Westworld Season 1 General Discussion

This is a new show on hbo, and is supposed to deal with AI's .

In an Old West theme park, where sophisticated robots provide simulated adventures for adults, things occasionally go wrong. Based on the 1973 film.

Anthony Hopkins as Dr. Robert Ford
Ed Harris as The Man in Black
Evan Rachel Wood as Dolores Abernathy
James Marsden as Teddy Flood

10 eps
Starts Oct 2nd

Found one poster for it, but it sucked bad, so wont post it.

I think this movie influenced James Cameron when he made Terminator.

Ed Harris as The Man in Black, this is the role yul brynner played, Ed is a good actor,
so curious what he does with it.

Anthony Hopkins is probably the man behind the AI robots.

Season 1

1.     1-1                 02 Oct 16   The Original
2.     1-2                 09 Oct 16   Chestnut
3.     1-3                 16 Oct 16   The Stray
4.     1-4                 23 Oct 16   Dissonance Theory
5.     1-5                 30 Oct 16   Contrapasso
6.     1-6                 06 Nov 16   The Adversary
7.     1-7                 13 Nov 16   Trompe L'Oeil

WESTWORLD
Air Date: Sunday, October 02, 2016
Time Slot: 9:00 PM-10:15 PM EST on HBO
Episode Title: (#01/101) "The Original"

SERIES PREMIERE

Episode #1: "The Original"

As another day of fantasy plays out in Westworld - a vast, remote park where guests pay top dollar to share wild-west adventures with android "hosts" - top programmer Bernard Lowe (Jeffrey Wright) alerts park founder Dr. Robert Ford (Anthony Hopkins) about incidents of aberrant behavior cropping up in some recently re-coded hosts. Meanwhile, in the Westworld town of Sweetwater, a rancher's daughter named Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) encounters a gunslinger named Teddy (James Marsden) in the street - but their predictable narrative is upended by the appearance of a ruthless Man in Black (Ed Harris) and, later, by a supporting host's unscripted encounter with an artifact of the outside world.

Teleplay by Jonathan Nolan & Lisa Joy; story by Jonathan Nolan & Lisa Joy and Michael Crichton; directed by Jonathan Nolan.

Read more: Westworld on HBO | TheFutonCritic

Promo pics for ep 1x01:



New Set of promo pics for ep 1x01:








https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuS5huqOND4


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eX3u0IlBBO4

Stumbled across those trailers only a few days ago.
Looks interesting enough to at least give it a try.

Actually there are shows to come, which imho look even more promising than Westworld:

Timeless and Incorporated:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSYZJGAGvww


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hnnt44OdXQ

And I can't believe that you still want to miss the fun of Lucifer, definitely one of my top favorites regarding the pure entertainment value ... and the cast ist awesome, now in S2 they even added Tricia Helfer as Lucifer's mom!!!

Last but not least there's Van Helsing, which officially started last Friday on Syfy. When they pre-aired the pilot in July, I wasn not convinced, but episode 1x02 kind of grabbed me. They simply should have used 1x02 as pilot and the pilot as second ep. Makes much more sense and works a lot better to get into the show. So if you might give Van Helsing a try, please do yourself a favor and watch 1x02 first and than the pilot.

I have this set to record

Ok Tscc I watched those preview vids and.......
Timeless    looks like it might be ok, not sure they got the right girl,
                 I dont think she can carry the show.
Cast overall is not too charismatic, it is a matter of opinion though.

and Incorporated:.... looks depressing and boring.

Lucifer, I just dont like the main guy/actor  tscc.
It might be a good show, but not if I cant stand the lead.

To like any show like these you have to like the actors involved.

I will try timeless though.

Ez wrote:

I have this set to record

Ok so all 3 of us might watch westworld, hope it is good.

1-1 02 Oct 16 The Original
The Original is the girl Dolores. she has changed, and did lie about
what her dad told her.

The confusing part is man in black , who i will refer to as MIB .
He I thought was a mean human, but now I think is one of the hosts, that somehow
has been lost and off the radar a long time and figuring things out??
Or has always been the mean bad guy, but then why couldnt the other host kill him??

I decided somehow he is a host, and is now sentient, and figuring things out.

Interesting show, well done.

I think he is a human, who just spends everyday there, the host wasn't able to shoot him which leads me to believe they can't harm the humans. I liked the premiere episode, this show has promise.

Ez wrote:

I think he is a human, who just spends everyday there, the host wasn't able to shoot him which leads me to believe they can't harm the humans. I liked the premiere episode, this show has promise.

yes but it makes no sense when he says he wants to get to the bottom of this, and he has the guys
scalp with circuitry in it.

Also no human would just live there.

I have seen # 2 and it gets deeper, and is kinda a statement on how the AI's are treated.

