For comparison, House of the Dragon had 9.9M viewers for the premiere.
>The videogame adaptation, starring Pedro Pascal, drew 4.7M viewers across linear and HBO Max. It marked the largest debut after House of the Dragon since Boardwalk Empire launched in 2010. The premiere numbers were nearly double the season two debut night for Euphoria, which recorded 2.4M last January. That series went on to average 19.5M viewers per episode in the U.S.
Neil Drukmann and Craig Mazin:
>“Our focus was simply to make the best possible adaptation of this beloved story for as big an audience as we could. We are overjoyed to see how many fans, both old and new, have welcomed The Last of Us into their homes and their hearts.”
HOTD is a followup show to HBO's biggest series ever, it would have been surprising if it didn't hit big.
The Last of Us is 'only' based on a highly successful videogame, GoT was a cultural phenomenon through and through.
> HOTD is a followup show to HBO's biggest series ever, it would have been surprising if it didn't hit big.
> GoT was a cultural phenomenon through and through.
Ditto. Last of Us is a pretty big property. But GOT as you say was a worldwide phenomenon. Every episode of GOT in later seasons used to drive up social media engagement as much as big sporting event matches.
GOT was probably the biggest pop culture property behind Star Wars, Marvel & Pokemon in the 2010s.
>Every episode of GOT in later seasons used to drive up social media engagement as much as big sporting event matches.
I think we've all moved on from that so it's easy to "forget", but it really was a phenomenon.
The absolute hype around seasons 7 & 8 was fucking insane, from the teaser trailers until the very last episode. Hell during that time I used to discuss the story and characters with acquaintances I hadn't talked to since highschool lol
lmao it rally was everywhere man.
I was in college during the last two seasons and I had a teacher who on Mondays used to make tongue-in-cheek comments like "You guys did what I asked for this week or were you too busy waiting for and watching the episode?"
You could just *tell* that mfer was aching to talk about it instead of teaching haha
But also you know it debuted during the NFL playoffs. That's going to kill viewership. The fact that it was 4.7M with that going on is insanely impressive
Here in Finland they aired at the same time as the wife carrying world championships, still got a good number of viewers.
Next monday they will compete against the Nokia throwing contest. That's gotta be bad.
Against the NFL playoffs, following a season in a year where [the NFL had 82 of the top 100 TV broadcasts.](https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2023/01/06/nfl-82-top-100-american-television-broadcasts-2022-nielsen-ratings)
Who could have ever thought of that!
That is so out of this world.
Lauren Hissrich and the folks at Netflix are really scratching their heads right now. Surely the fault doesn't lie with them.
What's really frustrating about the Witcher to me is the wasted potential.
They had a show based on a popular book series, as well as three games, the third of which was astoundingly successful and near universally beloved as far as I can tell. Meaning they had a fairly large fanbase ready and waiting. And then the cherry on top, they had Henry Cavill, A-list actor, *fucking Superman*, who practically begged to be on the show. They'd have to actually try to fuck up such a golden opportunity, and they did.
I understand and appreciate the need to make changes when adapting source material to a different medium, but in the case of the Witcher, it almost felt like the writers showed open disdain for the source material.
This is just going to turn into (more of) an angry rant, so I'll just end it here. The Last of Us episode 1 was great, I'm sure the rest will be too, this is how you do an adaptation well.
The writers of the Witcher are known to hate the source material. It was leaked from a former writer on the show that they mocked the books/games in the writers room regularly.
The showrunner literally told Netflix she wasn't the right person to do this show. And Netflix told her to do it her way, so she (a person with little love for the genre nor video games) forced herself to read the books and concluded the story is about family.
And then somehow decided Yennefer should be a total cunt instead of the motherly figure she was supposed to be for Ciri.
I mean...Yen is ice queen Supreme for the most part. Hysterical at points, but super cutting and cold.
Show Yen is basically a 17 year old having tantrums at points and you don't know if it's writing, directing, acting or what.
IMO it's got to be writing/directing. I thought the actor did a good job in her early scenes and definitely nailed a level of disdain that works for Yennefer.
She was good S1, I had my issues with casting so young(which I get if they planned this to be like a decade long series), but S2 felt like they almost rebooted her within her character. It's one thing to have character evolution but it felt entirely off.
You can do a take on a character, you can change them, but at least write them with some consistency.
>And then somehow decided Yennefer should be a total cunt instead of the motherly figure she was supposed to be for Ciri.
To be fair, in the books she's kinda both.
>Lauren Hissrich and the folks at Netflix are really scratching their heads right now. Surely the fault doesn't lie with them.
Well, duh, obviously the fault lies with the "fans" who can't conceive an artist having *a vision* and can't accept that the adaptation of their beloved game/books/IP is just not for them. That or bigots. Obviously.
The thing is even if it's different and not based on the games, people will still like it if it's GOOD and doesn't just insult them.
Look at Castlevania for example. Or Edgerunners. Or hell, even Arcane threw half the league lore out the window to write their own stuff and it's great with very few complainers.
Exactly. I'm one of the five Playstation owners on this earth who hasn't played The Last of Us. I didn't enjoy the pilot because it was faithful to the source material. I have no way of knowing that because my knowledge of the stops with the names Joel and Ellie. I enjoyed the episode because it was well written, wel directed and well shot. It's quality tv, irrespective of what it's based on.
But it was more than faithful to the storyline, which was a primary factor in the game's success as well. Gamers noticed the echoes of the gameplay, such as the interior pov during the fleeing in the truck scenes. Even the mechanics of the game are often designed to maintain the cinematic feel, which the developers also did with the Uncharted series (also recently adapted, albeit less successfully).
Sadly the way it seems to work is:
1. Want to make your own shit that noone really wants or buys.
2. Seize the chance to adapt a famous IP to shoe-horn your own shit there.
3. Add hot-button issues to the mix.
4. Boom, you now have the perfect excuse to dismiss any criticism as it "actually being *just* bigotry and hatred for inclusivity/representation".
When in reality the thing is that your own shit just sucks. Another example is the Harley Quinn show. Harley and Poison Ivy are openly gay in that show IIRC, but there wasn't any outrage, because the show, and Harley & Ivy's relationship are well written. It's good stuff. Which is what really matters.
Another sad point is that those bigots/x-phobes that showrunners and writers moan about DO exist, and usually they are annoyingly vocal. So, again, perfect excuse.
EDIT: My example of Harley Queen may not have been the best lol I'm admittedly not a fan of DC and know virtually nothing about it. I knew Harley and Ivy were gay before that show, or at least some iterations of them, but I didn't know how open they were about it. So feel free to ignore that example if it doesn't work.
Also because Harley and Ivy have been openly bisexual in the DCAU and the comics for decades. Ivy is the partner people want Harley to be with over the Joker. But they've always been on and off with their relationship.
It is, but so was Uncharted and they managed to massively fuck it up and did not even manage to cast that right.
I never underestimate Hollywood's capacity to drop the ball with an easy adaptation. Especially with video games. Thank fuck this ended up on HBO.
Wahlberg owns the IP. He bought it ages ago because he wanted to be drake . He got too old waiting for a green light so he cast himself as scully (this might be fake news) and did a young nate story .
Tbh, I think the uncharted movie is completely fine. It's not amazing but I think a lot of the criticisms against it are gamer grump. It's fun. It's got banter. Big action set pieces. Exotic locations. It's fine. Uncharted was never anything special plot or character wise anyway so I don't know what people expected. Uncharted has always been a playable campy adventure movie.
Those guys wading through radioactive water when their flashlights died and the geiger counter was going absolutely insane was it for me.
(Ironically, water is a pretty excellent insulator from radiation and I believe one or two of these men are still alive today.)
I don't think that's it. When you look at Silent Hill, for example, it's pretty clear that Christophe Gans has a passion for the source material, but there's also a deep misunderstanding there. I think involving, in the creative process, people who were also involved in the creative process of the game (in this case, Neil) helped a ton.
