WhiteRabbitEXE
Member
The guns have smart ammunition. When pointed at a guest nonlethal stun rounds are fired. Nolan compared them to paintballs. They sting, but that's it. And presumably The Gunslinger/Man in Black is used to them by now.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Westworld - Live in Your World, Play in Ours - Sundays on HBO
- Thread starter RatskyWatsky
- Start date
More_Badass
Member
Smart ammo and different bullets for guests vs hosts
They're real not bullets when they hit him.
There's likely some technology that when hit with the fake bullets the host's bodies react, not unlike a squib or practical effect in a movie going off.
CartridgeBlower
Member
So is this like Jurassic World, where they acknowledge the original (in this case the movie) in the timeline? Is that what the 'we haven't had a critical failure for 30 years' line referencing?
Is that explained at any point, or is it just something we are meant to surmise?
I don't see how that is your takeaway. This show is an explicit criticism of human consumer culture. You can make direct parallels to how people interact with videogames, but it can also be applied to movies and television. We need to see where the show goes from here, but there are definitely some fascinating themes being introduced in the first episode.
I think you are focusing too much on the basics of the plot, and not paying enough attention to the actual story. You will never understand the depths of any works story by breaking it down to the simplest plot structure. It is in the details where you find a story's meaning.
WhiteRabbitEXE
Member
It's a deliberate wink and a nod, but it seems that it may not be much more than that, so it's not a full on connection or establishment of the original movie as canon. The 30 year remark primarily functions as some simple worldbuilding and back-story filling.
Meant to surmise by the way Teddy reacts to how powerless he is.
I would imagine it and some of the other rules will be explained in detail as the show goes on.
tearsintherain
Member
Loved premiere, went in with very reserved expectations due to all the production delays. Gonna try to watch the original movie this week before episode 2.
I love the whole idea of man creating life and then being punished for abusing his "children", Battlestar Galactica and Matrix are some of my favorites and I hope I can add this show to that list.
I love the whole idea of man creating life and then being punished for abusing his "children", Battlestar Galactica and Matrix are some of my favorites and I hope I can add this show to that list.
It's explained in the original movie heh. I don't remember if they actually talk about it in the episode.
"He couldn't even hurt a fly."
It means the fly on her face bothered her, as it would a regular human, whereas before they didn't even care if it was right on their eyes.
WhiteRabbitEXE
Member
It happened mere minutes after we heard her say she would never hurt anything. We also see hosts several times throughout the episode the episode ignoring flies who had landed on or near them (and one case of a crazy, though very specifically non-violent, stroke-like event). So she's both lying and showing additional aberrant behavior.
Discotheque
Banned
Yeah I'd like less of them tbh. The big glaring flaw in an otherwise dope pilot
More_Badass
Member
Not at all
Grizzlyjin
Supersonic, idiotic, disconnecting, not respecting, who would really ever wanna go and top that
They made a comment earlier about how the hosts weren't dangerous because they couldn't even hurt a fly. Common idiom, but we're meant to take it literally because over the course of the pilot we've literally seen flies crawl over hosts and they don't react because they're programmed not to hurt living things. They can hurt other hosts but nothing else.
Basically it signifies that shit is about to get real. If she can swat that fly, she could do the same to a person.
That is what I figured but didn't want to jump to conclusions. Thanks!
Absolutely.
More_Badass
Member
Solid start and already a huge improvement from that lackluster original movie. Really liked seeing Michael Wincott in his small scene with Anthony Hopkins as the second-oldest host in Westworld. Don't you stay in that body bag for too long okay (here's hoping that there will be more to be done with that character).
The One and Done
Member
Saw the pilot yesterday.
I thought it was ok however I never felt that it grabbed me. Can't quite put my finger on it but I can't help but feel that I've seen this before. For example, the "Teddy reveal". I felt like it was obvious from the first moment you saw him that he wasn't "real". I do think it's well acted and all but I do hope it delivers some clever twist and redirects that'd be tough to see coming.
8/10
I thought it was ok however I never felt that it grabbed me. Can't quite put my finger on it but I can't help but feel that I've seen this before. For example, the "Teddy reveal". I felt like it was obvious from the first moment you saw him that he wasn't "real". I do think it's well acted and all but I do hope it delivers some clever twist and redirects that'd be tough to see coming.
