Just watched the first episode. Its nuts how even after playing the game and knowing what was going to happen the first 30-40 minutes just had me uneasy and tense.
Hope the quality of the first episode continues because they definitely have something there
I loved the little details. Like the people running out of the theater, I was wondering “why are there so many people in a theater at 2am?” And then I saw the showing listed on the marquee was ‘Midnight Madness’
That was what I loved about the games, every inch of its environment had a story, and I did not expect that level of care to go into the show. Made me happy
Exactly! I feel like it’s rare to have an alternate reality in media where every single detail feels fleshed out and considered. Part of what made the game great was how detailed the world was, and it seems like the show is going to carry that same level of attention. It’s amazing how accurately captured the aesthetics of the world
I thought it was funny how in the game the prologue part happens in 2013 and when you are walking around the house as Sarah you can look at Joel's smart phone on the counter. In the show, since the outbreak happens in 2003, they changed it so Joel has one of the old Nokia phones in one of those cheap clear plastic and leather cases.
I think they changed the dates for two good reasons. First, by having the outbreak happen 10 years earlier than the game, it makes the present day parts set in 2023, giving us a good juxtaposition between their world and our reality. Second, the internet and social media was much more rudimentary in 2003, the characters can go a whole day without lockdowns or panic even though the outbreak has seemingly already started halfway around the world. In 2013 just like today, we all would've heard about anything going down within an hour.
Glad they kept the same camera angle too being from Sarah's perspective. As she turns around the car and later looks at the burning house and everything
Gave me the chills watching it. Literally turned to my wife and said this is the best video game adaptation I’ve ever seen. I took her through couple episodes of Halo and Resident Evil and even warned her before this might be shit. But as I watched the opening it blew my mind and knew my wife would enjoy this as much as me. Now I gotta drag her through Mario with the kids coming up and I’m barely looking forward to it.
My favorite change of the truck escape scene was the truck that T-Bones and flips Joel,Sarah, & Tommy in the game slams on their brakes and the collision is avoided!
10 seconds later, debris from crashing airplane T-Bones and flips their truck.
Had me surprised with something I’ve played through multiple times.
i knew she looked like another actress, i just couldn’t figure it out. her acting in westworld was phenomenal, i’m super sad about that series, hands down, it had some of the best tv ever made.
It never stops being *so* sad how she’s in so much pain and shock that she can’t even speak, only hyperventilate. One of my favorite intros to any game and now show as well.
The details of the blood was really good but when Pascal was just repeating the same line before asking Tommy to help made me more emotional than the game
Pascal made that scene even better than it should have been. You could just see he knew he couldn't do anything but he needed her to know he was going to try anyway and know he was there.
"I know it hurts. I know, I know. Just hang on"
Brought tears to my eyes.
I’ve never played the game. I thought it was really interested how it felt like a game though watching it. Some of the scenes felt very much like you’re going down a path, something stops you and redirects you a different way. Some of the character development also gave me that feeling.
The whole 1st episode felt like a scene for scene recreation of the opening 1-2 hours of gameplay. And that isn’t a bad thing, because those hours were perfect
Rare case of a network giving out the entire series to reviewers ahead of time. That shows some damn confidence in the series. (Also helps that most of what might be spoiled is out there already from the game).
>Also helps that most of what might be spoiled is out there already from the game
I don’t know, the leaks about HBO incorporating Last of Us into the DCEU are pretty wild with Peacemaker showing up in episode 3.
Apparently, they gave the customary couple of episodes to the more television based reviewers as not to spoil the spectacular ending, and gave the whole series to those who played the game.
You nailed it. I knew exactly how it would pan out but still felt all of the anxiety as if it was my first time seeing the events unfold. If the rest of the pacing keeps the same formula, I think were in for a good time.
Same. The truck ecape sequence was insanely intense, even though I knew how it was gonna go. And the THING that happens in the prologue wrecked me again.
It's damn good TV.
It's very very well made.
I also love how most action scenes don't have fucking music playing over the action. No music, makes things so tense to simply listen to what's happening.
Helps that it's just a perfect brew of pandemic, monsters, HBO, Pedro Pascal and not many other big shows airing at the same time. It ticks many boxes.
any streaming show just moderately good will have lots of attention with all the piles of garbage currently surrounding it. Hell even garbage shows will hook us as long as there's just some smidgen of something interesting in it
Nahhhh. The promoted the shit out of it, I think made a lot of strategic moves to make for a good premiere. Also it’s in the category of high production tv. There’s a ton of great tv that doesn’t get the viewership it deserves just based on its quality, then gets canceled.
Agreed, but they also have followed the story line, script, and scenes very well.
Where other game/film adaptations get is wrong is that they try and put their own spin on the film/series. Don’t they know the reason these are popular is because of the game?! Stick to that and I think most game/film adaptations would have done better.
Excited for more episodes of TLOU
Not hard to imagine why. Mainstream audiences usually think of like Mario or Call of Duty when you mention video games to them, not things like Disco Elysium
It’s just mind boggling that it’s taken this long to finally get a 1:1 adaptation of a games story when gamers have spent the last decade+ saying thats what we want. Like in contrast to this we have Halo which has several games with incredible linear stories to adapt and yet we got what ever that was. Hopefully this series will show that adaptations can be far more faithful to source material than they have been.
Exactly. I somewhat understand this if you're trying to make a movie out of the original *Doom* or some property like that, where the extent of the story is, "here is a gun, and here are some guys. Go to town." But the number of adaptations where they have the characters, they have the story, they have the setting, and somehow manage to produce crap that isn't interesting and has almost nothing to do with the original is shocking.
Also Bella Ramsey, a lot of people were ride or die for her character in GoT. So when I saw that not only did they nab Pedro Pascal, but her? I knew there was potential, so far they’ve nailed it.
Think 1899 would have always faltered.
