The Peripheral [Amazon Prime]

pixelburp · 09-09-2022 3:24pm #1

Coming Oct. 21, based off of a novel by William Gibson. Adapted by Jonathan Nolan & Lisa Joy; being the chief heads of Westworld, I'll leave it to ye whether that's a good point or bad. The trailer does look super-slick, and suitably cyberpunk in places (it is Gibson after all)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSaWHbCSmRI

pixelburp · 08-10-2022 9:15pm

New trailer popped up; this looks quite stylish with some decent talent behind it all.

https://youtu.be/bRdkRQzcrrc

cdgalwegian · 13-10-2022 8:03am

The series had its world premiere on October 11, 2022 at the Ace Hotel in Los Angeles, before its debut on October 21, 2022 on Amazon Prime Video.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Peripheral_%28TV_series%29

AMKC · 19-10-2022 11:33am

https://youtu.be/bRdkRQzcrrc

Not that I will be watching it on that lol but I will watch it for sure.

Slydice · 20-10-2022 3:36am

Thread here:

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058262687/the-peripheral-amazon-prime

pixelburp · 20-10-2022 6:19am

Threads merged.

AMKC · 20-10-2022 10:06am

Thanks. I did look before starting a thread on it. Nothing came up :( .

cdgalwegian · 20-10-2022 1:16pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119769496#Comment_119769496

Thread set up for this type of thing here:

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058262887/the-anybody-watching-this-series-thread

I did ask in the Sofa thread if this should be a sticky, because it's a very common occurrence.

corkie · 20-10-2022 5:00pm

https://www.theverge.com/23412567/the-peripheral-review-amazon-prime-video-william-gibson-book

As with all adaptations, The Peripheral comes with changes; unfortunately, in this case, they’re to the detriment of the story. In the book, Gibson does a great job exploring celebrity and power and the delicate work of managing optics in a post-social media world — the complex art of seeing,

After been burned by ROP, I don't think I will be tuning into this. Going by above they may have ripped the source material to shreds?

Mr E · 21-10-2022 9:19am

Seems to be good reviews overall, though. Comparisons to Westworld (when it was good).

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/peripheral

2 episodes out today.

pixelburp · 21-10-2022 2:45pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119770283#Comment_119770283

Probably not a bad idea; will do that, thanks.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119773800#Comment_119773800

Super cautious as Amazon seems on a bent to cancel anything that isn't The Boys (or Rings of Power, one presumes)

pixelburp · 22-10-2022 3:26pm

Watched the first episode this and it felt like a slightly less cryptic Westworld; less existential blather, while still containing many of the trappings from that other show. Its main cast were earthier and more straightforward than the abstracted navel gazers of Westworld.

I'd keep watching. Looked great too, some great use of future tech in both futures.

Also: genuine trigger warning for anyone with a fear of close-up Eye stuff. There was a surgery scene that left nothing to the imagination.

Mr.Nice Guy · 23-10-2022 12:04am

I watched the two episodes. I didn't really get a Westworld vibe from it. I felt it was a bit like the kind of sci-fi show that Channel 4 might have put out a few years ago. I found it okay but it didn't leave me desperate to see what happens next. I'll stick with it for now.

What makes me a bit wary of a show like this is I've a feeling the twist will be that what we thought was the real world wasn't real at all.

Slydice · 23-10-2022 1:45am

1: Huh.. the USA side of the show has a kind of look and feel that reminds me of the tv series Reprisal (boards.ie thread). Like clean/crisp but with violent consequences. I'm still getting a feel for the tech. Nothing glaringly wrong.. but nothing exceptionally groundbreaking feel to it yet.

Definitely had a looking-through-my-fingers-over-my-eyes moment included!

Overall though.. the intro is there.. a bit of a mystery, a bit on the setting/bigger-story, where the characters are, what is important to them, what the stakes are.

At this point I'm guessing..

they are using Robot drones over in London.. seems to be something about a climate disaster.

Some of the real world tech shown is kinda cool.

Those drones and the invisible cars.. if I remember science developments.. those don't seem completely off.

The hovering rooba tho.. yeah right! .. ger out of it! Back to the Future taught too hard a lesson about hover technology! 😁

They'll need something more of a kind of a hook for the story than what's been shown so far I think. Will see how they get on with that.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119779555#Comment_119779555

Yep! I was like.. NOPE! 😱

Slydice · 23-10-2022 7:13am

2: Alright, keeping it consistent and building along. I think it feels like the story will be slowly unfolding for the rest of the season.

