Apple TV's Fantastic "Silo" Plays Out Like Great Sci-Fi Literature (2023) | Hacker News Reader

Apple TV's Fantastic "Silo" Plays Out Like Great Sci-Fi Literature (2023)

rogerebert.com

48 pointswalterbell42 comments

I was bored and watched a few episodes. IMHO it was a sci-fi cliché. A context about my tastes in my IMDB rankings [1].

I don't watch many series but I think the sci-fi one Severance (2022) was really great. Also the Three Body Problem is very good (haven't read the books). Nowadays I am very entertained with Tokyo Vice and Shogun. I watched "The Fall of the House of Usher" completely but beyond the excellent production it is void (I am a Poe's fan). Ahhh, before I forget, I really enjoyed The Peripheral (2022). Older, but excellent: "The Main in the High Castle". The first chapters are a bit slow but you should pass them to truly appreciate the terrific acting of Rufus Sewell and the series.

[1] https://www.imdb.com/user/ur0601133/ratings

[2] https://www.primevideo.com/dp/0G0V91T4S396GV99H5BQ27PH5I

Can confirm Severance is phenomenal. Shogun is just as good. I'm extremely impressed with Shogun actually. I haven't seen good storytelling like this in years.

We have found one of them Rotten Tomatoes critics.

Don't get your comment.

Severance was fantastic. Silo was fun, but yeah kind of cliché. And some of the acting was pretty subpar

Looking forward to more 3 Body Problem.

I noticed that Brad Pitt and Rosamund Pike are producers, so I suppose we'll be seeing them, in later seasons (the books stretch across a lot of time).

I was starting to really enjoy The Peripheral, but I understand that it's been canceled.

The Peripheral has been awesome. Too bad it's cancelled.

I find it the same, cliché. It had great potential but after the first season I decided I’m not going to watch the next one.

Also agree on Severance - fantastic.

Severance was so boring I cancelled it after 3 episodes. That you enjoyed it tells me I should check silo out :)

Late comment, maybe you'll see this.

Severance is a slow burn, but the show gets really good at the end of season 1. I highly recommend you give it another chance and watch til the end. IMO, it got better and better every episode until world class level episode in the final 2, 3 episodes of the season.

Its among my favorite shows of all time.

Interesting. I thought the acting in 3 body problem was really poor. The characters also felt extremely shallow. The plot was interesting, but really predictable once the “meat” of the story was revealed.

I much preferred Silo, but Severance stands far above both of those.

Agree with the acting except Ye Wenjie youngest actress. I don't know if really poor but comparing to Severance and Shogun they are really subpar. I think the Chinese philosophy parts are good and add condiment to the story. The Japanese philosophy was better added in Shogun. Particularly interesting something I was not aware of the eightfold fence [1] at the metaphorical level.

[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/magiarecord/comments/k1rskl/a_tale_...

How'd you like "For All Mankind"?

Badly lacking in wig budget.

For anyone who liked Silo, I'd recommend a quirky sci-fi from 1980's Poland called Sexmission [1]. Similarly, they live underground and try to escape. Fascinating ending too, and I wonder how it matches with what will happen in Silo.

[1] https://letterboxd.com/film/sexmission/

Thank you very much, I have something to watch today!

I haven't seen Silo, but if you like quirky sci-fi like Seksmisja then:

Kin-dza-dza![1], Ivan Vasilevich menyaet professiyu[2], Akumulátor 1[3], Dark Star[4], Na srebrnym globie[5], Zítra vstanu a oparím se cajem[6], The American Astronaut[7]

Bonus round (quirky not sci-fi): Hausu[8], Sedmikrásky[9], Einstein's Brain[10], Gyakufunsha kazoku[11]

[1] https://letterboxd.com/film/kin-dza-dza/

[2] https://letterboxd.com/film/ivan-vasilyevich-changes-his-pro...

[3] https://letterboxd.com/film/accumulator-1/

[4] https://letterboxd.com/film/dark-star/

[5] https://letterboxd.com/film/on-the-silver-globe/

[6] https://letterboxd.com/film/tomorrow-ill-wake-up-and-scald-m...

