11 ms·

I don't know ... Neuromancer is amazing and groundbreaking. Will they do it justice? Having the show creator being most known for writing on Lost is ...........

I don't know ... Neuromancer is amazing and groundbreaking. Will they do it justice? Having the show creator being most known for writing on Lost is .................. not inspiring to say the least. Plus the adaptation on Apple TV+ of Foundation was god awful. I'm not holding out much hope for this one. Perhaps I'll be pleasantly surprised.

ThaDood 4y ago
IIRC Gibson stated that Neuromancer is basically "un-movieable". I love the book and the rest of the Sprawl series but man. Neuromancer is a SUPER busy book with a lot going on. And I just think in today's world it would be hard to really capture the vibe AND have a good plot that isn't convoluted. But I am with you. Hoping to be pleasantly surprised.
- nickthegreek 4y ago
  It maybe un-movieable, but is it un-serialized-storyable? Personally, I’m excited to find out.
- Apocryphon 4y ago
  Eh, as I said last time we had a Neuromancer adaptation news story, Dune was said to be unfilmable for years until Villeneuve went and did it and made it seem both natural and almost a little bit conventional. We're in a golden age of IP right now, and now that superheroes are getting a bit tired, perhaps it's time for classic sci-fi adaptations to shine. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33886166 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33886166
  - deepzn 4y ago
    He did it, but still would have a preferred a Dune TV show, especially after the success of GoT, and the streaming wars. The money was there. Characters played by Jason Momoa, Oscar Issac etc only got a little bit of screen time. And all those cool characters would have been amazing to watch over a few seasons.
    - MikusR 4y ago
      There is both a Dune TV series and Children of Dune TV series. Both much better than the Villeneuve movie.
    - Apocryphon 4y ago
      I totally agree, and hopefully it'll inspire the creation of Dune miniseries and shows, since there's ample precedence there.
      - senko 4y ago
        https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0142032/ https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0142032/ was actually quite good (as was the followup Children of Dune).
    - idontpost 4y ago
    - christkv 4y ago
      Checkout the old syfy channels mini series.
    - sanedigital 4y ago
      Not sure I need to spoiler alert a book that came out over 50 years ago, but Momoa should be back in Part 3.
      - deepzn 4y ago
        Ohhh, snap, I wish I'd stopped at spoiler alert..... :(((( haha it's all good. I'd been meaning to read those for a while, but...alas never did.
      - Krasnol 4y ago
        I doubt there will be a part 3. I assume Villeneuve got the deal safe for two parts but the numbers don't justify a part 3. Maybe a TV show could raise more awareness.
  - windowshopping 4y ago
    As someone who didn't read the book, the dune adaptation felt pretty hollow. A lot of visual splendor, but a very thin story with very empty characters. Extremely shallow interactions.
    - Apocryphon 4y ago
      I don't disagree. As I mention in my earlier comment, the point is that what was once considered unfilmable has now actually gotten adaptations, even if the adaptations might not be good. And what might be attempted once might receive adaptations again, until someone gets it right.
      - larrik 4y ago
        I'm pretty sure "unfilmable" means "any adaptions wouldn't be good".
        Apocryphon 4y ago
        I always interpreted it as "unable to be adapted faithfully." For instance, in my earlier post I mentioned the live-action Ghost in the Shell, which in some parts Hollywood almost-mechanically adapted to be shot by shot identical to the original animated film, while completely missing the point with the racebent casting choices and much of the writing. I would count that as a poor adaptation, but not adapted so faithlessly that it has no resemblance to the original work. Then again, Blade Runner is a loose adaptation of PKD's original story, yet does its central themes justice. So I guess "unflimable" is a relative term. Maybe it could ALSO just mean "no demand or desire to see adapted for film or television." My overall point is that it's a golden age of IP and with the mainstreaming of nerd culture (and the endless demand for content from the streaming studios), all sorts of works that were once considered unfilmable are about to see the light of day.
        aerovistae 4y ago
        > racebent This is the first time I've encountered this term! What an excellent word.
  - chaostheory 4y ago
    The new Dune is better, but it still fails to capture all the intrigue, conspiracy, and politics that would be better captured by a TV series.
  - de_keyboard 4y ago
    Dune was enjoyable and all but HE SKIPPED THE DINNER SCENE arguably one of the most important bits!
    - mholm 4y ago
      I'm not sure there's a director in the world who could have done the dinner scene justice. Some things just can't bridge mediums.
  - Krasnol 4y ago
    > Dune was said to be unfilmable for years until Villeneuve went and did I always assumed this argument goes for the whole of the original Dune universe. The first book is pretty straight forward and easy to understand. The further on you go with them, the more problematic it becomes as it is mainly dialogue and not much is really happening. Neuromancer is far more challenging than the first books of Dune and I doubt from what Villeneuve did to the first book that he'd be capable of going even half way without gutting it of all the really interesting parts. This one felt pretty shallow already. The effects were fine though.
    - Apocryphon 4y ago
      > Neuromancer is far more challenging than the first books of Dune. How so? I'd expect that with both reality turning more and more cyberpunk, and the revived interest in the retrofuturistic '80s-early '90s form of the genre with Cyberpunk 2077 and its Netflix anime adaptation, audiences are primed for this sort of thing.
