Halo Season 1 Episode 1 is the pilot episode of an American military science fiction television series developed by Kyle Killen and Steven Kane for the streaming service Paramount+, based on the video game franchise of the same name. The series had been languishing in development hell since 2013 before becoming a streaming TV series, after failing to appear as a movie or traditional TV series. The first season will feature nine episodes, with a 2nd season already greenlit.
S P O I L E R S
This Halo streamer is set to follow “an epic 26th-century conflict between humanity and an alien threat known as the Covenant”. Entitled “Contact”, Halo Season 1 Episode 1 takes little time to dive into this primary narrative while introducing the key characters. The main character is Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 (Pablo Schreiber), a genetically-enhanced super-soldier bred to serve the UNSC (United Nations Space Command) and is a product of the Spartan-II Project.
READ OUR REVIEWS OF FOUNDATION.
In the course of engaging Covenant forces on the rebel outer colony planet Madrigal, John-117 encounters a Covenant artefact and picks up Kwan Ha Boo (Yerin Ha), an Insurrectionist teenager who is the only survivor of the Covenant assault. John-117’s mental conditioning is altered by the artefact and he refuses to comply with UNSC orders, and with the assistance of the artefact eludes UNSC forces and escapes with Kwan.
That is essentially what Halo Season 1 Episode 1 sets up and is just about good enough for now. Thus far, all the characters are somewhat leaden and two-dimensional, no better than video game cyphers, hopefully that aspect will improved in the remaining episodes. The Covenant come across like typical fantasy monsters (like Orcs) and hopefully our series antagonists will be more interesting than that! Reasonably good start with Halo Season 1 Episode 1.
Now streaming on Paramount+.
… still there’s more …