With absolute respect; if you don't like the TV series, this video isn't for you, and please keep comments respectful, clean, and constructive. Much Love, 00
@Master_Misanthrope Isn’t that “we didn’t look at the games” tweet taken way, way out of context by many Halo fans? If I’m not mistaken, During the live red carpet premiere, one of the show-runners or producers confirmed they had like a some sort of boot-camp to learn everything Halo including, games, books, comics, etc. to actually make the tv story. Even the actors were apart of it to get to know their characters and their world around it. They would obviously play the games to even know the references, characters, and iconic sound effects and design from ep. 1 and 2. And come on man, he doesn’t need anyone’s approval to stop covering the show just because it ruined people’s experience.
@@comicbooknerd3570 to answer that; yes, apparently they went for a lore dive at number company, I seem to remember them saying it was an entire day but I could be misremembering. In any case, given that they did spend time learning the lore from the source (rather than playing the games and learning it), it makes the show we got even worse by comparison. They went to the source and came back with all the knowledge needed to be lore accurate. They then shelved all the knowledge they gleaned and went and did their own thing. Oof.
For anyone who follows the expanded lore, this show should be at the very least intriguing. It’s also very evident that everyone involved with this show did an extensive amount of homework. Also, I don’t understand why this show is looked at any different than say Marvel Comics and the MCU.
I dont mind the gruesomeness of the show. It gives us something only described in the books and we never saw in game. I'm only okay with the show, but its definitely different.
@@ajajala5081 That's a good thing actually. You won't be biased and will get to enjoy the show without pre judgment and nostalgia clouding your vision. The games are great but that story and the way it was told belongs in the video game universe. It wouldn't fit well for a TV series. I'm an OG fan from the first Halo on the original Xbox too, but unlike most people I can separate the two forms of media. I understand why they made certain changes. I don't take it personally or get offended over it.
@@captainbuzzkill4658 I've grew up with the series also. And gotta say, show is good on its own so far. I do have minor nickpicks. But nothing to ruin the show. This is honestly no different then what the MCU did with the Marvel comics. It shares the 'general' same events between the two. (Chief being kidnapped, chief getting cortana, the rubble existing, etc) but just like the MCU, it is its own take of the events.
When people think of Halo, the general audience would not think of “insurrections/rebels, flash cloning, child soldiers, kidnapping and indoctrination, and corruption within the military/UNSC”. They obviously think first and foremost of Halo as “all-out war with humankind being threatened by deadly alien race and protected by super soldiers”. All of these things were always a part of the lore, but the less mainstream aspects are prioritized for a show that’s marketed to be a mainstream Halo adaptation and that’s where the problem lies. This show should’ve been called something else like Halo: A Spartan Story, UNSC Chronicles, or Hunt for the Truth (Iol). Hell, it would fit better even in Halo Legends, with each of its story threads.
@@mudkipzuzu I'm not sure what you mean by "less popular aspects are prioritized." If you're referring to the darker aspects of the series a lot of that was pulled straight from the books which many people consider source material. Which is kind of contradictory seeing as how the video game are the only real "source material." The books were written after. So, there absolutely was kidnapping and flash cloning involved with the Spartan program if you accept the novels as "source material." In the books Catherine Halsey did unethical things as well, I just think maybe she wasn't as extreme as she is the the show. They definitely went for a darker approach to the story with the TV series than the games if that's what you're referring to. Regardless of what the lore says or what the fans want I still think it was a good season and set the background for a lot of characters. Now due hard lore fans will get the silent Chief they wanted. This should be a big W for those guys. I just hope people will accept the new Forerunner. I think people are going to be pretty upset but I think I figured out who will activate the stones next. Spoiler alert: KWAN will be the next Forerunner. She'll be the one to bring back John and possibly Makee. You heard it here first!
If you stop to think about it, an underlying theme in the Halo-verse that kind of flies under the radar is seriously questionable scientific/medical ethics in the lore, specifically the creation of Spartan IIs and Cortana.
It's the entire back bone of the series. Science and medical means without morals creates killing machines. It's lucky that they are human enough to try to save us. Melding an absolute murder machine made of bone and metal to a AI. That's a beautiful example of Weapons development. Let's think about that.
Also define Morality(Not before Covenant) but after. It's complicated. I'm not anti freedoms from the insurrection point of view. The total war with the Covenant would be very much commiting moral and unacceptable means to survive. Total war that is not understanding. It's just that. Do or don't and be space dust.
?!??!?! for the good of mankind??!?!? only hope to defeat an immense enemy?!?!?!?! colonial uprising calculated to cause the collapse of human interstellar civilisation?!?!?!?!
I like Halsey, she's portrayed as a person that sees the bigger picture amongst people who are so shorted sighted they can't see past the colonial uprisings.
Yeah it's good she is supposed to be that way, it would have all fallen a bit short if she had not been that ruthless. I still tihnk Sigourney Weaver would be the best actor to play Halsey for some reason 😁, I guess when she's older, I tihnk they could get away with them playing the same character too. Well if it ever goes that far ahead in the world..
I don't like what Halsey has to do in order to further her goals for humanity, but her goals are endemic to the preservation of humanity. Call her a war criminal if you wish, but in such desperate circumstances a war criminal may very well be what is needed to ensure humanity's survival, desperate measures being what they are and all.
@@Robert_Douglass Nope. I agree completely. Without Halseys we would die as a species. Her being a psychopath does nothing to diminish my respect for her. Eggs and omelettes and all of that!
When it came to the clone part, it kept making me think of the clones from Star Wars and how most of them were treated like machines but they have feelings just like everyone else.
It was really good to hear Jen Taylor as Cortana again and I really like how they made Cortana look part of the universe, they're CGI budget must be big for this show. I have a feeling by the end of the Season/series, Halsey might end up in midnight facility, just a feeling.
I’m only halfway through, did they explain why cortana can appear anywhere in person ? The show is decent but that’s oddly my biggest lore gripe so far, should have kept her as a chip like cannon instead of a brain chip to secretly control and spy on chief
It's pretty evident that Halsey, in this show, is a sociopath or maybe even a psychopath. But, it can be argued that Halsey in the games is also a sociopath/psychopath.
I think Halsey in the games/books is socio-pathic however understands that her Spartans are a part of humanity's evolution and reconciles her guilt in knowing that. The T.V show Halsey seems to want to make her Spartans into perfect weapons, while game/book Halsey wants to make her Spartans into perfect humans. My prediction is that Cortana will disagree with Halsey's directive to control the Master Chief and end up developing the relationship we know from the games.
Thus far, this is a universe of Grey. No one is evil no one is good. Even the hero has to deal with the blood on his hands. Miranda Keyes, Sauron and Kwan thus far the closest to a Moral characters.
Best episode yet, all the ships on show, and.........the brain imaging scene...very dead space, stick a needle in your eye. Loved it. And seeing chief watching the musicians and his words on hearing it like everyone else was really well done. And the portrayal of halsey is spot on, everything we've seen of her shes a manipulative, often very cold person, bolstered by her ego.
Agreed completely. I really enjoyed it. I know people don’t like seeing this human side of Chief, however it appears that the artifact is the sole reason for this.
I agree... Everyone sees the fluffy mother figure of Halsey from the games, but in truth she was a highly intelligent and calculative egotistical sociopath who kidnapped, brainwashed and performed untested procedures on children and then murdered her clones to create smart AI. Anyone who doesn't like this Halsey doesn't fully understand the type of person who can do those things and continue to function as a person.
At least in the books Halsey feels bad about what she’s doing and only does what she does because she thinks it’s for the greater good, sometimes she even regrets her actions or second guesses her self. TV Halsey however just does morally dubious stuff for the hell of it and never even gives any second thought to any of it. I mean canon Halsey absolutely has sociopathic tendencies but at least she has good reasons and intentions behind her actions. TV Halsey does her sociopathic actions because she can, and because she can get a way from it.
It’s kind of hard to see Halsey as anything other than evil. Regardless of which writer portrays her, the actions the character takes are almost always in the spectrum of the ends justify the means. What gives her any sort of humanity is not her actions but the way other characters treat her. For example the Spartan IIs obeyed her despite having every reason to hate her (but of course they are no longer measurable by normal human standards of morality).
I would also like to add to my own comment that just because Halsey is evil in regards to her treatment of humanity and supportive of the Spartans as her creations; providing guidance, even protection etc. That is not outside the norms of a sociopath. There are plenty examples of evil people treating a select group benevolently and then becoming absolutely vicious to others. We cannot see her in one setting and assume she’s going to behave that same way in another. And evil character, when they are written well, will have moments that make the audience like them but will then of course perform actions that cannot be justified or reconciled otherwise.
@@Anaken12 I kind of enjoy that war criminal aspect of her personality, she’s like the embodiment of the phrase; “You were so focused on if you could, that you didn’t stop to think if you should.” Because it makes for a very nuanced character and hers is very specific, tailored directly toward a single role. It really makes you think and question exactly how you view the character and in what light and how that depends on the setting and environment. Initially, she made them to fight the insurgents, which is really interesting when you think about it because she essentially created living, fighting and breathing killing machines in order to fight an underground unsanctioned proxy war/delta squad against insurgents that wanted more autonomy from the UEG. It’s kind of messed up when you think about the origins of the child soldiers, and it just so happened that there was a bigger problem, The covenant, that they were better suited for. Pushing these limits of modern human morals and ethics is exactly what Halsey’s character represents and it definitely does paint her in a different light.
Halsey (actual Halsey, I dont care about show Halsey) is 100% a woman with a god complex. But for what it's worth, internally, she tears herself up with guilt over what she's done. She is constantly questioning whether she made the right choice, no matter how much she defends her actions to others. She devotes herself wholly to trying to protect her Spartans and views them as her children. She's a stone cold bitch with an ego who pushes the limits just to see if she can, but she does love her Spartans and she does want to protect humanity.
From a sci-fi perspective I've really enjoyed this show. I thought all the movement around the asteroid on the last episode was pretty neat. Sure it isn't what everyone wants but that should be good because then you don't know what to expect in the next episode. :)
yeah it's basically in the same basket as the witcher, WTF is this? ok ill watch it , yeah theres actually some pretty cool stuff in it. just hope we don't forget the truth. those asteroids made no sense tbh why are they all moving around relative to eachother? it takes billions of years for an asteroid belt to form.. if they did have so much relative movement I don't see how such a structure could be viable.
@@iisthphir Planetary rings as we saw here are actually extremely fascinating and diverse, as while theg certainly take a long time to form it's actually far quicker than most people would think. Saturn's rings for example, definitely the most complete rings in the solar system, are only 100 million years old, and will be completely gone in about 300 million years. Compared to the rings we see here, Saturn's rings are far, far more perfect being only a hundred METRES thick at most. Like seriously I want you to put that into perspective, these are tens of thousands of kilometres in diameter, yet so refined through millions of years of collisions they've been ground down to a layer far thinner than many of our human buildings are tall. Comparitively, these rings seem very recent indeed. Perhaps from a former moon whose orbit got to close to the planet causing tidal forces to rip it to shreds in the last couple million years. I won't speak to the exact accuracy, yes it probably took some liberties, but it certainly seems plausible generally.
The Karen Traviss inspired Halsey is honestly the thing that is really turning me off on this series. I much prefer morally grey over just plain supervillain evil.