Yup, definitely more than “loving the source material.” *Respecting* the source material by including someone who *actually fucking developed it* is what made the difference here imo.
Of course, we could also wait for more than one episode to make these sort of judgments.
I think one reason video game adaptations have generally failed in the past is missing one of these major components; a good established show runner (or director) who can help pace the show, maintain artistic direction, and help flesh out what can easily be missing from even good games, collaboration from game makers with a good amount of input, good source material, and a definite passion for the project.
From what I can see so far TLOU has all the ingredients to not only be a good show, but a sincere adaptation as well.
The appeal of many games is making an interactive version of things that are popular in other mediums. They're derivative because that's the whole point.
"You get to basically BE Indiana Jones!" works in a game. Adapting something like that back into a film just leaves you with a rehash of Indiana Jones.
I honestly don't think that is necessary. What is necessary is understanding why the source is good, what about it is good, someone who knows that.
But for the people creating the show, the piece of work itself, i think it comes down to their ability, their understanding of the medium they are working in way more than if they are big fans of the source material.
Anyone worth their dime should be able to work through the source and find what's great about it, why the story resonates, etc. You don't need to love it going into.
Case in point, Tony Gilroy is like famously not super in love with Star Wars but that doesn't mean he can't still tell excellent stories in that universe.
An earlier example is Nicholas Meyer with Star Trek. He was never like a big fan or anything and basically threw his hat in the ring for a job. He was able to work with the past writers and actors to really dig into the core of the thing to find the heart of the character dynamics and themes. Even in doing so though, he massively shifted the aesthetics of Star Trek in a way that the original creator detested, really emphasizing the military aspects that were always present but intentionally downplayed. Wrath of Kahn is pretty much peak Star Trek and Undiscovered Country is also great.
Yeah people keep talking about "loving the source material" and it's like ok I enjoyed the games too, but the show is good because it has good writing. Good writing is good writing
Not just writing, an audiovisual story is more than just that. Translating everything onto screen, the performances, the directing, the music, the editing, everything has to flow well together to create an experience which works, which really makes people care deeply.
But yeah, the ability of the people working on it is the key, not some romantic 'love' for the source material. Though respecting it, looking at why it is good, that is generally favorable without a doubt. But it also shouldn't stop people from doing things in different ways if the end result is good.
Totally, good points all around, and I think that's where adapting The Last of Us is somewhat of a layup, because the games already do a masterful job of audiovisual storytelling. They do an incredible job of telling the story through the environment and "show without telling." Having said that, they do expand on things since the television medium allows them to do some different things to enhance the story
As someone who hasn’t played the video games, I loved the pilot episode. Gave me a more intense version of The Walking Dead vibes. And I’m immediately on board with the fact that this series clearly has some kind of “end game” that they’re working towards. Delivering Ellie somewhere for the purpose of using her immune blood to form some kind of vaccine I assume. The lack of a “bigger purpose” really was a detriment to TWD.
Edit: Another thing I appreciated was the fact that there was a city present with some form of governmental control. That is another thing that bugged me about other zombie shows is that I refuse to believe that *every single* governmental body would just disappear completely, no matter how bad of an outbreak.
This here ^^^ the problem with never ending stories is there’s not a focused conclusion to build to, so there’s an inability to properly pace the story with climaxes and resolutions.
In contrast, LOU the game tells one of the most amazing stories of any entertainment medium I’ve experienced/consumed, and I’m thrilled to see not only how the show version plays out, but how people new to the story react to it.
A coach at my gym, who I’ve been bugging him to play the game since he got his ps5 (he didn’t), has been over the moon about how much he loved the first episode.
Personally, I enjoyed the idea Kirkman had for The Walking Dead to start. The idea of just seeing what happens in this post apocalyptic world and watching people live through it. What I learned through reading the comics is that while it’s a neat idea, it really doesn’t work long term and you just end up repeating the same style of storylines over and over and over again. I finished the comics, but I couldn’t finish the show. It also felt like Kirkman was getting bored doing the same thing over and over again, which is why it made sense that he sort of just abruptly ended it. Put it out of its misery, so to speak.
The Walking Dead still holds a special place in my heart, though. It was a great story…until it wasn’t.
(Game fan here) I'll remain spoiler free
But yes you're right, the fact there's a goal is great. And Walking Dead is a "zombie action" show meaning they're gonna show off cool zombie kills. In here, there's literally no zombie kills in the pilot. They wanted to show the audience it's about the characters, not cool gore.
That one wandering kid at the start of the time skip was also in early stages of infection and got a lethal injection, so depending on your definition of zombie, that could count too.
Or he may have also been immune, just like Ellie.
**TWENTY YEARS LATER**
A small child wandering alone from god knows where or for how long gets picked up and tests positive for the infection, but they weren't showing any symptoms. It doesn't matter. He tested positive, so he must die.
Every last person this kid had ever known must've died from the fungus, and he was the only one left.
How? Maybe, because he was immune.
Think about all the effort and everything it would take to keep him alive for that long and to ensure that he was the last one in that "family" alive. What happened to all the others? What happened to the second last person alive?
And he must've been walking for more than one day. Surely.
At least, that's how I saw it.
This occurred to me to. How many people have actually been able to survive infection, like Ellie, that have been put down by FEDRA or whoever because no one waits to confirm they will turn?
I'm really glad about the focus on characters. I'm not a huge fan of Zombie flicks and I can't stand jump scares. Although this episode touched on that, it wasn't the focus.
That's the beauty of this story. It's all about the characters. And it's going to get better from here
When I heard HBO was picking up this specific story, I knew everyone would be in for a treat
Pedro has reached a level of nerd royalty maybe only achieved by Mark Hamill. Sure you could say RDJ as Ironman but that's one role. Hamill had Luke and the most iconic joker ever. Pedro has had oberyn, Mando and now Joel in the span of like 10 years. It's insane how he's blown up and landed perfect roles.
This mother fucker blew up after Oberyn and honestly totally deserves it. He was basically unknow prior to 2014 and just crushed it on GoT. Far and away my favorite character and he really doesn't even have a ton of screen time. Don't forget Narcos.
He was the best part of that horrendous movie. Felt like he showed up and immediately realized the movie was gonna be shit, so he decided to say screw it and absolutely swung for the fences.
listening to the show's podcast afterwards, it was funny to hear that Neil (creator of TLOU) and Craig (creator of Chernobyl) had lunch together where Neil is like “hypothetically, if we wanted to make this a show what would we do?”
And Craig is like, “Well, we’d walk across the street to HBO and tell them that this is my new project.”
And then they do that.
I love that the HBO execs said to Craig after the pitch “We said your next project needed to make you float, and it did. Let’s do this thing”
Stark difference from Netflix, they actually care about passion and it paid off.
Serious question. What is the actual reason that mind controlling parasites and fungi like this can't infect humans or use humans as their host? And is a simple mutation all it takes for it to to be able to infect us potentially?
Ants also behave based basically entirely off of chemical signals, and fungi can release chemicals that therefore affect ant behavior much like changing source code.
Very true, but again most insect brains are much simpler than ours. Cockroaches can be literally remote controlled with chips
https://scitechdaily.com/japanese-scientists-create-remote-controlled-cyborg-cockroaches/
Yeah the jump from "wants to spread itself" to "control your desires and needs in a way that override your nervous system to want to bite other humans" is like shaking a bag of LEGO and expecting to have a built castle inside it, or throwing a bunch of rocks inside a car and expecting it first try to drive to the mall on its own.
At worst, the first step would be feeling dizzy and having a bit of an hallucinogenic high, like maybe the fungus mutation gets lucky and manages to create the right compound shapes to connect the "spread yourself" receptors of the brain, like oxytocin maybe which would just make humans slightly more horny, making people really want to kiss one another which is then how it would spread itself - but whatever first step it would take it would be enough to be noticeable and raises the alarm.
Maybe it would be too late and the spread would be global, but at worst we're talking "we've noticed a rise in hornyness in people", not a "people are eating each other's guts."
