Halo (TV Series) | Paramount+ March 24, 2022

[Johnny Utah]

I subscribed to him after he nailed Boba Fat.

 

[henzINNIT]

I'm OK if you don't agree. We all don't have to agree. The kind of world I want to live in includes people who disagree with me.

I'm OK that you liked it or feel differently from my views. You don't appear to be OK that I have a different opinion on TLOU2 than you.

Critical Drinker has what I feel is a good overall take on how many fans felt about TLOU2.

Critical Drinker sucks, and letting him speak for you is lame.

I'm totally fine with people not liking TLOU2. It's bleak as hell, and not for everyone. That said, when someone says a video game 'literally stuck out a middle finger to fans' and intentionally 'incited' and 'punished' players, I will reasonably assume they brought that baggage to the game and not the other way around.

My issue is the substance behind buzz-words like 'agendas' and 'politics'. TLOU2 is not political. Women, gay people, trans people are not 'political'. It's called the human condition. Objecting to seeing these people in games is not political either. It's something else. If these objections were over a person of colour, it'd just be racist. And I've seen the whole rancid spectrum when talking about this particular title.

 

[Garlador]

I think a major conversational issue with discussing things like TLOU 2 is it’s often difficult to explain without being lumped in with bad faith arguments that assume you just resent strong women or “woke” decisions, when it’s simply a matter of storytelling.

And also the acceptance that a base-breaking decision could be divisive without being entirely bad, but that doesn’t make you dislike it any less.

I’m feeling that with Halo here. Some decisions have a certain amount of logic or good-intentions behind them… but I still completely hate those decisions.

 

[chrisstbh]

I'm OK if you don't agree. We all don't have to agree. The kind of world I want to live in includes people who disagree with me.

I'm OK that you liked it or feel differently from my views. You don't appear to be OK that I have a different opinion on TLOU2 than you.

Critical Drinker has what I feel is a good overall take on how many fans felt about TLOU2.

He hates almost everything though. I blocked his videos from showing up and they still somehow get recommended to me.

 

[Spartan Rex]

Watched the first episode last night and surprise,surprise ……I hated it.
Steve Downes is the only voice for MC.
The kid in me sighed deeply when that helmet came off.
Pablo doing his Bale/Batman voice was awful.
Capt Keyes is the wrong color (Sorry, not sorry) (Seemed like a good actor though)
…and he takes a shot at MC! (Who really isn’t)
Miranda Keyes is just….
Is it mandatory now that all screenwriters have to take a class on how to work in ethnic girls to be the real hero's of all sci-fi/fantasy/superhero stories?
Storytelling is just dead anymore it’s now just checking pc boxes for the studio.

Its just all woke garbage, so onto the Hollywood compost heap u go with your ilk.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

Critical Drinker sucks, and letting him speak for you is lame.

I'm totally fine with people not liking TLOU2. It's bleak as hell, and not for everyone. That said, when someone says a video game 'literally stuck out a middle finger to fans' and intentionally 'incited' and 'punished' players, I will reasonably assume they brought that baggage to the game and not the other way around.

My issue is the substance behind buzz-words like 'agendas' and 'politics'. TLOU2 is not political. Women, gay people, trans people are not 'political'. It's called the human condition. Objecting to seeing these people in games is not political either. It's something else. If these objections were over a person of colour, it'd just be racist. And I've seen the whole rancid spectrum when talking about this particular title.

You are clearly not fine with people not liking TLOU2. But you do you.

You have a beloved character than any fans spent a long time with in the first game. Then Druckmann shamelessly lifts the grim plotline from The Walking Dead where Glenn meets his end and infuses it for TLOU2 while ignoring that ending Glenn drove away a ton of fans from TWD.

Then the game forces you to play the psychopathic killer ( who manages to hit the secret Cross Fit gym three times a day in a world of pure scarcity) while gaslighting you the entire time that she's not so bad and she had "reasons" All this while force feeding backdoor identity politics and relentless sadness porn. It's like Joel and Ellie joined the cast of "This Is Us"

That's my take. If you don't agree, you don't agree. If you see it some other way, you see it some other way.

I see seeds of this kind of direction in Halo. Master Chief is part of the evil patriarchy/establishment and that's why he executed the POC mother of the show's other main character.

