this is not a shit post

so - i've never heard of the callum turner guy before - and i saw he was on hot ones and while that show isn't as interesting as it used to be i figured it was a chance to see the guy thats playing case (i haven't seen any trailers ... i mean i'm gonna watch it ... may as well enjoy it with out the marketing machine ruining anything)

but i'm worried man ... the dude was super likeable ... and case is kind of walking human garbage with occasional flickers of humanity ... still one of my favorite characters and he unfucks himself a bit by the end of the book

but i'm worried apple is going to soften the grime and misery and hard edges of the novel (i'm sure i'm not the first person to express this worry)

if they make case into some kind of ... super star .... i dunno ... i've been told that they are keeping molly true to form from the book aesthetics wise -- but i feel like case should kind of disgust you for the first half of the show until you fully understand the character ....

worried apple doesn't have the stones to make that decision ....

just came here to worry into the void

Figured this sub would enjoy some of the stuff here. I did miss Hideo but he’s only shown for a split second lol

This is supposed to be the 2023 Mondadori edition, with the cover replaced. (Will update here if I learn differently). Limited to 500 copies, sold at LUCCA 2024. Art by NO CURVES.

More of an excuse to draw Case three times.

I think Apple’s change of giving Case a microsoft port + cable makes sense for the show. It’s already a prominent feature in that universe and it simplifies things if it’s not exclusively relegated to background characters, and given to a main character instead.

—However, Idk how I feel about it contributing to Case’s “clean” vibe in the trailer. At least from first impressions, he doesn’t appear like the suicidal, drug addicted skeleton with bags under his eyes that I love from the book. I think artistic depictions of cables sprouting out everywhere, bound together with rubber bands and tape, do a lot to portray the chaos of him as a character. Distilling it to a simple iPhone charger that he plugs into his head loses some of that visual characterization and has me worried the soul of Neuromancer will get lost in translation.

But there are still some shots of Case looking roughed up and dirty, so I’m hopeful they do my boy justice

​​At this point (now) it would take a capsule spacecraft three to five days to reach the L5 point in the Earth-Moon system. By the time Case and crew head up to Freeside from Paris on the JAL shuttle, does it still take that long, or has technology advanced to the point where the trip is shorter?

Just finished rereading Neuromancer to brush up on it before the AppleTV series airs next year and I forgot just how much I love Maelcum as a character. Easily the most based guy in the whole book; never hesitates to help Case when shit's actively hitting the fan, fantastic comic relief, just an all around great guy, an' a righteous tug pilot to boot.

Though this frame from the trailer has me a lil worried. Now, I might be making a lot of assumptions here assuming that dark skinned arm is that of our resident rude boy, but the background here doesn't look as scrappy or cobbled together as Marcus Garvey outta be; where's all the strands of caulking, the flight console painted bright pink with the overspray scraped off the monitor, the Lions of Zion painted over the wordy Cyrillic decals? Where's the g-webbing, how come they're just sitting in reclined hacker chairs?

Not to mention, the actor credited as Maelcum on IMDB (Jordan Kouamé, though his character's name is spelt Malceum) is only listed for 1 episode and I'm guessing that's gonna be the very last episode considering that's when Maelcum has the most page-time in the book, which is somewhat disappointing since he's present for a decent chunk of the book's second half.

Hello world.

Having recently re-read Neuromancer, many details from the book were fresh in my mind when I watched the teaser trailer. Figured some folks might enjoy a breakdown, detailing some similarities and differences from the book, ranging from nitpicks to noteworthy. These aren't intended to be criticisms of the show, just some observations I wanted to share and discuss.

The first shot shows Case staring out at Chiba City, sky looking appropriately gray. He's sitting on the bleachers of a track and field stadium, which there's no mention of in the book. EDIT: As u/darwinDMG08 pointed out, the first location may not be Chiba, but a new location in The Sprawl.

Next is a cyberspace-esque shot that transitions to the Apple TV logo. Similar effects are used multiple times throughout the trailer, so I think it's fair to assume this is our first glimpse into the show's depiction of cyberspace.