      - Krasnol 4y ago
        What you are talking about is the visual experience. In my opinion, this will be mostly a problem BECAUSE the visuals have been there already. All of those movies following Blade Runner did their part of the Neuromancer-Cyberpunk thing. However I consider the hardest part being the emotional depth of the characters which get their unique taste through the authors way to describe them. The Burroughesque touch and the unknowns is what makes Gibsons early works truly special (it gets easier with his latests works as we can see with the current adaptation of Peripheral). The show needs a true artists touch. It doesn't have to be what Gibson did but it should be something special, not mainstream. Dune on the other hand is a straight forward dynasty drama at the beginning and only later escalates into a philosophical exercise later on before it explodes into something completely different towards the end (of the original books). The beginning has been done already in Game of Thrones for example and is pretty much doable. Neuromancer is harder but I think Apple can pull this off because I feel this brave approach from them. A feeling I had with Netflix at the beginning.
      - LarryMullins 4y ago
  - Mistletoe 4y ago
    Unfilmable, but the David Lynch version is amazing? The new one was enjoyable but I honestly prefer the old one.
  - LarryMullins 4y ago
    The Spicediver edit of Lynch's Dune proved to me that Dune is filmable. I think it remains the best adaptation of Dune. You can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faHQA_0d9Mo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faHQA_0d9Mo
  - selfmodruntime 4y ago
    He didn't make it seem natural, he made it seem neutral. I have no idea why, but he left out key information and incredibly important interpersonal scenes and focused instead on big army scenes.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- duskwuff 4y ago
  > IIRC Gibson stated that Neuromancer is basically "un-movieable". Honestly, I'd have to disagree. As far as novels go, it's actually fairly amenable to a film or TV adaptation -- the storyline is linear and follows a single main character with clear motivations, and the storytelling doesn't rely too heavily on internal monologue or implicit knowledge. It's perhaps a little too dense for a feature film, but as a TV series it'd be perfectly fine. Some of the technical aspects of the story might make it more difficult to adapt -- like the scenes set in orbit, or in cyberspace -- but that's no longer the insurmountable obstacle it used to be. The Expanse had no problem realistically depicting scenes set in space, for example.
  - blincoln 4y ago
    I think it may not be that straightforward. I was part of a group interview with Gibson years ago, and I didn't fully appreciate one of the things he said at the time until years later. It was something about how everyone who loves a written story gets a very specific, vivid, custom image in their head of what it would be like to see it on screen. It can be so powerful that it's easy to forget that different people can come away with very different versions, based on what elements of the story resonated with them. He said this is why movie versions of beloved stories often get massive negative reactions. For example, the Neuromancer in my head is a very gritty, 80s angular dark geometry highlighted in neon, Blade-Runner-esque film. It certainly doesn't have any comic relief in it. Most people I've talked to seem to have at least a vaguely similar vision. I always thought it was a little weird that nearly every adaptation of his work was fairly light-hearted, even self-parodying in places. "Gibson must have the worst luck at being paired with screenwriters" was how I thought of it. The Neuromancer computer game, the film version of Johnny Mnemonic, his X-Files episodes, they all try to lighten things up. A few years after his comment, I went back and re-read Neuromancer and Burning Chrome and realized the intended comic relief was there all along. The "Aryan reggae band". The space station full of Rastafarians (the implication being they're so high they're in outer space). The dolphin with a SQUID. Case running out of tanning lotion. etc. etc. There are probably roughly just as many people that focus on that aspect of his work as the "looks like Blade Runner in my head" crowd. The people making this version can onlt make one version, so which do they go with? I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out, but I expect the result will be very polarizing.
- crucialfelix 4y ago
  The Peripheral is also super busy, every sentence dense with information and revealing cultural context. But it does read as filmable. The adaption on Prime is worth watching, but it's a rewrite. None of the language or density of expression is there. They probably made it more comprehensible and I won't criticize that. But the books were invigorating and mind blowing.
gpm 4y ago
I just watched the Foundation adaptation and thought it was a pretty darned good TV show. It had a reasonable compelling plotline, compelling world building, and interesting takes on how technology could lead to strange social dynamics. Yes, I'm sure it wasn't the same as the books (though I haven't read any of those in my adult life), but taken on its own it was a good show.
- Krasnol 4y ago
  I agree. It surely is not the books and one character is just annoying but the books are not good TV show material and they did a truly wonderful thing with it. I actually enjoyed what they did with the world. The show is full of stunning moments and there are fantastic characters in it. I was more happy with what they did to it than what Villeneuve did with Dune and their characters for example. The Lost argument though...
- chaostheory 4y ago
  It was ok in the first half, but as the season wore on they started to rely on the magic chosen one troupe instead of something closer to hard science like the Expanse. This is yet another show where the plot suffers from the metaphor and symbolism being inserted
- halfmatthalfcat 4y ago
