So, what are everyone’s thoughts regarding the Halo TV show?
Who’s hopeful?
Who’s fearful?
Who thinks some things that would be apparent from the casting are a step in the wrong direction? Who thinks they’re a step in the right direction?
I hold no judgment toward anyone who holds any particular view about their direction.
But I do judge some of what appears to be set decisions for the show at this point.
Those things being points such as recasting Jacob Keyes as a black man, and Miranda Keyes now being a “Dr” instead of Commander.
Now, I have absolutely zero problems with different ethnicities in Halo. If anything, I think Halo should particularly have more Chinese and Indian ancestry worked into the lore, just because that makes a lot of sense in terms of Earth’s current population and what that could possibly transform into in the distant future in terms of travelling the stars.
I’m all for diversity, but why change a beloved character in such an obvious way for that?
The plot has a lot of room for new characters that can become just as loved, why not add the extra diversity there?
There are also a couple of little details that I wonder about. Such as the woman cast as John’s mother is listed as being in 4 episodes… That makes me think that her inclusion could very well be more than just a flashback and that they could be resetting the manner in which the Spartans were selected in the plot to begin with, out of fear of telling the children being abducted story.
To me, again, that seems like a decision regressive to the lore.
Halo is mixed through and through with the unfortunately callous decisions and actions of humans, and to include that makes the story more gritty and real, and in many ways makes me empathize with certain characters a lot more.
I could go on, but I won’t, because ultimately; I want to love this show. So regardless of my current judgments, I will watch it when it comes out with an open mind and probably metaphoric rose tinted glasses.
So what are your thoughts, feelings, and impressions on what’s currently available about the show?
I hold zero judgments toward anyone’s point of view.
It really stinks of being one of those prequals they love making that changes a bunch of stuff for no good reason, and just ends up being really divisive. It sounds like there’s going to be more family drama, which is just going to be pretty cringe and non-cannon anyway.
The human working for the covies is also really bizzare, and sounds like its just there to save on CGI.
I would have preferred a more Mandalorian approach. Something small scale and simple, and toss in a Chief cameo once our new heroes have had a chance to grow and develop. With a new cast of chars, you could make people any ethnicity you want and add to the halo universe instead of muck it all up.
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> It really stinks of being one of those prequals they love making that changes a bunch of stuff for no good reason, and just ends up being really divisive. It sounds like there’s going to be more family drama, which is just going to be pretty cringe and non-cannon anyway.
>
> The human working for the covies is also really bizzare, and sounds like its just there to save on CGI.
>
> I would have preferred a more Mandalorian approach. Something small scale and simple, and toss in a Chief cameo once our new heroes have had a chance to grow and develop. With a new cast of chars, you could make people any ethnicity you want and add to the halo universe instead of muck it all up.
Oh dear god! I didn’t even consider if they would do family drama nonsense!!!
Like… Maybe some sombre suspense about a father leaving to go to war (or daughter), but to add drama to that D: I hope you’re wrong. I fear you’re right, though.
And I’d forgotten about the Human with the Covvies part. That is… Like… What?
Instead, they could have just focused on a Grunt’s side-story in the Cov. But like you said, that was probably a CGI budget decision.
They definitely confined themselves to telling a story revolving around the Spartans, in a universe that has so many small personal stories.
As a little additional… On the thoughts of budget and CGI with aliens… I wonder what a show like Farscape cost in terms of alien costumes/puppets?
Because some of them looked great, and they were done 20 years ago. Imagine a costume/puppet base with just enough CGI to do the rest of the work.
My thoughts? Please don’t screw it up.
I don’t really watch tv much, just Netflix but honestly I have zero expectations for this.
I wouldnt be surprised if it flopped and got cancelled after a season but I could also see it lasting at least 4.
4 is usually enough.
> 2533274851997977;3:
> Oh dear god! I didn’t even consider if they would do family drama nonsense!!!
> Like… Maybe some sombre suspense about a father leaving to go to war (or daughter), but to add drama to that D: I hope you’re wrong. I fear you’re right, though.
Thats the only reason I could see why you’d make Miranda a doctor too. The canon take on it I find so unique in fiction, as Halsey effectively abandoned her daughter while working on the Spartans, her ‘real children’. This is reflected in Miranda being clearly her father’s daughter. The fact this didn’t cause family drama at some point suggested that people acted like adults and moved on, instead of Miranda crying in the middle of a warzone about her mom.
