Westworld (HBO/Sky Atlantic) [** Spoilers **]

bluesfan

BlitzKrieg wrote: »

was there a hint that the film is treating the original westworld film as a sort of prequel they mention early in the film that there was a critical failure over 30 years prior to the series, also

when they go into cold storage you can see the name of the company from the film on the globe and I think the set itself is from the film, not sure on that, havnt seen westworld in years. I dont think I've seen a mention of the current series company's name yet.

I had the same thought, that leads to the idea that the Ed Harris character and the female robot, described as the oldest robot in the park, may have been there in the original film.

naughto

2ep very good more confused than ever

Falthyron

Episode 2:

I was delighted when the camera shows the cross on the top of the steeple! The perfect test for the hosts - can they believe in something irrational?

Yet another great episode, filled with so much wonder and some answers, specifically: how the guests enter the park. The sales pitch for the next narrative really reminded me of an E3 showcase where a developer comes on stage and talks about the next expansion pack for their MMO. I wish this was a Netflix series... I just want to watch it all right now!

jcsoulinger

Falthyron wrote: »

Episode 2:

I was delighted when the camera shows the cross on the top of the steeple! The perfect test for the hosts - can they believe in something irrational?

The hosts are not capable of belief in anything, you could make them act like they believe in God quite easily tho.

JohnK

Havent seen the movie or read the book but I'm really liking this series :cool:

***Episode 2****

Guess we know now that the MIB isn't living "off the grid" in the park or that his actions are either unnoticed or being blamed on someone else, they seem to be fully aware of who he is and what he's been up to with the comment on him having already taken out a posse and being able to do whatever he likes. Also, given that the girl was able to tell him the next clue for whatever it is he's looking for, it would seem that he's on a legitimate path/adventure within the park, otherwise how could any of the hosts aid him with information?

Hazys

Amazing second episode

This show fcuks

Birneybau

GerB40 wrote: »

Obviously some people on this thread have read the books so what's the chances of creating two threads. One for those who have read it and for people who like being spoiled (we all know they exist), and one for those that avoid ad's and only watches the show and is new to the story.

At the moment I can't find a problem with it but by the time the weed dies off I could find many problems.. Anyway, PEACE!!!

I really don't think the book will have any bearing on this whatsoever. Sure, the first episode flipped all the conventions on their head.

Also, why did people conclude that the actress from 'Borgen' is meant to be English? There were no signs. Maybe her character is just...Danish.

alchemist33

Birneybau wrote: »

I really don't think the book will have any bearing on this whatsoever. Sure, the first episode flipped all the conventions on their head.

Also, why did people conclude that the actress from 'Borgen' is meant to be English? There were no signs. Maybe her character is just...Danish.

She's called Cullen. She's probably from Tipperary.

Snake Plisken

Really enjoyed the second episode but I think it might divide audiences, as in a lot will be going what the hell is going on where others will enjoy the mystery of it all! My favourite character is the Piano, this week we got a blast of

Radiohead

cumulonimbus

I am not sure that the whole concept of westworld would work as they are portraying it. When the newbie guest arrived and asked what were the rules the girl told him he would learn them as he went along. His friends treatment of the old miner would have been upsetting to other guests imho unless they were also a**holes. What is the ratio of guests to hosts? There were quite a few guests judging by the number of people on the train.

Sad Professor

cumulonimbus wrote: »

I am not sure that the whole concept of westworld would work as they are portraying it. When the newbie guest arrived and asked what were the rules the girl told him he would learn them as he went along. His friends treatment of the old miner would have been upsetting to other guests imho unless they were also a**holes. What is the ratio of guests to hosts? There were quite a few guests judging by the number of people on the train.

While monitoring Harris's MIB character one of the technicians asked if he should slow him down, so they obviously have the ability to reign guests in if necessary. I'm guessing the number of new guests starting out at Sweetwater at any one time is kept low so that new or returning guests don't step on each other's toes. As they venture out they are probably unlikely to encounter each other. But given the price per day, I'm thinking the host to guest ratio is very high anyway.

cumulonimbus

I watched the first episode again - 10% of the hosts were upgraded and the scriptwriter mentioned removing all 200 upgraded hosts from the stories. The woman/robot in charge said there were 1400 guests. So 1400 guests : 2000 hosts.

