Westworld's sequel Futureworld ('76) Applied to HBO's Westworld ///"Spoilers"///

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First a preface about spoilers:  

So, I put spoilers in quotation marks because you will have many things revealed to you by watching Futureworld ('76), or the original 1973 Westworld, or even the short-lived 1980 TV series Beyond Westworld.  But is it really a spoiler when the original stuff has been out there for so long?

I can see how BM's Jim can feel that reveals are more enjoyable in the frame of a 90 minute movie as opposed to a week-by-week, hour-by-hour TV series that spans 3 months.  It's the same way how a binge-watch of a TV series can be way more enjoyable than being on the cusp of a new series and having to wait for the next weekly installment.

I get that people want to watch a show with blinders on, and not try to look at internet speculation, or maybe previous source material like GoT novels, True Blood novels, or Walking Dead graphic novels.  I'm usually that person too, but eventually I did start listening to the spoiler sections of BM and peaking at spoiler sections of message boards.

Westworld is a little tricky just because the source material has been out there for 40 years.  Is it spoilery if I read Great Gatsby before watching the 2013 movie and find out Daisy dies?  Still though, I had not seen the 40 year old stuff before the HBO series, and I totally understand how some would want to watch the HBO series as a new thing.  People should have that choice, and so it should be protected.

For those who have seen the old stuff or are now inclined to watch the originals to reveal what may happen in the new series, I'd like to make correlations between the old and the new here.

We just had the big reveal that Bernard is a bot.  Now it throws into question, who is AI and who is human.  In Futureworld, the 2 journalists discover that the entire control room running the park is being run by bots.  Now, that is not to say that everyone behind the curtain in HBO WW is a bot.  In Futureworld, Dr. Schneider explains that one of the lessons they learned from the first park meltdown was that human error in the control room contributed to the meltdown.  So controller personnel at the park at one time were human, but now they're bots.  It's not clear in HBO WW if the occurrence within the park 30 years ago was that park meltdown or not.

Also in Futureworld, many of the skilled labor personnel, electricians and such, are also bots.  But there is one who is human. So not all are bots, but most are.  You also see the surgeons, who are the same role as Felix & Slyvester..."Livestock Management Techs."  It's not clear if they are bots.  But I think they are.  Maeve questions Felix on how he truly knows if he is human.  Felix looks slightly horrified and unsure when presented with this doubt.  Bernard starts hyperventilating when Ford reveals to him he is a bot.  In the Futureworld movie poster it says "Is this you...or are YOU you?  FUTUREWORLD  where you can't tell the mortals from the machines...even when you look in the mirror."

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It's also being discussed that the bot being printed in the secret basement will replace Theresa.  In Futureworld, DELOS clones guests of importance:  the 2 journalists, a Russian general, a Japanese politician.  HBO's WW website has a privacy clause in their Ts & Cs that states: 

(b) By entering the Delos Destinations Port of Entry, you acknowledge that Delos, Inc. controls the rights to and remains the sole owner of, in perpetuity: all skin cells, bodily fluids, secretions, excretions, hair samples, saliva, sweat, blood, and any other bodily functions not listed here. Delos, Inc. reserves the right to use this property in any way, shape, or form in which the entity sees fit.

So I think anyone visiting Westworld or working for Delos can be cloned.  In Futureworld, the head of Delos Dr. Duffy (a bot), tells the journalists that Delos cloned them for favorable news coverage.  And they cloned the general and politican as well, to protect the interests of Delos out in the real world.  I think that HBO's WW will soon start down this path where bots are among us.  I think Charlotte could be a bot, just as Dr. Duffy, a higher up in Delos, was a bot.  Dr. Ford's scheme against Theresa seemed to have gone back as far as when Bernard and Theresa were intimate.  Then Charlotte arrives and was also instrumental in setting the trap for Theresa.  But I could also see Charlotte as not being a bot.  Ford could have picked up intel from Hector, frozen and handcuffed in bed looking right at Theresa and Charlotte as they revealed their plot.

Nolan is getting criticism now for this new viewer awareness, where anyone can be a bot.  All he is doing, so far, is being true to the original, 40 year old, source material.  There are probably die hard sci-fi cult classic fans, a tiny fraction of people, who are rejoicing over this.  This wall being torn down, this reality where anyone can be a bot and arguments against it are 40 years old.  It's the foundation of this sci-fi.  So Nolan knew this when he took this on.  The new, more interesting thing to look for is how he will retell this story, and how will he expand it further.

Beyond Westworld, the TV series, only made 5 episodes.  And only 3 of those 5 were televised, despite the series being nominated for 2 Emmy's.  (Outsanding Achievement in Art Direction, and Outsanding Achievement in Art Direction Make Up).  But before the TV series was cut short, it started to expand even further with Delos trying to control war, world energy, power, even the whole world.  So there is a lot of frontier for Nolan, who apparently has 5 seasons already mapped out.  How soon do we leave the Wild West and enter Roman times, or medieval times?  How soon are we skiing on the red sand slopes of Mars like Futureworld?  

 

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