Almost Human

[Karel]

Actual collar bomb: 2000, Colombia
Almost Human: 2013 (taking place in 2048)
_________________

Yeah,

that 2000 collar bomb was the basis for an 2007 independent film called "PVC-1" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1031951/). 1000 times more compelling than anything we've seen on "Almost Human."
Also soooo futuristic: a "bitcoin," something that exists today; a killer who stages live murders and garners a few thousand measly web hits, when "Gangnam Style" has nearly two billion...today; and the idea of a solar flare knocking out the electrical grid... something that could happen today. Do the writers think that solar flares are like extreme weather events related to climate change? As in, things that we can actually affect, and that are more likely to happen in the future? Because they're not. At all. Or, hey, maybe they just think we're idiots.
None of this would necessarily be fatal to the show, if it weren't otherwise a fatally! terrible! show!


P.S: is it just me, or did Minka Kelly have plastic surgery sometime after the first couple of episodes? She looked cute in the pilot; now she seems to have these ridiculous bedroom eyes that she didn't have before, and I don't think its just makeup.

[Spaz]

That homicidal bot episode is up next...in three weeks. Some nice shots of her in the preview.

http://comicbook.com/blog/2014/01/13/al ... k-preview/

[D.Olivaw]

In addition to some of the other criticisms, I would add that Almost Human is beginning to suffer that common malady of scifi shows: the art department escaping the control of the writers. So now we have anti-gravity technology, but the only application it's used for is to float a drink tray across the room, etc. Though admittedly the writing staff is having it's own technology-level consistency issues: apparently there are nigh impermeable man-sized force fields that can be generated by an object no bigger than a hand grenade, but they're only used for one very specific application.

[Spaz]

--"ALMOST HUMAN"-- (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) CC-AD-HDTV 720p-Dolby Digital 5.1

THE ENEMY REBUILDS AND RELEASES A DECOMISSIONED FEM-BOT ON AN ALL-NEW "ALMOST HUMAN" MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3, ON FOX

Emmy Award-Winning Actor John Larroquette ("Night Court") and Gina Carano ("Fast and Furious 6") Guest-Star

There are consequences and casualties when Danica (guest star Gina Carano), an advanced DRN that operates more like a soldier than a cop, is rebuilt and on a rampage. With few clues about her mission, location and innocent lives being lost, Kennex (Karl Urban) and Dorian (Michael Ealy) look to Nigel (guest star John Larroquette), a genius roboticist and DRN creator, in attempt to track her down in the all-new "Unbound" episode of ALMOST HUMAN airing Monday, Feb. 3 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. (HU-109) (TV-14 D, L, V)

[tmc_6882]

http://tvline.com/2014/01/31/almost-hum ... tte-nigel/#

https://www.facebook.com/therpf/photos/ ... 43/?type=1

This Monday’s Almost Human adds a member to the team and introduces a new DRN that makes the humorless MX models look like a bunch of fluffy bunnies.

As you’ll see in the following exclusive promo for “Unbound” (which airs on Fox at 8/7c), Night Court‘s John Larroquette kicks off a recurring gig as Nigel, a genius roboticist brought in to help Kennex and Dorian with a harsh new problem.

That problem’s name: Danica, an advanced android (played by Gina Carano, Fast and Furious 6) who acts more like a ruthless soldier than a peacekeeping police officer.

Watch the promo below to get an idea of the havoc Danica’s about to wreak.

[tectile]

I found "Unbound" disappointing. I have a soft spot for "John Larroquete and it was kind of fun to see an old guy outwit the powers that be.
There was no depth to the character of Danica. She's just a killing machine even though she's supposed to be similar to Dorian.
They could have spent a little less time on bang bang shootem' up shots and a bit more time on dialogue. Maybe let Danica have a few lines that gave a rough idea of her state of mind

[jolshefsky]

I found "Unbound" disappointing.

I haven't bothered to watch the show except this episode and the sexbot one. I continue to be disappointed in it. And the "fembot action" is totally not worth watching. also.

[Karel]

Well, as expected, completely, totally underwhelming. Spoilers follow.

