Halo: TV Series on Paramount Plus

[Emn1ty]

On 27/03/2022 at 07:16, George P said:

You bring up some interesting points but...

 

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The idea that Silver Team is a alternate setup for blue team isn't much of a big deal since going off of core canon fireteams have the same 4 person setup.  And also in core canon MC doesn't work with just blue team, he's worked with other fireteams before, it's really nothing new.

 

As far as only seeing Elites in the start, sure it might be a bit of a shame but we're going to get Grunts and Jackals at some point because you can clearly see them in the trailers.  You can just explain this away by saying it was a small team just sent to retrieve a key Forerunner artifact on the hush hush and get back to HC.  Only reason they attacked was that they were spotted by the kids IMO.  I don't think the Profits would let anyone other than Elites handle and collect valuable artifacts lore wise.  Though we see Brutes take that role more later, in H2, after the Profits decided to backstab the Elites story wise.  

 

As far as the parts with Miranda and her dad, honestly the core canon doesn't give us much as far as I'm aware.  Miranda is never touched on much aside of her side character status in H2 and H3, she's pretty much 1 dimensional as far as the games go.  And I don't know if any of the books used her, but I haven't heard of any.   Captain Keyes is pretty much the same thing, aside from the bits we have of him in Reach and H1, we have no flushed out backstory, that I'm aware of.   So we don't know how he'd act to orders, specially from high up.  They're in the military, you follow orders and they're at war so...   Who's to say how he'd act?

 

The memories being locked away, I'll give you that one,  I think it's a creative change made so they can tell the type of story they're going for with MC, something Halo 4 and Infinite go into more than the first 3 games.   Going for a more humanizing story, so remembering your family works, otherwise if you're aware of your past and still just a advanced killing machine who follows orders to the letter, what do you fall back on?  It's too early in the story to play the Cortana key, which is what the games used.    I actually think it's a more realistic version of what would happen if you get snatched up and brainwashed into being a no questions asked killer.  

 

I also think Halsey isn't that far off from her original version, if anything she goes counter to the Generals orders and tells the team to protect MC, it's just one episode so we'll see how it goes but as far as core canon goes, it's been noted that the only one Halsey respects/fears is General Parangosky so they show a bit of that in the episode.  The chicks in charge of Oni, she's not someone to mess with even for the Dr.  

 

Spoiler

I don't mind the Silver Team setup, it's fine overall and makes sense. I also don't mind much the large group of Elites, not a deal breaker either just a missed opportunity in my opinion.

Regarding Miranda, we knew a decent bit about her from Halo 2 and I think there was some stuff in the books. Captain Keys, though, was covered heavily in The Fall of Reach and The Flood books. To say they were just background characters without much backstory isn't really true. There's a lot of info here: https://www.halopedia.org/Jacob_Keyes

 

Halsey isn't too far off, but she's also younger in this show than she is in the games / books. Overall it's mostly nitpicks, and my biggest annoyances are around them focusing on things that they've injected into the Halo story rather than things that are an extension of it.

 

[George P Global Moderator]

On 28/03/2022 at 10:16, Emn1ty said:

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I don't mind the Silver Team setup, it's fine overall and makes sense. I also don't mind much the large group of Elites, not a deal breaker either just a missed opportunity in my opinion.

Regarding Miranda, we knew a decent bit about her from Halo 2 and I think there was some stuff in the books. Captain Keys, though, was covered heavily in The Fall of Reach and The Flood books. To say they were just background characters without much backstory isn't really true. There's a lot of info here: https://www.halopedia.org/Jacob_Keyes

 

Halsey isn't too far off, but she's also younger in this show than she is in the games / books. Overall it's mostly nitpicks, and my biggest annoyances are around them focusing on things that they've injected into the Halo story rather than things that are an extension of it.

 

I don't know how far this first season will go in the timeline and if we're going to get to the events of Reach followed by the first game. 

 

It's too soon to say at this point. I'd rather they don't rush things. Either way they're pulling from the early books timeline wise so far.  

