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Apple to Adapt William Gibson's Cyberpunk Novel 'Neuromancer' for TV+
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“Woke salad”? Hmm. Not sure what that even means but I seriously doubt it’s what anyone has in mind for the series.
If Apple has control over the content, forget it.
Apple doesn’t vice signal enough? Not right wing PC enough?
Seriously. Maybe we don’t need to interpret every single thing through a deeply partisan lens.
Great, I can tell already it’s going to be completely butchered. That book is far from politically correct and is too gritty for Apple’s clean image. Besides, Neuromancer was already pretty much made into a movie. It’s called Johnny Mnemonic. Different short story but essentially the same idea. It wouldn’t even surprise me if Apple Had the stars of the show wearing Apple Vision Pro units when they enter cyberspace. Also, they need Matthew Lillard to play Dixie Flatline
Who again canceled his ATV show recently cause Apple told him what to say and what not to say? Apple wants to control EVERY content inside its Apple universe.
Politically correct? According to whom? Have you considered the fact that both wings have a “correct” stance? And again, why does everything have to be viewed through a dull partisan lens?
Apple hasn’t made any Star Wars. Grinding that axe here may not be the most productive thing you could do?
When you’ve finished, read it again. There is so much you will miss on a first reading.
Johnny Mnemonic was an absolute dog’s dinner of a film. Truly atrocious.
I share your worries about the sanitisation and potential Applefication of Neuromancer. It’s deeply dark and violent throughout. Perhaps too dark for many.
Incidentally, one of my favourite scenes in Neuromancer is when the protagonist Case walks by a row of phone booths. The AI that is stalking him rings each phone once as he passes by. Pretty damned spooky. But I’m not sure how that’s going to work in a world of iPhones.
All we need is to create an alternate timeline where "The Peripheral" was executed flawlessly... on Apple TV.
Whoa!! is that what happened? I don't recall the suicide - maybe I blocked it out of my mind? And I wondered why I didn't see more episodes....
Don't know if it would be Apple's responsibility, but as much as I have enjoyed the two seasons of Foundation, the deviation from the book was a real irritant until I just gave up and accepted the new story arc as what it was going to be. That being said, I WILL give whoever is responsible permission to get rid of the bank of land-line phones mentioned somewhere in the novel. Even Gibson saw that as a failure to see that his future world would have moved well past such things.
This is the truth. There’s so many details painted to at first read through you barely understand what’s going on with the story. Second read through you understand the story and start seeing the details. Pretty wild. I think his other books like, Idoru, are eerie in how long ago they were written, but we’re seeing the many details of the books coming to life right in front of our very eyes. A book written in the mid 90s about a global superstar that doesn’t exist, because they are an AI, and performs on stage as a hologram. Then a real life guy wants to marry this AI. Not going to say any more so I don’t spoil the details. It’s worth a read. Hell of a book, especially once you get to the virtual Kowloon Walled City
William Gibson is one of those "Live Wires" of modern literature: Delivers the power, kills if you touch it wrong. Gibson's vision for all his cyberpunk stories really radiates from his unique style of prose. Everything in it, and out of it, matters, including the anxiety, profanity, smoking, drinking, drugging, violence with full-spectrum anatomical disassembly, sex with unambiguous expression. Even the various redactions for audio books are solid; in fact, one of my prized recordings is a Neuromancer redaction on cassettes read by William Gibson.
Bad guys win. Protagonists are compromised. Even the happier moments are faustian suckholes that hint at ending badly. The Neuromancer trilogy was not family friendly. If Apple makes a show that's ok for kids, they've failed. If it doesn't breed resentment for megacorporations, like Apple itself, they've failed. If it doesn't make you scream, "Hell yeah! Crime ROCKS! Where's my bionic arm!", they've failed. Of course, I was a dedicated player of Cyberpunk and Shadowrun RPGs back in the 80s, so I have specific appetites for the genre.
Real early on, I looked at some Apple TV shows. They were weak-kneed, hollow, sappy, sanctimonious garbage. I was fully motivated to cancel that trial. I haven't even glanced at AppleTV since. Did Apple ever get sexy smokey druggy fighty murdery cursey edgy? Freely associating, off the cuff, I'm imagining...
