I pretty much lost the ball with Mr. Robot in it's last season, so if someone could, even with spoiler tags, tell me how the fuck what happened, happened, I'd appreaciate it. I even watched few recaps about it and I still don't get how it makes sense. If it even does.
>!You never really find out what “the machine” was intended for. They stopped it, but in an episode, Elliot meets up with everyone that died, and it feels like the machine gave him the life he always wanted and was about to marry Angela. He realizes it’s not real. He wakes up, and manages to stop “the machine” before going off. White rose kills herself, thinking she had succeeded. Elliot is hurt and in a coma, where he realizes “Elliot” was actually another personality. You never saw the real “Elliot.”!< It was fantastic
edited for spoiler
>!Wasn't the machine supposed to be for creating a portal to some parallel universe? Like White Rose wanted to leave this world and go to one where she would be accepted for who she was? I guess that may have just been some speculation!<
It sounded a lot like it, but was not confirmed. She never did that “here’s my master plan” thing. She just said her machine would give them the world they deserved and wanted, or something, but it wasn’t clear. And she believed when she killed herself she’d be in that world.
Something about how there was like a parallel universe where people who died were still alive or people who were alive were dead so you could go into that universe and then you had to kill yourself to wake up there because they built a machine. I honestly have no idea what I’m talking about
When I saw it, the twist didn’t register for me. I assumed it a visual metaphor for how he was feeling post injection (like Trainspotting)
It wasn’t until I read an article that it occurred to me that it was literal
Yea I'm not sure how I feel about it to be honest. Willing to give it a shot but I don't think I've ever seen such an abrupt change of genre before and I'm not sure how the audience will react to it. Bold move for sure.
So many insane moments happened: (major Expanse book spoilers) >!Bobbie holding onto a nuke and launching herself through space to a ship, Durate melting a dude in real time, two of the ring gates closing forever, everybody’s minds starting to merge, Amos and his fake death!<
Shit I never thought about the possibility of Apple adapting the Laconian Trilogy. That would be dope.
I need the >!*everyone thinks a ragged band of repentent Martians is about to come through the gate and then WHAM, here comes Laconia bitches*!< scene on screen so bad.
Well... that and the entirety of the last three books of course. Getting *Leviathan Falls* on screen would be quite the experience.
The moment in TW when >!Duarte casually turns Cortázar to mist!< really caught me off guard, to the point I re-read it a couple times because I was sure I was misunderstanding something.
Is that TW? I think so.
I recall they were continuing as if season 7 would be picked up. That's why they included the Strange Dogs story. I really don't see a reason to include that if that story line was going to be killed all together.
It's not even required for the main story going forward. It is the beginning of a thread that they would never get anything out of.
I do recall Amazon saying that they weren't going to renew it after season 6.
I think they said in an interview that they kept those plot lines in specifically so that someone else could finish the show later.
If you think about it, the entities go nowhere without a 7th season. So adding the dogs makes it seem as though they know there is more to tell but they aren't telling it by choice rather than because they couldn't be bothered.
That is honestly, insanely weird point to make the drop from. Even in the books, the whole Naomi family thing, was not that fun to read. Not for most, maybe for some. And I heard enough from show viewers, to know that they mirrored that opinion. So... they just decided to abandon/wish good luck, for the show at the point, where it would've again turned interesting? I hear the aging part is noted a lot, but... who the hell gives a shit? Just run the better ark after the whole Naomi family fights. Give the good shit.
I just... don't get any of these decisions. Unless it was like most of the cast just wanted to see what other projects are out there.
edit: Sorry, so for me, it just seems 100% that Amazon did not like to renew it for the more expensive seasons and that's it. I don't really give a shit about any of the comments from anyone else, because they just don't make fucking sense when it comes to the next seasons of the show.
I'd say watch a few and make your own choice. Book readers are almost never happy with adaptations. Never. Most of their complaints are about changes to the book that won't even be relevant to someone that has never read them.
Prime has tried to pull off great sci-fi for years, and that was the first one from them I’ve liked to any degree. Not as good as The Last of Us, but I’m not a gamer so I only appreciate them as TV shows
I'm also not a gamer and had ABSOLUTELY no expectations when I started watching Fallout other than kill one hour before going to sleep, I watched the completed series staying until 5 in the morning.
I don't think they are that bad, The Expanse, The Peripheral or Picard were also watchable, but I agree that others may be better, on the other hand *Fallout* has been my favourite show of the year so far.
Foundation hits that ultra sci fi gasm in me. That three of the same leader with different age was excellent sci fi. Yes it was based on a book but still
Apparently the “Dawn,Day,Dusk” aspect is not in the book. Written for the show.
I’m really enjoying Foundation, I’m probably going to read the books between this and the next season (as I think the arc is quite different so there isn’t much to spoil now)
The day dawn dusk are not in the books. However this is a great narrative device to enforce that the Empire is stagnant and in decay. In the books it’s a series of emperors who although different people are so set in the ways of the existing empire are completely unwilling to adapt.
I am okay with changes if they follow the spirit of the book. I’ve only watched season one so far. I have a bit of difficulty with the close connections to some different characters and the forced way they seem to be trying to give them supernatural abilities and have them live in different times. I think the dawn day dusk should have been the exception. In the books you meet characters that deal with a specific crisis in a time period and that’s it you never see them again as they are usually long dead by the next crisis.
