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Well it's the year of our dark mother 2020, 5G Towers are being set alight and people are elevating their orgone levels so high no one actually needs a Covid-19 vaccine- IT'S TIME TO REWATCH UTOPIA. Synopsis Utopia is a British conspiracy thriller series from 2013, here is as spoiler free an intro I can get from wiki- "The plot centres around a graphic novel called The Utopia Experiments. It is rumored to have predicted some disastrous epidemics (like BSE) in the past. There is an unpublished sequel which contains even more pertinent information for the survival of humankind. Various groups and people want this manuscript, some to find out the hidden truths in it, others to cover up conspiracies and secret identities. On their search for the manuscript, two hitmen kill anyone who is in their way, children and adults alike, always also asking "Where is Jessica Hyde?". In an online forum for fans of The Utopia Experiment, five people decide to meet in real life and to discuss the manuscript. Only three of them – post-grad student Becky, IT consultant Ian and Wilson Wilson – actually find their way to the pub. Meanwhile, at the Ministry, civil servant Michael Dugdale is blackmailed because of his affair with a Russian prostitute. And there are discussions about an order for a vaccine against Russian flu." Lets just chat poo poo The show has great twists and it's cinematography is out of this world. It was really under appreciated in it's time meaning it only got two seasons when the story blatantly needed to continue so it's as yet unfinished. It's still a great ride and really worth your time if you enjoy conspiracy/new world order thrillers. It's the first time I've watched it again since it aired originally, so it's definitely hitting different. It is the most Capitalist Realist show out so it would be cool to chat if it's a show you remember, you're re watching or just finding out about for the first time.
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Jun 20, 2020 11:52
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| # ? Apr 25, 2024 21:53 |
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TL;DR Milner is a milf, pass it on.
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Jun 20, 2020 11:59
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One great thing about the show is that for all its visual stylings, it's filming of violence is incredibly simple. Almost flat. There's no dramatic camerawork, no stylised sillohetes, no shakey-cam. It's just one moment people are alive, and then suddenly, they are not. It's sudden, shicking, and brutal. It gets called out a lot for glamourising violence when actually it merely doesn't flinch or try to obscure violence in the way other shows and movies do. Iron Man and Thor massacre hundreds of people, but its all sanitised and made safe. People get shot or blown up, but the impact is obscured and the body conveniently vanishes. Utopia strips away these (actually very disturbing) obfuscations which feels obscene and transgressive, because our acceptance of some kinds of violence over others is kind of hosed up. Also the music is spectacular: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MoPZdmDERE
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Jun 20, 2020 20:25
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Utopia is extremely good, time to rewatch I suppose.
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Jun 20, 2020 20:47
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One of the best series in the last decade, easily.
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Jun 20, 2020 21:30
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Strom Cuzewon posted:One great thing about the show is that for all its visual stylings, it's filming of violence is incredibly simple. Almost flat. There's no dramatic camerawork, no stylised sillohetes, no shakey-cam. It's just one moment people are alive, and then suddenly, they are not. It's sudden, shicking, and brutal. Yea during rewatching it I actually appreciated how brutal it is, the little touches with how Arby kills people so clumsily (like when he shoots people close range and covers his face from the splatter so casually). It just makes violence seem so abrupt and inelegant I really loved that about it. Especially when the theme around Janus being a "kind" way to lower the population, like a sanitized violent act. The show constantly discusses how violent the future will be to justify the acts the Network takes and how they depict the acts themselves really adds to the feeling of dread. Such a genius move haha.
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Jun 21, 2020 19:14
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Rewatching it now and I really appreciate how condensed it is as how it doesn't waste your time with bullshit mysteries. There is always something happening and the plot is always moving forward. You meet Jessica Hyde at the end of ep.1, while a worse show could waste an entire season dangling a reveal of this kind in front of you. I don't know if it's intentional vision, or just working on limited budget, but being 6 eps per season really works to its advantage. I'm kinda reminded of Orphan Black, which came at the same time and had a similar premise. I was really into it for S1, but then in S2 the main character spent like half of it on a really annoying 'mah baby' chase. And then it kept piling on the clones and I remember I peaced out somewhere in S3 and never finished it.
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Jun 21, 2020 21:31
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I really wish S3 had come out because I wanted to see the eventual endgame of Wilson "The Realest Motherfucker in the Room" Wilson.
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Jun 22, 2020 03:07
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Amazon is doing a US remake so let's hope it A. Doesn't suck and B. Is successful enough we get more than two seasons
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Jun 22, 2020 05:28
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Vanderdeath posted:I really wish S3 had come out because I wanted to see the eventual endgame of Wilson "The Realest Motherfucker in the Room" Wilson. He is probably the best character in the show for real. I do wonder if they ever had a good payoff or are we just better off having it unfinished haha.
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Jun 22, 2020 10:26
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D-Pad posted:Amazon is doing a US remake so let's hope it A. Doesn't suck and B. Is successful enough we get more than two seasons Though who knows how the
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Jun 22, 2020 11:10
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the inert gas scene in the comic book store is easily the most chilling deaths I've ever seen on TV. David Fincher's involved in the remake, no?