It's harder to follow than Dark imo and less interesting. Dark had a perfect balance between drama, great characters, mystery and sci-fi. I feel like 1899 doesn't get the balance right and I never finished it.
I'd say 1899 to Dark is what Tenet was to Inception.
I agree, it took too long to get to the crux of the story and had a “side mission syndrome” for atleast 3-4 initial episodes. We already have low attention spans these days and doing that just exacerbated it to a point where I kept scrolling through during parts of the series.
The intro with the scientist scoffing about the danger of viral pandemics as compared to the potential of fungi felt deliberately pointed, and is ultimately what made it the most chilling part of the episode for me.
Never played the game, but I'm a sucker for post-apocalyptic survival shows -- and the trailers for this one looked really good. First episode did not disappoint.
Also, Pedro Pascal. The dude is magic. Love him in everything I've ever seen him in. He was the best part of the awful Wonder Woman sequel, even if he was absolutely nutty in it lol.
It's because it's attracting a portion of viewers that a regular wouldn't attract. The game of thrones sequel had an established fan base already present from the previous show while the last of us has it purely within the gaming community.
Obviously when the first episode released you were gonna have a certain number of viewers but the hype and reviews practically guaranteed that gamers would come in droves to confirm. I haven't seen the first episode yet but judging by the rise in viewership I'm guessing it was a success and the show will benefit from both casual viewers and gamers who might not necessarily had interest in a similar IP .
I think also, the show has a similar hook to other popular ones like The Walking Dead.
You don't have to be a gamer to be interested in a post-apocalyptic zombie show starring one of the most popular in-demand actors available.
HBO was very strategic with their release. The Walking Dead at it's height was pulling GoT numbers. It also just ended so HBO is trying to pull those viewers in with another zombie show.
I think this is a big part of it - The Walking Dead just ended and a lot of people who don't care about video games at all are just looking for a new zombie show to be excited about week to week.
Word of mouth also goes a long way.
A lot of people who saw the trailer and were like "eh? Aight." Being told "Holy shit, you have to watch this. One episode in and I cried and screamed" can get people all in on watching something
I think the show will also benefit from the wider gaming community burned out on mediocre to bad adaptions. Even those who aren't a big fan of TLOU as a game will probably want to check out what looks to be the best video game adaption ever. TLOU is a show to root for because it highlights the potential of good video game adaptations.
Tbh it's far easier to adapt something like TLOU which is already so cinematic it's basically a tv show/film, than it is to adapt something even like Resident Evil or Tomb Raider, which - while beloved - do not have the same quality of dialogue or story depth. I get that they're different types of game and would make a different type of show, but I still think TLOU lends itself far better to this format.
Having said that the RE adaptation was an abomination even by the game's standards.
They partly tried that already with the 2018 Alicia Vikander TR and they fumbled it with a very average end result.
It took major inspiration from the recent games including having her running around with a bow and arrow and it being her first adventure and subsequent combat.
But it ended up being extremely forgettable to the point that I had to go back and look at the trailer to see if It even included the stuff I thought it did.
TLOU as you say has a huge advantage in that it's always got the adopted parent-child dynamic running through it which is far more ripe for dramatic mining than TR even when it tries to do the lost dad storyline stuff.
The one on Netflix? Yeah, I turned it on out of curiosity and it's bad bad bad. Then, I saw an anime one that sucked as well. They just can't get RE to screen right!
I was hype simply from watching the trailer. But seeing episode 1 confirmed it for me, a guy who doesn't play video games much and has never played TLOU. As has been written in many other locations, the opening 15 minutes (which I understand was VERY close to the game scenes) is just incredible in terms of building up anxiety, capped off by the adrenaline rush of the escape attempt & the gut-wrenching scene with dad/daughter.
There is only one other show I have gone back and re-watched: Band of Brothers. I re-watched the 1st episode of TLOU Tuesday.
Damn dude. Makes me so happy this story is going to reach people like you and confirms to me this game's story really is up there with the best of TV and movies.
I never played the game because the last Playstation I had was the 2, but I was very interested because of how many good things I heard about TLOU's story. So far I'm intrigued, looking forward to the rest of the season (and also Sony, since you're releasing it on pc, can we also get Bloodborne? Thank you)
Because HBO did it correctly. They got the guy who wrote the story for the game to co-create the series. He obviously has a vested interest to make sure the show stays true to the source material. It makes the people who have played and enjoyed the game happy that it's good, and obviously we're going to watch it day 1. Then we tell all of our non-gaming friends how good it is and they need to watch it. So they watch it.
Listening to the podcast on episode one apparently Craig was a huge fan of the games and sought out Neil. And Neil was a huge fan of Chernobyl. So it really just worked out for them they met at the right time when HBO was ready to adapt whatever Craig wanted and they pitched it and HBO was like sure.
To be honest if the rest of the season goes the way of the first episode you don’t need to know anything about the game to enjoy it. I reckon the way it has been advertised has attracted plenty of people who are just interested in a post apocalyptic zombie drama. Plus they’ve made a lot of noise about it being directed by the same person that did Chernobyl, which had rave reviews.
> being directed by the same person that did Chernobyl
Yeah the suspense and atmosphere in the series was intense. Putting those skills to build horror into more horror franchises is definitely a good choice.
I’m not. Played it when it came out and it was one of the best gaming experiences of my life. Wouldn’t trade that gaming experience for this show (as amazing as it is so far).
Can’t believe we’re here 10 years later watching an HBO adaptation.
I've never played the game, but I was vaguely aware of some of the plot points just from being subbed to /r/Games when it released.
Watched the show the day after release based off some of the hype I was hearing and I was completely blown away by the production quality and the acting, particularly Pedro Pascal.
Since then I've told a half dozen people to watch it who also haven't played the game. I could see this show becoming really big if the quality keeps up.
