Westworld: lots of potential, but does it have legs?

[Occhidiangela]

My son and I have enjoyed the first season, particularly as it has motivated him to now read Asimov's robot stories (which he started when I Robot came out but lost interest in as they did not match the film). He's now able to appreciate nuances a bit better.

While my pet fan theory regarding the sleight of hand being pulled in the last few episodes is yet to go into finished form, I think that a solid case can be made for a good season 2, but then what? A lot of the ground covered in this TV series was covered in the Terminator canon ... but that's not completely fair. There are a lot of stories repackaged and retold that work out well enough.

Have any of you watched it, and did you enjoy it? Cast was good, production value solid, though my wife and I were both a little puzzled at the blatant gratuitous nudity and gratuitous violence, though the latter at least has the "violent dreams have violent ends" theme to back them up. (Her comment on "game of thrones heads west of the Pecos" strikes me as too true). My son's more or less "meh" on that score since he feels that they keep having to one up themselves.

(heh, as I was typing this I accidentally hit the short cut that opens starcraft, broodwar, which caused Kerrigan's face to overwrite the Lounge. Synchronicity is cool when you encounter it.)

Anyway: Westworld, what's your take on it, Lurkers?

[LennyLen]

I watched the series during the last week, and definitely enjoyed it. I saw the movie quite a few years ago and while I liked it I was disappointed in what I thought was a movie that had great potential but didn't quite meet it. The TV series has done that for me by taking that initial idea and then adding so many other great concepts that I'm a big fan of - the nature of humanity and consciousness; what it means to be alive and self-aware; can true AI ever come from from code itself, or will it arise unplanned as an emergent property?

I don't find the nudity or violence to be gratuitous. Most of the nudity is non-sexual and makes sense within the narrative of the story - hosts have no need for modesty, and keeping them naked would help the staff to maintain an emotional detachment, as it strips the hosts of their humanity (nudity was/is often used on torture victims/POWs to dehumanize them). The whole park is based on the theme of excessive sex and violence so it makes sense to show it. I also just watched Spartacus a couple of weeks ago, and compared to that, the nudity and violence in Westworld is nothing.

As to the question of then what after a second season? I can't really see them being able to carry out a solid story for more than another season, so I'd prefer they ended it there rather than draw it out with filler material.

[kandrathe]

Sorry for the thread necro. I just watched season one, twice.

I think it is in fact pretty brilliant. The story was incredibly detailed and complex. My measure of screen writing is in how quickly I can predict the plot lines. As I'm so used to the same tired stories being dressed up in different characters. The second season is beginning filming, so I'm anticipating a glorious second season. The first story arc seemed to be more in the difficulty in keeping order, which is a Crichton staple in theme parks and a nod to the screenplays theme. What would it be like if the animatronic pirates of the Caribbean took over the ride? But, the levels were deep. Delos thought it was taking control from Ford. Ford was trying to enable the hosts to find their own control. Ford losing control of his own mortality due to old age. The gradual evolution of empowerment of Delores and Maeve. So much more...

If you haven't seen this series, then just go do it.

[Nick1389]

I also watched the series and find the idea of them very interesting!