TV REVIEW. Halo's Master Chief starts a solid space quest in TV adaptation.

8 TVs

by Thinus Ferreira

A helmeted soldier on a distant desert-like planet fights against enemies, saves a child, decides to protect said child, is seen to have experienced childhood trauma in back flashes, travels the galaxy and meets up with allies as enemies plot, while a bigger origin story and overall mystery both start to unfold.

Nope, not Star Wars' The Mandalorian on Disney+ that South Africans can't see, but the new science fiction drama series Halo, based on the popular video game, from Paramount+ but snagged by MultiChoice's video streaming service Showmax that South Africans indeed can see.

Whether you've played Halo and are familiar with Cortana and Master Chief and the Covenant or not, sci-fi series lovers will definitely like this live-action drama adaptation. 

Warning: Dads don't watch with your kids - the first 10 minutes has exploding human heads and bodies not fit for children, although the rest of the first two episodes made available to TV critics for preview are fine.

Halo is a more than adequate TV adaptation of the video game with the story set in motion when Pablo Schreiber as Spartan Master Chief John-117 saves Kwan Ah (Yerin Ha) on the planet Madrigal and he touches an alien artefact that he can somehow access.

The alien device triggers long-blocked memories of the Spartan soldier who starts his space quest going AWOL while the UNSC and scientist Catherine Halsey (Natascha McElhone), creator of the Spartan programme, tries to get him to return.

Set in 2552, viewers are also introduced to the Covenant - a religious group of aliens who raised a human called Makee (Charlie Murphy) - who are after the sought-after artefact themselves, with Makee dispatched at the end of the second episode to herself go and retrieve it.

The acting, set design, special effects and story in Halo are more than adequate and Master Chief removes his helmet within the first two scene-setting episodes, unlike The Mandalorian, with video game arcana like Cortana and High Charity being introduced without the viewer having to have played the game to make sense of the show and the start-up story.

Pablo Schreiber brings a likeability, human touch and humanity to the Master Chief armour while older Gen X viewers will enjoy spotting numerous easter eggs from the Halo mythos as well as touchpoints and subtly interwoven themes shared with a myriad of sci-fi stories that came before from Total Recall to Starship Troopers.

Halo is definitely worth the watch, isn't (just) for gamers, isn't a straight-up story adaptation of the video game ( a right decision by the producers) with Master Chief making a solid start in the first two world-building episodes.

Halo season 1 is on Showmax from 25 March with new episodes released weekly.

Halo TV series announces 6 cast members, hints that Master Chief's helmet might come off in the science fiction drama.

The Halo TV series from Showtime, distributed globally by CBS Studios International, has announced 6 cast members, and is hinting that the iconic Master Chief's helmet might come off in the new science fiction series.

On Friday Halo announced that Natascha McElhone, Bokeem Woodbine, Shabana Amzi, Bentley Kalu, Natasha Culzac, and Kate Kennedy have been cast in the science fiction drama series based on the hugely popular video game.

They join Pablo Schreiber who has already been cast in the iconic role of Master Chief as Earth's most advanced warrior in the 26th century, and Yerin Ha who will appear as a new character named Kwan Ha, a shrewd, audacious 16-year-old from the Outer Colonies who meets Master Chief at a fateful time for them both.

The 9-episode Halo will start production later this year in Budapest where The Witcher coming to Netflix was also filmed, with Halo that will start to broadcast in early-2021.

With CBS Studios International distributing worldwide, it's highly likely that Halo will end up being shown on M-Net (DStv 101) in South Africa and across sub-Saharan Africa on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV service and its subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) offering Showmax from its Connected Video division.

In the Halo TV series Natascha McElhone will appear as two characters - Dr Catherine Halsey, the creator of the Spartan supersoldiers, and well as the iconic Cortana, the most advanced artificial intelligence in human history who holds a key to the survival of the race.

Bokeem Woodbine will play Soren-066, a privateer at the fringes of human civilisation whose fate will bring him into conflict with his former military masters as well as his old friend, the Master Chief.

Shabana Azmi will play Admiral Margaret Parangosky, the head of the Office of Naval Intelligence.

The British actor Bentley Kalu will play one of 3 new characters in the Halo TV series and appear as Spartan Vannak-134, a cybernetically augmented supersoldier conscripted at childhood who serves as the deputy to the Master Chief.

The British actor Natasha Culzac will appear in the role of Spartan Riz-028. a focused, professional and deadly, cybernetically enhanced killing machine.

Kate Kennedy will appear in the role of Spartan Kai-125, a courageous, curious, and deadly Spartan supersoldier.

Kyle Killen and Steve Kane are co-showrunners and executive producers, while Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey of Amblin Television will also executive produce along with series director Otto Bathurst and Toby Leslie for One Big Picture, Scott Pennington for Chapter Eleven, and Karen Richards.

Halo is produced by Showtime in partnership with 343 Industries and Amblin Television.

Halo finds its Master Chief in Pablo Schreiner for its live-action TV drama series; adds Australian actress Yerin Ha as a new female character, Quan Ah.

The producers of Halo have cast Pablo Schreiber as its Master Chief in the live-action TV show based on the hugely popular video game, with Yerin Ha who will also be joining the drama series as a new female character, Quan Ah in the Halo universe.

The drama series from Showtime, based on the iconic Xbox video game franchise has cast Pablo Schreiber as Master Chief, Earth's most advanced warrior in the 26th century.

The Master Chief is the only hope of salvation for a civilization pushed to the brink of destruction by the Covenant, an unstoppable alliance of alien worlds committed to the destruction of humanity.

The Australian actress Yerin Ha will play a new character within the Halo world: Quan Ah, a shrewd, audacious 16-year-old from the Outer Colonies who meets Master Chief at a fateful time for them both.

Halo is produced by Showtime in partnership with 343 Industries, along with Steven Spielberg's Amblin Television and will begin production around September 2019 in Budapest, Hungary.

Halo will be distributed internationally by CBS Studios International.

That makes it extremely likely that the drama series will end up in South Africa and Africa shown on M-Net (DStv 101) and MultiChoice's subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service Showmax.

The Halo producers in a statement says "Halo will weave deeply drawn personal stories with action, adventure and a richly imagined vision of the future".

Kyle Killen and Steven Kane are serving as co-showrunners and executive producers.

Halo is also executive produced by Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey for Amblin Television in partnership with 343 Industries. The director will be Otto Bathurst and Toby Leslie for One Big Picture, Scott Pennington for Chapter Eleven, and Karen Richards.