Utopia - Graphic Novel Conspiracy Theory Violent Thiller

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Plot

When five strangers from an online comic book forum agree to meet after gaining possession of the original manuscript for the cult graphic novel 'The Utopia Experiments', they find themselves pursued by a shadowy organization known as The Network who are in pursuit of the manuscript - and they are prepared to kill to track it down.



While three of the forum members - Ian, Becky and Wilson meet in the pub, another is confronted and killed by two Network henchmen. The only witness to the murder is 11-year-old Grant - the fifth forum member - and when he flees with the manuscript, the henchmen give chase.


Ian and Becky soon find they've been set-up for crimes they haven't committed, while Wilson's hacking skills attract the attention of Network henchmen Arby and Lee. As the trio's lives begin to fracture, the world of civil servant Michael Dugdale is also torn apart as he is blackmailed by The Network.

Trailer
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Anyone else watching this show?

Its like if Warren Ellis and Grant Morrisson wrote a R-rated TV show which was co-directed by Richard Kelly and Nicolas Winding Refn.

Word of warning if your thinking of watching the show its pretty violent. Chracters get shot in the head, stabbed in the neck, pushed off buildings, tortured, beaten to death and strangled with a large about of blood splatter.

Episode 2 of Utopia was crazy good.



Jessica Hyde makes Sarah Conners look like a soft weakling.". Come with me now, or you'll all die".



I know people complain about Brtish TV having really short seasons but the fast pace really works well for this show which is only 6 Episodes long. I'm glad they aren't dragging the plot out lost style.


Plot spoilers

Spoiler

• The Network was established during the cold war as a black-ops unit run by geneticist Philip Carvel and "Mr Rabbit" (yes, that's his code name) to combat Soviet plans in the 70s for germ warfare – they were busy weaponising anthrax, ebola and smallpox.


• After the cold war, the Network had no intention of winding down their international operations. Carvel wanted out, but was tortured to keep him working.


• Carvel ended up in a psychiatric hospital where he was given a new name – Mark Deyn – and started drawing as part of his art therapy: the Utopia Experiments is the result.


• Deyn is also Jessica's dad: she's been on the run from the Network since she was four.


• The unpublished manuscript (currently hidden under Alice's bed) came to Doomsday Comics via Jack Tate – Utopia's publisher.


• Tate walks into traffic on the A22, and his wife is taken for interrogation.

• A CIA agent is installed in the Tates' house – another loose end mopped up by Arby, who's now working solo.

Awesome plot twist at the end of the episode

IO9

It's like a mix of Donnie Darko and William Gibson's novel Pattern Recognition. No, it's like a mix of a Dennis Potter series and a Ben Templesmith comic. Maybe it's like Fringe, only a lot more sick and violent. Actually, the new British TV series Utopia, which started last week, is all of these things. It's a conspiracy tale that slides like a wet tentacle between the world of comic books, mad science, and the Russian pharmaceutical mafia. And it's set in a near future where the world's food supply is starting to run out.

Spoiler

The show has a kind of jangly, surreal style, as you can see in the clip above, where our main characters meet on a message board devoted to a mysterious comic book called Utopia. The comic, which appears to be illustrated by Ben Templesmith, is about a scientist who makes a deal with the devil. The devil appears in various forms throughout the book, but always as a half-human, half-animal (this will become important later). The comic itself is rumored to have been created by a geneticist who went insane and saw into other worlds. It's also possible that the comic contains the key to understanding a bizarre new degenerative disease that has started killing people all over the world.

The plot begins right after a rich guy has bought a copy of the rare sequel to Utopia, and decides to share it with four random people on the Utopia message boards. Unfortunately, he and a bunch of other people connected with the comic are killed by two stylish and ultra-violent investigators. These investigators want to find both the comic and a woman, and they are willing to kill and torture to find them. Is the comic actually a gateway to another world? What is its creator's relationship to the disease? Who are these seriously scary investigators, who will remind you of the seriously scary investigators from China Miéville's novel Kraken?

At the same time, another subplot is unfolding. A health department official is being blackmailed by the Russian mob — if he doesn't go on a "mission" for them, they'll tell his wife about his affair with "a Russian ****e." It turns out this "mission" is to trick the British health department into buying an enormous and unnecessary amount of vaccines for the Russian flu. What the hell? Why would the Russian mafia do that? We know it's got to be connected with the Utopia comic, but how?
All of this is set against a backdrop of a near-future where food prices are skyrocketing and it seems as if a health crisis may be on the horizon too.

 

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This show gets crazier each week.

Episode three is probably the most violent yet.

The backstory of the mysterious Mr Rabbit is awesome

 

[Yeti_Hunter]

Really enjoying this show. Episode 1 was amazing, thought the 2nd was alright but last night's was arguably the best yet!

It's all starting to piece together very nicely!

 

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no suprise that some people complained about the opening scene

 

[Harry_Lime02]

It's sad that this thread has so few replies. More people need to watch this, dammit. This is absolutely the best thing on TV at the moment.