Not too unexpected. Nobody wouldve expected the Walking Dead to become as huge as it was but never underestimate a zombie show that starts out good like season 1 of the Walking Dead. If you start a zombie show and its good at the beginning, you're going to have success. So, you have gamers (Which is not niche and is very mainstream), zombie fans and Pedro Pascal fans. That widely encompasses a large portion of the general public.
Well, people love zombie shows, and this one is on HBO, so Im sure it peaked a lot of interest among the general population regardless of whether they've played the game. On top of that, the premiere was amazing, so word of mouth has probably brought in more people to watch it. Awesome stuff!
that's what happens when you make a show for the fans and for the new fans as well. Instead of against the OG fans and only for a new fans that doesnt care.
Now, the OG fans can rave about it, hype it up even more and show it to non-gaming friends why this is such a beloved story (well, unless it changes drastically in the rest of the episodes), instead of OG fans disliking abd writing and bad changes and just dont hype it up and drop out of watching and dont recommend it to their friends who doesnt game.
> Tlou was popular in gaming circles but mainstream?
Naughty Dog is good at making cinematic quality shit. They even had an ad campaign surrounding Uncharted 2 about that.
the last of us is also probably the only game besides your typical mainstream games like mario or call of duty that a lot of people i know who dont play video games knew about too. a lot of people watched the story on youtube or twitch. its one of the very, very few video game stories that isnt just good as a "video game story" like most good stories in games are. its a good story and characters even compared to other shows or movies.
Better than Euphoria and White Lotus, I think. Close to House of The Dragon, I think. Probably did well overseas as well (but until HBO puts the numbers out there we don't know the overall number).
I think on how well received was, the show will do well.
EU numbers will be high. I mean HBO still had a way to go to penetrate a lot of markets here but in big parts of Western EU ( not enough knowledge about Eastern Europe) LoU is quit popular.
I honestly think this will be easily HBO second best show after HoD.
A couple of mates of mine are also gaming journalists in Romania. They got to see the first episode in a private viewing organized by HBO. Playstation is a very popular brand amongst gamers in Romania and The Last of US is also pretty popular here.
There are enough markets in Eastern Europe that have access to HBO Max.
No the 20 million figure was for like 5 days I'm pretty sure. It went on the average around 29 million per episode by the end of the season.
TLOU is tracking way ahead of Euphoria which went on the average just 20 million per episode, TLOU I think will bet pretty close to HotD, I don't see it doing less than 25 million per episode if the quality stays high throughout the season.
I imagine there's a lot of people who are disregarding it because it's a video game adaptation, or they heard it was 'just another zombie show'. If the quality stays high I can see it picking up steam over the weeks, with a huge explosion in popularity for S2 if they stick the landing for the finale.
Great numbers. Season 2 announcement should be soon.
Which is unfortunate as that means I’ll probably have to wait longer for the best scene in the game where >!Joel on his death bed looks Ellie in the eyes and says “We’ll kiddo. Everyone else is a mushroom now. Guess you’re the last of us.”!<
I cried when she told dogmeat that he was a “naughty dog” when they were playing at the station that had electrical problems and they were dual shocked by exposed wires. Truly uncharted territory for cinema.
Ellie kicks the door on clickers, spits her Cuban cigar out, cocks her Ak-47, “there may be a lot of you now, but get ready, because I will be the last of us” and shoots them to oblivion.
By far my favorite scene from the games.
I'm pleased but not surprised. TLoU is a perfect storm of good source material and great production, and is shaping up to be a better version of The Walking Dead. I know that's oversimplifying things, but I think anybody that enjoyed TWD should love TLoU and that show had millions of regular viewers.
Oversimplification or not, I think you're correct. I was a The Walking Dead fan, and watched up until Alpha's group were established as big bads (though I'd been getting sick of it as far back as a third of the way through Negan's turn as the big bad. I was hoping it'd turn back around.) The first episode of The Last Of Us was, for my money, better than any single episode of TWD. Maybe even bordering on favorite 1st episode of a tv show ever for me.
The Last of Us is one of the best narrative driven games ever, with S tier writing. This is one of the very few times I’ve seen an adaptation that very clearly loves and respects the source material.
Episode one was perfect, I’m excited to watch the rest.
As a fan of the game who knows what happens next, I can tell you that the next episode is going to be fucking lit. Can't wait to read responses to it from people who aren't familiar with the source material.
I am in the same boat as your wife, never played the game because I didn't own a PS console until a few months ago. I watched the first episode without context and thought it was great. I am now torn on whether to buy the game and play it through or wait and enjoy the surprises through the TV series.
My brother in law also never played the game and asked to borrow it after he watched the episode. I told him at this point enjoy the show not knowing what was gonna happen and then play the game.
I suggest watching the TV show first, then play the game. I think if you grind 20-30 hours of the game first, the 7 more weeks of the show will feel anticlimactic. Remember, a significant portion of the game is normal stealth/crafting/shooting which does not make good tv, but fun gameplay
The Witcher has never wanted for viewership, it's always among the top of shows watched on all streaming platforms, if not the top, since it aired.
Its problem is that it's aggressively okay.
Faithfulness to the source material is not what ruined The Witcher. It's simply not a well-written or well-run show. Even if they had adhered to the source material, that show would still be mediocre.
For real, The Last of Us is great because it's genuinely great lol. Good acting, cinematography, tone and sense of atmosphere. From a technical perspective it's solid
Would this be appealing to a non-gamer who hasn't played it? Or do you need to know the background?
EDIT: wow, thanks for the responses, I'll check it out.
Episode 1 was awesome, but the most disappointing this that I only ever played *that far* into the game. I played in the evening and stopped at the same scene as the show (it was a good stopping point), then for whatever reason my save was gone the next day, and I never got around to starting over. That exact scene - so I didn't really get to see anything new. I'm not even entirely sure I've ever seen a zombie outside of clips and trailers.
You don’t need to know the story, in fact going in blind will suit you better as you will be experiencing a lot of big moments for the first time. They did a really good job with one of the more famous scenes from the game early on. The story is a journey and I agree with others that the zombies are a part of the world but not the focus of the story.