There's a lot going on at the same time and I think the showrunner/executive producer/screenwriter Scott Smith has done well in tieing it all together.

Vincenzo Natali is delivering well enough for most of it. Once it comes down to combat, he does OK but I get the feeling there's no one on board for the nitty gritty of a complex fight/firefight. Still it's good enough.

That figth at the start was cool, especially the tech use and strategy. Not that the details seemed off, just that they could have felt more fine tuned.

The bigger mystery does seem to be the arc that will be unfolding over the season. If I was guessing..

Seems to be they are in separated universes since some moment that happened before this series started.

Something bad has already happened in future universe and can't be undone.

Possibly it can be undone in the past but since the universes are separated, it won't help the future. This combines well with what Aelita said in the first episode.

Seems like an environment catastrophe to me. Don't know though. Fair play for trying to save a separated world.

Slydice · 30-10-2022 12:58am

3: Damn there is so much going on in this show. There are layers and layers. Complex science fiction and story from what I can tell.

Like that first shot.. that was a flashback and just to pay off as a small nod for one scene later in the episode.

Then what happened to the future. One thing in the back of my mind also being .. is it all really just a game/sim.

At the same time, giving some benefit of the doubt.. what happened to future Earth.. what happened to Paraguay??! ..

Was it all some climate disaster? Is it something like Dark City.. London just floating in space..

Well at least the statues have an explanation in being air scrubbers. That could be either of the above possibilities.

Then the haptics in near-future .. that's kinda cool.. this merge effect sounds a little like Star Trek borg.. I dunno.

I wonder about Jasper .. the actor Chris Coy playing him.. he looks like he could carry a violent role but he's not that way here. Something reminds me of violence about him.. maybe I saw him in some role before like that or maybe he reminds me of someone else.

Anyway.. yeah.. a lot going on.

I have to give nods to the folio crew for the sound effects on one scene where brickwork moved.. they sold it well.. despite my eyes feelings like they were seeing curtains! 🙂

and a bit more understanding of the word Peripheral in this show from this episode. It's a whole world away from just VR.

lastly.. I had to look up Cherise Nuland .. she's played by T'Nia Miller .. who I'd forgotten played Zephyr Halima Ifa in the Foundation series. She did great in that role and is strong here too. Just in the back of my head .. as I was trying to figure out why she seemed familiar.

AMKC · 01-11-2022 4:56pm

So I have watched all three episodes over the last two says and what an excellent show.

The poor policeman would have been better letting your man shoot him but how was he do know. Cool cars and tech do.

As for the peripheral I guessed it must have been something like that but not that it would involve the future too.

This could have made an excellent film series the music the sets everything is like it was made for cinema.

Thoreley enjoying it so far

pixelburp · 01-11-2022 5:03pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119781719#Comment_119781719

I suppose I just meant Westworld in a very superficial sense: a mysterious Virtual World, a slick alternate reality with no apparent consequences. Faceless robots. Uhhh... Probably just the Nolan/Joy links really but was a passing thought at the time.

Watched Episode 2 and ... well, that changed things. I had wondered about the specificity of the London setting; seemed like a strange choice for a VR world. Turns out all was not what it seemed then: quite the original concept

And I appreciate how my immediate thought of "wait a minute, how can they send back a cure for the Mum, who already died to them, without causing temporal issues? Simple; they're now two separate timelines, caused the moment the future made contact with the past. Very tidy.

fritzelly · 04-11-2022 9:27pm

Really liking this show - loved the scene about what happened to the world, nice cgi

mcsean2163 · 05-11-2022 12:35am

About halfway through ep 3. I feel it's starting to sag a bit. Flynne talking with the baker woman felt off. Also, Flynne's back story erasure is a shame. The fact she looks amazing in the past and future also lessens the effect of her loving the future body and the wilf romance is poorly represented so far.

The first future episode was good but later episodes not really capturing the essence of the outsize power wielded by the future leaders, especially when they're in a small house now.

It's good and I get it's not meant to be the book but the pacing is a bit off at times. Still good, though, kind of wish I hadn't read the book 😅

Slydice · 05-11-2022 4:25am

4: This one.. well it was put together fine.. it was mostly a filling-in episode I think.

