Halo TV series impressions.

So I just finished the first episode of the new Halo series that dropped today on Paramount+. I kept my expectations low and feel like I came out more satisfied than expected. First off, I know some folks are saying it looks like an old SyFy show. I don't think that's quite true, however, I also like a lot of those old shows. And all the fancy tech in the world doesn't stop Star Trek Discovery from being wholly mediocre. The first 25 minutes are probably the best simply because there is little dialogue. Its certainly a lot more brutal than I anticipated. The Covenent were truly terrifying imo(except this weird human girl thing--you'll see). I don't remember the game stories very well but in this the Covenent are a new enemy and the UNSC are kind of a feared entity by many factions of humanity. So its somewhat of an interesting setup for where the Spartans stand.

Then we get to the point where we start meeting characters and people start talking a bunch. This is where it starts to fall off. The writing and cast are pretty hit and miss. Not a fan of the Miranda Keyes actor. She just always looks scared. Halsey is fine I guess; your typical scientist type being stifled by her superiors. I really don't like the Admiral at all. She's another typical "My way or the highway" type, which could change since its only the first episode. The other main protagonist, Kwan Ha, seems interesting enough for where the story might go given the circumstances brought up in the episode. I honestly don't think I can say until another couple episodes drop. I didn't know what to expect by the end and I kinda like where it left off. I don't think this show's gonna win any awards but if you don't care about the game lore, and can get past some of the dialogue, its a decent fix. I'm also a bit of a sucker for sci fi soooo....(Watched SG: Atlantis last month for the first time and am now cherry picking seasons of SG-1, and having a blast)

EDIT: Gamepass users can find a 30 day trial for Paramount+ in the Perks tab.

I'm gonna wait until this show is a few episodes deep before I get into it. Not a huge Halo fan, but when the writers talked about being really proud of not having played any of the games, I was pretty much ready to write it off...

Stargate Atlantis and SG-1 are fantastic shows. Probably my all time fav sci fi shows tbh. I really wish sci fi went back to making shows revolving around lovable characters rather than this dark sci fi drama crap... Eureka, Warehouse 13, Stargate SG1 and Atlantis, these shows were a joy to watch because the tone of the show was up beat and there was an aura of kindness and friendship. Almost no drama between the main characters, it was a great era.. At least to my tastes.

@vgaportauth: Your reasons for liking those shows are definitely the same as mine. In fact SG was exactly what I needed right now. I just wanted a good ol' ensemble sci fi romp. I guess a lot of people find SG a bit too talky but I personally find the writing to be quite enjoyable. And even though you can really see the holes in the budget sometimes( I remember a specific device that basically had vacuum tubes coming out the top of it) it certainly makes up for it with good characters and some great stories. I even like a lot of the one off episodes. Just met Rodney for the first time in SG-1. LOL he's exactly the same character, right down to that shit eating smirk. Love it. Shame Atlantis got cancelled. The season 5 finale would of been great as a season finale. Though still not the most unsatisfying conclusion for a series cut short. Gotta love the typical show the golden gate bridge so you know we're on earth trope.

@spacemanspiff00: I just read a review of the first two episodes that was pretty negative, but to me it sounded like the reviewer was coming at it from a weird, "treat games seriously!" angle. And I don't think the reviewer was a general sci-fi fan, either.

As someone who spent nearly every Friday night of a certain era watching Sci-Fi Channel original shows, I feel like you and me might have similar tastes and expectations, so I'm 100% down for this.

@spacemanspiff00: I absolutely loved Rodney from the first second. One of the best nerd-characters ever imo. I actually prefer Atlantis over SG1 in many ways. Both casts are damn near perfect, but shepherd and rodney had something really special going.

I hope those damn shows become available in my country at some point. They're stripped off of most streaming services and the DVDs are hella expensive for like 16 seasons of shows... also they're DVDs... I could go for some happy sci fi right about now.

Watched it, was entertained.

