'Halo' TV show is a chance to add complexity to the video game's main character

'Halo' TV show is a chance to add complexity¹ to the video game's main character

　　Transcript²

　　Spoiler alert: major details from the series premiere of Halo appear in this article.

　　Halo, the science fiction shoot-'em-up video game series that made Microsoft's Xbox game platform a thing, is the latest video game series to get a Hollywood adaptation. Like the games, the Paramount+ show tells a story of interstellar war between humans and aliens.

　　In some ways, the video games were tailor-made for the small screen. Back in 2001, when the first version was released, cinematic storytelling in games was just starting to take off. And with its fast-paced action and a tough-talking, no nonsense hero, it had all the ingredients for a big screen blockbuster.

　　The protagonist³ of the games is Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 — known to most as simply Master Chief. He's a supersoldier who wears military green armor, and belongs to an elite⁴ force of space marines known as the Spartans⁶. In the 26th century, where Halo takes place, the Spartans are Earth's greatest weapon against the Covenant⁷ Empire, a cult-like alien civilization bent⁸ on wiping out the human race. When players control Master Chief, mowing⁹ down Covenant forces, they get to be the hero of an epic¹⁰ sci-fi adventure.

　　"In taking it to a different medium — film or television — we're asking all of our fans to let us tell you this story," says Kiki Wolfkill, one of the executive producers of the Halo series. "This is a story that you're not going to participate in as a character, but you're going to participate in as a viewer."

　　In addition to executive producing Halo for Paramount+, Wolfkill has also been a developer for the Halo games. She explains that translating the world of the games to TV means delving¹¹ deeper into Master Chief as a character, to understand the man under the helmet — John, played by Pablo Schreiber on the show.

　　"We don't explore a lot of John...outside of the armor or helmet in the games. And these Spartans, and John in particular, have seen more horror than any human can possibly imagine," Wolfkill says. "They have to keep going and they have to keep fighting. And what kind of toll¹² does that take? It's something that we...crack the door on a little in the games, but this is where the series gives us an opportunity to see that in a different way."

　　The show further opens the door to John-117's humanity by populating the cast with characters that flesh out his world, Wolfkill explains. The series begins on Madrigal¹³, a planet that the government of Earth has colonized¹⁴ for its natural resources. When it's brutally¹⁵ attacked by the Covenant, Master Chief and his squad¹⁶ of Spartan⁵ warriors¹⁷, strike back.

　　The only Madrigal local who survives the attack is a teenage girl named Kwan Ha, played by Yerin Ha. She witnesses her father, Jin, killed in the battle. Master Chief brings Kwan back with him to his home planet of Reach. But Kwan doesn't trust Master Chief – because for years, her father and many of the people she knew on Madrigal had been fighting a war of independence against the United Nations Space Command – the military that enforces Earth's rule over her colonies.

　　"With Kwan, I think you see her go from grief and the trauma¹⁸ of what happened to 'the thing I can do is carry my father's fight forward and fight for the people of Madrigal to get out from under the yoke¹⁹ of UNSC,'" says Wolfkill.

　　We soon learn that Kwan's anger at UNSC and Master Chief has deep roots. In one gripping scene in the first episode, Kwan informs Master Chief that he killed her mother, who was labeled a "threat" for attending a meeting of colonists²⁰ who discussed the unfair treatment of the UNSC.

　　Master Chief explains that he takes his orders from above because, in his words, "What I can see on the ground may not reflect the entirety of the situation... Sometimes others know things I do not."

　　Kwan challenges him, asking, "It ever occur to you that it might work the other way around?"

　　Wolfkill adds that, no matter the medium, a sense of honor and duty is core to the Master Chief as a character. Depicting²¹ how he figures out what that means will clearly be a big part of humanizing him on the show.

　　"Is the right thing to save a single person who's right there?" Wolfkill asks. "Is the right thing to sacrifice a single person for the good of a hundred or a thousand? That's sort of the complexity of what he has to deal with."

　　And since Paramount+ renewed Halo for a second season over a month before its premiere, the show should have plenty of time to explore those layers.