@@teargass1849 I think we're going to have to agree to disagree on that one. Karen Traviss has a bad habit of having all of her character hivemind whatever her IRL opinions are. Which in the case of Halo resulted in several characters being extremely out-of-character in their sudden hostility toward Halsey. Traviss also completely ignored pretty much all of Halsey's internal thoughts and character development in favor of creating her own supervillain shaped liked Halsey.
Hasn’t Halsey always been evil . There was just a bigger evil the covenant. She kidnapped all the Spartan ll s and is a war criminal that is why she is being arrested in halo 4 and 5
I feel as if since this is technically and quite literally herself being sacrificed it dosent effect her at all. She sees this as something that absolutely is going to be magnificent, and even the clone was amazed that the ‘cortana’ project would be fulfilled.
As for Cortana being a projected hologram that everyone can see? I would have to assume that the base layer of the Mjolnir armor somehow has holographic projectors on it. But if that is the case they should have just included that in the narrative in the show because it makes it look like a big hole you know what I mean
They mentioned some "Particle gathering" tech whatever. So she can pull stuff out of the air to approximate her form. Ain't real tech, but hey, they at least put a line in there
The holographic emitters on Chief's suit in the games are small enough to fit in his gloves/wrist plate without impacting his movement. Its conceivable that there are limited emitters included in the undersuit, especially as the undersuit contains the liquid crystal layer that hold the AI. It could also be bolstered by emitters in the room. We haven't seen Cortana manifest herself in a non UNSC environment yet
I completely agree with you there I absolute hate this version of Halsey not in a there doing the lore injustice. But from a story telling wise you have a person who will do anything to get the desired results someone that has no ethical filter. This was a nit pick I had with the game and some of the lore when they just mild gloss over the Spartan 2s flash clones and kidnapping and augmenting kids with dozens if not hundreds of them not surviving the process or being utterly disfigured or disabled and blow it off as well this a war attitude, but you can't justify it when the entire program was originally designed to fight separatists and be the perfect, no questioning, order following super solider.
A lot of people are poking fun at Makee’s Energy Nail, but I thought that was sick! It’s like a smaller, more covert Energy Dagger from Halo Reach (Elite assassinations). Seems useful to me!
Totally agree, and also idk what 00 is on about her being a super soldier when it's literally just an energy blade projector built into her finger. Using a colony of hunter worms to take care of a small number of marines doesn't seem very super soldier like.
@@zucciniii1878 I think it’s more along the lines of “she has a blade seemingly built into her body, thus a cybernetic implant, which points to super soldier” rather than commanding the Lekgolo. I personally disagree that she’s a super soldier, but we only just found out about the blade, so who knows what else she’s hiding?
I really don't like how Halsey ever since the Karen Travis novels has devolved from a great nuianced and moraly gray characher into this cartoon mad scientist. Such a disservice to one of my favorite fictional characters. Sg She wasn't experimenting on kids for the hell of it, and she's not some entirely self absorbed unfeeling robot. She knew the things were horrible and felt the guilt for it, but carried that guilt knowing far worse things were in store if she didnt act.
I agree. People have wimpish reactions to Halsey. The clone situation is complex and difficult, but Halsey isn’t a monster. She did what needed to be done.
@@117Industries did she? In retrospect it saved humanity, but at the beginning of the spartan program was kidnapping kids and putting them through such horrific mutilation really neccessary to battle rebels before anyone even knew of the covenant? Like sorry I must be missing something, but I always thought it odd how mellow the games treated her considering she has done such horrific and brutal war crimes even in the game lore, before an adequate threat to remotely justify it ever reared its head.
@@lizardlegend42 i agree she did it to fight rebels not the covenant at first i dont see it as some heroic act to save humanity so it had to be done.if it was after the covenant showed up i could see that point but i dont
Yeah, I hate to break it to you, but Halsey has always been a mad scientist. Nuanced, yes, but definitely not the "good guy." She created the Spartan-II Program originally to fight insurrectionists. Humans. Fellow people. She, from the very start, narrowed down her parameter's for "Subjects" to be six year old children with specific genetic dispositions. From there she injected them with repeated doses of genetic and physiologically altering augmentations that killed over 40% of her children test subjects while "disqualifying" 11 (12?) more due to their bodies rejecting the augmentations or having disfigurements/mutilations because of them. Oh, let's not forget that she also had them trained and "indoctrinated" from age six to fourteen in military training before they even received the augmentations. She took literal children, made them into supersoldiers, and then later justified it as "necessary" because the Covenant "happened" to conveniently attack Humanity several years into the program's induction. Yeah, she's not exactly a moral human being. Yes, she felt guilt for doing it. Yes, if it wasn't for this Project, Humanity would've been wiped out from the start of the war. That does not change the fact that all of this was done simply because the military had a problem and Halsey had an ulterior motive: the perfection of Humanity. At the end of the day, yes, I like Main Canon Halsey a lot more (as a person/character) than Silver Timeline Halsey, but they both have the same origin, and they both start as mad scientists/monstrous human beings. Halsey is a great character regardless of which canon you're looking at, to be honest. It forces us to examine the nature of how secret projects and wartime desperation changes our ethics. Miranda says something similar to Jacob in episode 1. An equivalence to "How far are we willing to go just to survive?" I am very much enjoying the show so far, despite nitpicks I have about differences between it and the games/books, and I'm very curious to see where they take us from here. We're only three episodes in and I'm definitely hooked.
I'm almost positive it's more of an Augmented Reality system that allows everyone to see Cortana projected like that. The Spartans, officers, soldiers and scientists of the UNSC probably all have a neural-lace implant to varying degrees. At the very least all the Spartans do since Halsey commented on John's in the first episode. I was kind of thrown by the lack of a visible implant externally on John or anyone else but since it was mentioned by name I'm assuming there is something there already that Cortana interfaced with when she was put into John. Anyway, the idea of Cortana just accessing everyone's visual cortex via their implants to make herself visible makes more sense to me than holo-projectors just being everywhere.
@@mangoslice6319 That sort of ties into my theory. If there is indeed some kind of implant in John's head that has wireless accessibility than all Cortana needs is a connection to speak with anyone else on the network. As for John not hearing her when she's speaking to Halsey there are two very good reasons for that. For one Cortana can directly access the part of John's brain that processes auditory information and can project her own voice to him that way. She chooses when she wants him to hear her. However reason number two kinda makes the first reason pointless. Cortana is a smart AI and as such can multitask to an insane degree. It's not really shown in the games but in the books smart AI's have been seen to be carrying on several conversations at once while also performing other complex tasks without breaking stride.
@@andyd6622 Maybe the AI is made up of atomic or subatomicly sized particles that can enter and exit the skin, and form together to create a specific figure shape. Think of Transformuim from transformers and galvatron. Not that I like this series at all but this is the only idea in could think of as to how she can be “projected” to anyone
I watched the episode again, with subtitles this time. Halsey says there is some kind of particle projection system in the implant that allows Cortana to appear in any environment. It's a quick and poorly thought out techno-babble line. Clearly whoever came up with that explanation has no idea how a hologram works in either the practical or theoretical sense. Anyway this is the first thing so far in the show that I've thought was dumb. It's not going to really impact my enjoyment of the series though. Some of the greatest sci-fi in history has relied thoroughly on poorly thought out techno-babble bs.
Also, and I haven't read all the comments, but did anyone catch the Upsilon Protocol mention when talking about the "plague" that killed everyone in Eridanus II ? I mean... its pretty clear what they are hinting at... and they haven't even properly shown or talked about Halo, and already giving hints about a possible Flood infestation in Eridanus II?!
I think that geas is supposed to be similar to the ATA (Ancient Technology Activation) gene from the Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis series. Some people have it and some of those people have a much more instinctive control of the Ancient tech like John does with Forerunner tech.
Sheppard could activate ancient tech easily, but others had to train. The forerunners may have used it to flag people with certain conditions or something for system locks.
@@debbiebernhardt5406 that is my thought as well, since it has basically been confirmed that John has the geas of the Iso-Didact, it would be that near instinctive ability to manipulate Forerunner tech that Shepherd has with Ancient tech. Others could maybe figure it put, but John has had something, or rather someone, guiding his actions. Like back in the novel The Flood. He just KNEW which symbol to press to activate the light bridge and even he didn't understand how.
@@hokutoulrik7345 Ah, but when was it confirmed? That little tidbit has danced in and out of lore and implications for a decade now, with little to really solidify it. A Geas, yes, but how specific a one? Let alone a non human one? Geas can seemingly do much of what you describe, and do not need to be straight from a Forerunner. Still, the implications remain juicy if so. But other Spartans have show some similar intuitive hints.
@@chrissonofpear1384 this is true. I am just going by what I have read in the lore. It has been mentioned in the video on the geas that each one has a particular 'pitch and cadence' when it hasn't been awoken, so certain individuals, namely the SPARTAN-IIs, would have a stronger geas than a human that wasn't a candidate for the program.
Part of me is enjoying this show, despite everything the show runners have changed but i don’t think I’ll ever get past Cortana not having a data chip and getting injected straight into John’s brain and being able to appear anywhere. I just can’t suspend my disbelief that much. It would not have been hard to give John and the other Spartans neural links in the show.
I think it is still interfaced in the brain. Remember every Spartan is very much connected to AI directly towards brain. This is something halsey also mentioned in her journals
I think the show's intention with how the UNSC treated any member of the outer colonies as an insurrectionist, how they show the way the Chief has been literally manipulated by his armor and brainwashed beyond mere indoctrination, and Halsey's treatment of her clone is to state a single point: "The UNSC are not the good guys". Are they better than the Covenant? Maybe. But at the same time, the UNSC is still this regime that clearly is willing to walk as many lines as it can in the name of victory, even if all it has left are ashes to conquer.
One thing that kinda bugs me is the interior of UNSC ships and their size/interior. Looking at the Gladius how can it have such a large bridge when the entire ship is only around 250 metres long and needs to fit all the systems of a UNSC ship, such the MAC, crew quarters, a storage area, engine room and other features. Come to think of it, why does the Gladius have both marines and what looks to be a fairly experienced commander in charge when it's just a patrol ship. The other example is the Stalwart dawn which has the same issue of a bridge that is too big. Only this time it's far less excusable as we saw what the interior of a bridge of a Stalwart Class Frigate looks like in Halo 2 Anniversary. It's confusing to me as the TV show crew would have had access to concept art of In Amber Clad's Bridge and the actual model used by Blur Studios when they made H2A's cutscenes. Though I guess dimensions are always a bit screwy in Halo media *Remembers the CE warthog run*
250 meters is longer than most WWII-era battleships. I've visited USS Massachusetts, and it's a BIG ship once you start walking around her. So, I have no real problem that a ship that's both longer and considerably bulkier would have a bridge of that size.
Am I crazy for say that the show is actually getting better as it goes on…. Once you just accept the show is different it’s just a nice good budget show
Pablo does a good job acting as chief... it's just rough not getting to listen that iconic master chief voice I grew up hearing and fell in love with...
I'm still surprised they didn't just have the mo-cap actor, Bruce Thomas, reprise master chief for the show. He can sound pretty close to steve downes, he arguably understands the character just as much, and I'm sure everyone would be fine with him as a second choice of being the face of master chief (first being steve downes obviously).