  The Empire plotline is magnificent. The traditional Foundation plotline (which was severely changed, for the worse imo) is a huge weak link. I re-read the books before the release and was severely underwhelmed.
  - LarryMullins 4y ago
    I think the Robot novels have the most modern potential, particularly if they focus on Solarian society (I think many people may find uncomfortable parallels to present social trends.)
- duxup 4y ago
  The acting, dialogue, script for the empire aspects were so great. I stayed up WAY too late to see what they would do next on a few occasions. The emperors were horrible and yet I just couldn’t help but watch and sometimes hope they did X,y,or z. Not cheer for them but something like that.
smoldesu 4y ago
There's a sad irony to the world's largest company producing a sci-fi dystopian drama. It's the same feeling I get watching Rings of Power, where the CGI is nice and some of the costumes are cool, but the sterile writing and direction completely undermines it. Money can buy you a lot of nice things, but good television needs to be inspired. Apple has the largest savior complex out of everyone in FAANG, and I'm not sure if that's the healthiest way to approach this book. Maybe it'll turn out great though, which might even be more ironic.
- Apocryphon 4y ago
  Severance is the ultimate example of this. It is very inspired, however, thanks to Ben Stiller at its creative helm.
  - KerrAvon 4y ago
    Severance is so good it's the thing that should get people to subscribe to AppleTV+. Ted Lasso's fine and all, but Severance is astonishing.
  - smoldesu 4y ago
    I've heard good things, I look forward to torr- I mean paying for a subscription of Apple TV+ to check it out! On a more serious note, I'm open to the idea it could be great. I hate HBO and their business model, but I'll be damned if they didn't use their power to make some phenomenal television. That being said, the irony is more in the context of the source material, rather than how good or bad the show might be. At the very least, Rings of Power doesn't portray a Numenorean package fulfillment center...
  - louthy 4y ago
    IMHO Severance is the most inspirational TV since Twin Peaks. It’s a real work of art. A masterpiece. It’s the only reason I signed up to Apple TV+. I looked for other shows on there, but cancelled not long after.
    - glial 4y ago
idontpost 4y ago
duxup 4y ago
I really liked Foundation even if it is more “inspired by” than anything else. I think the Empire aspects they added were surprisingly VERY strong.
ok123456 4y ago
Made for streaming platform movie is basically the new direct to vhs. No. It will not be good.
- FPGAhacker 4y ago
  It’s a series, not a movie.
evo_9 4y ago
My concern: Coming soon, yet they haven't started filming yet? WTF?
goldcd 4y ago
I try to keep an open mind. e.g. I was not holding out much hope when "Damon Lindelof producer of Lost, decided what we really needed was for him to create a new TV series in the Watchman universe" Whether Neuromancer works out, I have no idea. There's no end of money being wasted by the streamers on prestigious properties - but occasionally you'll get a Watchmen or Good Omens or Sandman. Other positive is that we're living in a time where these can be "done justice". If it needs to cost $15M an hour to make and run for 10 hours to tell the story properly - well it now can be made. It might not be told well, it might make bile spew from my very core - but somebody can have a crack at it.
- evanelias 4y ago
  > I was not holding out much hope when "Damon Lindelof producer of Lost, decided what we really needed was for him to create a new TV series in the Watchman universe" Well, Lindelof was also the showrunner for The Leftovers, which was a profoundly moving and well-made show. He also co-wrote the Alien prequel Prometheus. I wasn't too surprised that his Watchmen show was good! Anyway, as for Neuromancer... Graham Roland was showrunner for Dark Winds, which was pretty solid, so maybe that bodes well. On the other hand, his writing work on Lost was entirely just on the final season, which was a nonsensical mess, so who knows.
badpun 4y ago
> Neuromancer is amazing and groundbreaking. It (probably) was groundbreaking. Is it amazing though? I tried reading it recently, it read like a generic pulp novel. After 100 pages, I saw no reason to continue.
- MikusR 4y ago
  First time I read it on https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_c100-444.php https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_c100-444.php and it was great. A couple years ago I reread it and it was still good. But can say that it is not easy to read.
- bb88 4y ago
  What year did you read it? In 1988 when I read it, it was pretty amazing. That was a world before iPhones, the internet, etc. The book was published in 1984, which was 10 years before dialup internet services were offered and 20 years before the iPhone came into existence.
  - badpun 4y ago
    That's why I wrote it was definitely groundbreaking (at least as far as I know). As far as an timeless piece of great literature, it definitely isn't. It's just a generic gangster/underworld story with forgettable characters.
    - bb88 4y ago
      I think I get that. War of the worlds by H.G. Wells was a terrible book to read through as well. Groundbreaking, but also forgettable.
FPGAhacker 4y ago
From my point of view, “The Matrix” was it. But a series could get a lot more of the detail and side characters in it.
sien 4y ago
The BBC did a pretty good audio adaptation of Neuromancer. You can listen to it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S89BHnaxULo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S89BHnaxULo Neuromancer would be hard to do well as a film. But as fairly short TV series it would be excellent. There is huge potential as well because you could do, say Neuromancer in 4 hours and then do the rest of the trilogy. The best screen adaptation of a book I know of, Brideshead Revisited from 1981, took the book almost word for word and made a fairly long TV series. Neuromancer and the rest of the trilogy could be done the same way.

