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Winkle-Daddy posted:So would you say that he is...almost human? Things I sometimes hang up on but ultimetely don't really care about is like: is this even a remotely possible future only 35 years into the future? Who in their right mind would prefer an emotionless android over one that cracks jokes and basically is hilarious if he's going to be your partner for your entire career. Or that the entire reason they find the evil lair is that the robots had a known bug where they give out the exact GPS co-ordinate to their location they were activated at and it was just like a "oh yeah I guess that model they're based on used to do that, let's check"
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Nov 19, 2013 21:06
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PaganGoatPants posted:Their vision of the future is neat. Not as lazy as I thought it would be. The light masks were cool. Absolutely, they're doing a great job with the budget. The "smart paper" looks natural, all the computer interfaces are believable and not ZOOM ENHANCE bullshit, the spray-face thing was creepy looking and clever (as was the license plate tag constantly changing). I mean, if you think too much it's like "Wait, if technology is advancing so fast, how come the bad guys had even a tiny chance to get onto the roof of a police station without getting reamed by SAT-based railguns?" but like Sleepy Hollow this is probably not a show where you should dwell on any of that. Someone .gif Kennex throwing his partner out of the car, that sold me right there. One complaint, minor, I have is that the pacing and editing is weird because both episodes just seemed to rush headlong through the plot and ended up feeling like 20 minutes long, and the direction during the shooty bits is... weird. Not a fan of The Crystal Method either. Minor complaints though. It's like they watched the first half hour of Looper and said "That. We want that." (Not really, but Looper is awesome and I felt like mentioning it).
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Nov 19, 2013 21:10
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Zsinjeh posted:Things I sometimes hang up on but ultimetely don't really care about is like: is this even a remotely possible future only 35 years into the future? Very unlikely but it's completely possible. Some revolutionary discovery could cascade a series of related technological advancements. It probably would have been more believable set 50 years in the future though. Really the only BIG advancement we've seen are the androids themselves. A lot of the other future tech is tangentially related in some way to them.
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Nov 19, 2013 21:48
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precision posted:Someone .gif Kennex throwing his partner out of the car, that sold me right there. Only if they also gif the leg stab.
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Nov 19, 2013 23:11
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Postal Parcel posted:To be fair, a synthetic abandoned him and his partner in the pilot, leaving him to die. That is a pretty good reason to hate most(if not all) synthetics.(That use similar logic systems) There's a part in I, Robot where its revealed that a robot rescued Will Smith and left a little girl to die because it calculated he had a better chance of survival. I couldn't help but be reminded of that as well. Zsinjeh posted:Who in their right mind would prefer an emotionless android over one that cracks jokes and basically is hilarious if he's going to be your partner for your entire career. Its a common trope in SciFi that people don't want to be around someone who is "almost human" but not quite. Uncanny Valley and all that. Dorian is warm and friendly and you could be very comfortable around him, but he's special. Those sexbots were just not quite right and it was creepy. Still, I'd take "slightly off" over the downright ghoulish look of the other robocops.
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Nov 19, 2013 23:41
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There's also the matter of the fact that the MX units don't have free will, whereas the DRN models do, and thus can't be easily used as cannon fodder, and could possibly stab you in the back, etc.
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Nov 20, 2013 00:09
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Zsinjeh posted:Who in their right mind would prefer an emotionless android over one that cracks jokes and basically is hilarious if he's going to be your partner for your entire career. The emotionless logical killjoys are preferable because the likable buddy bots had an issue where they'd flip out. Giving them emotions also gave them the ability to have a breakdown and instead of some cop all hosed on a rampage now there's a robot cop all hosed up on a robo-rampage. Since the DRN model that Urban is partnered up is apparently from NASA, there's a good chance he had a spectacular space robo-rampage before deactivation. quote:Or that the entire reason they find the evil lair is that the robots had a known bug where they give out the exact GPS co-ordinate to their location they were activated at and it was just like a "oh yeah I guess that model they're based on used to do that, let's check" They were surplus chips that the government was no longer using and dumped on the market. It's not all that unreasonable that the government robots would be designed to be tracked via GPS and the feature was so ingrained in the design that it caused problems for the public sector.