The basic question always applies - Are you trying to tell a story or are you trying to hammer fist people into the ground with a "message"? If it's the later, you will lose enough of your fanbase that you will cause the franchise to die.

 

[chrisstbh]

Watched the first episode last night and surprise,surprise ……I hated it.
Steve Downes is the only voice for MC.
The kid in me sighed deeply when that helmet came off.
Pablo doing his Bale/Batman voice was awful.
Capt Keyes is the wrong color (Sorry, not sorry) (Seemed like a good actor though)
…and he takes a shot at MC! (Who really isn’t)
Miranda Keyes is just….
Is it mandatory now that all screenwriters have to take a class on how to work in ethnic girls to be the real hero's of all sci-fi/fantasy/superhero stories?
Storytelling is just dead anymore it’s now just checking pc boxes for the studio.

Its just all woke garbage, so onto the Hollywood compost heap u go with your ilk.

I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either. I'll watch it for the spectacle at least.

Aside from the race swappin this version of Keyes just has none of the precense of the game Keyes voiced by Pete Stacker. I don't get why they made this version of Miranda such a wimp, the game version is strong and brave/nuts.

 

[henzINNIT]

You are clearly not fine with people not liking TLOU2. But you do you.

You have a beloved character than any fans spent a long time with in the first game. Then Druckmann shamelessly lifts the grim plotline from The Walking Dead where Glenn meets his end and infuses it for TLOU2 while ignoring that ending Glenn drove away a ton of fans from TWD.

Then the game forces you to play the psychopathic killer ( who manages to hit the secret Cross Fit gym three times a day in a world of pure scarcity) while gaslighting you the entire time that she's not so bad and she had "reasons" All this while force feeding backdoor identity politics and relentless sadness porn. It's like Joel and Ellie joined the cast of "This Is Us"

That's my take. If you don't agree, you don't agree. If you see it some other way, you see it some other way.

I see seeds of this kind of direction in Halo. Master Chief is part of the evil patriarchy/establishment and that's why he executed the POC mother of the show's other main character.

The basic question always applies - Are you trying to tell a story or are you trying to hammer fist people into the ground with a "message"? If it's the later, you will lose enough of your fanbase that you will cause the franchise to die.

Well that is a take. It amazes me how precious people are about Joel. This is 'The Last Of Us'. A series built on loss and grief. First game focuses on a parent that lost their child, the second is about a child that lost their parent. As soon as we knew Ellie was the protagonist, Joel's fate was pretty much inevitable. And he killed many, many more people than Abby 'the psychopath'. Again, the 'gaslighting' you refer to is clearly your own baggage. It's funny that creative decisions made to explore human empathy have been met with pure hostility in some people. Naughty Dog grossly over-estimated their audience with this one. There was obviously a story told with pt2, but because you didn't like it, it must have been some sinister 'message'.

But let's not derail this thread further. There's a sucky Halo series to discuss.

 

[jaztermareal]

Some people cannot separate criticism of some media from their own personal identity. I LOVE Prometheus but I do not get offended by talking about its many problems because it is true. That movie has many, many issues.


Criticism of poor writing often illicit's strong reactions from those emotionally invested in the IP and that often translates to an assumption that the critic hates said IP or is some form of bigot (shoot the messenger rather than confront the points made) but really the strongest criticism will come from those who care most about an IP because they want the best from it.


People who love an IP no matter how bad the writing etc will obviously have more of a fun time while watching but since they only consume product, their lack of criticism guarantees the IP will not improve, instead it will become even more low effort. We NEED critics to identify the issues in modern media so it can improve, just as we need consumers to voice complaints when products such as shoes or cars have problems.


I don't agree with everything critics like "Critical Drinker" say but he does at least make far more good valid points than bad ones. He also doesn't hate everything as his "drinker recommends" videos would indicate.


So what do I think of Halo? Me personally, I found the first episode to be meh. I can see seeds of where it might develop in the future and it could get good, but at the same time I saw many issues in the writing and also the visual effects. I also feel it lacks the feeling of Halo, the colour of it.
I can forgive the story going its own direction provided where it is going is better than the pre established canon (I doubt it will) and I can forgive showing chiefs face (we know he has a face and we aren't playing a game so no need to hide it for us to insert ourselves into, we can already identify with named characters who show their faces in other properties anyway) but I do find the deus ex machina method of escape in the final act of the first episode unforgivable, and if that is the caliber of writing we can expect from the rest of the series I am very concerned.