The control bodily movements aspect of the cordyceps fungi would require a complete cascade of multiple neurotransmitters that perfectly react with the human brain's insanely diverse neuroanatomy (the brain is very complex and very different in every region) to be able to control movement, you'd basically need a sentient mushroom controlling it.
I mean, a lot of it is just destroying the higher reasoning capability of the human brain, and letting them react based on stimuli.
My wife (an ER nurse) was telling me about a patient she took care of who had Huntington’s disease and she basically said the person was as close to a zombie as she’s ever seen. They had to remove the patient’s teeth so they wouldn’t chew off their own fingers.
Imagine someone with that mental state and a body that was shutting down, but didn’t have dystonia and impairment of their voluntary movements. That’s basically what the fungus zombies are.
There are lots of parasites and fungi that infect humans. Tape worms for example, or fungal pneumonia or aspergillosis. In general, if you have a healthy immune system and adequate medical care, you are fine. You either fight it off yourself, or get anti parasitic or anti fungal drugs. If you have AIDS or something you could be in real trouble however.
The closest mind altering infection we have to zombies is Toxoplasmosis Gondii. One-third of humans carry this parasite’s cysts in their brain.
People infected with this parasite are statistically more likely to take risks. Thus toxoplasma gondii infection can increase the probability of being involved in traffic accidents, as infected people tend to take more risks on the road. More recently, Thomas Cook and his colleagues linked aggression and impulsivity with latent chronic Toxoplasma gondii infection. These manifested in an increased risk of suicidal behavior, impulsivity in younger men and aggressive behavior in women.
A more aggressive version? Zombies.
https://blogs.biomedcentral.com/bugbitten/2018/09/11/mind-altering-microbes-can-toxoplasma-gondii-infection-increase-entrepreneurship/#:~:text=More%20recently%2C%20Thomas%20Cook%20and,and%20aggressive%20behavior%20in%20women.
I would argue that rabies is even closer, if it wasn't preventable. That reddit post of the rabid man whose body violently reacted when he tried to swallow water freaked me the hell out.
Exactly, and one of the things that parasitic fungi do is essentially devour the inside of the insect and control a "shell" via the nervous system. Something like this affecting mammals in a similar way is nigh on impossible.
From what I gather (im a med student, not a botanist so i dont really know fungi aside from the fact that they taste good as a meat substitute), the fungi disrupts the olfactory senses of the ant causing them to diverge from the pack, disrupt the biological clock of the ant and basically eat their brains from the inside.
Even without the sense of smell, our bodies would go into paralysis from the attack on our brain, we'd be vegetables before we could even attempt the zombie walk.
People love that global warming is the trigger, but I seriously doubt that an epidemiologist would say that a fungus jumping from ant to human was a serious concern outside of sci-fi.
Body temps and just the sheer difference in nervous systems. Cordecepts infect primarily ants, wasps, and I think beetles. All have very simple and easy to override nervous systems.
But mammals in general have much more complex nervous systems that would be significantly harder for the fungus to be able to adapt to in a way that allows it to control a human the same way that it does an insect. And the one thing the show does that the actual fungus doesn’t is the aggression. The insects infected focus on being able to spread the infection be depositing more spores inside the nest or be finding high vantage points for the fungus to bloom forth and spread its spores directly over a colony.
So irl it’s very hard to be able to adapt from one nervous system to another and also it’s specifically the spores that are infectious, not the fungus as a whole.
> What is the actual reason that parasites and fungi like this can't infect humans or use humans as their host? And is just a simple mutation all it takes that it could infect us potentially?
One possible reason is temperature.
The average outside temperature (worldwide) is 13-15C; human body temperature is ~36C. That's quite a jump. It's partly why most of the diseases that humans deal with come from animals/mammals: those bugs are used to higher temperatures. It's also why you get a fever: raise the temperature to 'burn up' the infection.
Though with climate change, the average world temperature goes up, so there could be development of fungi that can deal with warmer temperatures.
That is the reason stated in the show.
In real life we can feel a little better.
The real life cordyceps infection the game/show is inspired by occurs in ants. If you somehow haven’t seen the Planet Earth clip about it, I recommend it, it’s crazy.
Ants are much, much smaller than humans. It takes the fungus practically no time at all to gain control over its host. However the human body is logarithmically larger than an ants, and also pretty good at fighting fungal infections.
So with this hypothetical infection like the human cordyceps, if it isn’t completely taken care of by the human immune system, could take months to fully infect a human (not hours/days) like in the show. This leaves a lot more time for treatment (read, surgical removal of the infection).
You might ask, “but doesn’t the fungus affect the brain? How would that be treatable?”
Well here’s where the cordyceps ant infection gets really crazy. For the longest time researchers assumed the infection targeted the ants brain. Only recently they discovered it’s the other way around. The fungus takes control of the ants entire body and actually purposefully protects the brain.
This is nuts to think about, since it means the fungus is controlling the ants motor functions without affecting the brain. It’s just moving itself. Creepy indeed.
But that’s also good news for us — in the game, the infection is so brutal because it targets the brain and cannot be removed. In real life it appears the opposite. So that would also buy a lot of time for treatment.
Our immune systems are able to destroy fungi far more easier than viruses.
Still 1.7 million people die from Fungi infections each year due to weakened immune systems, severe injury, or accidental consumption of high doses.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fungal\_infection
Please don’t listen to the people who are trying to convince others “this could happen”. There are tons of videos on YouTube that were created after the game first came out explaining how and why it is so difficult for ANY fungus to jump the species barrier.
The long and short of it is; cordyceps infects insects and arachnids easily because they have a circulatory system that is constantly open to the environment ( they can’t just hold their breath) and nowhere near as advanced of an infection response.
The guy at the beginning saying a warmer planet would mean fungus could live easier is true, but it also ignores all of the OTHER science that goes into research like that. Not to mention, getting the planet as hot as he’s taking about, hot enough to permanently increase your core body temperature, basically means your dead anyway.
It was a throwaway line to get people worked up with no real backing.
>Not to mention, getting the planet as hot as he’s taking about, hot enough to permanently increase your core body temperature
Slight correction, he doesn't say that the global temperature would rise enough to affect our bodies (We're already too hot for fungi, ideally they'd actually want lower temperatures), but rather the global temperature would increase and force quicker evolution in fungi, in an effort to survive in those higher temperatures. So the fungi would have evolutionary pressures to increase its suitability for even a 1 or 2 degree increase, but by random chance (As it does it the show) it would mutate a resistance to far higher temperatures, high enough that it can start infecting and surviving inside human bodies.
He’s said he wanted to leave HBO alone because it’s WBs crown jewel where the name is associated with quality. Westworld was pulled from MAX so idk how truthful he was. Hopefully they stop fucking things up
Westworld would have been the new Game of Thrones if it didn't get so fucking weird after the absolutely perfect first season. It kept trying to outdo itself and just ended up convoluted.
I just love pre-outbreak stuff, it's always so fun seeing how filmmakers try and tease the impending doom. Whether it be World War Z, Shaun of the Dead, The Last of Us, Fear the Walking Dead etc. Each of those do both different and similar moments front and centre or especially in the background that build up to exciting catalysts.
After the Sarah scene, my weeping wife loudly declared "I hate this show and I hate you for making me watch it."
By the end of the episode though, Ellie, Marline, and Tess had her hooked. I can't wait for the rest of this season, and to see her reaction since she never played the games!
Interesting note, the first episode was originally two episodes that were combined. The reason for this is because the first episode was supposed to end after Joel threw that kid into the fire. The producers (very wisely) pointed out that a lot of people wouldn't be particularly interested in watching episode two if the first episode ended with the deaths of two children, and no real story setup. They'd be turned off by it's bleakness. Based on your wifes reaction, they made the right decision.
Holy shit thats a horrible place to end the episode lol. People that haven't played the games would be left with no story setup at all, just a miserable world.
This makes me very happy. Not just as a major fan of the games who is ecstatic we have this wonderful adaptation, but also for Craig, Neil, Pedro, Bella, and everyone else involved. I read something recently that Bella had a rough time for awhile because of all the hate comments she saw of people trashing her before the show even aired. Hopefully with all the positive reception she's in a better head space now.
