Murderbot

The work is good. Acting, directing, set and scenes are all acceptable. The show has the feel of the books. But what a rip off on the management side! 22-25 minutes a week for 10 episodes. I'm tempted to cancel my subscription until it's over just to fox the f'ers. I feel cheated because they are obviously just drip drip. It's a long series. So I guess this isn't really going to be multiple books. I hate Apple TV management for playing coy with this series. Just give them the money to make the whole series. Just give them the opportunity to make the entire book series. We will watch it. The books are awesome.

If I hadn't read the books I'm not sure I would feel the need to stick with this. The stories themselves are quite simple, with the emphasis on wry humour, distinctive characters and an awakening sense of self - as experienced on the inside by another-quite human and viewed from the outside by a societal group who can be excessively and idealistically human. The shoot em up romp is just the backdrop.

The 25 minute format feels rushed. You can't make TV based on Murderbot's inner narrative, so you are left with something that feels a bit thin. You have the framework (hippy scientists, monster, rescue, mystery goings on) but none of what makes the story more than the Scooby-doo level plot. I'm pretty sure the author was happy just stringing together sci-fi tropes to satirise them from an entertaining often first person view. But if you lose that, what you are left with is Saturday morning TV.

Disney would have been pleased with the result, they could run this alongside the Mandalorian. But Apple?

As for allowing the main character a human face, we're seeing him as human from 10 minutes in. Nice for the actor, but the journey of the other characters to slowly discover humanity in a machine that scares them is a bit of a theme. But what the hey, it's not classic literature being taken liberties with.

Early days, but not sure that the zippy format is going to help with character generation. Maybe we'll just have to live with sketches. I'll stay with it for now and live in hope.

Murderbot was actually better than I expected. I thought it would be an entertaining series since Alexander Skarsgård was starring in it. He's a very good actor who usually stars in stuff I enjoy. I'm also a sci-fi fan and this has an original story I've never seen before. Even though it's a good show that was a lot funnier than I expected, the main reason it worked was because of the performance from Skarsgård. That's not saying the rest of the cast wasn't good, the show wouldn't be nearly as good without the solid performances from the supporting cast. It's just that Skarsgård was perfect for this role. Murderbot builds a very unique and interesting world that you will have fun watching.

In summation: Wait until all episodes are out and binge it in one go.

Big fan of the books, and a lot works for this adaptation. But trying to make a whole season out of the first novella (!) is quite crazy, and results in 20 minute episodes where episode 3 literally is about travelling somewhere. Where is the proper story arc and goal of each episode? It doesn't make sense. If it had a short season of longer episodes, or combined the first few novellas for a longer season, it would be fine, but this just doesn't make sense. You don't get to settle into the episode before it's over. The only way to watch this properly is to binge it. I'll watch them as they come out, but I'd prefer to have them all available already. I love severance and other great apple TV-productions, so this is a let-down to a great universe with lots of potential. The adaptation in itself would benefit from more in-depth coverage of the corporate system etc., something the books doesn't focus much on, perhaps due to it being from Murderbot's perspective (and it doesn't care)...

Also, as others have said, Murderbot should have its helmet on.

Great story, very good cast, high production value on screen; sadly, these 20-minute episodes are the letdown. I was delighted watching the first three episodes and the wait for the next week made me realize how short 20 minutes truly is. The story could have greatly benefited from a longer runtime. I believe the narrative would have been more engaging and satisfying if the show had been produced as a feature film, allowing for deeper engagement with the plot and continuing a strong character bonding for the audience. The brevity of each episode feels cut off and leaves the audience hanging to soon.