User reviews

Murderbot offers a fresh, engaging plot with a unique central character and a ok sci-fi world genuinely compelling.

Each episode though clocks in at around 20 minutes of actual content, stretched to about 25 minutes with previews, credits, and ads. It feels like just as you're starting to sink into the story, it's already over. The result is a stop-start experience that doesn't quite let the emotional or narrative weight land.

It's disappointing, because this world and several characters have the depth to sustain longer episodes. Instead, we get something that often feels more like a high-quality teaser or mini mico series than a fully satisfying viewing experience.

Alexander Skarsgard kills it in another hit in a long line of hits from Apple TV. I can't say enough about Apple TV. They continue to put out great shows, it reminds me of when HBO was in their prime and everything they put out was great. That's Apple TV now. I never read the books so I had no idea what to expect so I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this. Murderbot is about a rogue security robot (Skarsgard) who gains the gift of free will. It reluctantly agrees to join a new mission protecting scientists on a dangerous planet when all it wants to do is stop killing and enjoy life free on its own. It may start off a little slow for some but stick with because it gets better and better with each episode. It's definitely best watched as a binge watch. This series does a good job raising ethical questions that apply to us today.

Murderbot was actually better than I expected. I thought it would be an entertaining series since Alexander Skarsgård was starring in it. He's a very good actor who usually stars in stuff I enjoy. I'm also a sci-fi fan and this has an original story I've never seen before. Even though it's a good show that was a lot funnier than I expected, the main reason it worked was because of the performance from Skarsgård. That's not saying the rest of the cast wasn't good, the show wouldn't be nearly as good without the solid performances from the supporting cast. It's just that Skarsgård was perfect for this role. Murderbot builds a very unique and interesting world that you will have fun watching.

It takes a more zany comedy approach than the book, but it does work.

The cast are great and work well in their roles.

But - the episodes clocking in at 25 minutes is ridiculously short, it was really frustrating to just watch a few mins and then bang. Over. Wait another week.

Quite enjoyed the "show within a show" The Rise and Fall Of Sanctuary Moon" perhaps it should have it's own spin-off as well!

I quite enjoyed this adaption of Martha Wells first novel. I have already read the books.

Looking forward to the next season but please please please make the episides longer! I was watching two episodes back to back every 2 weeks towards the end to avoid the frustration of the way too short length.

This show is amazing. It's not to serious but still has important messages and points about human life. It's a feel good show. It's action. It's funny. It's something I didn't know I needed. I don't usually like sci-fi but this show wasn't focused solely on being sci-fi, which works well for my tastes. The last episode had me feeling so many different things, but left me feeling good in a sort of melancholy kinda way. Acting, amazing. Writing, amazing. Set, amazing. Of course every show has its flaws but no flaw made this show less enjoyable for me. I would love to see a second season, really hope there could be one. I will most likely be picking up the source material.

This should be an amazing show. The humor, writing, and acting are all top-notch, and the visuals are fantastic. However, with only 10 episodes per season and each one running just 22 to 24 minutes, it feels frustratingly brief.

I doubt we'll ever return to the good old days of TV seasons with 22 to 26 episodes, but let's be honest-this feels severely limited. In terms of total content, it's the equivalent of just five full-length episodes. That's even less than what typical UK series offer. (Personally, I even find 10-episode seasons too compressed-it takes me a while to get truly invested).

Unfortunately, my review focuses more on this structural aspect than the creative side, simply because I believe it's the most critical (and maybe only) flaw. In my opinion, this is a misstep. Time will tell if others feel the same.

P. S. If this series were a person, I'd rename it M. Short Shorty McShortface. From ... This would be an amazing show. The humor, writing, and acting are all top-notch, and the visuals are fantastic. However, with only 10 episodes per season and each one running just 22 to 24 minutes, it feels frustratingly brief.

I doubt we'll ever return to the good old days of TV seasons with 22 to 26 episodes, but let's be honest-this feels severely limited. In terms of total content, it's the equivalent of just five full-length episodes. That's even less than what typical UK series offer. Personally, I even find 10-episode seasons too compressed-it takes me a while to get truly invested.

Unfortunately, my review focuses more on this structural aspect than the creative side, simply because I believe it's the most critical flaw. In my opinion, this is a misstep. Time will tell if others feel the same.

P. S. If this series were a person, I'd rename it M. Short Shorty McShortface.. from Shortistan..... on planet Shortia.

Great story, very good cast, high production value on screen; sadly, these 20-minute episodes are the letdown. I was delighted watching the first three episodes and the wait for the next week made me realize how short 20 minutes truly is. The story could have greatly benefited from a longer runtime. I believe the narrative would have been more engaging and satisfying if the show had been produced as a feature film, allowing for deeper engagement with the plot and continuing a strong character bonding for the audience. The brevity of each episode feels cut off and leaves the audience hanging to soon.

Love it, just wish the episodes and all of it were longer. Great casting, Alexander skarsgard is just amazing (in most things haha) and fits the role perfectly.

Love the sci-fi elements with a bit of humour, a bit of darkness, and a bit of gore... reminds me a little of the Star Trek Black Mirror episodes. Nice CGI, monsters, ships and different planets. Great fight scenes, and chases where you do feel on the edge of your seat.

