If you're still lost by the references:

Westworld

Hamilton

Splendid fun with friends tormenting a couch and discussing TV. I trust Mags and Griffin were tucked up safe in their beds using Twitter or Facebook.

This was funny even though I've not seen the material it references, so I expect it was hilarious for those familiar with the shows. I'm a bit confused about where Yul Brynner comes into this, though.

Consider yourself upvoted or downvoted, whichever of those is supposed to be a good thing. Maybe both.

The actual HBO show seems to be a new take on the property. Early on it seemed like it might have been set in the future of the original film's continuity, but I think that was pretty clearly not the case when all was revealed.

Considering that the HBO show is full of sex, violence and nudity, it's likely considered inappropriate for their age. They have to wait for their caphan histories to get their fill of that.




I figured it was dicey to write for a tiny audience and then base the whole thing around references an even smaller portion of that audience would even get, but it's the classic Parodyverse way.

Besides, I wanted to comment on Westworld anyway. I've actually never seen the original, and I wasn't that excited by the promise of a new show based on it, but it certainly sucked me in. Very much right up my alley, with the focus not being on guests surviving a park experience gone wrong but on the idea of emerging Artificial Intelligence and the robots coming to terms with the world that they live in and the implications for them. It reminded me quite a bit of Hallie and her friends... just, you know, with lots of cowboys.

Very fun to see the Regulars again, I enjoyed each of them getting introduced - almost expectantly. Also fun to read a Visionary story!!

I'm not at all across the reference material (I haven't seen the TV Show and all I know about Hamilton is that Trump doesn't think highly of it), but the story worked well enough for me without that.

James Marsden is perfect casting for Visionary. But you now have to cast the rest of the assembled Regulars too. So go on!

I also think some robo-cowboys should escape from the TV serial some time in the future to come keep Tandi company on monitor duty.

...with Vizh looking uncomfortable.

They all sure talk a lot during movies, though.

I know, right? The Lair has a great home theater system, but the interruptions are the worst. Especially when reality gets shunted aside during a major plotline.

Thank you kindly... I felt the same way about seeing new HH and Al B. stories!




Good to hear! The referenced stuff is recommended (although what Vizh says about Hamilton would apply to me as well... My odds of actually seeing it performed are pretty damn low.) Mostly though, I just needed to follow the old ways of the PV and pick something from current pop culture and spin off a story from it.




It's interesting to see those roles get a new fancasting every 5 years or so. I do feel like we were ahead of the entertainment curve all those years ago when we started this, and now seeing stuff like the latest trailer for "Gaurdians of the Galaxy 2", it seems like all of pop culture has come around to our side of things. Seems like that should make it easier to imagine real actors in these roles now...




That is the big difference between the earlier days of the PV and now... I probably would have had the ambition to start a multi-part epic about robot cowboys overrunning everything back then. Now I can't be bothered to get my character off of the couch long enough to deal with it.

With Griff's ability to tear through the internet ignoring all firewalls?




I was put off by the pre-publicity stories about casting calls for actors who wouldn't mind playing sex furniture and performing various simulated erotic acts, and by some of the "we'll be even raunchier than Game of Thrones"-type marketing that led me to conclude it was all going to be rather juvenile and exploitative.




I've heard enough positive things now that I'll probably give it a try if it ever comes to some platform I can legally access.

These random spurts of creativity are good now and then.







I did watch the trailer to the show and it looks interesting enough - i find my time for TV is limited these days though. I'm avoiding netflix.







Ha! I was wanting your casting call V-Man. So go on, who would join Marsden as Visionary in this episode? Surely you have a Hallie picked out at least?







Neither can the LoR probably. "I dunno - the new crew can handle that" *burps and reaches for the cheetos bowl*

Beth Zemo was hoping she'd be cast as Armistice, but ended up as a substitute host. Blasters may ensue.

Leave a parent his comfortable charade.