Its a tad kitchy in spots but that suits its vibe. It's not taking itself overly seriously, which may annoy some die hards out there, but its a story about super human soldiers and aliens and giant ring worlds and other stupid fun stuff so who cares. Also, as is the way with TV, there's plenty of time for it to have very serious moments without boring the arse off the audience.

Even though I have heard the suit noises a bagillion times, it was still pretty cool to hear the dun dun dun dun dun dun dun when the Chief was taking hits and then the brrRRRRRRRRzt! of the shield charging back up. They are doing a hell of a job with the sound design and there are a ton of effects ripped straight from the game. The guns all look pretty good, then enemies dont look half bad for a bunch of CG models. The action was pretty tight and very halo-y, which I was surprised how much I liked and didnt think it looked all that silly.

Not sticking strictly to the story of the game is undoubtedly going to infuriate some people, but I see this as a separate creative venture using the characters and universe and if they hit the major points along the way then thats good enough for me. Hell even if they dont, as long as its fun I dont really care.

I'll pop a free trial when it's all out. I'm not too concerned with it being different, so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. I enjoy when a series does its own thing completely. It's when they're faithful but then start changing things randomly (The Witcher comes to mind) when I get sort of bummed out.

I'll just keep my expectations low, and hopefully be pleasantly surprised. It's how I got to enjoy the Uncharted movie and the new Resident Evil.

My impressions are broadly aesthetic, as I'm not really a Halo Fan (the games are fine) and have no real attachment to any of the characters or locations; I thought the combat scenes were pretty good, both the Spartans and Elites have a nice chonky weight to them which is pretty satisfying to watch. I thought the first person shots were obligatory but not particularly well done (They almost look worse than the game somehow) and I don't like the weird loose webbing that connects the armour plates on the Mjolnir armour, because it makes it look like cheap cosplay.

I thought the writing was generally poor. Master Chief has too many lines, makes dumb jokes, and takes his helmet off on camera for far too long. I would have given them a pass if it was a Mandalorian-esque reveal in the final episode, but they seem to have missed the alure of the character which is; his humanity is ambiguous.

@sweep:

I'm still unsure how I feel about Master Chief having a real personality. On the one hand, I'm not sure I want a monotone Chief who barely says anything. But then again, you put a better cast and writing around it and maybe you have a more Terminatoresque feeling. I figured that's how it would be since it seemed like they were teaming him up with this girl. But the other Spartans all seem to have more life to them as well which shot down the idea that what's happening in the episode is why he's maybe changing.

I also have no real attachment to Halo lore or characters so them messing with it is also completely fine with me. I never thought there was much allure to Chief beyond him being some supersoldier created to fight greater threats, with a cool helmet. I really don't remember the games much at all. Does Chief make any jokes to Cortana? Do they talk much about his past? *shrugs* Maybe the writers were afraid of the Mando comparisons since now that you mention it I could absolutely see that happening. It gonna take a couple more episodes for me to decide whether they pushed it too far.

@spacemanspiff00: I think best chief is vague dry sarcasm. Like when he gets trapped by the Hive and Cortana asks him how they're going to escape: "Thought I'd try shooting my way out. Mix things up a little." - yes. Perfect.

This Halo series is giving me Robocop vibes where he's struggling to figure out if he's a human or a machine. And I love Robocop, it just seems weird in a Halo context.

I’ve been through a number of the early books and enjoy the expanded world building that’s been done over the years. That said, I also respect that its a game first and don’t fret the details.

The show being its own take is totally good with me as I never bought into an adaptation or remake somehow “ruining” an original. I really enjoyed how they introduced the covenant and wasted no time in showing their brutality. The CG is pretty good for a TV show but it is on that TV show budget. Still, they make some bold choices with how much of the CG they let you see and focus on.

The dialog and delivery thus far seems to be the weakest point but this first episode does a LOT of establishing. I don’t know how much I care for a human with a covenant upbringing although the idea isn’t that farfetched if you consider their dependance on humans to activate key forerunner technology.

