Some call it the new Game of Thrones, some call it “The Most Anticipated Series of the Decade” after viewing the first four episodes that HBO sent to critics before premiering this Sunday, hardly anyone seems to have any doubts left.
This show is here to stay.
And there is a reason behind that, actually, there are 54 million reasons behind that. To put it into perspective that’s almost twice the budget than other highly successful shows like Mad Men for example, and almost three times more than The Wire.
Needless to say, HBO brought in the big bucks. And with big money comes an all-star cast.
It took some years but HBO has successfully gathered a wide ensemble of big screen stars such as Ed Harris (The Truman show), Thandie Newton (Crash), James Mardsen (X-men), Jeffrey Wright (The Manchurian Candidate) with the main protagonist Evan Rachel Wood (The Ides of March).
The cherry on the cake being no less than Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins.
On addition to that, HBO wanted to enlist some of the brightest modern storytellers. In this case, the creative duo formed by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy Nolan.
To give some background, Lisa Joy previously wrote in shows like Burn Notice and Pushing Daisies while Jonathan Nolan collaborated and co-wrote mega block-busters such as The Dark Night Rises and Interstellar, a movie co-written and directed by Jonathan’s older brother, the man who needs no introduction and one of the best directors in the world, Christopher Nolan.
That being said, Jonathan Nolan is an accomplished writer in his own right having won an Oscar nomination in 2001 for writing the script of the memorable movie Memento.
For producers HBO went top-drawer as well, and in this case went with Bryan Burk (Star Trek) and J.J Abrams (Star Wars; Lost) although what's more impressive in this situation is not only the names that were brought in, but also those who were considered in the process. I’ll give you a hint, a cinematic Genius that goes by the name Quentin.
What to Look For?
First of all, this is a cruel dark show both visually and psychologically, not for the faint hearted. Expect a lot of twists, mysteries, violence, nudity, and very cool touch on the rebellion of the machines (A.I turning against humans and vice-versa) and probably even more twists.
So far, the entire first five seasons have been mapped out, including the series’s finale. This goes to show how far HBO are willing to go to catapult their new baby.
A Little Trip Down Memory Lane
For those of you who remember, West World is based on the 1973 movie by the same name, co-written and directed by Michael Crichton who also wrote the screenplay of the original Jurassic Park since he authored the novel the film was base upon.
West World as a movie was way ahead of its time, it’s credited as being the first ever movie to use CGI as well as presenting new subjects like computer viruses.
This 2016 version loosely follows a similar premise, it has the same theme-park touch that Crichton has accustomed his readers where one minute you're in an amazing experience in the park, but then all of the sudden things quickly start going south as the park begins to turn on its unsuspecting guests.
In this case the story revolves around an old west theme park that is stocked by A.I androids that operate on the sole purpose of entertaining human guests, whether in shootouts, in saloons, horse ride expeditions or even as some sort of android prostitutes.
The story opens with the artificial beings functioning and acting like humans who think they are actually living in the old west, as far as the androids are concerned, they think they’re just regular people leading normal lives.
But soon enough, they begin to become self-aware and that’s where Pandora’s box gets kicked wide open. And as you expect, things go horribly, horribly wrong.
Because whenever a person (or an A.I) realizes that their thoughts were not theirs, the game is about to change.
“I think there must be something wrong with this world” – Evan Rachel Wood; West World.
A Little Trip Down the Rabbit Hole
The show’s main premise revolves around the main protagonist, a young woman called Dolores whose journey towards freedom takes us in a mind-boggling emotional roller-coaster.
Her story is a constant search for truth, every peek behind the curtain is associated with some sort of pain, it’s like the archetypal Hero’s Journey stereotype, tragedy- struggle-catharsis infused with some mind stretching life-philosophies where our characters constantly find themselves having to face the dominant narrative of their entire existence and challenge it to a life-or-death duel, metaphorically speaking.
It all seems so brilliantly made that it’s almost makes you question your own reality.
Here’s where it gets interesting, without spoiling too much I can tell you that we’ll see some unique time-loops taking place in the series, combine that with the mystery genre the show is based upon and I guess that it's fair to say that this show will hardly leave anyone indifferent.
As whims of fate would have it, Ed Harris who played a major role in The Truman Show also landed a starring role in West World playing the character of The Man in Black.
“We accept the reality of the world with which we’re presented, it’s as simple as that.” – Ed Harris; The Truman Show.
Let me know your thoughts about the season one premiere this Sunday, meanwhile I leave you with one of the trailers, and an interesting question:
René Descartes famously said: I think therefore I exist, since we already live among computers that are far smarter than any single human being, and since it’s very likely that we see artificial intelligence operating within our lifetime, here's my question for you:
Can the A.I ever become self aware?
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This looks good! Maybe I will have to get HBO at some point here! :) On a side note I really hope AI will never become self aware... I keep waiting for someone to come up with something called "Skynet"... at that time I know what comes next ;)
Haha some people call Darpa Skynet already :)
I don't know, still undecided. I don't have enough info so that I can form an opinion about it. But I'm really interested in seeing what other people think.
streamlord.com. project free tv (worse ads) and good ol' torrentz.
In Canada shaw cable company has rights to HBO...so that we have to have cable to get HBO. When HBO NOW came out I couldn't get that, the only HBO online available to Canucks means waiting to watch TV shows the next day after airing. Spoilers take over the net as Game of Thrones airs, dammit.
but yeah there's some ways around that like hide.me and buying an amazon giftcard to make the purchase maybe. Have yet to try.