Danica. So she's dead after the first episode in which she got out of the box, having been given almost no characterization. 9 out of 10 odds that that thing Karl Urban stuck in the back of her head made a copy of her personality for the John Larroquette to stick into another body if, you know, Gina Carano comes back for another episode. But I'm sure glad that the writers left themselves with an out in case she doesn't, i.e. the device simply didn't work, and was pointless. In which case, I suppose, the absurd, ridiculous, nonsensical buildup of this killing machine would also be pointless. I mean, really? Danica killed twenty-six police officers and scores of other people over the course of thirty-six hours, at an event at which "all the politicians" and "power players" were present, and the police keep no records of the incident?!? Not even as, you know, a cautionary tale? A training scenario? Because it's an "embarrassment to the department"?!? This is an embarrassment to screenwriting!!

Oh, and "the Wall." Finally, nine episodes in, the series deigns to provide us with the first real distinguishing feature of the otherwise totally generic future in which it is set (because "the Syndicate" of faceless, personality-less, motivation-less bad guys has been utterly pathetic): "the Wall," so far mentioned a grand total of once in the pilot (blink and you'll miss it). The characters appear to fear the Wall even more than they did Danica: odds are 9 out of 10 that the reason for this will be utterly asinine.
0
I mean, what could be behind the Wall? Gee, I don't know! Could it be, let's see, radiation? Like from a nuclear bomb? Well that would simply kill John Larroquette before he could get much work done, wouldn't it? And wouldn't nuclear war have brought with it rather more radical changes in society than we've seen thus far? Come to think of it, wouldn't anything interesting have brought about more radical changes in this society (perhaps even changes that could make it interesting)? Did the Singularity happen on the other side of the Wall? If it did, why's everyone still mucking about with crude robots? Is it nanomachines? I don't think a wall would stop nanomachines. Is it, I don't know, the ocean, courtesy of global warming? That doesn't sound very interesting, or fearful. Honestly when they first mentioned "the Wall" I thought that they were in L.A. and the Wall was to keep Mexicans out. OH MY GOD, NOT MEXICANS!!! Surely John Larroquette wouldn't flee to Mexico! What is he, insane!?

Is it the amber from Fringe? Is that the kind of thing they're going for? Well again, the amber from Fringe was a problem unique to a world with unique problems (cracks between parallel universes). By contrast, the problems faced by the society in Almost Human have simply been (badly) updated versions of problems that exist in our world today (human trafficking, illegal narcotics, collar bombs), save those related to the robots. And if what's on the other side of the Wall has something to do with robots, then why the fuck would the people on the safe side of the Wall still be mucking around with robots!?!

So there's nothing that could be on the other side of the Wall that isn't stupid. I stand by that prediction.

[tectile]

Karel, your points are all well taken.

Your idea of the syringe in the back of the neck is something I hadn't thought of. Only problem is that the police would have custody of the device. I'm pretty sure she just tossed it aside and it would have been collected as evidence. The device could have been capable of transmitting Danica's information to another location since the evil doctor built it
I just thought "the wall" was something in one of the episodes I haven't seen yet. It's probably going to be just a lawless wasteland short on natural resources and populated by the great unwashed.

Why am I thinking that some of the good people on this board could get together and write some scripts for the show that would be 10X better than the crap they are writing?

[WilloWisp]

If we could get our top board writers (willowisp, robotman, BA2, and a few others) to build a framework world to write in, and do episodic style installments with continuing characters, we'd have a hit show or web series in no time.

Er... could you elaborate on what you mean by "if"?

[DukeNukem 2417]

If we could get our top board writers (willowisp, robotman, BA2, and a few others) to build a framework world to write in, and do episodic style installments with continuing characters, we'd have a hit show or web series in no time.

REALLY hoping that "a few others" includes me.....

[WilloWisp]

Ah, I see the confusion. You meant:

If we could get our top board writers (willowisp, robotman, BA2, and a few others) to build a framework world to write in together...

I read it as:

If we could get one or more of our top board writers (willowisp, robotman, BA2, and a few others) to build a framework world to write in...

I'd certainly be open to collaboration, given clear planning and direction for such a project. I'd even be up for sharing the Virus Alert world in such a context, if the other authors felt it to be acceptable. On the plus side, much of the worldbuilding is already done. On the minus side, it creates barriers which may be too restrictive for some of our writers - both in terms of tone and content.

[DrFranklin]

I thought the episode was great, almost a follow up to the jilted Dr Franklin and his fembots of the Bionic Woman ( which you might guess I'm fond of.)

it's interesting that people assumes the wall refers to a national boundary like the US-Mexico border, rather than the walls of medieval city-states, which is what I thought of.