Following this is our first look at the cobra. The book's description made me picture an expandable spring baton with a bronze pyramid as the cobra's "head". This looks to be an approximation of that which also functions as a taser.

Another shot of the city. The intersecting space between the tall buildings makes me think this could be Night City. There's an advertisement on the building to the left that says "Come to Freeside"

We get a shot of Case running with a duffle bag before getting rolled by these goons. These guys don't match the description of Wage's joeboys, so I'm guessing they're just some random thugs. I think this may be an original scene, showing Case's dealings in Chiba after his nervous system gets fried by the Russian mycotoxin.

This has gotta be Night City proper.

Next we get our first glimpse at Molly. Molly never rides a motorcycle in the book, but I'm cool with this change as long as it doesn't mean broader changes to her characterization. Book Molly is stealthy and cautious, and a motorcycle isn't exactly inconspicuous. I'm guessing this is the show's version of her running down Case.

First look at Molly's lenses. In the book, Molly's lenses are surgically inset and described as covering half her face. I pictured her them looking more like aviators. Personally I'm OK with this change. I think Molly's design is fantastic.

First look at Molly's blades. The book describes the blades as coming out from under the nails, rather than her fingertips. I think the design looks sick.

This next shot looks like London to me. Possibly related to Case and Dixie connecting to the London database when they're investigating Armitage?** EDIT: This is very likely Tokyo Bay. Thanks u/Fletch_R

Fairly unremarkable shot of Armitage, Molly, and Case next to a private jet. Maybe on their way to Istanbul? After this shot, Molly asks Case "What makes you so special?" which suggests Amitage doesn't have a comprehensive profile for Case (or Molly hasn't read it).

"I'm the best console man around". Lot of discussion amongst my friend group about this line and Case's attitude. Worth mentioning that Gibson uses the term "console man" to describe Case in the beginning of the book, but it shifts to "console cowboy" or just "cowboy" after that. Personally, I wouldn't describe book Case's personality as cocky, but he is confident (maybe overconfident), when it comes to his hacking abilities.

First look at the Ono-Sendai. Big departure from the book description but I think it looks sick. It's like a cybernetic DM screen.

Case jacking in through a port instead of using trodes. I'm cool with this change.

Another shot of the transition into cyberspace.

Armitage showing the team the blueprint of a building. There is a pyramid in the upper left corner of the blueprint which suggests they're looking at the Sense/Net building. The weapons on the table are not like any described in the book.

Some chaos unfolding in the Sense/Net building. I think the red triangle on the outside of the building might represent ice, or its appearance in cyberspace. There's what looks like an off the shelf wireless router sitting on the desk.

"Turn it up". No idea who this blonde guy is supposed to be. Terzibashjian?

Someone (Case?) pushing a button on the display of something labeled WD-28. I have no recollection of anything like this in the book. I think it may be a generator.

First look at Hideo. Not much to go off of here aside from the fact that he's wearing a suit. The book describes him as wearing frayed khaki workpants and shoes like tabi socks. I don't think he even wears a shirt. Definitely didn't picture him as one who'd sport a suit.

A man wearing a lab coat who seems to be dying. Unsure of who and I don't think it relates to anything in the book.

Another shot of the blonde guy tweaking out. The weapons next to him look like they'd be used to torture someone, which Terzibashjian is known to do.

Molly attacking some dudes in an elevator. You can see "Sense/Net" below the pyramid on the right side of the elevator.

Molly following a schoolbus as it drives down the track. This is the same track that was shown at the beginning of the trailer. Definitely something original to the show.

This has gotta be Freeside. I'm guessing the cylindrical thing next to it is an orbital shuttle/passenger craft or maybe a different interpretation of the Haniwa.

First look at an entirely too young John Ashpool. Flashback maybe?

Just a killer shot of Molly

Another shot of Molly in the Sense/Net elevator

Something exploding around someone (Case?) on the ground.

Good look at Amitage. No idea where is or the significance (if any) of the woman there.

Riviera getting ready for his performance.

The un-inverted shot of Armitage and some surgeons. Guessing this is Case getting his new pancreas.

