S01.E04: Escape Velocity Protocol

[AnimeMania]

As an enemy takes aim at Murderbot, an ally tries to orchestrate a getaway. The team grapples with a leadership shakeup and a shocking ultimatum.

Premiere Date:  May 30, 2025   Apple TV+     

[MrWhyt]

I'm liking this adaptation, but the episodes are too short. i know the first story isn't very long but you could stretch it out a bit more.

[Netfoot]

9 hours ago, MrWhyt said:

I'm liking this adaptation, but the episodes are too short.

Way too short!

[Zaffy]

I really liked the episode, but this is TOO SHORT! 
It's like watching a web series 10 years ago

Edited May 31 by Zaffy

[aghst]

I don't get it, the people making the security bots somehow screwed them up and that's why they went rogue, going on a murder spree, and would have murdered these lovable scientists -- forget what they were called.

So the rogue one implanted code to take over MB so that he would kill the scientists?

Wouldn't they know that there was malware planted?

But what is the point of murdering scientists on some remote planet?

So MB tries to kill or neutralize himself so that he won't kill the scientists, who all tried to rescue him.  How quickly they grew attached to MB that they're using weapons and killing that rogue sec unit?

 

[Zaffy]

1 minute ago, aghst said:

I don't get it, the people making the security bots somehow screwed them up and that's why they went rogue, going on a murder spree, and would have murdered these lovable scientists -- forget what they were called.

So the rogue one implanted code to take over MB so that he would kill the scientists?

Wouldn't they know that there was malware planted?

But what is the point of murdering scientists on some remote planet?

So MB tries to kill or neutralize himself so that he won't kill the scientists, who all tried to rescue him.  How quickly they grew attached to MB that they're using weapons and killing that rogue sec unit?

 

Interesting take. I though the black bot wasn't malfunctioning, someone programmed it to act this way. 
 

[aghst]

Yeah it might have been deliberate.  The workers are basically slaves, have to work at the factory for 20 years, so maybe this is their way of rebelling against the system, to have these security units kill people whom they're suppose to be protecting.

 

[Zaffy]

Or the workers are not careful doing their jobs, because of their s**tty contracts, the robots can become rogue, and some of them instead of watching soap operas want to ruin humans.

Edited May 31 by Zaffy

[marinw]

Yes, a 40ish minute episode would work better.

Like most other people on Earth, I watched Andor. I can almost see the same story playing out in the Star Wars universe, there must be many droids who find themselves in a situation simelar to MB.

Edited May 31 by marinw

[paigow]

On 5/31/2025 at 1:30 PM, marinw said:

I can almost see the same story playing out in the Star Wars universe, there must be many droids who find themselves in a situation simelar to MB.

Literally a murderbot...

 C3PO would have turned into one... but his memory kept getting wiped

[Ottis]

On 5/31/2025 at 1:30 PM, marinw said:

Like most other people on Earth, I watched Andor.

I made it through the first two eps and wasn't interested. Does that count? Like all SW, it seems designed mostly to sell merch. Murderbot, on the other hand, I'm all four eps in so far.

Had no idea they were books but bought the first one. The weird thing to me is, most of what happens in these first 3 eps happens very quickly in the books (the very first book). I don't know how many books there are, but at this pace the TV series will need hundreds of episodes to cover them.

On 5/31/2025 at 5:14 AM, aghst said:

I don't get it, the people making the security bots somehow screwed them up and that's why they went rogue, going on a murder spree, and would have murdered these lovable scientists

On 5/31/2025 at 5:17 AM, Zaffy said:

Interesting take. I though the black bot wasn't malfunctioning, someone programmed it to act this way. 

My take was also intentional programming, with a specific goal. The Free Love scientists just happened to stumble upon a planet that is valuable to someone and now MBot is going to get caught up in something bigger than we know.

Only one of the bots seemed to have gone rogue at the main location, and we know MBot found a way to defeat his Governor Module, so it never occurred to me that some number of security bots were screwd up in manufacture. I would assume we would be seeing more examples than these if that were true, but I admit it's early.

 

Edited June 5 by Ottis

[HDJulie]

On 6/5/2025 at 2:37 PM, Ottis said:

Had no idea they were books but bought the first one. The weird thing to me is, most of what happens in these first 3 eps happens very quickly in the books (the very first book). I don't know how many books there are, but at this pace the TV series will need hundreds of episodes to cover them.

There are 7 books, with the first 4 being fairly short (like half-books) & the last 3 being full length. They are all very good. 
 

I love the books & was excited for the series but I don't really like the changes they've made & I don't understand why they made those changes. 

[Rockstar99435]

This episode was a lot of fun. On the human side, everything Ratthi did was gold. I loved the 'no, I heard myself as soon as I said it' and all of the bad gun etiquette, including knocking himself out with the recoil.

In a weird way, I'm liking that Arada is kinda annoying and sanctimonious. In an earlier episode, PinLee refers to their last throuple partner as being crazy and Arada gave her a very pointed look, PinLee immediately back tracks and corrects themselves with "dis-regulated". A similar thing happened here, with PinLee saying that everyone having to go on a mission is a stupid rule and Arada contradicting them and PinLee agreeing. Add that to the "I'll go first, as per usual" bit and that it was her idea to add Ratthi to the group, you can totally see who has the power in their relationship. It doesn't make her evil or anything, but just makes her a flawed character. 

This is the Mensah that I love. Taking charge and rescuing Murderbot even though she was terrified, just awesome. The two of them screaming when the Combatbot came around the corner was fun.

While I agree with everyone that the episodes are too short, I am liking that they all end on a cliffhanger.