Warning! This article contains SPOILERS for Murderbot season 1, episode 2.Apple TV+ has made a few changes for its adaptation of end of Murderbot season 1, episode 2 also mentioned the alien remnants PreservationAux found much earlier than the books did, and there have been other small changes throughout the first two episodes.

Normally, when a TV adaptation makes changes to a beloved book, they're not well-received. There's a long list of the worst book adaptations, from The Dark Tower to The Hobbit, and one thing they all have in common is how much they changed from their source material. Interestingly enough, many of Murderbot's changes haven't made that same mistake, and one change actually improved upon Martha Wells' original books. Fans of The Murderbot Diaries likely recognized it right away: Murderbot is actually showing The Rise & Fall of Sanctuary Moon.

The Rise And Fall Of Sanctuary Moon Was Always A Big Part Of The Murderbot Diaries

Sanctuary Moon Is Murderbot's Favorite Show & Its Guide To Interpreting Humans

Murderbot's "show within a show," The Rise & Fall of Sanctuary Moon, was always a big part of Martha Wells' books. Right from the start, in All Systems Red, Murderbot described Sanctuary Moon as its favorite show on the entertainment feed. The series also played an important role in several parts of The Murderbot Diaries' plot. Murderbot frequently uses dialogue and names from Sanctuary Moon while it's trying to as an augmented human, and it will frequently watch the show to calm down after stressful social interactions. In Artificial Condition, Murderbot even mentions that Sanctuary Moon helps it escape from the awful reality of functionally being a slave.

Sanctuary Moon was always important as a comfort show for Murderbot, and it was always great, too. Sanctuary Moon is fairly often used as a joke in The Murderbot Diaries, and it very often worked tremendously. For example, in All Systems Red, Murderbot got very defensive about a plot line in Sanctuary Moon, even while it was being interrogated and outed as a rogue bot. As important and frequently used as Sanctuary Moon was in the books, however, there was still room for improvement. Apple TV+ figured out exactly how to make Sanctuary Moon better: by actually showing it.

Apple TV+’s Murderbot Is Actually Showing Sanctuary Moon & It’s Better Than I Imagined

Apple TV+'s Decision To Make Sanctuary Moon A Star Trek Parody Works So Well With Murderbot's Corporate Dystopia

Even though Sanctuary Moon was an important part of The Murderbot Diaries, the books never actually described full episodes of the show. There were only vague references to absurd plot twists, like a bodyguard being murdered, and we never got a feel for what the show was actually like. Apple TV+'s Murderbot actually showed us clips of Sanctuary Moon, and it's even better than I was expecting. Throughout the books, Sanctuary Moon is understood to be a trashy soap opera, which makes it funny that Murderbot likes it so much. In the Murderbot show, however, Sanctuary Moon is so much more.

Martha Wells once described Sanctuary Moon by comparing it to How to Get Away with Murder (via Newsweek), but the Apple TV+ adaptation made it more like Star Trek. That change was perfect: including a parody of Star Trek, a show about a utopian future for human society, works so well as a humorous contrast to Murderbot's deeply dystopian corporate nightmare. While Murderbot is being blown to bits for a company that views it as property, Sanctuary Moon shows someone falling in love with a bot. Sanctuary Moon is the perfect way to highlight the absurdities of Murderbot's deeply disturbing universe.

Martha Wells has been directly involved in Apple TV+'s Murderbot. She works as a consulting producer for the show, which likely helped the series remain faithful to her books.

Along with being a great way to show just how awful the dystopia of Murderbot is, Sanctuary Moon's depiction in the Apple TV+ show also helps make Murderbot's story better. Now that it's a parody of Star Trek, it makes even more sense that Sanctuary Moon is Murderbot's favorite show. Sanctuary Moon gives Murderbot an idealized, comforting fictional world where bots are treated with respect to escape to while it interacts with awful humans and risks death to protect them. Somehow, Apple TV+'s Murderbot found a way to make Sanctuary Moon an even better part of Murderbot's characterization.