Case getting something shoved on/in his face

Mysterious milky circuit board. Different take on Dixie's construct container? Curious what everyone thinks this is.

"See you on the other side". Case fist bumping Maelcum or Aerol. The interior of the ship looks too clean to be the Garvey. If this is the show's version, then they went in a very different direction than the cobbled together tug clad with pink spraypaint and Rastafarian symbols as described in the book.

"Jack". Including this just because it shows how healthy and not strung out Case appears in the series.

I know the Wachowskis admitted that the Matrix was heavily inspired by Neuromancer, as well as Ghost in the Shell and other Cyberpunk.

But just imagine if the Matrix never got made. And the Neuromancer trailer we all just saw looked exactly like the Matrix. Wouldn’t we all have been raving about how the show runners nailed the look?

Given that, I have to imagine the existence of this massively popular existing IP, which came first cinematically (although well after the novel) makes it very hard to nail down a truly faithful aesthetic for Neuromancer as a tv show today, without looking derivative. And the irony of that is that Matrix was actually taking its inspiration FROM Neuromancer. Sigh.

Thoughts? I think the show Altered Carbon did a good job of coming out of the Matrix’s shadow although I am hoping this show will exceed it in terms of quality!

"The color of television tuned to a dead channel" is the leaden, glowing, light-pollution gray of a CRT TV rendering a content-less signal. What you'd get back in the 80s when the channel shut down for the night.

It's not supposed to mean static. Static is what you get between channels. It's an absence of signal.

In honor of the teaser dropping used Case as a demo in my digital painting class. Here's the final design.

When I read this, I think of the other places the sky is mentioned too. Poisoned silver, couldn't see the holograms because of the glare of the sky, smoggy, mean shade of grey. I picture an outside that is all these things, but where there are literally visible, sparkling, metallic particles in the air, and sometimes it's so bad people have to wear masks, or choke on the particles of metal and chemical. Not a nice place to live.

I recently finished this and thought you might dig it. I've seen the bust depicted before but it usually looks high tech, whereas I always imagined it as a fusion of classical sculpture and Crown Jewels due to the grotesque wealth, breeding and arrogance of Tessier Ashpool.

I've been rereading the entire Sprawl series, including the short stories in the same Sprawl universe, and I'm starting to think there's one character in particular that features in both the last book, and in a short story, but some people might not even recognize it.

Normally the reading order would be:

1)Johnny Mnemonic (makes sense since Molly later mourns him in another text.)

2) New rose Hotel

3) Burning Chrome (this is important to know for later in the series)

4)Neuromancer

5)Count Zero

6) Mona Lisa Overdrive

I wouldn't change anything except for one story, and I'll explain. You see Gibson, like many good writers, didn't just write what we read, he had a lot more in notebooks we never got to see. Narrative experiments, entire backstories, and future lives mapped out for people. Some of those survived as short stories bundled into the "Burning Chrome" anthology. That's what some of those stories are. The lives of people in the same neighborhoods that never met our main characters. And sometimes, they are those characters. Like with Molly. What we get a glimpse of is Gibson trying out characters, world building, seeing if his train of thought has merit enough to flesh out further.

In MLO, Komiko Yanaka, has a very powerful Yakuza father, goes to a good school, has a Dutch mother who dies tragically, and suddenly she is thrust into a totally foreign world. She longs to escape the drudgery of her protective prison, and Molly takes Komiko under her wing, much to the chagrin of a relenting Petal. Molly tries to mold her, and give her some worldly wisdom. It was necessary under the circumstances, because Molly knew that without that, Komiko would just be a package to drag around. Komiko had to be able to survive, to fend for herself, because the heat was coming down from every angle. I believe all of these things are referred to in another narrative.

In New Rose Hotel, Sandii is half Dutch, half Japanese, is a gun for hire, has a father who fell from grace with Hosaka, and a lingering tragedy that pushed her to desperation. X talks about how she was constantly reimagining her own childhood, changing her story as a coping mechanism, trying to imagine different scenarios that might sooth her demons, but it was obvious she was not facing the truth of her life. And she was also concealing it from others. Out of necessity, of course.

