RetroFedNeuromancer (2027, creators Graham Roland and J.D. Dillard)
neuracnuhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g79GPZSQHBk
A hacker and an assassin are thrust into a web of high-stakes crime as they take aim at a corporate dynasty.
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MechanismaticIt seems promising that Gibson has been pleased with the production: https://bsky.app/profile/greatdismal.bsky.social/post/3mrj4rzfqnc24
Skullgridthat’s good, because I felt nothing of the mood of the novel.
I did (wrongly) feel the same way when the fallout tv show didn’t start with “war. war never changes”.
There’s something that’s so profoundly disappointing in the adaptation of a work that begins with an incredible line that instantly sets the mood of the work, and maybe an entire genre. With Neuromancer, you HAD TO show , not just your hand, but your entire arm in showing that your creative team can make “The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.”, and when we see that sky, your principal actor has to be able to set the mood and protagonist’s definition in stone by being able to deliver that line in voiceover. This line isn’t about a colour, this line is about the entire mood of the book, and the genre as a whole; the failure of technology as it permeates everything and fails humanity.
Lots of daytime shots, I didn’t have much of an image of what I expected Case to look like, but it wasn’t him. Probably thinner, frailer and paler. He looks too generically white. The characters seem confident in a very straightforward way, I felt they were more broken and unsure in the book.
Because I’m writing this post for having fun, I want to expand on the point of initial lines in books/works. Some works have that kind of line. This is one.
We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas nails this. What’s the book about? Uncontrolled substance abuse, a road trip, the unseen corners of the United States and the freak Americans that fill those spaces. The Terry Gilliam adaptation fucking nailed it (alongside everything else from that book).
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife
I don’t give a single fuck about Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen or any of her ilk, nor this genre of romantic novels from whenever the fuck it is. This opening line is still fucking gold, and completely establishes every single aspect of the work it comes from and all other works to follow in its footsteps.
Space. The final frontier.
Shatner delivered it like shit. Patrick Stewart/Jean Luc forever. Yes there’s more, but it says so much about the optimistic future and the way our moral heroes are meant to keep pushing humanity into its full potential.
War. War never changes.
The mood of pessimism and inevitability of the human struggles that make up the serious side of fallout gets established in this one line, which Ron Perlman read for the measily price of a sandwich. The man delivered the knockout opening punch by half assedly reading this in 20 minutes, which is something the show should have had, and this show should have had from the actor who is doing the part of Case.
Yes, this work is about the war to end all wars. But even though this is the war to end all wars, it’s like every fucking war before it, and every war since it will also be the same.
Because the technology and the times change, but the stupid monkey wearing clothes is the same.
the entire mood of the book, and the genre as a whole; the failure of technology as it permeates everything and fails humanity.
Agreed, specifically about how economic socio-technical systems become unmoored from their role of serving people. (Literally independent, in the case of the AI.) Appropriately, the whole cyberpunk genre became just another way of selling books / films / games, and whatever critique cyberpunk offered became watered-down and co-opted. This show is just one more step in that process.
The characters seem confident in a very straightforward way, I felt they were more broken and unsure in the book.
Yeah, in the book they chatted nervously, in this preview they act like they’re in a sitcom.
This opening line [of Pride and Prejudice] is still fucking gold, and completely establishes every single aspect of the work it comes from and all other works to follow in its footsteps.
Pride and Prejudice is satirical in a way that’s hard to appreciate these days. Austen observed her class’ society and its many pecularities and contradictions: mothers who try too hard to marry off their daughters, fathers distracted by easy living, younger sisters who flirt, eligible bachelors who don’t seem to care, obsequious relatives, etc. Ultimately Austen has messages that are (very) gently subversive: that the principally city-dwelling upper classes would benefit from intermarrying with the country gentry, that women could be the equals of the men they marry, that it’s unfair that women need to desperately seek husbands because they’re not allowed to do anything else, etc. It’s not a straightforward romance.
I guess in the same way that Pride and Prejudice is sometimes seen as a straightforward romance, Neuromancer is sometimes seen as a straightforward sci fi action story.
