5 Reasons Why Altered Carbon Is The Best Sci-Fi Show On Netflix (& 5 Why It’s The 100)

Altered Carbon and The 100 both tell futuristic science fiction tales, but which of these shows actually does it better?

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The sci-fi genre has made some great progression in the past few decades, with TV shows now being produced that have the ambition, budget, and production quality to rival even the biggest of Hollywood blockbusters. And as the streaming wars continue between online media streaming companies more and more of them are pouring money into producing original content, with Netflix having a significant headstart as they have been doing it for the longest time and also have the largest market share.

Strangers Things might be Netflix’s most popular sci-fi original but there are others to accommodate audiences with a different taste. Among the many sci-fi series on the platform, two have managed to stand out: Altered Carbon and The 100, two shows with a very different approach to their genres. This list presents a few reasons why one is better than the other.

10 Altered Carbon: More Compact Story

While it is true that The 100 has been airing for longer than Altered Carbon, even taking that into account the plot of Altered Carbon appears much more linear and straightforward.

Over the course of 2 seasons and a total of 18 episodes, Altered Carbon is basically the story of a single battle-hardened man by the name of Takeshi Kovacs who tries to make his way in a life he has been forcefully handed. At its core, it is a simple cyberpunk action flick, and while that might not sound like a compliment in other cases it works in favor of Altered Carbon quite fittingly.

9 The 100: More Seasons, More Expansive Storytelling

Whether The 100 is more well written or Altered Carbon, is an argument to which each member of the audience will react in their own way. But the hard facts that are available are that not only does The 100 have more seasons than Altered Carbon, but it has more episodes per season as well.

While more episodes aren’t always an indicator of quality, what they can signal is that the writers have the opportunity to explore various storylines with the established characters.

8 Altered Carbon: For Mature Audiences

Netflix has never been the type to shy away from showing extremely mature content in their shows, as the graphic sequences are a method to richen the intensity of the plot and when used properly can heighten the quality of storytelling.

Deservingly rated R, Altered Carbon features an acute mixture of sex, violence, and drugs, all along with a healthy dose of profanity and all of these factors contribute to the illustration of the dark and gritty kind of future the show takes place in. Some audiences might label it as too extreme, but it should be seen as part of the experience.

7 The 100: More Family Friendly

Extremely graphic scenes can leave a lasting impression on the viewers, but that doesn’t mean it’s the only way to do so; there are much more subtle and family-friendly methods.

The 100 has its fair share of violent scenes, and considering most of the violence technically revolves around teenagers makes the matter slightly more sensitive, but it can be positively said that it is not quite on the level of Altered Carbon.

6 Altered Carbon: More Sci-Fi

Being set hundreds of years into the future allowed the author of the book (and thus the writers of the show itself) a great deal of freedom to play around with various sci-fi elements and futuristic technology, the wonders of which are limited only by their own imagination, and they make full use of this opportunity.

Humanity in Altered Carbon has not only mastered interstellar travel but also extraterrestrial colonization. And the thing at the core of it all which made way for everything else is the cortical stack technology, through which humans have virtually achieved immortality.

5 The 100: More Teen Drama

Although the show exhibits itself as a contender of the sci-fi genre, due to the fact that a majority of the main cast are supposed to be teenagers there’s a fair bit of teen drama present as well. As the story of the hundred teens sent down to the thought-to-be inhabitable Earth continues, the drama gets ramped up even more.

The conflict between the several parties present is a core theme of the plot, as characters are forced to experience morally difficult situations and make decisions that ensure their survival in a brave new world.

4 Altered Carbon: Better World Building

While The 100 has a more expansive storyline, Altered Carbon has a more grounded method of world-building. The futuristic metropolis of Bay City is a utopia only for those who can afford to live in one, otherwise, it is as close to hell as it can get.

The gap between the rich and the poor has never been worse, and a key theme explored in Altered Carbon is how the rich can afford to keep living for hundreds of years and have absolute control over society. They quite literally live up in the heavens while the poor are forced to live a substandard life down below among all the violence and corruption.

3 The 100: Better Character Development

One of the things that Altered Carbon seriously lacks in is the time the audience gets to spend with the established characters. From season 1 to season 2, nearly the whole cast is replaced with new characters (or in the case of Kovacs the character is the same but the actor has been changed) and the show misses the opportunity to pursue more intricate storylines with the characters it has.

The 100 doesn’t have this problem; characters start off as one thing and through a series of hardships develop into something else entirely, a prime example being Clarke Griffin who goes from a visionary quixotic to a ruthless leader with a higher kill count than anybody else.

2 Altered Carbon: Bigger Budget And Thus Better Production Quality

While Altered Carbon is far from being the most expensive show produced by Netflix, it definitely makes the list. One only needs to take a look at the amount of CGI and special effects to understand that it surely wasn’t a cheap endeavor.

The exact numbers were never released, but lead actor Joel Kinnaman who plays the role of Takeshi Kovacs in the first season has said on record that it had a “bigger budget than the first three seasons of Game of Thrones.” The show utilized its massive budget appropriately and created a colorful and eccentric cyberpunk world that is a sight to behold.

1 The 100: Better Ratings

Taking into account all the 7 seasons of the show, The 100 holds an average rating of 93% on Rotten Tomatoes which is certainly commendable. The first season remains the most poorly received one, but overlooking that the series has had an impressive run with some of the seasons even having a full 100% rating which speaks volumes for its overall quality of writing.

Altered Carbon, on the other hand, sits with an average score of 75%. Although a difference between the critic and audience rating is to be expected, the second season of Altered Carbon has an audience rating 46% lower than the critic rating, which isn’t a good thing by any means.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/reasons-altered-carbon-the-100-best-sci-fi-show-netflix/