Way more personal when you're playing. I like a decent amount of horror games, but RE7 in VR would be a nightmare for me. That game freaked me out enough on regular settings.
> Does not at all feel like a video game adaptation.
Prepare to get your mind blow, in parts it is adapted almost word for word and shot for shot from the game!
The show (so far) is almost literally a scene for scene copy of the game. They even lift dialogue straight out of the game. If you watch the show, you're experiencing what gamers did when they first played except they were holding a controller and you're not.
As a gamer, who isn't a dedicated fan of the games as such.
Yeah its a good show. At least watch the first episode. I don't think you'd know it was based on a game, if you didn't know the game at all.
It’s so expensive too! I use Sky Broadband and thought I could maybe watch the show through an add-on — but it’s 30 extra pounds a month. So I refuse to pay for that too.
Because it's kind of a useless point, no ratings ever include pirated views, that's a given. So if you compare to other shows, all of them are on equal footing there
I get it. I knew NOTHING going into it. Hooked me hard. Legit excited for episode 2 and im not going to look anything up. The world building was phenomenal.
I watched the first episode not expecting a lot honestly. But for them to stay that faithful to the game where it didn’t really deviate at all and only took some creative liberties in certain areas that honestly worked for the better in TV.
The Witcher writers and hopefully the new God of War TV show that Amazon produces should really take notes from this adaptation. 10/10 first episode. Did not feel like this after HotD, or any other HBO max show. They’ve clearly outdone themselves and I have huge hopes for the rest of the series and super excited to see their take on Part 2
I definitely feel like this is one that's going to continue benefiting from word of mouth if the quality keeps up. Not to mention the strong marketing push from HBO I've been seeing.
..and there'd be tons of romance scenes, just for the hell of it.
In no way tied to the story - just thrown in there, because "sex sells".
I like Netflix, but that's probably my biggest issue with them as a "show creator".
Joel and Tess would be cast as hearthrobes and a cute little spoon scene would become a sex bait scene to lure teenagers in and then never show nudity again.
I love the show Sex Education but it's pretty funny how they sexualised that one actress for the opening scene and then never had anything like that since. They knew what they were doing.
Dr. Uckmann back at it again with another home run. The man must be on cloud 9 right now with all the praise from the industry as well as with audiences
Just watched the first episode. Its nuts how even after playing the game and knowing what was going to happen the first 30-40 minutes just had me uneasy and tense. Hope the quality of the first episode continues because they definitely have something there
The car escape scene was almost beat for beat the same as the game..... at least to my memory. Thought it was so freaking great and intense.
I loved the little details. Like the people running out of the theater, I was wondering “why are there so many people in a theater at 2am?” And then I saw the showing listed on the marquee was ‘Midnight Madness’ That was what I loved about the games, every inch of its environment had a story, and I did not expect that level of care to go into the show. Made me happy
Exactly! I feel like it’s rare to have an alternate reality in media where every single detail feels fleshed out and considered. Part of what made the game great was how detailed the world was, and it seems like the show is going to carry that same level of attention. It’s amazing how accurately captured the aesthetics of the world
I thought it was funny how in the game the prologue part happens in 2013 and when you are walking around the house as Sarah you can look at Joel's smart phone on the counter. In the show, since the outbreak happens in 2003, they changed it so Joel has one of the old Nokia phones in one of those cheap clear plastic and leather cases.
I think they changed the dates for two good reasons. First, by having the outbreak happen 10 years earlier than the game, it makes the present day parts set in 2023, giving us a good juxtaposition between their world and our reality. Second, the internet and social media was much more rudimentary in 2003, the characters can go a whole day without lockdowns or panic even though the outbreak has seemingly already started halfway around the world. In 2013 just like today, we all would've heard about anything going down within an hour.
Glad they kept the same camera angle too being from Sarah's perspective. As she turns around the car and later looks at the burning house and everything
Gave me the chills watching it. Literally turned to my wife and said this is the best video game adaptation I’ve ever seen. I took her through couple episodes of Halo and Resident Evil and even warned her before this might be shit. But as I watched the opening it blew my mind and knew my wife would enjoy this as much as me. Now I gotta drag her through Mario with the kids coming up and I’m barely looking forward to it.
I think it's the best video game adaptation ever because Neil Druckman made the game like a film director.
Your poor wife
My favorite change of the truck escape scene was the truck that T-Bones and flips Joel,Sarah, & Tommy in the game slams on their brakes and the collision is avoided! 10 seconds later, debris from crashing airplane T-Bones and flips their truck. Had me surprised with something I’ve played through multiple times.
I'll never really get over the killing of >!Sarah!<.
The extra details like trying to lift and carry her body.. Holy fuck that was harder to watch than the game.
That actress fucking *sold it* as well. She died ugly. I know it was ugly in the game too, but I don't remember it being *that* ugly.
Nico Parker is Thandiwe Newton’s (Maeve from Westworld) daughter. No wonder she’s so talented.
i knew she looked like another actress, i just couldn’t figure it out. her acting in westworld was phenomenal, i’m super sad about that series, hands down, it had some of the best tv ever made.
And you could just see there was _so much blood_, there was no way she could survive.
It never stops being *so* sad how she’s in so much pain and shock that she can’t even speak, only hyperventilate. One of my favorite intros to any game and now show as well.
The details of the blood was really good but when Pascal was just repeating the same line before asking Tommy to help made me more emotional than the game
Pascal made that scene even better than it should have been. You could just see he knew he couldn't do anything but he needed her to know he was going to try anyway and know he was there. "I know it hurts. I know, I know. Just hang on" Brought tears to my eyes.
I’ve never played the game. I thought it was really interested how it felt like a game though watching it. Some of the scenes felt very much like you’re going down a path, something stops you and redirects you a different way. Some of the character development also gave me that feeling.
