Videos by ComicBook.com
That’s exactly what happened one Sunday night, nine years ago, on HBO, as the cable outfit unveiled its big new Sci-Fi series, Westworld. While the show is perhaps now better known for being cancelled after four seasons, at the time, it held so much promise, especially with its pilot. That episode alone reportedly cost $25 million, and it was absolutely worth it. Based on the 1973 movie of the same name, the first installment takes us to a Western-themed park sometime in the future, where guests pay a lot of money to live out their fantasies alongside “hosts” (or robots).
5 More Great Sci-Fi TV Show Pilots
- Battlestar Galactica – “33”
- Farscape – “Premiere”
- Lost – “Pilot: Part 1 & 2”
- Orphan Black – “Natural Selection”
- Stargate SG-1 – “Children of the Gods”
If You Love Sci-Fi, Watch Westworld’s Pilot
I was watching (and writing about) the show back at the time, and was convinced it was going to be HBO’s next big thing – and so were they. That didn’t turn out to be true, but, rewatching the pilot today, it still carries all the hallmarks of something that deserved to be much bigger (and, at times, better). That pilot had me hooked into its world so quickly, from the beginning that directly invited us to question the nature of reality, and the promise of “infinite possibilities.”
Those were ideas that played out throughout: there were shocking twists within that installment alone, thrillingly violent shootouts set to an epic orchestral cover of The Rolling Stones’ “Paint it Black,” stunning vistas, and plenty of mysteries to make me wonder what was really going on.