ThaDood 4y ago

IIRC Gibson stated that Neuromancer is basically "un-movieable". I love the book and the rest of the Sprawl series but man. Neuromancer is a SUPER busy book with a lot going on. And I just think in today's world it would be hard to really capture the vibe AND have a good plot that isn't convoluted. But I am with you. Hoping to be pleasantly surprised.

nickthegreek 4y ago
It maybe un-movieable, but is it un-serialized-storyable? Personally, I’m excited to find out.
Apocryphon 4y ago
Eh, as I said last time we had a Neuromancer adaptation news story, Dune was said to be unfilmable for years until Villeneuve went and did it and made it seem both natural and almost a little bit conventional. We're in a golden age of IP right now, and now that superheroes are getting a bit tired, perhaps it's time for classic sci-fi adaptations to shine. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33886166 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33886166
- deepzn 4y ago
  He did it, but still would have a preferred a Dune TV show, especially after the success of GoT, and the streaming wars. The money was there. Characters played by Jason Momoa, Oscar Issac etc only got a little bit of screen time. And all those cool characters would have been amazing to watch over a few seasons.
  - MikusR 4y ago
    There is both a Dune TV series and Children of Dune TV series. Both much better than the Villeneuve movie.
  - Apocryphon 4y ago
    I totally agree, and hopefully it'll inspire the creation of Dune miniseries and shows, since there's ample precedence there.
    - senko 4y ago
      https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0142032/ https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0142032/ was actually quite good (as was the followup Children of Dune).
  - idontpost 4y ago
  - christkv 4y ago
    Checkout the old syfy channels mini series.
  - sanedigital 4y ago
    Not sure I need to spoiler alert a book that came out over 50 years ago, but Momoa should be back in Part 3.
    - deepzn 4y ago
      Ohhh, snap, I wish I'd stopped at spoiler alert..... :(((( haha it's all good. I'd been meaning to read those for a while, but...alas never did.
    - Krasnol 4y ago
      I doubt there will be a part 3. I assume Villeneuve got the deal safe for two parts but the numbers don't justify a part 3. Maybe a TV show could raise more awareness.
- windowshopping 4y ago
  As someone who didn't read the book, the dune adaptation felt pretty hollow. A lot of visual splendor, but a very thin story with very empty characters. Extremely shallow interactions.
  - Apocryphon 4y ago
    I don't disagree. As I mention in my earlier comment, the point is that what was once considered unfilmable has now actually gotten adaptations, even if the adaptations might not be good. And what might be attempted once might receive adaptations again, until someone gets it right.
    - larrik 4y ago
      I'm pretty sure "unfilmable" means "any adaptions wouldn't be good".
      - Apocryphon 4y ago
        I always interpreted it as "unable to be adapted faithfully." For instance, in my earlier post I mentioned the live-action Ghost in the Shell, which in some parts Hollywood almost-mechanically adapted to be shot by shot identical to the original animated film, while completely missing the point with the racebent casting choices and much of the writing. I would count that as a poor adaptation, but not adapted so faithlessly that it has no resemblance to the original work. Then again, Blade Runner is a loose adaptation of PKD's original story, yet does its central themes justice. So I guess "unflimable" is a relative term. Maybe it could ALSO just mean "no demand or desire to see adapted for film or television." My overall point is that it's a golden age of IP and with the mainstreaming of nerd culture (and the endless demand for content from the streaming studios), all sorts of works that were once considered unfilmable are about to see the light of day.
        aerovistae 4y ago
        > racebent This is the first time I've encountered this term! What an excellent word.
- chaostheory 4y ago
  The new Dune is better, but it still fails to capture all the intrigue, conspiracy, and politics that would be better captured by a TV series.
- de_keyboard 4y ago
  Dune was enjoyable and all but HE SKIPPED THE DINNER SCENE arguably one of the most important bits!
  - mholm 4y ago
    I'm not sure there's a director in the world who could have done the dinner scene justice. Some things just can't bridge mediums.
- Krasnol 4y ago
  > Dune was said to be unfilmable for years until Villeneuve went and did I always assumed this argument goes for the whole of the original Dune universe. The first book is pretty straight forward and easy to understand. The further on you go with them, the more problematic it becomes as it is mainly dialogue and not much is really happening. Neuromancer is far more challenging than the first books of Dune and I doubt from what Villeneuve did to the first book that he'd be capable of going even half way without gutting it of all the really interesting parts. This one felt pretty shallow already. The effects were fine though.
  - Apocryphon 4y ago
