c-kelsall
I recently watched Altered Carbon, and I binged it like an alcoholic falling off a wagon. This has been expensively and respectfully adapted from the debut novel of the same title by Richard Morgan (you can dispense with the 'K', he's British). I can say with some confidence, having read the book first, that this is broadly a faithful adaptation, not just to the detail but to the spirit of the thing too. However, there have been some changes, and not all of them necessary in my view. Spoiler alerts:
The AI hotel where Kovacs stays in the book has a slightly different character to it, and in the TV series the AI which runs the hotel has a real part to play. So far, so what. Big deal.
One of the victims of murderous sexual violence against women which Kovacs discovers in his investigations, Elizabeth Elliot, is Caucasian and blond in the book; in the TV series, they've gone for some diversity by making her and her family black. This wouldn't be a big deal at all if it weren't for the significant detail that she and another such victim bear a strong resemblance to the wife of Kovacs' employer, a Caucasian blond woman as depicted in both book and TV series. Presumably because of this, the TV series makers have decided to alter the plot so that this detail is no longer germain to the plot development, which inevitably weakens the sense of coherence.
Ironically, Oumou Prescott (Bancroft's lawyer) is racially watered down in the TV series; the actor who plays her is ethnically appropriate, but as described in the book Oumou Prescott is a very dark-skinned African-American. This must be the first time I've seen a bit of casting where arguably the choice is not black enough. But again, it's no big deal.
When Kovacs is taken captive and interrogated under VR in the book, he does not escape by 'taking control' of the VR construct, rather he talks his way out of the situation; the TV series therefore imparts some highly unlikely capabilities of his Envoy training. What happens in the book would've been perfectly reproducible, and would have been more believable. Also, he was not a target of revenge at the hands of Dimi the Twin; his captors in the book didn't know he was Kovacs, while Dimi was hired to kill him at the AI hotel specifically because he was Kovacs.
One of the most off-kilter changes to the tone of the TV series is the preception of the Envoy Corps as some sort of radical freedom fighter movement hanging out in the woods; in the book they are more like what the intelligence services are to regular military. Also, in the book Kovacs and the others in the Envoy Corps flashbacks are trained by Virginia Vidaura, not by Quellcrist Falconer.
Having made all these criticisms, I genuinely loved this adaptation of Altered Carbon, and I really hope that any future iterations try to stick as closely to the source material as they have here.
carnagecarney
If you are a lover of sci-fi - this is a must-watch....A.C already has an Emmy nod for Visual Effects and it shows - the 25th century is brought to life aesthetically in all its digitized splendor. Joel Kinnamon & the rest of the cast do a marvelous job in fleshing out these characters in addition to marvelous 25th century technology and weapons.Loved it and totally encourage others to check it out....!
TwoUUTabbies
I think this show is very poignant to our times. It does start out very confusingly but hang in there the twists and confusions eventually work themselves out. The writers so far have done an excellent job of showing how if the rich just keep getting richer and think of everyone else as disposable things can really go way, way over board and totally out of control. The upperclassmen have gone so far as to live in the clouds above everyone.
I really hope this show gets renewed. Next year though writers let's not have quite so much confusion because you're gonna loose viewers that are now hooked if you do that again. Other shows have made that mistake and quickly gone down the drain. The writing was better in the second half of the season. Hope you guys pick up right where you left off.
b-toshkov
First two episodes are really impressive. You are getting ever more convinced the real cinematic experience moved to the tv shows. It looks solid, expensive and conceptual to some extent. This is however beginning to fade away with each following episode. You never reach the point you become sympathetic with any of the characters and their motives. They look pointless and predictable. The plot twists are predictable and it feels like they are strictly following a manual or a textbook without actually changing the examples. I am not familiar with the source but it seems it is not a very good one. Dialogues are rushing but they lack any real philosophy. Since the show is pretty gory and sexually explicit it is obviously not aimed at kids but it has no depth for adults. The "deus ex machina" touch is overused and it makes the whole tv show naive and boring. And the final blow comes with the forced samurai saga in the last few episodes. All in all a decent show but not a great one.
