@infantpipoc Ah that's interesting. I guess they are leaning into that idea with this, only under different circumstances obviously. Wonder how much the whole fascist thing will ring out given how this show framed the UNSC in the 1st episode.

Episode 4 thoughts: I'm a little uncertain on how to go about this one without retreading over most of my previous thoughts. I guess I'll start by saying Kwan Ha remains the least interesting character in the series. She's now on an escapade with Soren which ends up leaving us with yet another mystery to be solved. How they manage to make Kwan Ha integral to this is beyond me. At least we got what I would say is the best of Miranda Keyes up to this point. Her acting has improved ever so slightly as she's sunk into the role. Still think she looks like a teenager. (I think I'm just feeling older in my 30's now cause she's 27 lol)

Episode 3, as mentioned in my previous impressions, doubled down on Master Chief's emotions. This one possibly triples downs on that. I can see a lot of folks who were iffy up until now calling it a wrap after episode 4. The other Spartans are also featured more heavily this episode in a similar capacity. This show seems to really want to explore the lives of Spartans and how they got to where they are and what they had to go through. But its just not that interesting or original. Burn Gorman( who I forgot about) is playing a worse version of other characters he's played. Its seems like a combination of lackluster writing and a slightly uninterested performance. Can ya really blame him?

This whole series is gonna be one big slow burn prequel as far as I'm concerned. And it already has a bunch of threads to explore now and can't seem to decide which ones really matter. And where we end up by the end is anybody's guess. I hope the Covenent start to play a bigger role cause they tend to get left behind a lot, just like in this episode, minus some Dr. and Spartan info dumps.

I'm just gonna end the impressions here by saying I think it has a decent amount of interesting ideas, none of them very well implemented. I haven't decided if I'll do weekly impressions now or just every other episode. I'm probably just the sucker that's gonna stick it out to the end anyway.

*Almost forgot my Stargate update :)

Got through season 8 since last week and I am 6 eps into 9. Season 8 wasn't as worrisome as I thought it might be. Though its basically a weaker season 7 that meanders a lot and doesn't really have much of an interesting through line. I did quite enjoy that episode where that guy finds a stone at a garage sale and it lets him see O'Neill's life. The last 2 eps were a very strange way to finish off the season. Like they weren't bad but they seemed like they would fit better in the mid season. Especially with the drastic changes to come.

Starting season 9 was a jarring affair. Maybe if they just got one Farscape star instead of two. Not to mention they are clearly playing them as almost polar opposites to their Farscape counterparts. Cameron Mitchell being the least interesting character so far. Vala is sort of annoying but I think that's the point. Its gotten better a few more episodes in when Teal'c and Carter and Daniel are around more but boy is the tone a lot different. The Ori though are easily the most boring generic villains of the whole series. I've seen some decent praise for the final two seasons. I'm gonna go the distance. But damn do I miss O'Neill. It actually kinda helps the case that its mentioned that the government seems to be far more interested in what's happening in Pegasus galaxy(The Atlantis crew) at this point.

** Still watching Picard to get my fix but man I think I'm just hate watching it now cause of my old affinities. The fact they need to announce already that the whole TNG crew is coming back next season makes it seem like they are scrambling for attention.

*** Yes I will continue to use this thread to exert my other sci fi shows :P

Episode 5: Gonna keep it brief.

Man o' man they better have quite the turn around for Kwan Ha by the end of this or she is sunk. Chained to a motorcycle was her story this episode.

The breakneck speed at which they have deconstructed Chief in this makes me wonder if, maybe even hope, something bad happens and Halsey is forced to subdue Chief and reinstall the control chip just to dial it back for awhile.

We finally get another Covenant fight, after 3 very reserved episodes. It more or less saved the majority of this episode for me.

The artifact stuff isn't uninteresting but at this point were going in circles a little bit.

~fin

*Stargate update: Also, brief.

I have 2 episodes left in season 9. Its grown on me a little more as the season progressed. Removing Vala for awhile was definitely the right call. Cameron is...fine. He fills the shoes without trying to be O'Neill and gets slightly more interesting I suppose. I kinda prefer the side stories in this season to the main arc. At least most of the gang's still here.