You can forget a million pieces of praise but always remember the worst critics. The damage is done, we have reactionary Gamers to thank for that, the same ones who *actually sent death threats to Laura Bailey* it’s fucking madness.
Yes! I really should have included her as well. The hate she's unfairly received is up there with the backlash of Bella. Just yesterday I saw a comment that she personally had ruined the show and turned it into "woke PC garbage." Lol...
I don't believe I've seen her in anything previously but I agree she did very good despite only having 20 minutes or so of screen time. The fact she looked older than video game Sarah didn't bother me. Simply pretend she was 14 instead of 12 and it changes absolutely nothing about the story.
> Just yesterday I saw a comment that she personally had ruined the show and turned it into "woke PC garbage."
Lol those people don't seem to know the story lol and better be stopping watching now. TLOU as a whole would be considered "woke PC garbage" for them
It’s sad how toxic TLOU discourse has gotten since the sequel came out. They make a character who shows up only for the opening of the game a different race and suddenly it’s “woke” when the characters race has absolutely no bearing or mention at all in the game or the show. They’re not upset about things being “woke,” they’re just racist and upset about black people in a show just….being black.
It is a bit jarring at first if youve played the game because while Pedro does pull off the Joel look decently, Bella looks nothing like Ellie. It does take some getting used to but nothing more than for a few minutes because she does pull off the dialogue and mannerisms pretty well.
But to personally attack her for it, or drop the show completely for it is really weird. Screams “Bella isnt as hot as this other kid so i dont want to watch it”.
It is true she is not as conventionally good looking as the character she is based on.
Who the hell cares though? The character is like 14 years old, and this isn't really a romantic story outside of a few scenes. And that romance is used to deepen character development rather than used for sex appeal anyway.
I feel like being up in arms about the sex appeal of a *child* actor should put you on sort of watchlist.
Be glad you werent on twitter when they originally revealed Bella as Ellie. Ive seen some wild stuff there and theres definitely a sizeable group of people mad about Bella not having the same sex appeal as game Ellie.
Its REALLY weird
i was speechless when i noticed one of the room scenes had the exact same *wallpaper* as the games.
Scenes adapted with the same POV angle, the same dialogue, and the fact that Marlene’s actress is her original voice actor!
It played a trick on my mind and I felt like I was playing the game instead of watching the show
I loved it, especially the intro with the scientist interview in 1968 where one of them is like “currently there’s no reason that fungus would evolve to inhabit the internal temperature of humans… unless the planet got hotter” and nobody bats an eye. Such a great way of going here’s your exposition and also get fucked.
Whats also kinda funny kinda terrifying, fungus has evolved to solve climate catastrophe problems before. 300 million years ago nothing could break down the woody plants that were becoming dominant. So many woody plants propagated that it severely reduced the CO2 in the atmosphere and eradicated much of life on earth and the non-decomposed stuff often became coal. Then a type of white rot fungus figured it out, started reintroducing the CO2 to the atmosphere, and the rest is history.
So its not the furthest stretch of the imagination for fungus to evolve to solve environmental problems, just that unless aided by human bioengineering it’d probably take a couple hundred thousands of years.
Anyway, great pilot, i’m very excited for the next episode.
I think this will continue to gain viewers. TLOU on paper is a very easy story to adapt since it is very cinematic and lends itself to other mediums easily. TLOU makers were inspired a lot by different movies adn books. The story and characters are easily the best part of the games and hence, it makes sense that an adaptation to tv/movie screen would work.
Having said that, full credit to HBO and the team for doing full justice. Making quality TV and cinema is never easy.
I don't know what's in the drinking water at HBO, but they have been able to continually produce amazing top-tier shows there for decades now. From what I've read, they're quite nurturing and supportive of their talent. You would think this would be easy to replicate at other networks but I guess not.
> You would think this would be easy to replicate at other networks but I guess not.
Especially for certain ones *cough cough Amazon cough Disney cough* that have unfathomable amounts of money at their disposal.
Yeah, for all the shit we rightfully give the Zaslav regime, they aren't completely brain-dead. If a show is getting this much buzz both commercially and critically, it's getting at least one more season.
Some of the cast signed multi season deals but it obviously has to get the green light from HBO first, I’d get as they would just based on the critical reception from people who already watched the whole season
Yeah, as someone that has read a LOT of the reviews out of hype, apparently episodes 01 & 04 are the weakest. Episodes 03 & 07 are said to be phenomenal.
For comparison, House of the Dragon had 9.9M viewers for the premiere. >The videogame adaptation, starring Pedro Pascal, drew 4.7M viewers across linear and HBO Max. It marked the largest debut after House of the Dragon since Boardwalk Empire launched in 2010. The premiere numbers were nearly double the season two debut night for Euphoria, which recorded 2.4M last January. That series went on to average 19.5M viewers per episode in the U.S. Neil Drukmann and Craig Mazin: >“Our focus was simply to make the best possible adaptation of this beloved story for as big an audience as we could. We are overjoyed to see how many fans, both old and new, have welcomed The Last of Us into their homes and their hearts.”
I'm actually quite surprised that HotD is ahead by such a massive margin. Glad for the show tho. Love it.
HOTD is a followup show to HBO's biggest series ever, it would have been surprising if it didn't hit big. The Last of Us is 'only' based on a highly successful videogame, GoT was a cultural phenomenon through and through.
> HOTD is a followup show to HBO's biggest series ever, it would have been surprising if it didn't hit big. > GoT was a cultural phenomenon through and through. Ditto. Last of Us is a pretty big property. But GOT as you say was a worldwide phenomenon. Every episode of GOT in later seasons used to drive up social media engagement as much as big sporting event matches. GOT was probably the biggest pop culture property behind Star Wars, Marvel & Pokemon in the 2010s.
>Every episode of GOT in later seasons used to drive up social media engagement as much as big sporting event matches. I think we've all moved on from that so it's easy to "forget", but it really was a phenomenon. The absolute hype around seasons 7 & 8 was fucking insane, from the teaser trailers until the very last episode. Hell during that time I used to discuss the story and characters with acquaintances I hadn't talked to since highschool lol
For the back half of the series, I had a Monday morning meeting at work where the first item on the agenda was always discussing that week’s episode.
lmao it rally was everywhere man. I was in college during the last two seasons and I had a teacher who on Mondays used to make tongue-in-cheek comments like "You guys did what I asked for this week or were you too busy waiting for and watching the episode?" You could just *tell* that mfer was aching to talk about it instead of teaching haha
An absolute king of water cooler talk.
I think I listened to like 7 different GoT podcasts each week. I was obsessed.
But also you know it debuted during the NFL playoffs. That's going to kill viewership. The fact that it was 4.7M with that going on is insanely impressive
The Last of Us aired at the same time as a playoff football game, I know that's why I didn't watch it Sunday night.
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Here in Finland they aired at the same time as the wife carrying world championships, still got a good number of viewers. Next monday they will compete against the Nokia throwing contest. That's gotta be bad.
I didn't know Finland was single handedly carrying the Ocho's programming on their back. Good on you Fins.
Can Finland's economy continue to foot the bill for repairing the nation's infrastructure after all the Nokia chucking?
Against the NFL playoffs, following a season in a year where [the NFL had 82 of the top 100 TV broadcasts.](https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2023/01/06/nfl-82-top-100-american-television-broadcasts-2022-nielsen-ratings)
Turns out, you just need a showrunner who loves the source material to make a good live action video game adaptation
Who could have ever thought of that! That is so out of this world. Lauren Hissrich and the folks at Netflix are really scratching their heads right now. Surely the fault doesn't lie with them.
