far, the UNSC and their Inquisitors are like something from the Hunger Games, and the cablecar ride is weirdly modelled on Gringotts bank sequence from the HP movies.

 

I blame Kurtzmann of course, just borrowing from other popular things and sticking them in a sub-Abrams mystery box narrative is just what he does to every franchise.

[SeanR]

Doesn’t the original narrative lift wholesale from Kurt Russell “action film” Soldier*?

 

 

* set in the BladeRunner universe…

[Gommy]

I'm enjoying this, better than my low expectations.

 

The rollercoaster bit did seem out of place and unnecessary though.

[Dirty Harry Potter]

IMO This is absolute dog shit low rent sci fi. Even fans of the game are going to struggle to give a shit about this.

 

if you love everything set in a sci-fi universe (and aren’t too fussy) you may gleen some pleasure from this series… But to me its unwatchable shite that is not worth investing anymore time in. 

 

[Lorfarius]

Another ep and the Cortana introduction.. was nowhere near as bad as the early announcement made it out to be. They CGI'd it and leaked the footage underneath by the looks of things, once its in motion and the blue filter is in full force its not bad at all. Sorry but I'm really enjoying it 🤣

[Spartan]

3 hours ago, Lorfarius said:

Another ep and the Cortana introduction.. was no where near as the early announcement made it out to be. They CGI'd it and leaked the footage underneath by the looks of things, once its in motion and the blue filter is in full force its not bad at all. Sorry but I'm really enjoying it 🤣

 

Yeah this is good. I've suffered through Picard and Discovery and this is much better than both. It's not Halo exactly but I've played the games to death so welcome any new take. You won't please everyone. 

 

If you started the show by dumping an audience on a halo ring you'd lose them from the off.