Haven’t seen any chatter here a out the new Murderbot show.
My wife and I are absolutely loving it so far, feels like a really faithful and respectful adaptation to the books, with most of the changes being positive!
Anyone else watching this?
I think the show feels painfully short each episode but I am loving the content itself. It feels different from the books to me, but that’s okay too. I am looking forward to see what can come from it, just wish the episodes were twice as long.
Friend recommended the books. Before I had a chance, came across the show. Been binge-watching and really enjoying it. Last episode of season is this weekend.
Will definitely jump on the books now.
I’m enjoying it, though it feels…off? Somehow, likely because its a 30m format, it seems to speed through episodes, or starts to pick up steam then abrubtly ends.
I’m enjoying it. Some of the decisions are a little odd. The thing that’s most distracting to me is that, in my head, Murderbot appears much more androgynous. That might have been hard to pull off, but Skarsgard is definitely male (even without genitalia). Some of the other characters are goofier than in the books, but I kind of understand the choice.
I hope the show gets people to read the books, but the show is entertaining.
They could of at least removed his hair and put some clear cybernetics. In the books, you couldn’t mistake Murderbot for a human. Even after ART’s modifications (adding hair etc) Murderbot still could only pass as a heavily cybernetically augmented human.
I do fear the shied away from the gender stuff.
In the books, you couldn’t mistake Murderbot for a human.
In the books, Murderbot repeatedly remarks that it can easily pass for human among humans, but other constructs would spot it immediately.
After ART’s modifications. Other secunits would know from it’s gate and general movement, etc.
Before ARTs modifications. Reread the first chapter of the second book, its chaulk full of examples of MB passing
The series is the next book on my list, and I flew from them first time. Looking forwards to rereading (I never normally reread). :-)
Oh that’s fair, I also flew through all of the books sans the most recent one which I haven’t been able to bring myself to finish the last one even on my rereads (murderbot has become my sanctuary moon).
I will say that pre ART modifications people with extensive experience and knowledge of secunits would have likely been able to clock MB as a SecUnit (part of the reason WHY they went through with the modifications given where they were heading)
So I’ve finished rereading the first one. Your right! It’s head is “generic human”. The joints for arms and legs are a mix of organic and nonorganic, but to pass, it needs a long shirt and trousers. Less human in looks than in the TV series, who we see in the nude to make it clear he is not a sex bot.
Edit:
In the second book: “I don’t know if there are any augmented human with enough implants to resemble a SecUnit. It seams unlikely a human would want that many implants, or would survive whatever catastrophic injury might make them necessary.”
So yes, the TV series has the body wrong even head is acceptable.
I’m actually a big fan of that decision.
The idea that non-binary people have to visibly appear non-binary is a harmful stereotype. Murderbot’s physical appearance is a part of its design that it has no control over. Why should it look androgynous? Just because it perceives itself as genderless, doesn’t mean it’s creators did.
I hope the show will actually dig into that at some point. I think it’s really important for people to see an agender character who still has a strongly masc appearance.
It’s an interesting point, and I agree with it politically, but in the books it’s made clear secunits look androgynous and non-human.
Some change between media change is always going to happen. I think Skarsgård is doing as good a job as can be done with his face. I’m making peace with it. Maybe the bigger problem is the dismissiveness of the portrayal of Preservation Alliance society. But we did live in the Corporate Rim!
Ugh yeah, it feels like the show is making fun of Preservation, which kinda undermines the show. Contrary to what others seem to think here, in my opinion the added goofiness really detracts a lot from the show.
Agreed. I hope they pull it back. It’s clearly where anyone would prefer to live!
I don’t agree they look totally ‘non-human’, since they are able to pass as human security consultant with little to no changes to their appearance. Heavily augmented, but human enough to pass with little more than a heavy sweater/hoodie and a cap.
Honestly, i love the way everyone of the Corporation Rim dismisses Preservation, they are a bunch of backwater hippies… and the fact they do have a working and strong economy just shows how wrong the CR is.
It was only after ART’s modifications that Murderbot was able to pass for a heavily augmented human. That was the point of them.
I hope they show the Preservation more seriously later. It was all vague at the start in the books. Though I will be rereading!
ARTs modifications helped, but he did walk around prior to receiving them. ART adjusted his height, how his hair grew, ect, but didn’t fundamentally change his looks.
But the whole point of the modifications was so it could pass as human. Which means beforehand, it was a struggle to.
Yes, but most of them were things like shortening the legs, growing out the hair, changing their gait, and adding “fidget” algorithms.
Not major cosmetic changes, and as he says a security would still identify him as a sec unit, but making it so the meatbags… Err, humans, are less likely to notice.
In the books, Murderbot is aggressively no gendered. It gets upset at any suggestions that it has sex characteristics. That was enough for me to form a mental image of androgyny.
I mean, it’s fine. They had to go with someone, and that someone was going to have a body, it’s just different from what I pictured.
A lot of people are watching it, but I ducked out after episode two. I read the books and I felt like it was overly broad in comparison.
The TV adaptation rushes through the story, and doesn’t take its characters seriously. The books aren’t really a broad comedy like the show. For example, the books were more respectful of gender and sexuality. It wasn’t played for laughs except as the bot’s perspective of how he didn’t relate to it or understand the point of it. Same with a lot of the other characteristics of the humans. The humans in the book aren’t actually bumbling idiots, that’s just how the bot perceives them. I felt like the show was missing the point.
I did enjoy how the tv show portrayed “sanctuary moon” though.
If you haven’t read the books, I recommend them. There’s only like one real clunker in the set.
I disagree that it’s a faithful adaptation from the books.
There have been plenty of lore and story changes. The overall ‘tone’ is different too. Books are more hard sci-fi.
That being said, I’m still enjoying it as its own thing and I wish the episodes were longer.
My general head cannon for the discrepancies especially with the additions is that the books are written by Murderbot as a record and it has admitted to being an unreliable narrator including glossing over things that it’s not interested in or doesn’t understand the value of. The show is more of a third-person perspective so it’s entirely possible some of what we are seeing was those moments that Murderbot didn’t see fit to include.