The newest episode had the fights people kept asking for in the last few eps. It was doing what I expected...on a tv show budget, you use time and resources for your mid and final eps. I don't know where it came from that every episode would have an all-out war...even the games don't. I still think people are unrealistically harsh on the show for its first outing and put nostalgic goggles on some of their favorite shows' first few episodes. If I watched this as a kid it would be great. I do agree the kid's plot needs to have some real payoff or people keep telling me it sucks so it got drilled into my head. I kinda like the off filter acting...it makes them seem more future society and kinda off-putting. Halo always seemed like a current day in space cause people talked like bros.

Halo books and extra lore is really good, comics included, at least better than any anti-fan would credit. The games always were like destiny in that the plot was hidden a bit if you weren't paying attention. I'm glad the show isn't just halo reach - halo 5. It's interesting to see where it goes, though I suspect it will do the thing like star wars and overcorrect to appease a fanbase that can't be fixed. They hate all adaptations unless their Shakespeare levels of perfect. Fair but a bit annoying. I feel fandom is akin to angry joe reviews on halo sometimes, making issues then confirming them or just coming in with a bias to hate even if they sware their not.

Showed my friend the battle today and told them while they were watching how everyone hates it and says it's not good enough yadda yadda, they said the net is a loud minority and the show looks fine for a tv show.

Episode 6: Full steam ahead.

The latest entry in the series might actually be my favorite episode so far, and there's not a single battle to be found. That might seem strange considering I said the fight in episode 5 pretty much saved the episode. The narrative seemed like it was beginning to spin its wheels a bit. Finally, we get a bit of payoff in the story. And wouldn't ya know it, Kwan Ha is nowhere to be found this episode, giving way for our covenant adopted girl Makee to make some headway. Its a welcome switch. Both of them have been pretty sidelined throughout and neither of them all that interesting. Makee now feels integral to what's going on, while her connection to Chief could turn out all kinds of havok. They still have 3 episodes to do the same for Kwan, for what that's worth.

The characters and dialogue in this chapter are easily the best the show has done. You finally get a better sense of what's happening with all the characters and what's starting to manifest as a result of everything that's occurred. We get an angry, betrayed Chief who seeks to cast aside everything just to understand what's happening to him and get answers about the artifact. Miranda Keyes finally gets her long awaited foray onto the front lines. We spend a little more time with other characters discussing the Spartan program and the UNSC relationship. And all of it really feels like it actually pushes the story in a much more meaningful direction.

Too many spoilers to really go much deeper but I'm glad I've stuck with it. I look forward to seeing where this goes in the final act. While it still has a slow burn pace this episode was a good setup for the impending conclusion in a few weeks.

*Stargate update: The final stretch

Here we are. Season 10. I'm halfway through and its been good. Better than season 9 imo. Still think the Ori are kinda lame but the addition of Morena Baccarin is always a welcome one. Though I'm still a bit iffy on the whole Camelot/Arthurian legend stuff. I think, like season 9, I enjoy the side episodes more. And I like when Beau Bridges is around. At this point I'm calling it comfort food.

Episode 7: Uuuuugh, that is all.

Episode 8: The worst part about episode 8 is, without a doubt, the next episode has to feature Kwan, and that whole lame plot to tie at least something up by seasons end. That being said, 8 was another good chapter that continues to move things forward. Halsey is easily the star of this show right now, and she continues to push along her character, and the narrative here. This first season is absolutely the prequel I thought it to be episodes ago. Its going to be interesting where they leave the spartans off in the finale. There appears to be a lot of mistrust and unrest afoot, that will likely leave things rather tense by the end. I still think it should end with the spartans becoming what they were for awhile.

The Makee-John plot takes things to a whole new level, in what I imagine would piss off a lot of Halo purists, if they're still around that is(But c'moooon, Chief deserves some :P). I don't think its a bad plot, personally. The ramping tension between pretty much everyone at the UNSC is getting interesting at this point. The lengths of which Halsey is willing to go, the ignorance of Keyes and the admiral and their hostility towards Makee, and the utter tools of which the spartans exist to be, or maybe not, is all coming together in a way that could really set up a great season 2. Shame it still has to prove in spades why certain characters and circumstances really matter. With one episode to go I can't say I'm very confident it will wrap up in any satisfying way. However, on the whole, I'm looking forward to where the next season goes now that we have established this new and different Halo universe.

*I quite like Cortana in this adaption, maybe that's just me.

