Recently Episode 10, the final episode of season 1, was
broadcast. As yet I’m unaware if a
second season will be on its way, but apparently plans are in place for
that. This is a remake of a 1973 film,
which actually had a sequel (FutureWorld, 1976) and a brief TV series (Beyond
Westworld, 1980), neither of which I’ve seen.
Basic Premise. The company
has developed a fantasy world staffed with lifelike androids (hosts) programmed
to cater to the whims and desires of the guests (humans). The main such world is WestWorld, patterned
after America’s Wild West, while the original film also included a Roman world
and a medieval world, both absent from the current HBO series. As a practical matter, the male hosts act as
cannon fodder – they can be killed, but their guns cannot harm the guests – and
the female hosts are anatomically correct sexbots. Well, in theory. But the general idea is that the robots begin
malfunctioning in a particularly deadly fashion – in the original, it’s
attributed to an unintentional computer virus, in the HBO series we begin to
wonder if it wasn’t intentional….
Westworld (1973). Recap:
a pair of rich guys, Peter (Richard Benjamin) and John (James Brolin,
the father of Josh Brolin) indulge in Westworld, where they can play out
fantasies of being wild west outlaws yet – theoretically – not suffer the
retribution of the robotic “hosts”. The
most noticeable is called The Gunslinger, played by Yul Brynner.
Of course, nothing goes according to plan, and the
Gunslinger proves capable of killing John.
He stalks after Peter, chasing him through the other two worlds with a
final showdown in the depths of the company’s underground complex. The
Gunslinger-as-unstoppable-killer-robot is a precursor to Arnold’s Terminator a
decade later. The “computer fantasy
world gone haywire” is clearly similar to “Jurassic Park”. Overall the movie is suitably disturbing and
exciting – but one thing it isn’t is confusing.
Westworld (2016
HBO Series). This is a full remake. It’s missing RomanWorld or MedievalWorld -
perhaps in subsequent seasons, but I haven’t seen anything in the current
narrative to suggest that. If anything,
there are too many bugs in Westworld as it is, much less expanding. However, they’re really knocking themselves
out by bringing this up to the next level.
It has an A-list cast. Anthony Hopkins is here as the ultimate
mastermind of the complex, Ford. Others
include (but are not limited to) Evan Rachel Wood, Thandie Newton, James
Marsden (Cyclops in the X-Men films), Jeffrey Wright (from “Hunger Games”),
Jimmi Simpson (House of Cards), and Ed Harris as a particularly nasty guest,
the Man in Black – itself an intriguing role for an actor who usually plays good
guys (e.g. John Glenn, RIP, in “The Right Stuff”). Everyone does a knockout job in the acting
category. No complaints there.
The production values are
high (as you would well expect from HBO), but where HBO really ramps this up
from the movie is on two items. First,
the hosts (the robots) begin to develop self-awareness. In particular, Maeve (Newton) talks to her
human technicians and persuades them to upgrade her programming. Eventually she takes her rebellion to the
next level.
Second, the plot becomes
extremely byzantine and complex. In
fact, it gets downright confusing. Are
there multiple timelines? Are these
events flashbacks or are they happening in real time? Much of this seems to be from the perspective
of Dolores (Wood), who is a host, not a guest.
Maeve’s point of view is also well represented, with Teddy (Marsden) a
distant third. Brynner’s Gunslinger
never got that treatment. But as I said,
confusing. To me that level of
complexity compromises the enjoyability of the show. All will be revealed? Actually, not exactly.
While there were a few loose ends at the end of E10, don’t
assume that means there will be a season 2.
Ever see “Dirty Sexy Money”? The
series ended on a cliffhanger yet the show wasn’t picked up. Talk about frustrating…