If you’re gonna drag Chief’s mom into this that only seems like further ‘family’ themes.
> 2533274851997977;3:
> Instead, they could have just focused on a Grunt’s side-story in the Cov. But like you said, that was probably a CGI budget decision.
>
> They definitely confined themselves to telling a story revolving around the Spartans, in a universe that has so many small personal stories.
>
> As a little additional… On the thoughts of budget and CGI with aliens… I wonder what a show like Farscape cost in terms of alien costumes/puppets?
> Because some of them looked great, and they were done 20 years ago. Imagine a costume/puppet base with just enough CGI to do the rest of the work.
Given the halo show is also meant to draw people new to the franchise in, i think focusing the halo show on a spartan or spartans is not a bad idea. The thing is they’re focusing it on chief and seemingly every single human character in the games save for Hood and Johnson, and i wouldn’t be surprised if they throw them in too. That’s just a mine field for unneccessary changes and ruining of characters.
For the covenant I think costumes are a bit hit and miss. For stuff like brutes it works because they can just be a human in a suit, but I’m not sure if puppets have the motion to properly capture combatents. Even in Farscape, its puppets tended to be its less mobile/agile characters, almost every combat capable character was either literally human, a human with some extra stuff, or a suit.
Considering how many times this thing has been delayed… I’m not really excited. Delays for games are usually good, but delays for movies or TV shows are almost always a bad sign.
Also not super psyched about the Keyes recast. To me that just doesn’t make any sense. If you wanted a black man in the show, why not Johnson? He’s a more interesting character anyways.
I have zero interest in the tv series currently. The whole covenant raising a human thing is too far of a stretch in my opinion. The covenant believed humans were a holy violation, so I can’t be convinced that a covenant family would raise a human. Little things like this lead me to believe that the writers don’t understand Halo, so I have no hope of the show being faithful to the canon
One thing I didn’t mention earlier. Is that it seems all news for this show is bad news. All we hear about is it being delayed, or them changing things.
Outside of it being halo media, the show has given me only reasons to worry about it, as opposed to anticipate it.
The community will tell you they hate it / aren’t interested mainly because its an adaptation and its own canon (like every large IP ever), for me the leaks look F!$%# fantastic and well above my expectations visually and I’m glad they’re doing their own thing. I think people are wildly naive thinking Showtime would shell out 100 million dollars to make this and there wouldn’t be changes.
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> The community will tell you they hate it / aren’t interested mainly because its an adaptation and its own canon (like every large IP ever), for me the leaks look F!$%# fantastic and well above my expectations visually and I’m glad they’re doing their own thing. I think people are wildly naive thinking Showtime would shell out 100 million dollars to make this and there wouldn’t be changes.
I think I’m in the duality of being a bit like both sides of that coin.
I really want to love it, and so far the visuals look great, so I’ll try my best to. I’m sure I’ll also complain about some of the socially modified elements of it as well, though.
I guess, having grown up with Halo and having an emotional interest in the story; so long as they don’t change the narrative in it and then say that this reflects the broader narrative inclusive of the games and books, then I can justify away any bothersome thoughts about it.
I have nothing against the choice of actors for the roles; my only gripe is that they may/are changing the established canon to fit the needs of the story they want to tell.
Personally, if would have stayed away from using well established characters as the protagonists of the show. Sure, get some decent actors, but give them new roles in the canon so that we can enjoy getting to know them for the first time, instead of us finding ways in which they are different from who we know.
My pitch would be; a squad of marines get stranded on Zeta Halo during the pre-Infinite defeat, and go on a Band of Brothers style adventure across the ring to escape. Along the way they could run into major characters from the game, who could be played by more established actors in cameo roles. The ‘cameos’ would also serve as a link to the events of the game, without tying the shows main characters into a ‘required reading’ situation.
The benefit here is that it would be telling a story that is relevant to the current game on the market, but both existing as seperate entities than can be enjoyed on their own.
Want to know more about the Chief’s mission those important characters keep taking about? Go play the game.
Want to know more about the random marine radio transition you keep finding on Zeta Halo? Go watch the show.
As UrbanRocket said, a Mandalorian approach would have been much better. IIRC, that process basically requires building each set in basically a game engine.
343 have just spent 6 years building all the sets you would need.