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Jun 22, 2020 13:59
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I do hope the remake has it's own style and twists, especially given how rich a history the US has with conspiratorial ideas and stuff with the CIA. It would be a same if it stuck too close to the original imo.
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Jun 22, 2020 15:02
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The teaser for the Amazon version dropped during the comic-con@home panel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfMBkiPFh-k Panel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5v6D4TPfV9w
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Jul 24, 2020 14:45
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The panel gives me a lot more hope for the show than the trailer does, what with its participants referring to concepts like “humor” and “fun”, which don’t seem to have made the cut.
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Jul 24, 2020 19:40
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Collateral posted:The teaser for the Amazon version dropped during the comic-con@home panel. this feels like i got mr pibb when i asked for dr pepper oh well, at least more people will check out the original..the remake looks bland as hell here's the opening scene btw, talk about coming out of the gate strong https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01VGtX9xfh0 zer0spunk fucked around with this message at 00:53 on Aug 11, 2020 |
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Aug 11, 2020 00:17
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHckIUFiD08 It’s wild how much better this is
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Aug 12, 2020 13:13
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....wow. that is crazy actually. I can't believe it's the same thing I watched and disliked so much.
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Aug 12, 2020 14:16
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The tone of the original show is slow dread as the familiar world disintegrates around the characters, coupled with short bursts of panic. De Veer did a wildly good job ratcheting up the dread with his almost atonal and unrecognizable music. The soundtrack on the Amazon teaser is very abrams/whedon “time to save the world, boys” *winks at camera* It could just be a bad trailer, soundtrack decisions are made very late in post Holy poo poo the original channel 4 trailer is wet hot trash, I feel a bit better now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3gxwIqqzB4 theflyingexecutive fucked around with this message at 17:10 on Aug 12, 2020 |
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Aug 12, 2020 17:08
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theflyingexecutive posted:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHckIUFiD08 The new Arby looks excrutiatingly awful. It's like he's deliberately going for an adults idea of a creepy child, when what made Arby so terrifying was his casual demeanour and naivity. Wilson Wilson looks decently shambolic though.
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Aug 15, 2020 16:09
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I really liked Desmin Borges on You're the Worst and think he will do great embodying the traumatic and sadsack aspects of Wilson's character. They also clearly went to some lengths to style him after Adeel Akhtar's character. But I find it interesting that they so faithfully redrew him when the rest of the cast is superficially unrecognizable (I assume that blonde lady is the new Bejan who dies in ep 1?)
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Aug 15, 2020 16:56
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zer0spunk posted:this feels like i got mr pibb when i asked for dr pepper ew, I don't want to watch a show where they slowly kill innocent people and a kid, much less one where they get away with it
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Aug 17, 2020 06:54
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Yeah well, you may not like what happens at the school.
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Aug 17, 2020 07:05
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Collateral posted:Yeah well, you may not like what happens at the school. yeah definitely not watching this. sounds sickening
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Aug 17, 2020 07:43
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Its Coke posted:yeah definitely not watching this. sounds sickening sir, this is a utopia thread (serious post, the violence in this show isn't glorified or trivialized, it's loving brutal and jarring, the way violence should actually be portrayed tbh. looks like it worked on you. you're missing out on an incredible show in terms of acting, cinematography, set design, and score, but do you) what this goon said: Strom Cuzewon posted:One great thing about the show is that for all its visual stylings, it's filming of violence is incredibly simple. Almost flat. There's no dramatic camerawork, no stylised sillohetes, no shakey-cam. It's just one moment people are alive, and then suddenly, they are not. It's sudden, shicking, and brutal.  show seriously blows me away anytime i watch it, it hits on every level so well (the story getting a lil goofy in S2 would be my biggest criticism)..last time I watched it I just paid attention to how they block the characters (where they are placed in the space of a scene) and it does some of the coolest things in that respect..lots of instances of triangle formations in group shots (they end up standing in a triangle pattern ie one character in the foreground, a few in the mid-ground and some in the deep backplane staged in a kubrick/symmetrical way..should be very noticeable as it happens, but is done is the slickest of ways) the american version looks like total rear end in comparison so far zer0spunk fucked around with this message at 15:13 on Aug 17, 2020 |
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Aug 17, 2020 15:02
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The violence still feels like it's done for shock value. Like the opening scene, there is no good reason to brutally murder a bunch of kids to get some information you could just as easily have gotten with a bribe or a fake police badge.
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Aug 17, 2020 15:10
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CeeJee posted:The violence still feels like it's done for shock value. Like the opening scene, there is no good reason to brutally murder a bunch of kids to get some information you could just as easily have gotten with a bribe or a fake police badge. nah, it works with the plot. they kill everyone because it's a global conspiracy and they can't leave a trace...plus ya know, hit men. nothing is excess in that way, shocking yeah by the nature of how it's presented but again, all in service of the script. it's not an action movie, faceless bad guys don't randomly die also has one of the most intensely savage monologues in an airport about over population, aghhh sooo good. that monolouge, which works out of context without really being a spoiler, but is from the finale, so you should still watch the show. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcx-nf3kH_M utopia is dark, but done incredibly well zer0spunk fucked around with this message at 15:23 on Aug 17, 2020 |
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Aug 17, 2020 15:15
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Did they kill all those kids? I thought it was just gas?
