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Television Sci-Fi Twitter Apple

Apple Posts Entire First Episode of 'Silo' On Twitter (engadget.com) 112

Posted by BeauHD from the unusual-marketing-tactics dept.
Apple has uploaded the entire first episode of its sci-fi series "Silo" to Twitter, allowing anyone there to watch the opening installment for free. Engadget reports: Silo is based on the science fiction novel Wool by American author Hugh Howey. It takes place on a post-apocalyptic version of Earth, where what remains of humanity is confined to the Silo, a 144-story underground bunker that serves as a self-sufficient underground community. The citizens are told that the world outside the Silo is perilous, but questions arise about what truly lies beyond. It's a clever premise that allows showrunner Graham Yost to explore the book's themes about truth vs. fiction and information as power. Apple has reportedly renewed the series for a second season. You can watch the full episode on Twitter here.
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Apple Posts Entire First Episode of 'Silo' On Twitter More

Apple Posts Entire First Episode of 'Silo' On Twitter

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  • Many seasons, no break.

    • Re: Another Prison-Break (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Anonymouse Cowtard ( 6211666 ) on Wednesday June 28, 2023 @05:19AM (#63639322) Homepage
      Sounds to me more like a vertical Snowpiercer

      • Sounds to me more like a vertical Snowpiercer

        Or Ascension [wikipedia.org] but with the ship buried in the ground and w/o Tricia Helfer.

        [Or any number of B movies where humanity is trapped underground.]

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Barny ( 103770 )

          Or Paranoia.

        • Re: Another Prison-Break (Score:4, Insightful)

          by LazarusQLong ( 5486838 ) on Wednesday June 28, 2023 @07:26AM (#63639510)
          this seems to be a fairly common sci fi plot, you're locked into a system wherein the outside is considered to be too perilous or unable to sustain life, and yet, when you break free, you discover life outside abounds. Logan's Run for example.
          • Excellent metaphor for the climate "apocalypse", about which young people have been convinced that the planet will be uninhabitable in 10 years.
            • This reminds me of The Island with Scarlett Johansson.

            • Re: (Score:1)

              by pbasch ( 1974106 )
              A bit of a strawman here. Are there polls of "young people" that confirm this nutty belief? The Young People I know (admittedly a pretty small sample compared to yours, which is all of them) know we're creating an unsustainable climate, but that it won't make the planet uninhabitable in ten years. More reasonably, it will make certain parts of the planet uninhabitable pretty quickly, less than 20 years. So parts of the Middle East will top off at 140 deg F. Which is actually uninhabitable for most people; m

          • this seems to be a fairly common sci fi plot, you're locked into a system wherein the outside is considered to be too perilous or unable to sustain life, and yet, when you break free, you discover life outside abounds.

            Logan's Run, for example.

            I can't remember the last time I saw a sci-fi movie with a truly original science-based plot. They're either "ripped from the headlines" type stuff (as an example, Outbreak from the mid-90's during the the first big Ebola scare), or simply horror-sci-fi rehashes of even older horror-sci-fi plots. Part of the problem is that we don't have any hard sci-fi writers anymore of the caliber of Arthur C. Clarke, or Asimov, Bradbury, or Heinlein. Most "science fiction" books these days are Lord of the Rings shit set

            • Joe Howmuchamonth can't understand science, and doesn't find it entertaining.

              • Joe Howmuchamonth can't understand science, and doesn't find it entertaining.

                He can if you can break it down for him in manageable, entertaining bits. Chricton did this in Jurassic Park, for example, to the extent that even a construction site day laborer knows the dangers of playing God with DNA.

            • I can't remember the last time I saw a sci-fi movie with a truly original science-based plot. They're either "ripped from the headlines" type stuff (as an example, Outbreak from the mid-90's during the the first big Ebola scare), or simply horror-sci-fi rehashes of even older horror-sci-fi plots. Part of the problem is that we don't have any hard sci-fi writers anymore

              Weird...I can think of dozens.