[spacelordmaster]

I think the series is great. That pilot episode was mind blowing. The dude playing Master Chief is a very good actor. He was the bad guy on the movie "Den of Thieves" - a great film by the way. As far as him removing the mask so early, even though we knew who the actor was, that should have waited a little longer. Also, I had no idea Master Chief's name was John!!!!

 

Interesting to see where the series is going.

[George P Global Moderator]

On 29/03/2022 at 07:11, spacelordmaster said:

I think the series is great. That pilot episode was mind blowing. The dude playing Master Chief is a very good actor. He was the bad guy on the movie "Den of Thieves" - a great film by the way. As far as him removing the mask so early, even though we knew who the actor was, that should have waited a little longer. Also, I had no idea Master Chief's name was John!!!!

 

Interesting to see where the series is going.

They could've waited longer to make it more dramatic but I think they wanted to get it out of the way early and be done with it.  

[George P Global Moderator]

Episode 2 is out, it's a slower one, world building as one would expect.   We'll probably be back to some action in ep3.

[Steven P. Administrators]

First episode is available to watch for free from the U.S.

 

 

[techbeck]

On 31/03/2022 at 15:45, George P said:

Episode 2 is out, it's a slower one, world building as one would expect.   We'll probably be back to some action in ep3.

Spoiler

Thinking Cortana will come in to play next episode.

 

[George P Global Moderator]

On 02/04/2022 at 02:48, techbeck said:

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Thinking Cortana will come in to play next episode.

 

Probably a safe bet.

[+Random Stranger Subscriber¹]

On 01/04/2022 at 20:49, George P said:

Probably a safe bet.

Wow. Never played Halo outside of first game.

 

To be honest I am surprised how much I enjoyed the first 2 episodes... 

 

I had fun and I hope it continues. I think it is better that I did not care for the games and approaching it as a new scifi show.

 

[George P Global Moderator]

On 02/04/2022 at 23:02, E.Worm Jimmy said:

Wow. Never played Halo outside of first game.

 

To be honest I am surprised how much I enjoyed the first 2 episodes... 

 

I had fun and I hope it continues. I think it is better that I did not care for the games and approaching it as a new scifi show.

 

You're basically the target audience they're going for.  Not so much the die hard canon fans who played all the games and have read all or some of the books. They've been upfront about it and expected to lose those fans in the process.

 

I know enough of the canon and see the changes, but it's a alternate version so I'm interested in this new take.

[hagjohn]

On 02/04/2022 at 17:16, George P said:

You're basically the target audience they're going for.  Not so much the die hard canon fans who played all the games and have read all or some of the books. They've been upfront about it and expected to lose those fans in the process.

 

I know enough of the canon and see the changes, but it's a alternate version so I'm interested in this new take.

The die hard fans wouldn't have liked it either way. At least this way, the show can pursue their own path, instead of trying recreate what has been done.

[George P Global Moderator]

On 03/04/2022 at 01:11, hagjohn said:

The die hard fans wouldn't have liked it either way. At least this way, the show can pursue their own path, instead of trying recreate what has been done.

Pretty much.  This is often the case with every fanbase out there.  None of the MCU movies are 1:1 retellings of the comic books they're borrowing from.  And you can go down the list to many more.  In the end of the day I just want a good show or movie and not something that gets canceled after one season.

 

I hope we get many seasons, for now at least there's a second one on the way. 

[sava700]

I liked the first one but there is no way I'm watching week to week - I'll wait till they are all released then watch.

Same with Picard, madalorian, boba and whatever....its just frustrating to wait like they do week to week.