Yo alien, how did I miss this show about AI? Now I must investigate. And of course we don't have HBO. Anthony Hopkins? I'm watching. :)
Haha you didn't miss it.. It's launching this Sunday! The best is yet to come :)
I meant I missed hearing anything about it ever. I guess that's what happens when we work all the time. But you - you were paying attention. ;)
Haha I know what you mean! This summer I missed the Euros, I didn't even notice there was major sport tournament going on. :P
I was completely on-board from the first trailer. Like, hell yeah, that's a remake that friggin' actually makes sense. Cable/streaming TV is totally destroying mainstream TV and even a good chunk of Hollywood. This is where the talent is working.
I know! Netflix for example are taking big bets on undiscovered talent. Mainstream is starting to fade away.
Sold! This show sounds great, can't wait to check it out.
It'll be awesome, you'll see! :)
I'm looking forward to seeing this in the UK. I remember the cheesy 70s movie version of the Michael Crichton novel.
In many ways it had a lot of parallels to Jurassic Park. Many people even said that Jurassic Park was based on Westworld.
I think a TV series like this allows much greater exploration of the Blade Runner like ethics and moral drama of having artificial humans that exist solely for the pleasure of "real" humans.
I hope I can watch it in the UK though because Sky who usually show HBO stuff have a tendency to restrict HBO shows to their own Satellite Service only - by broadcasting it on a Satellite only channel called Sky Atlantic.
That is the problem with having monopolies - for multichannel TV in the UK there is one satellite provider (Sky TV) and one cable provider (Virgin Media).
Sky deliberately only allow certain channels on their rivals services to try to get people to switch over to their satellite service.
I might end up needing to buy the episodes on Itunes.
@thecryptofiend I think Sky is gonna show West World, it's just gonna be every Tuesday instead of every Sunday.
Thanks. I hope they show it on one of the general Sky channels rather than the Sky Atlantic otherwise I can't watch it.
Sounds like quite a trip down the rabbit hole. Thanks for the guided preview!
It is, I love shows that make you think!
Btw, Twin Peaks is returning on 2017 :) I don't know if you remember the series? It was also a good mystery. :)
The movie is available for rent on Amazon Video for $3. I haven't seen it. Yet.
https://www.amazon.com/Westworld-Yul-Brynner/dp/B000LJ9ZWO/
Haha it says for a $1000 you can experience the adventure.. I guess a thousand bucks was a lot when the movie was made back in 1973. ;)
Actually, it's $1,000 per day. Which is still a lot of money. In 1974, gold sold for $184 per troy ounce. Today it's over $1,300. So that $1,000 in 1974 would be $7,000 today.
Haven't heard of this before — looks so good! Thank you for sharing! :)
You're welcome!
Man I definitely need more time for all these shows :/ Don't know where to start.
Thanks for sharing!
I know what you mean, I mostly watch recommended shows, or those if I know someone who worked there.. You're right, there are too many shows, quality s on the rise!
Care to list a few? I feel like I've watched most of the good ones already... Been waiting for this one for some time now
OOoh perfect! Was just looking for another scifi after I ran out of episodes of "Braindead".
Perfect. I think you'll enjoy this one :)
I loved Braindead :D
My husband insists on playing that song by The Cars ALL THE BLOODY TIME.
hahahahahahaahaha i will do the same ;)
Upvoted as always @the-alien
Thanks for the vote of confidence! :)
Awesome! Thanks for the heads up.
You're welcome! :)
This show looks really interesting. Thanks for the suggestion!
You're welcome! I like shows that makes you think, and I thought I'll share :)
oh my god. I WANT TO SEE THIS. So far the new tv shows seems to be promising. goodbye social life.
Haha yeah, quality is increasing in TV shows.
Maybe we should have TV show group meetings too :)
great minds think alike ;) we will need a separate steemit.chat channel for that one too LOL
Haha that would be awesome!
Looks very intriguing, even tho I don't watch tv shows at all, only movies, I will take a look at this.
Same here :)
OMG! I got the original on my ext hdd! Cant wait to see this new version !
Thanks for posting.
You're welcome! Hope you like it!
Yea man defenetly did !
I'm not cool with the fact that I have to wait until tomorrow to watch this.
Weekly handing out of TV series is cruel.
I hope for leaked episodes.
hope it's not just female prostitutes but gay ones as well. I just cant keep suspension of disbelief for a world where there is no demand for that. In the future especially, as society is becoming more open and permissive to all kinds of sexualities.
I'm so stoked for this show. I was just lamenting the need for a really exciting series. Aside from American Horror Story nothing much gets me right now. Walking Dead I look forward too but just not as excited about.
I'm sure they'll be happy to provide for whatever their guests desire. And as soon as a guest asks for a prostitute of the same sex, he or she will have it. I'll bet it hasn't happened yet, though. Westworld's clients are rare, and gay folk who like prostitutes are rare among the rare. For some reason, some people think there's something wrong with a show that doesn't highlight the infinitesmal.
How do you know?
I don't whether it's common or not.
I didn't necessarily mean that it would be gay ppl buying the gay prostitutes :D lol
Well, I don't really know, I'm just assuming that the portion of gay people who would pay a prostitute is something close to the portion of hetero males who would. Of course, I don't have actual DATA on that, either, but my life experience leads me to believe that it's small. Or maybe it's all just projection. I HAVE read data that non-heterosexuals are about 4% of the population.
It would only include people who identify as such. If also bisexuals, I'm not sure
Majority of gay prostitutes Ive known of are transvestite/transexual. Struggle for them to find employment sometimes. Also being 'male' as well, they find having sex with many ppl for money not to be shameful.
From my personal experience...there are many people curious of such things who wold not identify. Or in denial even if they pursue such experiences on the regular.
data isn't reliable on much of the human experiences, I don't believe in it in regards to those topics.
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Enjoyed the first episode on Sunday night. Recurring alarm on iPhone: 8:55pm Eastern US time, Sundays.
Me too :) I'll be looking forward to Sundays.