Murderbot (The Murderbot Diaries)

[RueAzure]

Have you ever loved a show buried on one of the worst streaming services imaginable?

Murderbot is a recent release on AppleTV+, which I can't in good conscience recommend subscribing to, but the show almost justifies it.

It's a sci-fi show about a security android that just recently hacked their own body for free will, and how they interact with a world of humans.

Don't let the name fool you, the titular Murderbot isn't killing humans willy-nilly. They just wants to watch their favorite serials.

I'm not gonna spoil much, but it really is a wonderful show about how someone who is completely detached from the concept of humanity deals with interacting with an extremely human element.

The show has great makeup work, and does a good job at selling all its characters.

It's based on a series of novellas by Martha Wells known as The Murderbot Diaries. The show covers the first novella, called All Systems Red. If you can't give the show a watch, at the very least give the novellas a read. I can't recommend either of these enough.

[beeps]

It's good, I enjoyed it.

Hidden text.

But I figured I would given I'm a robot otherkin. Hah.

Seen many folks say it's a great example of a leading character that's autistic and aro-ace, too.

(And personally I think Apple TV+ is pretty good! Ted Lasso, Severance, Wolfwalkers, Central Park, Mythic Quest, For All Mankind, Strange Planet… it probably has more original programming that I actually want to watch than most other streaming platforms.)

[RueAzure]

That's fair. I'm mostly complaining about their poor app implementation, if anything.

It seems like I can't get the service to work without rebooting my streaming device half the time (unless it's my laptop doing the streaming haha)

[StarlightNecromancer]

Not only SecUnit aroace and autistic, its nonbinary! Its one of the few nb characters I can remember that got to major acclaim in the mainstream that didn't fit the "usual" look for a nb character (that being they wrote and designed a cis woman, and maybe did they/them if they remembered. This isn't to say some nb people aren't exceedingly fem, but the near exclusion of it in character design does contribute to the "woman-lite" image of nonbinary people. SecUnit being masc and still nonbinary is extremely important to me)

Apple services suck though and I only watch it at my mother's house. I'm not fighting with that.

[beeps]

Oh yeah, Murderbot seemingly being on board with it/its pronouns gives me life.

[StarlightNecromancer]

Oh yeah, Murderbot seemingly being on board with it/its pronouns gives me life.

It's clearer in the books, but it was one of the things I was utterly terrified about when the announcement for an adaptation came through. I thought they might make it a cis dude and call it a day

SO happy they didn't

[rhubarb_nido]

Just finished watching this last night! Felt like a great adaptation of the book. One critique is that the scientist crew's politics were played for laughs more than in the books. Like, the on-screen poly relationship was mostly a humorous side plot. But on the other paw I still liked all the characters! I haven't finished all the novellas so this makes me want to pick them back up.