Bad guys win. Protagonists are compromised. Even the happier moments are faustian suckholes that hint at ending badly. The Neuromancer trilogy was not family friendly. If Apple makes a show that's ok for kids, they've failed. If it doesn't breed resentment for megacorporations, like Apple itself, they've failed. If it doesn't make you scream, "Hell yeah! Crime ROCKS! Where's my bionic arm!", they've failed. Of course, I was a dedicated player of Cyberpunk and Shadowrun RPGs back in the 80s, so I have specific appetites for the genre.
Real early on, I looked at some Apple TV shows. They were weak-kneed, hollow, sappy, sanctimonious garbage. I was fully motivated to cancel that trial. I haven't even glanced at AppleTV since. Did Apple ever get sexy smokey druggy fighty murdery cursey edgy? Freely associating, off the cuff, I'm imagining...
- Adaptation, writing, directing and production with the overall fearlessness of Netflix's Obliterated.
- Layered world building like The Expanse.
- Pacing like Jack Ryan and Reacher.
- Acting as good as the aforementioned, starting with casting, so many good choices.
- Visualizations of the Net mixing Ready Player One, Virtuosity, the Matrixes, Johnny Mnemonic, both Trons (as not all customers will pay for maxed out rendering, right?).
- Gang sociology like A Clockwork Orange and Escape from New York.
- Sets, scene renderings and props like Elysium, Total Recall (2012), District 9, Blade Runner and Dark City, Cowboy Bebop and Firefly.
- Cybernetics like Johnny Mnemonic, Elysium, I Robot, Cyberpunk Edgerunners and 2077.
- Space travel and stations mixing The Expanse, Elysium and For All Mankind, maybe a dash of Space 1999.
What is “un-politically-correct” about Neuromancer? Specifically? I’ve read or listened to it probably a dozen times at least, and honestly have no idea what you’re talking about.
I would like to believe it, but I doubt it.
Your description alone would be banned, cause of „explicit lyrics“
Just in case this isn't excellent sarcasm 🤔... Lots of programs have content warnings about smoking. Drug use. Graded of nudity. The entire trilogy is sprinkled with kids in various extents of neglect, if not outright abuse. And the main protagonist of Neuromancer, Henry Dorsett Case, is unequivocally caucasian (In one harmlessly funny scene, Molly runs out of the bronzer she's rubbing on as part of their cover on Freeside, leaving one foot un-tanned.)
Political correctness is nothing more, nothing less than, the noisiest minority of faux-virtuous busy-bodies, who empower do-nothing legislators to parrot anything that might bludgeon dollars out of industry lobbyists. I'm sure trash in street scenes will get content warnings about "Failure to recycle", while all restaurant scenes need warnings about "Implied or explicit consumption of non-vegan organics." 😖
💯 Ironically, it could have been good. Individual casting choices had potential, but the acting was kinda superficial, direction spotty; one remained aware they were acting, more akin to a stage play. Props were spotty. The memory doubler gizmo's and screen capture gizmos were well enough done, but the bartender's (who was obviously a reach out to Ratz from Neuromancer) bionic arm prop wasn't good enough to represent even future Soviet-era prosthesis. And the setup for the Jones the dolphin was ludicrous. 😖 It is, however, a superlative example of what not to end up with.
Actually, yeah, this would work fine if direction and camera. Cell phones ring and buzz and flash, In tight clusters around Case as he walks through the crowded spaceport concourse. Shot lifts from his paranoid face to an expanding overhead shot, showing a wake of confused people where he passed. Capital idea! You're hired!
Case will be walking into an Apple Store and all of the iPhones on display will start going wild as Wintermute reaches out to him LOL. The show will be one big Apple commercial to showcase its products. 😂
In regards to the Johnny M. Movie, I think a lot of it is that it fell victim to that mid 90's cliche where all of the movies had to have that slick, edgy/hip, cool kind of vibe that was alternative to everything out there. Hackers was another movie that had the same type of vibes. For its time, it was pretty cool and exploratory but it certainly didn't age well at all. Just looks pretty silly these days and almost like they were trying to hard. Strange Days was another movie along these lines but that one I think still held up really well after all of these years. Ralph Feines did a fantastic job in that movie! Funny side note is I still yell out, "HALT SINNERS!" randomly and people either get it and laugh like crazy or they look with bizarre curiosity and still laugh because it's so silly.