There is a game called Halo.
My wife was having her first child and I missed the premiere of the Paramount Plus original, Halo. I'm sure Master Chief understands. The premiere of the show was a lot better than the clunky interviews and clunky headlines that have preceded its release, and I was able to catch it during naptime this weekend.
The show is better than I thought it would be.
The budget is on display right away. I think they did a great job with what they had to work with, but in theory, the series needs a lot of money to be fully realized, and I felt its absence at times during the initial Covenant assault. I feel like the Covenant don't have much weight to them. Sometimes, as we see an armored truck, it just doesn't feel grounded in the least. They just don't feel right.
Things take a turn for the better once the Spartans arrive. The Spartans are brilliantly realized versions of their video game counterparts, both in terms of their actual fighting abilities, but also how they are built up as almost godlike beings in the mind of average citizens. They act like super cops to patrol the subjugated worlds, but now that aliens are attacking, they end up protecting the people they were initially oppressing.
There is a game called Halo.
They are not doing it all that well, as only one person survives out of dozens from the Covenant assault, a young girl named Kwan who becomes the average person.
The fundamental tension is good here. There is a pull between the UNSC's defense of humans and its subjugation of them. Spartans start out as tools, but Master Chief has begun to think on his own. It is a departure from the source material, but I think it works here. The problem is that Chief will not take her orders anymore because Dr. Halsey controls the Spartans like her own personal army that answer to her above the military. I'm curious about the human the Covenant seem to have on their side, and I'm not sure if it's found in some of the books I've not read. Maybe not! I'm interested in seeing the questions answered.
We haven't seen a key cast member yet, but we are seeing evidence that we are going back to her cloned origins before she becomes an artificial intelligence.
There is a game called Halo.
I don't have much to say about Master Chief's removal of his helmet. It makes sense in the moment as he tries to get Kwan to trust him. I think that Chief should wear his helmet 98% of the time, or else it will feel like a different character, like the one in the movie "Return of the Jedi".
I don't believe all the chopped up interviews and the fact that those involved with the show didn't play the games. It's clear that they drew inspiration from all of the games, books, and sources, and those involved have a real passion for the universe. I was more impressed by the pilot than I thought I would be, but I'm not sure if they have the budget or the ability to script this in a satisfying way for a full season. So far, the job has been well done.
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The Herokiller series and The Earthborn trilogy are my sci-fi novels.
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