WESTWORLD
Air Date: Sunday, October 09, 2016
Time Slot: 9:00 PM-10:00 PM EST on HBO
Episode Title: (#02/102) "Chestnut"

Episode #2: "Chestnut"

A pair of guests, first-timer William (Jimmi Simpson) and repeat visitor Logan (Ben Barnes), arrive at Westworld with different expectations and agendas. Bernard (Jeffrey Wright) and Quality Assurance head Theresa Cullen (Sidse Babett Knudsen) debate whether a recent host anomaly is contagious. Meanwhile, behavior engineer Elsie Hughes (Shannon Woodward) tweaks the emotions of Maeve (Thandie Newton), a madam in Sweetwater's brothel, in order to avoid a recall. Cocky programmer Lee Sizemore (Simon Quarterman) pitches his latest narrative to the team, but Dr. Ford (Anthony Hopkins) has other ideas. The Man in Black (Ed Harris) conscripts a condemned man, Lawrence (Clifton Collins, Jr.), to help him uncover Westworld's deepest secrets.

Written by Jonathan Nolan & Lisa Joy; directed by Richard J. Lewis.

Read more: Westworld on HBO | TheFutonCritic

Promo pics for ep 1x02:




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLZxMx8jcpY

=================================================================
Overall it is an interesting show, though it's pretty predictable that soon the A.I.s will turn against the human visitors and kill some.
The real question is, who actually is responsable for the failed updates and the glitches of those "hosts".
It looks like the ones running Westworld and their various local managers and/or technicians have different plans and expectations how to proceed ... that might mess things up in the Westworld park pretty soon.
Did you notice the flys several times on several hosts. Is their reaction the result of the updates? Like they now have some phobia which causes glitches and malfunctions (except Dolores like it seems).
Also that Dr. Ford seems to have some secret major change in mind. Does that guy Lowe already know about it (he's secretly interrogating Dolores)?

As far as I see, the MiB (Ed Harris) has attended the game far too often and he's just bored, because he always can easily win, so he's looking for the extra thrill, like some forbidden/hidden playground, where even the life of a visitor is in danger ... and the answers of that Mexican girl seemed to imply that there actually might be a deeper level of the game park.
The gun Dolores found is probably a real one and sooner or later she will use it to defend herself or her father against a visitor who wants to live out his evil side ...
What I don't quite get, is, why they focus so much on the fake guns. A malfunction of a host could always harm visitors just by accident or by simple physical force maybe using additionally a knife (or are all the blades and other potential weapons also just fakes for security reasons?).
BTW, how can bullets from the hosts' weapons physically hurt another host, but do absolutely nothing on visitors? If the park was just virtual, no problem. But it's not. Any idea, how they might explain that?

Hey guys, maybe I'll just post over here on this show.

It seems like it's pretty decent so far, or at least, it has potential.

SurfingEagle wrote:

Hey guys, maybe I'll just post over here on this show.
...

That would be cool, Eagle!

Welcome back!

tscc1000 wrote:

SurfingEagle wrote:

Hey guys, maybe I'll just post over here on this show.
...

That would be cool, Eagle!

Welcome back!

Thanks

T5000 wrote:

Ez wrote:

I think he is a human, who just spends everyday there, the host wasn't able to shoot him which leads me to believe they can't harm the humans. I liked the premiere episode, this show has promise.

yes but it makes no sense when he says he wants to get to the bottom of this, and he has the guys
scalp with circuitry in it.

Also no human would just live there.

I have seen # 2 and it gets deeper, and is kinda a statement on how the AI's are treated.

Inside the scalp, MiB called it the maze. If you look closely, it's actually a map of a maze. It's a clue to find the next location or next clue.

I think MiB is just a guy that's a very regular customer perhaps a VIP or something.

Hey eagle I was just over at your site and posted there! lol
Glad you came over, now have 4 for this show!

About MIB in the movie he was a host, so it makes sense he would be here too.
I just dont think he is human, but he may think he is??

There are a lot of little mysteries in the show.
About her killing the fly, i think the point was she killed it, the hosts are not supposed to
kill anything even a fly.

@ Tscc, about the guns, that is confusing, and could be a flaw, and good point
that they could kill without guns, and they have the directive to not kill a human,
but they might not always know who is human and who isnt.
Or they may think they are all the same , and may think they are human.

The black girl may now remember some things, and already was with the indian attack.

And Ford is hard to figure, no telling what he is up to.
He may have created mib a long time ago, and kept him off book, as a visitor, but he never
leaves.
I think the fact he cant be shot, is to make us think he is human , and later they reveal he isnt.

They do need to explain the gun thing though how it doesnt hurt humans, now
that I reflect on it , it is like they have a shield, that protects them from bullets.

maybe Tscc will do threads for future eps, or would you all prefer the one thread ??