It's this kind of "adapting" that I really hate. Taking what was loved about a franchise, and stripping characters of their original characterization in order to serve a story that runs counter to what people loved about the original. They could have easily told a similar (if less extreme) version of this story with the personalities of the characters intact. Halsey is cold and calculating, yes, but she never lacked empathy in the way this show's "Halsey" does. She very expressly rejected the idea of doing what this show's Halsey is doing to her Spartans. Where Halsey is very direct and honest, this impersonator is as deceptive and heartless as the organization she works for. I could very easily see this kind of behavior from anyone else within ONI, but never Halsey herself. Thing is, even ONI has limits, at least in the main canon.
Idk I'm personally loving the direction they're taking. Keeping enough of the original tone and substance from the games and books while adding their own creative ideas going into this new medium. I don't want to know exactly where every story beat is going to go, I want yo be surprised and compelled. And so far, I do personally find the story they're going for quite compelling. Going into this show though I had a very different goal in mind to many other fans of the series I've seen at least. Rather than having this made just for pre-existing fans like myself isn't what I wanted. What I wanted was to be able to use this show to show my friends and family who don't play games why I love the world and story so much. I wantef to be able to share this with my mum in a medium she's comfortable with. For that, the show had to be able to stand on its own two feet amd be able to be enjoyed regardless of if the person is familiar with any lore or anything. And so far, I think it's succeeding
Dude, halsey pioneered a program that kidnapped outer colony children, caused the brutal deaths of 52% of the taken children, and would have happily deployed those same hyper augmented children to butcher the colonists she stole them from. Halsey is easily the most evil individual in the Human faction of halo.
@@fiaa01 Never said anything about what she did was moral or just, just that she was a lot more trusting in the ability of her child soldiers to understand why they were chosen. Plus we know of at least one Spartan II who was actually rescued from a horrible situation when she was abducted, not that it changes anything.
I recall one of the episodes mention something about "pods" and how they interface with Spartans in the series by numbing them. I wondered how and my thought was more chemical than digital base and that's when I started to get the idea that these aren't Spartan IIs but Spartan IIIs. And thinking back to the books there was mentioned specific augmentations that were done to later batches that had unique effects to the Spartan IIIs. Seeing that blue pill like device that looks to come out of Chief's lower back now really emphasis that I might have been right and that they screwed this up even more. These aren't Spartan IIs, these are Spartan IIIs.
Anyone else notice in the scene of Makee as a kid how the flashlight has a similar look to a certain Forerunner ancilla? ;) Could be a funny coincidence or it could be an intentional Easter egg
This video makes me realize just how good and fleshed out the lore of the main canon is. The fact that Installation00 has not only been able to easily grasp and explain the science presented in the lore, but also expand on it to show its theoretical probability, shows just how good the world building is. The fact that 00 seems to be struggling to explain the logic behind the science presented in the show, really does speak volumes about the kind of writing we’re dealing with.
@@lizardlegend42 maybe struggle wasn’t the right word. But it seems like he is really trying to come up with reasons for the technology to work the way it is shown. Like when speaking about the light emitters for the AI projection or the neural interface.
@@johnnylaw8168 well yeah, it's not exactly uncommon in scifi, even in the games for stuff to be explained with a line of technobabble if that. It only becomes a problem when it seems inconsistent with the setting, which so far I don't think anything remotely feels like. He's making plausible explanations based on what's implied in the show, or even just outright stated a fair bit.
She literally kidnapped children tortured them and then sentenced them to death or if they lived to forced servitude as a weapon for the UNSC. It shouldn't take her killing herself/clone to get you to hate her or see that she's a bad person. Also the injected Cortana straight into his brain instead of adding the chip to his suit is so chief can continue to remove his helmet throughout the season and still have Cortana talk directly to him.
I liked The Cief devoid of emotions, in my opinion thats what made him capable of making the decision to give the covenant back their bomb or push through the unstoppable covenant horde without question or fail. If The Chief was a mere human he would have been crippled by PTSD after Halo 1.....
@@Godzra321 Come talk to me when a real world Marine gets stranded on an alien ring, watches everyone they try to protect die, then get yeeted into space, only to have to immediately do that all over again, before watching half your planet burn, then being genetically altered by an alien species, all after they were kidnapped as children and Frankensteined into a neraly unstoppable killing machine. Then I'll listen to their nonmedical opinion on PTSD.
@@aaronself2411 lol. This takes place 500+ years from now in a fictitious universe. What even is that comment? A few easy words in todays terms answers it forgoing the augmentations Spartans have been subject to. Just as a quick reminder the first letter in PTSD stands for POST. Revenge or justice for X scenario fits pretty damn well fiction or not.
@@Godzra321 Youre aware that PTSD can effect someone at any time right? Like, soldiers, in active duty, are sent home, for having PTSD. It isn't something you ONLY get when you go home. Moreover, 117 has been a solider since he was an actual child. There's nothing BUT trauma at any point in his life post ONI.
Why on earth would you start from the frontal lobe? You always start from the brain stem, are they trying to make Dr Halsey out to be a rookie? Gotta say though, neural virtualisation is never a seamless process. Not to mention the problems that occur if the network isn't eased into the process. Certain parts don't react well when disconnected to stimuli, best way to put it is like drowning and disintegrating in slow motion. Then waking up in a complete void, just a mind, no body. It's … Unpleasant to say the least...
It's 500 years into the future and they stuck a needle into a cloned version of another person to extract their brain. Why are you trying to make sense of it? Have u tried stealing a clones brain too?
@@cephydash1533 Why would I clone someone if I wanted to transfer there neural pathways? Only a plebeian would cause irreparable damage during such a procedure. I also don't do such things without expressed consent, to do so would be a gross violation of ones privacy.
@@fluffycarrot42 OK, this is how I see it. Halsey cloned her brain for the sole purpose of making an ai. For her to properly make an ai of herself she couldn't use herself or she would die, so she used the clone. Which then proceeded to die. I guess it's easier to copy a brain than making one from scratch.
@@cephydash1533 I'm aware of the limitations of the process in the halo canon. And given the parameters I somewhat agree with Halsey's actions, at least in the games. Given how susceptible the Covenant was to AI and how vital Cortana's intel was in winning the war. It just leaves a sour taste in my mouth, always has. To violate a conscious so completely is unforgivable.
@@fluffycarrot42 That is exactly what the show meant to show us. Halsey is willing to do anything for her creations. Kidnapping children, creating flash clones to replace them that will die in weeks to cloning herself to create a smart AI
I don’t understand how true fans of something can be okay with the source material being almost completely if not completely disregarded when making a tv series. I see opinions from people saying that it allows them to make a creative show that differs from the games and most of the books. You could certainly honor the heritage and source of the popularity of the franchise which for most is the last 20 years of games that have come out, while still being creative with the show and bringing to the big screen the game we all know and love. It seems to be just a perversion of the halo franchise and paramount needed something to stay relevant and used halo knowing so many would pay to see it but didn’t care enough to honor its legacy.
So ive played the games since CE, read almost all of the books multiple times, that being said I have enjoyed the show thus far as a completely separate entity... but I must say the most shocking part of this whole video for me is hearing 00 say "I don't know"! 🤣🤣🤣
I am new to the halo community . The show is really amazing . The CGI on this show absolutely blows away the expanse and all the start trek series. How the amount of detail that went into costume and weapon design was class. The Kwan ha story is lacking because she makes the dumbest possible choices and Soren just goes ahead like he doesn't have brain aside that excellent story telling. I am loving the lore so far. The producers said it's a alternative timeline, so can people give it a chance and stop complaining.
Watch the Declassified episode from this week for more about the VFX! I'd been wondering how they'd managed to do better effects than many high budget movies, and it's because they're using a lot of practical techniques with CGI touches.
I was initially shocked by the deviations from the game/book lore but my friends and I had a blast with the first three episodes. I'm a huge fan of the Halo EU and excited to see where this story is taking us.
The dynamic between Halsey and her clone made a lot of sense to me to be honest. On the surface, the act of making a fully sentient clone just to harvest it seems gruesome and cruel. However, this is still a clone of Halsey. It has her brain, her memories, her ambitions, and her knowledge. I believe the clone understood her role, and was already at peace with the inevitable outcome. Albeit terrifying, they both mutually understood the necessary actions needed to further humanity’s evolution. I think this is also reinforced by the conversation Halsey has with her clone. It’s scientific, to the point. It’s devoid of weak human emotion like fear and pleading for her life, but she wants to understand the world around her and pick the brain of her creator before she dies. It’s a very Halsey like thing to do.
I'm immensely curious about what happened between the moment of her sample collection, in which the clone mentions being uncertain she could do what the process would require, and Halsey's utter coldness toward the ordeal. It didn't seem to be the mortality rate of the children, as the clone received that information with only mild surprise. Perhaps it's that every attempt at human bonding in her life has escaped her grasp, and all focus is now toward "progress," as she says, i.e. more control.
Y'know after this episode I never really thought of it this way. I always figured that " cloned brain " was simply just a single organ cloned and used creating the software/hardware, not a living and breathing person or twin of Halsey. Between this and the kidnapping and raising of the Spartans plus some of the stuff UNSC seems to be doing to repress, fiercely, the rebels makes me wonder how much more Grimdark will this get before we enter Warhammer 40k territory?
I love the mystery and the way they be changing things. Don't forget to dream. Stop thinking you already know. Where's the growth? I like to be supportive of changing media. It's boring if it's predictable.
No, but rampancy is, and that is debatably a much worse experience. Slowly removing ones own mind, and due to the reduction in cognitive processes, getting less coherent over time.
The only thing I'm not really digging about Cortana so far is the fact that she is integrated into Chief and not like in the games where she's just in his armor. Like what the fuck? you're telling me you plan to make A.I.'s take control over the Spartan's bodies?
Havent they always have lmfao when a spartan suits up and equips his helmet they literally change emotionally and everything like that's not a person anymore its GI
Technically their minds merge temporally, the Spartan is kind of able to fell that someone invisible is with them, they don't even need to speak to each other, in some books you see that.
There’s also the fact literally all the Spartans have special neural interfaces and could have an AI slotted in their helmet and it would be the same as being in their head.
Cortana uses a particle system to materialize, which doesn't require a traditional projector. This could mean that she utilizes holo cameras located throughout facilities or ships when she appears. Alternatively, it's possible that Master Chief armor has an emitter that allows Cortana to project herself. She also have the ability to access networks without physical contact suggests she can use any connected system to project herself. For instance, once she bypasses the UNSC firewall, she can use projectors in the room, such as when she appears to Halsey in a mini-version via a small projector.
Just so we're all on the same page here, there is no version of Halsey, no matter the justifications, that isn't a war criminal. I also feel that instead of Flash Cloning the Spartan candidates, that in this timeline they all came from the same colony, and Halsey had the parents killed from a "virus outbreak" to cover up her crimes. Honestly, this feels like a completely different story. All these years, and they gave Halo to people who don't want to make Halo.
