ALL SCI-FI

[Randy]

The year is 2048, and crime is as rampant as ever. Fortunately, the police have a new tool in their arsenal — Synthetics, robots who are tasked with assuring the safety of the humans who created them. But not everyone is pleased with the changes. Detective John Kennex, who has been wounded in action, returns to the force and learns that his new partner is a Synthetic named Dorian.

Dorian's programming is very different than that of the normal Synthetic, adding a capability to experience emotions which makes him seem almost human, but John still mistrusts the machine as his partner.

[Bud Brewster]

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I was really enjoying this series — and then they yanked the plug on it. How many episodes did they make before it was cancelled?
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[bulldogtrekker]

13 episodes. I watched most of the episodes and enjoyed the series.

[Bud Brewster]

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Yep, me too, BDT. Here's the trailer on Youtube.

We should watch these together sometime soon.

_______ Almost Human (TV series - 2013) - Trailer


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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This show should have succeeded, and I enjoyed the limited number of episodes we got. I was surprised to learn tonight that Amazon has a 3-DVD set with the 13 episodes that were made.

It's priced at $29.99, which means each episode is $2.30. That seems a bit steep, so I guess I'll hold off until I can find a better deal.


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Krel.]

The show did okay in the ratings, but when the network bought "Gotham", they needed money to pay for the extra costs. "Almost Human" was where the money came from.

A real shame, as I really liked the show, and the stars. Probably why it died.

A funny story. In the pilot one of the villains used a "Time Cop" pistol. It turns out that Karl Urban is a real fan of props, and he wanted to know why the bad guy had a better looking gun than the hero. Because the "Time Cop" guns have been used so much, that they are not up to the rigors of being a hero prop any longer. The solution was to make a new gun for Karl Urban.

David.

[Bud Brewster]

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IMDB has several interesting trivia items for this production,
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~ J.J. Abrams personally recommended Karl Urban for the role Kennex from working with him on the Star Trek (2009) series.

Note from me: That cast decision was smart. Urban had just the right sour attitude ("Damned robots, taking over our jobs!") for the role of the cop having to work with an artificial human.

~ Was shown out of order on Fox. To watch the show in the correct order (based on episode list on IMDb) watch: 01, 08, 06, 10, 02, 03, 04, 05, 09, 07,11, 12, 13

Note from me: Geez, I don't understand why networks do this kind of thing. It's like scrambling up the chapters of a book!

~ Creator J.H. Wyman claimed that he deliberately wanted to create a 'hopeful' interpretation of the future, contrasted with the more dystopian and bleak versions of Isaac Asimov and Philip K. Dick.

Note from me: I lean towards a more optimistic view of the future (though it's getting harder to believe these days), so this was a big plus for this show.

~ Resembles by concept to Disney's film Not Quite Human (1987) with young Jay Underwood as Chip Carson, a prototype teenage android attending high school with his "sister" while trying to become fully human, much like David in A.I.- Artificial Intelligence.

Note from me: I'm not sure it's accurate to say that the concept for this series resembles the Disney movies just because they both have human-like robots.

What it actually does resemble — very strongly, in fact — is Future Cop (1876 -1977), which IMDB summarizes this way.

John Haven (Michael Shannon) is a rookie cop assigned to work the streets with a pair of veteran patrol officers, Joe Cleaver (Ernest Borgnine) and Bill Bundy (John Amos). Haven is also a super-strong robot.

Cleaver knows Haven's secret, but Bundy doesn't, which causes a few complications. Despite the show's high concept, the leads normally battled ordinary criminals like drug dealers and mobsters rather than super-villains.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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I just finished watching the last episode on the Netflix DVDs I got for this series! In my opinion, it is one of the best science fiction series ever made.

It's divine balance between the good and bad aspects of this future society elevate this series to greatness! Each and every episode is intelligent, exciting, and visually stunning. In a fair and just world, it should have run for at least five years.

Folks, I tried to get into Gotham, that depressingly dark series the network decided should get the money they were spending on Almost Human. But after watching it for few weeks I realized that — in my opinion — Gotham stunk like soiled baby diapers.

It's a series about a corrupt city with more criminals than cops . . . and most of the cops are corrupt.

Good God, that sounds like our dysfunctional federal government today! Why would I want to depress myself watching that?

Let me be clear: Almost Human isn't a series about perfect people in an ideal world. It's about noble men and women who battle the evil elements of this future society, the rotten people who use the explosion of advanced technology to victimize mankind for their own gain!

