Longtime Halo protagonist Master Chief is a charmless hero. This is a character defined by limitless reserves of strength and gruffness, whose moniker is two tough-sounding titles grafted together (eventually he is given a real human name, which is — wait for it — John). Players have never even seen his face: the amber visor of his helmet stays resolutely closed.

Given that Halo is a game about blasting aliens with laser guns, this has never been a problem. Chief’s blankness allows players to project themselves more easily into his reinforced boots. Yet it was a hurdle for the new Halo TV adaptation on Paramount Plus. Games can have interesting characters and plots, but they don’t necessarily depend on them. Not so with television. Paramount, under the guidance of executive producer Steven Spielberg, needed to make changes.

First, they decided Chief had to show his face — a gormless Pablo Schreiber, much beefed-up from his days as “Pornstache” in the Netflix prison comedy-drama Orange is the New Black. Then they crunched 16 games’ worth of sci-fi pabulum into a semi-coherent narrative that pits humans against aliens and involves much wooden dialogue.