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Aug 17, 2020 15:24
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Strom Cuzewon posted:Did they kill all those kids? I thought it was just gas? i don't think it was sleeping gas, gentle goon friend. arby doesn't leave witnesses
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Aug 17, 2020 15:27
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zer0spunk posted:nah, it works with the plot. they kill everyone because it's a global conspiracy and they can't leave a trace...plus ya know, hit men. nothing is excess in that way, shocking yeah by the nature of how it's presented but again, all in service of the script. Few things leave traces like a quadruple murder of children. Of course the Conspiracy can be so powerful they can sweep this under the rug (as demonstrated by Lee not bothering to avoid stepping in the blood) in which case they could as easily have sent an actual cop. And in the final season, a bunch of murder-suicides of operatives and their families which are supposed to cover the tracks in different countries on the same day actually exposes the conspiracy. But hey, we got to see some more child murders
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Aug 17, 2020 16:24
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The real answer is that the conspiracy is fundamentally misanthropic and human death is the point, and never to be avoided or mitigated.
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Aug 17, 2020 17:21
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Mulva posted:The real answer is that the conspiracy is fundamentally misanthropic and human death is the point, and never to be avoided or mitigated. yeah, they kinda made that a huge theme in that second series. how they justify the heinous poo poo they do and nothing else matters in the context of their larger picture. they think they are saving humanity and all the incidental news reports in the background of the show make that world sound like it's on the brink of wholesale famine. the show is also comic booky, it doesn't show you the homicide investigation consequences after the murders happen...it's like the anti procedural compared to the abundance of cop shows on british tv at the time this aired i agree with you, the violence in this is raw and feels like it matters when it happens. you feeling put off is exactly why it is what it is, and you're not alone, people called and complained about it to channel 4 at the time to focus more on the scene discussed in the opening of the show.. i took that as good writing, the fact these 2 dudes brazenly do what they do without caring about being meticulous is just a good way of showing you how powerful the people backing them are without the need for some exposition..and then the rest of that season fills that in when you see the other pieces of what they are doing. plus the little touches are fantastic, like the shot of the post it note slightly unfurling. the show has style out the rear end and that first scene grips you immediately..that title sequence with the rabbit mascot and de Veers score kicking in fully, just full on chefs kiss stuff. i really dug this show, not sure how to feel about this new version. it's hard not to dislike it out of the gate, but i'm still curious. the track record for maintaining the quality level of the OG version on a remake/reboot isn't usually skewed on the good side of things. i guess we'll see "soon"? OP you should put some screenshots of this show in the first post, this thing has such a distinct visual language of its own, big part of why it's so good.       e2: should we be using spoilers for this show? it aired 7 years ago at this point, but it is one of those shows that is wayyyy better going in blind. it's a real spoon. zer0spunk fucked around with this message at 18:38 on Aug 17, 2020 |
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Aug 17, 2020 17:41
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It will probably end up being it's own thing. The style thing is sharp. The framing of s2e1 was literally viewed through a 70s era tv. So so good. Then the big bad is literally Emperor Palpatine They cancelled the show specifically so the producers could remake it at HBO, then HBO cancelled them. They wanted to make it with David Fincher, who...doesn't have anything in common with the originals style at all. It was a strange partnership and I am not surprised it failed.
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Aug 17, 2020 18:24
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this fan trailer of s1 is way better than that official channel 4 one posted, or the amazon remake trailer for that matter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJnN3WMwDsk
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Aug 17, 2020 19:19
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zer0spunk posted:this fan trailer of s1 is way better than that official channel 4 one posted, or the amazon remake trailer for that matter This is an alright reel for a camera op or something but doesn’t tell you anything about the show. It’s just every slow dolly shot with the amazing music. E: the best trailer for the original series is just showing people the first scene. It’s probably one of the best opening scenes of a show for setting the tone and mood right out of the gate. theflyingexecutive fucked around with this message at 20:25 on Aug 17, 2020 |
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Aug 17, 2020 20:22
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Here is another trailer for the remake, it isn't half as bad as the teaser. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDNPdLal2Lw Amazon release slate for September looking good. I hope the don't fanny about with the same release schedule as The Boys though. Looks like Wilson gets the same treatment, it was important for his journey.
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Aug 18, 2020 19:23
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I honestly can't believe this show didn't get a Season 3.
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Aug 19, 2020 12:37
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DarkCrawler posted:I honestly can't believe this show didn't get a Season 3. I don't think a lot of people were watching it, to be honest.
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Aug 19, 2020 13:58
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Third, presumably final trailer came out last week. https://youtu.be/rxXIH8oSWEU Finally confirming that, yes, someone will say, “where is Jessica Hyde?”
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Sep 23, 2020 22:06
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Oh hey, this comes out Friday. Wish it were season 3 but I'll still watch it. That newest trailer looks a little more colourful, at least.
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Sep 24, 2020 03:25
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