Given the insightfulness & depth of your analysis in these videos, I'm sure you realized what I did in ep. 4: Cortana being irrevocably merged with John, seemingly Halsey's uncounterable power move, will end up being why she can't take control. The cortical plasticity effects caused by relic interactions giving him access to his memories are also going to change how Cortana functions in John's mind. It might work once or twice more, but (just as the ship's functionality was addressed by it in ep. 1) once John is aware it can happen, the next relic interaction will surely assist with this vulnerability. I believe Halsey began to consider this possibility when they imaged his brain after his recollection in his home, and it's part of why she's telling John in the ep. 5 teaser to refrain from touching something he was unscathed by in his childhood. This is precisely the sort of poetic narrative orchestration which makes me happy to handwave the improbability of balancing the equation in which John's excess metabolic capacity from enhancement powers a sourceless hologram projection. :)
i can fully agree with how you feel about the flash clones, a fundamental question is if a clone can be considered a human because they were synthesized, but the presence of sentients brings another statement forward "i think, therefore i am"
Y’know in Halo Lore, John did have a surgery in his head to connect to the helmet’s chip pod. Also, in Fall of Reach, it says that he feels a cold liquid being introduced in his brain every time Cortana’s chip gets inside. So yeah, also in a Halo Lore, Cortana is in Master Chief’s head. She’s not speaking through the helmet, she is in John’s mind. Every time you hear her talking in the games, is actually John listening someone in his head. Soooooo, according to that, it’s not that different for the show 🤷🏻
Make a dungeon master A.I to play games with while on leave. Covenant take over the ship. *3 years later* “How the fuck did they learn how to DND and why do they take talking about it so seriously?” - Human marines
Sub faction breaks off from the Covenant because any people who created D&D can't be that bad. Alternatively, the AI runs a campaign where they play as humans and have a "Are we the baddies?" moment.
Wait wait wait wait wait..... What the hell? A chip at the base of the spinal column that inhibits emotional response???? The neurology of the spine is largely reflexive, trained musculature control that responds to sensory stimuli such as pain so the signals don't have to travel to the brain and await a response. Emotions are largely centered around the limbic systems inside the brain. This doesn't make any sense.
if I had to guess, it's really there for the ease of access to the central nervous system like a lumbar puncture would. What the capsule would do is release hormones into the cerebrospinal fluid or maybe some more smart matter thingy-mc-gook instead of electrical impulses on the spine
I’m absolutely LOVING how critical the tv show is of Halsey and the UNSC as a whole. They are unambiguously committing war crimes and imposing their Fascist will upon the galaxy’s population. Just like Capitalist Imperialist powers today, the UEG and the UNSC forcefully subjugate millions of people and force them into poverty to enrich a few on Reach and Earth. Sadly, these themes haven’t been really explored in the mainline canon of Halo.
This is the kind of thing that results when a project like this is handed to someone who has little to no understanding of scientist or psychology. The production team has obviously never analysed the characters from the game or the original content. The character of Halsey has been drafted as a psychopath, the original Halsey was a sociopath, doing what was necessary instead of playing God. John 117 was also a induced sociopath, in the show he is shown as a human under the effects of neuro-suppressors. He had a moral code and commitment to preserving the human race. This morality is what kept him sane and kept him going.
An interesting point to note is the Elites in the flashback refer to the girl as "this creature" rather than "human". Indicating this was before tge covenant were that familiar with us, ie before the war kicked off (ehich makes sense, it was likely over 20 years beforehand). So perhaps this was the first reclaimer they came across, took her in and started raising her. Then only later did the prophets learn humanity's role as a whole, causing the war to cover it up.
Yea Halsey in the show is so interesting! I love Natasha's portrayal. Talking to a copy of your old self is so trippy, especially when you used to have a tiny sliver of a conscience left. loved that scene. "Progress" with a nod and a smile is such a great line read!
Oh man, I missed the detail about the heart monitor!! Damn... One note about the brain. The prefrontal cortex is very important for many of the humanity bits of humans. Higher level thinking in various ways. But maybe not quite "consciousness". I like to think of the neocortex (which contains the prefrontal) less "at the front" as much as it is "all around". Think of it more as onion layers of the brain. The reptilian brain is most protected in the center. The emotional centers (this is a real outdated simplification, but whatever) are around that. And then higher level thinking around the outside!
The scene with the 'injection' of cortana reminded me of how the 'neuro lace' is installed traditionally, but with the Cortana Hitchhiker built-in. I would have to rewatch, but doesn't Cortana only visually manifest in facilities that (likely) have Holo-tech built in locally?
Or, maybe what we see as Cortana in which she appears outside masterchief, is essentially a representation of a perception within masterchief where shes interacting with the brain in such a way that she can "appear" anywhere she wants. She's not really a physical projection so much as a mental manifestation, sorta overlaid on the vision.
I think it’s worth noting that the brain does not have pain-sensing neurons. Brain injuries are not painful. The only way this clone would have felt any pain during the procedure would be if the process triggered neurons in the brain as it disintegrates, causing it to think that pain receptors in other parts of the body are being triggered.
Spartans out of armor are generally only mid six foot range. If anything John is portrayed as being pretty damn tall compared to everyone else outside of armor. Half a head or more.
I think it's more reasonable to assume that her finger energy blade is just a miniature projector built into her finger and projects under her fingernail. Doesn't seem like any physiological augmentations to me, not sure why you would assume that. It honestly reminded me of the hidden blade type energy daggers elites had on their forearms in Halo: Reach, just that this is built into her body. Other than this we haven't seen anything to suggest that she is a "Super soldier". She even needed the assistance of hunter worms to defeat those marines and restrain that captain.
As a subscriber, of yours,and HALO content creator myself, I appreciate your approach to reviewing this show. Yes.. the non cannonical nature of the narrative is a bit disappointing. But it's watchable sci Fi show and certainly more interesting than that other dross from Paramount that I will not mention.
Been playing since I was a kid back in 01’ and man I am just so grateful that we finally have something like this! As long as it brings in more halo fans im all for it. The more popularity the halo universe receives the more likely we get a halo movie someday. And who knows what can happen after that. To me personally the show seems great regardless of the obvious differences from source material. They had to make adjustments so it can make a compelling episodic tv show adaptation. I’m not sure if I would like it more or less if I wasn’t a halo fan but objectively speaking I think I would love it.
I really appreciate how open minded installation 00 is being with the TV series. I am so tired of everyone and their negativity. Imagine if marvel movies were considered bad because they don't follow a certain comic book. The point of alternative universes is to be alternative. Really love your content
The point of alternative Universes usually is just lazy writing, making a new Story inside a shared Universe requires very hard Work and a deep knowledge of the Lore and World building, if you dont put in that Work you end up with Lore breaking BS like the "Holdo Manouver" and such
Doing something out of a sense of duty is far MORE praiseworthy than doing it out of mere emotional impulse, not less. One need not be overwhelmed by emotions to be acting of one's own free will.
I really liked this episode. It sets up uncertainty about halsey's motivation and gives a new purpose to cortana. Is it a ruse that Halsey has over oni? That she never meant for ai to control the Spartans and need thst reason for the allowance of the creation of ai.
This episode was really good imo. At least better than the other two. The whole Cortana bits with Halsey and all that were great. Makee has been interesting in a good way so far so I'm glad the few doubts I had were proven wrong. Though I really wish the music was better.
I have to agree that Halsey behavior is very reminiscent of her portrayal in the Karen Travis trilogy… and I sincerely hated KTs treatment of Halsey. I actually hated that trilogy all together. I do suspect that she will evolve to the current Halsey from lore.
It would be interesting to get a full comparison of the different depictions of Halsey. How have the book versions differed? What about the game version? And of course this show's version.
This episode wasn't bad at all. It's progressing. I do have a small gripe with Chief's emotional state. He seems to emotional in general. Thought he would be more composed but I do understand him later on feeling more because of the removal of the chip. Right now Chief doesn't look, act or portray a hero of humanity. He actually seems like a generic soldier.
Nothing about Halsy being able to see Cortana makes any sense unlike in the games. Where her data chip can materialize her body. It’s not like she had a neural interface or some type of contact on her eyes. Even a holographic projection. I also don’t like that they gave her some type of outfit. Really throws me off. Also that she cares more about her own safety than anyone else.
With absolute respect; if you don't like the TV series, this video isn't for you, and please keep comments respectful, clean, and constructive. Much Love, 00
Not a fan of this adaptation for many reasons but i enjoy these breakdowns nonetheless.
@Master_Misanthrope Isn’t that “we didn’t look at the games” tweet taken way, way out of context by many Halo fans? If I’m not mistaken, During the live red carpet premiere, one of the show-runners or producers confirmed they had like a some sort of boot-camp to learn everything Halo including, games, books, comics, etc. to actually make the tv story. Even the actors were apart of it to get to know their characters and their world around it. They would obviously play the games to even know the references, characters, and iconic sound effects and design from ep. 1 and 2. And come on man, he doesn’t need anyone’s approval to stop covering the show just because it ruined people’s experience.
@@comicbooknerd3570 to answer that; yes, apparently they went for a lore dive at number company, I seem to remember them saying it was an entire day but I could be misremembering.
In any case, given that they did spend time learning the lore from the source (rather than playing the games and learning it), it makes the show we got even worse by comparison.
They went to the source and came back with all the knowledge needed to be lore accurate. They then shelved all the knowledge they gleaned and went and did their own thing. Oof.
For anyone who follows the expanded lore, this show should be at the very least intriguing. It’s also very evident that everyone involved with this show did an extensive amount of homework. Also, I don’t understand why this show is looked at any different than say Marvel Comics and the MCU.
@@madjoe9679 Because this is less MCU and more like DCU's Suicide Squad, the first one.
I dont mind the gruesomeness of the show. It gives us something only described in the books and we never saw in game. I'm only okay with the show, but its definitely different.
I love the show too , unfortunately I never played the games growing up just got into them recently.
@@ajajala5081 That's a good thing actually. You won't be biased and will get to enjoy the show without pre judgment and nostalgia clouding your vision. The games are great but that story and the way it was told belongs in the video game universe. It wouldn't fit well for a TV series. I'm an OG fan from the first Halo on the original Xbox too, but unlike most people I can separate the two forms of media. I understand why they made certain changes. I don't take it personally or get offended over it.
@@captainbuzzkill4658 I've grew up with the series also. And gotta say, show is good on its own so far.
I do have minor nickpicks. But nothing to ruin the show.
This is honestly no different then what the MCU did with the Marvel comics.
It shares the 'general' same events between the two. (Chief being kidnapped, chief getting cortana, the rubble existing, etc) but just like the MCU, it is its own take of the events.
When people think of Halo, the general audience would not think of “insurrections/rebels, flash cloning, child soldiers, kidnapping and indoctrination, and corruption within the military/UNSC”. They obviously think first and foremost of Halo as “all-out war with humankind being threatened by deadly alien race and protected by super soldiers”. All of these things were always a part of the lore, but the less mainstream aspects are prioritized for a show that’s marketed to be a mainstream Halo adaptation and that’s where the problem lies. This show should’ve been called something else like Halo: A Spartan Story, UNSC Chronicles, or Hunt for the Truth (Iol). Hell, it would fit better even in Halo Legends, with each of its story threads.