    > Neuromancer is far more challenging than the first books of Dune. How so? I'd expect that with both reality turning more and more cyberpunk, and the revived interest in the retrofuturistic '80s-early '90s form of the genre with Cyberpunk 2077 and its Netflix anime adaptation, audiences are primed for this sort of thing.
    - Krasnol 4y ago
      What you are talking about is the visual experience. In my opinion, this will be mostly a problem BECAUSE the visuals have been there already. All of those movies following Blade Runner did their part of the Neuromancer-Cyberpunk thing. However I consider the hardest part being the emotional depth of the characters which get their unique taste through the authors way to describe them. The Burroughesque touch and the unknowns is what makes Gibsons early works truly special (it gets easier with his latests works as we can see with the current adaptation of Peripheral). The show needs a true artists touch. It doesn't have to be what Gibson did but it should be something special, not mainstream. Dune on the other hand is a straight forward dynasty drama at the beginning and only later escalates into a philosophical exercise later on before it explodes into something completely different towards the end (of the original books). The beginning has been done already in Game of Thrones for example and is pretty much doable. Neuromancer is harder but I think Apple can pull this off because I feel this brave approach from them. A feeling I had with Netflix at the beginning.
    - LarryMullins 4y ago
- Mistletoe 4y ago
  Unfilmable, but the David Lynch version is amazing? The new one was enjoyable but I honestly prefer the old one.
- LarryMullins 4y ago
  The Spicediver edit of Lynch's Dune proved to me that Dune is filmable. I think it remains the best adaptation of Dune. You can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faHQA_0d9Mo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faHQA_0d9Mo
- selfmodruntime 4y ago
  He didn't make it seem natural, he made it seem neutral. I have no idea why, but he left out key information and incredibly important interpersonal scenes and focused instead on big army scenes.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
duskwuff 4y ago
> IIRC Gibson stated that Neuromancer is basically "un-movieable". Honestly, I'd have to disagree. As far as novels go, it's actually fairly amenable to a film or TV adaptation -- the storyline is linear and follows a single main character with clear motivations, and the storytelling doesn't rely too heavily on internal monologue or implicit knowledge. It's perhaps a little too dense for a feature film, but as a TV series it'd be perfectly fine. Some of the technical aspects of the story might make it more difficult to adapt -- like the scenes set in orbit, or in cyberspace -- but that's no longer the insurmountable obstacle it used to be. The Expanse had no problem realistically depicting scenes set in space, for example.
- blincoln 4y ago
  I think it may not be that straightforward. I was part of a group interview with Gibson years ago, and I didn't fully appreciate one of the things he said at the time until years later. It was something about how everyone who loves a written story gets a very specific, vivid, custom image in their head of what it would be like to see it on screen. It can be so powerful that it's easy to forget that different people can come away with very different versions, based on what elements of the story resonated with them. He said this is why movie versions of beloved stories often get massive negative reactions. For example, the Neuromancer in my head is a very gritty, 80s angular dark geometry highlighted in neon, Blade-Runner-esque film. It certainly doesn't have any comic relief in it. Most people I've talked to seem to have at least a vaguely similar vision. I always thought it was a little weird that nearly every adaptation of his work was fairly light-hearted, even self-parodying in places. "Gibson must have the worst luck at being paired with screenwriters" was how I thought of it. The Neuromancer computer game, the film version of Johnny Mnemonic, his X-Files episodes, they all try to lighten things up. A few years after his comment, I went back and re-read Neuromancer and Burning Chrome and realized the intended comic relief was there all along. The "Aryan reggae band". The space station full of Rastafarians (the implication being they're so high they're in outer space). The dolphin with a SQUID. Case running out of tanning lotion. etc. etc. There are probably roughly just as many people that focus on that aspect of his work as the "looks like Blade Runner in my head" crowd. The people making this version can onlt make one version, so which do they go with? I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out, but I expect the result will be very polarizing.
crucialfelix 4y ago
The Peripheral is also super busy, every sentence dense with information and revealing cultural context. But it does read as filmable. The adaption on Prime is worth watching, but it's a rewrite. None of the language or density of expression is there. They probably made it more comprehensible and I won't criticize that. But the books were invigorating and mind blowing.