              Start with these two:
              https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3... [imdb.com]
              https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0... [imdb.com]

              • Interstellar had promise as 'science-based' but went completely off the rails. I rate it 'disappointing'.

                On the other hand, The Martian only needs to be forgiven for a couple of judgement errors - mainly the way Watley is stranded though the pressure tarps flapping in the wind bug me too. OK, and the Iron Man bit is wildly improbable for multiple reasons.
                Otherwise it's a fantastic mostly-realistic movie... but I hesitate to call it sci-fi. Good science fiction is usually using something 'sciencey

                • The Martian had excellent realistic science, but failed as a novel IMHO. Watley is stranded on Mars, utterly alone. Is he scared, depressed, angry? Does he blame the other astronauts? How does he cope with it all? Sorry, we're not going to talk about any of that: too busy turning hydrazine into potato fertilizer.

              • The Martian: definitely
                Interstellar: I don't see this as an example of hard sci-fi at all. A bunch of gobbly-gook about a magic mathematical constant needed to overcome gravity and that was transmitted through some kind of hyper-dimensional dream fugue.

                How about Neal Stephenson's Seveneves? Or Avogadro Corp by William Hertling?

                • The guy wanted movies.

                  I don't claim my two examples are good movies but they were both "hard" sci-fi which he claims doesn't exist.

            • I rather enjoyed the Bobiverse trilogy starting with We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor.
              https://www.goodreads.com/seri... [goodreads.com]

              There's some good new SF stuff out there that is original to a big degree. I would like find more hard SF.
              Suggestions anyone?
              Robert James Sawyer and Andy Weir are interesting.

          • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

            by DrXym ( 126579 )

            It's common enough that TV Tropes has a whole "City in a Bottle [tvtropes.org]" trope for movies and series that have played with the idea.

            • Makes for a less expensive production as well as you have a largely fixed set and don't need to do any shooting on location. If the show is successful and gets additional seasons the set is already there. I even like the occasional bottle episode in other series because those episodes need to be more character focused to work and act as a good way to expand characters or explore details of them we might not otherwise get a look at.
          • SPOILER ALERT

            That's actually not the case in the books the series is based upon. So far the show has been really good even though it diverges from the book quite a bit.

            • That's actually not the case in the books the series is based upon. So far the show has been really good even though it diverges from the book quite a bit.

              I've forgotten a good bit of the books, but from what I can tell the series has not diverged from that aspect of the books, or the major overall plot points...

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by NFN_NLN ( 633283 )

            > you're locked into a system wherein the outside is considered to be too perilous or unable to sustain life, and yet, when you break free, you discover life outside abounds

            So basically like 2020-2022 with COVID lockdowns?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Zocalo ( 252965 )
        My first thought was "Logan's Run", but I've not read the book so I don't know which show is closer to Wool/Silo's plot.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Phact ( 4649149 )

          I actually read Logan's Run a long time ago, In the book the population was not confined in domes at all. The Sandmen were trained to track their prey through any environment on Earth, and Sanctuary was on Mars if i recall correctly.

      • Honestly, it's more like a Vault in Fallout. They certainly use a lot of design elements that are very evocative of Fallout, and the society in the Silo really brings to mind some of the various dead vaults you find in the games where you can piece together stories of internal control, dissension and rebellion.

    • Prison break is an original script and Silo is based on books. TV has a very good correlation with whether series is based on a book or original scripting.

      Independent book writing behind the series prevents the series from becoming a soap. Soap is watchable but not readable - nobody is going to invest time in reading books where nothing of matter is happening only "daily life".

      You can't adapt a book into a soap.

      My current problem with the series is that it is too slow. They found great actors for the main r

      • Like most serial productions today, actual plot and story is paper thin, themes and ideas are non-existent and the rest is filler.
        That's why it is slow.

        There's maybe a 90-minute to two hour movie in it, but not the kind that would warrant a budget which would make it worth a watch.
        Good storytellers cost money. Be they directors, writers, actors...

        On the other hand, stretch that paper-thin material to "a season" by stuffing it full of filler, slowing it down, and now you have hours of "content" for your "str

        • As I was saying before someone with poor taste and worse intelligence got offended...