The thing to remember is the original books started as a group of connected short stories. Also in a book it’s easier to convey the fact that the empire itself was stagnating and a large part of the problem was the various emperors couldn’t conceive of a failing empire and any suggestion of it was a threat. In a book that spans a long time this is easier to convey then in a show. I think the show did a great job finding a way to use the same actors and use the similar feel that the empire is falling apart.
Which makes me wonder why they bothered adapting books that they apparently aren't really holding to (and when they try to it's not great either). Clearly they're decent at making some original content.
Honestly, as a fan of the books, their plot was much better than the adaptation of the actual story. I don't know why they didn't just do that as a show, and build out an OG universe.
There are a slew of deviations from the books. Like, a lot.
That is not a criticism. I think it's great. The three emperors? That's wholly invented for the show and not from the books. They get full credit for that, and it is brilliant.
Wow that definitely makes it even better experience. I love it so much and its just, so great that not just the dawn day dusk have different POV in life as they age, different iteration also have own point of view in life. Heres hoping for an even better third season
The books while great and written by probably my second favorite sci-fi author do not lend themselves easily to a movie or tv show. They've had to do a lot of work to make the story something worth watching.
The books are very much worth reading but as written I couldn't imagine anyone hanging around to watch it. They also needed to do a lot of character gender bending. There are more women in the first episode of Foundation than there were in the entire series of 7 books.
Characters weren't Asimov's strong suit, ideas were. That's not just my opinion (of an author I love) but also the opinion of one of the executive producers, his daughter.
I'm glad you're enjoying it.
It’s crazy to me how the perception of this show changed. I watched season one and HATED it along with seemingly everyone else, but now it seems like with season two everyone loves it? I’m skeptical to give it another try based on my experience with season one
If you hated S1 you probably won't like it.
If you liked the Empire parts of S1 and thought the acting and story of the Foundation parts were ropey then you'll enjoy S2.
I didn't think S1 was too bad, the books are impossible to translate to screen in a fashion that would be commercially acceptable. The acting was mid, nowhere near as bad as some drama queens made out and sadly there seemed to be a racial component to it which turned into a circlejerk karma farm.
If the books are impossible to translate to screen in a commercially acceptable fashion (which I disagree with, but whatever), then the series shouldn't have been made! I firmly believe that season 1 feels like Goyer wanted to make a different show, but had IP rights to Foundation, so fit components of Foundation to his show so he could call it by the name and get pre-existing fans
I don't know man, the Terminus part of season 1 was genuinely terrible if you ask me. They absolutely butchered the characters and ideas from the book. The acting was super rough.
This makes sense though. If the people that hated s1 drop the show then you're left with people who enjoy it.
I watched s1 two or three times the first year and while I have some complaints it's still exceptional sci-fi TV.
I'm still 100% convinced it's a money laundering scheme
Insanely high budget, no big names, tiny audience, kinda shit - and yet it keeps getting renewed.
Oh, made by Simon Kinberg. The guy who wrote a real bad Phoenix Saga X-Men movie, got a 2nd chance to do it again years later, and still wrote a really bad Phoenix saga X-men movie
I absolutely love it when shit like this happens. The dude who wrote the shit Hitman movie back in 2015 ALSO wrote the shit Hitman movie back in 2007.
Personally, I preferred the 2007 movie, but it was still trash, and the dude 100% shouldn't have been given the opportunity to redo it.
I could see what the creators of Invasion were trying to do - basically ground it all in emotion and humanness, but fuck it failed miserably. I was optimistic for the second season but that got so bad I couldn’t even hate watch it to the end - a first for me! Those kids, and that woman screaming for her dumbass daughter all the time. I like imagining the aliens ate every single character.
Maybe because they filmed 1 hour of acting/footage with 2 cameras and then created all the episodes from that 1 hour of footage using different angles.
Such redundancy. Shows/Movies that make Space sci-fi boring merit a special prize because it takes real talent to mess it up by such a degree.
No spoilers here but I read the book a while ago and just watched the first episode of Dark Matter. It's very very close to what I remember and that has me really interested to see the rest of it play out. It's gonna get wild.
I'm really hoping Dark Matter does very well. I loved both Dark Matter and Recursion (also written by Blake Crouch), and I would love for Recursion to get adapted too.
Netflix bought the rights to adapt Recursion years ago but I don't think they've actually done anything with it yet. hopefully dark matter is a hit and it gets Netflix to realize they should start putting recursion together.
It's a Blake Crouch book right? He reminds me of a slightly elevated Jeremy Robinson, they write a lot of fun stuff that might not always be super hard sci-fi or heady but it's easy to pick up and rip through in a day or two.
It’s the summer blockbuster of books. It’s great entertainment and if you think too hard about it some of it won’t make sense so it’s best to just turn the brain down and enjoy.
There some obvious SF shows but a large number of what they call SF shows are only SF in the first and last 5 minutes of each episode and the rest is about family/relationship problems.
“The recent premiere of Dark Matter is just the latest in the service’s growing genre lineup, which leans more on original stories than massive franchises.”
The way they use original stories is misleading. Dark Matter and Foundation are anything but original stories.
“Constellation” doesn’t get talked about, but I thought it was the best sci-fi show on the platform. I really enjoyed Silo and Severance too, they are both incredible, but Constellation really hit harder for me.
It is sooo well made. The sets for the International Space Station are incredibly realistic, you can compare them with some YouTube ISS tours filmed by astronauts, every little minute detail was captured in the show’s sets, it’s a crazy achievement. I read that astronaut Scott Kelly was an adviser on the show, and it shows, I’ve honestly never seen a more realistic depiction of the ISS on the screen.