I'm not aware of those stories myself, but the end product doesn't match that impression, at least for me. Most of the nudity was of the non-sexual variety... quite likely still there for some titillation and a general "Hey, look what we can do on cable!" kind of thing, but still. Much of it reminded me of life-drawing classes, as the robots were completely unclothed when being examined or worked on by technicians, simply sitting in chairs or standing like mannequins... The in-story justification being that clothing them out of a respect for modesty played into dangerous anthropomorphic thoughts in the people that worked on them.

That said, there are still some sex scenes scattered about as well... but I wouldn't say they reached a "raunchier than Game of Thrones" bar... even if the marketing people might have liked them to attempt it.




I think that it's well worth the watch, but again... it's focused on themes I tend to like.

Understandable. Of course, I do like that more modern series are going the shorter route these days. I think Westworld was 10 episodes, and you'll apparently have until 2018 to catch it before a second season likely comes out.

Again though, it's a show that's pretty focused on my own interests. It's basically the idea of a violent, open-world video game like "Grand Theft Auto" (or more directly "Red Dead Redemption", which was a western game made in the same style), only with people actually physically entering the game world. And then the various characters in the game gradually working out a lasting consciousness and memories of all the bad things that keep happening to them.

The focus is strongest on the robots in the park, followed by the people running the park and finally the guests making up the other parts of the story.

Speaking of Netflix, that "Stranger Things" show was good... It's like mainlining 80's sci-fi nostalgia, but actually manages to stand on its own as well. It'd make a good basis for a Maggie/Griffin/Sam parody, with roles for Kerry, Danny and the parents too.




I am so bad at casting these... I will say that Evan Rachel Wood (the lead character of Delores in Westworld) does have the right face for Hallie, which was part of the inspiration of this whole little story... although I don't think that her character was all that Hallie like (since she was playing the perfect good-girl character in the midst of having a mental breakdown.)

Right now, I'm thinking Olivia Munn's turn from The Newsroom has me convinced that she could pull the roll off well:


Oliva Munn as Sloan Sabbith

Noted.







http://io9.gizmodo.com/wtf-hbo-leaked-westworld-consent-form-makes-game-of-t-1734027938
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/westworld-sexually-explicit-casting-contract-828287




It's quite possible that given the negative media - and union - attention, somebody was told to take a cold shower.







Who doesn't like clothing-optional A.I.s?.

Aha... Yes, I can guess which scene that all was for, as there was what could best be described as an orgy to serve as a background to a scene at one point. I don't recall offhand any of those specific acts, but that's not to say that they weren't panned across in the establishing shot or weren't occurring somewhere in the background during the actual scene while, in the foreground, the lead characters were having a fully clothed, uncomfortable conversation and wishing they were somewhere else.

It's entirely possible that on rewatch I could come to the conclusion that there was a lot more sex than I thought... I know that there were a few panning shots of the prostitutes from the local saloon entertaining guests and so on, but I'd still call Game of Thrones the much racier show.

Regardless, I now do wonder what the standard consent form might be for filming a "background orgy". Thankfully my day as an extra on "The Dark Knight Rises" didn't require me to learn.

Sounds like a good premise. I'd likely watch it.




Oh yes, a couple of my friends made me watch episode 1 when I was around there for dinner and I did enjoy that one.

And you're right - I can see that crew in a parody there.





A very interesting choice and not one I would have considered at all!

I thought the blonde from the first revamp Star Trek movie (Alice Eve) would make good Hallie.

The problem might be that they're all stranger than anything that could be thrown at them already.




She was from the second Abrams Trek, wasn't she? She does have the look down, even if it takes some effort to focus on her face with that particular picture...

FA: "Oh not this again!"

MLA: "Yeah, we stopped this already in "Junior Legion Christmas Special #0.5""

Kerry: "Dweebs."




I almost choose another picture. Almost. And yeah, you're probably right about which one it was. (I could google, but can't be bothered so will take your word for it).