Did you know that I’m a fan of Halo? I may have mentioned it once or twice. In fact, I may have written about my love for all things Halo a great number of times, if I’m being honest. From my adoration of Halo Infinite and my deep love of Halo 2 and speedrunning to my consumption of the novels, the universe is in my blood. To say I’m excited about the new Halo TV series is a bit of an understatement. While a whole lot of the Halo TV series looks fantastic, there was one element that made me recoil: Cortana.
Firstly, let’s focus on the good and positive things. But even before that, I feel it prudent to address a major blindspot in my Halo repertoire. I have not seen Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn or Halo: Nightfall. I plan to remedy this situation at my earliest convenience, which will likely be this week or weekend. But back to the positive: Master Chief and the Spartans look fantastic.
The costume and armor design in this new series looks pretty dang good. I’m impressed by the design team’s decision to go with the Halo Infinite armor, which is rather reminiscent of Halo 3’s design. We get the forest green and the more octagonal shoulder plating. In fact, it looks to be in-line with the design that appeared in Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn.
That Cortana, though. Good grief. I understand that the storyline in this new TV series is going to follow a different trajectory than what we’ve seen in the games and books, but I can’t believe they’ve thrown out Cortana’s iconic look. It’s like they decided to ignore two decades’ worth of source material. Why does she look like a human? Why is she not blue, purple, or some color in between? Why is she not more holographic or even translucent?
I just don’t know, man. It’s as if the designers looked at the Sonic fiasco and thought, “I want a bit of that backlash action.” At least they got Jen Taylor as the voice actor? But come on. Look how they massacred my girl.