And the moody scares and the plot kept me on the edge of my seat. I absolutely loved this show. Great concept, really well executed, fantastic scares. L And the acting is so good. Noomi Rapace is consistently flying under the radar throughout her career but she is as good as ever. Jonathan Banks is fantastic and has arguably the juiciest role on the whole show (saying more would give too much away), the little girl in the show (apparently played by twins) is so good, one of the best child performances I think I’ve ever seen.
It’s really surprising more people aren’t hyping this show online. I must’ve missed the memo on why I shouldn’t like it as much as I do, I don’t know what’s going on there, but I enjoyed it immensely.
My biggest criticism is just that the show relied too much on its non-linear gimmick by frequently looping back around to show the same events from a different perspective. I thought those were sometimes completely unnecessary , as it was clear what was happening even on the first go-around. I could’ve done with less retracing of the steps and more moving the plot forward. Hopefully they address this in the next season.
As someone who watched the whole season of constellation, the reason it's not talked about more is that it seemed to just drag on and on trying to get the characters to figure out what we've known for several episodes now. It just got a bit boring at times. And then the part at the very end; I honestly have no idea where the writers are going and I don't have confidence that they do either. Probably still watch season 2 just to see if they figure it out or not, but we'll see. Honestly, I'm not sure if the severance writers can figure out where they're going, either, but that show hit for me in a way very few shows do. I was literally yelling at my TV in the last few minutes of the finale. Constellation did not hit me like that at all.
I mostly agree. Constellation had enough plot for a 2 hour movie and they dragged it out for 8 episodes.
For the last 5 episodes I kinda hate watched it with a friend, but the more I thought about it afterward, the more it made sense. They had some interesting ideas and good performances and set up a lot of clues, but the pacing was downright glacial.
I really hope they don't do a season 2, because I feel like they wrapped up everything in season 1. All the plots are done. All the characters have finished their arcs. I'm satisfied with the ending it has.
I don’t agree that the ending was satisfying without a season 2. Without spoiling it, the whole point of the ending was the characters accepting that “there is nothing I can do to fix this” and just giving up.
It doesn’t sit well with the fact that they still had many unanswered questions, so clearly there is more to the story that we haven’t seen. And so this doesn’t mesh with the characters going, “I’m just going to give up and accept my current predicament.”
They haven’t made any announcements one way or another, but I hope season 2 does happen. Which is why I want more people to see it and want to see more discussions of it online.
“pacing was downright glacial”
I feel that. Apple has some great shows, but I find that the ones I get amped for start off sooo slow that I may not make it past the second episode. Constellation was that way for me - I don’t think I made it to episode 2.
I get what you mean, I also feel like it took the characters way too long to catch up to what the audience already knew. But I don’t think it affected my enjoyment of the show.
In terms of where the show is going, the creator of the show said he already knows what the “final beat” of the show will be and has ideas for the things that will lead up to it. Whether that gives you the confidence to stay with the show is a different matter. I’m old enough to have seen many mystery shows like this, so I know that the payoff doesn’t always work, but it’s usually as much about the journey as the destination with shows like this. You just have to sort of accept that when you sit down to watch a multi-season mystery show like this.
It’s not a time travel show like Dark, but it actually does have a lot of thematic similarities to it. It makes sense why a fan of Dark would like this show, I totally get it.
I loved Constellation, if not only for the cabin episodes & the cats Schroedinger (>!She goes into the cabin, there’s a living cat. She goes into the cabin, there’s a dead cat. She goes into the cabin, there’s a dead cat & an alive cat!<). It isn’t so much that they’re using superpositions as a narrative device (which I nevertheless appreciated), but that it was executed well. I did hate how effectively half of an episode appears as flash forwards in previous episodes, which makes me wonder why they couldn’t settle for shorter episodes instead of cheaply padding them. I mean, Bear proved there’s merit to 30 minute dramas, so why be afraid of them?
It's true and and my personal opinion is *it's not just Sci-fi*.
Their comedy, general drama shows and other genre are also superior. They release weekly episodes rather than the seasons. AND *NO FUCKING ADS because it's a streaming service!*
Honestly, if someone is genuinely interested in high quality TV, go for AppleTV+ subscription. Highest ROI you'll ever get out of this "streaming war".
People keep saying this and i guess i would agree, however there are no really GREAT, MUST WATCH sci fi shows, its just a bunch of shows that range from mediocre to decent.
Hard disagree there.
Severance is probably the best "mysterious stuff going on" sci-fi since Lost. Even non sci-fi fans love it. I think it's the definition of must watch TV.
For All Mankind is a sci-fi made for sci-fi fans. If you are a big space person the show is amazing. It's got a more niche audience but it's absolutely a must watch for that niche.
Outside of those two sure, things get less "must watch" and I'd say other streaming platforms have similar quality.
It's still behind Netflix and Amazon Prime for me.
**Apple TV** has Severance/Foundation/For All Man Kind/Silo.
**Netflix** has Dark/Black Mirror/Stranger Things/Love, Death, and Robots/Travelers/The Umbrella Academy/Altered Carbon/The OA/Sense8. Not to mention some incredible non English language sci fi.