          Like most serial productions today, actual plot and story is paper thin, themes and ideas are non-existent and the rest is filler.
          That's why it is slow.

          There's maybe a 90-minute to two hour movie in it, but not the kind that would warrant a budget which would make it worth a watch.
          Good storytellers cost money. Be they directors, writers, actors...

          On the other hand, stretch that paper-thin material to "a season" by stuffing

    • Many seasons, no break.

      If it follows the books, this is not true in two ways.

  • Gonna wait until this has been ripped and posted somewhere useful like yt. Maybe a torrent.

    • You mean like two minutes after it gets published on Apple TV? Of course it's already there and you can find a magnet link on any self-respecting torrent site. They should be up to whatever episode last aired, 9 I believe?

    • Apple TV has had the 1st episode of most of its original shows available for free streaming from the Apple TV app for years.

      I'm not sure why putting a low-rez version of it on Twitter is a big deal.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

      Gonna wait until this has been ripped and posted somewhere useful like yt. Maybe a torrent.

      Maybe that's the point. Twitter only supports up to 720p video max. If it gets ripped from Twitter it's crap quality anyways.

  • So its City of Ember for adults? Pass.

    • Kind of. The interior of the silo even looks a little like Ember. I found both City of Ember and Silo to be fairly interesting, though nothing earth-shattering.

    • I'm still waiting for the sequel. Though maybe Love & Monsters is a decent stand-in.

    • Nothing like City of Ember. A lot more complex. The generator being in danger at one point is for example a very minor plot point quickly passed... the bigger mystery is why they are all in there, and what is really outside of the silo they live in.

  • obviously condensed, but the books were short. As far as I can tell, the series ultimately is what happens if a Libertarian had a genie lamp
    • Then you have astonishingly poor reading comprehension.

  • The setting is choosen to be very low budget, props wise. All you need is a few metallic looking rooms and some screens.

    And the idea has been done to death since ages ago. Especially if you can read.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by gweihir ( 88907 )

      And the idea has been done to death since ages ago. Especially if you can read.

      I think most people these days struggle with reading anything longer than a tweet and will only do it if forced to, e.g. by work. Not quite "functionally illiterate", but also not very far from it. Personally, I had to go to eBooks because I ran out of space to store all those paperbacks.

      • Have someone else read it to you. While you're doing something else. Working, walking, driving, buying... whatever you can do on autopilot.
        Plus you can speed up most fiction and quite a lot of non-fiction if you're in it just for the story/plot/info.
        Save your time for technical stuff, raw data, graphs, drawings, images and such.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by gweihir ( 88907 )

          Does not work for me and I actually find reading myself quite pleasurable. That does not mean I think it is bad advice, it is just not for me. I simply got a Kindle and now the storage-space (physical, on shelves) is not an issue anymore.

  • Autodale series by David James Armsby is almost entirely the work of a single, twisted individual. https://www.youtube.com/playli... [youtube.com] The animator's techniques evolve with the series, with the musical scores and the story itself.

  • Second Season is filming now in the UK (Score:5, Informative)

    by bigbrownepaul ( 794162 ) on Wednesday June 28, 2023 @06:17AM (#63639392) Homepage

    I can confirm the second season is filming right now in the UK, my son in law is working on it!

  • It's boring (Score:3)

    by RitchCraft ( 6454710 ) on Wednesday June 28, 2023 @06:47AM (#63639442)

    I watched a few episodes. It's slow and boring. Probably gave the first episode away for free hoping to drum up business.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by tyroxy ( 1291304 )
      The last two episodes are more full stories. The Friendly Shadow and the Immortal Machine.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by gweihir ( 88907 )

      Thanks, you just saved me some time. I appreciate that.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by tyroxy ( 1291304 )
        Not sure about threading. I was writing with reference to the Autodale series on YT. Thinking your post was a response to it. I didn't see but a few minutes of the Apple series (in that case, I agree, boring.)

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Reziac ( 43301 ) *

      I tried to read the book. Didn't get far... because I was bored. True to the book??