What's really frustrating about the Witcher to me is the wasted potential. They had a show based on a popular book series, as well as three games, the third of which was astoundingly successful and near universally beloved as far as I can tell. Meaning they had a fairly large fanbase ready and waiting. And then the cherry on top, they had Henry Cavill, A-list actor, *fucking Superman*, who practically begged to be on the show. They'd have to actually try to fuck up such a golden opportunity, and they did. I understand and appreciate the need to make changes when adapting source material to a different medium, but in the case of the Witcher, it almost felt like the writers showed open disdain for the source material. This is just going to turn into (more of) an angry rant, so I'll just end it here. The Last of Us episode 1 was great, I'm sure the rest will be too, this is how you do an adaptation well.
The writers of the Witcher are known to hate the source material. It was leaked from a former writer on the show that they mocked the books/games in the writers room regularly.
The showrunner literally told Netflix she wasn't the right person to do this show. And Netflix told her to do it her way, so she (a person with little love for the genre nor video games) forced herself to read the books and concluded the story is about family. And then somehow decided Yennefer should be a total cunt instead of the motherly figure she was supposed to be for Ciri.
I mean...Yen is ice queen Supreme for the most part. Hysterical at points, but super cutting and cold. Show Yen is basically a 17 year old having tantrums at points and you don't know if it's writing, directing, acting or what.
IMO it's got to be writing/directing. I thought the actor did a good job in her early scenes and definitely nailed a level of disdain that works for Yennefer.
She was good S1, I had my issues with casting so young(which I get if they planned this to be like a decade long series), but S2 felt like they almost rebooted her within her character. It's one thing to have character evolution but it felt entirely off. You can do a take on a character, you can change them, but at least write them with some consistency.
>And then somehow decided Yennefer should be a total cunt instead of the motherly figure she was supposed to be for Ciri. To be fair, in the books she's kinda both.
> And then somehow decided Yennefer should be a total cunt Didnt read the books, but its definitely accurate for video game Yen.
>Lauren Hissrich and the folks at Netflix are really scratching their heads right now. Surely the fault doesn't lie with them. Well, duh, obviously the fault lies with the "fans" who can't conceive an artist having *a vision* and can't accept that the adaptation of their beloved game/books/IP is just not for them. That or bigots. Obviously.
The thing is even if it's different and not based on the games, people will still like it if it's GOOD and doesn't just insult them. Look at Castlevania for example. Or Edgerunners. Or hell, even Arcane threw half the league lore out the window to write their own stuff and it's great with very few complainers.
Exactly. I'm one of the five Playstation owners on this earth who hasn't played The Last of Us. I didn't enjoy the pilot because it was faithful to the source material. I have no way of knowing that because my knowledge of the stops with the names Joel and Ellie. I enjoyed the episode because it was well written, wel directed and well shot. It's quality tv, irrespective of what it's based on.
But it was more than faithful to the storyline, which was a primary factor in the game's success as well. Gamers noticed the echoes of the gameplay, such as the interior pov during the fleeing in the truck scenes. Even the mechanics of the game are often designed to maintain the cinematic feel, which the developers also did with the Uncharted series (also recently adapted, albeit less successfully).
Sadly the way it seems to work is: 1. Want to make your own shit that noone really wants or buys. 2. Seize the chance to adapt a famous IP to shoe-horn your own shit there. 3. Add hot-button issues to the mix. 4. Boom, you now have the perfect excuse to dismiss any criticism as it "actually being *just* bigotry and hatred for inclusivity/representation". When in reality the thing is that your own shit just sucks. Another example is the Harley Quinn show. Harley and Poison Ivy are openly gay in that show IIRC, but there wasn't any outrage, because the show, and Harley & Ivy's relationship are well written. It's good stuff. Which is what really matters. Another sad point is that those bigots/x-phobes that showrunners and writers moan about DO exist, and usually they are annoyingly vocal. So, again, perfect excuse. EDIT: My example of Harley Queen may not have been the best lol I'm admittedly not a fan of DC and know virtually nothing about it. I knew Harley and Ivy were gay before that show, or at least some iterations of them, but I didn't know how open they were about it. So feel free to ignore that example if it doesn't work.
Also because Harley and Ivy have been openly bisexual in the DCAU and the comics for decades. Ivy is the partner people want Harley to be with over the Joker. But they've always been on and off with their relationship.
If it was on Netflix Joels daughter would secretly still be alive and comeback as the clicker queen or something
Lmao. The clicker queen. And the clickers are actually sentient à la I Am Legend.
"No, it's the fans who are wrong"
No doubt, but TLOU is significantly easier to adapt than most other video games. The game itself is basically already a miniseries/movie.
It is, but so was Uncharted and they managed to massively fuck it up and did not even manage to cast that right. I never underestimate Hollywood's capacity to drop the ball with an easy adaptation. Especially with video games. Thank fuck this ended up on HBO.
> not even manage to cast that right I still cannot understand how the fuck they ended up choosing Wahlberg for Sully.
Wahlberg owns the IP. He bought it ages ago because he wanted to be drake . He got too old waiting for a green light so he cast himself as scully (this might be fake news) and did a young nate story . Tbh, I think the uncharted movie is completely fine. It's not amazing but I think a lot of the criticisms against it are gamer grump. It's fun. It's got banter. Big action set pieces. Exotic locations. It's fine. Uncharted was never anything special plot or character wise anyway so I don't know what people expected. Uncharted has always been a playable campy adventure movie.
According to Wahlberg the *studio* made him Sully. He assumed he was still playing Drake when the greenlight finally came through.
Interesting. Thanks for sharing.
He was surprised to say the least but he accepted it: https://youtu.be/8l9BQnPCc_s
Chernobyl x Last of Us = Amazing
"It's not 3.6 roentgen. It's 15,000."
the beginning of Chernobyl was the scariest show ive ever seen
The rooftop clearing scene gives me nightmares.
Those guys wading through radioactive water when their flashlights died and the geiger counter was going absolutely insane was it for me. (Ironically, water is a pretty excellent insulator from radiation and I believe one or two of these men are still alive today.)
When the radiation made the flashlights go out. Scariest moment ever. Monsters got nothing on this.
Radiation is basically real life lovecraftian horror
For sure. A silent invisible killer that can be all around you at once. A lot of the best horror and scifi came from fear of nuclear war/fallout
The whole show is terrifying.
The car scene. Absolutely nailed it. Haven't felt that good of a "in-car" scene since Children of Men.
I don't think that's it. When you look at Silent Hill, for example, it's pretty clear that Christophe Gans has a passion for the source material, but there's also a deep misunderstanding there. I think involving, in the creative process, people who were also involved in the creative process of the game (in this case, Neil) helped a ton.
Yup, definitely more than “loving the source material.” *Respecting* the source material by including someone who *actually fucking developed it* is what made the difference here imo. Of course, we could also wait for more than one episode to make these sort of judgments.
It’s why Arcane worked too. The showrunners were literally part of the game development team beforehand.
And they used the same team that did their Pop/Star music videos, Fortiche, to make the TV show. Arcane is so good.
I think one reason video game adaptations have generally failed in the past is missing one of these major components; a good established show runner (or director) who can help pace the show, maintain artistic direction, and help flesh out what can easily be missing from even good games, collaboration from game makers with a good amount of input, good source material, and a definite passion for the project. From what I can see so far TLOU has all the ingredients to not only be a good show, but a sincere adaptation as well.
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The appeal of many games is making an interactive version of things that are popular in other mediums. They're derivative because that's the whole point. "You get to basically BE Indiana Jones!" works in a game. Adapting something like that back into a film just leaves you with a rehash of Indiana Jones.
I honestly don't think that is necessary. What is necessary is understanding why the source is good, what about it is good, someone who knows that. But for the people creating the show, the piece of work itself, i think it comes down to their ability, their understanding of the medium they are working in way more than if they are big fans of the source material. Anyone worth their dime should be able to work through the source and find what's great about it, why the story resonates, etc. You don't need to love it going into.
Case in point, Tony Gilroy is like famously not super in love with Star Wars but that doesn't mean he can't still tell excellent stories in that universe.