**Amazon Prime** has The Expanse/Fallout/The Peripheral/Tales From The Loop/Paper Girls/The Boys/Gen V/etc.
What do you mean “still”? You are listing shows on competing platforms that came out years before Apple TV even existed. If this is the criteria you use, Apple TV will never “catch up” because it’s not like they can go back in time and back-fill a catalog of older shows.
It’s like if you have an older brother or sister, and you say, “I’m still younger than you.” Yes, and unless they die, you will *always* be younger.
Even shows you didn't think were scifi turn out to be scifi!!!
I remember when Mr. Robot was airing and the theories about whether they were going full sci-fi. It's insanity ahahaha.
I pretty much lost the ball with Mr. Robot in it's last season, so if someone could, even with spoiler tags, tell me how the fuck what happened, happened, I'd appreaciate it. I even watched few recaps about it and I still don't get how it makes sense. If it even does.
>!You never really find out what “the machine” was intended for. They stopped it, but in an episode, Elliot meets up with everyone that died, and it feels like the machine gave him the life he always wanted and was about to marry Angela. He realizes it’s not real. He wakes up, and manages to stop “the machine” before going off. White rose kills herself, thinking she had succeeded. Elliot is hurt and in a coma, where he realizes “Elliot” was actually another personality. You never saw the real “Elliot.”!< It was fantastic edited for spoiler
Yeah it was actually a really good ending. Its worth the watch just to experience the end scene with Elliot in the theatre.
>!Wasn't the machine supposed to be for creating a portal to some parallel universe? Like White Rose wanted to leave this world and go to one where she would be accepted for who she was? I guess that may have just been some speculation!<
It sounded a lot like it, but was not confirmed. She never did that “here’s my master plan” thing. She just said her machine would give them the world they deserved and wanted, or something, but it wasn’t clear. And she believed when she killed herself she’d be in that world.
Something about how there was like a parallel universe where people who died were still alive or people who were alive were dead so you could go into that universe and then you had to kill yourself to wake up there because they built a machine. I honestly have no idea what I’m talking about
You sure you're not describing Fringe?
Damn i love that show.
I'm a bit drunk atm. But your version of events is on the same level confusing as my take, but way more hilarious.
Wait, isn't that the ending of the leftovers?
Eventually I got to the point where any theory seemed plausible. I used to have to schedule in ‘processing time’ after that show.
I watched last Friday's show last night and they got me. WTF is happening!!!???
Which show are we talking about?
My guess is Sugar. It’s top 3, and episodes come out on Friday. WTF I need to get caught up!
last 30 seconds of that last episode is a doozie
When I saw it, the twist didn’t register for me. I assumed it a visual metaphor for how he was feeling post injection (like Trainspotting) It wasn’t until I read an article that it occurred to me that it was literal
A few times earlier in the episode I was like, this is either going off the rails in some ways or they're going to have a hell of an explanation. Yup.
In the first 2 episodes there were enough hints for me to start leaning at this, but I didn't think they would actually do it.
DO NOT spoil yourself. Go in cold.
>!Sugar!<
Is the name of a show really a spoiler?
I think it is because of the fact that you have no idea it is sci-fi until the last 2 minutes of the last episode. It's kind of shocking.
Lol can someone please answer this one, I'm very curious too.
Its called Sugar
I thought this was gonna say I saw last Friday and it turns out the stoner comedy is a sci-fi
It's so weird how they advertise Friday but actually release on Thursday at 9:00 Eastern. Prime Video does the same.
Yeah, I know but I will take it!
I was starting to suspect something, but was hoping I was wrong because it would mean my wife is probably going to check out of the show. We’ll see.
Yea I'm not sure how I feel about it to be honest. Willing to give it a shot but I don't think I've ever seen such an abrupt change of genre before and I'm not sure how the audience will react to it. Bold move for sure.
I understand this very well...
Why even make this comment knowing it's going to lead to spoilers for some people?
Personally, I appreciate it… I had checked out after episode 1 and now I’m interested again.
wait, i don't understand this thread... what show are you referring to ?
Okay, if Apple could adapt the final 3 books of The Expanse that would be great.
Yes, please! I want—nay, need—>!Laconia!< and all that comes with it.
The Laconia stuff is probably my favourite arc of the series.
So many insane moments happened: (major Expanse book spoilers) >!Bobbie holding onto a nuke and launching herself through space to a ship, Durate melting a dude in real time, two of the ring gates closing forever, everybody’s minds starting to merge, Amos and his fake death!<
Shit I never thought about the possibility of Apple adapting the Laconian Trilogy. That would be dope. I need the >!*everyone thinks a ragged band of repentent Martians is about to come through the gate and then WHAM, here comes Laconia bitches*!< scene on screen so bad. Well... that and the entirety of the last three books of course. Getting *Leviathan Falls* on screen would be quite the experience.
The moment in TW when >!Duarte casually turns Cortázar to mist!< really caught me off guard, to the point I re-read it a couple times because I was sure I was misunderstanding something. Is that TW? I think so.
>!”Last man standing” was stated sooo many times in the series across the books. It sticks out a lot more during the second read!<
> Bobbie holding onto a nuke and launching herself through space to a ship Gunny earning her promotion to *Master Chief* *CSI Miami Glasses*
Woah, gotta put the spoiler tags on that!
Same. It just never really slows down once it all starts, and going from >!Holden to Jim, and seeing him broken but still hanging on!<… A+ material.
I'm wondering if the CG budget needed is what scared Amazon away from the final three books.
No, the show runners said that they set out to adapt the first 6 books. After that if someone else wants to pick up the project, they can.
