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[Sho_Nuff82]

Those two characters are so ridiculously cliched that I really did roll my eyes at them.

Kind of makes you wonder

Spoiler

if there is a layer of abstraction to the WestWorld tech support. What if they are sentient AI tasked with looking after other budding sentient AI? The "WestWorld scenario" might just be entertainment for another society of more advanced humans.

 

[ffejeromdiks]

They were also obviously going for a twist there for fans of the original. Every expected Teddy to be the hero, while Ed Harris to be the gunslinger from the original.

It's too bad they showed Marsden dying in almost every single trailer, would have made a nice surprise :/

 

[diaspora]

So within the context of an... MMO(?), the h

Spoiler

osts are NPC/quest characters and the guests are the players. Ted the NPC's storyline involves him coming to the town with the players on the train.

Or am I off base?

 

[WhiteRabbitEXE]

So within the context of an... MMO(?), the h

Spoiler

osts are NPC/quest characters and the guests are the players. Ted the NPC's storyline involves him coming to the town with the players on the train.

Or am I off base?

Yeah, basically that's it.

 

[Grizzlyjin]

So within the context of an... MMO(?), the h

Spoiler

osts are NPC/quest characters and the guests are the players. Ted the NPC's storyline involves him coming to the town with the players on the train.

Or am I off base?

You don't have to spoiler discussion about the episode or speculation that isn't from preview material.

But you're right. Teddy is probably there to ease people into the experience. They get to interact with a host on the train before they're thrown full hog into Westworld. Kinda like how the group of guys recognized him from last time. You could get Teddy to show you around, or you could keep walking and get roped into helping hunt down a bandit

 

[Blade30]

I just watched it and loved it.

So within the context of an... MMO(?), the h

Spoiler

osts are NPC/quest characters and the guests are the players. Ted the NPC's storyline involves him coming to the town with the players on the train.

Or am I off base?

Yeah that's about it.

 

[robotzombie]

Black Hole Sun also was playing on the auto-piano.

Best thing about the whole pilot

 

[GeoNeo]

Loved it

Should I watch the 1973 movie?

 

[diaspora]

The sheriff then trying to ask players/guests to help with the bandits is basically an NPC talking to the player to get them to accept a quest then. And now the NPCs look like they're evolving.

 

[WhiteRabbitEXE]

The sheriff then trying to ask players/guests to help with the bandits is basically an NPC talking to the player to get them to accept a quest then.

That's exactly what it is.

 

[Khoryos]

Loved the pilot. I think my main question is that if the man in black is a guest, why are the people in charge not picking up on what he's doing and keeping tabs on him? I assume they can and do watch everything that is going on in there and you would think a guy who has been coming for 30 years would be a point of interest for them. I just figured they would pick up on his conversations and what he's doing and try to put a stop to it.

What makes you think he's doing anything he isn't supposed to?

Say you run Westworld, and you've got players that have been coming for years. Eventually, they're going to get bored of the content you have for them - and a bored player isn't going to come back.

So you start introducing higher-level content, more complex quest chains, easter eggs - and the harder they are, the more tries it'll take to beat them.

You seem to be starting from the assumption that the secrets he's looking for aren't for players, but we've no reason to assume that it's anything more than Bigfoot in GTAV.

 

[More_Badass]

The sheriff then trying to ask players/guests to help with the bandits is basically an NPC talking to the player to get them to accept a quest then.

Basically. And Dolores out painting is like those random NPCs you see doing stuff around town in Red Dead Redemption

 

[Blade30]

Black Hole Sun also was playing on the auto-piano.

Now I know why it sounded very familiar to me.

Fun Fact, Nolan and his wife played GTA as a (sort of) research regarding A.I. etc. for the show.

JOY: It’s funny, I’m not really a gamer, but part of what we did to prepare for this – much to Jonah’s delight – was play video games together to understand the rules of gaming and to introduce myself to them. I played Grand Theft Auto as part of that research, and what a weird job that that was the research, but as I was playing it, I realized that I’m a weird player for this stuf.

http://collider.com/westworld-jonathan-nolan-lisa-joy-interview/

 

[More_Badass]

Now I know why it sounded very familiar to me.