@@mudkipzuzu I'm not sure what you mean by "less popular aspects are prioritized." If you're referring to the darker aspects of the series a lot of that was pulled straight from the books which many people consider source material. Which is kind of contradictory seeing as how the video game are the only real "source material." The books were written after. So, there absolutely was kidnapping and flash cloning involved with the Spartan program if you accept the novels as "source material." In the books Catherine Halsey did unethical things as well, I just think maybe she wasn't as extreme as she is the the show. They definitely went for a darker approach to the story with the TV series than the games if that's what you're referring to. Regardless of what the lore says or what the fans want I still think it was a good season and set the background for a lot of characters. Now due hard lore fans will get the silent Chief they wanted. This should be a big W for those guys. I just hope people will accept the new Forerunner. I think people are going to be pretty upset but I think I figured out who will activate the stones next. Spoiler alert:
KWAN will be the next Forerunner. She'll be the one to bring back John and possibly Makee. You heard it here first!
If you stop to think about it, an underlying theme in the Halo-verse that kind of flies under the radar is seriously questionable scientific/medical ethics in the lore, specifically the creation of Spartan IIs and Cortana.
That never flies under the radar, damn near its one the most interesting things I. The series for fans.
don't forget the didact and his composer
It's the entire back bone of the series. Science and medical means without morals creates killing machines. It's lucky that they are human enough to try to save us. Melding an absolute murder machine made of bone and metal to a AI. That's a beautiful example of Weapons development. Let's think about that.
Also define Morality(Not before Covenant) but after. It's complicated. I'm not anti freedoms from the insurrection point of view. The total war with the Covenant would be very much commiting moral and unacceptable means to survive. Total war that is not understanding. It's just that. Do or don't and be space dust.
?!??!?! for the good of mankind??!?!? only hope to defeat an immense enemy?!?!?!?! colonial uprising calculated to cause the collapse of human interstellar civilisation?!?!?!?!
I like Halsey, she's portrayed as a person that sees the bigger picture amongst people who are so shorted sighted they can't see past the colonial uprisings.
She’s a psychopath, even though she does see the bigger picture.
Yeah it's good she is supposed to be that way, it would have all fallen a bit short if she had not been that ruthless. I still tihnk Sigourney Weaver would be the best actor to play Halsey for some reason 😁, I guess when she's older, I tihnk they could get away with them playing the same character too. Well if it ever goes that far ahead in the world..
great acting indeed
I don't like what Halsey has to do in order to further her goals for humanity, but her goals are endemic to the preservation of humanity. Call her a war criminal if you wish, but in such desperate circumstances a war criminal may very well be what is needed to ensure humanity's survival, desperate measures being what they are and all.
@@Robert_Douglass Nope. I agree completely. Without Halseys we would die as a species. Her being a psychopath does nothing to diminish my respect for her. Eggs and omelettes and all of that!
When it came to the clone part, it kept making me think of the clones from Star Wars and how most of them were treated like machines but they have feelings just like everyone else.
It was really good to hear Jen Taylor as Cortana again and I really like how they made Cortana look part of the universe, they're CGI budget must be big for this show. I have a feeling by the end of the Season/series, Halsey might end up in midnight facility, just a feeling.
Yeah, I not a huge fan of how Cortana looks just because she looks a bit to human, I think she should have been more blue though.
I’m only halfway through, did they explain why cortana can appear anywhere in person ?
The show is decent but that’s oddly my biggest lore gripe so far, should have kept her as a chip like cannon instead of a brain chip to secretly control and spy on chief
It's pretty evident that Halsey, in this show, is a sociopath or maybe even a psychopath. But, it can be argued that Halsey in the games is also a sociopath/psychopath.
I think Halsey in the games/books is socio-pathic however understands that her Spartans are a part of humanity's evolution and reconciles her guilt in knowing that. The T.V show Halsey seems to want to make her Spartans into perfect weapons, while game/book Halsey wants to make her Spartans into perfect humans.
My prediction is that Cortana will disagree with Halsey's directive to control the Master Chief and end up developing the relationship we know from the games.
Thus far, this is a universe of Grey. No one is evil no one is good. Even the hero has to deal with the blood on his hands. Miranda Keyes, Sauron and Kwan thus far the closest to a Moral characters.
Best episode yet, all the ships on show, and.........the brain imaging scene...very dead space, stick a needle in your eye. Loved it. And seeing chief watching the musicians and his words on hearing it like everyone else was really well done. And the portrayal of halsey is spot on, everything we've seen of her shes a manipulative, often very cold person, bolstered by her ego.
Agreed completely. I really enjoyed it. I know people don’t like seeing this human side of Chief, however it appears that the artifact is the sole reason for this.
I agree... Everyone sees the fluffy mother figure of Halsey from the games, but in truth she was a highly intelligent and calculative egotistical sociopath who kidnapped, brainwashed and performed untested procedures on children and then murdered her clones to create smart AI. Anyone who doesn't like this Halsey doesn't fully understand the type of person who can do those things and continue to function as a person.
At least in the books Halsey feels bad about what she’s doing and only does what she does because she thinks it’s for the greater good, sometimes she even regrets her actions or second guesses her self. TV Halsey however just does morally dubious stuff for the hell of it and never even gives any second thought to any of it.
I mean canon Halsey absolutely has sociopathic tendencies but at least she has good reasons and intentions behind her actions. TV Halsey does her sociopathic actions because she can, and because she can get a way from it.
It’s kind of hard to see Halsey as anything other than evil. Regardless of which writer portrays her, the actions the character takes are almost always in the spectrum of the ends justify the means. What gives her any sort of humanity is not her actions but the way other characters treat her. For example the Spartan IIs obeyed her despite having every reason to hate her (but of course they are no longer measurable by normal human standards of morality).
I would also like to add to my own comment that just because Halsey is evil in regards to her treatment of humanity and supportive of the Spartans as her creations; providing guidance, even protection etc. That is not outside the norms of a sociopath. There are plenty examples of evil people treating a select group benevolently and then becoming absolutely vicious to others. We cannot see her in one setting and assume she’s going to behave that same way in another. And evil character, when they are written well, will have moments that make the audience like them but will then of course perform actions that cannot be justified or reconciled otherwise.
@@Anaken12 I kind of enjoy that war criminal aspect of her personality, she’s like the embodiment of the phrase; “You were so focused on if you could, that you didn’t stop to think if you should.” Because it makes for a very nuanced character and hers is very specific, tailored directly toward a single role. It really makes you think and question exactly how you view the character and in what light and how that depends on the setting and environment. Initially, she made them to fight the insurgents, which is really interesting when you think about it because she essentially created living, fighting and breathing killing machines in order to fight an underground unsanctioned proxy war/delta squad against insurgents that wanted more autonomy from the UEG. It’s kind of messed up when you think about the origins of the child soldiers, and it just so happened that there was a bigger problem, The covenant, that they were better suited for. Pushing these limits of modern human morals and ethics is exactly what Halsey’s character represents and it definitely does paint her in a different light.
I somehow don't think evil would be concerned with saving Humanity from itself or aliens...
@@Anaken12 I would she is twisted person and she deserves any bad things that happened to her but not a fan of tv show.
Halsey (actual Halsey, I dont care about show Halsey) is 100% a woman with a god complex. But for what it's worth, internally, she tears herself up with guilt over what she's done. She is constantly questioning whether she made the right choice, no matter how much she defends her actions to others. She devotes herself wholly to trying to protect her Spartans and views them as her children. She's a stone cold bitch with an ego who pushes the limits just to see if she can, but she does love her Spartans and she does want to protect humanity.
From a sci-fi perspective I've really enjoyed this show. I thought all the movement around the asteroid on the last episode was pretty neat. Sure it isn't what everyone wants but that should be good because then you don't know what to expect in the next episode. :)
yeah it's basically in the same basket as the witcher, WTF is this? ok ill watch it , yeah theres actually some pretty cool stuff in it. just hope we don't forget the truth.
those asteroids made no sense tbh why are they all moving around relative to eachother? it takes billions of years for an asteroid belt to form.. if they did have so much relative movement I don't see how such a structure could be viable.
@@iisthphir Planetary rings as we saw here are actually extremely fascinating and diverse, as while theg certainly take a long time to form it's actually far quicker than most people would think. Saturn's rings for example, definitely the most complete rings in the solar system, are only 100 million years old, and will be completely gone in about 300 million years.
Compared to the rings we see here, Saturn's rings are far, far more perfect being only a hundred METRES thick at most. Like seriously I want you to put that into perspective, these are tens of thousands of kilometres in diameter, yet so refined through millions of years of collisions they've been ground down to a layer far thinner than many of our human buildings are tall.
Comparitively, these rings seem very recent indeed. Perhaps from a former moon whose orbit got to close to the planet causing tidal forces to rip it to shreds in the last couple million years. I won't speak to the exact accuracy, yes it probably took some liberties, but it certainly seems plausible generally.
The Karen Traviss inspired Halsey is honestly the thing that is really turning me off on this series. I much prefer morally grey over just plain supervillain evil.
Horrible author anyways.
Meh, Karin Travis did it best imo
@@teargass1849 I think we're going to have to agree to disagree on that one. Karen Traviss has a bad habit of having all of her character hivemind whatever her IRL opinions are. Which in the case of Halo resulted in several characters being extremely out-of-character in their sudden hostility toward Halsey.
Traviss also completely ignored pretty much all of Halsey's internal thoughts and character development in favor of creating her own supervillain shaped liked Halsey.
Hasn’t Halsey always been evil . There was just a bigger evil the covenant. She kidnapped all the Spartan ll s and is a war criminal that is why she is being arrested in halo 4 and 5
I feel as if since this is technically and quite literally herself being sacrificed it dosent effect her at all. She sees this as something that absolutely is going to be magnificent, and even the clone was amazed that the ‘cortana’ project would be fulfilled.
As for Cortana being a projected hologram that everyone can see? I would have to assume that the base layer of the Mjolnir armor somehow has holographic projectors on it. But if that is the case they should have just included that in the narrative in the show because it makes it look like a big hole you know what I mean
They mentioned some "Particle gathering" tech whatever. So she can pull stuff out of the air to approximate her form. Ain't real tech, but hey, they at least put a line in there
The holographic emitters on Chief's suit in the games are small enough to fit in his gloves/wrist plate without impacting his movement. Its conceivable that there are limited emitters included in the undersuit, especially as the undersuit contains the liquid crystal layer that hold the AI. It could also be bolstered by emitters in the room. We haven't seen Cortana manifest herself in a non UNSC environment yet
@@Cyrribrae Yeah, I was trying to remember their explenation. I remembered there was one.
I completely agree with you there I absolute hate this version of Halsey not in a there doing the lore injustice. But from a story telling wise you have a person who will do anything to get the desired results someone that has no ethical filter. This was a nit pick I had with the game and some of the lore when they just mild gloss over the Spartan 2s flash clones and kidnapping and augmenting kids with dozens if not hundreds of them not surviving the process or being utterly disfigured or disabled and blow it off as well this a war attitude, but you can't justify it when the entire program was originally designed to fight separatists and be the perfect, no questioning, order following super solider.
A lot of people are poking fun at Makee’s Energy Nail, but I thought that was sick! It’s like a smaller, more covert Energy Dagger from Halo Reach (Elite assassinations). Seems useful to me!
Reminds me of terminator 2.
@@Odd1337 We need to stop her
it fits in with the oni listening device (cat ears) from halo infinite
Totally agree, and also idk what 00 is on about her being a super soldier when it's literally just an energy blade projector built into her finger. Using a colony of hunter worms to take care of a small number of marines doesn't seem very super soldier like.