They are only hurting themselves doing that IMO vs releasing the whole season

[AmberClad]

This show is not Halo. It's an Expanse knockoff made by someone who doesn't know what Halo is. In fact, these first two episodes are quite the affront to Halo. But even if you've never caught even a whiff of Halo, there is nothing to like in the abysmally stupid plot that's been presented so far. Nothing makes any sense whatsoever:

Spoiler

• Starting from any colony not knowing the Covenant is real, as if live broadcasts from any hit colony wouldn't be a thing;
• Through the UNSC trying to kill some girl for talking back to them, then undermining "Chief"'s belief in them (throw the brat in a brig until she mellows out, or kill her whenever you want, later when you have her, don't make "Chief" do it if he's showing signs of reluctance);
• Through the magically plot-convenient Forerunner artefact with the miraculous power to restart exactly and only what our protagonist needs in order to advance the plot;
• Through the behaviour of the ancoms at "the Rubble" when "Chief" arrives, and the entire physics of the dumb train ride to and fro the little asteroids;
• Through the convenient lunatic Padan Fain who's been a captive of the Covenant and for some reason has learnt that Halo is a weapon, not what the Covenant believes (that the rings are portals that will allow them to begin their Great Journey), and thus what he could have overheard if he were a Covenant captive;
• To the Covenant taking orders from a human, or treating a human as an equal, when killing all humans (yes, literally all of them) is a crux of their motivations;
• To most other things in the show, if not all other things.

"Chief" is in quotes because this man is certainly not the real Master Chief, but that's beside the point.

 

Do not encourage these talentless hacks that create garbage. And do try to have some standards with your "entertainment", would you? Otherwise it's just embarrassing.

 

Some guy thought the Expanse was cool and tried to shoehorn a series about humanity working together and the camaraderie of soldiery into a wrong mould, desperately trying to convert it into some "gritty" tale about oppression or whatever. But, like another hack fraud once said, the queue of endless trash is infinite... as are the queues for it, really.

[George P Global Moderator]

On 03/04/2022 at 02:44, AmberClad said:

This show is not Halo. It's an Expanse knockoff made by someone who doesn't know what Halo is. In fact, these first two episodes are quite the affront to Halo. But even if you've never caught even a whiff of Halo, there is nothing to like in the abysmally stupid plot that's been presented so far. Nothing makes any sense whatsoever:

  Reveal hidden contents

• Starting from any colony not knowing the Covenant is real, as if live broadcasts from any hit colony wouldn't be a thing;
• Through the UNSC trying to kill some girl for talking back to them, then undermining "Chief"'s belief in them (throw the brat in a brig until she mellows out, or kill her whenever you want, later when you have her, don't make "Chief" do it if he's showing signs of reluctance);
• Through the magically plot-convenient Forerunner artefact with the miraculous power to restart exactly and only what our protagonist needs in order to advance the plot;
• Through the behaviour of the ancoms at "the Rubble" when "Chief" arrives, and the entire physics of the dumb train ride to and fro the little asteroids;
• Through the convenient lunatic Padan Fain who's been a captive of the Covenant and for some reason has learnt that Halo is a weapon, not what the Covenant believes (that the rings are portals that will allow them to begin their Great Journey), and thus what he could have overheard if he were a Covenant captive;
• To the Covenant taking orders from a human, or treating a human as an equal, when killing all humans (yes, literally all of them) is a crux of their motivations;
• To most other things in the show, if not all other things.

"Chief" is in quotes because this man is certainly not the real Master Chief, but that's beside the point.

 

Do not encourage these talentless hacks that create garbage. And do try to have some standards with your "entertainment", would you? Otherwise it's just embarrassing.

 

Some guy thought the Expanse was cool and tried to shoehorn a series about humanity working together and the camaraderie of soldiery into a wrong mould, desperately trying to convert it into some "gritty" tale about oppression or whatever. But, like another hack fraud once said, the queue of endless trash is infinite... as are the queues for it, really.

All media is subjective. What you like or don't like isn't going to exactly what others do.   No reason to come off as being all high and mighty with your opinion, talking about "standards" and something being embarrassing.   If a show isn't liked it won't do well and it'll get canceled.  