Astute observations. I wasn’t aware of Austen’s work being satirical, but the opener works just as powerfully in a sarcastic context, which further amplifies how good it is.
My first impression is that there are fates worse than development hell.
Hope it’s good! Emphasis on hope.
Somehow even the grimy alley where MC’s getting beat down is bright and sunny. How tf did that happen? Oh yeah it’s by Apple TV…
Expect NothingThat guy was pretty good in GREEN ROOM (the only thing I’ve seen him in). I guess an insistent EXXXTREME techno soundtrack is supposed to inspire some kind of excitement in people.
pruwyben
AmnesigenicHard no, but at least it might get some new people to read the book
Immediately more excited by this trailer than the Blade Runner 2099 one. Apple really killing it with sci-fi the past couple years.
Apple TV has been the new SciFi channel since it went online in 2020.
I pirate the entirety of the rest of my content, but keep an Apple TV subscription around just because I’ve liked probably around 90% of the shows and movies I’ve seen from them. There have only been a couple of shows that I’ve found boring.
They have great stuff from other genres besides sci-fi too.
They already fucked it up with the “Jonny Memotic” jack-in. In Neuromancer, it’s trodes and a headband to jack in. I still have high hopes this will be a quasi-semi-accurate series.
History does not say this will happen. Gibson has been screwed often, as have others.
However, Foundation, while a solid and great sci-fi series, absoulutly analy fucks the Asimov books. When you compare Foundation to the novels, it’s 100% shit! They could have done atompunk awesomeness! Instead, it’s an emperor that is the LEAST important character in the first book.
If Neuromancer fucks the book, then fuck AppleTV and everyone involved.
Do not get me started on how shitty and almost enjoyable “Peripherable” was on Amazon. That went so far off book it hurt.
Oh man, Peripherable was maddening. It was doing great and then the assassin Bob showed up and the whole show just fucking fell off a cliff. It was so weird.
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been waiting decades for this hope they don’t mess it up
Based on the many great sci-fi shows we’ve gotten from Apple TV I feel it’ll at least be ok and worth a watch. If I was forced to pay for one subscription for shows it’d absolutely be Apple TV (I pay for none 🏴☠️).
I hope they keep all the howlers, like when the space pilot doesn’t know what a computer virus is.
By making the world and characters super-cool and attractive they already missed the point completely. This looks horrible.
“Creators”?
Showrunners get distinct “creator” credits for TV series that have been adapted from previous works, with distinct “based on _ by _” credits for the source material.
I’m not a huge fan of the wording either, but I’m trying to stick with industry standard nomenclature until I figure out something better.
Shame no Chris Cunningham.
We are already living in a cyberpunk dystopia, I’m over cyberpunk media
Gibson must have run out of watch money.
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Bit rude!
Not a single scene in this trailer reminds me of the book I have on my bookshelf and have read several times. Also Gibson said in the past that he was happy for Neuromancer to be a book and maybe a video game, but not made into a ‘Hollywood Property”. He could have changed his mind, or thought it would make a great troll in his later years( he is famous for trolling the CBC in the late 60’s about what life was as a barefoot hippie that shared everything with strangers played by all his friends) but when he wanted something made into a movie or a TV show it was. Except Irodru for some reason.
He did in fact change his mind. Life happens.
Hopefully it’s only loosely based on the source material. Ironically, Neuromancer is among the worst books in the genre it invented.
Somebody’s lookin to get flatlined.
Read the book decades ago and enjoyed it. Why do you say it’s terrible?
The story has almost zero action, the characters are insipid and undeveloped, and the prose is wholly unremarkable. I think Neuromancer is popular because it’s popular, which is not uncommon.
What do you think about the cyberpunk genre?
Edit: went through your comment history, and you seem to have a pattern of shit takes. At least you’re consistent.
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The prose is one of the best parts imo. The main character has had his mind and body modified and drugged to the point of constantly being confused. The chaotic writing helped put the reader in that headspace.
That, and the lack of almost any exposition (except for the “kids show” scene, which was a brilliant trick).