Let’s Hope Halo Finds Firmer Legs To Stand On Next Time

By Mike Gates

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The transition from game to screen, be it big or small, has always been fraught with tribalism and genuine baffling creative decisions. It can often be a case of, even when it’s good — it’s bad. Today we’re going to explore our hope that Halo finds firmer legs to stand on next time round.

In the streaming app marketplace, each of the services show some conscious decision to specialize in particular content, whether they make the effort to promote themselves that way or not. Though they all inevitably have offerings that extend beyond their specialties, subscribers are drawn in by the premium exclusives in their libraries, as well as new content. The shorthand description for Paramount+ would likely be “the Sci Fi one” due to it being the Star Trek hub, despite the fact they have a fairly formidable library of westerns as well. With their latest embarkation into new content-an adaptation of the Halo video game series-we can see the unique fingerprint of their branding in a production that also….kind of looks like everything else.

Halo is perhaps a natural choice for a series, having established itself a fan base on the Xbox. There is eight official games in the series, not to the mention an equal number that serve as spin offs. For the uninitiated, it combines first person shooter gameplay, with spectacular graphics and a rich mythology and story that already fills it with action and drama, resulting in a highly cinematic series. So much so, that for many it may even raise the question of what benefit or development could come from turning it into a TV show, where the task is to essentially just add dialog and remove the game play.

For the first season of the TV series, which runs nine episodes, Paramount+ attempts to double down on making this a legitimate offshoot of the games. This is a balancing act between providing familiarity for the gamers and building enough of a dramatic foundation to keep the series self-sustaining. It always errs on the side of trying to recapture those gamer endorphins, with it’s simulations of the FPS perspective, faithful rendering of battle, and bringing in some of the same voice talent that worked on the games. Therefore, under the umbrella the Halo fans are sharing with curious non-gaming trekkies who may stumble across this, it’s the Halo fans that are most likely to stay dry.

The primary influence that seems to hang over the series more than any other, though, is not Halo or Star Trek, but it’s counterpart over on Disney+, The Mandalorian. Our protagonist John-117 (played by Pablo Schreiber) is very much cut from the Mando cloth, as a intergalactic soldier trying to navigate warring factions through their various conflicts and loyalties. All the while, he is fighting a simultaneous battle within himself between following his programming as a soldier and doing what he thinks is right as a human.

The series looks and feels very much like an automatically dispensed “content” response to the success of The Mandalorian, with only two major distinctions that outline the branding considerations we mentioned. The first is that it’s way more violent. The scenes of battle tend to be a high point for the show, and the special effects are extremely well executed. It faithfully looks like the Halo game, while also visually improving upon it. The weapons the characters brandish, which mix elements of realistic military firearms and more fantasy based lasers, do the kind of damage more associated with the former, meaning there’s quite a bit of blood splashing in the colorful shootouts. What score did S35 TV give Halo? We’ll get into that in a bit, but first….

The other distinction is a bit less enjoyable-it’s extremely overcomplicated. The rules of how soldiers are programmed, the history of the characters, and the world the murderous aliens have created require extremely close attention to dialog and expositional flashbacks. It starts to feel like homework, and is way more study than you’ll likely want to put in on a show whose appeal is 95% based on visual effects and action. This is hardcore nerd stuff, and is going to leave the casual Mandalorian viewers in the dust. The only people likely to put in the full effort in are those who already have a head start, or vested interest due to their love of the game. Still, another season has been greenlit, so here’s hoping it finds firmer legs to stand on next time around.

So what is your favourite show based on a video game? Let us know in the Comments but remember to always be kind. And while you’re here why don’t you read our last article and find out how Candy got into shocking murky water? Until then, we’ll see you in the next article!

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