I recall they were continuing as if season 7 would be picked up. That's why they included the Strange Dogs story. I really don't see a reason to include that if that story line was going to be killed all together. It's not even required for the main story going forward. It is the beginning of a thread that they would never get anything out of. I do recall Amazon saying that they weren't going to renew it after season 6.
I think they said in an interview that they kept those plot lines in specifically so that someone else could finish the show later. If you think about it, the entities go nowhere without a 7th season. So adding the dogs makes it seem as though they know there is more to tell but they aren't telling it by choice rather than because they couldn't be bothered.
That is honestly, insanely weird point to make the drop from. Even in the books, the whole Naomi family thing, was not that fun to read. Not for most, maybe for some. And I heard enough from show viewers, to know that they mirrored that opinion. So... they just decided to abandon/wish good luck, for the show at the point, where it would've again turned interesting? I hear the aging part is noted a lot, but... who the hell gives a shit? Just run the better ark after the whole Naomi family fights. Give the good shit. I just... don't get any of these decisions. Unless it was like most of the cast just wanted to see what other projects are out there. edit: Sorry, so for me, it just seems 100% that Amazon did not like to renew it for the more expensive seasons and that's it. I don't really give a shit about any of the comments from anyone else, because they just don't make fucking sense when it comes to the next seasons of the show.
Never thought of them doing that but that'd be dope
Agreed, and if needs to be animated to make it happen on an acceptable budget, I'm cool with that
Come on Apple you can do it!!!!!! Could be one of the greatest things ever. How do we hit up Tim on this.
Hoping they would break out the big bucks to get everyone from the OG show back
On the other hand Prime bringing out *Fallout* was a pleasant surprise
Prime cancelling The Peripheral after renewing it was an unpleasant surprise!
The Peripheral was awesome! I was definitely looking forward to season 2.
Ah man, didn't hear about that. I've been meaning to check that show out, is it even worth it at this point?
It got me hooked up. Futuristic immersive multi player gaming platform. People playing for hours to pay their bills.
I'd say no. It's mediocre at best.
I’d say yes - could read the books if you’re interested in finding out what happens
I'd say watch a few and make your own choice. Book readers are almost never happy with adaptations. Never. Most of their complaints are about changes to the book that won't even be relevant to someone that has never read them.
Prime destroying Wheel of Time was an unpleasant surprise.
[удалено]
At this point I'm surprised anytime a prime show isn't totally boring. Plus they're including more and more ads. No way I resub.
That's on the director of the show. Hiring him for God of War and keeping him on WOT is al on Amazon though!
Sony is the one who makes WOT for Amazon.
this is a travesty. great show concept and they set up what was sure to be an amazing season 2.
that shit is decidedly unfair because i only binged the series after its renewal was announced
The budget was too high. Great show. Amazing visuals. Nolan needs to make his next series self contained in the first season.
Prime has the expanse as well.
Prime also just got Galactica.
Prime has tried to pull off great sci-fi for years, and that was the first one from them I’ve liked to any degree. Not as good as The Last of Us, but I’m not a gamer so I only appreciate them as TV shows
I'm also not a gamer and had ABSOLUTELY no expectations when I started watching Fallout other than kill one hour before going to sleep, I watched the completed series staying until 5 in the morning. I don't think they are that bad, The Expanse, The Peripheral or Picard were also watchable, but I agree that others may be better, on the other hand *Fallout* has been my favourite show of the year so far.
A version of this article has been written every 3 months for the past couple of years.
Correct, every time there’s a new Apple TV show released and they pay publications for publicity
More like every time a new season comes out
Also, every time I read the reddit comments I’m suspicious that there’s some astroturfing going on.
Either way, a great time to sail the high seas, it be.
Yes. This sub can't go a week without an Apple TV+ post. That would lead to many people forgetting that Apple TV+ exists.
I often forget it exists as I don't live in America. I don't think Apple even sells their shows to services or channels in the UK.
and a lot of people don’t know it exists, and my friend says they don’t even have an android app so he doesn’t bother.
Does your friend watch tv exclusively on a phone? That's crazy to me.
Foundation hits that ultra sci fi gasm in me. That three of the same leader with different age was excellent sci fi. Yes it was based on a book but still
Apparently the “Dawn,Day,Dusk” aspect is not in the book. Written for the show. I’m really enjoying Foundation, I’m probably going to read the books between this and the next season (as I think the arc is quite different so there isn’t much to spoil now)
The day dawn dusk are not in the books. However this is a great narrative device to enforce that the Empire is stagnant and in decay. In the books it’s a series of emperors who although different people are so set in the ways of the existing empire are completely unwilling to adapt. I am okay with changes if they follow the spirit of the book. I’ve only watched season one so far. I have a bit of difficulty with the close connections to some different characters and the forced way they seem to be trying to give them supernatural abilities and have them live in different times. I think the dawn day dusk should have been the exception. In the books you meet characters that deal with a specific crisis in a time period and that’s it you never see them again as they are usually long dead by the next crisis.
The second season is superb. It really lands the character arcs across the time jumps nicely.
I will give it a go thanks
Damn that's a super cool aspect of the show, and it's pretty incredible that it wasn't in the books, what a great idea.
The thing to remember is the original books started as a group of connected short stories. Also in a book it’s easier to convey the fact that the empire itself was stagnating and a large part of the problem was the various emperors couldn’t conceive of a failing empire and any suggestion of it was a threat. In a book that spans a long time this is easier to convey then in a show. I think the show did a great job finding a way to use the same actors and use the similar feel that the empire is falling apart.
ironically it's the strongest part of the show by far
It’s an absolutely fantastic contrivance. And the actors (Pace in particular) are turning in a superb performance.