  • no, it isn't really (Score:5, Insightful)

    by argStyopa ( 232550 ) on Wednesday June 28, 2023 @07:07AM (#63639474) Journal

    ".... It's a clever premise that allows showrunner Graham Yost to explore the book's themes about truth vs. fiction and information as power. "

    It really isn't a clever premise, it's been done rather to death in science fiction and post apocalyptic fiction for decades, from Dr Who to the Fallout games.
    It is nigh unto a trope at this point.

    • Snowpiercer preceded it as a giant stratified micro society, of levels.

      • Snowpiercer preceded it as a giant stratified micro society, of levels.

        Snowpiercer came out in 2013 [imdb.com].

        The first book of the Silo Series [wikipedia.org] came out in 2011, and was extremely popular.... I always thought many ideas of that came from Silo.

        Credit where credit is due. Especially if you read the whole thing, you'll realize Silo/Wool is actually pretty creative with some new ideas to offer. What looks straightforward right now in the TV series is not at all once you get deeper in...

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by gweihir ( 88907 )

      Indeed. But so are some other things recently hyped in public, like, for example, all those "we are living in a simulation" claims. I think "Simulacron-3" from 1964 was the first full novel on this idea, but I am sure there were short-stories before exploring the idea.

      All decades old and well-known to any SF fan. Apparently mind-blowing for "normals" though.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      The first three episodes kind of ruined it for me. Spoilers ahead.

      So they are living in this Silo, the camera that shows them the outside makes it look like a toxic wasteland. But some of them suspect that it's fake, and it's actually okay outside. In fact, it's lovely out there, they are correct.

      When people go outside, they are asked to clean the camera lens before they die. Almost everyone does clean the camera lens.

      This is explained that when people get outside and realize they were right, it's nice out

      • In fact, it's lovely out there, they are correct.

        Nope, wrong!! Or at best, partially right. But, mostly wrong.

        I think in the finale you'll understand in what way you are wrong...

        Very cool story, and nothing at all dumb about the premise. You'll see.

      • If the viewscreens are not showing the outside, then they could give no sign. If the images are faked, then we would see exactly what the was revealed at the end of the episode. It doesn't answer any questions, just deepens the mystery.

      • This whole post is SPOILERS.

        In fact, it's lovely out there, they are correct.

        I did feel like this wasn't stated explicitly in the TV episodes, so you had to infer it from Holston dying after he took his helmet off, but the video of it looking lovely out there is a fake video shown on the helmet of the suit. The toxic wasteland is the truth. (Notice there's never a camera shot of the outside not filtered through the helmet camera or the cafeteria screen, so it's never made explicit.) Also, it's strongly implied that prior to the start of the series, cleani

  • Logan's Run (Score:5, Interesting)

    by gbr ( 31010 ) on Wednesday June 28, 2023 @07:21AM (#63639500) Homepage

    It's a clever premise that allows showrunner Graham Yost to explore the book's themes about truth vs. fiction and information as power

    Sound's like a modern Logan's Run

    • Maybe another angle on "A Boy And His Dog" before they meet Vic.

      • Or '"The Starlost"... if it turns out they are on a spaceship. The idea's been done to death, so the show needs to succeed on its execution. I thought the first episode was fine, but I'd be afraid of this being one of those "mystery box" shows where nothing is ever resolved. If I subscribed, I'd definitely watch it more, though.

  • AKA Wool, for those who bought the book.

  • Feels like not even AI upscaling can save this one.

  • Silo (Score:2)

    by ledow ( 319597 )

    Prepare for the next 10 episodes to be slow, distracting, sometimes literally the case that they could be set almost anywhere and the "silo" background has almost zero impact on the story, etc.

    Then get to the end where they introduce new "cliffhangers" that never really come to anything.

    I haven't watched the last episode yet, but I guarantee it just has a reveal without any substance and tries to make you wait for Season 2.

  • What is Twitter? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Wednesday June 28, 2023 @08:49AM (#63639788)

    2007: We're a communication platform that limits characters to 140 per tweet. This keeps it compatible with SMS and means people need to think carefully about how to make a concise and relevant post.
    2023: Here watch this 1 hour long video.