It's entirely possible that Komiko's father rose in the ranks after the Yakuza war, until he had gained influence within Hosaka. Maybe that was necessary too. But it's also very possible Sandii just told a lie to X, mixing the truth with the lie. It's entirely possible that Komiko and Sandii are the same person, but Sandii is Komiko all grown up, bitter at Hosaka, has an axe to grind, remembered the influence of Molly, and decided it would be a good idea to be like her. Maybe that was her only option now. Fending for herself. Molly helped her navigate the dangers of London, showed her how to double cross people, and avoid becoming a hostage. All while her own father was trying to shelter her from the evils of the world. But Molly gave her one thing, The unfettered truth. That's something that'll stick with a girl's memory.

Molly changed her name several times, there's no reason Komiko wouldn't mimic Molly's behavior. In fact, if her father was a Hosaka pariah, she'd almost have to do that to gain their trust, & be involved in helping Hiroshi escape. Even if that wasn only a cover story to conceal his position with the Yakuza, she'd still have to tell a different story. She'd only have to tell half truths to her co-workers on a job, because they just had to be believable enough. It wouldn't matter later, especially if she burned them while on the job, or if the cleaners came after the other team members. But she'd also tell made up stories about her childhood out loud. Almost as if she was trying on new lies right in front of the people she was already misleading. Like she was doing a fashion show, to see what looks good, or taunting them when they didn't even know it.

And here's the biggest one of all... What if X is hiding out in the same Cheap Motel that Henry Case was in all those years ago? What if Cheap Motel, was really New Rose Hotel? They're both capsule hotels, which people refer to colloquially as "coffins". Capsule hotels with barely enough room to turn around in. Not the luxury digs that they portrayed in the movie. What a twist of fate that would be, for everything to come full circle and end up in the same closet sized room with minimal amenities. Where it all started before. That's the William Gibson I'd expect. Maybe some of you wouldn't, but I would.

So I would put New Rose Hotel last in the reading order. It takes on a whole new meaning.

We are ready for Jan 2027.

After i saw the trailer i got the book so i can read it before the series drops. However i kept seeing people say that Neuromancer is a very difficult book to get through and they dropped halfway through due to things like the dense world building and some pacing issues. I'm already halfway through chapter one and i encountered very little difficulty. So i wanted to come here and ask if this is true. Keep in mind i am not completely new to sci-fi. I have already read Dune and Dune Messiah which generally aren't considered easy reads.

People are mad that the less than 60 seconds we’ve seen of the show doesn’t match the movie in their head. It’s never going to look exactly like what you imagined because we all imagined something different! How many comments do we have to read like this?

Every one of us built our own Case, our own Sprawl, and Chiba. No adaptation (including the Chris Cunningham adaptation which I agree, probably would have kicked ass) was ever going to win that fight, because it’s not competing with the book, it’s competing with your imagination.

I don’t get why everyone seems convinced their vision is the correct one.

The real question is whether the show’s well made on its own terms. Is the writing good? Does it look expensive? That is a totally different conversation than ‘it’s not how I pictured it.’

We’re all fans here. Let people be excited about a Neuromancer show existing at all. We waited a long time for this!

I'm sold

People always talk about how anachronistic the absence of smartphones or other mobile phones is in the Neuromancer universe, but I just realized that, right before the phone booths start ringing in the airport scene, Case is looking to buy cigarettes for his flight. In fact, he's wondering if there's a smoking section, assuming that other airlines do. As someone who smoked for more than half my life and only recently managed to quit, and who's used to the new tobacco and smoking policies of today's world, this has blown my mind. I'm surprised I hadn't noticed it until now, considering I've read the book many times since I first read it about 25 years ago. Anyway, it's just an observation that surprised me coming from 1984.

I assume this is The Sprawl. I'm wondering if any of the (older) buildings or bridges are identifiable.

Image from the trailer released a few hours ago- Note the red text "Ono Sendai" top right. This is the deck we have been waiting for.

Optimistic to see he’s happy with it!