Some real laugh out loud moments too without making it feel too cheesy. Really feels fresh and well directed to me.

Really hope they bring it back for another season.

If I hadn't read the books I'm not sure I would feel the need to stick with this. The stories themselves are quite simple, with the emphasis on wry humour, distinctive characters and an awakening sense of self - as experienced on the inside by another-quite human and viewed from the outside by a societal group who can be excessively and idealistically human. The shoot em up romp is just the backdrop.

The 25 minute format feels rushed. You can't make TV based on Murderbot's inner narrative, so you are left with something that feels a bit thin. You have the framework (hippy scientists, monster, rescue, mystery goings on) but none of what makes the story more than the Scooby-doo level plot. I'm pretty sure the author was happy just stringing together sci-fi tropes to satirise them from an entertaining often first person view. But if you lose that, what you are left with is Saturday morning TV.

Disney would have been pleased with the result, they could run this alongside the Mandalorian. But Apple?

As for allowing the main character a human face, we're seeing him as human from 10 minutes in. Nice for the actor, but the journey of the other characters to slowly discover humanity in a machine that scares them is a bit of a theme. But what the hey, it's not classic literature being taken liberties with.

Early days, but not sure that the zippy format is going to help with character generation. Maybe we'll just have to live with sketches. I'll stay with it for now and live in hope.

We were looking for something to watch that was a little light hearted and our Apple TV fed us this as a suggestion. We watched the trailer and thought it looked really quite fun.

It certainly was. I know some people might feel the humour was off, and maybe the episodes were short but that worked for us. Because we could easily commit the time, the episodes were engaging and full of dark humour fun. We ended up watching more and more until we had watched the whole season in just two days.

It's just a great, funny and engaging romp. All the characters are great and well developed, the lines were delivered with standup comedy pace, and the sarcasm fitted in well with British dark, satirical, humour.

I don't hate it, but I don't love it either. My main complaints are the short episode runtimes and the mischaracterization of our main cast for the sake of humor, I guess. The books are very funny on their own. I don't understand why the show is portraying Preservation Aux (who are scholars, scientists, and political leaders) as "space hippies", undermining Mensah as a well respected and highly capable leader, and making the queer & poly normative world into a cringey love triangle type joke. I'm going to continue watching because I love the book series so much and I want a show based on them to do well, but so far I'm sitting at a 6/10. Will update as we get further into the season.

First of, the episodes are so long (sarcasm).

No but could the episodes be any shorter?! Its ridicolously short and only a few scenes before the episode is done. Very weird format.

I find the group the Murderbot is assigned to very very cringy. I don't care for them in any shape or form. They are just weird, repulsively cringy and just yikes in so many levels. I have read book 1 of Murderbot and they are not at all weird and cringy in the book!

I cant understand how the show creators was like, "lets make them into weirdo hippies".

Skarsgårds is carrying the whole of the show on his shoulders. Rest is just meaningless crap.

I had high hopes for Murderbot, and in many ways it delivers. The concept of a sarcastic, self-aware SecUnit trying to navigate human interaction while secretly binge-watching soap operas is gold. The 20-30 minute episodes work perfectly for this tone-if they had stretched to an hour, I'm not sure I would have stuck around. It's just the right size for light, slightly quirky sci-fi.

That said, I can't ignore the flaws. The biggest? This is a semi-intelligent AI that hacks its own governor module and defeats far more advanced bots... yet it never tries to improve itself. No scavenging for parts, no copying superior code, no attempt to upgrade its weapons or armor. It just carries on in the same fragile, underpowered body as if nothing happened. For a machine that's supposed to be adaptive and strategic, this feels lazy and illogical.

Then there's the design choice for Murderbot's suit. You can clearly see there's a human inside-it's essentially a black wetsuit with some padding. Why not use the actor's head and build a more robotic body to sell the illusion? Right now it looks more like cosplay than a multi-million dollar production.

Despite all this, I still enjoyed the season. Murderbot's deadpan humor and awkward charm make it watchable, and the supporting cast does a solid job. But I can't shake the feeling that it's a show holding itself back-more focused on surface-level quirks than exploring the full potential of its premise.

Update after all 10 episodes: This is a really good show and a great adaptation, in many ways. The episodes still feel too short, but Murderbot, Mensah, Gurathin (maybe especially) and Ratthi contributes really well to making the show even better. It's been confirmed for season 2, and I'm looking forward to the introduction of a very important character...

In summation: Wait until all episodes are out and binge it in one go.

Big fan of the books, and a lot works for this adaptation. But trying to make a whole season out of the first novella (!) is quite crazy, and results in 20 minute episodes where episode 3 literally is about travelling somewhere. Where is the proper story arc and goal of each episode? It doesn't make sense. If it had a short season of longer episodes, or combined the first few novellas for a longer season, it would be fine, but this just doesn't make sense. You don't get to settle into the episode before it's over. The only way to watch this properly is to binge it. I'll watch them as they come out, but I'd prefer to have them all available already. I love severance and other great apple TV-productions, so this is a let-down to a great universe with lots of potential. The adaptation in itself would benefit from more in-depth coverage of the corporate system etc., something the books doesn't focus much on, perhaps due to it being from Murderbot's perspective (and it doesn't care)...