gpm 4y ago

I just watched the Foundation adaptation and thought it was a pretty darned good TV show. It had a reasonable compelling plotline, compelling world building, and interesting takes on how technology could lead to strange social dynamics. Yes, I'm sure it wasn't the same as the books (though I haven't read any of those in my adult life), but taken on its own it was a good show.

Krasnol 4y ago
I agree. It surely is not the books and one character is just annoying but the books are not good TV show material and they did a truly wonderful thing with it. I actually enjoyed what they did with the world. The show is full of stunning moments and there are fantastic characters in it. I was more happy with what they did to it than what Villeneuve did with Dune and their characters for example. The Lost argument though...
chaostheory 4y ago
It was ok in the first half, but as the season wore on they started to rely on the magic chosen one troupe instead of something closer to hard science like the Expanse. This is yet another show where the plot suffers from the metaphor and symbolism being inserted
halfmatthalfcat 4y ago
The Empire plotline is magnificent. The traditional Foundation plotline (which was severely changed, for the worse imo) is a huge weak link. I re-read the books before the release and was severely underwhelmed.
- LarryMullins 4y ago
  I think the Robot novels have the most modern potential, particularly if they focus on Solarian society (I think many people may find uncomfortable parallels to present social trends.)
duxup 4y ago
The acting, dialogue, script for the empire aspects were so great. I stayed up WAY too late to see what they would do next on a few occasions. The emperors were horrible and yet I just couldn’t help but watch and sometimes hope they did X,y,or z. Not cheer for them but something like that.

smoldesu 4y ago

There's a sad irony to the world's largest company producing a sci-fi dystopian drama. It's the same feeling I get watching Rings of Power, where the CGI is nice and some of the costumes are cool, but the sterile writing and direction completely undermines it. Money can buy you a lot of nice things, but good television needs to be inspired. Apple has the largest savior complex out of everyone in FAANG, and I'm not sure if that's the healthiest way to approach this book. Maybe it'll turn out great though, which might even be more ironic.