> 2533274810945725;12:
> I have nothing against the choice of actors for the roles; my only gripe is that they may/are changing the established canon to fit the needs of the story they want to tell.
>
> Personally, if would have stayed away from using well established characters as the protagonists of the show. Sure, get some decent actors, but give them new roles in the canon so that we can enjoy getting to know them for the first time, instead of us finding ways in which they are different from who we know.
>
> My pitch would be; a squad of marines get stranded on Zeta Halo during the pre-Infinite defeat, and go on a Band of Brothers style adventure across the ring to escape. Along the way they could run into major characters from the game, who could be played by more established actors in cameo roles. The ‘cameos’ would also serve as a link to the events of the game, without tying the shows main characters into a ‘required reading’ situation.
>
> The benefit here is that it would be telling a story that is relevant to the current game on the market, but both existing as seperate entities than can be enjoyed on their own.
> Want to know more about the Chief’s mission those important characters keep taking about? Go play the game.
> Want to know more about the random marine radio transition you keep finding on Zeta Halo? Go watch the show.
>
> As UrbanRocket said, a Mandalorian approach would have been much better. IIRC, that process basically requires building each set in basically a game engine.
> 343 have just spent 6 years building all the sets you would need.
This sounds like a much better idea. Especially given how large of a plot gap there seems to be between Halo 5 and Halo: Infinite. This would be a great way to help bridge that gap in a smoother manner!
Just make in entertaining, and capture the spirit on the universe and characters.
I am not expected a 1 for 1 authentic canon representation.
> 2533274810945725;12:
> I have nothing against the choice of actors for the roles; my only gripe is that they may/are changing the established canon to fit the needs of the story they want to tell.
>
> Personally, if would have stayed away from using well established characters as the protagonists of the show. Sure, get some decent actors, but give them new roles in the canon so that we can enjoy getting to know them for the first time, instead of us finding ways in which they are different from who we know.
>
> My pitch would be; a squad of marines get stranded on Zeta Halo during the pre-Infinite defeat, and go on a Band of Brothers style adventure across the ring to escape. Along the way they could run into major characters from the game, who could be played by more established actors in cameo roles. The ‘cameos’ would also serve as a link to the events of the game, without tying the shows main characters into a ‘required reading’ situation.
>
> The benefit here is that it would be telling a story that is relevant to the current game on the market, but both existing as seperate entities than can be enjoyed on their own.
> Want to know more about the Chief’s mission those important characters keep taking about? Go play the game.
> Want to know more about the random marine radio transition you keep finding on Zeta Halo? Go watch the show.
>
> As UrbanRocket said, a Mandalorian approach would have been much better. IIRC, that process basically requires building each set in basically a game engine.
> 343 have just spent 6 years building all the sets you would need.
I hear you. But once Hollywood is involved, all of that gets thrown out of the window unfortunately.
There’s too many uneccesary disregard for lore for me to enjoy it so I think Im going to pass
I wasn’t planning to even watch it when it was on Showtime, because I don’t get that. Now that it’s on Paramount I might give it a go. But last time I heard (correct me if there’s new/updated info), 343 still isn’t even committed to saying it’s going to be canon. If it’s not canon, I’m not sure that I’m much interested. Why care if none of these things “really” happened in the Halo universe?
I will acknowledge the pics that have leaked thus far look pretty cool though. They’re being pretty respectful of the art style, at least.
In my opinion for now, in these moments from the little leaks that were shown I think it looks somewhat good. I can’t quite give my full opinion cause we don’t have a full trailer but to not have news from 2013 to have a few leaked images now I can say I’m somewhat comfy and happy, just need an official trailer to support my opinion a bit more up until release and after I’ve watched it to fully rate it based on my liking. If there’s a possibility that It doesn’t fit in the canon then I would rate it as a separate piece of work based on its own story and how enjoyable it was, but for that we need to wait for the full release.
> 2535415550845469;18:
> In my opinion for now, in these moments from the little leaks that were shown I think it looks somewhat good. I can’t quite give my full opinion cause we don’t have a full trailer but to not have news from 2013 to have a few leaked images now I can say I’m somewhat comfy and happy, just need an official trailer to support my opinion a bit more up until release and after I’ve watched it to fully rate it based on my liking. If there’s a possibility that It doesn’t fit in the canon then I would rate it as a separate piece of work based on its own story and how enjoyable it was, but for that we need to wait for the full release.
Honestly I’m with you.