I’m interested in watching more of the show and seeing what they do.

@sweep: Ohhh I like that Robocop comparison. Man what a great flick. Still a trip to watch, even now.

I thought the joke Chief made was, while not vague, still rather dry lol.

I'm not going to sign up for another streaming service to watch this, but the trailers look pretty fun. I have no attachments to the franchise - played the first game when it came out on PC and got bored halfway through.

Havent seen the show yet - if I'm eligible for that paramount + trial Ill give that a go!

As for the games, the original trilogy has the perfect videogame story in my opinion; and I never really understood the dismissiveness of the Master Chief as just a generic videogame protagonist. Even in the original games there was a very clear and consistent definition of his character. You can see he's gentle, compassionate, introspective and upholds duty above all else. Like Sweep said where he can he injects aridly dry humor. He's just a really competent dude with not a lot of baggage.

I did not enjoy Halo Infinite at all and largely deride its story but imo they handled chief's character well there by giving subtle nods to the kind of guy he is under the helmet. His pass code for the Cortana killswitch was the name of one of his dead friends if I remember correctly. Little things like that show he's sentimental - but he just doesn't let his baggage weigh him down when he's called on to serve. I just really respect that in a character.

Lots of writers tend to make their characters flawed in some way because its easy to create drama in and around those flaws.

I'm not saying dry, pragmatic characters with their shit together would be interesting to watch in an every-day slice of life format but there are planets on fire and lives at risk so I think there is value in stories about watching a competent person overcome extreme adversity, its about the only time their lives are interesting!

It's honestly not bad but tv is so good these days that being alright isn't exactly enough. I'll probably finish the season but the show has yet to be the killer app it was intended to be.

Let's just say, I'm much more interested in the SG discussion than the next episode of Halo. The action was entertaining, but I thought the writing and acting was mediocre to bad.

@spacemanspiff00: if you haven't seen it, give Farscape a go when you're done. Easy to enjoy even before you grow attached to Claudia Black and Ben Browder.

Based on a franchise that largely deals with awe/wonder and xeno-political intrigue, I continually am amazed in 343's downright stubborness to shoehorn in a plot to 'humanize' and tell a character story centered around Master Chief or some newly introduced fodder-character that they will 'macguffin' relevance to.

The whole parroting that you need to remove the helmet for a different medium and change the core intrigue and create an entirely non-canon timeline is just the most incredulous, dumb, entertainment-speak you can ever hear.

That said, I thought when there wasn't VFX goofs the action and CGI were largely hit, with some more infrequent misses. Not into the plot at all, score is abyssmal and we can thank 343/MS copyright lawyers' battle with Marty O'Donnell for that--it was overall pretty meh and I'm literally only watching it now to see what other ways they're going to differ from the games and shit all over my boy.

Going in with ultra low expectations, it was like a 5/6 to me--still clear as day 343/MS/Hollywood hasn't a damn clue what makes Halo work and forgoes any of the charm and nuances for boiler-plate generic sci-fi for fears they can't capture a wider audience they presume exists and insist this to be the case at every turn as the reason why they must water-down the series.

He shouldn't have taken off the helmet in the first episode.

@candivore: I believe I have watched Farscape at least twice all the way through. Been considering cherry picking some episodes for old time sake. When it slaps it slaps.

How this thread started: How about that Halo show?

How it's going: Hey, remember those Sci-Fi Channel original shows?

@bladeofcreation: I get the feeling a lot of folks are gonna wait a few weeks to start it so they can get the whole series in one free trial.

If this is how the thread survives until then I'm down lol.

@spacemanspiff00: I think that's where I'm at with this series.

Yeah I saw I had until May to claim the trial, so misewell wait until most or all of it is out for viewing.

It's not a bad show, but it's certainly not a good one either. It's entertaining and that makes the 12 year old Halo fan in me sad. I think there was crazy potential post-Halo 3 with Neil Blomkamp or Steven Spielberg to make something really special and instead, we get painfully average now.