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Nov 20, 2013 00:53
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precision posted:There's also the matter of the fact that the MX units don't have free will, whereas the DRN models do, and thus can't be easily used as cannon fodder, and could possibly stab you in the back, etc. That's basically what I interpreted the "the DRN series had glitches" discussion to mean. Emotions meant they stopped following orders meant they weren't good cannon fodder. Ergo the emotionless droids became the standard and the DRNs were mothballed.
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Nov 20, 2013 00:55
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Gyges posted:The emotionless logical killjoys are preferable because the likable buddy bots had an issue where they'd flip out. Giving them emotions also gave them the ability to have a breakdown and instead of some cop all hosed on a rampage now there's a robot cop all hosed up on a robo-rampage. Since the DRN model that Urban is partnered up is apparently from NASA, there's a good chance he had a spectacular space robo-rampage before deactivation. Wasn't he going to NASA, not coming from there? I could have sworn that was the discussion from episode one. I may have heard wrong. And a  robot rampage could have very well have just been one of them refusing to follow an order that it disagreed with, and not a Thor vs Hulk battle in downtown NYC.
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Nov 20, 2013 01:03
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Drifter posted:Wasn't he going to NASA, not coming from there? I could have sworn that was the discussion from episode one. I may have heard wrong. He said "this beats repairing heating panels blah blah blah" in a way that I thought implied he had actually done that. Redacted file means... Oh poo poo, Dorian caused Gravity. 
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Nov 20, 2013 01:10
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It's clearly more than just not following orders and having self preservation instincts. It was specifically mentioned that the model was known to go crazy. Detective rear end in a top hat wouldn't have said anything if the issue was that DRN models don't follow orders, because he hates Urban for surviving the raid from the beginning.
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Nov 20, 2013 01:13
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Mortanis posted:I was honestly worried that this would be another take on the fairly dated "robot partner is too-robotic". I figured it'd be fully of TNG first season style Data discussions, doesn't get idioms, but strives to ever be closer to human. Hijinx ensue as misunderstandings abound. I'm so very glad that it's Kennex that's the cliche of the two, but I think Urban has the acting chops to carry it until the writing smooths enough to expand his character. Really drat good production values (Segway not withstanding - they even had one of the 4-wheeled versions in the second episode). This is kind of what I wanted.  They made Dorian so human that I don't feel there's much room to travel, narratively, for his character. He already breaks rules, jokes, intuits, and has a sense of spirituality so how is third season Dorian going to differ from pilot Dorian? The androids are also apparently as bad at shooting at humans and just as fragile so there's that too. I guess he can discover love, but what else is there? I love me some sci-fi robots discovering their humanity and it's been decades since TNG was on so I was primed to have someone go back to that well. By episode 2 of Almost Human, they almost literally could have been two human partners and almost none of the show would need to change or be rewritten. Except for checking out his balls. Which may be even funnier if it was a human partner. Drifter posted:Wasn't he going to NASA, not coming from there? I could have sworn that was the discussion from episode one. I may have heard wrong. My understanding was that he already had experience with his former job and found it boring.
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Nov 20, 2013 01:16
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Ape Agitator posted:This is kind of what I wanted. Dorian founds the Robot Church and is in a loving relationship with the recombined synthetic that the Insyndicate has.
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Nov 20, 2013 01:22
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Just watched the pilot and the second episode. I like the chemistry that Urban and Ealy have so fair. Minka Kelly is a bit of a surprise as well. I'm looking forward to more episodes.
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Nov 20, 2013 02:39
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PaganGoatPants posted:The light masks were cool. It's stuff like this that make the show worth watching. I don't know if they pulled it from a ShadowRun source book or something, but it was loving cool. Also, they pull no punches with killing people. Yet, when an android is put down, it's all teary depressing poo poo. Love it. Philthy fucked around with this message at 04:10 on Nov 20, 2013 |
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Nov 20, 2013 04:08
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Philthy posted:It's stuff like this that make the show worth watching. I don't know if they pulled it from a ShadowRun source book or something, but it was loving cool. They actually exist now, just only in hat form. It doesn't look like anything to the naked eye but to a camera the head is just a ball of light.
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Nov 20, 2013 04:10
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This is pretty entertaining so far. It's like a combo of Fringe and Hawaii 5-0 with all of the car banter. I'm in for the season to see what kind of neat tech the criminals will keep using. I have to wonder how many times they had to re-shoot the ball scanning conversation due to people cracking up.
