The Sword and Laser discussion

I've only seen a few episodes, but I'm really liking "Love, Death + Robots" on Netflix

it is an anthology animated shorts series. A bit like an animated Black Mirror type show with it's dark humour and strange twists.

The animation on the few I've seen is top notch. "Three Robots" is my favourite episode so far (Episode 2)

Episode2: "Three Robots" is a nice fun, cute, robot buddies story set in the aftermath of an apocalypse that has killed all the humans. It has a fun twist.
BTW it was based on a short story written by John Scalzi (As were episodes “6: When the Yogurt Took Over” and “17: Alternate Histories”

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2019/03/1...

Each of the 18 episodes is short, between 6 and 17 mins and the series is definitely not for children.
A lot of the episodes are ultra-violent and contain adult themes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUFwu...

I watched all of them Friday night. There were only a couple I didn’t care for. Overall they were pretty great.

It’s a nice mix, too, once I got over the fact that it wasn’t like Robot Carnival where every story featured a robot. There are a couple Fantasy, a couple Space Opera, a couple that are funny/silly (the aforementioned Three Robots, but also the Scalzi sentient yogurt one), a couple MilSF, steampunk, werewolves... just a terrific mix of tales.

I first heard about this show because one of my favorite Alastair Reynolds stories was adapted ("Zima Blue"), though the adaptation left out an aspect I would've liked to have seen. I've only watched the two Reynolds stories, the three Scalzi stories, and the one Ken Liu story so far!

My Netflix queue is becoming as insurmountable as my Goodreads one. Too bad. Adding one more, because this sounds great.

The whole series is maybe 90 minutes long, so it has a lively pace.

More like 3.5 hours, Trike. :D

Sounds good!

Is there a listing of all the adapted stories?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love,_D... The episode table has a column for which author's it by.

Most of the episode titles are the same name as the short story (I think 2 of the 3 Scalzi stories have their titles slightly changed from the original).

Cool the first one is Peter F. Hamilton, "Sonnie's Edge". I also recognize Joe Lansdale, Marko Kloos, and Michael Swanwick.

2 of the 18 stories (The Witness & Blindspot) are original stories to the series, so 16 short stories in all were adapted for this, which I think is pretty neat.

David wrote: "More like 3.5 hours, Trike. :D"

Shh. We want them to watch.

David wrote: "(I think 2 of the 3 Scalzi stories have their titles slightly changed from the original)."

The 3 John Scalzi short stories used are:

"Three Robots Experience Objects Left Behind from the Era of Humans for the First Time"

"When the Yogurt Took Over"

"Missives from Possible Futures #1: Alternate History Search Results"

Someone on Reddit has listed all the short stories the episodes are based on:

https://www.reddit.com/r/LoveDeathAnd...

Hmm... these aren't bad. Not 'OMG BEST EVAR" but nice little bites of SF.

Just rewatched “Lucky 13”. Damn but that’s a great story. I need to finish that Marko Kloos book I started.

Zima Blue is the highlight for me so far.

I think the big win here is for short fiction, specifically short SFF. We'll all vary in opinions, but to me the idea of having short, sub-20 minute complete episodes is great. So much stuff now is 8, 13, 22 hour series... it's nice to see a different format.

Tamahome wrote: "Zima Blue is the highlight for me so far."

I liked that one, too. By the end I was like, “Ohhh, THAT’S why the title had three squares!”

So I tried it, based on the recommendations of this thread and um.... I pretty much have the opposite reaction. I watched 2 and 1/2 episodes and found the animation mediocre (seriously, did the animators actually do any studies on how humans move?), the writing juvenile, and um... it was REALLY male-gazey and gross. (Seriously, writers stop giving your women rape back stories. No. Not even that one. I promise, it's been done. Women can be something other then victims, they can become strong without male violence, I promise)

For strong female led stories try "Lucky 13" & "Helping Hand"

The animation in "Lucky 13" is also photorealistic (which I am not a fan of)

The style of animation varies throughout the series. None are bad. Some are outstanding.

The episode you are disliking (Episode 2 I assume) is the weakest of the 18 episodes. I didn't like that story. There are a few more episodes that are "male gazey" and at least 1 more that contains rape and male on female violence.

I think this series has a lot of potential, and they don't have to rely on the "Heavy Metal"-like sex and violence stuff. Peter F. Hamilton's "Sonnie's Edge" sticks in my mind for some reason though. I'm surprised Ken Liu's story was so graphic ("Good Hunting"). The first two Scalzi stories are humorous, "Three Robots", "When the Yogurt Took Over".