I love trying to read his face as to what's about to happen, but sometimes he's so charming, I can't tell. Lee Pace is brilliant.
Which makes me wonder why they bothered adapting books that they apparently aren't really holding to (and when they try to it's not great either). Clearly they're decent at making some original content.
You are correct. Empire plays a small role in the books. Nothing like the show.
The books are very, very different. Frankly, not a lot of overlap between the books and the series, besides the basic facts of the setting.
Honestly, as a fan of the books, their plot was much better than the adaptation of the actual story. I don't know why they didn't just do that as a show, and build out an OG universe.
Ah makes it even better then! I know it was based on the book but i didnt read it. Hoping for the next season soon!
There are a slew of deviations from the books. Like, a lot. That is not a criticism. I think it's great. The three emperors? That's wholly invented for the show and not from the books. They get full credit for that, and it is brilliant.
Wow that definitely makes it even better experience. I love it so much and its just, so great that not just the dawn day dusk have different POV in life as they age, different iteration also have own point of view in life. Heres hoping for an even better third season
The books while great and written by probably my second favorite sci-fi author do not lend themselves easily to a movie or tv show. They've had to do a lot of work to make the story something worth watching. The books are very much worth reading but as written I couldn't imagine anyone hanging around to watch it. They also needed to do a lot of character gender bending. There are more women in the first episode of Foundation than there were in the entire series of 7 books. Characters weren't Asimov's strong suit, ideas were. That's not just my opinion (of an author I love) but also the opinion of one of the executive producers, his daughter. I'm glad you're enjoying it.
It’s crazy to me how the perception of this show changed. I watched season one and HATED it along with seemingly everyone else, but now it seems like with season two everyone loves it? I’m skeptical to give it another try based on my experience with season one
If you hated S1 you probably won't like it. If you liked the Empire parts of S1 and thought the acting and story of the Foundation parts were ropey then you'll enjoy S2.
Sounds like I might enjoy s2 then. Just so frustrating as a HUGE fan of the books that the show is using the same name haha
The s2 actor additions of Hober Mallow and Bel Riose are also net pluses to s2 > s1
I didn't think S1 was too bad, the books are impossible to translate to screen in a fashion that would be commercially acceptable. The acting was mid, nowhere near as bad as some drama queens made out and sadly there seemed to be a racial component to it which turned into a circlejerk karma farm.
If the books are impossible to translate to screen in a commercially acceptable fashion (which I disagree with, but whatever), then the series shouldn't have been made! I firmly believe that season 1 feels like Goyer wanted to make a different show, but had IP rights to Foundation, so fit components of Foundation to his show so he could call it by the name and get pre-existing fans
You are describing Halo there, compared to that Foundation is the most true to the books series
I don't know man, the Terminus part of season 1 was genuinely terrible if you ask me. They absolutely butchered the characters and ideas from the book. The acting was super rough.
This makes sense though. If the people that hated s1 drop the show then you're left with people who enjoy it. I watched s1 two or three times the first year and while I have some complaints it's still exceptional sci-fi TV.
S2 unleashes Sassy Brother Day and it’s a really great performance. Big contrast in tone to S1 in that regard.
The foundation show is so different from the books saying it's based on a book is a stretch, it's more loosely inspired by the books
Very sad Goyer isn’t showrunner next season. Apple are a bunch of weasels for not giving him the budget he wanted, S2 was incredible stuff.
Counterpoint: Invasion
I'm still 100% convinced it's a money laundering scheme Insanely high budget, no big names, tiny audience, kinda shit - and yet it keeps getting renewed.
Oh, made by Simon Kinberg. The guy who wrote a real bad Phoenix Saga X-Men movie, got a 2nd chance to do it again years later, and still wrote a really bad Phoenix saga X-men movie
I absolutely love it when shit like this happens. The dude who wrote the shit Hitman movie back in 2015 ALSO wrote the shit Hitman movie back in 2007. Personally, I preferred the 2007 movie, but it was still trash, and the dude 100% shouldn't have been given the opportunity to redo it.
I could see what the creators of Invasion were trying to do - basically ground it all in emotion and humanness, but fuck it failed miserably. I was optimistic for the second season but that got so bad I couldn’t even hate watch it to the end - a first for me! Those kids, and that woman screaming for her dumbass daughter all the time. I like imagining the aliens ate every single character.
I can never watch that actress in anything again, her awful mouth open doe eyes shit is so grating.
Wajo
Probably the worst show I ever watch. I fucking love alien invasion genre and this was so fucking shit.
How dare you! There’s dozens of us hate watching it. DOZENS! 😤 WAJO!
Shhh
Second counterpoint: Constellation Worst show I’ve watched all year, I want those hours back.
I got a weird feeling it was going off the rails halfway through and abandoned it. Sounds like I made the right call.
Maybe because they filmed 1 hour of acting/footage with 2 cameras and then created all the episodes from that 1 hour of footage using different angles. Such redundancy. Shows/Movies that make Space sci-fi boring merit a special prize because it takes real talent to mess it up by such a degree.
First half great, second half utter shite. They really didn’t know where the fuck to go with this thing, and it was a decent premise.