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Nov 20, 2013 04:15
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Philthy posted:It's stuff like this that make the show worth watching. Also liked the DNA bomb thing. While they didn't explain the mechanics of it, it sounds like a fantastic idea for the criminally minded. Just blanket the poo poo out of your crime scene with DNA from probably thousands of people, that way everything gets tainted.
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Nov 20, 2013 06:06
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I really really like this show so far. I accidentally watched Skin before the pilot because clicking buttons is hard, but it was good because Skin was way better! It feels like the show has already gotten more witty and has a better rhythm in every way but the future lady love interest, who has less chemistry with Keenex than brobot.  As an aside, it's nice to see more than 0-1 ethnic characters in a major metropolitan area!
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Nov 20, 2013 06:39
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cuddlenaps posted:I really really like this show so far. I accidentally watched Skin before the pilot because clicking buttons is hard, but it was good because Skin was way better! It feels like the show has already gotten more witty and has a better rhythm in every way but the future lady love interest, who has less chemistry with Keenex than brobot. It was good that you watched a show that you thought was way better than this one? I don't get it. VVV - Haha, I thought he was referring to the TV show 'Skins' for some reason. I have no idea why. It was confusing. 
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Nov 20, 2013 07:03
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^^^Skin was the name of the 2nd episode, sillybuns. I hope this show does well, I'm really liking it so far. Really feels like 90s sci-fi in a lot of ways, just with higher production values. The future tech looks really cool and the plot is fun. The guy who played Yuri, the bald Russian guy behind the sexbot scheme, is a friend of mine and starred in one of my short films that's been screening at a few festivals. Pretty awesome to see him land a role like that. 
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Nov 20, 2013 07:15
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He was Albanian.
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Nov 20, 2013 10:10
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Watching Skin again and it strikes me why they chose "only" to be 35 years in the future, you can do a lot of outdoor scenes without having to CG a ton of imaginary skyscrapers or hover roads since how drastically does a skyline really change in 30 years anyway.
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Nov 20, 2013 10:32
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Philthy posted:It's stuff like this that make the show worth watching. I don't know if they pulled it from a ShadowRun source book or something, but it was loving cool. It was probably inspired by a very similar idea that Gibson proposed in Zero History. That's what I got from it.
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Nov 20, 2013 10:56
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This was probably one of the best pilots i have ever seen, and the second episode was surprisingly strong, so i look forward to seeing more of this show.
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Nov 20, 2013 12:46
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precision posted:It was probably inspired by a very similar idea that Gibson proposed in Zero History. That's what I got from it. A friend of mine, that's way more into sci-fi than me, was lamenting that the pilot didn't have a lot of original ideas. By the second episode, he's viewing the show as a game if spot the sci-fi reference.
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Nov 20, 2013 14:07
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Zsinjeh posted:Watching Skin again and it strikes me why they chose "only" to be 35 years in the future, you can do a lot of outdoor scenes without having to CG a ton of imaginary skyscrapers or hover roads since how drastically does a skyline really change in 30 years anyway. Unlikely. The reason? They are probably doing it anyways and you just aren't noticing. Prepare to have your mind blown. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK1p3sRSmH0 Keep in mind that the examples in that video are all approaching 5+ years old now. Use is probably even more extensive now.
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Nov 20, 2013 14:29
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Reasons to watch: Minka Kelly.
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Nov 20, 2013 15:32
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Enjoyable show so far. The chemistry between the two lead cops is great, and Dorian as the more emotional part of the pairing is a nice twist on the formula. Similarly, the contrast between Dorian and the main sexbot did a nice job both making us wonder how much sentience is behind her weird mannerisms, while also drawing the reality of Dorian's own seeming-humanity into question. The "almost human" side of things is off to a great start. Not as pumped about the actual plotlines of the individual episodes, though. It seemed a bit much to have it be illegal to use human DNA in the construction of robots and have that human DNA being extracted through a lethal procedure on kidnap victims. There's a certain amount of hoping from vague sci-fi idea to vague sci-fi idea without really drilling down on them. I think the episode would have been stronger for juster picking one of those two crimes and examining it more closely. The GPS chip thing was also a total cop-out, though I think some of that was the presentation, having it be discovered based on a chip being randomly laying around in a bowl and having the robo-hostile cop be the one to know about an obscure design flaw. Good enough that I'm in it until the inevitable half-season cancellation, though.