1 complexity   

n.复杂(性)，复杂的事物

参考例句：

• Only now did he understand the full complexity of the problem.直到现在他才明白这一问题的全部复杂性。
• The complexity of the road map puzzled me.错综复杂的公路图把我搞糊涂了。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 protagonist   

n.(思想观念的)倡导者；主角，主人公

参考例句：

• The protagonist reforms in the end and avoids his proper punishment.戏剧主角最后改过自新并避免了他应受的惩罚。
• He is the model for the protagonist in the play.剧本中的主人公就是以他为模特儿创作的！

4 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

5 spartan   

adj.简朴的，刻苦的；n.斯巴达；斯巴达式的人

参考例句：

• Their spartan lifestyle prohibits a fridge or a phone.他们不使用冰箱和电话，过着简朴的生活。
• The rooms were spartan and undecorated.房间没有装饰，极为简陋。

6 spartans   

n.斯巴达（spartan的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The ancient Spartans used to expose babies that they did not want. 古斯巴达人常遗弃他们不要的婴儿。
• But one by one the Spartans fell. 可是斯巴达人一个一个地倒下了。

7 covenant   

n.盟约，契约；v.订盟约

参考例句：

• They refused to covenant with my father for the property.他们不愿与我父亲订立财产契约。
• The money was given to us by deed of covenant.这笔钱是根据契约书付给我们的。

8 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

9 mowing   

n.割草，一次收割量，牧草地v.刈，割( mow的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The lawn needs mowing. 这草坪的草该割了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• "Do you use it for mowing?" “你是用它割草么？” 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

10 epic   

n.史诗，叙事诗；adj.史诗般的，壮丽的

参考例句：

• I gave up my epic and wrote this little tale instead.我放弃了写叙事诗，而写了这个小故事。
• They held a banquet of epic proportions.他们举行了盛大的宴会。

11 delving   

v.深入探究，钻研( delve的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He has been delving into the American literature of 20th century. 他一直在潜心研究美国20世纪文学。 来自互联网
• In some ways studying Beckett is like delving into Shakespeare's words. 在某些方面，研究Beckett的戯好像是深入研究莎士比亚的语句。 来自互联网

12 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

13 madrigal   

n.牧歌；（流行于16和17世纪无乐器伴奏的）合唱歌曲

参考例句：

• You look like a melodious madrigal,beautiful snowy mountain,beautiful prairie.你象一只悠扬的牧歌，美了雪山，美了草原。
• The madrigal that writes to you still sings.写给你的情歌还在唱。

14 colonized   

开拓殖民地，移民于殖民地( colonize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The area was colonized by the Vikings. 这一地区曾沦为维京人的殖民地。
• The British and French colonized the Americas. 英国人和法国人共同在美洲建立殖民地。

15 brutally   

adv.残忍地，野蛮地，冷酷无情地

参考例句：

• The uprising was brutally put down.起义被残酷地镇压下去了。
• A pro-democracy uprising was brutally suppressed.一场争取民主的起义被残酷镇压了。

16 squad   

n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组

参考例句：

• The squad leader ordered the men to mark time.班长命令战士们原地踏步。
• A squad is the smallest unit in an army.班是军队的最小构成单位。

17 warriors   

武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I like reading the stories ofancient warriors. 我喜欢读有关古代武士的故事。
• The warriors speared the man to death. 武士们把那个男子戳死了。

18 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。

19 yoke   

n.轭；支配；v.给...上轭，连接，使成配偶

参考例句：

• An ass and an ox,fastened to the same yoke,were drawing a wagon.驴子和公牛一起套在轭上拉车。
• The defeated army passed under the yoke.败军在轭门下通过。

20 colonists   

n.殖民地开拓者，移民，殖民地居民( colonist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Colonists from Europe populated many parts of the Americas. 欧洲的殖民者移居到了美洲的许多地方。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Some of the early colonists were cruel to the native population. 有些早期移居殖民地的人对当地居民很残忍。 来自《简明英汉词典》

21 depicting   

描绘，描画( depict的现在分词 )； 描述

参考例句：

• a painting depicting the Virgin and Child 一幅描绘童贞马利亚和圣子耶稣的画
• The movie depicting the battles and bloodshed is bound to strike home. 这部描写战斗和流血牺牲的影片一定会取得预期效果。