Fun Fact, Nolan and his wife played GTA as a (sort of) research regarding A.I. etc. for the show.

It really is a video game show

The rest of that quote

Individuals are very different in their reactions to violence on screen. I abide by the rules and the laws of the streets when I play Grand Theft Auto. I stop at stop signs and I don’t run over anyone. I’m a terrible player, in that sense. I just enjoy driving around the streets and looking at the buildings, which I know is not how you’re meant to play it. But when you do play it, you’re not meant to feel guilt about plowing down 400 pedestrians. You’re meant to enjoy the ride, and you’re encouraged to do that in a lot of gaming and a lot of different forms of entertainment.

With this show, where we’re meditating on a new kind of game where it’s brought to life, one of the things we definitely set out to do was to not give the audience that same ease of having no second thoughts about morality or what your role as a player is. We wanted to bring a mirror up to the player and saying, “Is this really what we should be doing? What does this mean that we’re playing this way?”

I wonder if they played Red Dead Redemption. The opening of that game is basically how you enter Westworld

 

[thenexus6]

Yes Steven Ogg!

 

[Sho_Nuff82]

It really is a video game show

The rest of that quote


I wonder if they played Red Dead Redemption. The opening of that game is basically how you enter Westworld

The quote really speaks to the way I felt about playing Trevor in GTA5. I can live with the guys who are violent for seemingly justified reasons of getting ahead, but a guy who is violent for the sake of it rubbed me the wrong way. I hated playing his missions, what an ass.

 

[golem]

Starting with the twist right at the beginning that the dude visiting dolores is a host and the man in black is the guest

Yeah i really like the way that unfolded too

 

[More_Badass]

Yeah i really like the way that unfolded too

Yeah, that was a clever way to start things off, and it really caught me off guard. A smart way of manipulating and subverting your expectations

 

[Feorax]

The MIB visiting for 30 years and the last critical failure being 30 years ago can't be a coincidence, surely?

 

[ffejeromdiks]

It really is a video game show

The rest of that quote


I wonder if they played Red Dead Redemption. The opening of that game is basically how you enter Westworld

I wonder if this is how Stephen Ogg was considered for his role, playing Trevor really opened the door for a lot more high profile character work.

 

[More_Badass]

I wonder if this is how Stephen Ogg was considered for his role, playing Trevor really opened the door for a lot more high profile character work.

Yeah, he's popping all over as a scumbag jerk character. Walking Dead, Westworld, Better Call Saul

 

[fierrotlepou]

Man, this blew me and my friend away. Really looking forward to the second episode. The premise is amazing and it actually makes you think about our future and where we're headed.

That guy playing Dolores' father did some quality acting there.

 

[Einchy]

HBO has another hit, fantastic pilot.

 

[Corpsepyre]

Is the theme park part of a virtual world or is it all real? For some reason I was leaning towards the former, given how they can so quickly come over and disrupt scenes.

 

[WhiteRabbitEXE]

Is the theme park part of a virtual world or is it all real? For some reason I was leaning towards the former, given how they can so quickly come over and disrupt scenes.

It's a full-size physical location. The staff is in a facility at the bounds of the park.

 

[Mr. Bad Example]

I'm liking it so far, and a lot of the performances are great--Ed Harris and Anthony Hopkins are killling it as usual, and the actor playing the Shakespeare-quoting dad was a standout. I'm definitely going to keep watching, although I find myself wondering if the park has any kind of software versioning system in place at all, let alone a QA department.

 

[Brakke]

Yeah they have version control, that dude from The Hunger Games suggested rolling back the "reverie" changeset.

 

[btrboyev]

I can already tell this show is going to get awfully boring. I don't see how long this story can go unless it goes full blown A.I take over.

 

[Hari Seldon]

My wife and I did not care for this at all. I'll give it one more episode though. It all just seems so slow and predictable. Watching the same good morning scene 5 times in an episode is not compelling television.

 

[CassSept]

'Paint it Black' kind of made me lose focus since I immediately recognized the song but didn't think that was it, as a result I focused more on the song (which is quite good, hey) than on the scene.