BlitzKrieg

cumulonimbus wrote: »

I am not sure that the whole concept of westworld would work as they are portraying it. When the newbie guest arrived and asked what were the rules the girl told him he would learn them as he went along. His friends treatment of the old miner would have been upsetting to other guests imho unless they were also a**holes. What is the ratio of guests to hosts? There were quite a few guests judging by the number of people on the train.

I find when I think of it in terms of an MMO it makes sense to me.

I dont think there is 1 starting town, I imagine there are 2-3 connected by the trainline with each one being tweaked for certain audience. Got a bit of a hint of this with the family in the first episode specifically saying they shouldnt cross the river *as its too adult* so I wouldnt be surprised if the centre of westworld has a river running through it and sweetwater is on the south and disneytown is on the north and the train connects them.

I do think yeah Sweetwater is likely the a**hole starting area. People who specifically bought the *shoot people and f*ck hookers holiday package*

If I have one issue with how westworld is set up is that if its meant to be *like a game* which is how Ed Harris's character seems to see it. Its not a very good one if all the players have god mode on. It makes sense from a holiday perspective but the way Ed Harris talks about it, it almost sounds like he's actually skilled. Though perhaps that is the intention? Perhaps he has confused himself in his fantasy thinking he is actually skilled. Perhaps a rude awakening point is coming up for him when the safety rails are taken off (it is hinted with the gun that was found)

Also Ed harris's character is really looking like he's just a hardcore gamer taken to its most darkest conclusion, I will not be surprised when that flips fully certain groups will throw a hissy fit. His dialogue about the real world in episode 2 made me smile as its very similar to a speech given by another *hardcore gamer* character in a japanese anime series called No Game No Life, though it was less darkly murder stab stab in how it was delivered there.

Sad Professor

I'm not tagging the following but be warned it contains spoilers for episode 2:

Yeah BlitzKrieg, the guests being basically invincible bothers me about the concept as well. However, I think the cost of visiting the park is so high that most guests aren't there long enough to get bored with it.

I think MIB is skilled by the usual standards of the guests. I mean, imagine it was your first time in the park. If you weren't a good aim or ran out of bullets the sight of dozens of hosts bearing down on you would be pretty frightening. Knowing that you can't be badly hurt and believing it are two different things. MIB has been to the park enough that he knows how it works, he knows the bullets will bounce off him without a scratch. A newbie doesn't and will probably run for their life. As established in episode 2, they don't really tell the guests the rules.

1400 does seem like a lot of guests. But as I suggested before I think most guests venture out into the wilderness as part of the various adventures and side quests where they probably travel in groups and don't encounter that many hosts. Even if Sweetwater is the biggest town and the starting point for everyone, given the size of the park it's unlikely there's more than a hundred guests there at any one time.

iguana

Last week milk. This week a McPoyle. Next week Bird law?

corkie

Theory: -

Could the Man In black be Peter Martin (a.k.a Richard Benjamin) character from the original film, as he has been visiting the park for 30 Years?

As mentioned earlier in the thread: -

Found the "Delos" logo in the first episode. Around 19 mins.

RobbingBandit

Loving the subtle use of music so far. Black Hole Sun in the first episode, No Surprises in the second, I bought the movie yesterday on DVD am planning on watching it after the last episode airs.

Sugarlumps

Totally blown away, lost for words.

CiaranW

Can't wait for next episode.

cowboyBuilder

BoJack Horseman wrote: »

Did anyone notice that the score used pop songs that were changed to sound more 'Westerney'

I noticed Soundgarden's Black Hole Sun (which was played on the mechanical-piano thing) & the Stones's 'Paint it Black' used also in the shoot out.

Paint it black!!!

It was driving me mad trying to id it .. thanks!

RobbingBandit

Had to look up the Devil's Advocate to id paint it black as its used in the end credits of the movie.

cowboyBuilder

Usual air night for this is Sunday - yeah ?

I think was aired earlier for the US presidential debate.

Im wondering how guests don't end up shooting/killing each other ?

RobbingBandit

Guests can't do that so far seems the bullets are calibrated for inhabitants only.

I wasn't blown away by episode 2, though I did enjoy it and the intro I always find chilling.