    • Twitter was always just a website with a gimmick, same as Facebook or Instagram or whatever.

      There's nothing stopping Slashdot from having a secondary forum with posts limited to the length of a standard SMS message with user-curated filters that allow them to preferentially see the messages of selected other users.

      In the end, "Twitter" is just a brand, that they would expand beyond the gimmick that launched them into relevance was inevitable.

      • There's nothing stopping Slashdot from having a secondary forum

        No one is talking about a secondary format. We're talking about a shift in the primary forum. Slashdot tried that. They were pushing videos a few years ago. There was pretty damn strong backlash.

    • 2007: We're a communication platform that limits characters to 140 per tweet. This keeps it compatible with SMS and means people need to think carefully about how to make a concise and relevant post.
      2023: Here watch this 1 hour long video.

      2023: Here watch this weekly show by a conspiracy theorist [nbcnews.com].

      It kinda makes sense for Musk, he's ruined Twitter's original business model so he needs to find something new.

      Either way, Twitter has long been the "here's an announcement to send out to the world" site, so in that sense Apple's move is pretty on par for the original brand (aside from the fact that Twitter has become deeply unpopular among their target audience).

  • Damnit. A second season means they will draw it out as long as possible and never reach any conclusions or answers. I hate it when they get a second season. Just finish the story already!

  • Tell me it doesn't end with them stumbling out of the silo and discovering the world running along fine.

    • I have read all the books (free on Kindle Unlimited). Things are far from perfect, what is showing on the view screen is what is actually outside. Will say no more. The book series has lots of depth (sorry). One spoiler, 50 silos.

  • While the over-arching premise isn't original (and I feel like the main protagonist's accent keeps changing)...I've been enjoying the series.

    It's unnecessarily drawn out, but given the limited binary reality of their world (is the outdoors safe, or not), it could have been a 60-90min show, and told a neat story that way. Or they stretch it out, and you get to dive more into what a world underground, and ignoring technology we're familiar with, could be like.

    Is it believable or 'hard core sci-fi'? No. Is it

  • Not a peep about twitter since the, shhhhh we don't talk about that on Slashdot. Now an ad. Pst, I'll never be going to twitter. Your information dies to my eyes there. The show's been released for a while looks like. So apple gives scraps. Apropos of all things poo emoji.

  • No idea why they think having a large logo in the left upper corner is OK.
    This is fine for background-noise-TV but not for something I'd actually want to watch.

  • Apple only has 1 remaining episode to release for season 1, which should drop tomorrow.

    If I had one real complaint about it? It's the "pacing" issues a number of people are criticizing it for. (Basically, it goes from some pretty intense stuff happening in the first couple episodes to a drawn-out portion that gets in-depth with what feels like a cop/crime serial more than science fiction. But then it picks up the pace again in the last couple episodes.)

    Still, I was drawn into this series and there are plent

  • If you guys are impressed by this then you should see how many shows and episodes are posted on torrent sites. ;)

  • Sounds a lot like "The Penultimate Truth" by PK DIck to me....

  • What is your security clearance citizen?

  • So big tech is trying to rescue Twitter? Why?

  • Apple, I'm going to need you to not do this please. I'm a sucker for good sci-fi, and I very much do NOT need another streaming service subscription.

  • The premise of the show is very old, and has been done many, many times before, going all the way back to "The Starlost" 50 years ago, and perhaps even before that.

    That said, it was very well-done and I really liked the cast. I'm intrigued and would definitely watch more if I subscribed to Apple TV.

  • "Oh, meet Claire! She's great, but her life is hard. Here are all the ways... Oh look, Claire died.

    Meet Rich! He's kind of quiet, and he has an enemy in Bob. They bicker back and forth. Oh look, Rich died.

    Meet Jon! ..."

    It was like that the whole book.

  • I actually read Wool after a post about it on Slashdot - probably this story [slashdot.org]. Thought it was a good read and I've been enjoying the TV series so far.

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