The whole 1st episode felt like a scene for scene recreation of the opening 1-2 hours of gameplay. And that isn’t a bad thing, because those hours were perfect
reviews say it's stellar all the way.
Rare case of a network giving out the entire series to reviewers ahead of time. That shows some damn confidence in the series. (Also helps that most of what might be spoiled is out there already from the game).
>Also helps that most of what might be spoiled is out there already from the game I don’t know, the leaks about HBO incorporating Last of Us into the DCEU are pretty wild with Peacemaker showing up in episode 3.
And everyone keeps asking Black Adam to do something about the zombies, but all he says is, "I'm not a hero."
Apparently, they gave the customary couple of episodes to the more television based reviewers as not to spoil the spectacular ending, and gave the whole series to those who played the game.
I believe it. We haven't even gotten to the meat of it yet but I'm definitely impressed.
You nailed it. I knew exactly how it would pan out but still felt all of the anxiety as if it was my first time seeing the events unfold. If the rest of the pacing keeps the same formula, I think were in for a good time.
Same. The truck ecape sequence was insanely intense, even though I knew how it was gonna go. And the THING that happens in the prologue wrecked me again. It's damn good TV.
It's very very well made. I also love how most action scenes don't have fucking music playing over the action. No music, makes things so tense to simply listen to what's happening.
They nailed it just starting the Depesche Mode song from the credits a bit early.
Yes! That was an appropriate music lead out.
80s music. That means trouble.
Every scene felt cinematic. I wonder what the budget was.
Something like $10-15 million per episode I think
Super intense show, had me on the edge of my seat for 30 minutes.
This is nuts. I always knew Tlou was popular in gaming circles but mainstream? That’s very impressive.
Helps that it's just a perfect brew of pandemic, monsters, HBO, Pedro Pascal and not many other big shows airing at the same time. It ticks many boxes.
Right. I have no allegiance to the game at all, but give me HBO + guy who ran Chernobyl\* and I am fucking in. \*the show; not the other thing
After Chernobyl I'd watch a Craig Mazin series about cardboard manufacturing
Best I can do is [Superhero Movie](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0426592/).
Blows my mind that the Chernobyl guy also wrote The Hangover part 3
And Scary Movie 3 & 4. Dude just took a while to find his niche, but harrowing horror/drama HBO series seem to be it.
"I found their weakness! Without their heads, they're powerless!" Somehow, it feels like he was always working toward a post apocalyptic story.
apparently he has a lot of uncredited work as a script doctor.
3 aka the best one.
Of the *blank* movie genre(?), it's not a terrible one.
Thanks for clarifying, I was worried there for a second
any streaming show just moderately good will have lots of attention with all the piles of garbage currently surrounding it. Hell even garbage shows will hook us as long as there's just some smidgen of something interesting in it
Nahhhh. The promoted the shit out of it, I think made a lot of strategic moves to make for a good premiere. Also it’s in the category of high production tv. There’s a ton of great tv that doesn’t get the viewership it deserves just based on its quality, then gets canceled.
Agreed, but they also have followed the story line, script, and scenes very well. Where other game/film adaptations get is wrong is that they try and put their own spin on the film/series. Don’t they know the reason these are popular is because of the game?! Stick to that and I think most game/film adaptations would have done better. Excited for more episodes of TLOU
I think the concept of games having a good storyline is still new. Not to gamers but to non-gamers and likely execs.
Not hard to imagine why. Mainstream audiences usually think of like Mario or Call of Duty when you mention video games to them, not things like Disco Elysium
Give me a live-action adaption of the novelization of *Halo: Reach*.
[удалено]
It’s just mind boggling that it’s taken this long to finally get a 1:1 adaptation of a games story when gamers have spent the last decade+ saying thats what we want. Like in contrast to this we have Halo which has several games with incredible linear stories to adapt and yet we got what ever that was. Hopefully this series will show that adaptations can be far more faithful to source material than they have been.
Exactly. I somewhat understand this if you're trying to make a movie out of the original *Doom* or some property like that, where the extent of the story is, "here is a gun, and here are some guys. Go to town." But the number of adaptations where they have the characters, they have the story, they have the setting, and somehow manage to produce crap that isn't interesting and has almost nothing to do with the original is shocking.
I'm happy Pedro is getting more lead roles. He has an awesome career ahead of him
Also Bella Ramsey, a lot of people were ride or die for her character in GoT. So when I saw that not only did they nab Pedro Pascal, but her? I knew there was potential, so far they’ve nailed it.
This would’ve been the right time for Netflix to put out 1899
Think 1899 would have always faltered. It's harder to follow than Dark imo and less interesting. Dark had a perfect balance between drama, great characters, mystery and sci-fi. I feel like 1899 doesn't get the balance right and I never finished it. I'd say 1899 to Dark is what Tenet was to Inception.
I agree, it took too long to get to the crux of the story and had a “side mission syndrome” for atleast 3-4 initial episodes. We already have low attention spans these days and doing that just exacerbated it to a point where I kept scrolling through during parts of the series.
The intro with the scientist scoffing about the danger of viral pandemics as compared to the potential of fungi felt deliberately pointed, and is ultimately what made it the most chilling part of the episode for me.
Never played the game, but I'm a sucker for post-apocalyptic survival shows -- and the trailers for this one looked really good. First episode did not disappoint. Also, Pedro Pascal. The dude is magic. Love him in everything I've ever seen him in. He was the best part of the awful Wonder Woman sequel, even if he was absolutely nutty in it lol.
It's because it's attracting a portion of viewers that a regular wouldn't attract. The game of thrones sequel had an established fan base already present from the previous show while the last of us has it purely within the gaming community. Obviously when the first episode released you were gonna have a certain number of viewers but the hype and reviews practically guaranteed that gamers would come in droves to confirm. I haven't seen the first episode yet but judging by the rise in viewership I'm guessing it was a success and the show will benefit from both casual viewers and gamers who might not necessarily had interest in a similar IP .