@@zucciniii1878 I think it’s more along the lines of “she has a blade seemingly built into her body, thus a cybernetic implant, which points to super soldier” rather than commanding the Lekgolo. I personally disagree that she’s a super soldier, but we only just found out about the blade, so who knows what else she’s hiding?
The horrific scene of killing the flash clone was quite terrible to watch the pain she must have endured
Pain? Her consciousness was always AI so no pain
It actually seemed very quick I thought considering the assistant said she’d suffer.
When you are paralyzed you don't feel pain .
@@santoshiguria512 "will it hurt?"
"Oh yes."
Her body was kept still, but it was her brain they were disintegrating
@@mentlinc What? No. She was a complete clone. She felt everything the original would.
I really don't like how Halsey ever since the Karen Travis novels has devolved from a great nuianced and moraly gray characher into this cartoon mad scientist.
Such a disservice to one of my favorite fictional characters.
Sg
She wasn't experimenting on kids for the hell of it, and she's not some entirely self absorbed unfeeling robot. She knew the things were horrible and felt the guilt for it, but carried that guilt knowing far worse things were in store if she didnt act.
I agree. People have wimpish reactions to Halsey. The clone situation is complex and difficult, but Halsey isn’t a monster. She did what needed to be done.
@@117Industries did she? In retrospect it saved humanity, but at the beginning of the spartan program was kidnapping kids and putting them through such horrific mutilation really neccessary to battle rebels before anyone even knew of the covenant?
Like sorry I must be missing something, but I always thought it odd how mellow the games treated her considering she has done such horrific and brutal war crimes even in the game lore, before an adequate threat to remotely justify it ever reared its head.
@@lizardlegend42 i agree she did it to fight rebels not the covenant at first i dont see it as some heroic act to save humanity so it had to be done.if it was after the covenant showed up i could see that point but i dont
Yeah, I hate to break it to you, but Halsey has always been a mad scientist. Nuanced, yes, but definitely not the "good guy." She created the Spartan-II Program originally to fight insurrectionists. Humans. Fellow people. She, from the very start, narrowed down her parameter's for "Subjects" to be six year old children with specific genetic dispositions. From there she injected them with repeated doses of genetic and physiologically altering augmentations that killed over 40% of her children test subjects while "disqualifying" 11 (12?) more due to their bodies rejecting the augmentations or having disfigurements/mutilations because of them. Oh, let's not forget that she also had them trained and "indoctrinated" from age six to fourteen in military training before they even received the augmentations. She took literal children, made them into supersoldiers, and then later justified it as "necessary" because the Covenant "happened" to conveniently attack Humanity several years into the program's induction.
Yeah, she's not exactly a moral human being. Yes, she felt guilt for doing it. Yes, if it wasn't for this Project, Humanity would've been wiped out from the start of the war. That does not change the fact that all of this was done simply because the military had a problem and Halsey had an ulterior motive: the perfection of Humanity. At the end of the day, yes, I like Main Canon Halsey a lot more (as a person/character) than Silver Timeline Halsey, but they both have the same origin, and they both start as mad scientists/monstrous human beings. Halsey is a great character regardless of which canon you're looking at, to be honest. It forces us to examine the nature of how secret projects and wartime desperation changes our ethics. Miranda says something similar to Jacob in episode 1. An equivalence to "How far are we willing to go just to survive?"
I am very much enjoying the show so far, despite nitpicks I have about differences between it and the games/books, and I'm very curious to see where they take us from here. We're only three episodes in and I'm definitely hooked.
@@vegeta2040
This is a good and meaty comment. Worth thinking about.
I'm almost positive it's more of an Augmented Reality system that allows everyone to see Cortana projected like that. The Spartans, officers, soldiers and scientists of the UNSC probably all have a neural-lace implant to varying degrees. At the very least all the Spartans do since Halsey commented on John's in the first episode. I was kind of thrown by the lack of a visible implant externally on John or anyone else but since it was mentioned by name I'm assuming there is something there already that Cortana interfaced with when she was put into John. Anyway, the idea of Cortana just accessing everyone's visual cortex via their implants to make herself visible makes more sense to me than holo-projectors just being everywhere.
My question now is… if she’s implanted into John, how was she talking to Halsey without John hearing?
@@mangoslice6319 That sort of ties into my theory. If there is indeed some kind of implant in John's head that has wireless accessibility than all Cortana needs is a connection to speak with anyone else on the network.
As for John not hearing her when she's speaking to Halsey there are two very good reasons for that. For one Cortana can directly access the part of John's brain that processes auditory information and can project her own voice to him that way. She chooses when she wants him to hear her. However reason number two kinda makes the first reason pointless. Cortana is a smart AI and as such can multitask to an insane degree. It's not really shown in the games but in the books smart AI's have been seen to be carrying on several conversations at once while also performing other complex tasks without breaking stride.
@@andyd6622 Maybe the AI is made up of atomic or subatomicly sized particles that can enter and exit the skin, and form together to create a specific figure shape.
Think of Transformuim from transformers and galvatron.
Not that I like this series at all but this is the only idea in could think of as to how she can be “projected” to anyone
Even Lord Admiral Hood had a visible "matrix port" in the back of his head in Halo 2 and 3
I watched the episode again, with subtitles this time. Halsey says there is some kind of particle projection system in the implant that allows Cortana to appear in any environment. It's a quick and poorly thought out techno-babble line. Clearly whoever came up with that explanation has no idea how a hologram works in either the practical or theoretical sense. Anyway this is the first thing so far in the show that I've thought was dumb. It's not going to really impact my enjoyment of the series though. Some of the greatest sci-fi in history has relied thoroughly on poorly thought out techno-babble bs.
Also, and I haven't read all the comments, but did anyone catch the Upsilon Protocol mention when talking about the "plague" that killed everyone in Eridanus II ? I mean... its pretty clear what they are hinting at... and they haven't even properly shown or talked about Halo, and already giving hints about a possible Flood infestation in Eridanus II?!
I think that geas is supposed to be similar to the ATA (Ancient Technology Activation) gene from the Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis series. Some people have it and some of those people have a much more instinctive control of the Ancient tech like John does with Forerunner tech.
Sheppard could activate ancient tech easily, but others had to train. The forerunners may have used it to flag people with certain conditions or something for system locks.
@@debbiebernhardt5406 that is my thought as well, since it has basically been confirmed that John has the geas of the Iso-Didact, it would be that near instinctive ability to manipulate Forerunner tech that Shepherd has with Ancient tech. Others could maybe figure it put, but John has had something, or rather someone, guiding his actions. Like back in the novel The Flood. He just KNEW which symbol to press to activate the light bridge and even he didn't understand how.
@@hokutoulrik7345 Ah, but when was it confirmed? That little tidbit has danced in and out of lore and implications for a decade now, with little to really solidify it. A Geas, yes, but how specific a one? Let alone a non human one?
Geas can seemingly do much of what you describe, and do not need to be straight from a Forerunner.
Still, the implications remain juicy if so. But other Spartans have show some similar intuitive hints.
@@chrissonofpear1384 this is true. I am just going by what I have read in the lore. It has been mentioned in the video on the geas that each one has a particular 'pitch and cadence' when it hasn't been awoken, so certain individuals, namely the SPARTAN-IIs, would have a stronger geas than a human that wasn't a candidate for the program.
Part of me is enjoying this show, despite everything the show runners have changed but i don’t think I’ll ever get past Cortana not having a data chip and getting injected straight into John’s brain and being able to appear anywhere. I just can’t suspend my disbelief that much. It would not have been hard to give John and the other Spartans neural links in the show.
I think it is still interfaced in the brain. Remember every Spartan is very much connected to AI directly towards brain. This is something halsey also mentioned in her journals
@@SaviourSword995 But to contain a full AI? That's too much. Perhaps a piece of Cortana like how Reach did it.
I think the show's intention with how the UNSC treated any member of the outer colonies as an insurrectionist, how they show the way the Chief has been literally manipulated by his armor and brainwashed beyond mere indoctrination, and Halsey's treatment of her clone is to state a single point: "The UNSC are not the good guys". Are they better than the Covenant? Maybe. But at the same time, the UNSC is still this regime that clearly is willing to walk as many lines as it can in the name of victory, even if all it has left are ashes to conquer.
One thing that kinda bugs me is the interior of UNSC ships and their size/interior. Looking at the Gladius how can it have such a large bridge when the entire ship is only around 250 metres long and needs to fit all the systems of a UNSC ship, such the MAC, crew quarters, a storage area, engine room and other features. Come to think of it, why does the Gladius have both marines and what looks to be a fairly experienced commander in charge when it's just a patrol ship.
The other example is the Stalwart dawn which has the same issue of a bridge that is too big. Only this time it's far less excusable as we saw what the interior of a bridge of a Stalwart Class Frigate looks like in Halo 2 Anniversary. It's confusing to me as the TV show crew would have had access to concept art of In Amber Clad's Bridge and the actual model used by Blur Studios when they made H2A's cutscenes.
Though I guess dimensions are always a bit screwy in Halo media *Remembers the CE warthog run*
Rule of cool, baby.
even this patrol ship is bigger than two office blocks. the bridge is a completely reasonable size.
Rule of cool
250 meters is longer than most WWII-era battleships. I've visited USS Massachusetts, and it's a BIG ship once you start walking around her. So, I have no real problem that a ship that's both longer and considerably bulkier would have a bridge of that size.
Wouldn’t a patrol ship be focused on surveillance equipment than densely packed weaponry
Am I crazy for say that the show is actually getting better as it goes on…. Once you just accept the show is different it’s just a nice good budget show
Halsey is the person who does evil acts “for the greater good” but at the same time it’s just her way to excuse her desire to make the perfect human.
Pablo does a good job acting as chief... it's just rough not getting to listen that iconic master chief voice I grew up hearing and fell in love with...
I'm still surprised they didn't just have the mo-cap actor, Bruce Thomas, reprise master chief for the show. He can sound pretty close to steve downes, he arguably understands the character just as much, and I'm sure everyone would be fine with him as a second choice of being the face of master chief (first being steve downes obviously).
It's this kind of "adapting" that I really hate. Taking what was loved about a franchise, and stripping characters of their original characterization in order to serve a story that runs counter to what people loved about the original. They could have easily told a similar (if less extreme) version of this story with the personalities of the characters intact. Halsey is cold and calculating, yes, but she never lacked empathy in the way this show's "Halsey" does. She very expressly rejected the idea of doing what this show's Halsey is doing to her Spartans. Where Halsey is very direct and honest, this impersonator is as deceptive and heartless as the organization she works for. I could very easily see this kind of behavior from anyone else within ONI, but never Halsey herself. Thing is, even ONI has limits, at least in the main canon.
It's a halo skin suit for another show.
Idk I'm personally loving the direction they're taking. Keeping enough of the original tone and substance from the games and books while adding their own creative ideas going into this new medium. I don't want to know exactly where every story beat is going to go, I want yo be surprised and compelled. And so far, I do personally find the story they're going for quite compelling.
Going into this show though I had a very different goal in mind to many other fans of the series I've seen at least. Rather than having this made just for pre-existing fans like myself isn't what I wanted. What I wanted was to be able to use this show to show my friends and family who don't play games why I love the world and story so much. I wantef to be able to share this with my mum in a medium she's comfortable with. For that, the show had to be able to stand on its own two feet amd be able to be enjoyed regardless of if the person is familiar with any lore or anything. And so far, I think it's succeeding
Dude, halsey pioneered a program that kidnapped outer colony children, caused the brutal deaths of 52% of the taken children, and would have happily deployed those same hyper augmented children to butcher the colonists she stole them from. Halsey is easily the most evil individual in the Human faction of halo.
