Altered Carbon

sigma · 29 Feb 2020 at 23:07

Steampunk said:
Mackie's not really good enough for that. When you read the books you realise that Kovacs (and all the Envoys) are more than just soldiers. They are warriors, strategists, manipulators, psychologists, spies, generally superhumans of the mind, which is far more important than the bioengineered strengths of their sleeves. Sure, they send loads of them across space to download into bodies and into war and combat, but they can also send a small team of half-a-dozen to take down a planetary government covertly. Kovacs is lost in time and space from his friends, and lost his comrades to combat to the point where he no longer believes in the Envoys or what his part it it was. In some ways he's terribly broken. It's a rare actor that can get that across in a performance.

I don't know who Mackie is. Sounds like the books are worth a read. I didn't know it was based on books, I just recall reading that it was supposed to be the modern equivalent of Blade Runner. BR ****s all over AC, tbqh!

RoboCod · 29 Feb 2020 at 23:13

I'm still on season 1!

Steampunk · 29 Feb 2020 at 23:38

sigma said:
I don't know who Mackie is. Sounds like the books are worth a read. I didn't know it was based on books, I just recall reading that it was supposed to be the modern equivalent of Blade Runner. BR ****s all over AC, tbqh!

Anthony Mackie is the actor playing Kovacs in the second series. The three books are pretty brilliant (Altered Carbon, Broken Angels, Woken Furies). They are some of my favourite books of all time, and every time I re-read them I like them more. They are worth a read if you even have only a passing interest in the TV show. You will be surprised at how much better they are than the TV show.

SlyReaper · 1 Mar 2020 at 12:48

ivrytwr3 said:
Because back ups are stored in numerous places, on world, off world, digital back up etc - 'crazy space magic' wipes all the back ups too. The whole premise of S2 is 'real dead'!!

I take it regular folk don't have back-ups? It's just for the rich?

ivrytwr3 · 1 Mar 2020 at 13:01

SlyReaper said:
I take it regular folk don't have back-ups? It's just for the rich?

Not to the extent the rich do - i think in s1 Bancroft had his back ups stored in his own space satellite.

SlyReaper · 1 Mar 2020 at 13:14

ivrytwr3 said:
Not to the extent the rich do - i think in s1 Bancroft had his back ups stored in his own space satellite.

That does sound familiar now you mention it. It's been a while since I watched S1.

Gray2233 · 1 Mar 2020 at 16:03

There's actually a scene near the start of season 1 where a family go to pick up their young daughter in her new sleeve after an accident or something, and they're horrified because the kid has been put into the body of an old haggard looking woman. They're pretty much told to deal with it as it was all they had available.

Rroff · 1 Mar 2020 at 16:12

Steampunk said:
Mackie's not really good enough for that. When you read the books you realise that Kovacs (and all the Envoys) are more than just soldiers. They are warriors, strategists, manipulators, psychologists, spies, generally superhumans of the mind, which is far more important than the bioengineered strengths of their sleeves. Sure, they send loads of them across space to download into bodies and into war and combat, but they can also send a small team of half-a-dozen to take down a planetary government covertly. Kovacs is lost in time and space from his friends, and lost his comrades to combat to the point where he no longer believes in the Envoys or what his part it it was. In some ways he's terribly broken. It's a rare actor that can get that across in a performance.

Partly it is down to the directors/writers on the show - something that especially I notice in season 2 a bit there is no consistency to the abilities, etc. of the Envoys and so on - conveniently forgetting (or probably failing to take into account) a factor if convenient for any given scene rather than go to the effort of writing a more convincing set of circumstances. Something that curses most books and TV shows/movies that handle material like this - very few can do it justice.

CAT-THE-FIFTH · 2 Mar 2020 at 11:37

The bloke who plays Ivan Carrera,reminds me of Jayztwocents. Also Michael Shanks of SG1 fame played Horace Axley.

SlyReaper said:
I take it regular folk don't have back-ups? It's just for the rich?

They are allowed one free backup,but the sleeve is anyone which is available at the time.

theone8181 · 3 Mar 2020 at 13:14

CAT-THE-FIFTH said:
The bloke who plays Ivan Carrera,reminds me of Jayztwocents. Also Michael Shanks of SG1 fame played Horace Axley.

They are allowed one free backup,but the sleeve is anyone which is available at the time.

I thought it looked like daniel jackson, doesn't seem to have aged much either.

doodah · 3 Mar 2020 at 13:29

I thought Carrera was Amos from The Expanse in one of the trailers.

Liking it so far

.

CAT-THE-FIFTH · 3 Mar 2020 at 15:22

theone8181 said:
I thought it looked like daniel jackson, doesn't seem to have aged much either.

Apparently so!

doodah said:
I thought Carrera was Amos from The Expanse in one of the trailers.

Liking it so far .

I kept seeing him as Jayztwocents,and I can't unsee it now.

doodah · 3 Mar 2020 at 15:23

Hahaha yeah I see what you mean. I bet Carrea is a better bench tester though

.

CAT-THE-FIFTH · 3 Mar 2020 at 17:37

doodah said:
Hahaha yeah I see what you mean. I bet Carrea is a better bench tester though .

Combat Fighter · 3 Mar 2020 at 20:46

S2 definitely not as good as S1, still watchable though.

Hope it gets another season.

No1newts · 5 Mar 2020 at 18:47

I'm three episodes in and I'm enjoying it more than season 1, though I had read the book behind season 1 and was constantly second guessing it so perhaps I'm enjoying this season more as I have nothing to compare it against.

Rroff · 5 Mar 2020 at 18:57

Personally found it a bit stale after 2-3 episodes of season 2 - bit of a twist towards the end but not enough to really change that.

melmac · 5 Mar 2020 at 21:09

Watched the trailer for season 2 and it looks a lot better than season 1.

I must try to watch Season 1 again, I got a little bored of it after a few episodes.

TNA · 5 Mar 2020 at 21:37

melmac said:
Watched the trailer for season 2 and it looks a lot better than season 1.

I must try to watch Season 1 again, I got a little bored of it after a few episodes.

This will bore you even more then.

melmac · 5 Mar 2020 at 22:41

TNA said:
This will bore you even more then.

REally? Oh, that's disappointing, it looked brilliant on the trailer.