That's my only complaint though. The show is beautiful and very intriguing. I just wonder how in control Ford is. I do think he know that the hosts are becoming self-aware, question is whether that was intentional or not.

 

[More_Badass]

'Paint it Black' kind of made me lose focus since I immediately recognized the song but didn't think that was it, as a result I focused more on the song (which is quite good, hey) than on the scene.

That's my only complaint though. The show is beautiful and very intriguing. I just wonder how in control Ford is. I do think he know that the hosts are becoming self-aware, question is whether that was intentional or not.

His comments and aside looks during the talk about mistakes implies that it's definitely intentional IMO

 

[More_Badass]

My wife and I did not care for this at all. I'll give it one more episode though. It all just seems so slow and predictable. Watching the same good morning scene 5 times in an episode is not compelling television.

Groundhog Day and Edge of Tomorrow are pretty compelling

 

[ElRenoRaven]

Just got done watching the first episode and goddamn I'm hooked harder then any show has hooked me in a hell of long time. Really really well done. I don't' think any show has ever hooked me in one episode but maybe 3 or 4 shows ever.

 

[Corpekata]

Don't get how anyone could think it was virtual, I've seen that a few times now. Like, did you not see all the scenes with the staff interacting physically with the robots? The mass storage? The old decrepit Wild Bill (at least I think that was supposed to be him). These are things that don't make any sense in the context of a virtual park. Hell the entire character of the corporate woman makes no sense at all worrying about virtual robots hurting virtual humans.

 

[ffejeromdiks]

I can already tell this show is going to get awfully boring. I don't see how long this story can go unless it goes full blown A.I take over.

...Lol...If you can't pickup that that's exactly where the show is heading then I don't know what to tell you. Guess you're not very privy to painfully obvious foreshadowing.

You really think everything is just going to go according to plan after watching the pilot?

 

[Jack Scofield]

It's a full-size physical location. The staff is in a facility at the bounds of the park.

Yeah, it's all real, but it's pretty confusing at first, since the entire thing looks like an artificial environment (especially with all the green plant life). I guess it's possible the entire thing could be a controlled biome as well, like the Truman Show.

If not, then I guess the real world in Westworld has some funky-looking deserts.

 

[Hari Seldon]

Groundhog Day and Edge of Tomorrow are pretty compelling

Groundhog Day has BFM and edge of tomorrow is an action movie. I am already watching this exact show done better as BBCs Humans. The west world pilot was less interesting than that show even with probably 10x the budget and a dream cast.

 

[More_Badass]

Groundhog Day has BFM and edge of tomorrow is an action movie. I am already watching this exact show done better as BBCs Humans. The west world pilot was less interesting than that show even with probably 10x the budget and a dream cast.

You can tell that in one episode?

And going by the Wikipedia summaries, the premises are nothing alike besides having synthetic beings and questions about AI and consciousness

 

[SkyOdin]

Loved the pilot. I think my main question is that if the man in black is a guest, why are the people in charge not picking up on what he's doing and keeping tabs on him? I assume they can and do watch everything that is going on in there and you would think a guy who has been coming for 30 years would be a point of interest for them. I just figured they would pick up on his conversations and what he's doing and try to put a stop to it.

Put a stop to what? Torturing, raping, murdering, and scalping hosts? All of that stuff is by all appearances completely within the norms of what the guests usually do in the themepark. It is telling that not a single depiction of the guests in the pilot episode was positive. Even the staff seems to have a detached disdain for the guests.

The man in black? The staff probably see him as one of their best customers. He probably gets the red carpet treatment from the staff and is at the top of their promotional mailing list. They know exactly what he is doing and condone his every action. Hell, they probably design characters and storylines to suit the tastes of him and other reliable customers like him.

The man in black isn't an aberration, he is presented as the very embodiment of the "guests" as a whole, much like how Delores is presented as the ideal host. The fact that they both have deeper layers to them shows how the entire world has deeper layers to it.

 

[Oscar]

Loved it

Should I watch the 1973 movie?

Definitely, it gives you a taste of what other biomes/worlds exist in the park.

