I like Blade Runner too
It's good escapism. I'm not so thrilled by the story itself, but visually it's completely believeable, and if you're a miserable crotchety bastard like me, somewhere you'd quite like to be.
( Not Pineapple anymore, Fri 6 Aug 2010, 12:00, 1 reply)

I might be alone...
but I did tend to prefer the cinematic cut with the Voiceover and the less depressing ending, but it's the world I like more - it feels so totally well realised in a way that a lot of Sci-Fi doesn't.

Like, in the original Star Wars, you could kind of see how Luke's farm was hicksville and that Mos Eisley was kind of a cross between a roadhouse and a 17th century port like Tortuga - there were always little touches like criters scurrying around, but Star Trek was always too polished or sterile. It's what made Firefly great, too - you could see how the characters could actually live in that world. It's also why I pray they don't fuck up any movie made of Neuromancer - it's basically a straight heist story, but it's all about the depth of the world it inhabits.
(Chad, Fri 6 Aug 2010, 12:08, closed)

Totally agree about the believability
They even have a strong asian cast in there to reflect the powerbase of the day - Think they were convinced that Japan would be a major superpower back then but as we know the Chinnese are doing that but close call in either case.

Although I was a star trek fan, the idealistic feel of it just didn't ring true with actual human nature.....and probably never will.
(bROKEN aRROW PUA HVI Master, Fri 6 Aug 2010, 14:19, closed)

I get the point about the Japanese/Chinese thing...
But given the era (early 80s), with Cyberpunk just finding its feet, etc, I think that if you looked at Japan where you had miniature TVs, hi tech appliances, innovative computer products and the iconic imagery of Shinjuki and Ninsei, along with things like Japanese import cars killing off poorly made US competition, I think it's easy to see why it was felt that Japan would lead a technology-led world, albeit one that is seen as past its prime in most Cyberpunk media (possibly in the same way that 80s excess was seen as a glittering but ultimately fleeting thing).
(Chad, Fri 6 Aug 2010, 14:24, closed)

Interesting point
I think i was a little young in the 80's to get the whole cyberpunk thing. I have visions of me playing with my Star Wars figures at school. I guess the closest thing to Cyberpunk I came across (not that I would have known at the time) was the film Alien, would you say that H.R Giger was slightly cyberpunk?
(bROKEN aRROW PUA HVI Master, Fri 6 Aug 2010, 16:10, closed)

not really...
Giger is more like the Heavy Metal/Sci Fi/Fantasy artwork 1970s. His work is more organic and fantastic than Cyberpunk, which is gritty, based in a mildly futuristic extension of the collapse of US heavy industry (the decaying factories of Detroit, etc), and the rise of high-tech gadgetry from Japan, etc.

Bladerunner is Cyberrpunk-y (albeit with some almost Steampunk technology in the computer terminals), but the best way to get a feel for Cyberpunk is to read the Sprawl trilogy (Neuromancer, Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive). Think more dystopian corporate-led society with a touch of film noir and you're somewhere near the mark. As with Hacker culture, information is power, youth is arrogant and sometimes naive and there is usually an old-guard remnant of the old order trying to hold control....
(Chad, Tue 10 Aug 2010, 10:54, closed)