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Nov 20, 2013 18:45
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Sir Kodiak posted:
I agree that the GPS chip discovery was a pretty poorly done Deus Ex Machina. And it seemed that there could have been a law made a long time ago preventing human dna being used as a material in a non-human thing - I mean, cloning is pretty illegal or something. So it just overlaps into that law, I'd guess. Then the kidnap victims are probably the easiest and cheapest way to get around that law, so there you are.   But yes, the kidnapping and continued harvesting of human skin off living victims seemed like it was more to be a shock value add, rather than an extremely thought out scientifically realized method.
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Nov 20, 2013 18:56
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Drifter posted:But yes, the kidnapping and continued harvesting of human skin off living victims seemed like it was more to be a shock value add, rather than an extremely thought out scientifically realized method. If they were actually stripping the skin off of them that would be one thing, but they appeared to be sucking the DNA out of them through a tube, which is both nonsensical and seems unnecessary. I was under the impression that even today we can duplicate DNA if we want to. Having it turn out that the sexbots were covered with a specific person's actual skin, taken from their body, would have been shocking enough to make that plotline work for me, particularly if it were presented as an unintended consequence of a market opportunity created by legitimate manufacturers being forbidden from vat-growing human skin. That sort of balance between regulating something terrible or pushing it underground would have dovetailed nicely into the general plot of the episode being about prostitution. Sir Kodiak fucked around with this message at 19:13 on Nov 20, 2013 |
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Nov 20, 2013 19:03
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bull3964 posted:Unlikely. Jesus christ, I did always wonder how low budget procedurals ever managed to film in busy streets and now I know. 
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Nov 20, 2013 19:05
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Sir Kodiak posted:If they were actually stripping the skin off of them that would be one thing, but they appeared to be sucking the DNA out of them through a tube, which is both nonsensical and seems unnecessary. I was under the impression that even today we can duplicate DNA if we want to. It really want explained at all, but I took it as they were feeding something into the humans to make there skin grow faster, while stripping it off for the robot. I didn't think they were directly linked to the robots, or using the DNA specifically. The DNA was just a side effect of growing the skin. Edit: the question I have is why they needed to destroy the robot that was at the original crime scene. Couldn't they have just given it new skin and new hair, rather then dumping it for the cops to find? gninjagnome fucked around with this message at 19:26 on Nov 20, 2013 |
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Nov 20, 2013 19:19
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gninjagnome posted:It really want explained at all, but I took it as they were feeding something into the humans to make there skin grow faster, while stripping it off for the robot. If that's really what they intended I would have liked it to be a little more clear, because that would have been entertainingly horrifying to see.
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Nov 20, 2013 19:24
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Drifter posted:...And it seemed that there could have been a law made a long time ago...
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Nov 20, 2013 19:28
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Fox really didn't do a good job at telling people that the second episode was on Monday, I only learned that it was halfway through the broadcast.
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Nov 20, 2013 19:33
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Xoidanor posted:Jesus christ, I did always wonder how low budget procedurals ever managed to film in busy streets and now I know. I've always hated it tbh. People on greenscreens always seem to have a bit of an aura to me. Probably something to do with the perspective being slightly off. I've gotten used to it as a fact of life, but any time those backdrops are used for anything more than things like that snowy street thing the actors might as well be layers of construction paper south park style.
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Nov 20, 2013 19:35
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Party Plane Jones posted:Fox really didn't do a good job at telling people that the second episode was on Monday, I only learned that it was halfway through the broadcast. Every single commercial break on Sunday stated that it was part one of a two night season premiere. What more did you want?
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Nov 20, 2013 19:38
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bull3964 posted:Every single commercial break on Sunday stated that it was part one of a two night season premiere. What more did you want? A postcard.
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Nov 20, 2013 19:48
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gninjagnome posted:Edit: the question I have is why they needed to destroy the robot that was at the original crime scene. Couldn't they have just given it new skin and new hair, rather then dumping it for the cops to find? I would bet pretty hard that it's going to tie into a future arc where even the MX units start to have a sort of consciousness, and they destroyed her because her "empathy" feature was having unintended "free will" consequences - I got the impression she was intentionally leaving the DNA samples behind, hence why she looks directly at the security camera in the elevator.
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Nov 20, 2013 20:01
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