But this great series shows a future which offers hope — and also a warning. Mankind will enjoy both the benefits of technology AND the horrors which come with it's misuse.

Technology is the ultimate Pandora's Box.

Mankind has opened it . . . and now we have to deal with its contents.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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Well, guys, the DVD box set is now priced at $18.99, so I ordered it today! My philosophy is that the dumbest thing a man can do is die with money still in the bank.

After all . . . you can't take it with you, right?

And so, in a few days I'll have 13 episodes of a fine science fiction series that should have run for several years . . . some of which might have been aired after I was gone.

Hell bells, I spend that much money in just two days for breakfast at Phat Daddy's Cafe!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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I've been hoping since 2023 that my first version of this interesting post would inspire a few replies!

So far, it hasn't . . .

Come on guys, this series was awesome! If you're really a science fiction fan, buy the DVDs, watch the episodes, and add a few replies!

Hell's bells, we can't just keep discussing the movies from the 1950s forever, right?
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Recently I decided to peel the cellophane off my Almost Human box set and binge watch it.

The series is incredible . . .

Gentlemen, we often lament the fact that Hollywood is guilty of making bad movies and TV series which — to our dismay — somehow succeed!

But Almost Human is an example of a good TV series that was taken off the air because a bad series needed the money used for its budget. The bad series was Gotham, and it ran five seasons. I watched a few episodes, but I just couldn't find a reason to like it.

It was just too damn too dark. (Guess I'm just a cockeyed optimist at heart.)

Add to this the fact that the network sabotaged Almost Human by doing something we've seen before. Here's what it says on IMdB.
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It was aired out of order on Fox. To watch the show in the correct order (based on the episode list on IMDb) watch: 01,08,06,10,02,03,04,05,09,07,11,12 & 13. Aka:

1. Pilot — 2. You Are Here — 3. Arrhythmia — 4. Perception — 5. Skin — 6. Are you Receiving? — 7. The Bends — 8. Blood Brothers — 9. Unbound — 10. Simon Says — 11. Distrust — 12. Beholder — 13. Straw Man
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To watch them in the right order, I'm having to put the three discs into my Blu-ray player according to the episodes they include.

Also, Almost Human presents "science" in this science fiction series which was just too complex for many of the folks in the viewing audience. Maybe the network executives were afraid that John Q. Public would have trouble following the plots. So, they re-allocated the money for the budget to a less cerebral series . . . Gotham.

Concerning the style of Almost Human, I admire the way it emulates Blade Runner in several ways. The obvious similarity is that the "synthetics" (the robot policemen) are similar to the "replicants" in Blade Runner.

Less obvious is the fact that Karl Urban's character was off the police force for two years after being badly injured during an ambush by members of the underworld.

Harrison Ford's character was not a Blade Runner for a period prior to the movie's start.

One scene in Almost Human's pilot is a subtle reference to Blade Runner because it takes place at a lunch counter during a heavy rain — similar to an early and memorable scene in the Harrison Ford movie. Add to this the way the seedy parts of town in both movies are dark and have lots of neon.

Finally, both the series and the Harrison Ford movie presents us with a law enforcement officers who fight to protect the public from dangerous technology.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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Today I finally (and reluctantly) watched the last of the 13 episodes of this incredible series. Hot damn, this thing rocks!

It amazes me that a silly show like Lost in Space (1965 - 1968) could run for three full seasons (with 83 episodes), while a brilliant and dazzling series like Almost Human was cancelled after only 13 episodes!

How can this be logically explained?

Perhaps the average intelligence of the viewing audience in the late 1960s was low enough to permit them to enjoy a witless show like Lost in Space.

And perhaps audiences today aren't really any smarter. So a brilliant series like Almost Human goes right over their heads.

This assumption leads to a disturbing thought.

Our society seems to be divided into two groups; the brilliant people who create intelligent movies, TV series, literature, and technology . . . and the low-brow segment of the population who can't fully comprehend it.

It's a bit like a brilliant artist who paints beautiful pictures . . . for myopic people who are color blind.

I suspect that this is why All Sci-Fi has struggled for almost twenty years to find intelligent people to join the board. We now have 172 members . . . but only 27 have made more than 100 posts.

And only six members actually post on a regular basis.

However, I'm proud of the quality of our posts, and I intend to keep All Sci-Fi alive for as long as I can.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)