Utopia

I am another devotee of the original version of "Utopia" which always comes up as an underseen gem, whenever such lists are made. I quite enjoyed this retelling, though I'm not sure the increase in scale and scope was necessary and it may go down as literally the worst timed release to a series of all time.

Five enthusiastic fans of a cult graphic novel come to a convention with a plan to purchase an unpublished sequel. Becky (Ashleigh LaThrop), Ian (Dan Byrd), Wilson (Desmin Borges), Samantha (Jessica Rothe) and Grant (Javon Walton) are unsuccessful in buying the comic, but are fortunate to escape when all the other interested parties are murdered by a pair on unconventional hitmen, Arby (Christopher Denham) and Rod (Michael B Woods). The graphic novel contains hidden symbolic messages that may be related to a pandemic that is sweeping the nation and for which noted scientist and industrialist Dr Kevin Christie (John Cusack) is being blamed.

Whilst I don't think this version of "Utopia" is as good as the original it certainly wasn't bad, and in terms of quality certainly doesn't deserve the relatively poor audience it must have received for Amazon to decide to cancel it so quickly. The unfortunate situation that occurred since filming, that 2020 would be swallowed by a real global pandemic, and with the series having horribly prescient parallels to Covid, couldn't have been foreseen - but does, I suspect, mean that the potential audience was looking for escapism that the show doesn't provide.

It's hard to not compare this to its predecessor. On its own terms it's a dark, darkly comedic, drama with good performances from the cast and a decent story that reaches a conclusion, if clearly not the end of the story. The increase in scale that came with this remake I don't think works in its favour. Both the scale and power of "The Network" increasing exponentially makes them less a shadowy cabal and more every other multinational company.

But generally I enjoyed it and I'm sad to see that a second series isn't going to be forthcoming.

A couple finds a comic book called Utopia while cleaning out their newly purchased home. It's the follow-up to Dystopia, a cult comic book depicting an imprisoned rabbit scientist forced to create apocalyptic viruses. The couple is meeting various fans at a comic book convention to sell the original manuscript. Most are just fans. A few believe that this is more than fiction. It is and there are those who are willing to kill.

I like the UK original, especially the first series. I like its visual style. I like its surrealism. I like its mystery story and I like its brutal violence. For this American version, I knew coming in that it had already been cancelled after its first season. I wanted to check it out anyways. Obviously, the mystery is gone since I've seen the UK version. The style feels less unique. The show is keeping the weirdness but the visual is not as cool. The pilot episode needs to start with some brutal violence like the UK version. There is no need to save any of that. The bloody violence is a big part of the show. I would have liked to keep Rothe. She's the best comedic actor in the group along with Dan Byrd. Maybe she could have been a good Jessica Hyde. I love Sasha Lane but Rothe has more comedic chops. Sasha delivers more instability but that also makes it questionable why the group stays with her. This one needs to exploit more of its comedy.

The unnamed elephant in the room is Covid. The story is uncomfortably close and uses a conspiracy theory that touches upon the reality outside our windows. It's too close and too soon. It's uncomfortable in many different ways. It's also too convoluted. Of course, it's contrived but it feels contrived. There are too many things that are too unreal. The evil scheme has some unrealistic holes and is overly complicated. The conspiracy is too big to keep secret. In the end, it wraps a short eight episode first season and gets cancelled before moving on to a second.

This show was made for a younger demographic than the original. Having high hopes for this, I was terribly disappointed when after just a few minutes, I realized that this is more like, 'Bride of Chucky', than it was like, 'Saw'.

If I had to pick the one thing that irks me most it would be using the original intellectual material, yet changing it to create a new project. All this does is create a completely derivative product. An example of this would be Wilson Wilson's character. He's almost exactly the same as the original. The original Jessica Hyde is sexy and likeable although clearly a sociopath in her mid to late 30s. This new Jessica looks like a homeless person with gross dreadlocks in her early 20s ready to go to an Ani DiFranco concert. She utterly unlikable. But worst of all is what they did with the Arby character, and the character origin stories.

The violence in the show didn't drive home the intensity of it's purpose. It seemed prattish and gummy. More like, 'Harley Quinn', than, 'Jason Bourne'.

If I hadn't seen the original I would have never finished this show. But to be fair I did. Clearly it was a disappointment to me after having high hopes. I am losing faith in Amazon's ability to produce high quality shows like Hulu, HBO or Netflix. The one show I really enjoy started off on SyFy and is Jeff Bezos favorite show.

I would be shocked if this gets a second season once people seek out the original and realize just how bamboozled they've been. I can guarantee you won't find it on Amazon.

I liked Amazon's Utopia enough to finish season one. I mean, being that 99.9% of American television wanders between IQ diminishing & total brain rot this series is at least watchable. But then I decided to watch the original version of Utopia that aired in the UK back in 2013. And after just 2 episodes I realized that it already put Amazon's 2020 Utopia to shame. It seems to me by americanizing Utopia Amazon turned a gem into a pacifier for the masses. By removing parts of an already great script and replacing them with America's PC ideology, Amazon made their own version become stale and a bit bland. If you like this Utopia then be sure to check out the original; which happens to be streaming on Amazon video for no cost to subscribers.

It's only half decent cause the uk version was great. Just like most shows the USA copies they mess it up a bit.

If you think this is great. Do yourself a favour and stop watching and just watch h the original one.