**Stargate update: Haven't finished the final season yet. Got a little burnt out after binging so much. Now I'm back on my Cop/Detective show tip lol(Bosch Legacy, anyone?). I still look forward to wrapping it up, even if its not exactly hitting for me anymore. I even started putting on Atlantis episodes while I play Elden Ring sometimes. Its still comfort food.

***Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is giving me the Star Trek fix I want but probably don't need. Its playing it pretty safe. Its been funnier for me, having just come off of watching Hell on Wheels for the first time, seeing Anson Mount with a different haircut and star fleet uniform lol. I'm not much for member berries these days so we'll see if interest sustains. Personally, I'd like Star Trek to go to a whole new group of creatives. I think Kurtzmen and his teams have had enough shots at it.

I bailed after watching one episode and reading that they had no intention to follow the games or books. Also, what the fuck, don't take off his helmet in the first episode!

Alright I was looking forward to checking this out - went in with low expectations, was expecting something a bit off the rails but... not in the way I was expecting.

I... have no idea who this program is for.

Its so strange because I can tell a lot of passion went into making it... but what they made is really lame and bad. I struggle to see how it benefits from the Halo brand at all other then for marketing.

This show is like the anti-Book of Boba Fett, a program I consider to be poor quality product start to finish that was designed as a lazy stop-gap between more quality Star Wars programming. You can tell there was no clear vision for BoBF, the direction was poor, the writing poor, it was a hastily thrown dart just happy to land on the board.

Halo TV is about just as bad but it seems like people actually really tried. I just dont get why they made some of the choices they did. It doubles down on all of the incoherent parts of the lore that only ultra-fans would notice yet abandons aspects that those fans would care about. I guess I'll keep watching a few more out of respect for the effort that went in, Kwan is bound to be a way better human sidekick then the Pelican Pilot from Infinite was anyway. Infinite was pretty bad too.

What I absolutely dont understand is the lack of music! Music is the closest Human's have ever come to magic, and good music can elevate even the most banal of content into masterpiece and there are few properties that have music as incredible or iconic as Halo... and yet this show has not even a whiff of it. Whats to be gained by trying to distance yourself from the thing your trying to be!?

Ah well, smarter writers then I will disect it to death. Cant wait to find out why there is a weird Human working with the covenant.

When I was a kid I read all the Eric Nylund Halo books and enjoyed them. I really liked this idea of the Humans and the covenant being evenly matched on the ground but just couldnt hold a candle to the power of the Covenant Fleet. Whenever the covenant felt they were loosing ground they'd just pull out and glass the planet from space. Added a sense of despair and futility to the conflict that I liked. You also couldnt track through slipspace so humanities worlds were all just holding their breath and hoping their planet wasnt the next one the Covenant stumbled on.

Shield technology was a big reason for this advantage, if I remember correct they hadnt successfully replicated it until the fall of reach. So far in the show the Humans seem to be on even ground with tech and even have shields for the spartans already.

Seems like a weird IP to inject Expanse into. I'm just going to go re-watch Expanse instead I think.

@junkerman: it makes sense in a dumb producer way. What's the last fairly successful sci fi TV show? The Expanse? Ok, let's do that.

Episode 9: Finale

Honestly, not as unsatisfying as I expected it to be. The early parts of the episode flow quite well with the context of the previous events. Its just too bad that most of what happens to get us here isn't up to snuff. For every decent idea this show has there are 3 bad ones. I personally like the Spartan story here and if it had been less concerned with totally uprooting Master Chief it probably would have landed much better. But the main idea is good. And I liked Keyes stepping in.

One thing that I'd like to address is people's distaste for Chief without a helmet. I don't know what its like in the books, but in the games you are always on missions so of course he's always geared up. Take Mass Effect, for example, and how Commander Shepard is only wearing his armor when on mission. When your aboard the Normandy you aren't wearing any of your gear, including the helmet. I suppose its easier to digest when that's how its always been. Perhaps in the books Chief never removes his helmet for one reason or another. The series has actually kind of made me want to read some of the novels just so I can make a full comparison.

The most surprising part of the finale was that Kwan Ha was completely absent, which, once again, makes everything better.

Everything you want to be on display here is on display. It manages not to linger on the most frustrating parts of the series while still keeping in line with the better ideas that have gestated.