There is so much material to Halo and across different media... that I get it must be hard to pick and choose which fans to appease. So going in this alternative universe direction is probably the safest option and allows for more creativity, but so far, the story based off Episode 1 and seeing what the trailer hints at, this feels like a disastrous mashup of story ideas from different games. I think that's a huge mistake and it's going to leave people scratching their heads as to why they didn't just do a TV show of Fall of Reach or Halo 1 if they're going to recycle content anyways.

Visually this looks awesome, but so do a lot of other movies/TV shows now days.

Yeah, the pastiche buffet they're going with is really an awful idea. Halo's greatest hits while they 'attempt' to tell a middling, average-at-best by-the-numbers sci-fi drama while changing things for the sake of the medium instead of understanding how to faithfully adapt--it truly is the most disheartening thing given the delays and wait fans have had to endure.

I imagine this season will be working up to it's own version of 'Battle of The Bastards' episode with Reach falling but I could be giving the show-runners way too much benefit of the doubt, fwiw. I'm guessing the season ends with them arriving at Halo but that would just be far too coherent, and this show has been anything but within the first episode, so I feel we should get strapped in for some real perplexing moments.

I know the show is called "Halo," so they probably feel like they needed certain series hallmarks to bring in the audience, but I honestly think they would have been better off not having Chief or the Covenant in Season 1 much, if at all. I don't necessarily mind them trying to cover the colonies and Earth being in a low-grade war - it's part of the Halo canon that's not really covered in the games - but they've just got too much stuff going on and the whole thing feels busy. Right now it's just a lot of marginal-looking special effects that feel like they're there to tick a lot of boxes of things Halo is "supposed" to have.

I think it would have been much more interesting to have the first season just focus on Earth vs. Colonies. Maybe covering the genesis of the SPARTAN program as originally something to put down rebellions rather than save humanity? Like, imagine if instead of Chief the season followed a younger Sergeant Johnson as he became a SPARTAN-I. Then you can have the first contact with the Covenant towards the end of the season to shake things up. Then you introduce the recruitment/abduction of John in Season 2 with Johnson becoming his mentor.

I dunno. It feels like there's a way, way better version of this show that could be made had the makers been more interested in actually engaging with the source material. As it is, I can just see some producer who has never played the games in the background saying things like "Yeah, we gotta have what's his name . . . Master Chef? Better have him driving around one of them Wartpig things, too. And give him a kid to take care of! You know, so the audience will have someone to relate to!"

NOT AN APRIL FOOLS' PRANK: First episode available online for free.

As reported by The Verge and others.

Paramount has heard our befuddled questions of, "What the fuck is Paramount Plus?" and answered by making the first episode of Halo available for free on YouTube. There is something that I find amusing about them not even bothering to make you go to their own website to watch it. They just put it on YouTube.

Edit: I have watched the show about the shooty stronk spaceman.

If you are a diehard Halo lore fan, this may not be for you. If you're the type of person who is okay with alternate stories about established characters, it may be fine. First off: this show is brutal. Just a heads-up for anyone who may want to watch this with kids. (I know people who are okay with their kids playing a game like Halo, because you shoot aliens, but not Call of Duty, because you shoot more or less realistic looking people.) This first episode has multiple human characters--including teenagers--that get gunned down and have their heads straight-up blown off. At one point, the main teenage character is ordered to be executed. Obviously Master Chief does not comply with this order.

As for the quality of the show, the sound design is spot on. Half a dozen Halo weapons that you know and love from the series make an appearance. The first-person sections aren't really necessary, but YMMV. Some of the movement of the Spartans looks obviously CGI. There are cool scenes with Spartans improvising weapons and physically attacking Elites, but these scenes are look fake as hell. The Elites look like 80% okay and 20% weird. Master Chief obviously gets a conscience halfway through the episode.

It's super annoying to hear people refer to him as "Master Chief," which is a rank, and neither a title nor a name. It makes sense for military characters whom John-117 outranks to refer to him by rank. For everyone else, it sounds dumb as shit.