[Steven P. Administrators]

On 03/04/2022 at 01:44, AmberClad said:

This show is not Halo. It's an Expanse knockoff made by someone who doesn't know what Halo is. In fact, these first two episodes are quite the affront to Halo. But even if you've never caught even a whiff of Halo, there is nothing to like in the abysmally stupid plot that's been presented so far. Nothing makes any sense whatsoever:

  Hide contents

• Starting from any colony not knowing the Covenant is real, as if live broadcasts from any hit colony wouldn't be a thing;
• Through the UNSC trying to kill some girl for talking back to them, then undermining "Chief"'s belief in them (throw the brat in a brig until she mellows out, or kill her whenever you want, later when you have her, don't make "Chief" do it if he's showing signs of reluctance);
• Through the magically plot-convenient Forerunner artefact with the miraculous power to restart exactly and only what our protagonist needs in order to advance the plot;
• Through the behaviour of the ancoms at "the Rubble" when "Chief" arrives, and the entire physics of the dumb train ride to and fro the little asteroids;
• Through the convenient lunatic Padan Fain who's been a captive of the Covenant and for some reason has learnt that Halo is a weapon, not what the Covenant believes (that the rings are portals that will allow them to begin their Great Journey), and thus what he could have overheard if he were a Covenant captive;
• To the Covenant taking orders from a human, or treating a human as an equal, when killing all humans (yes, literally all of them) is a crux of their motivations;
• To most other things in the show, if not all other things.

"Chief" is in quotes because this man is certainly not the real Master Chief, but that's beside the point.

 

Do not encourage these talentless hacks that create garbage. And do try to have some standards with your "entertainment", would you? Otherwise it's just embarrassing.

 

Some guy thought the Expanse was cool and tried to shoehorn a series about humanity working together and the camaraderie of soldiery into a wrong mould, desperately trying to convert it into some "gritty" tale about oppression or whatever. But, like another hack fraud once said, the queue of endless trash is infinite... as are the queues for it, really.

I was under the impression that readers of the book series really liked the direction The Expanse took, having not read any of the books, I really enjoyed the series and I thought it set a high bar for a sci-fi show.

 

What is, in your opinion then, a "good" sci-fi show not written by hacks?

[FloatingFatMan]

Whilst I don't share the low opinion on Halo (so far), I can certainly see the fans point of view.  I'm pretty pee'd off about what's happened with Foundation, Dr Who, Star Trek and Star Wars... So I can't really say Halo fans don't have a point.  Show creators these days seems to be only interested in putting their own stamp on another authors creation, and as far as I'm concerned, that's completely disrespectful to the creator AND the people who treasure the universe they created.

 

If you're going to make an existing IP into a TV show or movie, RESPECT THE DAMN SOURCE MATERIAL OR DON'T BOTHER!

 

[Steven P. Administrators]

On 07/04/2022 at 22:36, FloatingFatMan said:

Whilst I don't share the low opinion on Halo (so far), I can certainly see the fans point of view.  I'm pretty pee'd off about what's happened with Foundation, Dr Who, Star Trek and Star Wars... So I can't really say Halo fans don't have a point.  Show creators these days seems to be only interested in putting their own stamp on another authors creation, and as far as I'm concerned, that's completely disrespectful to the creator AND the people who treasure the universe they created.

 

If you're going to make an existing IP into a TV show or movie, RESPECT THE DAMN SOURCE MATERIAL OR DON'T BOTHER!

 

Sometimes budgetary constraints dictate how close to the source material showrunners can get.

 

I saw all 6 seasons of The Expanse, and even book readers loved the direction the show took with the very limited scope in regards to the source material. Complainers were mainly diehard fanbois, the type who can never be pleased.

 

Back on topic, not being a diehard fan or even a gamer of Halo I thought the Cortana stuff was a bit tacky, I also think the scientist modeling avatars of herself in her own image is a bit creepy. She seems to have a lot of power, so much so:

 

Spoiler

that the army has to secretly try and get someone else to take her place.

 

The worst part about episode 3 was how that "Elite" human girl was able to board the UNSC ship with aliens, and then triumphantly walked through the hangar like nothing was up despite all of the soldiers firing their weapons randomly, (none of which directed their weapon at the invader girl) and the head guard who miraculously makes it back to the bridge didn't think to use his weapon on the girl either?