Also, as others have said, Murderbot should have its helmet on.

The only thing why it didn't get a 10 star is indeed about the runtime of the episodes. Too short. Way too short. But what a blast. Light, funny, excellent twists and turns. A bit of graphic violence but not to much. Funny as hell in my opinion. It's a Douglas Adams Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy meets Star Trek. Something like it. The actors and the protagonist are all doing perfect job. Similar to the Trek series the scifi isn't the lead. It's just how mankind would continue to exploit space and resource. Instead of the non financial Trekkie world this is all about greed and corporate possesion. But that isn't what makes this a fun watch. Murderbot is an introvert android (mildly neurotypical) living in his own head while he tries to circumvent human interaction. Now. Please make the next season a 10 star experience and extend the run time of the episodes. That's all from me.

I "read" the books from Audible. I am a big fan.

This adaptation although somewhat faithful is just not as good as the books I read. Ther's something off and I can't figure it out.

The author, Martha Wells, wrote some complex characters that complement each other.

I feel like this adaptation makes light of their character traits and tries to turns everything into a joke. Would be jokes if it was funny, but it's just cringe inducing at times.

The episodes length is definitely bad. Almost feels like they cut it like that to run the show for more weeks in order to milk out more subscription money... At this point, I'll just wait for the season to be over and watch it in one go.

I hope they make a second season and improve on what they have. The story is only beginning. I can't wait to meet ART and see Preservation.

Having read other reviews there's not much I can say diffent, but I feel the need to say it anyway.

The casting is spot on, the actors all play their parts perfectly. The show has a great feel to it and whilst there isn't much new for those that have a great deal of viewing experience, the show still manages to captivate and draw the viewer in.

There is a beautifully done humour within the show, that is just the right amount and manages to not draw away from the more serious and emotional overall direction of the show.

As stated by other reviews, the only real downside is the length of each episode. I was totally caught off guard at the end of the first episode when just as I realised how good this show was and how I would really enjoy the second half of the episode, it ended. I was both happy and disappointed at the same time due to how good the show was, and at how I would have to endure this feeling of being drawn into each episode just as it ended.

Regardless of this I can honestly say this is the most I have enjoyed not only a scifi show, but any type of show in quite a long time.

If series two does more of the same but with longer episodes it could be award winning.

Seems like I'm in the minority here, but I don't think this show is very good. You have a very interesting premise that could set up good opportunities for comic relief and fun plot twists. The problem is despite the premise and Skaarsgard (sp) being a top notch actor, nothing interesting seems to happen and the time I invest in the show trying to learn characters doesn't pay off. I spend most of each episode frustrated that the plot doesn't move anywhere and Skaarsgards character spends a great deal of time incapacitated or injured which minimizes his impact in the scene. The supporting cast are replicas of one another from a personality standpoint, they are dull and boring to watch. Ultimately it's a show that just doesn't move forward, episodes are painfully short in length and on humor.

Fell utterly in love with the characters all over again. They've really brought the books to life and I am so delighted by the incredible work that has been put into the show. Even the changes from the books were well-planned to provide the right emotional pings and narrative beats to carry it home. And it skillfully establishes the Worldbuilding and setting without excessive expositing (very impressive). It also managed to keep the dry humor of the books - Murderbot being an unreliable narrator and a flat-out liar - that I loved so much.

So relived they're making a second season, and I hope it continues to be deep, heartfelt, quality entertainment 😉

I love the books, read multiple times but unfortunately the series doesn't live up to my reading imagination. Maybe it is the lead. I just imagined Murderbot to be a bigger more commanding presence with a soft centre and a wisecracking humor. I don't even like the sound of his voice or the way he seems uncertain and nervous. The rest of the cast seem silly and make foolish decisions just to create drama. These are supposed to be intelligent people with hearts. Just a bit off for me; a diehard fan of the books. I will continue to watch though but not with the great enthusiasm that I thought I would have.

Murderbot may not be the exact adaptation I envisioned, but it's still a standout sci-fi series that deserves your attention. While I originally hoped for a tighter season that combined the first two novellas, the choice to expand the world and focus more deeply on the supporting characters was a bold-and ultimately rewarding-move.

The series smartly gives more weight to the human (and non-human) characters surrounding Murderbot, which adds richness to the universe and raises the emotional stakes. Moments like seeing Sanctuary Moon brought to life? A genius inclusion for longtime fans-and a clever entry point for newcomers.

That said, I do wish the pacing were sharper and that the show leaned more into what makes Murderbot, well, Murderbot: that sarcastic, deadpan, and deeply relatable internal monologue. It's one of the highlights of the books, and dialing that up in future seasons could take the show from great to unforgettable.

Still, the foundation is strong, the themes are smart, and the potential for Season 2 and beyond is massive. If you're into character-driven sci-fi with soul, heart, and the occasional awkward robot feels, Murderbot is absolutely worth the watch.