Does anyone know if there's gonna be more after these 6 finish? I found boxart for the Blu-Ray that says "series 1" on it, so I'm hopeful.
http://www.zavvi.com/blu-ray/utopia-series-1/10665797.html

 

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I could see there being another series.

I also think its the best and most original thing on TV right now.

 

[Harry_Lime02]

Indeed, it kinda seems like there's still too much story to tell in 3 episodes. We'll see.

 

[Keyser Soze]

This show has been absolutely incredible. Channelling the likes of No Country For Old Men and David Lynch, beautifully shot, compellingly written. And Neil Maskell is TERRIFYING as Alby. "Where is Jessica Hyde?"

 

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Mini Kill List reunion with Neil Maskell and Michael Smiley in the first episode

 

[Yeti_Hunter]

definitely stoked for tonight's episode! The opening scene has so far involved killing, will be tough to top last week's episode though.

 

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Good fourth episode. Slower pace. We learn some more snippets about Arby 'RB' and The Networks overall plot. Ian and his weird love triangle with Becky and Jessica.

I wonder who Becky works for/with?

 

[Yeti_Hunter]

Yeah totally agree with the slower pace. Still enjoyed it though as it's setting everything up nicely for the last 2 episodes.

I just can't work out who Becky is working with, I initially thought it was 'The Network' but i'm sure we will find out next week.

 

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The MI5 lady said several parties are intrested in getting their hands on the manuscript so I guess she could be working for any of them.

 

[Harry_Lime02]

Was nice to see a bit more focus on the comic.

So Arby's boss gave him the address to the mansion, right? So how did they know about that? From Jessica? From Becky? Hmm.

 

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I did see the reveal of Pietr/Arby's identity coming.

The Networks grand scheme is a pretty smart one and a moral conundrum that you could actually believe people would go along with.

There was about five twists in this episode alone.

I hope Ian wises up, his naivety is going to bring himself and the others down.

Tense, gripping, brilliantly acted, beautifully filmed. This was everything good TV should be. This show should be winning all the awards going.

 

[Harry_Lime02]

Agreed, I've been loving it. Feels like they're finally starting to pull the threads together now. But still, no way they wrap it all up in one episode. There's gotta be a second season.

Arby is fast becoming one of my favorite characters, along with Jessica, and their scenes together were all great. Really hope Arby doesn't die next week.

 

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Fantastic series ending episode. Channel 4 better commission a second series.

I guessed a few twists but there was still a couple I didn't see coming.

 

[Yeti_Hunter]

The finale was a great way to end things. Loved the twists in the episode and to be honest never saw that ending coming at all.

Do you think they will make a second series? I reckon if they do Wilson could easily make a comeback as he never died onscreen!

 

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The guy who created the show is writing another series. If it comes back depends on Channel 4.

 

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Second series has offically been commissioned

Channel 4 has ordered a second series of controversial conspiracy drama Utopia.
The second six-part series will go into production later this year, again written by Utopia creator Dennis Kelly.

Piers Wenger, Channel 4 head of drama, said the first series had "shocked and delighted critics and fans by turns". "We are thrilled to announce the further adventures for Utopia's eclectic cast of characters which are already shaping up to be more imaginative, outrageous and brilliantly intriguing than the first."

Jane Featherstone, chief executive of Kudos, the independent producer responsible for Utopia, said the drama had received "phenomenal audience response". "This means we all get the chance to watch as Dennis unravels his unique and imaginative world even further."

Kelly and Featherstone will share executive producing duties on the second series with Karen Wilson.

 

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HBO have reportedly doing a U.S remake of of Utopia with David Fincher producing and Rian Johnson writing the script.

Having adapted the British mini-series "House Of Cards" for the American market, filmmaker David Fincher is reportedly considering doing a similar treatment for another Brit show.

In this case, Fincher is reportedly interested in producing a remake of the recent UK Channel 4 series "Utopia" which had its first season earlier this year. HBO scored the American broadcast rights to the UK series last week.

The story follows a group of people who have their hands on a cult graphic novel called "The Utopia Experiments" which seems to have predicted various disasters.

A group known as The Network tries to hunt them down as the group tries to prevent the next predicted disaster from taking place.

The show's original creators are also reportedly hoping to get "Brick" and "Looper" scribe Rian Johnson to pen the script.

 

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Can you give us any ideas about what series two might contain?

We’ve got a very odd first episode, which people are either going to really like or really say ‘what the **** did you do that for?’ and I’ve got no idea what the reaction’s going to be. Some of the characters are coming back, you’ll definitely see Arby again, and Jessica. There’s a lot of people dead unfortunately and a lot of people will die [laughs].

They start filming series two in October.

 

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New cast members joining series 2 include Rose Leslie (Downton Abbey, Ygritte on Game Of Throne) and Ian McDiarmid (Star Wars Emperor Palpatine)

 

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The complete series will be shown over 2 nights, Wednesday 18th and Thursday 19th December at 9:30pm on SBS 2 in Australia.

 

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Utopia Series 2 trailer
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