She Said/She Said is a (sporadically) daily video featuring HitFix Harpy Donna Dickens and HitFix Weekend Editor Jill Pantozzi discussing current events in geek news.
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This fall, HBO swings for the fences with Westworld. The show will premiere on Sunday, October 2, at 9 p.m. ET/PT. That”s directly opposite of AMC”s juggernaut The Walking Dead, albeit three weeks before the zombies shamble back onto the small screen.
Based on the 1973 film of the same name, Westworld blends science-fiction elements with the Wild West. But unlike the source material, HBO”s version of this world seems less focused on the malfunctioning android bent on killing the tourists than dealing with the ethical and philosophical questions behind creating life for our (sometimes dark) entertainment.
Trailers thus far have mostly focused on Dolores Abernathy (Evan Rachel Wood) and Maeve Millay (Thandie Newton) and how they are treated both within the theme park by tourists and without by their creator, Dr. Robert Ford (Anthony Hopkins). The Man In Black (Ed Harris) appears mostly as an afterthought.
In the video above, HitFix Harpy”s Donna Dickens and Jill Pantozzi discuss what this might mean. Could Westworld be setting up a metaphor for consent, oppression, and human rights cocooned inside a sci-fi show? Seem plausible, as most great sci-fi deals with morality in some way.