Lets face it it wasn't ever going to blow me away as much as Episode 1(which Ive seen 3 times already), but WW is shaping up to be one of my favourite TV shows. I am also assuming(read hoping) that at the end of season 1 they will release the soundtrack with the symphony versions of all the rock songs they play everyweek. Paint it Black was already on my mp3 player in its original form. The version from episode 1 has joined it.

cowboyBuilder

But can a guest instantly tell another guest ?

Frisbee

Good opening two episodes.

Felt the acting was a little hammy in places. Mainly just when the English writer & Nordic one with a face like a slapped arse were talking. Interesting concept and hopefully they can keep it going and not just go batsh!t crazy with their storylines in an effort to keep the money spinner going.

corkie

cowboyBuilder wrote: »

Usual air night for this is Sunday - yeah ?

I think was aired earlier for the US presidential debate.

Im wondering how guests don't end up shooting/killing each other ?

The episode was leaked early last week online.

In the film, there was sensors in the guns preventing them firing at warm blooded targets. Don't know what the theory is in this series. MIB can not be shot, so the bullets just bounce off guests.

"Im wondering how guests dont shoot other guests"

It can't be as easy as just giving guests real guns, and giving hosts non-guns. There has to be something else in the mechanics of the park to prevent it, otherwise guests would constantly be getting injured by ricochets and not to mention mistaken identities..

"How the hell I was I to know she was a guest. She was dressed like one of the ladies in the salloon...I figured shootin her was cheaper than paying her..."

I'm going to say there is quite an advanced security system which will get teased out over the next few episodes. They knew Man in Black had already killed a whole posse so they keep better tabs on whats happening than you might think. They'd have to. I think the guns can detect whether they are pointing at a host or a guest. When pointed at a guest, they turn into expensive cap guns, when pointed at a host they fire something larger, but I expect they don't fire a full round, otherwise as I said above, there'd be regular injuries from ricochets.

ManOfMystery

Some thoughts on previous posts:

re: The bullets - MO they're using 'smart bullets' (something the military is actually researching at the moment) possibly meshed with some form of nano-tech which allows them to react in millionths of a second. We know the show is set in the future, we know humans have conquered sickness - I think nano-tech has to be a factor here given that it is the one thing which can repair cells on a molecular level, and which could plausibly be used to conquer injury and disease. In fact, the 3D viewer which the controllers use to monitor WestWorld seems to be formed from nano-tech given how it reshapes itself.

Smart bullets are essentially coded to allow them to instantaneously reconfigure their structure upon contact with a certain kind of material. They can either be solid and explosive as per a normal bullet, or rendered inert and crushable - probably even less damaging than being hit by a pellet from a paint gun. The robots, as realistic as they are, are still synthetic and I'm guessing that the white material they're initially composed from is quite different from our own flesh when you delve deep into its molecular structure - they don't age for starters. This would explain why bullets don't appear to richochet and seem to dissolve into a small puff of dust.

The real world application of smart bullets down the line is that the armed forces can greatly reduce instances of injury/death from friendly fire, which happens quite often. Troops on your own side would have some form of smart clothing or electronic frequency operating within the close proximity of their person which would render any bullet inert upon impact.

re: the lack of danger for humans - The park is a simulation. The fact that a human can't be shot dead is the whole point of it, as with any simulation. As humans we engage in war games, we go paintballing, we pursue lots of activities where real weaponry is replaced by that which can't do us serious damage - it's still enjoyable and still thrilling. Plus, the shooting is only one small aspect of Westworld. Some people may just go for the entire visceral experience (I can't imagine that black family with the young child are there to engage in shootouts), some may go for sex, others may go to 'role-play' and pretend they're a sheriff or saloon owner or whatever - it's all incredibly realistic so I don't think that knowing you can't be hurt by the bullets makes much difference at all to the overall thrill.

re: the park being a game : I think there's an element of roleplay involved in the park, and perhaps as you proceed through it you accumulate points or skill levels as with any kind of game. Perhaps over time this opens up other more adult areas of the park which newbies don't have instant access to. A shootout in a saloon with one foe may be all a newbie gets to experience, whereas a more experienced visitor may have access to a civil war re-enactment, for example.

expectationlost

where the thrill in shooting people wheres no repercussion for you being shot at?