Also Kwan's hair cut is unforgivable. Why does hollywood seem to do their best to uglify asian actresses? (Rose Tico's hair and potato sack outfit in TLJ were bad enough but Halo somehow introduced an even worse haircut. Joe Exotic had better hair).

I also just watched Halo episode 2 and the show shomehow continues to feel cheap. There were many scenes where it seemed as if they just used the first take for time and budget. The costume design is also so generic that it at times looks like any other space fantasy/ Sci Fi show on TV. many extras could have walked in from Star Trek, Farscape, the Expanse etc etc etc.


I fully expect this show to continue to go downhill from here and flop, but I still somehow hold hope that it will improve. The writers are clearly ignoring the Halo lore and visual style so I honestly think that the show should have been its own thing not connected to Halo at all, but then again the studios would likely not greenlight such a show without brand recognition.

So, will we see a good, well written adaption of Halo one day before the IP dies off from heat death? I think this show has delayed that possibility by a decade.

 

[Dave_W]

Go to right before he picks up the mini gun and throws his rifle on the ground. It’s a CGI rifle and it looks like a PS2 cutscene lol.

Coulda just put a rifle prop on the ground?? Probably cheaper?? And quicker??

 

[Spartan Rex]

Nice to see Keir Dullea.
Other than that…

 

[Spartan Rex]

Finally got to see Master Chiefs a$$!at long last.
And I was worried they were taking off his helmet.
Best show ever.
Yeah baby!

Why do I do this to myself?

(The original Cortana voice is back which did make me smile for a sec.)

 

[Ramatuelle]

You know, I know next to nothing about Halo and *even I* was like "WTF?!!" when they made M.C. take off his helmet halfway through the episode. At least Mando waited a while before we saw his face - and still saw it far too soon, imo.

Kwan's haircut is I'll-****ing-sue-you levels of bad. You know what, just buzz her head, I really think that would be kinder. Let's go full GI Jane.

Jazter: The writers are clearly ignoring the Halo lore and visual style so I honestly think that the show should have been its own thing not connected to Halo at all, but then again the studios would likely not greenlight such a show without brand recognition.

Too true. I expect this to devolve into the usual talking-heads-with-no-action crap that most of these series' devolve into. Those effects are expensive, yo.

Cant wait for Disney's "The Acolyte" that'll be great too ..../s:
R.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

Why do I do this to myself?

(The original Cortana voice is back which did make me smile for a sec.)

I rewatched New Jack City a few months back. And I had not seen it for years and years. Basically decades to be honest. Back then, I thought it was a fun movie. And yes, I watched it on VHS. LOL.

But now, in current times, I stopped and I asked myself "Why is Nino Brown deciding to put all the drugs in the city into one location and then has his future brother in law run the computer system to database all of it." This was definitely not David Simon and The Wire going on here. Then I asked myself why is G Money hiring Pookie, a crack head, to run a major section of his drug operation while also befriending someone he doesn't know ( Ice T before he hobbled around for two decades on SVU) and telling him all his secrets.

It wasn't a fun movie anymore. It had one really good line ( "Sit your five dollar ass down before I make change!") and just a lot of bizarre plotlines that honestly didn't make all that much sense in the end.

When we get old, we see everything in the viewpoint and lenses of our daily lives. The grim reality of surviving day to day adult life is kind of a hamster wheel where everything boils down to is this worth my time, is this worth my irritation, what hoops do I need to jump through to get this done, what does this person want from me, etc, etc. And you can't turn that off, no one can turn that off, when they consume modern media.

When the Bridesmaids version of Ghostbusters came out, I was just disgusted. It was like watching a piece of my childhood get carjacked. Nostalgia is so powerful. A time when you had fewer obligations and more roads ahead of you and less attrition from day to day life.