Can't all be homeruns. Sometimes you strike out
I wish Apple picked up Raised By Wolves 😭
I sweaaaaaaaar man im still hanging on by a thread over that cliffhanger ending fucks sake
Has been the best for a while. For all mankind, severance, silo, constellation are all great. I’m very excited for dark matter
You liked Constellation all the way to the end? That show fell off a cliff halfway through.
No, the second to last episode was the best of the entire season. The finale fell off hard hard though, went for the wrong vibe entirely.
No spoilers here but I read the book a while ago and just watched the first episode of Dark Matter. It's very very close to what I remember and that has me really interested to see the rest of it play out. It's gonna get wild.
For All Mankind is so good
Really enjoyed the newest seasons.
Did season 4 recover from the cliff season 3 fell off of?
IMO yes and in retrospect s3 did a solid job at setting it all up
Yes. S4 is a vast improvement over S3.
Excited to see Dark Matter! Thought the book was fun!
First two eps are already out
It's been a minute since I've read it but it felt pretty close to what I remember visualizing when reading it so far.
Had no idea this was even in the works and now I see it just started. Damn, this is exciting! Loved the book!
I just finished the audiobook for Dark Matter and cannot wait to see it adapted. Especially the last parts of the book. Shit got crazy.
I'm really hoping Dark Matter does very well. I loved both Dark Matter and Recursion (also written by Blake Crouch), and I would love for Recursion to get adapted too.
Recursion was my favorite of the Crouch books I’ve read (listened to) so far. Wayward Pines was great too (The TV series was not!)
Netflix bought the rights to adapt Recursion years ago but I don't think they've actually done anything with it yet. hopefully dark matter is a hit and it gets Netflix to realize they should start putting recursion together.
Recursion was absolutely phenomenal.
Hah, definitely. There’s a clear point where - for me at least the story goes up a gear.
I liked *Dark Matter* but *Recursion* is on another level imo. Not sure how it would work as a show, though.
agreed, both books are fantastic but i actually thought recursion was better.
I’ve been seeing it get some hate on Reddit/booktube but god that book was FUN to read
It's a Blake Crouch book right? He reminds me of a slightly elevated Jeremy Robinson, they write a lot of fun stuff that might not always be super hard sci-fi or heady but it's easy to pick up and rip through in a day or two.
It’s the summer blockbuster of books. It’s great entertainment and if you think too hard about it some of it won’t make sense so it’s best to just turn the brain down and enjoy.
I read a comment that said ‘I hope you find someone who loves you as much as Apple tv execs love sci-fi’.
If Apple TV blew up earlier, it would've been a solid spot for Black Mirror
There some obvious SF shows but a large number of what they call SF shows are only SF in the first and last 5 minutes of each episode and the rest is about family/relationship problems.
They should buy Raised by Wolves. Even tho it got really weird that 2nd season
I think that is what made season two so special. The willingness to do something unique.
I really wished 3body problem would have landed at Apple+. Friggin netflix still hasn't renewed the show for season 2.
“The recent premiere of Dark Matter is just the latest in the service’s growing genre lineup, which leans more on original stories than massive franchises.” The way they use original stories is misleading. Dark Matter and Foundation are anything but original stories.
“Constellation” doesn’t get talked about, but I thought it was the best sci-fi show on the platform. I really enjoyed Silo and Severance too, they are both incredible, but Constellation really hit harder for me. It is sooo well made. The sets for the International Space Station are incredibly realistic, you can compare them with some YouTube ISS tours filmed by astronauts, every little minute detail was captured in the show’s sets, it’s a crazy achievement. I read that astronaut Scott Kelly was an adviser on the show, and it shows, I’ve honestly never seen a more realistic depiction of the ISS on the screen. And the moody scares and the plot kept me on the edge of my seat. I absolutely loved this show. Great concept, really well executed, fantastic scares. L And the acting is so good. Noomi Rapace is consistently flying under the radar throughout her career but she is as good as ever. Jonathan Banks is fantastic and has arguably the juiciest role on the whole show (saying more would give too much away), the little girl in the show (apparently played by twins) is so good, one of the best child performances I think I’ve ever seen. It’s really surprising more people aren’t hyping this show online. I must’ve missed the memo on why I shouldn’t like it as much as I do, I don’t know what’s going on there, but I enjoyed it immensely. My biggest criticism is just that the show relied too much on its non-linear gimmick by frequently looping back around to show the same events from a different perspective. I thought those were sometimes completely unnecessary , as it was clear what was happening even on the first go-around. I could’ve done with less retracing of the steps and more moving the plot forward. Hopefully they address this in the next season.
As someone who watched the whole season of constellation, the reason it's not talked about more is that it seemed to just drag on and on trying to get the characters to figure out what we've known for several episodes now. It just got a bit boring at times. And then the part at the very end; I honestly have no idea where the writers are going and I don't have confidence that they do either. Probably still watch season 2 just to see if they figure it out or not, but we'll see. Honestly, I'm not sure if the severance writers can figure out where they're going, either, but that show hit for me in a way very few shows do. I was literally yelling at my TV in the last few minutes of the finale. Constellation did not hit me like that at all.
I mostly agree. Constellation had enough plot for a 2 hour movie and they dragged it out for 8 episodes. For the last 5 episodes I kinda hate watched it with a friend, but the more I thought about it afterward, the more it made sense. They had some interesting ideas and good performances and set up a lot of clues, but the pacing was downright glacial. I really hope they don't do a season 2, because I feel like they wrapped up everything in season 1. All the plots are done. All the characters have finished their arcs. I'm satisfied with the ending it has.