T5000 wrote:

Hey eagle I was just over at your site and posted there! lol
Glad you came over, now have 4 for this show!

About MIB in the movie he was a host, so it makes sense he would be here too.
I just dont think he is human, but he may think he is??

There are a lot of little mysteries in the show.
About her killing the fly,  i think the point was she killed it, the hosts are not supposed to
kill anything even a fly.

On the fly thing, yeah, I figured that out eventually.

I don't think MiB is a recreation of Yul Brynners' character in the original. Maybe, they're paying homage to the character with the color of the outfit, and they're both bad guys more or less. But the original was there just to challenge anyone to a gun fight. Ed Harris' character cares about figuring out the game inside the world. He talks about the differences of Westworld and the real world and talks about visiting rather than living there. I've seen nothing that would suggest he's anything other than a frequent guest who's really into this world and trying to find something new.

It doesn't make sense to me that the staff would be baffled and obsessed with hosts who are going off script and then have this one host running around completely autonomously while being ignored by the staff.

T5000 wrote:

maybe Tscc will do threads for future eps, or would you all prefer the one thread ??

I'd vote for just one thread.

SurfingEagle wrote:

...
I don't think MiB is a recreation of Yul Brynners' character in the original. Maybe, they're paying homage to the character with the color of the outfit, and they're both bad guys more or less. But the original was there just to challenge anyone to a gun fight. Ed Harris' character cares about figuring out the game inside the world. He talks about the differences of Westworld and the real world and talks about visiting rather than living there. I've seen nothing that would suggest he's anything other than a frequent guest who's really into this world and trying to find something new.

It doesn't make sense to me that the staff would be baffled and obsessed with hosts who are going off script and then have this one host running around completely autonomously while being ignored by the staff.

I agree, they wouldn't ignore such a rogue host and I cannot believe that as a host he could totally fly under the radar without triggering any attention or alarm.
Good catch with the maze on the inside of the scalp btw. I oversaw it as just some part of a company logo or some kind of barcode.
I re-watched it on 720p resolution and it actually is the map of a maze with the drawing of a man in the middle, although not a very complex one.

Maze on scalp:

Which makes me wonder, who would ever place hints for secret game levels or entrances at places like this. How would MiB ever figure it out to even look at the inside of a scalp?? He must have some addtitional sources of information imho.

And that snap is from a promo for episode 1x02, but I actually cannot remember having seen that scene in ep 1x02 ...




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLZxMx8jcpY

So this is probably some kind of key for whatever new Westworld levels or storylines ...

SurfingEagle wrote:

I'd vote for just one thread.

Ok for me.

I read some message on IMDB where I guy/gal went to their site and asked about MiB. So, I looked around and found it. So, here is what their web bot said. No matter what you ask about MiB, it always replies with the same info.

I can't post a link for 7 days  
discoverwestworld

YOU
Is the man in black a host?
AEDEN
I’m sorry, per the Westworld confidentiality policy, we cannot disclose personal information about any of our guests.
AEDEN
Just between you and me, though, the Man in Black is something of a VIP. What else would you like to know about the park?

tscc1000 wrote:

SurfingEagle wrote:

...
I don't think MiB is a recreation of Yul Brynners' character in the original. Maybe, they're paying homage to the character with the color of the outfit, and they're both bad guys more or less. But the original was there just to challenge anyone to a gun fight. Ed Harris' character cares about figuring out the game inside the world. He talks about the differences of Westworld and the real world and talks about visiting rather than living there. I've seen nothing that would suggest he's anything other than a frequent guest who's really into this world and trying to find something new.

It doesn't make sense to me that the staff would be baffled and obsessed with hosts who are going off script and then have this one host running around completely autonomously while being ignored by the staff.

I agree, they wouldn't ignore such a rogue host and I cannot believe that as a host he could totally fly under the radar without triggering any attention or alarm.
Good catch with the maze on the inside of the scalp btw. I oversaw it as just some part of a company logo or some kind of barcode.
I re-watched it on 720p resolution and it actually is the map of a maze with the drawing of a man in the middle, although not a very complex one.

Which makes me wonder, who would ever place hints for secret game levels or entrances at places like this. How would MiB ever figure it out to even look at the inside of a scalp?? He must have some addtitional sources of information imho.

I didn't notice it until 2nd viewing. Funny thing is MiB said what it was directly. When the guy asked him what it was he said something like "you know exactly what it is... it's a maze." But it's so fast, you hardly notice it.

I tried to solve the maze but there's too much grunge. Looking at both images, the guy in the middle may be a structure that looks like a stick figure. The arms/legs look like they could be either narrow passages or walls dividing other passages leading into a central area, or it could be just a guy. I can't really make it out.