(TV SERIES) Dream Raider - Intriguing & Interesting for the First HBO Asia's sci-fi Series

I noticed this series was released on HBO Go since August but as usual, I would only watch it when it's already completed. I am not sure when the final episode was shown, but I watched this during the weekend and managed to complete it fast. Well let me get into it now.

Brief Story Line

Set in the near future, detective Li Xiao (Weber Yang - The Masked Lover TV series etc) and his partner Che Na (Aggie Hsieh - Code TV series etc) had to face the mystery of missing young girls. The only clue was one of the victim who was found in comatose condition. They sought the help from professor Cheng (Wang Shih-hsien - The Paradise etc) who invented a machine that could infiltrate people's mind, even though it was known to be dangerous and resulted to an incident 10 years before involving Cheng's partner Mo Qi Feng (David Wang - Wine War, Project Guttenberg etc) and his wife Li An (Vivian Hsu - The Accidental Spy, The Sorcerer and the White Snake etc).

Assisted by Cheng's daughter Anya (Ellen Wu) and a university student Xie Xiao Yu (Chung Cheng-chun), the detectives tried to investigate using that machine. During the investigation into the mind, Professor Cheng encountered a mysterious woman in red (Wu Ke-shi - Nina Wu, The Road to Mandalay etc). There was also a major tech company Rhyzen led by Watanabe (Jun Kunimura - Kill Bill Vol. 1, Manhunt etc) who tried to recruit Anya. As more cases required the use of the machine, the police decided to form a Dream Raider task force to investigate them. 

So what was the reason for the emergence of such cases, and what would happen to the task force? Find them all in this sci-fi series.

End of Brief Story Line

The reason why I was intrigued to watch the series was when I read the brief synopsis, it hinted an intriguing mystery combined with science fiction. It was a topic that I liked, going into the minds of people. The series did not take too much time to go into the interesting part. The first episode was nicely done with a mystery that fascinated me (the earlier scenes even created a spooky feeling to me). 

As the story continued, the series began to feel like a police procedural type with a mystery in each episode and a large story arc. The mysteries were fun to see, but not that difficult to solve. The main attraction was definitely the time when the machine was being used. The large story arc was revealed little by little until the season (series?) finale which was OK but not a really grand ending for me. Probably because there was no major surprise/twist. However, the final episode did give a hint in case there is a second season.

The visual effects were pretty decent for TV series and did not look like the cheap B movie type that was too obvious. I really dig the opening scene which a bit captivated me with its mysterious, dark theme and having a wonderful music. Usually I would skip opening credits but this time during the whole 8 episodes, I always watch it. That's how much I liked it. The action scenes were so so and not spectacular, with credits have to be given to Aggie Hsieh for being able to perform it (I think a bit better than Weber Yang).

The cast were generally OK with a nice chemistry between Detective Li Xiao and Cheng Anya even if I think Weber Yang seemed a little bit mature for Ellen Wu. At certain scenes though, I felt that few of the cast looked like they were only acting and it did not seemed natural (I will not indicate which ones but I think you could feel it if you watch it). Of all the cast here, I have only ever seen Vivian Hsu (popular for playing in various Hong Kong movies) and Jun Kunimura. There was also the character of Captain Zhang (sadly I could not find the actor playing him), the only one who provided comedic moment in the series and became my favorite despite not having large screen time. Btw, the series was classified for 18+ by HBO for various reasons, but there was one episode which has a surprisingly mature theme. 

As the first science fiction series produced by HBO Asia, this one is certainly not bad. It might not have been a truly great series, but it did satisfy me as a sci-fi lover. Having only 8 episodes with duration of averaging 45 minutes each was also good for me as I could finish it easily. Overall this is a good enough sci-fi series with interesting and intriguing up to date topic, plus some nice cast. It is certainly worth a try to watch.

Mike's movie moments rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars