Altered Carbon (1st 5 episodes)

This weekend, my wife & I watched the first 5 episodes of Altered Carbon, a dystopian cyberpunk noir series from Netflix based on the novel of the same name by Richard Morgan. We both really enjoyed it. It has a lot of interesting transhumanistic and social themes, including ideas about the nature of humanity and evolution of identity that I find intriguing. It feels to me like if the characters from Neuromancer (Gibson) were placed in the backdrop of Transmetropolitan (Ellis). There are also elements of the anime/manga Battle Angel Alita (Kishiro) – itself soon to be made into a movie with James Cameron at the helm – with an elitist city in the sky and classism both dividing society and controlling it.

Ordinarily, I avoid spoilers in my posts, but in this case, some appear as reference points to illustrate concepts in the series that I find interesting.

I’m unsure whether the story’s background is more appropriately cyberpunk or post-cyberpunk. The former deals with “low life and high tech” while the latter moves past the initial integration of man and machine to a culture in which technology is a pervasive and normal facet of life for most people. This series has elements of both, with the grittiness of cyberpunk ever present, alongside an acceptance of ubiquitous technology in everyday life and an exploration of its ramifications across many strata of lifestyles. How the rich interact with and utilize technology is different from how the poor do, there are religious and cultural reactions to technology, and, to make labelling the genre a little more difficult, humans have spread from Earth and now inhabit other worlds on which there are traces of alien technology.

Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams

My wife & I finished watching “Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams” on Amazon last weekend. Its a 10-episode sci-fi anthology series based on writing from PKD that’s been called Amazon’s answer to Netflix’s Black Mirror. I love that it represents another investment in speculative fiction on video.

A lot of the series deals with ideas such as subjective vs. objective truth, the nature of humanity, societal and individual power balance, and the effects of technology on human society. It often blends these themes, and others, into varied flavors of sci-fi. Some of the themes and ideas touch on topics that have been getting more media focus in the current political climate, both here in the US and abroad in other countries – especially those dealing with issues related to classism and racism and media’s filtering of current events. I find it interesting that Phillip K. Dick was exploring these themes in the 1950s, and that they’re still relevant and even more actualized now. As brighter minds have conjectured, yesterday’s science fiction has become today’s science fact.

Preacher (Pilot)

So, wifey & I watched the pilot episode of Preacher last night and weren’t really happy with it. I know its getting rave reviews online from people who’ve never read the graphic novels, and that’s fine, but the comic is one of our favorite series. I know a lot of people love Sandman, but Preacher is what made me a Vertigo reader. Hell, for those of you who read it – she included “Until the end of the world” in our wedding vows! We’re going to catch a few more episodes to see if it develops into something we’re happy to watch, but in the meantime, here are a few thoughts:

Characters

• Jesse (Dominic Cooper): I know its the same actor who played Tony Stark‘s father in Iron Man, and I don’t confuse the 2 characters at all, so that’s good. However, he doesn’t have the presence and matter-of-factness that Jesse does in the books, and he’s not wearing the white jacket or trousers. I also really didn’t like the scene with the boy who spoke about Jesse “doing things” before he was a preacher. That wasn’t a thing in the books and changes the tone of his character and reputation completely for me.

Breaking into Facebook

Its NaNoWriMo. Since I’ve been writing more on this blog (its still far behind my main bass blog) I’ve decided to make a Facebook page to accompany it, so it won’t be so lonely all the time. If you’re inclined, feel free to Like the page, and if you have friends who are on FB but don’t have WordPress accounts, they can poke around there and see if any of the articles pique their interest as well.

• Facebook: Breaking the 4th Wall

17th Precinct

Sometime last year, I was speaking with some friends about a police procedural show with members of Battlestar Galactica in it. I had seen the pilot online a long time ago, but couldn’t remember the name. It was based on the premise that the world had developed via magic instead of science and that recently lines between worlds had blurred and something from ours (science) had entered theirs (magic) in the form of a bullet.

I finally found the show I was looking for. Its called 17th Precinct. Only a pilot was produced and it wasn’t picked up by a network. Here’s a link where it can be viewed online – its 4 years old now:

• 17th Precinct (Pilot episode)

I would have loved to have seen it get picked up for at least a season. It looked like it had potential, to me. It has ideas that are similar to Grimm and Constantine. I also thought the setting was really creative. I watched it again tonight and was happy to see all of the little details, like the plants growing on the underside of the bridge, which I’d imagine were used to power magic, and the use of necromancy and other magical arts to aid in solving crimes.

Its very much how I’d imagine a setting like Shadowrun could incorporate magic into its everyday workings. The show feels a little bit dated now that I’ve rewatched it, but it doesn’t detract from the ideas that it presents. If you’re interested in urban fantasy, take a look at the pilot for a taste of what could have been.

• Wikipedia: 17th Precinct

Supergirl and thoughts about a better tomorrow

The Supergirl tv series debuted earlier this week. I re-watched the pilot, after having seen the leaked version 6 months ago. Knowing that it finally aired and having read 2 unrelated but thought-provoking comic series recently (Saga and Irredeemable), I had some thoughts about her, heroism and the world in general.

First – some thoughts on the series:

1. It was better than I thought it would be, when it came to action and special effects
2. Kara is really soft and insecure for someone with the same powers as Superman
3. Its not aimed at my demographic

With that said, initially, I didn’t hate the series, but I didn’t love it either. It was entertaining, but especially after watching Agent Carter and seeing Sun from Sense8 in action, I wanted more. This probably isn’t the series that’s going to give it to me though. Again, demographics.

Now that I’ve seen it a 2nd time, its grown on me. I wasn’t impressed at first, but I can appreciate the construction more, and it was actually smoother after a repeat viewing. I think Kara’s general mousiness at work burrowed more deeply into my memory than her actions as Supergirl. I don’t think any of the women I know in real life are quite that timid yet oddly open with people at work at the same time – its like a strange flavor of bipolar disorder.

Lucifer (Pilot)

So, last night wifey & I watched a leaked stream of the Lucifer pilot that was screened at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. Overall, it looks fun. The special effects budget is high and the one-liners were funny. I’m actually not very familiar with the character. I know Neil Gaiman created him for Sandman back in the 1990’s, but I only know the little I’ve picked up from reading on the internet. Wifey knew a little more though, from having read more Sandman than me, and from some other DC stuff. She recognized some things from the comics, but overall, said that its not the same – I know that he looks different. He’s blonde in the comics and dark-haired here.

Here’s the trailer:

Anyway. Here are some initial thoughts:

Daredevil (Season 1)

So, wifey and I finished watching Daredevil two weeks ago. I came in from reading the comic back in the early 90’s. She was completely new to the character. We both loved the series. Its easily our favorite superhero show, although we haven’t seen many of the other supers series yet (we’ve seen a little of Arrow and Agents of SHIELD, but not too much). I was more impressed with Arrow than SHIELD, but haven’t seen more than the first 4-5 episodes of either.

Daredevil was released by Marvel & Netflix. Its a 13-episode series, but its success has been so great that a second season has already been ordered. I don’t know all of the actors very well, but that’s usual for me. Here’s who we have though:

Main characters:

• Daredevil/Matt Murdock: Charlie Cox – not familiar with him. He’s British.
• Foggy Nelson: Elden Henson – not familiar with him, but he became my favorite supporting character
• Karen Page: Deborah Ann Woll – I know her as Jessica, from True Blood. She does a great job here.
• The Kingpin/Wilson Fisk – Vincent D’Onofrio – familiar with him from Law & Order: Criminal Intent

Other important characters:

• Claire Temple: Rosario Dawson – I know I’ve seen her, and wifey named like 20 of her movies.
• Vanessa Marianna: Ayelet Zurer  – not familiar with her
• James Wesley: Toby Leonard Moore – not familiar with him, reminded me of Claire’s dad in Heroes
• Ben Urich: Vondie Curtis-Hall – not familiar with him. He’s white in the comic, but black here.
• Leland Owlsley: Bob Gunton – not familiar with him