 

[Einchy]

Groundhog Day and Edge of Tomorrow are pretty compelling

Source code, too.

Having a narrative that repeats doesn't automatically make something not compelling.

 

[ffejeromdiks]

My wife and I did not care for this at all. I'll give it one more episode though. It all just seems so slow and predictable. Watching the same good morning scene 5 times in an episode is not compelling television.

I'd say it absolutely IS compelling television. Having a television show set in a repeating loop gives you so much more creative freedom than you would initially think. We're going to get a knowledge of what to expect as the season goes on, similar to how you "know" everything that's going to happen in Majoras Mask or Dead Rising after you've played it enough, you gain an intimate knowledge of the worlds systems and rules, but in Westworld those systems are built to be broken, you can't really get that in linear television.

Experienced guests who "know the script" will get to manipulate the events in fun and exciting ways, it's all really clever and you don't really get things like this in any medium unless something like time travel is introduced.

Plus the concept makes it so easy to introduce and "deactivate" cast members at will and I'm sure there will be tons of meta-commentary to comment on the coming and going of prolific roles. Not to mention how a Season 2 could play with the idea of just...a new script, new characters, that is fucking exciting to me, nothings ever been done like this on television and the metric fuckton of world building and rules introduced in the first episode has me questioning how anyone could find that episode slow.

 

[WhiteRabbitEXE]

Yeah, it's all real, but it's pretty confusing at first, since the entire thing looks like an artificial environment (especially with all the green plant life). I guess it's possible the entire thing could be a controlled biome as well, like the Truman Show.

If not, then I guess the real world in Westworld has some funky-looking deserts.

I'm not sure what you mean with "green plant life". I didn't see anything that looked unnatural in that regard? Especially since much of it is filmed on location in Utah, so it's, you know, real. Maybe so missed something though?

And for what it's worth Nolan indicated the park was "terraformed".

 

[ffejeromdiks]

His comments and aside looks during the talk about mistakes implies that it's definitely intentional IMO

Yeah, getting a AI sympathizer vibe from him. Like he's realized that these androids are the next step in evolution and he's already "betrayed" humanity. He doesn't disclose adding in important updates, and he doesn't even tell anyone he's going down to the containment level to chat with old bots, I feel like 'ole Hopkins is willingly planting the seed of dissent into the androids. Why? I don't know, I just hope it's more original than a tired old "I am a god among men, I created life!" trope.

 

[Hari Seldon]

You can tell that in one episode?

And going by the Wikipedia summaries, the premises are nothing alike besides having synthetic beings and questions about AI and consciousness

No I am going to give it one more episode. But this show seems like a slow and not interesting version of the done-to-death trope of the AI taking over, going by the previews they showed.

 

[Jack Scofield]

I'm not sure what you mean with "green plant life". I didn't see anything that looked unnatural in that regard? Especially since much of it is filmed on location in Utah, so it's, you know, real. Maybe so missed something though?

And for what it's worth Nolan indicated the park was "terraformed".

I'd have to go back and check, but I could have sworn that there was a ton of green in the desert, even on the rocks. From the distance, it almost looked like moss.

Unless my TV's gamma calibration is way, way off, haha.

 

[Risible]

It's too bad they showed Marsden dying in almost every single trailer, would have made a nice surprise :/

Luckily I hadn't seen it and it was a nice "Oh shit!" moment for me .

 

[More_Badass]

No I am going to give it one more episode. But this show seems like a slow and not interesting version of the done-to-death trope of the AI taking over, going by the previews they showed.

Execution trumps originality

A new idea done badly is just bad. A done-to-death, well-worn concept done excellently can be a genre milestone

 

[jiggles]

The only thing about this I didn't like was the amount of time I spent screaming git blame at the TV

 

[The Mule]

Can anyone explain to me why Ed Harris' character was invulnerable to bullets, but hosts are not? This is all set in a real, physical world (rather than a virtual one), so I don't understand how bullets can disintegrate when hitting a guest, but behave normally when hitting a host.

That guy playing Dolores' father did some quality acting there.

That scene when talking to Anthony Hopkins' character was chilling. Amazing acting.