Bet you forgot about this television disaster, didn’tcha?
To the excitement of literally no one, especially those who saw the series, Paramount has made the entire first season of its live-action take on Halo free-to-watch on YouTube – and in doing so, seemingly revealed the premiere date for its unwanted second season.
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Seemingly made available exclusively to American viewers – testing via VPN confirms the series is unavailable to watch in at least Canada, the UK, and Japan – all nine episodes of Halo’s abominable freshman run can now be watched in up to 1080p quality via Paramount Plus’ official YouTube channel.
Notably, upon their initial release to the public, each episode’s YouTube description invited fans to “stream every episode of Halo on Paramount+ and catch up before the new season streaming February 8.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELdWy6VIfsY&list=PLKfpV2bmlzODEaeD3suFKGf-RpniYWo5X
Unsurprisingly, these release date mentions were removed quickly thereafter, with Paramount Plus offering no follow-up clarification as to whether or not this late Winter premiere date is actually the day of Halo‘s return or merely a clerical error.
As such, word is still out regarding the exact moment of the series’ Season 2 debut.
Officially renewed in February 2022 and having commenced filming across the landscapes of Iceland in September that same year, it’s clear that Paramount Plus is stubbornly committed to milking the once-beloved first-person shooter franchise for every drop of alien blood it’s worth.
However, in the face of its terrible fan reception, one simple question continually looms over its entire continued production: “But why?”
No joke: In a world filled with such egregious mistreatments of original works as Netflix’s Death Note and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, Halo respectively beats them out for a spot on the ‘Worst Adaptation of All Time’ podium, even giving Dragon Ball: Evolution an earnest run for the top spot.
And that’s not just because of the series’ blatant disregard its source material – though it’s understandable why such infractions as Master Chief being a joke-making, sexually active Spartan who regularly goes helmetless, Jacob Keyes being race-swapped, and the Covenant’s adoption of a member of a race whose existence they normally perceive as heretical to their religious teachings usually top people’s list of grievances with the series.
Rather, most of the blame lies on the fact that Paramount took what was once an interesting, fleshed out, and compelling universe – featuring a relatively simple narrative and a main plot device clearly inspired by Larry Niven’s Ringworld – and turned it into generic, ‘mass appeal’ sci-fi slop.
Remember the tragedy of seeing the Spartans, developed as humanity’s latest and best hope against the Covenant’s invasion, being reduced to little more than a handful of scattered survivors? Or the divisiveness of Cortana and Master Chief’s struggle regarding whether or not to shut her down ahead of her inevitable breakdown? Maybe the tension of Noble 6’s continued fighting in the face of the Fall of Reach?
Well, forget all that. With Paramount’s Halo series, audiences are instead presented with a generic tale of a ‘chosen hero’ – the Master Chief – whose super special DNA is the key to saving the universe (And before anyone starts, yes, this is essentially the turn the series took in Halo 4, and yes, it was just as bad then as it is now) and his plucky, take-no-guff, teenaged female companion.
Oh, and for some reason, he cuckolds Cortana while she watches on longingly.
