Murderbot
Truly excellent sci-fi shows are few and far between as of late due to sky-high costs that a lot of streamers don’t want to shell out for. One of those streamers is not Apple TV+, home of some of the best sci-fi shows on TV right now, and it’s just added another one to its roster.
Coming in with a perfect 100% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes is Murderbot, the new series starring Alexander Skarsgard as a well, murderbot, but in a show that’s very funny unlike other offerings in the genre. Here’s the synopsis:
“In a high-tech future, a rogue security robot secretly gains free will; to stay hidden, it reluctantly joins a new mission protecting scientists on a dangerous planet even though it just wants to binge soap operas.”
This is based on a series of great books called The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells, something I’ve read for a long while now as new entries have been released spanning from 2017 to 2023. One significant, somewhat controversial change for the show is giving the robot Alexander Skarsgard’s actual face rather than having him purely do voicework, but it seems it has not affected the quality of the show. Here are some of the early reviews:
Murderbot
- Financial Times: “Murderbot’s enthusiasm for this schlocky melodrama is oddly endearing — and a reassuring suggestion that AI might not be best equipped to replace the TV critic.”
- IGN Movies: “The funny irony is that the things that make Murderbot a nice watch would probably make Murderbot dislike its own TV show. It’s about people, and a robot, caring about and deciding to value each other even when it’s inconvenient.”
- The Age: “Guided by the dry, not-quite-human tone of its protagonist, this sly and sometimes subversive series feels like a mix of Robocop and an old adventure serial, complete with cliffhangers and 25-minute episodes.”
Did you say 25 minute episodes? I’m there. Murderbot will be out this Friday on May 16 with a double episode premiere, and then air ten episodes weekly until it ends in the middle of August. Given the massive amount of source material here, no doubt it is shooting for more than one season.
I remain relentlessly impressed with the quality of shows on Apple TV+, particularly its sci-fi offerings like Severance, Foundation, For All Mankind, Silo and now Murderbot, it seems. Subscribe if you haven’t. Not to shill for a trillion dollar company but trust me, it’s some of the best stuff on TV right now.
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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
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