Halo: The Series thoughts

[CharlesPhipps]

So, I've been watching the first two episodes of the Halo series and I thought I would share my impressions of the show.

1. It's an alternate continuity: This was probably a good decision because you don't want fans obsessing over every possible detail of the setting. It's very noticeably the Halo universe but it's different in a lot of areas that we'll deal in. The Independents are not wiped out yet, humanity isn't yet completely on the backfoot, and the Covenant is a little less genocide happy (or at least haven't wiped out every world with humans on them they find). Also, John works as part of a team like in Halo V. Then again, none of this is exactly divergent either. John was working alone on the Halo ring because Reach had been wiped out.

2. They amp up the human vs. human conflict: The UNSC vs. the Independents is a lot more relevant than it ever was in the games. Mostly because the Independent Colonies were all wiped out by the Covenant. This is obviously because dirty humans in Mad Max outfits are a lot easier to film than CGI Covenant aliens. However, I also think it's not a bad story decision because it emphasizes how morally ambiguous and awful ONI's experiments were.

3. It's a slow burn: Two episodes in and Reach is still intact, we've only heard of the Halo, and Master Chief hasn't even merged with Cortana. So there's a lot of sense this is a prequel as opposed to something that just jumps into the existing story. I think a lot of fans were expecting to start the series with John crashlanding on Halo or following the games more closely and they will be disappointed.

4. John takes off his helmet: I know some fans are going to treat this as the same as Judge Dredd doing so.

5. Halsey's weird ass relationship with the Spartans is intact: I like how they keep the fact she's a woman who kidnapped a bunch of children, experimented on them, and made them super-soldiers but is also their only mother figure as well as closer bonded to them tahn her own daughter. One of the best moments of the first episode is when Halsey countermands an order to the SPARTANS to kill John and the other Spartans obey because, of course they do.

6. Some genuinely good moments: Ignoring the plot hole about how John was able to find his friend, Soren, after decades and no human contact, I actually did like the oddity of John's reaction to dealing with a Spartan deserter who had a family.

7. The first episode had good action: They blew a lot of the CGI budget having the Spartans slaughter the Covenant in an actual fight-fight so there's no action whatsoever in the second episode but if they can do more scenes like that, I'd appreciate it.

8. Not all humans can use Forerunner tech: Only a select number like John and the Human Covenant "Prophet" (who is obviously a prisoner and doesn't know it). This is actually canon to the games but you'd never know it.

Right now it feels like, "Not as good as the Expanse but pretty good."

[CharlesPhipps]

Paramount has made the first episode freely available on Youtube.

Edit:

Sadly gone now.

[CharlesPhipps]

Episode 6:

I was not sold on Miranda's actress until we got her eyes and reaction shot to Halsey trying to be maternal.

Her reaction shot is like, "You are completely fucking crazy and I never realized until now."

Halsey also deserves an emmy for the sheer Bunny-Ears Lawyer Epic Fail of trying to explain herself to her daughter with lines like, 'I don't believe in family.'

[BBally81]

Looks like Halo helped Paramount Plus in the streaming wars.

Love it or hate it, #HaloTheSeries seems to have accomplished its goal, as #ParamountPlus had a 6.8M boost in subscriptions globally,for a 39.6M total on Q1 2022, compared to 32.8M on Q4 2021.
Allied to its other streamers, #Paramount has 62M subscribers overall

https://twitter.com/Luiz_Fernando_J/sta ... _&ref_url=

[CharlesPhipps]

Looks like Halo helped Paramount Plus in the streaming wars.

Love it or hate it, #HaloTheSeries seems to have accomplished its goal, as #ParamountPlus had a 6.8M boost in subscriptions globally,for a 39.6M total on Q1 2022, compared to 32.8M on Q4 2021.
Allied to its other streamers, #Paramount has 62M subscribers overall

https://twitter.com/Luiz_Fernando_J/sta ... _&ref_url=

Also, people who show up back for Picard.

[CharlesPhipps]

https://collider.com/halo-most-watched- ... ount-plus/

Halo is now the most watched thing on Paramount Plus.

[Frustration]

Halo is now the most watched thing on Paramount Plus.

Because Picard is awful.

[CharlesPhipps]

Halo is now the most watched thing on Paramount Plus.

Because Picard is awful.

And yet the second or third most watched thing.

[Frustration]

Because people are slavishly devoted to Star Trek, and they wanted to see how bad it was going to be.

Think for a moment how shocking people would have found it if, after TNG ended, they had been told a series based on a video game got more attention than a new ST series.

[CharlesPhipps]

Because people are slavishly devoted to Star Trek, and they wanted to see how bad it was going to be.

Think for a moment how shocking people would have found it if, after TNG ended, they had been told a series based on a video game got more attention than a new ST series.

The theory that everyone is hate watching is less believable than Covid was made by Aliens.