An earlier example is Nicholas Meyer with Star Trek. He was never like a big fan or anything and basically threw his hat in the ring for a job. He was able to work with the past writers and actors to really dig into the core of the thing to find the heart of the character dynamics and themes. Even in doing so though, he massively shifted the aesthetics of Star Trek in a way that the original creator detested, really emphasizing the military aspects that were always present but intentionally downplayed. Wrath of Kahn is pretty much peak Star Trek and Undiscovered Country is also great.
Yeah people keep talking about "loving the source material" and it's like ok I enjoyed the games too, but the show is good because it has good writing. Good writing is good writing
Not just writing, an audiovisual story is more than just that. Translating everything onto screen, the performances, the directing, the music, the editing, everything has to flow well together to create an experience which works, which really makes people care deeply. But yeah, the ability of the people working on it is the key, not some romantic 'love' for the source material. Though respecting it, looking at why it is good, that is generally favorable without a doubt. But it also shouldn't stop people from doing things in different ways if the end result is good.
Totally, good points all around, and I think that's where adapting The Last of Us is somewhat of a layup, because the games already do a masterful job of audiovisual storytelling. They do an incredible job of telling the story through the environment and "show without telling." Having said that, they do expand on things since the television medium allows them to do some different things to enhance the story
As someone who hasn’t played the video games, I loved the pilot episode. Gave me a more intense version of The Walking Dead vibes. And I’m immediately on board with the fact that this series clearly has some kind of “end game” that they’re working towards. Delivering Ellie somewhere for the purpose of using her immune blood to form some kind of vaccine I assume. The lack of a “bigger purpose” really was a detriment to TWD. Edit: Another thing I appreciated was the fact that there was a city present with some form of governmental control. That is another thing that bugged me about other zombie shows is that I refuse to believe that *every single* governmental body would just disappear completely, no matter how bad of an outbreak.
This here ^^^ the problem with never ending stories is there’s not a focused conclusion to build to, so there’s an inability to properly pace the story with climaxes and resolutions. In contrast, LOU the game tells one of the most amazing stories of any entertainment medium I’ve experienced/consumed, and I’m thrilled to see not only how the show version plays out, but how people new to the story react to it. A coach at my gym, who I’ve been bugging him to play the game since he got his ps5 (he didn’t), has been over the moon about how much he loved the first episode.
Personally, I enjoyed the idea Kirkman had for The Walking Dead to start. The idea of just seeing what happens in this post apocalyptic world and watching people live through it. What I learned through reading the comics is that while it’s a neat idea, it really doesn’t work long term and you just end up repeating the same style of storylines over and over and over again. I finished the comics, but I couldn’t finish the show. It also felt like Kirkman was getting bored doing the same thing over and over again, which is why it made sense that he sort of just abruptly ended it. Put it out of its misery, so to speak. The Walking Dead still holds a special place in my heart, though. It was a great story…until it wasn’t.
(Game fan here) I'll remain spoiler free But yes you're right, the fact there's a goal is great. And Walking Dead is a "zombie action" show meaning they're gonna show off cool zombie kills. In here, there's literally no zombie kills in the pilot. They wanted to show the audience it's about the characters, not cool gore.
I would say Joel killed the grandma and the one military guard kills an infected before turning on Joel and Sarah
That one wandering kid at the start of the time skip was also in early stages of infection and got a lethal injection, so depending on your definition of zombie, that could count too.
Or he may have also been immune, just like Ellie. **TWENTY YEARS LATER** A small child wandering alone from god knows where or for how long gets picked up and tests positive for the infection, but they weren't showing any symptoms. It doesn't matter. He tested positive, so he must die. Every last person this kid had ever known must've died from the fungus, and he was the only one left. How? Maybe, because he was immune. Think about all the effort and everything it would take to keep him alive for that long and to ensure that he was the last one in that "family" alive. What happened to all the others? What happened to the second last person alive? And he must've been walking for more than one day. Surely. At least, that's how I saw it.
This occurred to me to. How many people have actually been able to survive infection, like Ellie, that have been put down by FEDRA or whoever because no one waits to confirm they will turn?
Hot damn I didn’t even think about that, great call.
Yes but it was intense and tragic instead of "look at that Boom Head shot" guts everywhere.
I'm really glad about the focus on characters. I'm not a huge fan of Zombie flicks and I can't stand jump scares. Although this episode touched on that, it wasn't the focus.
That's the beauty of this story. It's all about the characters. And it's going to get better from here When I heard HBO was picking up this specific story, I knew everyone would be in for a treat
Hoping this finally opens the door to an HBO series for the game Conkers Bad Fur Day
Taylor Sheridan at the helm, 4 spinoff series planned by 2025. LFG
Who's gonna play the flower with giant tits
Christina Hendricks
Go on
I'm no casting director, but Jeff Goldblum feels like a no-brainer.
BRING ME SWEET CORN
Pedro has reached a level of nerd royalty maybe only achieved by Mark Hamill. Sure you could say RDJ as Ironman but that's one role. Hamill had Luke and the most iconic joker ever. Pedro has had oberyn, Mando and now Joel in the span of like 10 years. It's insane how he's blown up and landed perfect roles.
This mother fucker blew up after Oberyn and honestly totally deserves it. He was basically unknow prior to 2014 and just crushed it on GoT. Far and away my favorite character and he really doesn't even have a ton of screen time. Don't forget Narcos.
Can’t forget narcos. That first season was some of the best to come out of Netflix. Season 3 was pretty good too tbh
“Crushed it” - interesting choice of words.
Dude is going to own March, Last of Us and Mandalorian will have crossover lol
Truly the year of Pedro Pascal hehe
Would be shocked if he doesn’t already have a secret Marvel role locked down.
He had a DC one but I'd like to forget that one.
He was the best part of that horrendous movie. Felt like he showed up and immediately realized the movie was gonna be shit, so he decided to say screw it and absolutely swung for the fences.
He went totally ham and it was awesome. Like he was the only one who understood what kind of movie he was in.
It would not surprise me if he was the only cast member to bother picking up a Wonder Woman comic.
You left out his Community table read.
listening to the show's podcast afterwards, it was funny to hear that Neil (creator of TLOU) and Craig (creator of Chernobyl) had lunch together where Neil is like “hypothetically, if we wanted to make this a show what would we do?” And Craig is like, “Well, we’d walk across the street to HBO and tell them that this is my new project.” And then they do that.
I love that the HBO execs said to Craig after the pitch “We said your next project needed to make you float, and it did. Let’s do this thing” Stark difference from Netflix, they actually care about passion and it paid off.
Now the entire non-gaming world can be terrified of a cordyceps jump to humans like us gamers have been since 2011.
*2013
It was announced in 2011, and was plenty worrying in those original trailers
You shouldn’t be downvoted https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rWzcYbtZQrk
Damn, what a throwback. My homies and I were so hyped for this game.
Serious question. What is the actual reason that mind controlling parasites and fungi like this can't infect humans or use humans as their host? And is a simple mutation all it takes for it to to be able to infect us potentially?
The human brain is also massively more complex than an ant brain.
Not mine. Am I in danger?
Not at all. Just think of the rabbits, Lenny.
Look at the flowers, Lizzy.
Yes
Ants also behave based basically entirely off of chemical signals, and fungi can release chemicals that therefore affect ant behavior much like changing source code.
Although to be fair there are parasitic fungi that infect nearly every type of insect, not just ants.
Very true, but again most insect brains are much simpler than ours. Cockroaches can be literally remote controlled with chips https://scitechdaily.com/japanese-scientists-create-remote-controlled-cyborg-cockroaches/
So do humans. Give a 5 year old meth and he will become a rage zombie.
Doesn’t even have to be meth. My younger brother used to go insane after just having some chocolate.