The end-of-season reveal is gonna be MC and company showing up at a Halo ring.

Bit on the fence about this one.

While i've enjoyed playing through the games, the series doesn't really hold any special place in my heart. So i can appreciate the show taking it's own approach to the story. And some of the creative decisions with the plot seem actually kind of interesting (at this point).

On the bad side, many scenes and character interactions have felt a bit too light hearted and goofy. Spartans don't feel quite as physically imposing as i feel they should. There's also no real feeling of a long war (or two) being fought, even though these are referenced constantly. Apart from some UNSC-backed goons, who are in a short scene made to be so comically evil that i laughed out loud during a scene that was probably meant to be super oppressing.

Scenes involving CGI also go from really pretty to kinda bad. The Spartans felt especially janky in certain scenes in the first episode, as if they ran out of time to properly animate them or something.

But i'll keep watching for now.

Halo is a very popular first person shooter and Halo TV series is a good adaptation from the game. I haven't played the games, but based on the series episodes I have seen so far, it seems the series is not a direct adaptation of the game, but has its own story. This allows the writers to write an original story and not confine to the game's story. I am very much impressed by the script, the directing and the acting. I enjoy watching the series very much!

Really it is one of the most popular video games and it is one of those that either come to the movies or TV. And really with TV you can expand the characters more with development and writing. Just IMHO!

I always found Halo was two universes woven into one the Bungie games were light hearted sci-fi romps but the lore was really super dark and 343i attempts to use more of the lore never quite worked.

So far I've been quite impressed with the TV series its managed to do what 343i have stuggled to do, familiar but different seeing the same beats with the lore woven in, it give the show a lot more depth.

I watched the first episode. I was really worried about it in advance and I guess it wasn't as bad as I feared. I liked how they made the Covenant seem actually scary and painted the UNSC as a colonial empire. I didn't like the overt use of the first person camera and I hated how early and how much they showed Master Chief's face. I haven't seen the second episode yet, but I'm pretty sure that object is telling the Chief to go back to Baltimore and get the dock worker union back together.

I guess I might as well watch a few more episodes of this, but it doesn't look all that good.

They got that bad guy from Season 4 of The Expanse to play the exact same character. I don't mean "a similar character", I don't mean "basically the same guy", I mean precisely, to the fucking letter, the same motherfucker. Which is fine, I mean, he fits that role incredibly well.

Anyway, I think it's all right. It's fine. It's OK. I'll watch more of it. I think it's got a bit of a rocky start if this is going to become something great, but if what we wind up with is essentially a high-budget mid-2000's Sci-Fi channel original but in 2022, I'll be happy with that too. As far as I'm concerned, the Halo story that I really care about and like ended when the credits rolled on Halo 4. Yes, 4, sue me, I thought it was a great finale to the whole thing, all things considered.

I do agree that Chief shouldn't have taken off the helmet, though. He's a mythological demigod ever ready for a fight against impossible odds and should always be treated as such. No face could have actually satisfied anyone's curiosity about his actual looks, any reasonably human face would be disappointingly realistic.

@aaron58: I remember the halo book was a direct adaptation of the games, and book readers hated it. The guy who wrote it defended himself by saying i gave you what you want. He really never played the game, did his research and played it, took notes and yeah shot for shot, including the little battles you get, he described everything. My idea is people dont really know what they want but they know what they dont want when they see something you show them. I think the best idea was to go and do their own story. Non fans may enjoy it enough and you can get an alternative take playing the games. Imagine if marvel went shot for shot like watchmen, it would be super unsatisfying for general audiences.

As someone recently put it: it’s not bad enough to stop watching. Which isn’t a glowing endorsement by any means but also isn’t a condemnation.