Yeah that was also tacky.

[George P Global Moderator]

On 07/04/2022 at 23:36, FloatingFatMan said:

Whilst I don't share the low opinion on Halo (so far), I can certainly see the fans point of view.  I'm pretty pee'd off about what's happened with Foundation, Dr Who, Star Trek and Star Wars... So I can't really say Halo fans don't have a point.  Show creators these days seems to be only interested in putting their own stamp on another authors creation, and as far as I'm concerned, that's completely disrespectful to the creator AND the people who treasure the universe they created.

 

If you're going to make an existing IP into a TV show or movie, RESPECT THE DAMN SOURCE MATERIAL OR DON'T BOTHER!

 

I never read the foundation and enjoy the tv show itself.  The target audience for many movies and tv shows is broader than just the fans of the original source material.  There's also something to be said about trying something new or putting a new spin on something.  We've seen this happen often in many things, it's always the more vocal fans who don't like any minor changes that get made.

 

What's wrong with viewing these things as their own version and not trying to match them to their books or games? The Harry Potter movies aren't exactly like the books and have taken their share of liberties, yet they were very successful and also got people to buy and read the books after.

 

If the Halo show or the others you name, do the same and bring in new fans, then they're viewed as a success.  I also don't think any creative out there wants to just rehash what's been done.    We've just gotten yet another version of Batman from Matt Reeves and it's great.  

[FloatingFatMan]

On 07/04/2022 at 23:02, George P said:

What's wrong with viewing these things as their own version and not trying to match them to their books or games? The Harry Potter movies aren't exactly like the books and have taken their share of liberties, yet they were very successful and also got people to buy and read the books after.

Fans don't generally require everything to be exact. There were a lot of changes in Foundation that were fine (the 3 emperors thing was kinda interesting), but it's when they screw with core fundamentals that fans tend to lose their sh**.  For Foundation it was a killer robot, which is an absolute nono in the Asimov universe.  The whole reason he created the 3 Laws of Robotics was because he utterly despised the "Frankenstein Complex" and wanted robots to be mankind's partner. Yes there was the "Zeroth Law", but it was never used to actually kill.   (Source, decades long fan who corresponded with Dr Asimov a few times and even met him once, many years ago in New York).

 

For Doctor Who, it was the Timeless Child nonsense (plus the terrible story writing).  Again, screwing with the very core of the universe and disrespecting the original story (not to mention William Hartnell).

 

You can change the non-essential stuff, but when you alter the core, it's fundamentally destroying what the original creator built, and then it's no longer the universe the fans love.

[techbeck]

Latest episode was good IMO.  Tho I think Cortana could have looked less like a video game character and more realistic.   Other than that, I am liking it.  Was hoping  for some more action but I am sure that is coming. 

 

As far as comparing the books/movies/games/tv shows...I never really have.  While I notice changes, I also know that things will be different.    If things like this bothered me so much, I would choose to stop watching.  I will keep watching as long as I find it entertaining. 

[George P Global Moderator]

I expect them to tweak if not flat out change Cortanas look for season 2.  I also expect more action soon, if not next ep then in 5.

[George P Global Moderator]

Well, we got our action in ep5, not a full on invasion but still shows what the Covenant can do with one ship.  And man, got our first look at Brutes etc. 

[+Random Stranger Subscriber¹]

You guys keep mentioning Expanse.

 

 

I am now watching the show and I will read the books after.

 

Nothing wrong with this.

 

But people who read the books to first also seem to love the show.

 

Halo... It there seem no such consensus. With my minimal exposure to Halo - I am loving the show for what it is - with no expectations. But if I had them.... Pretty sure I would be ###### off.

 

 

[sava700]

Ok so I watched the first EP.... waited to watch those up till today and I'm disappointed. The first ep was bait and nothing more.

So far there was more action in the first 10minutes of the 1st ep than all the others combined.

So far its nothing more than a very long annoying soap opera with very little action if any.  I think I have two more EPS to catch up till today so I'm hopeful I see someone shooting something soon.