Hints that the tech causes damage to the user.

More detail about this Stubs type of multiverse.

Then the reveal of the disasters of the future..

Back to pushing along the main story next episode I'd guess.

AMKC · 07-11-2022 10:27am

OK I have some questions. Why did they send Conner in and not Burton? I thought Burton wanted to go in. Also Conner gets stopped when he tries to leave but then it says that they told Conner something but it never showed that.

Also what was Cherise going on about with Lev?

Kinda my fault I suppose I watched it in two half's. Not the best way.

The scene about what happened to all the people and the World was very well done. I liked that.

Mr.Nice Guy · 07-11-2022 8:23pm

I think Conner went in because they wanted to let him experience having a full body.

I found the latest episode a chore to get through. Needs to pick up a bit.

Slydice · 08-11-2022 10:47pm

I got to thinking today

*yeah yeah, laugh it up*

Anyway..

Surely a Stub might be able to create a Stub.. They did say more than one stub had been created

So maybe there's loads of Stubs. Some might well be at war with each other

Maybe neither of these are an original

pixelburp · 10-11-2022 9:57pm

Caught episode 3 and really enjoying this. Just the right amount of mystery without seeming intentionally vague -, though I haven't had this much technobabble dropped into dialogue since the heyday of Star Trek. That plus the modern propensity for mumbled, low volume dialogue has made some exchanges a bit "uhmm, what was that?"

And what I've liked is that the "real world" segments are just as interesting - and dangerous. The local gangster felt more immediately real and dangerous than the slightly campier London villain and her giant shoulder pads.

Did I catch it right that whatever happened the world was referred to as the "jackpot"??

AMKC · 10-11-2022 10:55pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119859135#Comment_119859135

Did I catch it right that whatever happened the world was referred to as the "jackpot"??

Yes you did.

Slydice · 12-11-2022 3:33am

5: The episode was titled What about Bob. Yep.. can't be forgetting Bob 😲

Ned Dennehy has such a recognisable face. I checked his imdb to see when I saw him last and it was probably Blade Runner 2036 and Rogue One. Probably The General was the first film I saw him in. I imagine himself and Jack Raynor had some say in how his characters Irishness was portrayed.

As for the big story.. I haven't a clue. Every direction seems like violence.

Mr.Nice Guy · 12-11-2022 3:48pm

I didn't like the ending of the recent episode. It reminded me of the stuff in Westworld S3 that turned me off that.

Agent Coulson · 14-11-2022 8:17pm

Always great to see Ned Dennehy turn up in a show.

meep · 14-11-2022 8:35pm

Super analysis on fhe series here that goes deep on the techniques and philosophies of the story.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLc7I2hzudyX-olanEnapXnbRronwbiBic

pixelburp · 16-11-2022 9:42am

Episode 4 and the oddest interactive monument slash history lesson ever lol. Bordering on weird just for the sake of it - and didn't quite understand why it was cloaked? Anyway, while it triggered my allergies for exposition it was interesting to see what this "jackpot" amounted to. And it kinda felt more realistic than most apocalypses: stands to reason in reality it wouldn't be one single thing, but a cascade of shítty global events that knackered civilisation.

Recent developments give this future London a shade of Children of Men? That is: a version of England persisting while the rest(?) of the world sank under the waters, metaphorical or otherwise. That's going by the comment about Paraguay anyway. Presumably America doesn't exist anymore - if that's where the nuke went off (sidebar but I'd say in reality there's more chance of a nuke going off in India/Pakistan/Russia where regimes are fluid, and systems are more lax than the US - but it's more arresting for the intended audience of this I guess).

Bit of a holding pattern of an episode otherwise, I guess existing for the purposes of adding some colour to this version of London and its relative structure & history. Sounds like whatever this version of England is, it's functioning as an Oligarchy. Not much added otherwise but I have to say this show is gripping me in its own way. Far from a Best of the Year for me - but there's enough here. Good production design, interesting premise and setting, characters relatively interesting.

When Nuland appeared with her giant shoulder pads and hammy performance & elaborate murders, I realised what this show was; not to be taken too seriously at all. There's clearly a glint in the eye underneath the serious faces.

My Big Swing Guess about why there's a diorama of Flynn's trailer?

They're the ones in the sim (though that contradicts all this chatter about multiple stubs).

The Peripheral [Amazon Prime]

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