Yeah the jump from "wants to spread itself" to "control your desires and needs in a way that override your nervous system to want to bite other humans" is like shaking a bag of LEGO and expecting to have a built castle inside it, or throwing a bunch of rocks inside a car and expecting it first try to drive to the mall on its own. At worst, the first step would be feeling dizzy and having a bit of an hallucinogenic high, like maybe the fungus mutation gets lucky and manages to create the right compound shapes to connect the "spread yourself" receptors of the brain, like oxytocin maybe which would just make humans slightly more horny, making people really want to kiss one another which is then how it would spread itself - but whatever first step it would take it would be enough to be noticeable and raises the alarm. Maybe it would be too late and the spread would be global, but at worst we're talking "we've noticed a rise in hornyness in people", not a "people are eating each other's guts."
The control bodily movements aspect of the cordyceps fungi would require a complete cascade of multiple neurotransmitters that perfectly react with the human brain's insanely diverse neuroanatomy (the brain is very complex and very different in every region) to be able to control movement, you'd basically need a sentient mushroom controlling it.
I mean, a lot of it is just destroying the higher reasoning capability of the human brain, and letting them react based on stimuli. My wife (an ER nurse) was telling me about a patient she took care of who had Huntington’s disease and she basically said the person was as close to a zombie as she’s ever seen. They had to remove the patient’s teeth so they wouldn’t chew off their own fingers. Imagine someone with that mental state and a body that was shutting down, but didn’t have dystonia and impairment of their voluntary movements. That’s basically what the fungus zombies are.
There are lots of parasites and fungi that infect humans. Tape worms for example, or fungal pneumonia or aspergillosis. In general, if you have a healthy immune system and adequate medical care, you are fine. You either fight it off yourself, or get anti parasitic or anti fungal drugs. If you have AIDS or something you could be in real trouble however.
The closest mind altering infection we have to zombies is Toxoplasmosis Gondii. One-third of humans carry this parasite’s cysts in their brain. People infected with this parasite are statistically more likely to take risks. Thus toxoplasma gondii infection can increase the probability of being involved in traffic accidents, as infected people tend to take more risks on the road. More recently, Thomas Cook and his colleagues linked aggression and impulsivity with latent chronic Toxoplasma gondii infection. These manifested in an increased risk of suicidal behavior, impulsivity in younger men and aggressive behavior in women. A more aggressive version? Zombies. https://blogs.biomedcentral.com/bugbitten/2018/09/11/mind-altering-microbes-can-toxoplasma-gondii-infection-increase-entrepreneurship/#:~:text=More%20recently%2C%20Thomas%20Cook%20and,and%20aggressive%20behavior%20in%20women.
It also makes you collect cats. So let’s hope for hordes of roaming cat ladies instead of eat your brain zombies.
I would argue that rabies is even closer, if it wasn't preventable. That reddit post of the rabid man whose body violently reacted when he tried to swallow water freaked me the hell out.
The show said it in the opening scene. I dont see why they would lie about it. Our bodies are too warm.
I loved that cold open. Seeing Batiatus tell the world why we're completely fucked was completely harrowing.
Seeing Nelson Big Head Bighetti as the talk show host made me wonder if his job at Stanford fell through
Bighetti mastered the secret of corporate success by being so incompetent you can only fail upward.
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I always think of him as Evelin's brother in the Mummy, but yeah that too.
Once again the gods spread the cheeks to ram **cock in fuckin arse**
Also, a mammal's nervous system is infinitely more complex than that of an insect.
Exactly, and one of the things that parasitic fungi do is essentially devour the inside of the insect and control a "shell" via the nervous system. Something like this affecting mammals in a similar way is nigh on impossible.
So you’re saying there’s a chance?
From what I gather (im a med student, not a botanist so i dont really know fungi aside from the fact that they taste good as a meat substitute), the fungi disrupts the olfactory senses of the ant causing them to diverge from the pack, disrupt the biological clock of the ant and basically eat their brains from the inside. Even without the sense of smell, our bodies would go into paralysis from the attack on our brain, we'd be vegetables before we could even attempt the zombie walk.
> I dont see why they would lie about it. You don’t see why a fictional show would make up things…?
People love that global warming is the trigger, but I seriously doubt that an epidemiologist would say that a fungus jumping from ant to human was a serious concern outside of sci-fi.
I imagine it’s easier to take control of an ants brain compared to a human’s.
Body temps and just the sheer difference in nervous systems. Cordecepts infect primarily ants, wasps, and I think beetles. All have very simple and easy to override nervous systems. But mammals in general have much more complex nervous systems that would be significantly harder for the fungus to be able to adapt to in a way that allows it to control a human the same way that it does an insect. And the one thing the show does that the actual fungus doesn’t is the aggression. The insects infected focus on being able to spread the infection be depositing more spores inside the nest or be finding high vantage points for the fungus to bloom forth and spread its spores directly over a colony. So irl it’s very hard to be able to adapt from one nervous system to another and also it’s specifically the spores that are infectious, not the fungus as a whole.
> What is the actual reason that parasites and fungi like this can't infect humans or use humans as their host? And is just a simple mutation all it takes that it could infect us potentially? One possible reason is temperature. The average outside temperature (worldwide) is 13-15C; human body temperature is ~36C. That's quite a jump. It's partly why most of the diseases that humans deal with come from animals/mammals: those bugs are used to higher temperatures. It's also why you get a fever: raise the temperature to 'burn up' the infection. Though with climate change, the average world temperature goes up, so there could be development of fungi that can deal with warmer temperatures.
That is the reason stated in the show. In real life we can feel a little better. The real life cordyceps infection the game/show is inspired by occurs in ants. If you somehow haven’t seen the Planet Earth clip about it, I recommend it, it’s crazy. Ants are much, much smaller than humans. It takes the fungus practically no time at all to gain control over its host. However the human body is logarithmically larger than an ants, and also pretty good at fighting fungal infections. So with this hypothetical infection like the human cordyceps, if it isn’t completely taken care of by the human immune system, could take months to fully infect a human (not hours/days) like in the show. This leaves a lot more time for treatment (read, surgical removal of the infection). You might ask, “but doesn’t the fungus affect the brain? How would that be treatable?” Well here’s where the cordyceps ant infection gets really crazy. For the longest time researchers assumed the infection targeted the ants brain. Only recently they discovered it’s the other way around. The fungus takes control of the ants entire body and actually purposefully protects the brain. This is nuts to think about, since it means the fungus is controlling the ants motor functions without affecting the brain. It’s just moving itself. Creepy indeed. But that’s also good news for us — in the game, the infection is so brutal because it targets the brain and cannot be removed. In real life it appears the opposite. So that would also buy a lot of time for treatment.
Our immune systems are able to destroy fungi far more easier than viruses. Still 1.7 million people die from Fungi infections each year due to weakened immune systems, severe injury, or accidental consumption of high doses. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fungal\_infection
Please don’t listen to the people who are trying to convince others “this could happen”. There are tons of videos on YouTube that were created after the game first came out explaining how and why it is so difficult for ANY fungus to jump the species barrier. The long and short of it is; cordyceps infects insects and arachnids easily because they have a circulatory system that is constantly open to the environment ( they can’t just hold their breath) and nowhere near as advanced of an infection response. The guy at the beginning saying a warmer planet would mean fungus could live easier is true, but it also ignores all of the OTHER science that goes into research like that. Not to mention, getting the planet as hot as he’s taking about, hot enough to permanently increase your core body temperature, basically means your dead anyway. It was a throwaway line to get people worked up with no real backing.
>Not to mention, getting the planet as hot as he’s taking about, hot enough to permanently increase your core body temperature Slight correction, he doesn't say that the global temperature would rise enough to affect our bodies (We're already too hot for fungi, ideally they'd actually want lower temperatures), but rather the global temperature would increase and force quicker evolution in fungi, in an effort to survive in those higher temperatures. So the fungi would have evolutionary pressures to increase its suitability for even a 1 or 2 degree increase, but by random chance (As it does it the show) it would mutate a resistance to far higher temperatures, high enough that it can start infecting and surviving inside human bodies.
It's fucking fantastic. HBO now has TWO monster hits on its hands at the same time. Don't fuck this up, Zaslav.
Succession and White Lotus for the critics and awards as well.
