Humans on AMC: Think A.I. meets I, Robot

Overmind One

GateFans Gatemaster
Staff member
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This show is great. The writing is good and the premise is intelligent, and the show in general is exactly what GateFan76 has mentioned about many scifi shows. This one is social commentary. The thing is, the science is the foundation of the show so the drama and storyline can easily make heavy and far reaching social commentary like the movie A.I. did. It explores the ethics of creating synthetic humans. It explores the idea of modern slavery, of casual anonymous sex, of emotional attachment, of sentience. It is absolutely BRILLIANT. Of course, it's British. :)

Teaser:


This series is actual science fiction. It is also brilliant drama and storytelling. It has legs in terms of the premise. It does not have aliens or magic, and it is definitely worth your time.

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Overmind One

GateFans Gatemaster
Staff member
I can only find three episodes of this "in the cloud". I guess Im caught up, but this show is freakin AWESOME! I cant wait till the next episode. :)

The synths (as they are called), remind me a lot of the Replicants in Blade Runner, but they are also endearing like the Mecha characters in Speilberg's A.I. movie. They have the programmed protocols like the robots in I Robot, but they look 100% human like Commander Data (except they have bright green eyes). They are not supposed to be sentient, but.....:icon_e_surprised:

This show is set in present day, with no CGI and no futuristic matte backgrounds. It does feel like it is say...10 years from now. Everything looks mostly like what we see today. It takes place in Europe, of course. This show could go on for several seasons if they play their cards right.

You gotta watch this show. :)
 

ecgordon

Star's Hero
Agreed on all points. Excellent show, including the premise, the writing and the acting.
 

Illiterati

Council Member & Author
So far, I've enjoyed it.

And for the record, I hated A.I.

I wanted to grind Haley Joel Osment down into a pile of iron filings for the entire film.
 

Overmind One

GateFans Gatemaster
Staff member
So far, I've enjoyed it.

And for the record, I hated A.I.

I wanted to grind Haley Joel Osment down into a pile of iron filings for the entire film.

I only could only make it through watching A.I. twice. The first time, it was "WTF?", and the second time it was "Oh, I see". :) The reason I say this series is something like A.I. is because of the genuine(?) emotions these synths seem to have. The endearing, innocent behavior of the synths overall comes right out of I, Robot. The look and concept of the different types of synths reminded me a lot of A.I. too.

FTR, I hated Haley in that movie too. He became very hard to watch.
 

shavedape

Well Known GateFan
Caught the premiere of Humans. It was good; typically British in that they did a good job of production compared to some of the dreck we turn out here. It's like they actually care about scifi instead of just using it as a vehicle for melodrama.
 

Joelist

What ship is this?
Staff member
Haven't seen it yet but if its British I would not be surprised the quality is better. We've noted here in the forums before that they seem to give their scifi superior "fit and finish" than we do.
 

shavedape

Well Known GateFan
Haven't seen it yet but if its British I would not be surprised the quality is better. We've noted here in the forums before that they seem to give their scifi superior "fit and finish" than we do.

Yeah, it's not like they spent a ton of money on the production but one gets the impression that the producers put thought and effort into making the show. There's certainly more sincerity to the production than what we get on this side of the pond. As you said, "fit and finish", which makes a huge difference in terms of viewer enjoyment I find.
 

Bluce Ree

Tech Admin / Council Member
I only could only make it through watching A.I. twice. The first time, it was "WTF?", and the second time it was "Oh, I see". :) The reason I say this series is something like A.I. is because of the genuine(?) emotions these synths seem to have. The endearing, innocent behavior of the synths overall comes right out of I, Robot. The look and concept of the different types of synths reminded me a lot of A.I. too.

FTR, I hated Haley in that movie too. He became very hard to watch.

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Bluce Ree

Tech Admin / Council Member
Caught the premiere of Humans. It was good; typically British in that they did a good job of production compared to some of the dreck we turn out here. It's like they actually care about scifi instead of just using it as a vehicle for melodrama.
Haven't seen it yet but if its British I would not be surprised the quality is better. We've noted here in the forums before that they seem to give their scifi superior "fit and finish" than we do.

Most likely due to public funding and the lack of commercial revenue. When good writers and directors are allowed to focus on their craft without the pressures of insane numbers and strict demographic targets, we get good quality and excellent creativity.

Can you imagine how long Doctor Who would have lasted on American TV if it were produced here?
 

Joelist

What ship is this?
Staff member
Most likely due to public funding and the lack of commercial revenue. When good writers and directors are allowed to focus on their craft without the pressures of insane numbers and strict demographic targets, we get good quality and excellent creativity.

