official Westworld thread

engelstein wrote: Normally I don't look too deeply at this stuff, but from an 'entertainment design' perspective (of Westworld the park, not Westworld the show) it's starting to bother me. Forgetting about the sex part - where's the entertainment value? If you know you're invulnerable and there are no consequences for actions, is it fun? Fun for most people, I mean, leaving out the psychopaths/sadists?

People have been enjoying these sorts of things forever. The appeal of Westworld is the same as role-playing games, multi-user dungeons, choose-your-own adventure books, etc. The ability to make consequence-free decisions over a narrative IS the appeal. I deal with consequences in the real world all the time, and it sucks. This is pure wish-fulfillment escapist fantasy. This is the holodeck cranked up a couple of notches. I find the premise to be utterly fascinating. Yeah, I find myself asking lots of questions about the logistics of it (do they "reset" the whole town when a new batch of guests arrive?!?), but I'm trying not to let that get in the way of my enjoyment.

I got a kick out of the old guy trying to get the two new arrivals to go on his treasure hunt. To anybody who's played a role-playing game, it was obviously an NPC with a side quest.

Here's an interesting (and lengthy) article about creating the title sequence. They cite Bjork's video for All is Full of Love as an inspiration, and I couldn't help but lament that they didn't just use that video alone as the opening titles.

www.artofthetitle.com/title/westworld/

The Bjork reference jumps out anyway though. They couldn't have made it much closer.

So I guess being shot by a host does hurt and even knocked that guy down. I suppose Man in Black is just used to it after so many years, but I believe they could "slow him down" if they shot him enough times.

Mad Dog wrote: So I guess being shot by a host does hurt and even knocked that guy down. I suppose Man in Black is just used to it after so many years, but I believe they could "slow him down" if they shot him enough times.

Yeah, that was weird and totally inconsistent with what we saw when Teddy shot the Man in Black multiple times. At first, I thought the guy who shot William must be a guest., but apparently not. One of my ongoing questions is how the guns work, and what happens when there's guest-on-guest violence??

Kind of a slow episode overall, and I found myself checking my watch throughout. The premise continues to be fascinating, but the various plot threads still feel very disconnected from one another.

Yeah, the 'guest getting shot' thing was interesting. I also enjoyed hearing that it costs $40,000 per day. Now we can start to put together an economic business plan

I enjoyed this episode a lot. I feel like they're starting to zero in on the philosophical questions more, which is interesting, and the 'what it's like to visit' was more fleshed out.

I just hope that they actually wrap up the story by the end of the season (10 episodes?) and not just leave it all dangling.

Still wondering how long the 'loop' is. Does Dolores' family get killed every night?

engelstein wrote: I just hope that they actually wrap up the story by the end of the season (10 episodes?) and not just leave it all dangling.

From what I read, the creators have enough story mapped out for 5 seasons. I don't know if the show has been picked up for a second season. I just don't want to see HBO fuck the show over like they did with Deadwood.

And yes, it looks like season 1 is 10 episodes.

Interestingly, HBO has not announced a renewal as of yet. Usually, unlike the regular broadcast networks who wait til a season is done , they renew a show, esp a new one , within a few weeks of the season premiere. They're desperate for a new tent pole series to replace the soon to be departed Game of Thrones and the show has been getting a lot of attention, so I think a renewal is pretty likely, but it is a bit odd they haven't announced it yet.

engelstein wrote: Still wondering how long the 'loop' is. Does Dolores' family get killed every night?

I wonder if she somehow broke the loop by running away and meeting up with the two guys at the campfire.

Msample wrote:

engelstein wrote: Still wondering how long the 'loop' is. Does Dolores' family get killed every night?

I wonder if she somehow broke the loop by running away and meeting up with the two guys at the campfire.

I was wondering that too. If she left her loop it'll get attention from the wrong people.

I wonder if "Arnold" intercepted that chicks text to Bernard about the stray and ordered it to destroy its own head so they couldn't examine what happened. Meaning he's in all the parks systems not just the hosts.

I'm really enjoying all the different directions the show could be heading.

In this last one, I especially liked how certain scenes echoed each other, which created new questions.

For example, Ford explains to Bernard that they never bothered to write a backstory for Good Guy Teddy. So, he came up with one and just dropped it in there. He created a new character, but pushed him in like he'd always been there. Then, later in the show, he gives Bernard the story of his ex-partner who died in the park. Is this story true? Was it just created to give Ford a backstory? And then you have the introduction of Bernard's dead child and distant wife. Are those true? Could Bernard be a Host? Probably not, but I like the uncertainty.

I also like how the park director lady complained about how Ford dropping in new narratives upsets the existing narratives. We later see that put into action in two ways. First, the "Stray" of the title. When he runs off, suddenly none of the other Hosts in his camp can get on with the campfire. And then of course at the end, when Teddy is no longer there with Dolores (she still says her line about letting the cattle roam after dark, even though he isn't there to hear it), her narrative breaks as well, but she wasn't stuck in a loop.

I like that they're setting up all sorts of possibilities in the show, and aren't afraid to put themselves in sticky situations. I look forward to seeing how it all plays out.

I wonder about the scenes that apparently only include Hosts (several that are just between Teddy and Dolores). Within the context of the park/game, why do those scenes exist? None of the Guests hear that dialog or can influence the conversation. It feels like just a conceit that the show writers had to include to develop the Host characters. They've written the show (relatively) smart in most ways that these scenes stick out to me.

Gregarius wrote: I wonder about the scenes that apparently only include Hosts (several that are just between Teddy and Dolores). Within the context of the park/game, why do those scenes exist? None of the Guests hear that dialog or can influence the conversation. It feels like just a conceit that the show writers had to include to develop the Host characters. They've written the show (relatively) smart in most ways that these scenes stick out to me.

I think I remember one of the control room characters asking someone about that. The response was something along the lines that they give the hosts more opportunities to develop spontaneous responses vs scripted ones.

Gregarius wrote:

I wonder about the scenes that apparently only include Hosts (several that are just between Teddy and Dolores). Within the context of the park/game, why do those scenes exist? None of the Guests hear that dialog or can influence the conversation. It feels like just a conceit that the show writers had to include to develop the Host characters. They've written the show (relatively) smart in most ways that these scenes stick out to me.

I seem to remember a throwaway line about the Hosts practicing human behavior that way. Which kind of flies in the face of Dolores speaking lines to other Hosts that aren't there.

Edit: I'm too slow on the draw for this crowd.

The hosts interact like that because they never know when/where a guest will show up. Like when Teddy was teaching Dolores and the posse including guests rode up to them. Would have broken character for them to be standing there in energy-saving mode until guests came within a certain distance. So they go through their loops whether guests are nearby or not.