Just got done episode 3. Figured I'd let a couple more drop before adding further thoughts. I liked this episode. I've decided to embrace the show for what it is instead of what it might have been, which is easy for me since I don't remember much of the lore, nor do I have any real attachment to it. The 3rd episode is likely going to be quite divisive with fans. It definitely doubles down on the idea of Chief being a real person with emotions rather than a soldier with a vague dry wit. But I personally like how they've handled it so far. The way that Cortana is introduced and her interactions with Chief and Halsey I thought were pretty interesting. And they got THE Cortana. That helped.

Now that we're in it, sometimes it feels like a sci fi script that someone just plunked Halo stuff into. I get the feeling you could easily remove all that stuff and tell largely the same story. Its more about where this is heading that makes it feel like Halo. Kwan Ha was largely sidelined this whole episode to set her up for her next adventure. I still can't decide if she really adds anything to the show. And now that the story is beginning to pull in different directions it will be interesting to see how they manage it all and bring it back around. I'm intrigued by the idea of Cortana possibly creating some unrest amongst the other Spartans.

I also think a lot of my enjoyment stems from the fact that TV hasn't really come back around on the sci fi train in awhile. After The Expanse ended I found myself with little else to get that fix from. Star Trek is pretty much the only other current alternative and its been pretty meh the last number of years. I can also imagine that sci fi shows would be rather expensive to produce right now considering they typically have some pretty elaborate set design. Building material costs are through the roof which would seriously eat up a budget. Halo isn't gonna blow any minds but I'm gonna stick with it. I'm getting my fix.

*Stargate SG-1 update: Just hit season 8. Didn't enjoy season 7 as much as I thought I would given the amount of praise I saw for it. I think 4-6 are my favorite. I'm a little worried about O'Neill's promotion pulling him away from the team. Though I think I liked Jonas more than most people so if its comes down to another new team member I'll be fine. Nice to see the Atlantis tie-ins after watching that series first.

**Afterthoughts: I forget about Miranda Keyes more than I do Kwan Ha, and that seems wrong. I hope they turn her character around by the end.

Watched episode 3 and I'm interested.

This is best thought of as a completely different thing from the games, at least as of right now. Fans looking to see the same kind of popcorn set piece driven sci-fi of the games are probably real disappointed and angry right now, but I'm frankly intrigued by their decisions.

They're really doubling down on the whole "humanizing Chief" thing in a way 343 has tried and largely failed to do. Here... I'm not sure if they've succeeded yet and they have no subtlety about anything, but they haven't fumbled it. Which is still the thing I'm most interested in, I guess. They haven't fumbled it yet, but also haven't scored, and I'm in for at least the first season to see which way this goes.

I'd bet that we're either not going to see the titular Halo, or won't see much of it, this season. This feels like they're heading towards Fall of Reach territory and hopefully they won't try to rush that.

The problem that I have with the show is that it makes a very weak (and poor) attempt to include lore. I don't mean just from the games, I mean from the comics and books as well. What I don't understand is why the hell would the producers want to produce a show that isn't canon. That immediately sets up the entire series for something that ISN'T online with Halo. I was immensely disappointed with the show, merely based on the storyline and how it does NOT incorporate any of the lore/canon.

I'm actually really happy to see them taking a different angle on the whole thing. If I wanted what the video games had to offer, I'd play the games. Here, they have a chance to reset and tell a similar story but maybe one that's more coherent. Maybe.

They keep showing his freaking face. I hate that.

@justin258:I can understand that, I on the other hand have an issue with the different angle being a perspective that's not in the actual Halo universe. But even with all of the disrepenciese, the biggest issue I have is how they portray the SPARTANs in the show. I have an issue with explaining this without an example so.....

The SPARTAN-II's are some of the most elite commandos in the UNSC, correct? Ever since their indoctrination into the SPARTAN-II program, they've been put through numerous selection & training courses that allow them to be the most lethal and capable special warfare unit in the UNSC. However, in the show, they treat SPARTAN's like their robots that can't operate without being given specific orders. I'm not just referencing the games here, I'm including the books as well. Why would you put someone through a 10+ year training pipeline when all you're going to do is treat them like mindless drones? This negates all of the previous missions where the SPARTANs proved themselves in prior engagements (Operations Silent Storm being a prime example).