Can you imagine how long Doctor Who would have lasted on American TV if it were produced here?

That is partly true of the TV (BBC still gets commercial revenue and that does also figure into which shows they renew). Of movies they are funded the same way it is done here.

I think it is possible that the Brit writers have had to work within limited budgets and still do, so they focus more on plot and structure than we do. Also British drama historically has been plot and structure focused.
 

shavedape

Well Known GateFan
Most likely due to public funding and the lack of commercial revenue. When good writers and directors are allowed to focus on their craft without the pressures of insane numbers and strict demographic targets, we get good quality and excellent creativity.

Can you imagine how long Doctor Who would have lasted on American TV if it were produced here?
That is partly true of the TV (BBC still gets commercial revenue and that does also figure into which shows they renew). Of movies they are funded the same way it is done here.

I think it is possible that the Brit writers have had to work within limited budgets and still do, so they focus more on plot and structure than we do. Also British drama historically has been plot and structure focused.

You both make good points. There's just something about the way the Brits structure each scene within a show that is better than how it's done here. The drama fits within the context of the (scifi) story. They don't go overboard with emotion but they don't lack for it either. Scenes aren't needlessly shrill or nonsensical. Plus the acting is usually better in Brit shows, or so I think.

And the directors can get clever and stylish in the face of cheap budgets. Like the "orchard" scene in the premiere of Humans. The setting seemed futuristically agricultural: sterile and mechanical. The best part was that you could tell they didn't spend a lot of money on creating that particular set for that one episode, but it still worked really well.
 

ecgordon

Star's Hero
Another good thing about most British shows, they aren't tied to a specific length for each episode. Some can vary by several minutes, giving the story the right amount of time to make its point without needless padding, and especially not editing a scene to conform to a tight timetable.
 

Illiterati

Council Member & Author
Yeah, it's not like they spent a ton of money on the production but one gets the impression that the producers put thought and effort into making the show. There's certainly more sincerity to the production than what we get on this side of the pond. As you said, "fit and finish", which makes a huge difference in terms of viewer enjoyment I find.
I keep expecting the main female human lead to say "Have you tried turning it off and on again".

(ducks and runs)
 

Overmind One

GateFans Gatemaster
Staff member
Episode 4. WOW

This show is even BETTER than before? OMG. The writing of this show, and the social commentary it makes is just so intelligently done. The drama is exactly where it should be. The pacing is also excellent. This show is decidedly low budget, but it does not need more money. It is just fine the way it is. Why do the British write so much better science fiction than Americans? This is pure science fiction in the spirit of the genre. And it is done with an absolute minimum of special effects and makeup.

Unfortunately, I think that those who are looking for soap fi are not going to like this. There are sexual issues in the show a bit, but no T & A gratuity for teen boys. No beefcake for teen girls much either. As sad as that is, this might not be enough for the shallow American audience.
 

ecgordon

Star's Hero
I'm glad I'm not shallow. This is my new favorite show.
 

Overmind One

GateFans Gatemaster
Staff member
I'm glad I'm not shallow. This is my new favorite show.

Mine too. :) It even beat out Continuum for me. It's the only show I watch right now that makes me think about social and ethical issues after the episode is over. They never bog it down with a particular segment of the story or lock the drama into just one character. And there are reveals in EVERY episode. Like I said before, the premise for this show could go on for YEARS and it would still be fresh.
 
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Overmind One

GateFans Gatemaster
Staff member
OMFG this show is sooooo good! It is addictive, maybe as much as Continuum. Im loving the writing and social commentary they are making on this. They are covering everything from bigotry to sexuality to ageism to politics to religion to ethics, it is just chock full of brain munchies. And they manage to do it with almost no special effects or CGI.

I noticed one of the regular characters uses a vaporizer (e-cigarette) just like another character in in Sense8 does. His is an eGo with an older CE4 clearomizer. Don't know what flavor he likes, but it is cool to see it in the newer shows instead of cigarettes. :) It is becoming a "thing" very very quickly. I love mine, and if they help people quit, that is a good thing!

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Quetesh

Well Known GateFan
Living in UK now, my love of BBC is dwindled a bit. I have only seen first ep. I liked it , but he seemed not to as much. I am hoping this would be a joint show so I am waiting for when he has time to do with for rest of eps I have. Maybe this weekend, I sense this is going to get dark, ala Ex Machina and I just hope it is better because I was very disappointed with that movie.
 
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