"Real Humans"

[fnord]

http://kat.ph/akta-manniskor-del-6-av-1 ... 92316.html

[33cl33]

This show is fantastic... Hopefully it inspires more adventurous scifi like it.





-spoiler- -


That scene in EP 4 where Bea is revealed? Good stuff.

[33cl33]

Ep 5 is available along with the others... http://isohunt.com/torrents/?ihq=akta+manniskor

[tdlsn]

I'm waiting for the old single guy to pin down that fat old marm-bot and fuck her. For comedic value, of course

That would be fine with me.More interesting to see fembots in a form other than Barbie dolls. Seriously

[darkbutflashy]

That would be fine with me.More interesting to see fembots in a form other than Barbie dolls. Seriously

Body or mind features the main problem with Barbie?

[jolshefsky]

I'm really liking this series. The special effects are perfect and the plot is worth checking out.

Thanks to those who have posted links, especially for the subtitle tracks!

[tdlsn]

Body or mind features the main problem with Barbie?

Not sayin' that there's anything at all with Barbie type fembots. I'm simply expressing a desire for a variety of forms including the fembots one would least expect to be a sexdroid or sexy. I'm a lover of story lines where a female is revealed to be a fembot and even (I'm revealing something of another erotic interest here) if one which appears like the older model in Real Human malfunctions,is sexual,etc. it would be interesting to see.
I just would like more than just what we are conditioned to see as the the "standard" beauty type.

[tdlsn]

Used the word "just" too many times.

[Trace Venom]

Body or mind features the main problem with Barbie?

Not sayin' that there's anything at all with Barbie type fembots. I'm simply expressing a desire for a variety of forms including the fembots one would least expect to be a sexdroid or sexy. I'm a lover of story lines where a female is revealed to be a fembot and even (I'm revealing something of another erotic interest here) if one which appears like the older model in Real Human malfunctions,is sexual,etc. it would be interesting to see.
I just would like more than just what we are conditioned to see as the the "standard" beauty type.

I agree. Which brings me to my next point: I am not ashamed to admit that I got a little turned on when she started malfunctioning due to the beating she got from Odi.

[ministrations]

I second everything that's been written so far.

What I think is really important about this show is that the continuity and authenticity are superb. When the script actually calls for a Barbie doll, they go out and cast the most ridiculous Barbie doll figure they can find. They try to address the fact that basic units will tend to look identical. And they probably do it on a budget that would make Ron Moore tantrum and stomp off the set.

I mean, it's not perfect, but it's ten times better than any American version of this show is going to look. Sorry, Michael McDonald.

[Trace Venom]

Episode 7 is already up: http://thepiratebay.se/torrent/7059435/ ... _av_10.avi

[Karel]

I think thats part of what gets me.
Swedish television probably doesnt get much of a budget. Yet they've managed to do some extremely convincing effects, and settings.
The acting is top notch and very emotive (or unemotive by the hubots!)

and the whole thing is addressing some really great questions from all different angles.
How will we deal with hubot companions who are failing?
How will hubots who want to be free deal with us?
How will our family be affected by hubots?
How will our jobs be affected?
Can we fall in love with a hubot?

This is just wonderful stuff and I think American show writers need to be looking at this as an example of how to do it correctly.
Avoid the smarmy, clever dramady crap they've been shovelling out for the past 12 years and bring back a strong sci-fi show that isnt afraid to use science fiction as a metaphor for addressing real world problems today and tomorrow.

Though you're 99% right, Kishin, I will raise a voice to defend Battlestar Galactica, which I think dealt intelligently with many similar issues, albeit from a more aethereal, sensational angle. And, of course, got no mainstream respect for it. Äkta Människor, while not (yet) quite as good a show, is (literally) much more down to Earth, and in it's own way is more cutting for it. The fact that every commercial setting in which the robots are seen looks like IKEA is one of two things: 1) pointed social commentary or 2) terrifying verisimilitude (having never been to Sweden, I cannot say which).

What I most love about this show so far is that it follows and sympathizes with both the renegade hubots and the violent anti-hubot terrorists, something I really do not expect to see from Beautiful People (if it ever gets made), and that I don't think has ever in fact been done before. The standard approach would be to make us completely sympathetic to the robot protagonists and caricature the anti-robot extremists as bigoted, unthinking monsters. But really, if I were that warehouse manager, I honestly think I'd be scared out of my wits, and would probably react in exactly the same way. The guy's living a nightmare!

Let's face facts, though, Kishin: yes, SVT is doing tremendous things here with a shoestring budget, but they're also the beneficiaries of massive state support (relative to what, say, a PBS affiliate would receive in the United States). I almost wonder what the reaction is from the Swedish public that sees their tax dollars being spent on this: those who think it's a good show probably don't mind, but this kind of show can't be to everyone's taste. It will be interesting to see where it goes from here.