If the show portrayed the SPARTAN team adequately instead of making it seem like the SPARTAN program was something brand new and untrustworthy, then I think I'd have an easier time adjusting to it. But that (along with a wide variety of other issues) is a major reason why I have a hard time watching it. So I'm going to avoid it. Hopefully you enjoy it though

I haven't watched beyond the first episode(have other stuff to watch and play atm) but just looking at the episode summaries for 2 and 3, how much of this actually even have the Covenant in it?

It seems like they're leaning hard into the anti establishment/military side of things as opposed to the actual alien threat. Like wasn't the idea that earth and the unsc was in a civil war and then the covenant invaded and everyone was like "oh, we should stop fighting each other and work together".

Sure it's a well traveled theme, but right now it'd be nice to see that as opposed to yet another "yo humans are shitty, even if they're being wiped out by a zealous alien civilization".

Most of the gripes people have with the show, the showing the face bullshit, not being like the games, etc don't bother me.

Heck I'm even fine with them treating the Spartans as programmed soldiers, but at least keep the entire point of the IP the same.

I went in with virtually no expectations, even as a huge fan of Halo (and the books). The first two episodes left me...mixed and unsure. There were parts I liked and parts I didn't. I was honestly having a tough time separating myself from what was "true" and what wasn't.

Maybe it's a good thing these didn't all drop at once, however. I was able to separate myself and accept that this is...simply "another take". I don't quite know what changed with episode 3, but I actually enjoyed it quite a lot. I thought the banter between...well, everyone and Cortana was 👌🏻. Even the creepy doctor, lol.

I'm also happy they didn't drag out explaining the "mysterious human" and we saw the Lekgolo in their 'natural' state.

It *is* a little weird still seeing Mad Sweeny as MC. Him trying to turn Cortana off though was hilarious.

In the books, there is a conflict between the UNSC and some rebels hidden away in far-off planets and in hidden, abandoned old space stations. Earth is still the center of human civilization, with Reach sorta being a secondary "home base" for humanity. The games don't have much of this conflict in them at all.

Your comment did make me think about the presence of the Covenant in the show. They're there, but they come across as a mild inconvenience for a massive human space empire and not an enemy the humans can barely slow down, let alone push back. If I were to hazard a completely uneducated guess, I'd say that the drama and politics have been heavily influenced by The Expanse and, to some degree, maybe Game of Thrones.

They'll probably turn the Covenant into a much bigger threat at some point. They have to, right?

@spacemanspiff00: I enjoyed 3 the most so far, but that isn't saying much. I'm hopeful it improves.

As for SG-1, if you are anything like me I'm sorry to say your concerns are well founded. There are a few nuggets in there still, but the tone just never felt the same. Peak SG-1 is well in the rearview mirror for me by season 8.

@justin258: I got HEAVY Expanse vibes

Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, they do humanity conflict extremely well, and I love that they are exploring what IS a big part of the lead up to the greater conflict, but yeah so far the Covenant aren't really a thing.

They very well could be using the first season as a rampup to the covenant war and the first season(or season 2 premiere) might bring about that "oh shit" moment.

It sounds like it will be a much slower burn than even the books.

My girlfriend and I are watching GoT(she never saw it, and I personally don't have the same gripes as a lot of people) and am reminded of how slow that show can be. It's not really a "plot" per se as much as it's "people are doing things and occasionally they effect each other" lol. Again, not bad, just a very different head space to be in.

When they got to that scene where Chief walks out into the world, as if for the first time, feeling all these emotions.. I just turned it off and don't plan on going back to it. Life is too short.

Don't worry, this is not mentioned in the game at all. But in novels like Fall of Reach, Covenent and UNSC started the war a couple of decade before the Halo ring was discovered. Before the alien invasion, UNSC was seen as a facist faction and Spartans their elite stormtroopers. With the Convenent, they just got to keep their facist way. Yeah, Halo lure is weird.