Level up tv show movie#
Level up tv show series#

This kind of exposition isnРІР‚в„ўt for non-players. ItРІР‚в„ўs the opposite of something like Dune, which skirted over the bookРІР‚в„ўs incessant world-building on the faith that the audience would be content with some level of ignorance. Dialog never settles into the moment, it is always oriented toward what has or will happen, or toward the worldРІР‚в„ўs broader politics. In this sense, Halo, and other video game adaptations, adopt one of the least artful things about games: the tutorial.

Level up tv show series#

Halo (the show) is about you watching that, and because it must be shown, not played, the series is constantly describing itself, laying out its world's rules. Halo (the game) was about you, Master Chief, and your fellow Spartans fighting a theocratic alien race. For many, itРІР‚в„ўs a relief when theyРІР‚в„ўre allowed to take control. Games often overexplain their stories, relentlessly reminding you of the context for your play. In the first episode they escape the ChiefРІР‚в„ўs employers-the human-run UNSC-to a cyberpunk outlaw area, which you know is rebellious because the residents are haggling loudly and driving motorbikes indoors. Namely, in the protection of her savior, the Master Chief, also known as John (Pablo Schrieber). (The show is bloodthirsty, perhaps the most notable divergence from the games previous Elites never took such pleasure in mowing down human children.) Kwan will have to leave her rock, but not in the way sheРІР‚в„ўd intended. They murder KwanРІР‚в„ўs family and her tripping pals. Containing the universe's РІР‚Сљhighest concentration of heavy hydrogen,РІР‚Сњ itРІР‚в„ўs the same plant that powers the spaceships that will help her РІР‚Сљget off this stupid rock.РІР‚Сњ (Why do sci-fi protagonists always want to leave the planet-canРІР‚в„ўt they just move to a different country?) Then the Covenant show up: prune-skinned aliens with predatory four-petaled mouths, who come packing their famous energy swords and active camo. The scene cuts to Kwan Ha Boo (Yerin Ha), daughter of the rebel leader, out with her friends hunting down the hallucinogen known as Madrigal. One of the rebels, a grizzled Scotsman-РІР‚Сљwith scars older than youРІР‚Сњ-tells tall tales of Spartans, monstrous inhuman super soldiers, who the audience suspects arenРІР‚в„ўt as bloodthirsty as he declares. A game designer told me recently that he dislikes cinematic games, labeling them РІР‚Сљcontent-delivery machines.РІР‚Сњ That phrase also neatly describes adaptations like Halo: The content they deliver is the rush of recognition, nostalgia for when they last got to play the protagonist.Р”Р„s Halo (the show) begins, the audience is introduced to a colony of rebels, stuck in the middle of some forever war over something called deuterium. HaloРІР‚в„ўs creators stress theyРІР‚в„ўve written a new story, but, as is typical of these adaptations, the show still progresses like a long, clichР“В©d cutscene. All the writers must do is arrange callbacks in just the right order-what would normally be called plot is, in this case, nothing more than hiding Easter eggs. They seek to please one type of fan, who will recognize, and be thrilled, by every nod aimed in their direction. A uniquely obsequious kind of entertainment, they spend their time onscreen yoked to their lore. They serve, first and foremost, to expand the universe of the game. At best itРІР‚в„ўs emblematic of the peculiar way these adaptations are made.

Level up tv show movie#

No game has ever been turned into a compelling movie or TV show, and (on the evidence of the first two episodes, at least) this one, which drops Thursday, is no different. Halo finds itself atop an unenviable heap: the carcasses of failed video game adaptations. We wait with bated breath for the Master Chief to teabag a dead Elite. The first episode closes with the iconic Gregorian chant of the original soundtrack, which, the internet has noted, was not present in the original trailer. Paramount shelled out $10 million an episode to adapt Bungie's first-person shooter for the screen, and with every knowing wink, the message gets louder: This show is for the fans. Battle rifles, Phantoms, Cortana-for those in the know, the references come thick and fast in the new Halo series.