I don't know how many folks here are watching this Apple TV+ show (or have read the books they are based on), but I'm pretty sure the entire thing could be dropped into UF without any changes, and still work.

Certainly, the snark level is quite similar. I mean, this is literally the first paragraph of the first novella:

I could have become a mass murderer after I hacked my governor module, but then I realized I could access the combined feed of entertainment channels carried on the company satellites. It had been well over 35,000 hours or so since then, with still not much murdering, but probably, I don’t know, a little under 35,000 hours of movies, serials, books, plays, and music consumed. As a heartless killing machine, I was a terrible failure.

I've been wanting to check it out. I've got it here, I just haven't gotten around to watching it yet.

The biggest complaint I've seen (from non-book fans) is that the episodes are too short.

Book fans have their own complaints, of course, based on their own headcanons.

The biggest thing I’ve heard is disagreement with the casting.

>The biggest thing I’ve heard is disagreement with the casting.

Yeah, despite the fact that Murderbot never ever describes itself in detail.

I suspect people wanted a non-binary person I guess? I don’t really know. I’m assuming Murderbot doesn’t think of its of as Gender, so that’s why? And I can see that as a good reason.

>I suspect people wanted a non-binary person I guess? I don’t really
>know. I’m assuming Murderbot doesn’t think of its of as Gender, so
>that’s why? And I can see that as a good reason.

Oh yes. But it's also perfectly reasonable to say "The Company" (the only name we get for the firm that made it) designed their "SecUnits" to be physically imposing outside of their armor.

That's why I brought up headcanon. Some folks always seem to push back when adaptations do not align with their personal takes. :)

LAST EDITED ON Jun-09-25 AT 00:38 AM (EDT)
 
Non-binary doesn't necessarily mean non-large-and-masculine-appearing, just they they don't do Gender. There seems to be a dearth of that kind of actor, but also nobody seems to be casting for that so there's a bit of a feedback loop there...or...lack-of-feedback loop?

EDIT: Watched the first episode. Interesting...I wonder why they did that. I hope it wasn't just for the Skarsgaard thing. Was that a thing in the books? The organic parts?

>Non-binary doesn't necessarily mean non-large-and-masculine-appearing,
>just they they don't do Gender. There seems to be a dearth of that
>kind of actor, but also nobody seems to be casting for that so there's
>a bit of a feedback loop there...or...lack-of-feedback loop?
>
>EDIT: Watched the first episode. Interesting...I wonder why they did
>that. I hope it wasn't just for the Skarsgaard thing. Was that a thing
>in the books? The organic parts?

yeah, SecUnit canonicaly has organic parts, including a face and some brain-meats and other pieces. They don't like to think about it, though.

-Z

---
Remember kids: guns make you stupid, duct tape makes you smart.

Cool cool, I just always wonder/worry when there's an adaptation that things go *wildly* off the original source. A minor Skarsgaard-related change is okay, (to me at least), rather than a Stallone Judge Dredd thing.