[7] https://letterboxd.com/film/the-american-astronaut/

[8] https://letterboxd.com/film/house/

[9] https://letterboxd.com/film/daisies/

[10] https://letterboxd.com/film/relics-einsteins-brain/

[11] https://letterboxd.com/film/the-crazy-family/

Thank you very much. East European movies are underrepresented in the "global community" despite their productivity. In the vein of your recommendations but from Spain I recommend "El milagro de P. Tinto" [1], mainly satire with its ups and downs but recommended.

[1] https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0151572/?language=es-es

Kin-dza-dza! takes a bit of getting into and it has it's weak moments but there are few movies that made me laugh so hard.

Everyone should watch "Just Imagine (1930)" it takes place in the distant future 1980. It is so full of original concepts we know from [much] later movies.

I ran into the short film "Slice of Life" the other day. It was rather impressive. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eDQ2SSsmEk

It's baffling to me how almost all recent reviews just downgrade the movie to "it's just sexist" while it was one of the greatest Polish comedies of all time, made in 1984 when all the woke bullcrap wasn't everywhere as it is today.

Why polarise things even more like this? I agree with you (in partperhaps) and think it’s often fine to like 70s and 80s films for what they are without ignoring the fact that values and mores have changed. 1970s attitudes to women at work or sexual violence against women were really different. It’s not woke bullshit to think things have changed for the good. If your point was that ahistorical readings of literature can be killjoy then more people could probably get on board.

I just want the Expanse to continue

I really enjoyed this. Any suggestions from Hacker News for other shows for those who liked Silo?

I loved Silo and while different I love Shogun so far. Great series.

"Severance" on Apple TV, "Dark" on Netflix.

Even though it’s incredibly different on the surface, Severance comes to mind because it’s also a world-builder with interesting mysteries.

Severance and Shogun

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt3696720/?ref_=nm_flmg_t_25_act

Tangentially related: Dark. 3 seasons of sci-fi parallel-world-travel intensity with a satisfying ending.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5753856/

Westworld season 1 & 2 are pretty spectacular too if you missed it. Same producers made the Peripheral, and their adaptation of Fallout is coming in 2 weeks which looks fun.

Trailer: https://youtu.be/V-mugKDQDlg?feature=shared

I loved Severance so much and I'm not sure anything else better will be along for a while, but there is plenty of good stuff out there to pass the time.

I thought Westworld S1 was the best television I’d ever seen, S2 I couldn’t even get through 3 episodes. So disappointing.

As far as adaptions for the illiterate masses go I thought the series was pretty good. I couldn't personally get past the stink of soap opera SciFi Channel quality acting and writing myself but if you have no plans to ever read the books it's better than nothing. One positive thing I can say is the art design was pretty good especially the computers and their interfaces.

I enjoyed it so much I read all three books back-to-back after watching the first season. I really recommend them, they’re terrific.

I watched it and I wish I hadn't. Overlong and under-interesting. Typical streaming bloat. Just like 3BP.

If you want quality look at Severance, Station Eleven, Dark, Watchmen, early Westworld, and my absolute personal favourite The Leftovers.

There are scenes in The Leftovers that are seared into my psyche, Silo is vapid shovel-ware by comparison.

We just need to know when it will renew for the 2nd season. Silo, Severance, and Slow Horses are next level.

Actually just saw news that they’ve wrapped filming on season 2 of Silo and they’ll be airing 2025. :)

It's like waiting for a GTA game to drop. 2025 could be a 20 months from now.

I thought it was just OK Way too much was not thought out well. The society they had and the power structures didn't really make any sense and that was the whole crux of the show.

Having read the Wool trilogy a few years ago, I had no idea this was in production and happily stumbled upon it. The series is a fantastic adaptation and a fully realized world.

Really? I found it succumbed to the standard adaptation failure: fit as many plot points from the book into one season in cut-and-paste fashion, and link them together with some powerful overacting designed to direct the audience to the proper emotion. Three Body is failing the same way. A good adaptation needs a talented screenwriter, which is as hard to find as a good author.

My only complaint about Silo's adaptation is that it leaves so many things mysterious for so long, things that the books make clear in the earliest chapters. Also, the entire season is roughly half of book 1, so I'm concerned it will be canceled before it gets through the entire series.

Perhaps they didn't finish the title. Great sci-fi literature that's been run into trite mediocrity.

I thought it was pretty compelling.

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