Tassie Dave wrote: "For strong female led stories try "Lucky 13" & "Helping Hand"

The animation in "Lucky 13" is also photorealistic (which I am not a fan of)

The style of animation varies throughout the series. No..."

I love Lucky 13. It’s my favorite of the bunch. I did not care for the sex ones because they were so rapey. The Witness is the weakest one, in my opinion. It was dumb and I felt gross after watching it. Fortunately they are few and far between.

The main character in Lucky 13 is played by Samira Wiley from Orange is the New Black, and the performance capture is so good I thought it was actually her for most of it. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4148126/?...

Zima Blue is likewise non-sexual, very close to pure SF.

Ditto Helping Hand, with a smart, tough female protagonist.

...you know what, I have to do a couple things (walk the dogs, etc.) but in a couple hours I’ll do a breakdown of episodes by keyword and trigger warnings.

I'm being told, in a few different places, to give a few more episodes a try as they're better. However, I'm not really that inclined to do so given the misogyny present in two of the episodes I did watch. Like, I'm glad the whole plate isn't a pile of steaming poop, but boy does that steaming pile of poop kind of ruin my appetite for the meal.

OK then don't watch the rest. That's fine. But just like a short story collection, if you dislike one story it doesn't mean the rest are shit.

I mean, I don't see how your criticisms hold for the Scalzi episodes (When the yogurt took over, Alternate Histories, Three Robots) And while Beyond The Aquila Rift could be stretched to that (male protagonist sees/hooks up with old flame) you can't really complain that's 'male gaze' unless you change the protagonist's sex or sexual preference.

But if these aren't for you, great. Not everything works for everyone.

Rick wrote: "OK then don't watch the rest. That's fine. But just like a short story collection, if you dislike one story it doesn't mean the rest are shit.

I mean, I don't see how your criticisms hold for the..."

I didn't say there weren't good stories in the collection. I said that there were at least two that were bad enough to spoil the whole thing.

I thought Three Robots was... fine, but here's the thing, I'm not really a fan of Scalzi's fiction so there's that. And even at ...fine it wasn't enough to make me watch the rest of the episodes, especially given the awfulness of the other two I watched.

Plus, it's a collection and what is collected says something about the people who collected it. The show runners chose every story to animate and tell. They chose at least two (and I'm hearing it might be more) that were REALLY misogynist in nature, and that says a lot about them. I'm allowed to say that this information is enough to put me off the entire series.

Again, just because parts of the meal are fine, that doesn't make the parts that were shit digestible. AND if the parts that were shit turn me off the whole thing, that is also valid.

Ironically, the rape story doesn't even turn out to be true in the original "Sonnie's Edge" short story. It's nice to see Peter Hamilton's action visualized. Sometimes I get confused in the text.

Ok then. Not everything is for everyone.

Suits was my favorite entry.

I think that's Ramona from Scott Pilgrim in Ice Age.

I'm loving this anthology. I can understand the difficulties with the male gaze issues in Sonnie's Edge and the Witness and I find it strange that they put them both so early in the anthology since they are definitely the worst cases of that I've seen so far. Having said that, I loved the animation style of the Witness and its frenetic energy.

@Melani - I don't think anyone here wants to imply that your feelings aren't valid. It's just people getting excited about something and wanting to share it with you. From what you've put forward it's possible that you just aren't the target audience for this anthology. The episodes I've seen have had a lot of Scalzi-esque humor and/or a fair bit of sexual content. Sounds like neither of those are working for you in the context of this anthology. I think you've seen the worst of it but if you've seen nothing redeeming in the episodes so far it may not be worth it to continue.

Hopefully they do a second season and explore more material with queer and female voices to balance out the hetero-testosterone overload.

Some of the episodes do seem to have been aimed at a male audience, which is a shame as the best episodes are really good and don't rely on "fan service" or violence against women.

Helping Hand. Like the movie Gravity, but OMG.

I believe Witness and Blindspot are original scripts. What short stories would you pick for this series to adapt? Something sweet like Ben Bova's "Sam Below Par".

Tamahome wrote: "What short stories would you pick for this series to adapt? "

“Damage” by David Levine, because it’s similar to “Lucky 13.”
https://www.tor.com/2015/01/21/damage...

“Evil Robot Monkey” by Mary Robinette Kowal, because it’s nothing like any of the ones in this collection.
http://maryrobinettekowal.com/journal...

