Plotlines

What I have to say about Westworld or how I find the series is not quite simple, because somehow it would simultaneously imply that other sci-fi series are not particularly good, which I absolutely do not mean to say. But let’s give it a try.

Westworld in its series form, thereby excluding the 1973 film, belongs for me to a kind of sci-fi series that can be equated a bit with fine dining. I would include Foundation or Raised by Wolves in this category, for example. However, I don’t mean the quality of the entire series, but only the visual representation in its entirety (including DVD box covers, promo material, etc.). To draw a comparison, let’s use Stargate SG1 on the other side. Both Westworld and Stargate SG1 can be classified as sci-fi genre, but each has a completely different visual language.

But it’s not just the visual language, it’s also the entire design, the visuality, the representation of future technology or technology in general, which is all a bit finer, more filigree in Westworld than in Stargate SG1. Certainly, this also has to do with the corresponding development phase of the technology shown. Of course, the respective styles of the corresponding series also fit wonderfully. If you were to swap this, I think it wouldn’t fit at all.

I would like to explicitly emphasize again that this is not a form of evaluation, but simply a different form of visuality that appeals to me here. At the same time, this can certainly be described as a special form of aesthetics, simply a different way of making. This is not only related to individual scenes or events in the series itself, but to the series in its entirety.

However, I don’t believe that this necessarily has anything to do with the budget, although I also don’t believe that it’s completely independent of it. Maybe both, adjusted for inflation, would even have a similar budget, just with different priorities? I will definitely find out more about this when we continue here with the corresponding articles.

But could you at first glance also count Star Trek: Strange New Worlds or Star Trek: Discovery among the kind of visuality that Westworld reflects? The longer I play tennis with this thought, the less it fits. It’s also this somewhat cleaner style, but it doesn’t hold back as much as in Westworld. Here too, completely value-free, I mean, also due to the setting, that Star Trek is much more striking just because of all the colors. The whole production design is different, also in terms of fittings, technology, and clothing.

In any case, I particularly liked this form of visuality in Westworld, even though I have to admit to myself that I don’t remember much from the first season I watched. Which is also the reason for this article and for a hopefully soon-to-happen rewatch, because I now have seasons two and three as well and would like to know how the series develops. Besides, I’d like to see Leonardo Nam again in a role other than Morimoto from The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006).

So, now I’ve talked a lot about style and visuality and probably talked myself into a corner, I hope it’s become clear what I’m getting at.

But of course, Westworld doesn’t just consist of visual style, there’s a lot more to it.

Just this utopian depiction of the world that has developed so far that it can create its own, non-digital, real worlds that, at first glance, are perfect. Of course, it’s not perfect, not at all, and the series begins just as this perfection starts to crumble. It’s not necessarily a new concept, but sometimes it’s also about reinterpreting an existing concept. Yes, many tried and many failed at it, but not Westworld.

Because Westworld also has various elements that keep giving the whole thing new momentum. Secrets that should never have been revealed, things that, due to the belief and hubris of some, should never have been uncovered. Ah, that makes my series-loving heart go BOOM BOOM a little!

Because if all this wasn’t enough, extremely interesting actors join the already mentioned. Evan Rachel Wood, Thandiwe Newton, and Jeffrey Wright, to name just a few. Even James Marsden, who rather annoyed me as Scott Summers in the X-Men films, I like very much here. But Anthony Hopkins, Ed Harris, and Luke Hemsworth should not go unmentioned either.

Now that I’ve written all this down, I realize that my initial attempt to describe the visuality is not limited to the visuality alone, but that the story told, and the actors also make a significant contribution, as is the case with any good series.