I don’t agree that the ending was satisfying without a season 2. Without spoiling it, the whole point of the ending was the characters accepting that “there is nothing I can do to fix this” and just giving up. It doesn’t sit well with the fact that they still had many unanswered questions, so clearly there is more to the story that we haven’t seen. And so this doesn’t mesh with the characters going, “I’m just going to give up and accept my current predicament.” They haven’t made any announcements one way or another, but I hope season 2 does happen. Which is why I want more people to see it and want to see more discussions of it online.
“pacing was downright glacial” I feel that. Apple has some great shows, but I find that the ones I get amped for start off sooo slow that I may not make it past the second episode. Constellation was that way for me - I don’t think I made it to episode 2.
I get what you mean, I also feel like it took the characters way too long to catch up to what the audience already knew. But I don’t think it affected my enjoyment of the show. In terms of where the show is going, the creator of the show said he already knows what the “final beat” of the show will be and has ideas for the things that will lead up to it. Whether that gives you the confidence to stay with the show is a different matter. I’m old enough to have seen many mystery shows like this, so I know that the payoff doesn’t always work, but it’s usually as much about the journey as the destination with shows like this. You just have to sort of accept that when you sit down to watch a multi-season mystery show like this.
I've seen a bit of praise for it on r/DarK of all places. That's where I heard about it for the first time.
It’s not a time travel show like Dark, but it actually does have a lot of thematic similarities to it. It makes sense why a fan of Dark would like this show, I totally get it.
I loved Constellation, if not only for the cabin episodes & the cats Schroedinger (>!She goes into the cabin, there’s a living cat. She goes into the cabin, there’s a dead cat. She goes into the cabin, there’s a dead cat & an alive cat!<). It isn’t so much that they’re using superpositions as a narrative device (which I nevertheless appreciated), but that it was executed well. I did hate how effectively half of an episode appears as flash forwards in previous episodes, which makes me wonder why they couldn’t settle for shorter episodes instead of cheaply padding them. I mean, Bear proved there’s merit to 30 minute dramas, so why be afraid of them?
I gave up on it 4 episodes in. While it was visually conpelling it quickly felt like it was going nowhere. Plus a lot of painful dialogue
Ironically, Episode 5 is the one where the shit hits the fan, so you gave up at exactly the wrong moment. Oh well.
It was ok. No way is it the best sci-fi on apple tho - poster is on meth
It's true and and my personal opinion is *it's not just Sci-fi*. Their comedy, general drama shows and other genre are also superior. They release weekly episodes rather than the seasons. AND *NO FUCKING ADS because it's a streaming service!* Honestly, if someone is genuinely interested in high quality TV, go for AppleTV+ subscription. Highest ROI you'll ever get out of this "streaming war".
Severence is the best current show running, imho.
Such a great show.
Apple TV is really leaning into the SciFi and it is great.
Sure except Constellation and Invasion both bored me to tears.
People keep saying this and i guess i would agree, however there are no really GREAT, MUST WATCH sci fi shows, its just a bunch of shows that range from mediocre to decent.
Hard disagree there. Severance is probably the best "mysterious stuff going on" sci-fi since Lost. Even non sci-fi fans love it. I think it's the definition of must watch TV. For All Mankind is a sci-fi made for sci-fi fans. If you are a big space person the show is amazing. It's got a more niche audience but it's absolutely a must watch for that niche. Outside of those two sure, things get less "must watch" and I'd say other streaming platforms have similar quality.
I’d put silo above for all mankind personally. And I love for all mankind!
Love silo! I just think Silo has more competition (post apocalyptic, small band of survivors) then those other two shows that have more unique plots.
Has anyone read the books that Silo is based upon? Are they worth a go?
Severance is definitely a must watch. Foundation is pretty good but inconsistent. The rest are average at best.
the exception imo is Severance. Legitimately one of the best shows, of any genre, of the last few years, imo.
Apple TV PR machine is it’s most valuable asset.
Huh? Apple shows are woefully unknown relative to their quality. If anything, Apple should market them better.
Came to say Monarch 🪐❤️🦋
It's still behind Netflix and Amazon Prime for me. **Apple TV** has Severance/Foundation/For All Man Kind/Silo. **Netflix** has Dark/Black Mirror/Stranger Things/Love, Death, and Robots/Travelers/The Umbrella Academy/Altered Carbon/The OA/Sense8. Not to mention some incredible non English language sci fi. **Amazon Prime** has The Expanse/Fallout/The Peripheral/Tales From The Loop/Paper Girls/The Boys/Gen V/etc.
What do you mean “still”? You are listing shows on competing platforms that came out years before Apple TV even existed. If this is the criteria you use, Apple TV will never “catch up” because it’s not like they can go back in time and back-fill a catalog of older shows. It’s like if you have an older brother or sister, and you say, “I’m still younger than you.” Yes, and unless they die, you will *always* be younger.
Many of those Netflix shows ended though. If we’re talking about currently airing thaen yeh apple is definitely ahead.
Apple TV has consistent quality.
Bring back firefly!
After I read dark matter, I knew it had to become a show. When I found out about it I flipped out. I am down with Apple TV+
Silo!
I loved the Dark Matter book, I hope the show is as good!
Yeah their whole line up is incredibly good. There are maybe 4 shows I haven’t watched but all of their sci-fi stuff has been off the charts good.