[ministrations]

The focus group kills everything. I can only imagine the conversation after focus on the 2004 Stepford Wives (sorry for reminding everyone of that movie):

FLACK: "You know, the test audience liked a lot of things... there's only one bit that tested badly across the board."
FRANK OZ: "What's that?"
FLACK: "The robot bit. They didn't understand that."

I still believe Frank Oz intended and could have made a watchable movie if they left him alone. I think there's too much money floating through American TV and film to be worthwhile... meaning that one major advantage SVT has is that they don't have enough resources to second-guess and self-edit.

I'd actually be kind of excited about Beautiful People if it were on HBO or Showtime, but by the time the network gets done with it, it'll have the eTrade baby and some kind of forensic component, and it'll bounce around time slots until it finally gets replaced with re-reruns of Are You There Chelsea?

[Karel]

I find it genuinely shocking to hear of a Swedish sci-fi fan who hasn't heard of this show. Some time ago I was passing through the Balkans on vacation, and noticed that one of the four TV channels available was continuously blaring advertisements for what looked like a really mediocre crime/cop show/soap opera. This show was a big deal, apparently, because it was basically the only show in the SBC language (Serbo-Bosniak-Croatian) to have anything approximating a "Western" budget; the size of the available audience simply didn't warrant a competitor. Sweden has fewer than 10 million people, less than the total number of SBC-speakers, and no foreign markets to sell too: how many glossy shows like this can there be that this one can go unnoticed?

But my purpose in singling out the public support that locally-produced shows get in small-market countries like Sweden and the Yugoslav Republics was to point out that they're under less market pressure. Unquestionably, a network like NBC has access to unbelievable resources (even Battlestar, neglected in the SyFy ghetto, had unbelievable production value), but the sources of revenue that you pointed out are all derived from the private sector, which can be extremely fickle. Public financing is dependable (for something like this, anyway). This show will get a full season whether or not anyone watches it, and may get a second even if nobody watches it. Which is great for us! And great for the writers, who don't have to worry about alienating too many idiots.

Too bad you got turned off of BSG, Kishin. By "weird", do you mean "political"? Because that's when I really got into it (and the ending had me in tears)!

[Karel]

Put a spoiler alert up, Kishin.

Apparently (if this site is to be believed) the UK remake is already underway:

http://www.joblo.com/horror-movies/news ... de-already

[Karel]

English subtitles for episode 7 have been posted. Woohoo!

http://www.addic7ed.com/show/2219

[jolshefsky]

P.S.: I was thinking it might be good to start a separate thread for "Real Humans" that is for people who have already watched through the most current episode so we don't co-mingle spoilers with other information. Then again, this thread kind of implies that.

Nonetheless ...

** SPOILERS: Episode 7 **

It was great to see Bea talk "socially" with Roger and reveal just how simple a robot she really is. Funny how that works as a metaphor for how poorly we know our co-workers in a professional setting – as a police officer, she probably did just fine, but in an intimate setting, she's kind of lost.

And then there's the chop-shop guy talking about how Kyra is going to get taken apart to Flash to get her to be complicit ... if only they showed more of the recycling center. *sigh*

And then the cliff-hanger ending ... Malte stopping in to pick some stuff up from the basement where Niska and company are hanging out.

I feel pretty inspired to learn Swedish so I don't have to wait the extra week for the subtitles track (which came out about 6 days after the episode appeared for download.)

[Trace Venom]

Episode 8 is out!: http://www.torrentreactor.net/torrents/ ... -av-10-avi

[Karel]

Episode 8 is out!: http://www.torrentreactor.net/torrents/ ... -av-10-avi

Argh... and the agonizing wait for a translation begins again. I really shouldn't have watched the first six episodes at once once I had subtitles for them (but I couldn't help myself).

[jolshefsky]

Argh... and the agonizing wait for a translation begins again. I really shouldn't have watched the first six episodes at once once I had subtitles for them (but I couldn't help myself).

So much for waiting until Friday like last week ... http://www.addic7ed.com/show/2219

[bhyasuda]

Anybody know how long the show is in terms of episodes?

[wolfblade]

10 episodes in all

[Trace Venom]

I think its classed as a miniseries so yeah 10 episodes. Then no more.

Unless it's a ratings hit in Sweeden...

Other than that, once it's finished, you'll just have to console yourself with waiting for the british remake and, IF it's a hit in the UK, the eventual american one. After that, it's a question of whether or not it's a hit overseas.

Best case scenario: 2 or 3 seasons with a finished story arc in the UK version, then as many seasons as it takes for the series to jump the shark in the U.S.

[33cl33]

Episode 9... http://www.torrentreactor.net/torrents/ ... -av-10-avi

[Yosuke]

Just saw episode 9. Still don't understand Swedish, but the ending is obvious. The plot thickens .