Utopia, New Amazon Prime Series

[DaveSumm]

Well this utterly passed me by. I was a fan of the original UK series, I remember vague talk of them doing a US remake when it was cancelled, then I forgot about it for 6 years. And now here we are.

 

[Werthead]

This feels completely pointless. The UK original was quite well-done, had good production values etc. Making a US-centric remake is completely nonsensical.

[Soylent Brown]

Is this not based on the old Amiga game then?

[Heartofice]

6 minutes ago, Soylent Brown said:

Is this not based on the old Amiga game then?

Had to really try to remember what that was, but I bloody loved that game. 
 

As for this remake. No thanks. The UK original felt fresh and interesting when it came out, it was unusual for a UK show to be that swish and pleasing on the eye, and also have the sensibility of a good Tarantino movie. But these days everything is a bit of that.

Plus the plot itself was never the main draw, it was more about the characters. Second season was a drag as well.

Cant see any reason to make this now.

[red snow]

15 hours ago, Werthead said:

This feels completely pointless. The UK original was quite well-done, had good production values etc. Making a US-centric remake is completely nonsensical.

I'd usually agree but i enjoyed what flynn did with sharp objects. Also, this may well outlive the original show so we might get a sort of continuation. 

[DaveSumm]

16 hours ago, red snow said:

I'd usually agree but i enjoyed what flynn did with sharp objects. Also, this may well outlive the original show so we might get a sort of continuation. 

Yea, this seems the obvious benefit of a remake: it might get finished. I think if they try and learn from the original and tighten it up, not try to drag it out for too many seasons? I’ll give it a shot certainly.

[DaveSumm]

Anyone checked this out? I watched the first one and was pretty disappointed tbh. Amazon seem to have a knack of throwing a lot of money at a project and somehow making it quite sterile and soulless. It feels like network tv on steroids, there’s nothing overtly bad about it but there’s no aspect to really rave about either. Also, it’s a really odd choice to make the characters solely interested in the comics prophetic aspect and actively rant about fans who treat the comic as ‘high literature’. They seem to be distancing themselves from comic culture for some reason.

[Joe Pesci]

I watched it over the course of a week or so, I enjoyed it. I've not seen the original UK version, so I didn't have the comparison issues to overcome while viewing. I liked the premise of it, and it leaves off for a second season interestingly enough for me to check it out if it happens.

[DaveSumm]

19 hours ago, Joe Pesci said:

I didn't have the comparison issues to overcome while viewing.

This is really hurting my experience I think. It’s very similar in some odd details, like having actors look very much like their counterparts when there’s no need to, wearing the same dungarees and stuff. Hopefully it diverges toward the end of the season.

[red snow]

On 10/12/2020 at 7:29 PM, DaveSumm said:

This is really hurting my experience I think. It’s very similar in some odd details, like having actors look very much like their counterparts when there’s no need to, wearing the same dungarees and stuff. Hopefully it diverges toward the end of the season.

It's odd. A lot of scenes play out very differently while some are carbon copes leading to an odd sense of deja vu in places.

Episode 4 is proving to be impossible for me to get through with me falling asleep 4 times so far trying to watch it. I guess it isn't really must see viewing for me given I'm still familiar with the original and so far superior version.

[Joe Pesci]

Does anyone know if the UK series is available to stream in the US? I'd like to give it a view sometime.

[DaveSumm]

3 hours ago, Joe Pesci said:

Does anyone know if the UK series is available to stream in the US? I'd like to give it a view sometime.

It’s on Prime here, but I’m not sure if that means it’s also there in the US. Be warned, it’s unfinished, it was cancelled after Season 2.

[Which Tyler]

1 hour ago, DaveSumm said:

It’s on Prime here, but I’m not sure if that means it’s also there in the US. Be warned, it’s unfinished, it was cancelled after Season 2.

Alternatively, it was finished after 1 season, that just didn't stop them trying to cash in on popularity

[DaveSumm]

40 minutes ago, Which Tyler said:

Alternatively, it was finished after 1 season, that just didn't stop them trying to cash in on popularity

It really wasn’t, we knew nothing of the ultimate goals of the main sides involved. Didn’t strike me as a one season idea at all (though I haven’t seen it since it aired).

[Rippounet]

Started watching this. I'd loved the British show, but that was quite a while ago.
"Surprisingly good" is how I'd describe it. I might even finish this season.
Some elements are more convincing than others though.

[karaddin]

I watched it all, I also hadn't seen the British version though. I liked some of it, other parts not so much. My biggest complaint would probably be that the finale didn't feel final or climactic enough. While there was resolution on some of the plot threads

Spoiler

The complete lack of any indication of what the public wind up hearing completely undermines it for me. Yes the vaccine isn't going out for now, but...are they going to be internationally hated domestic terrorists or did they actually get some info out?

The rest of the plot threads that were set up for season 2 were fine, it was just this part that felt incomplete. It reminds me of something else from the last year or so, I think a Netflix show but I don't remember which, that also didn't feel like it was the end of the season.

 

[Rippounet]

Finished it last night. Eh, as I feared it was tough getting through it. Perhaps it's because I remembered key plot points form the British show, but this remake felt uninspired in many ways, although visually pleasant.

[red snow]

It fell a bit flat for me. Cussack was good as was the actor playing RB but I felt the characters in the UK version stood out more. The finale was a bit off too in the sense I was expecting there to be several other warehouses.

I liked the graphic novel and the animated sequences a lot though. I also thought this version of the show did a much better job fleshing out the martyrs/people who'd make up the new world order. The original didn't really do much with that whereas I quite liked this cult of adopted people and fanatics obsessed with how they'd earned their place in this overcrowded world. I think I'd enjoy the show more if they leaned more into that aspect going forward. hell, I'd like to see a show where

Mr rabbit's plan succeeds and we see the fallout 10-20 years down the road. I think he'd find there'd be a lot of chaos once everyone realises they are becoming sterile and that he'd need a follow-up plan if he thought 8 billion sterile people would suddenly stop destroying the planet. If anything they'd be worse

[karaddin]

I went back and watched the UK version and even starting with the US I much preferred the UK version. The black humour helps sell the grimness of the story much more. Some of the characters stand out and work as completely different - both RB actors really sell their performances and they feel like completely different characters, or at least drastically different interpretations. I also felt like the conspiracy felt more grounded in the UK version, while the US one feels more like a contemporary fantasy if that makes sense?