@@fiaa01 Never said anything about what she did was moral or just, just that she was a lot more trusting in the ability of her child soldiers to understand why they were chosen. Plus we know of at least one Spartan II who was actually rescued from a horrible situation when she was abducted, not that it changes anything.
I recall one of the episodes mention something about "pods" and how they interface with Spartans in the series by numbing them. I wondered how and my thought was more chemical than digital base and that's when I started to get the idea that these aren't Spartan IIs but Spartan IIIs. And thinking back to the books there was mentioned specific augmentations that were done to later batches that had unique effects to the Spartan IIIs. Seeing that blue pill like device that looks to come out of Chief's lower back now really emphasis that I might have been right and that they screwed this up even more. These aren't Spartan IIs, these are Spartan IIIs.
That actually makes sense, because the storyline is very far of the book and by watching the series they actually behave more like spartan 3s
Anyone else notice in the scene of Makee as a kid how the flashlight has a similar look to a certain Forerunner ancilla? ;)
Could be a funny coincidence or it could be an intentional Easter egg
This video makes me realize just how good and fleshed out the lore of the main canon is. The fact that Installation00 has not only been able to easily grasp and explain the science presented in the lore, but also expand on it to show its theoretical probability, shows just how good the world building is. The fact that 00 seems to be struggling to explain the logic behind the science presented in the show, really does speak volumes about the kind of writing we’re dealing with.
Where is he striggling to explain it within the framework the show has established in its (only 3) episodes so far?
@@lizardlegend42 maybe struggle wasn’t the right word. But it seems like he is really trying to come up with reasons for the technology to work the way it is shown. Like when speaking about the light emitters for the AI projection or the neural interface.
@@johnnylaw8168 well yeah, it's not exactly uncommon in scifi, even in the games for stuff to be explained with a line of technobabble if that. It only becomes a problem when it seems inconsistent with the setting, which so far I don't think anything remotely feels like. He's making plausible explanations based on what's implied in the show, or even just outright stated a fair bit.
As strange as it is, the AI integration is very similar to how the same thing was handled in Red Vs Blue during Project Freelancer.
So good to find a channel that actually wants to talk about the show and not compare it to the games. Think I'll hang my hat here.
I’m not gonna lie a plasma or hard light blade projector under a fingernail would be really useful. I would genuinely like to have that.
She literally kidnapped children tortured them and then sentenced them to death or if they lived to forced servitude as a weapon for the UNSC. It shouldn't take her killing herself/clone to get you to hate her or see that she's a bad person.
Also the injected Cortana straight into his brain instead of adding the chip to his suit is so chief can continue to remove his helmet throughout the season and still have Cortana talk directly to him.
I liked The Cief devoid of emotions, in my opinion thats what made him capable of making the decision to give the covenant back their bomb or push through the unstoppable covenant horde without question or fail. If The Chief was a mere human he would have been crippled by PTSD after Halo 1.....
uhh have you ever actually talked to a irl marine?
@@Godzra321 Come talk to me when a real world Marine gets stranded on an alien ring, watches everyone they try to protect die, then get yeeted into space, only to have to immediately do that all over again, before watching half your planet burn, then being genetically altered by an alien species, all after they were kidnapped as children and Frankensteined into a neraly unstoppable killing machine. Then I'll listen to their nonmedical opinion on PTSD.
@@Godzra321 nope, but there isnt a marine on this planet wich killed a 100+ targets in a single operation, we are talking spacemarines here...
@@aaronself2411 lol. This takes place 500+ years from now in a fictitious universe. What even is that comment? A few easy words in todays terms answers it forgoing the augmentations Spartans have been subject to. Just as a quick reminder the first letter in PTSD stands for POST. Revenge or justice for X scenario fits pretty damn well fiction or not.
@@Godzra321 Youre aware that PTSD can effect someone at any time right? Like, soldiers, in active duty, are sent home, for having PTSD. It isn't something you ONLY get when you go home. Moreover, 117 has been a solider since he was an actual child. There's nothing BUT trauma at any point in his life post ONI.
Why on earth would you start from the frontal lobe? You always start from the brain stem, are they trying to make Dr Halsey out to be a rookie? Gotta say though, neural virtualisation is never a seamless process. Not to mention the problems that occur if the network isn't eased into the process. Certain parts don't react well when disconnected to stimuli, best way to put it is like drowning and disintegrating in slow motion. Then waking up in a complete void, just a mind, no body. It's … Unpleasant to say the least...
It's 500 years into the future and they stuck a needle into a cloned version of another person to extract their brain. Why are you trying to make sense of it? Have u tried stealing a clones brain too?
@@cephydash1533 Why would I clone someone if I wanted to transfer there neural pathways? Only a plebeian would cause irreparable damage during such a procedure. I also don't do such things without expressed consent, to do so would be a gross violation of ones privacy.
@@fluffycarrot42 OK, this is how I see it. Halsey cloned her brain for the sole purpose of making an ai. For her to properly make an ai of herself she couldn't use herself or she would die, so she used the clone. Which then proceeded to die. I guess it's easier to copy a brain than making one from scratch.
@@cephydash1533 I'm aware of the limitations of the process in the halo canon. And given the parameters I somewhat agree with Halsey's actions, at least in the games. Given how susceptible the Covenant was to AI and how vital Cortana's intel was in winning the war.
It just leaves a sour taste in my mouth, always has. To violate a conscious so completely is unforgivable.
@@fluffycarrot42 That is exactly what the show meant to show us. Halsey is willing to do anything for her creations. Kidnapping children, creating flash clones to replace them that will die in weeks to cloning herself to create a smart AI
I don’t understand how true fans of something can be okay with the source material being almost completely if not completely disregarded when making a tv series. I see opinions from people saying that it allows them to make a creative show that differs from the games and most of the books. You could certainly honor the heritage and source of the popularity of the franchise which for most is the last 20 years of games that have come out, while still being creative with the show and bringing to the big screen the game we all know and love. It seems to be just a perversion of the halo franchise and paramount needed something to stay relevant and used halo knowing so many would pay to see it but didn’t care enough to honor its legacy.
So because one is a true fan they shouldn't enjoy the show? That is just stupid, it can still be enjoyed as a TV show on its own.
@@enditakamweneshe6428 gatekeeping at its finest only "true fans" yada yada ignore em
So ive played the games since CE, read almost all of the books multiple times, that being said I have enjoyed the show thus far as a completely separate entity... but I must say the most shocking part of this whole video for me is hearing 00 say "I don't know"! 🤣🤣🤣
tbh, low brow execution of dialogue aside, the show is doing a great job at exploring what if concepts that haven't been done in the lore yet.
I am new to the halo community . The show is really amazing . The CGI on this show absolutely blows away the expanse and all the start trek series. How the amount of detail that went into costume and weapon design was class. The Kwan ha story is lacking because she makes the dumbest possible choices and Soren just goes ahead like he doesn't have brain aside that excellent story telling. I am loving the lore so far. The producers said it's a alternative timeline, so can people give it a chance and stop complaining.
Welcome to halo! Don't look at the r/halo just follow r/halostory it's more lore focus and less whiny
@@TheZonecaptain got an Xbox series s been playing halo . Watching TH-cam stories on the lore. Amazing story with great level of detail.
Watch the Declassified episode from this week for more about the VFX! I'd been wondering how they'd managed to do better effects than many high budget movies, and it's because they're using a lot of practical techniques with CGI touches.
Scientist guy kissing paralyzed clone
Never thought halo would show something like that.....
And i thought the Mona Lisa story was disturbing
think Halsey also has a chip turning off her emotions?
This is a show for adults not for basement dwelling teenagers that play the game until they are skull numb. Three cheers for the TV show.
Why the hell would she wake up the clone???? Making Cortana is bad enough using an awakened clone is messed up on A whole other level.
I was initially shocked by the deviations from the game/book lore but my friends and I had a blast with the first three episodes. I'm a huge fan of the Halo EU and excited to see where this story is taking us.
The dynamic between Halsey and her clone made a lot of sense to me to be honest. On the surface, the act of making a fully sentient clone just to harvest it seems gruesome and cruel. However, this is still a clone of Halsey. It has her brain, her memories, her ambitions, and her knowledge. I believe the clone understood her role, and was already at peace with the inevitable outcome. Albeit terrifying, they both mutually understood the necessary actions needed to further humanity’s evolution. I think this is also reinforced by the conversation Halsey has with her clone. It’s scientific, to the point. It’s devoid of weak human emotion like fear and pleading for her life, but she wants to understand the world around her and pick the brain of her creator before she dies. It’s a very Halsey like thing to do.
I'm immensely curious about what happened between the moment of her sample collection, in which the clone mentions being uncertain she could do what the process would require, and Halsey's utter coldness toward the ordeal. It didn't seem to be the mortality rate of the children, as the clone received that information with only mild surprise. Perhaps it's that every attempt at human bonding in her life has escaped her grasp, and all focus is now toward "progress," as she says, i.e. more control.
Niiiice intro. I like the new animation.
Y'know after this episode I never really thought of it this way. I always figured that " cloned brain " was simply just a single organ cloned and used creating the software/hardware, not a living and breathing person or twin of Halsey.
Between this and the kidnapping and raising of the Spartans plus some of the stuff UNSC seems to be doing to repress, fiercely, the rebels makes me wonder how much more Grimdark will this get before we enter Warhammer 40k territory?
Thanks for this insightful video! I appreciate your excellent coverage of the series!
Do you think Humans would be extinct without Halsey?
Her actions are heartless, I'm just wondering what the option would be without her.
She calls it "progress".
Thanks for another informative and entertaining video.
I love the mystery and the way they be changing things. Don't forget to dream. Stop thinking you already know. Where's the growth? I like to be supportive of changing media. It's boring if it's predictable.
I agree. I don’t wanna watch something that I’ve already played or read, cause I’m not in for a surprise at that point.
@@WhopperJrNoCheese thanks. I am not stagnant. I'm also a Halo fan from 2001.
Tbh, canon Halsey kinda does need a reckoning as well. I've never been her biggest fan.
Atleast it isn't canon guys
No, but rampancy is, and that is debatably a much worse experience. Slowly removing ones own mind, and due to the reduction in cognitive processes, getting less coherent over time.
@@fluffycarrot42 i mean the show
Yeah how fun
It still hurts
The only thing I'm not really digging about Cortana so far is the fact that she is integrated into Chief and not like in the games where she's just in his armor. Like what the fuck? you're telling me you plan to make A.I.'s take control over the Spartan's bodies?
Havent they always have lmfao when a spartan suits up and equips his helmet they literally change emotionally and everything like that's not a person anymore its GI
Technically their minds merge temporally, the Spartan is kind of able to fell that someone invisible is with them, they don't even need to speak to each other, in some books you see that.
In canon, Cortana cannot control them but only enhanced them.
Faster reflexes, faster cognitively. A better meld of machine and nerve.
There’s also the fact literally all the Spartans have special neural interfaces and could have an AI slotted in their helmet and it would be the same as being in their head.