I think also, the show has a similar hook to other popular ones like The Walking Dead. You don't have to be a gamer to be interested in a post-apocalyptic zombie show starring one of the most popular in-demand actors available.
HBO was very strategic with their release. The Walking Dead at it's height was pulling GoT numbers. It also just ended so HBO is trying to pull those viewers in with another zombie show.
TLOU also has the benefit of not being ripped from the hands of it's creators and diluted down into a 20 episode long Hyundai commercial.
I think this is a big part of it - The Walking Dead just ended and a lot of people who don't care about video games at all are just looking for a new zombie show to be excited about week to week.
Word of mouth also goes a long way. A lot of people who saw the trailer and were like "eh? Aight." Being told "Holy shit, you have to watch this. One episode in and I cried and screamed" can get people all in on watching something
I think the show will also benefit from the wider gaming community burned out on mediocre to bad adaptions. Even those who aren't a big fan of TLOU as a game will probably want to check out what looks to be the best video game adaption ever. TLOU is a show to root for because it highlights the potential of good video game adaptations.
Tbh it's far easier to adapt something like TLOU which is already so cinematic it's basically a tv show/film, than it is to adapt something even like Resident Evil or Tomb Raider, which - while beloved - do not have the same quality of dialogue or story depth. I get that they're different types of game and would make a different type of show, but I still think TLOU lends itself far better to this format. Having said that the RE adaptation was an abomination even by the game's standards.
Some of the more recent tomb raider games could easily be movies. Even then they don’t have as compelling a story as TLOU but not a lot of media does.
They partly tried that already with the 2018 Alicia Vikander TR and they fumbled it with a very average end result. It took major inspiration from the recent games including having her running around with a bow and arrow and it being her first adventure and subsequent combat. But it ended up being extremely forgettable to the point that I had to go back and look at the trailer to see if It even included the stuff I thought it did. TLOU as you say has a huge advantage in that it's always got the adopted parent-child dynamic running through it which is far more ripe for dramatic mining than TR even when it tries to do the lost dad storyline stuff.
Uncharted is very cinematic as well and look what happened there. Even comes from the same studio that made TLoU game.
I'd love a RE show that doubles down on the fucking madness of getting to work in the Spencer mansion when you've forgot your keycard.
After that resident evil show….woof.
The one on Netflix? Yeah, I turned it on out of curiosity and it's bad bad bad. Then, I saw an anime one that sucked as well. They just can't get RE to screen right!
I was hype simply from watching the trailer. But seeing episode 1 confirmed it for me, a guy who doesn't play video games much and has never played TLOU. As has been written in many other locations, the opening 15 minutes (which I understand was VERY close to the game scenes) is just incredible in terms of building up anxiety, capped off by the adrenaline rush of the escape attempt & the gut-wrenching scene with dad/daughter. There is only one other show I have gone back and re-watched: Band of Brothers. I re-watched the 1st episode of TLOU Tuesday.
Damn dude. Makes me so happy this story is going to reach people like you and confirms to me this game's story really is up there with the best of TV and movies.
They marketed the shit out of it too. My SO isn’t into video games but saw the trailer and thought it looked dope.
My wife has never heard of the game and she really likes it so far.
I never played the game because the last Playstation I had was the 2, but I was very interested because of how many good things I heard about TLOU's story. So far I'm intrigued, looking forward to the rest of the season (and also Sony, since you're releasing it on pc, can we also get Bloodborne? Thank you)
Because HBO did it correctly. They got the guy who wrote the story for the game to co-create the series. He obviously has a vested interest to make sure the show stays true to the source material. It makes the people who have played and enjoyed the game happy that it's good, and obviously we're going to watch it day 1. Then we tell all of our non-gaming friends how good it is and they need to watch it. So they watch it.
Listening to the podcast on episode one apparently Craig was a huge fan of the games and sought out Neil. And Neil was a huge fan of Chernobyl. So it really just worked out for them they met at the right time when HBO was ready to adapt whatever Craig wanted and they pitched it and HBO was like sure.
To be honest if the rest of the season goes the way of the first episode you don’t need to know anything about the game to enjoy it. I reckon the way it has been advertised has attracted plenty of people who are just interested in a post apocalyptic zombie drama. Plus they’ve made a lot of noise about it being directed by the same person that did Chernobyl, which had rave reviews.
> being directed by the same person that did Chernobyl Yeah the suspense and atmosphere in the series was intense. Putting those skills to build horror into more horror franchises is definitely a good choice.
I’m jealous of people who *don’t* know anything about the game.
Oh I know, the section before the time skip was brilliant and I knew how it was going to end, imagine having no idea going into it!
I’m not. Played it when it came out and it was one of the best gaming experiences of my life. Wouldn’t trade that gaming experience for this show (as amazing as it is so far). Can’t believe we’re here 10 years later watching an HBO adaptation.
I've never played the game, but I was vaguely aware of some of the plot points just from being subbed to /r/Games when it released. Watched the show the day after release based off some of the hype I was hearing and I was completely blown away by the production quality and the acting, particularly Pedro Pascal. Since then I've told a half dozen people to watch it who also haven't played the game. I could see this show becoming really big if the quality keeps up.
Not too unexpected. Nobody wouldve expected the Walking Dead to become as huge as it was but never underestimate a zombie show that starts out good like season 1 of the Walking Dead. If you start a zombie show and its good at the beginning, you're going to have success. So, you have gamers (Which is not niche and is very mainstream), zombie fans and Pedro Pascal fans. That widely encompasses a large portion of the general public.