Some agenda driven Hollywood suits decided to rob your childhood in front you but now you see it through the eyes of a likely world weary working stiff. Then when you understand the pathology behind the agenda, they've insulted you twice over by pretending they aren't doing it in the first place or condescending to you that the "message" is good for you but you just don't know it yet.

I don't know why Judd Nelson is in New Jack City. He just stands around in not so competent 90s fashion and is constantly grinning. I think Mario Van Peeples just had a huge hard on for The Breakfast Club.

But I have to be honest. If I saw today's Halo in 1991 when I saw New Jack City, I'd have thought it was the greatest thing to ever be made on the entire planet. Even if Judd Nelson was in it.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

Also Kwan's hair cut is unforgivable. Why does hollywood seem to do their best to uglify asian actresses? (Rose Tico's hair and potato sack outfit in TLJ were bad enough but Halo somehow introduced an even worse haircut. Joe Exotic had better hair).

My guess three things happened

1) Mullets were making a type of comeback in fashion when the ground work for Halo was being laid in production ( Sue in Raised By Wolves has a prominent mullet too)

2) The theme of Kwan Ha Boo's tribe might have some leanings towards the ancient Mongolian culture.

3) The reality of modern casting is some Hollywood suit wanted someone both biracial and also patently given an ambiguous aesthetic

From a storytelling perspective, I find it unfortunate. It helps to seed Master Chief's motivation to save Kwan if he envisions her like a sibling. I.E. to give balance and guidance and safety in a way that he and Soren never had. There is simply another layer in the dynamic between fathers and young daughters and mothers and young sons in general narratives. Tony Soprano was much different and you saw much more nuance when he was with his daughter Meadow, than he was with his son AJ. By making Kwan more ambiguous, the story was robbed of a fairly natural protective dynamic that's instinctive in the overall human condition.

 

[chrisstbh]

Master Cheeks, you mind telling me what you’re doing with that dump truck?

 

[John117-]

I think ThreeA/Threezero had the Halo license, not sure if they still have it.

I hope Prime 1

 

[Bleah]

Master Cheeks, you mind telling me what you’re doing with that dump truck?

Sir, twerk it all night.

 

[jye4ever]

Cortana is not allowed to be sexy sit down you savage toxic males BUT master chief naked bring it on that’s OK!

 

[jaztermareal]

If Romeo and Juliet were made today using the same formula that resulted in adaptations like Halo:

Romeo (they/them) is a differently-abled activist listicle writer by day in the year 2051 who faces racism in the workplace, while by night they is Juliet, a burlesque performer at the local LGBT+ community bar.

Romeo/Juliet must battle bigotry at every turn while evading the robotic ICE agents looking to deport them, all while a tyrannical business mogul turned president with yellow hair seeks to enact his supremacist ideals on the country and unleash a virus to wipe out all POC's. Romeo must learn to fully embrace self love of their alt identity as Juliet, fully transitioning into stunning form in order to lead an uprising against the supremacist capitalist bad guys so they can become the true leader of the country, the first trans president of colour, bringing true equity to all the oppressed minorities through reparations and the deportation of white men. The film ends with the border walls torn down as smiling differently legal citizens run to their new paradise home, eyes glowing with hope.

The film is praised by critics for its diverse cast of 90% African American actors and its important current message of anti capitalist patriarchal whiteness. The writers state they did not read the source material but felt that Shakespeare's works were an important platform and that the story needed to be modernised to make it relevant for current day audiences.



Fans of Shakespeare are branded racist bigots for wanting a more traditional take on the classic story. Statues of Shakespeare are torn down and his works removed from universities as he becomes synonymous with white supremacy and bigotry. Social media profile pictures are changed for a month in solidarity with the anti Shakespeare movement.

The film fails to make back its full budget at the box office but is held up by its fans as an important win for representation in Hollywood and it goes on to win 2 Oscars for its lead and the screenplay.

The planned sequel is quietly shelved two years after its initial announcement due to poor box office projections and the lead actor is accused of misconduct off screen by 3 individuals leading to an announcement of a break from acting in service of a period of spiritual self reflection. No actual apology is issued but the cases are settled out of court with little coverage in the media.

A decade later a more faithful adaptation of Romeo and Juliet goes on to be a box office hit despite calls for it to be boycotted by activists on twitter who brand it a symbol of hate.