“Why Johnny Can’t Speed” by Alan Dean Foster, because it would be a kinetic thrill ride.
Page 82 here: https://archive.org/details/Galaxy_v3...

I can see how Witness can be hard to take. I watched it second to last since it wasn't adapted from anything. I don't get the ending.

Tamahome wrote: "I think that's Ramona from Scott Pilgrim in Ice Age."

I heard she was in the series somewhere, just hadn't gotten that far yet. I also tend to like the stuff Mary Elizabeth Winstead has done more recently, from "10 CLoverfield Lane" to the mini series "Braindead" and even the stint on "Fargo". I'm curious how she will do going back to comics as the Huntress. Then again I haven't even taken the time to see the 1st suicide squad movie yet, so maybe I'm not that curious.

Tamahome wrote: "I can see how Witness can be hard to take. I watched it second to last since it wasn't adapted from anything. I don't get the ending."

(view spoiler)[It is a loop (hide spoiler)]

Iain wrote: "Tamahome wrote: "I can see how Witness can be hard to take. I watched it second to last since it wasn't adapted from anything. I don't get the ending."

[spoilers removed]"

No it’s not.

Trike wrote: "Iain wrote: "Tamahome wrote: "I can see how Witness can be hard to take. I watched it second to last since it wasn't adapted from anything. I don't get the ending."

[spoilers removed]"

No it’s not."

Isn't it? (view spoiler)[I thought that was what was implied by the snake eating its own tail at the start (One of the 3 symbols each episode starts with)

I took it to mean that it is an infinite time loop. The only difference is that the hunter/hunted and killer/victim swap on each loop (hide spoiler)]

I guess it’s vague enough that it could be seen either way. I hate stories like that, because they think they’re more clever than they are. (view spoiler)[When I watched it the first time I assumed it was just a dream because there wasn’t anyone else in the entire city outside the weird sex apartment. Rewatching it just now, there is literally no one else. The cabs are driverless, the train is empty, no one in the streets.... So is this a meditation on how we are all perps and victims, or is it a weird Ouroboros Fantasy, or is it just some stupid college freshman stoner nonsense? Annoying. Since the chase didn’t resume, I figured it wasn’t a loop, but there’s no evidence to the contrary either, I guess. (hide spoiler)]

Either way, weakest entry of the bunch, and definitely the sleepiest.

I kind of want them to slip a remastered version of "Order to Stop Construction" in a future release...

I came away with the same conclusion as Tassie Dave. The inverted nature of the two main characters in the opening and the closing suggested a loop.

Pat wrote: "I came away with the same conclusion as Tassie Dave. The inverted nature of the two main characters in the opening and the closing suggested a loop."

Which is why I thought it wasn’t. I doubt there’s a right or wrong answer. Hashtag annoyingly vague.

Trike wrote: "Pat wrote: "I came away with the same conclusion as Tassie Dave. The inverted nature of the two main characters in the opening and the closing suggested a loop."

Which is why I thought it wasn’t. ..."

I figured it was a two phase loop, endlessly repeating like a horrible example of game theory.

The rest of the episode was unnecessarily creepy.

Have you noticed the little icons change at the beginning of each episode? Anyone find a webpage that lists them all?

They should make a 2 hr movie that adapts The Stars My Destination. It's not too long. BBC radio did it.

A link if you want to see a larger image

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D14Uls6Ww...

Scalzi's blog about his experience with it: https://whatever.scalzi.com/2019/03/1...

Enjoyed Beyond the Aquila Rift and look forward to reading more from the author in Beyond the Aquila Rift: The Best of Alastair Reynolds.

Great series overall and hope they continue with a second season.

An article from the B&N SF&F blog on where to find the stories

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/s...

Maybe they should be collected in an anthology? Here's Helping Hand online: http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fic... "Suits" by Steven Lewis, "Sucker of Souls" by Kirsten Cross, "Shape-shifters"/"Lucky 13" by Marko Kloos and "Secret War" by David W. Amendolaare are missing

I started with Lucky 13 because it's a Marko Kloos story and it only increase my craving for the next book in his excellent Frontlines series. The episode did not disappoint at all, I love it.

I also watched his other ep, Shapeshifter, which was okay.

What else did I watch....Zima Blue, that one was excellent and memorable.

Three Robots was....meh. But then Scalzi is not for me.

Helping Hand was alright.

Soooo which ones are the rapey ones? The convo's a bit confusing. Sonnie's Edge and Witness?