Apocryphon 4y ago
Severance is the ultimate example of this. It is very inspired, however, thanks to Ben Stiller at its creative helm.
- KerrAvon 4y ago
  Severance is so good it's the thing that should get people to subscribe to AppleTV+. Ted Lasso's fine and all, but Severance is astonishing.
- smoldesu 4y ago
  I've heard good things, I look forward to torr- I mean paying for a subscription of Apple TV+ to check it out! On a more serious note, I'm open to the idea it could be great. I hate HBO and their business model, but I'll be damned if they didn't use their power to make some phenomenal television. That being said, the irony is more in the context of the source material, rather than how good or bad the show might be. At the very least, Rings of Power doesn't portray a Numenorean package fulfillment center...
- louthy 4y ago
  IMHO Severance is the most inspirational TV since Twin Peaks. It’s a real work of art. A masterpiece. It’s the only reason I signed up to Apple TV+. I looked for other shows on there, but cancelled not long after.
  - glial 4y ago

idontpost 4y ago

duxup 4y ago

I really liked Foundation even if it is more “inspired by” than anything else. I think the Empire aspects they added were surprisingly VERY strong.

ok123456 4y ago

Made for streaming platform movie is basically the new direct to vhs. No. It will not be good.

FPGAhacker 4y ago
It’s a series, not a movie.

evo_9 4y ago

My concern: Coming soon, yet they haven't started filming yet? WTF?

goldcd 4y ago

I try to keep an open mind. e.g. I was not holding out much hope when "Damon Lindelof producer of Lost, decided what we really needed was for him to create a new TV series in the Watchman universe" Whether Neuromancer works out, I have no idea. There's no end of money being wasted by the streamers on prestigious properties - but occasionally you'll get a Watchmen or Good Omens or Sandman. Other positive is that we're living in a time where these can be "done justice". If it needs to cost $15M an hour to make and run for 10 hours to tell the story properly - well it now can be made. It might not be told well, it might make bile spew from my very core - but somebody can have a crack at it.

evanelias 4y ago
> I was not holding out much hope when "Damon Lindelof producer of Lost, decided what we really needed was for him to create a new TV series in the Watchman universe" Well, Lindelof was also the showrunner for The Leftovers, which was a profoundly moving and well-made show. He also co-wrote the Alien prequel Prometheus. I wasn't too surprised that his Watchmen show was good! Anyway, as for Neuromancer... Graham Roland was showrunner for Dark Winds, which was pretty solid, so maybe that bodes well. On the other hand, his writing work on Lost was entirely just on the final season, which was a nonsensical mess, so who knows.

badpun 4y ago

> Neuromancer is amazing and groundbreaking. It (probably) was groundbreaking. Is it amazing though? I tried reading it recently, it read like a generic pulp novel. After 100 pages, I saw no reason to continue.

MikusR 4y ago
First time I read it on https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_c100-444.php https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_c100-444.php and it was great. A couple years ago I reread it and it was still good. But can say that it is not easy to read.
bb88 4y ago
What year did you read it? In 1988 when I read it, it was pretty amazing. That was a world before iPhones, the internet, etc. The book was published in 1984, which was 10 years before dialup internet services were offered and 20 years before the iPhone came into existence.
- badpun 4y ago
  That's why I wrote it was definitely groundbreaking (at least as far as I know). As far as an timeless piece of great literature, it definitely isn't. It's just a generic gangster/underworld story with forgettable characters.
  - bb88 4y ago
    I think I get that. War of the worlds by H.G. Wells was a terrible book to read through as well. Groundbreaking, but also forgettable.

FPGAhacker 4y ago

From my point of view, “The Matrix” was it. But a series could get a lot more of the detail and side characters in it.

sien 4y ago

The BBC did a pretty good audio adaptation of Neuromancer. You can listen to it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S89BHnaxULo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S89BHnaxULo Neuromancer would be hard to do well as a film. But as fairly short TV series it would be excellent. There is huge potential as well because you could do, say Neuromancer in 4 hours and then do the rest of the trilogy. The best screen adaptation of a book I know of, Brideshead Revisited from 1981, took the book almost word for word and made a fairly long TV series. Neuromancer and the rest of the trilogy could be done the same way.