I really think that season 2 could truly turn things around for this show. Albeit it would require the creators to take steps I'm not sure they are willing to take. The one thing this show needs more than anything is focus. It spends way too much time meandering and spinning its wheels. The finale makes me wonder how quick they'll push towards Halo in the next outing. We're left knowing where the Halo is, but will the next season just be a slog to get there? Even if the story has deviated heavily from the lore I think it would benefit everyone if the writers researched the source material a little more and tried to stay truer to it. The shows biggest weakness, as I mentioned in an early impression, is the fact that it largely feels like a script that they just plunked Halo into.

So, would I recommend this show to anyone? No, probably not. So why did I stick it out?

1. A morbid curiosity to see where they take it considering how long it took to get this show off the ground.

2. I really enjoy sci fi stuff that takes place in space and on other planets. Besides the rocky road that is Star Trek these days, and the fact that The Expanse is now over, what other options are there? We're kinda starved for this sort of content.

3. On a personal note, I've never been a great writer and my grammar is also probably terrible. I've spent the last decade working in the trades and realize that my vocabulary, speech, and writing skills have degraded even further. This has sort of been a reason to at least write something and try to improve. Thanks for reading, feel free to critique.

*Stargate update: Just over halfway through the final season and have no update to my prior thoughts from last week.

**Star Trek SNW: Its still not what I really need in my life but, as stated prior, what else is there in the realm of space sci fi these days? At least I have The Orville season 3 to look forward to, which may unfortunately be its last. Maybe I ought to take up more reading. Those Halo books might just be the thing I need right now. I wouldn't mind some recommendations from the community either. Enlighten me.

***I guess that's it. No more Halo till next year. I think I will most likely do the same with the next season. Thanks a lot if you've kept up with my ramblings over the last several weeks. Its been fun to try and write something again. This community is full of talented writers that I admire. I don't watch much content here anymore but these forums have been a last refuge and saving grace for me.

Thanks, Bombers =)

@spacemanspiff00: Yeah nice read!

I'm torn between pushing myself through Halo before my free trial expires or just giving up.

Instead I've been trying to watch Discovery and SNW - They look real nice visually. Thats about all I can really say; its not the worst thing I've ever seen but yeah its lacking. Like you said - its nice seeing alien worlds and beggars cant be choosers these days.

While I'm not a big Dune guy, I'm glad the movie did well critically and at the box office(ish), I hope this'll lead to a bit of a boom with everyone trying to chase their own oldschool sci-fi property. One of them is bound to stick.

In the mean time I've never seen an episode of DS9, saving that for a rainy day. I also never watched Farscape or Andromeda growing up so maybe one of those will land too!

@junkerman: I appreciate the read.

Ya new Star Trek certainly looks nice but its hard to go to bat for otherwise. My dad is the one that got me into Star Trek and I just found out recently that he dropped Discovery after season 2. SNW is still up in the air for me. I've liked the 3 episodes so far but they do feel very safe.

I thought the Dune movie was pretty good. I think it could have spent more of its runtime on character interactions though since I hear that's what makes the books stand out. Denis Villeneuve has this habit of "lets make 25% of this movie sweeping landscape shots." Same thing in Blade Runner 2049. I liked it enough that I'm optimistic about the next part.

I started watching DS9 for the first time when Ben was watching it. So back in 2020-2021. Its got its fair share of bad episodes like TNG. However, its a much different kind of show in regards to it not taking place on a starship. I quite enjoyed it and Ben Sisko might arguably be my favorite leader, even against Picard. Its major weakness is that the showrunners decided that it should end at season 7 because TNG was 7 seasons and so the final season feels supremely rushed and doesn't have the most satisfying conclusion.

If I had to pick one show between Farscape and Andromeda it would be Farscape all the way. Andromeda is way more generic and shlockey. I don't think I even finished that series. Farscape is weird, and not for everyone. But when it slaps it slaps and is some of the best material SyFy ever created. I've watched that show twice all the way through.

@spacemanspiff00: Glad to hear about Farscape! I've intersected with enough like minded scifi folk who speak its praise where I'm pretty sure its my kind of jam. I just threw Andromeda into the ring because my friend I were having a similar discussion the other day about the last remnants of untapped sci-fi between us and both of us vaguely recalled Andromeda existing but not much else.

...... It's good yo.

I never got into Andromeda despite loving some of the cast. As for Halo, it was bad. You've described the issues well.