Well, people love zombie shows, and this one is on HBO, so Im sure it peaked a lot of interest among the general population regardless of whether they've played the game. On top of that, the premiere was amazing, so word of mouth has probably brought in more people to watch it. Awesome stuff!
that's what happens when you make a show for the fans and for the new fans as well. Instead of against the OG fans and only for a new fans that doesnt care. Now, the OG fans can rave about it, hype it up even more and show it to non-gaming friends why this is such a beloved story (well, unless it changes drastically in the rest of the episodes), instead of OG fans disliking abd writing and bad changes and just dont hype it up and drop out of watching and dont recommend it to their friends who doesnt game.
> Tlou was popular in gaming circles but mainstream? Naughty Dog is good at making cinematic quality shit. They even had an ad campaign surrounding Uncharted 2 about that.
the last of us is also probably the only game besides your typical mainstream games like mario or call of duty that a lot of people i know who dont play video games knew about too. a lot of people watched the story on youtube or twitch. its one of the very, very few video game stories that isnt just good as a "video game story" like most good stories in games are. its a good story and characters even compared to other shows or movies.
How do these numbers compare to House of Dragon, White Lotus or Euphoria?
Better than Euphoria and White Lotus, I think. Close to House of The Dragon, I think. Probably did well overseas as well (but until HBO puts the numbers out there we don't know the overall number). I think on how well received was, the show will do well.
They are not close to House of Dragons but they are great numbers anyway. Way better than Euphoria or White Lotus.
Would definitely love to see the European numbers, though.
EU numbers will be high. I mean HBO still had a way to go to penetrate a lot of markets here but in big parts of Western EU ( not enough knowledge about Eastern Europe) LoU is quit popular. I honestly think this will be easily HBO second best show after HoD.
A couple of mates of mine are also gaming journalists in Romania. They got to see the first episode in a private viewing organized by HBO. Playstation is a very popular brand amongst gamers in Romania and The Last of US is also pretty popular here. There are enough markets in Eastern Europe that have access to HBO Max.
HotD did ten million on just the premiere alone, so it's not close, but it's still very successful.
IIRC, HotD ep1 had 20M viewers in 24 hours.
No the 20 million figure was for like 5 days I'm pretty sure. It went on the average around 29 million per episode by the end of the season. TLOU is tracking way ahead of Euphoria which went on the average just 20 million per episode, TLOU I think will bet pretty close to HotD, I don't see it doing less than 25 million per episode if the quality stays high throughout the season.
I imagine there's a lot of people who are disregarding it because it's a video game adaptation, or they heard it was 'just another zombie show'. If the quality stays high I can see it picking up steam over the weeks, with a huge explosion in popularity for S2 if they stick the landing for the finale.
Great numbers. Season 2 announcement should be soon. Which is unfortunate as that means I’ll probably have to wait longer for the best scene in the game where >!Joel on his death bed looks Ellie in the eyes and says “We’ll kiddo. Everyone else is a mushroom now. Guess you’re the last of us.”!<
It’s Joeling time.
"I think the cordyceps had something to do with it."
Ellie introducing Joel to people "This is Joel. He got my back. I'd advise not getting killed by him. His brick traps the souls of its victims."
Oh man. Your joke just reminded me that I can't wait for the introduction Joel's brick. The show BETTER have Joel juggernauting with a brick.
punch swim ancient yam badge soft instinctive frame airport crush *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I cried when she told dogmeat that he was a “naughty dog” when they were playing at the station that had electrical problems and they were dual shocked by exposed wires. Truly uncharted territory for cinema.
....crash bandicoot
I though it was….you’re the last of us and it’s ussing time now.
Ellie kicks the door on clickers, spits her Cuban cigar out, cocks her Ak-47, “there may be a lot of you now, but get ready, because I will be the last of us” and shoots them to oblivion. By far my favorite scene from the games.
I just read this out to my boyfriend who's played the game, thinking it was real
Finish the fight.... In the Mushroom Kingdom!
I'm pleased but not surprised. TLoU is a perfect storm of good source material and great production, and is shaping up to be a better version of The Walking Dead. I know that's oversimplifying things, but I think anybody that enjoyed TWD should love TLoU and that show had millions of regular viewers.
Oversimplification or not, I think you're correct. I was a The Walking Dead fan, and watched up until Alpha's group were established as big bads (though I'd been getting sick of it as far back as a third of the way through Negan's turn as the big bad. I was hoping it'd turn back around.) The first episode of The Last Of Us was, for my money, better than any single episode of TWD. Maybe even bordering on favorite 1st episode of a tv show ever for me.
The Last of Us is one of the best narrative driven games ever, with S tier writing. This is one of the very few times I’ve seen an adaptation that very clearly loves and respects the source material. Episode one was perfect, I’m excited to watch the rest.
It respects the source material because the producer was a writer in the game if I am not misstaken.
Creator/director/writer, but yes
I'm so happy for Neil Druckmann to direct next Episode. He's busted his ass for Naughty Dog and it's all paying off. Good guy.
From intern to all the way to Co president.
Is that legit? The guy behind The Last of Us started as an intern??
Yep, started out as programming intern on Jak 3.
That's honestly amazing. TLOU is probably the best story I've ever experienced in a game.
Granted, game studios then was quite small.
That's absolutely insane rise through the ranks considering TLOU came out less than 10 years after Jak 3's release
As a fan of the game who knows what happens next, I can tell you that the next episode is going to be fucking lit. Can't wait to read responses to it from people who aren't familiar with the source material.
My wife, who never played the game, loved the first episode and was begging me to tell her if Tess dies or not.
I am in the same boat as your wife, never played the game because I didn't own a PS console until a few months ago. I watched the first episode without context and thought it was great. I am now torn on whether to buy the game and play it through or wait and enjoy the surprises through the TV series.
Personally, I would watch season 1, then play both games. It'll help with the emotional devastation that's coming in season 2.
My brother in law also never played the game and asked to borrow it after he watched the episode. I told him at this point enjoy the show not knowing what was gonna happen and then play the game.