Dr Vaughn and his "synthetic souls" including his prodigal son Doran, seem to be the conspiracy that can drive the show forward.

[Frostillicus]

[Brytestar]

Kishin FINALLY hit the nail on the head. However there is something to consider..

..the out of order episodes. Unless you can watch them in order any framework might be off the mark at best.

Other thing that needs to be considered is "Almost Human" most unlikely end up going the CSI route. CSI: LA, CSI: New York, CSI: Miami. The size issue needs to be taken into account. Too big and you got a megaverse the risk of losing the collaborative flow is very high. Too small and one might be attempted to expend too fast and too soon. It's staying on the middle road could be the trickiest of all. That's my two cents on it.

[WilloWisp]

..the out of order episodes.

Oh, I don't know. Achronological storytelling can have its merits.

Unless it's just that the network schedule is senile. That doesn't work too well. If Fox is already scrambling episode sequence and shuffling the timeslots, expect the show to have a bullet put through its head fairly soon.

[dale coba]

Oh, after the first HOUR they broadcast them like 6, 7, 8, 5, ... - some stupid Firefly-like malice.

- Dale Coba

[WilloWisp]

Oh, after the first HOUR they broadcast them like 6, 7, 8, 5, ... - some stupid Firefly-like malice.

- Dale Coba

I think that's Fox execu-code for "prepare to be cancelled."

[Brytestar]

It's a shame....

...more opportunities missed like Bionic Woman and Mann and Machine. It makes me mad the someone whether at the network level or the series level seems to want to mess things up.

[Diana Knight]

I like it a lot. I would hope it stays on. I haven't talked to anyone in my circles who doesn't like it.

[Diana Knight]

It's a shame....

...more opportunities missed like Bionic Woman and Mann and Machine. It makes me mad the someone whether at the network level or the series level seems to want to mess things up.

I had friends who worked on Bionic Woman,. the new one. The thing that killed was mostly the writer strike. They were gone too long,.. and the momentum just died. AND the productions costs vs the revenue... which for a brand new show,.. is unrealistic. They were banking on the popularity of the original show,.. which didn't work for Knight Rider,.. Wasn't gonna work for BW either.

[bilbo]

Personally, I find that most mainstream productions just don't get it. They seem to see a sexy female bot as nothing but a computerised sex doll (Austin Powers portrayed this stereotype). Instead of a complex 'synthetic' companion. Both the 'new' Outer Limits Valerie 23 and Mary 25 Episodes along with the 'Swedish original of Almost Human - Akta Manniskor have got it right.

All I can say is thanks for them and personally, for Diana Knight's uncanny fembot acting skills, makes me want to 'buy' myself a Diana Knight bot - now that would be the perfect 'companion bot' for me.

[dale coba]

Almost Human "Unbound" (with fembot) now in the FTP.

- Dale "K's not wrong about SW" Coba

[Diana Knight]

I don't think non-ASFR folk grasp the concept of a female robot that isn't designed for sex. There is a common joke about the development of female androids and the question of those persons who are given a presentation of the said android. Their main question: "Can you fuck it?" No? Then why would I want that?"

I'm on episode 6 and I am dissapointed that the only female bots so far ARE the sexbots. And that all of the cop bots are male. Apparently the future isn't THAT progressive. Because why would you need to make a female bot,... unless it was for sex.

[bilbo]

As I recall, in the film Cherry 2000 - the sales man tried to pursued the main character to buy a sexy brunette that's a domestic unit (but says there's nothing between her legs), see link

http://www.listal.com/viewimage/2708177

Also remember a 'fembot schoolgirl' in the same scene - which 25+ years later some will think as inappropriate.

I agree that there is an over emphasis on female sexbots, but while sex is used in sales, I'm sure this will remain the case. I can easily imagine cheerleaders, promo girls, gird girls, receptionists, waitresses and nurses - to mention but a few being 'replaced' by bots, with some of these looking hot as hell with curves in all the right places, but with no pussy or any form of sexual interaction programing. I also think that similar roles men fill will be replaced by bots that can't 'get it up'. This I'm sure will one day happen, until then we need more from Diana Knight and Kendra James to name but two - ladies, I salute you.