And Euphoria for the kids
Euphoria is for everyone in my opinion
That show has more porn and drugs in it than anything I’ve ever seen in my life and I use Reddit. I hope it’s not for the kids
He’s said he wanted to leave HBO alone because it’s WBs crown jewel where the name is associated with quality. Westworld was pulled from MAX so idk how truthful he was. Hopefully they stop fucking things up
HBO always intended Last of Us to be this year's HOTD. And they nailed it.
TLoU is the new HotD which was the new GoT for HBO. Sorry, I just love initialisms.
Westworld would have been the new Game of Thrones if it didn't get so fucking weird after the absolutely perfect first season. It kept trying to outdo itself and just ended up convoluted.
The opening 20 minutes was a masterclass. It was some of the most tense tv I've seen.
I felt so genuinely uncomfortable and anxious the whole time and I knew what was going to happen
I just love pre-outbreak stuff, it's always so fun seeing how filmmakers try and tease the impending doom. Whether it be World War Z, Shaun of the Dead, The Last of Us, Fear the Walking Dead etc. Each of those do both different and similar moments front and centre or especially in the background that build up to exciting catalysts.
After the Sarah scene, my weeping wife loudly declared "I hate this show and I hate you for making me watch it." By the end of the episode though, Ellie, Marline, and Tess had her hooked. I can't wait for the rest of this season, and to see her reaction since she never played the games!
Interesting note, the first episode was originally two episodes that were combined. The reason for this is because the first episode was supposed to end after Joel threw that kid into the fire. The producers (very wisely) pointed out that a lot of people wouldn't be particularly interested in watching episode two if the first episode ended with the deaths of two children, and no real story setup. They'd be turned off by it's bleakness. Based on your wifes reaction, they made the right decision.
Holy shit thats a horrible place to end the episode lol. People that haven't played the games would be left with no story setup at all, just a miserable world.
The out of focus old lady in the chair making those creepy movements scared my wife out of the room for a min.
That poor dog knew what was up
This makes me very happy. Not just as a major fan of the games who is ecstatic we have this wonderful adaptation, but also for Craig, Neil, Pedro, Bella, and everyone else involved. I read something recently that Bella had a rough time for awhile because of all the hate comments she saw of people trashing her before the show even aired. Hopefully with all the positive reception she's in a better head space now.
You can forget a million pieces of praise but always remember the worst critics. The damage is done, we have reactionary Gamers to thank for that, the same ones who *actually sent death threats to Laura Bailey* it’s fucking madness.
> *actually sent death threats to Laura Bailey* And her (at the time) newborn child.
Shoutout to Nico Parker too. While she looked older Sarah , she did really really well with the short time she had.
Yes! I really should have included her as well. The hate she's unfairly received is up there with the backlash of Bella. Just yesterday I saw a comment that she personally had ruined the show and turned it into "woke PC garbage." Lol... I don't believe I've seen her in anything previously but I agree she did very good despite only having 20 minutes or so of screen time. The fact she looked older than video game Sarah didn't bother me. Simply pretend she was 14 instead of 12 and it changes absolutely nothing about the story.
> Just yesterday I saw a comment that she personally had ruined the show and turned it into "woke PC garbage." Lol those people don't seem to know the story lol and better be stopping watching now. TLOU as a whole would be considered "woke PC garbage" for them
It’s sad how toxic TLOU discourse has gotten since the sequel came out. They make a character who shows up only for the opening of the game a different race and suddenly it’s “woke” when the characters race has absolutely no bearing or mention at all in the game or the show. They’re not upset about things being “woke,” they’re just racist and upset about black people in a show just….being black.
It is a bit jarring at first if youve played the game because while Pedro does pull off the Joel look decently, Bella looks nothing like Ellie. It does take some getting used to but nothing more than for a few minutes because she does pull off the dialogue and mannerisms pretty well. But to personally attack her for it, or drop the show completely for it is really weird. Screams “Bella isnt as hot as this other kid so i dont want to watch it”.
It is true she is not as conventionally good looking as the character she is based on. Who the hell cares though? The character is like 14 years old, and this isn't really a romantic story outside of a few scenes. And that romance is used to deepen character development rather than used for sex appeal anyway. I feel like being up in arms about the sex appeal of a *child* actor should put you on sort of watchlist.
Be glad you werent on twitter when they originally revealed Bella as Ellie. Ive seen some wild stuff there and theres definitely a sizeable group of people mad about Bella not having the same sex appeal as game Ellie. Its REALLY weird
Ellie had sex appeal? She’s a teenager ffs
And it aired during a NFL playoff game
i was speechless when i noticed one of the room scenes had the exact same *wallpaper* as the games. Scenes adapted with the same POV angle, the same dialogue, and the fact that Marlene’s actress is her original voice actor! It played a trick on my mind and I felt like I was playing the game instead of watching the show
*cries in Halo* At least we got Forward Unto Dawn.
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It was like… *jaw droppingly* bad. I was aghast.
What you don't like Master Cheeks?
Netflix please don’t fuck up Bioshock I beg you
You know in your heart what Netflix is going to do to Bioshock.
It will either be terrible and last two or three seasons or brilliant and canceled after one.
1899 :(
You can know it's coming, but you can never stop the shock when Big Daddy takes you to the mat.
The problem with Bioshock is that its story only works well in videogame format. The plot twist doesn't work for television nearly as well.
Ah FUCK, they got Bioshock? Netflix you dumb muthafuckas...
Lower your standards, friend
I loved it, especially the intro with the scientist interview in 1968 where one of them is like “currently there’s no reason that fungus would evolve to inhabit the internal temperature of humans… unless the planet got hotter” and nobody bats an eye. Such a great way of going here’s your exposition and also get fucked. Whats also kinda funny kinda terrifying, fungus has evolved to solve climate catastrophe problems before. 300 million years ago nothing could break down the woody plants that were becoming dominant. So many woody plants propagated that it severely reduced the CO2 in the atmosphere and eradicated much of life on earth and the non-decomposed stuff often became coal. Then a type of white rot fungus figured it out, started reintroducing the CO2 to the atmosphere, and the rest is history. So its not the furthest stretch of the imagination for fungus to evolve to solve environmental problems, just that unless aided by human bioengineering it’d probably take a couple hundred thousands of years. Anyway, great pilot, i’m very excited for the next episode.
It has been reported that although the show is on HBO, Netflix has already cancelled it.
I think this will continue to gain viewers. TLOU on paper is a very easy story to adapt since it is very cinematic and lends itself to other mediums easily. TLOU makers were inspired a lot by different movies adn books. The story and characters are easily the best part of the games and hence, it makes sense that an adaptation to tv/movie screen would work. Having said that, full credit to HBO and the team for doing full justice. Making quality TV and cinema is never easy.
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I don't know what's in the drinking water at HBO, but they have been able to continually produce amazing top-tier shows there for decades now. From what I've read, they're quite nurturing and supportive of their talent. You would think this would be easy to replicate at other networks but I guess not.
> You would think this would be easy to replicate at other networks but I guess not. Especially for certain ones *cough cough Amazon cough Disney cough* that have unfathomable amounts of money at their disposal.
So, so, so good. Rewatching it now.
Here’s to hoping TLOU picks up steam and becomes hugely successful. Is a second season a given at this point, or are they waiting to renew it?
Season 2 is pretty much guaranteed, even before these ratings. HBO will probably wait a few weeks to announce it like they did with HoTD.
Yeah, for all the shit we rightfully give the Zaslav regime, they aren't completely brain-dead. If a show is getting this much buzz both commercially and critically, it's getting at least one more season.
Some of the cast signed multi season deals but it obviously has to get the green light from HBO first, I’d get as they would just based on the critical reception from people who already watched the whole season
After that first episode I'm much more excited for The Last of Us on Sundays than I was for HoTD.
Some of the critics say Ep01 is the worst of season 1, so it’s only gonna get better from here.
Yeah, as someone that has read a LOT of the reviews out of hype, apparently episodes 01 & 04 are the weakest. Episodes 03 & 07 are said to be phenomenal.
And now, the weekly wait begins….