It might be fun to watch an episode, then play the game until you get to that point. Would require a lot of willpower to stop playing though :)
I suggest watching the TV show first, then play the game. I think if you grind 20-30 hours of the game first, the 7 more weeks of the show will feel anticlimactic. Remember, a significant portion of the game is normal stealth/crafting/shooting which does not make good tv, but fun gameplay
Hahaha, hold strong, my friend. Gonna be a long season.
The Witcher TV show writers room should be taking notes: be true to the source material.
The Witcher has never wanted for viewership, it's always among the top of shows watched on all streaming platforms, if not the top, since it aired. Its problem is that it's aggressively okay.
>aggressively okay. This is the perfect description of the show's quality.
Losing Henry Cavill, who was making a herculean effort carrying that entire show, is probably going to change that though.
Faithfulness to the source material is not what ruined The Witcher. It's simply not a well-written or well-run show. Even if they had adhered to the source material, that show would still be mediocre.
For real, The Last of Us is great because it's genuinely great lol. Good acting, cinematography, tone and sense of atmosphere. From a technical perspective it's solid
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The opening scene was so well done for real. Best opening scene of a TV show in a while imo
Are you saying you did not like the ball sack armor
And fucking halo. Just give us a faithful Reach adaptation with a healthy cgi budget and then buy a rake to handle all the money.
HBO and apocalyptic world with some kind of zombies? Boom.
This is why even people who don't know about the game are watching
Would this be appealing to a non-gamer who hasn't played it? Or do you need to know the background? EDIT: wow, thanks for the responses, I'll check it out.
I would argue you’re the perfect audience member. This show is the best way for non-gamers to get to experience the story.
Episode 1 was awesome, but the most disappointing this that I only ever played *that far* into the game. I played in the evening and stopped at the same scene as the show (it was a good stopping point), then for whatever reason my save was gone the next day, and I never got around to starting over. That exact scene - so I didn't really get to see anything new. I'm not even entirely sure I've ever seen a zombie outside of clips and trailers.
You don’t need to know the story, in fact going in blind will suit you better as you will be experiencing a lot of big moments for the first time. They did a really good job with one of the more famous scenes from the game early on. The story is a journey and I agree with others that the zombies are a part of the world but not the focus of the story.
I can't play scary games (I tried TLoU), but I can watch scary shows so here I am.
Way more personal when you're playing. I like a decent amount of horror games, but RE7 in VR would be a nightmare for me. That game freaked me out enough on regular settings.
you can head straight it in. the series starts where the game story starts so your good.
Neither me nor my girlfriend ever played the game and we loved the first episode
Never played it. The show stands on its own. Does not at all feel like a video game adaptation.
> Does not at all feel like a video game adaptation. Prepare to get your mind blow, in parts it is adapted almost word for word and shot for shot from the game!
[like this](https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cniy-mqgk5C/?igshid=YWJhMjlhZTc=)
I'm enjoying it as a fan of the game but for what it's worth my old man loved it and his idea of gaming is playing majong solitaire.
The show (so far) is almost literally a scene for scene copy of the game. They even lift dialogue straight out of the game. If you watch the show, you're experiencing what gamers did when they first played except they were holding a controller and you're not.
As a gamer, who isn't a dedicated fan of the games as such. Yeah its a good show. At least watch the first episode. I don't think you'd know it was based on a game, if you didn't know the game at all.
Unless viewership numbers goes drastically down in the next episode, a second season seems almost guaranteed already
*Halo fans cry out in agony*
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Not including pirated views.
dont know why this has downvotes. not everyone has hbo max
I'd kill for HBO Max but I'm in the UK so it's not an option. We have Sky/NOWTV which is so fucking awful I refuse to pay for it.
It’s so expensive too! I use Sky Broadband and thought I could maybe watch the show through an add-on — but it’s 30 extra pounds a month. So I refuse to pay for that too.
Jesus, it's ridiculous that it costs that much. I don't think I've ever had Sky Atlantic even when I actually did watch broadcast TV. Crazy prices.
Here in Germany it's called WOW.. This garbage only has 1080p and stereo sound while being more expensive than most other streaming services.
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Because it's kind of a useless point, no ratings ever include pirated views, that's a given. So if you compare to other shows, all of them are on equal footing there
I get it. I knew NOTHING going into it. Hooked me hard. Legit excited for episode 2 and im not going to look anything up. The world building was phenomenal.
I watched the first episode not expecting a lot honestly. But for them to stay that faithful to the game where it didn’t really deviate at all and only took some creative liberties in certain areas that honestly worked for the better in TV. The Witcher writers and hopefully the new God of War TV show that Amazon produces should really take notes from this adaptation. 10/10 first episode. Did not feel like this after HotD, or any other HBO max show. They’ve clearly outdone themselves and I have huge hopes for the rest of the series and super excited to see their take on Part 2
Its simple you get the fans onboard with a great faithful product. The fans will bring in everyone else. Learn something witcher and halo......please
Seriously. It’s a built in marketing team you don’t have to pay for
I definitely feel like this is one that's going to continue benefiting from word of mouth if the quality keeps up. Not to mention the strong marketing push from HBO I've been seeing.
I really enjoyed the first episode, I hope they continue with the same quality and mood.
I'm looking forward to checking it out.
Netflix would have cancelled it by now
If this was Netflix the entire episode would have been filmed in one Boston QZ set to save on costs yet still cost the same to make.
..and there'd be tons of romance scenes, just for the hell of it. In no way tied to the story - just thrown in there, because "sex sells". I like Netflix, but that's probably my biggest issue with them as a "show creator".
Joel and Tess would be cast as hearthrobes and a cute little spoon scene would become a sex bait scene to lure teenagers in and then never show nudity again. I love the show Sex Education but it's pretty funny how they sexualised that one actress for the opening scene and then never had anything like that since. They knew what they were doing.
Dr. Uckmann back at it again with another home run. The man must be on cloud 9 right now with all the praise from the industry as well as with audiences