8/10
Grizzlyjin
Supersonic, idiotic, disconnecting, not respecting, who would really ever wanna go and top that
I love it. Although I did turn away midway through the first fly scene in the opening. They freak me out and I've seen it in the trailers and keyart.
What I liked most about the pilot is that it subverted what you would expect reading about the premise. We think Teddy will be the audience surrogate and our introduction into Westworld, when he's actually just a host. We think The Man in Black will be a rogue host, but he appears to be human. The only sympathetic characters we've seen inside Westworld are hosts and the occasional random guest, like the family that watched Delores paint. It's different but I like it a lot.
I thought they were going to pull an Aeon Flux with that opening.
I don't really have anything to add that hasn't been said already. Brilliant stuff so far. Although, I am surprised that many people in the thread aren't picking up on elements that aren't exactly subtle (whether Teddy is a newcomer or a host, whether the park is virtual or physical, what the fly swatting/killing represents etc.). I thought all of this info was presented quite clearly. The real thematic meat requires a bit more thought, but that stuff was pretty basic. It's good to see the thread taking off so healthily, too. This will definitely be a show prompting lots of discussion!
WhiteRabbitEXE
Member
There are physical rounds, Nolan said as much. But against humans they're glorified paintballs.
I wouldn't be surprised if the robots are created to embellish the effect of the rounds used on them though.
darkwing-buck
Member
Chilling.
SiteSeer
Member
my first thought too.
OricWindstar
Member
The host was malfunctioning, so it was killing people in a weird way. You seem him being put away with the father towards the end of the episode.
Quote
Member
I gathered it was just his signature.
I was thinking the milk could be an allusion to the white, liquidy material that's used to 'manufacture' the hosts. Could also be a direct relationship in the host's mind as a consequence of the glitch.
Could also be nothing!
There are some interesting layers to it all presented so far. Clearly someone which is likely Ford wants his AI to evolve beyond simple playthings. The Father's "breakdown" is perfect response to the apparent desire to evolve the machines. One of his primary programmed purposes is the protection of his daughter. The Photograph and the new memory system clearly is triggering his need to protect his daughter to the point he is now beginning to view the real people as part of the danger.
ElRenoRaven
Member
As mentioned that group doesn't usually kill each other unless they running a specific program but when they do he's the first one to die. Hence the remark about guess he got tired of that. And yea he was decommissioned along with pa at the end of the episode.
WhiteRabbitEXE
Member
He was going completely off script (in addition to outright malfunctioning - he had fatal damage but continued). None of that should have happened at all. It was an excessively violent series of actions that weren't programmed. While they are allowed minimal improvisation and can be pushed to non-scripted violence by guests, this was an extreme scenario far beyond expected bounds.
(The milk is part of his typical story line, being reworked into the new, apparently improvised story.)
You will notice too that when he drinks the milk it starts pouring out of a bullet in his abdomen. Seems like he was "killed" and instead of dying went on the rampage which would explain why the Guests were so horrified in a corner
I've been looking forward to this from the moment they announced it, and over time my expectations had gotten so high I figured it could only disappoint, but it didn't.
Pilot was absolutely amazing and I can't wait for the next episodes.
Score is brilliant too, I loved Soundgarden's Black Hole Sun on the Player Piano and Paint it Black was fantastic as well.
Pilot was absolutely amazing and I can't wait for the next episodes.
Score is brilliant too, I loved Soundgarden's Black Hole Sun on the Player Piano and Paint it Black was fantastic as well.
I'll have to watch the episode again but towards the end, I thought he says something about wanting to go deeper and find out what's behind all of this or whatever. I just figured something like that would be a flashing red alarm for the people behind the scenes if they heard what he was saying or what he was after. Sounds like he would be doing stuff that could mess with everything they have going on there and I would be surprised if they were okay with that. Of course, this is all assuming that they can hear what he's saying/doing while he's there which I imagine they can. It sure looked that way, anyway.
OricWindstar
Member
Oh yeah, hadn't thought of that. I could see that being something that's retroactively symbolic of something.
MaKTaiL
Member
So guys, I loved the first episode but I have a question:
Are they in a Matrix world? Or is it real? They say the guests cannot be killed so guns don't hurt them but hurt the robots. How can this be if not a Matrix world? But then they have the robots in the room just like in the Westworld, I'm confused. Can anyone explain?