Fans of the Murderbot Diaries will be excited to know that the series has been adapted by Apple TV. And we will be reviewing every episode from season one. So sit back and relax as we review Murderbot episode 1!
Murderbot Episode 1 Summary
The show starts off with Murderbot (played by Alexander Skarsgård) hacking its own governor module, thus giving it free will and autonomy. But a few seconds later, we see Murderbot being selected by PreservationAux survey team as their mandatory SecUnit.
The PreservationAux teams wants to survey an alien planet but right away things go wrong when a member of the team is attacked by a giant worm creature. Murderbot exposes its secret of hacking its governor module and suspicion is thrown on it even as it saves a member of the survey team.
PreservationAux and Murderbot disover that the map that they have is incomplete. Both PreservationAux and Murderbot don’t trust each other and tread carefully around each other as death hangs in the air.
Commentary
The first episode of Murderbot was honestly good even with all the changes from the novel. While I would have preferred them to be faithful to All Systems Red fully, I know that a novella and a TV show are two different mediums.
The casting of Murderbot kind’ve disappointed me mostly because that wasn’t what I envisioned. Still, I think the overall cast is brilliant and does make it fun to watch. And the music and special effects are fantastic and make the show a lot better as a result.
My biggest complaint with the show will be that they didn’t get Murderbot’s sarcastic humor down. That was one of the reasons why I really enjoyed the novellas and the series and it will take some getting used to. The TV show Murderbot seems a lot more shy and frightened and not what I expected.
This is why you should never wish for your favorite novels to be adapted. I had a certain image of the series and the show went a different direction. With all that said, I enjoyed the first episode and will be tuning in for the rest of the series.
If you have read the series, then I do recommend checking it out because Apple TV went all out. They even made a TV show for Murderbot’s favorite show The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon and that alone is a good reason to watch this show.
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Many people who have read the book first have said that the series didn’t accurately portray his humor. I have the perspective of someone who watched the series first, and I thought it was okay. The series was good enough to inspire me to find the books and read them.
After reading the books, you’ll see what everyone means. The show is great and the writing is brilliant. But it does change Murderbots humor. It translates better in a novel than a TV show I’m sure.
I haven’t read the book, but really enjoyed the series
The books are even better! There’s 7 of them so you’re in for a treat!
Oh awesome I will definitely check them out