Probably because this is a show and it’s better to see the character on screen in the game she’s just talking to you in your helmet
thanks for the insightful video as always 😊.10:50 chief's suit uses Bluetooth 😂
Cortana uses a particle system to materialize, which doesn't require a traditional projector. This could mean that she utilizes holo cameras located throughout facilities or ships when she appears. Alternatively, it's possible that Master Chief armor has an emitter that allows Cortana to project herself. She also have the ability to access networks without physical contact suggests she can use any connected system to project herself. For instance, once she bypasses the UNSC firewall, she can use projectors in the room, such as when she appears to Halsey in a mini-version via a small projector.
Did you like Halo 5’s story?
The way they created Cortana and disposing her body afterwards reminds me of Detroit become human
Just so we're all on the same page here, there is no version of Halsey, no matter the justifications, that isn't a war criminal.
I also feel that instead of Flash Cloning the Spartan candidates, that in this timeline they all came from the same colony, and Halsey had the parents killed from a "virus outbreak" to cover up her crimes.
Honestly, this feels like a completely different story. All these years, and they gave Halo to people who don't want to make Halo.
Wow, that is honestly, worse cause atleast the parents had closer, but no just straight up murder, Bravo Halsey
I don’t think you know what war criminal means.
Given the insightfulness & depth of your analysis in these videos, I'm sure you realized what I did in ep. 4: Cortana being irrevocably merged with John, seemingly Halsey's uncounterable power move, will end up being why she can't take control. The cortical plasticity effects caused by relic interactions giving him access to his memories are also going to change how Cortana functions in John's mind.
It might work once or twice more, but (just as the ship's functionality was addressed by it in ep. 1) once John is aware it can happen, the next relic interaction will surely assist with this vulnerability. I believe Halsey began to consider this possibility when they imaged his brain after his recollection in his home, and it's part of why she's telling John in the ep. 5 teaser to refrain from touching something he was unscathed by in his childhood. This is precisely the sort of poetic narrative orchestration which makes me happy to handwave the improbability of balancing the equation in which John's excess metabolic capacity from enhancement powers a sourceless hologram projection. :)
i can fully agree with how you feel about the flash clones, a fundamental question is if a clone can be considered a human because they were synthesized, but the presence of sentients brings another statement forward "i think, therefore i am"
Prophets: Recliners?? We're all good then!
Y’know in Halo Lore, John did have a surgery in his head to connect to the helmet’s chip pod. Also, in Fall of Reach, it says that he feels a cold liquid being introduced in his brain every time Cortana’s chip gets inside.
So yeah, also in a Halo Lore, Cortana is in Master Chief’s head. She’s not speaking through the helmet, she is in John’s mind. Every time you hear her talking in the games, is actually John listening someone in his head.
Soooooo, according to that, it’s not that different for the show 🤷🏻
Make a dungeon master A.I to play games with while on leave.
Covenant take over the ship.
*3 years later*
“How the fuck did they learn how to DND and why do they take talking about it so seriously?”
- Human marines
Sub faction breaks off from the Covenant because any people who created D&D can't be that bad.
Alternatively, the AI runs a campaign where they play as humans and have a "Are we the baddies?" moment.
Wait wait wait wait wait.....
What the hell?
A chip at the base of the spinal column that inhibits emotional response???? The neurology of the spine is largely reflexive, trained musculature control that responds to sensory stimuli such as pain so the signals don't have to travel to the brain and await a response. Emotions are largely centered around the limbic systems inside the brain.
This doesn't make any sense.
if I had to guess, it's really there for the ease of access to the central nervous system like a lumbar puncture would. What the capsule would do is release hormones into the cerebrospinal fluid or maybe some more smart matter thingy-mc-gook instead of electrical impulses on the spine
@@thomas.02 That's dumb and inefficient.
I’m absolutely LOVING how critical the tv show is of Halsey and the UNSC as a whole. They are unambiguously committing war crimes and imposing their Fascist will upon the galaxy’s population. Just like Capitalist Imperialist powers today, the UEG and the UNSC forcefully subjugate millions of people and force them into poverty to enrich a few on Reach and Earth.
Sadly, these themes haven’t been really explored in the mainline canon of Halo.
With all due respect, this show is absolutely awful.
This is the kind of thing that results when a project like this is handed to someone who has little to no understanding of scientist or psychology. The production team has obviously never analysed the characters from the game or the original content.
The character of Halsey has been drafted as a psychopath, the original Halsey was a sociopath, doing what was necessary instead of playing God.
John 117 was also a induced sociopath, in the show he is shown as a human under the effects of neuro-suppressors. He had a moral code and commitment to preserving the human race. This morality is what kept him sane and kept him going.
An interesting point to note is the Elites in the flashback refer to the girl as "this creature" rather than "human". Indicating this was before tge covenant were that familiar with us, ie before the war kicked off (ehich makes sense, it was likely over 20 years beforehand).
So perhaps this was the first reclaimer they came across, took her in and started raising her. Then only later did the prophets learn humanity's role as a whole, causing the war to cover it up.
IL behonest Halsey I have never seen as good
I personally like the show… there I said it.
Yea Halsey in the show is so interesting! I love Natasha's portrayal. Talking to a copy of your old self is so trippy, especially when you used to have a tiny sliver of a conscience left. loved that scene. "Progress" with a nod and a smile is such a great line read!
Oh man, I missed the detail about the heart monitor!! Damn...
One note about the brain. The prefrontal cortex is very important for many of the humanity bits of humans. Higher level thinking in various ways. But maybe not quite "consciousness".
I like to think of the neocortex (which contains the prefrontal) less "at the front" as much as it is "all around". Think of it more as onion layers of the brain. The reptilian brain is most protected in the center. The emotional centers (this is a real outdated simplification, but whatever) are around that. And then higher level thinking around the outside!
The scene with the 'injection' of cortana reminded me of how the 'neuro lace' is installed traditionally, but with the Cortana Hitchhiker built-in. I would have to rewatch, but doesn't Cortana only visually manifest in facilities that (likely) have Holo-tech built in locally?
Or, maybe what we see as Cortana in which she appears outside masterchief, is essentially a representation of a perception within masterchief where shes interacting with the brain in such a way that she can "appear" anywhere she wants. She's not really a physical projection so much as a mental manifestation, sorta overlaid on the vision.
Since the Halo show doesn’t take place in the real Halo universe then this lore doesn’t matter at all
I'm glad they went full Dead Space 2 in that scene.
Or full Bioshock Infinite Burial At Sea p2.
I think it’s worth noting that the brain does not have pain-sensing neurons. Brain injuries are not painful. The only way this clone would have felt any pain during the procedure would be if the process triggered neurons in the brain as it disintegrates, causing it to think that pain receptors in other parts of the body are being triggered.
I’m surprised you didn’t mention the possible flood reference with upsilon
I'm pretty sure upsilon is just a Greek letter/number, right?
@@wweirdguy containment protocol upsilon in the lore is the containment protocol for a flood infestation of a human colony
@@Xtermenator217 Yeah but the word upsilon is just the 20th greek letter
Is it just me or do the Spartans in this show seem tiny?
Spartans out of armor are generally only mid six foot range. If anything John is portrayed as being pretty damn tall compared to everyone else outside of armor. Half a head or more.
I must congratulate you on your amazing achievement in putting together these amazing videos thank you so much 😊
I think it's more reasonable to assume that her finger energy blade is just a miniature projector built into her finger and projects under her fingernail. Doesn't seem like any physiological augmentations to me, not sure why you would assume that. It honestly reminded me of the hidden blade type energy daggers elites had on their forearms in Halo: Reach, just that this is built into her body. Other than this we haven't seen anything to suggest that she is a "Super soldier". She even needed the assistance of hunter worms to defeat those marines and restrain that captain.
As a subscriber, of yours,and HALO content creator myself,
I appreciate your approach to reviewing this show.
Yes.. the non cannonical nature of the narrative is a bit disappointing.
But it's watchable sci Fi show and certainly more interesting than that other dross from Paramount that I will not mention.
10:25 Not the speed of light, the speed of an electron...
Been playing since I was a kid back in 01’ and man I am just so grateful that we finally have something like this! As long as it brings in more halo fans im all for it. The more popularity the halo universe receives the more likely we get a halo movie someday. And who knows what can happen after that. To me personally the show seems great regardless of the obvious differences from source material. They had to make adjustments so it can make a compelling episodic tv show adaptation. I’m not sure if I would like it more or less if I wasn’t a halo fan but objectively speaking I think I would love it.
To be honest, how didn’t a major network better than paramount not pick this up. Halo deserves a huge movie level budget
I really appreciate how open minded installation 00 is being with the TV series. I am so tired of everyone and their negativity. Imagine if marvel movies were considered bad because they don't follow a certain comic book. The point of alternative universes is to be alternative. Really love your content
I can see the outrage if they made a silver timeline iron man that had no affect on the universe and was filled with 5th wave feminism.
The point of alternative Universes usually is just lazy writing, making a new Story inside a shared Universe requires very hard Work and a deep knowledge of the Lore and World building, if you dont put in that Work you end up with Lore breaking BS like the "Holdo Manouver" and such
Doing something out of a sense of duty is far MORE praiseworthy than doing it out of mere emotional impulse, not less. One need not be overwhelmed by emotions to be acting of one's own free will.
Oh fun fact, that chip wasn't in the books :/
That Woman does not dig imperfection.
What happens during rampancy? Considering this variation of Cortana appears as a "liquid" base, will John experience adverse reactions?
I really liked this episode. It sets up uncertainty about halsey's motivation and gives a new purpose to cortana. Is it a ruse that Halsey has over oni? That she never meant for ai to control the Spartans and need thst reason for the allowance of the creation of ai.
This episode was really good imo. At least better than the other two. The whole Cortana bits with Halsey and all that were great. Makee has been interesting in a good way so far so I'm glad the few doubts I had were proven wrong. Though I really wish the music was better.
It absolutely kills me to see at least 98% of the show have chief amourless.
But all in all the show is doing alright
Wait until he gets to a Halo. We'll have lots of fully-armoured Chief then.
The brain doesn’t have pain receptors. Someone can be fully awake during open brain surgery, and not feel it being touched.
I came for gratuitous violence against aliens, and stayed for the plot.
Nice to see a legit treatment of the show, I've been enjoying it a lot
This is disappointing. Travis's books had put me off the Halo series.
I have to agree that Halsey behavior is very reminiscent of her portrayal in the Karen Travis trilogy… and I sincerely hated KTs treatment of Halsey. I actually hated that trilogy all together. I do suspect that she will evolve to the current Halsey from lore.
I think this is an alternate timeline of Halo like we see alternate timeline of Star Trek
It would be interesting to get a full comparison of the different depictions of Halsey. How have the book versions differed? What about the game version? And of course this show's version.
This episode wasn't bad at all. It's progressing. I do have a small gripe with Chief's emotional state. He seems to emotional in general. Thought he would be more composed but I do understand him later on feeling more because of the removal of the chip. Right now Chief doesn't look, act or portray a hero of humanity. He actually seems like a generic soldier.
Nothing about Halsy being able to see Cortana makes any sense unlike in the games. Where her data chip can materialize her body. It’s not like she had a neural interface or some type of contact on her eyes. Even a holographic projection.
I also don’t like that they gave her some type of outfit. Really throws me off.
Also that she cares more about her own safety than anyone else.