All posts by Alexander V Woods

Interview with Bradley B, Founder of Cyberpunks.com

April 27, 2020 Alexander V Woods 1 Comment

Interviewing the Cyberpunk Community

There are multiple Cyberpunk blogs on the ‘net, each with its own distinct focus and flavor. Here at Cyberpunk Matrix, your one stop shop for everything Cyberpunk, you’ll notice that the focus is on Cyberpunk media, with a lighter look at how this media affects the world around it, while keeping up to date on everything new that is Cyberpunk. For a deep dive into the philosophy of Cyberpunk, you could try Neon Dystopia. For a community focus with a more interactive feel, try out The Cyberpunk Hive. But for a deeper and wider look at a commentary on “real life” and how it is already Cyberpunk, you can do no better than Cyberpunks.com.

Its founder, Bradley B., agreed to an interview with me so I could get to know a little more about his website, his team, and his thoughts on the current state of our Cyberpunk World. Check out my exclusive interview below.

1. What got you into Cyberpunk?

I think, aside from a early, yet cursory, understanding of Robocop (“he shoots bad guys!”), the earliest memory I have of cyberpunk media is watching Brainscan as a kid. I was 11 or so, and it gave me nightmares! That said, I watched it several times before I had to return the rental. After that, I think I got into high fantasy more so than Sci-Fi. It wasn’t until I saw The Matrix and Akira in my early twenties that I knew this was a special genre. From there, I picked up a thrift copy of Neuromancer and did the deep dive.

2. What made you decide to start cyberpunks.com?

It may have been the psychedelics? Maybe I touched the gestalt? We probably just got lucky the domain was for sale (time will tell!). We have big love for cyberpunk, and it was obvious that the normalization of the genre was occurring, with CD Projekt Red intending to ship tens of millions of copies of Cyberpunk 2077. We saw that a new wave of cyberpunk fans would soon be born.

However, at this time, most cyberpunk media had been bastardized and re(mis?)-appropriated while the larger communities had devolved into arguments over neon cities in rain & the emergent synthwave/retrowave aesthetics. While any genre will (d)evolve over time, it was obvious that lots of folk had lost touch of the thread that led us back to Gibson, Sterling & the Mirrorshades Group. Requests for book recommendations stopped at “Neuromancer” and “Snow Crash,” and there were only a few die-hards that could name more than five pieces of cyberpunk media.

Established cyberpunk sites, such as Neon Dystopia or The Cyberpunk Database provided great resources in the form of deep indices going back to the origins of cyberpunk, however, there was very little media to distinguish one work from the other. Why should someone go back and read John Shirley’s “City Come A’ Walking” or Bruce Sterling’s “Schismatrix”? We decided to dig in and try to tell that story.

And that’s just the literary genre. If you want, we could talk about how “Cyberpunk is Now” while moving away from the more puritanical subjects (best Blade Runner cut, anyone?). This, I think, was the real kicker for us. The notion that we’re living in a surveillance state, while consuming yellow journalism (fake news) and seeking truth in a (largely-online) society filled with sock puppets, phone farms, affiliate ads (guilty), astro-turfing, deepfakes, spam and cat videos. In our opinion, the open-source and maker movements may be seen as the flies in the ointment, so to speak, allowing a freedom of speech through invention and creativity that may serve to spark a technical Renaissance, and not one housed in the walled gardens of Silicon Valley.

We also began to develop a feel for the ephemerality of publishing on the web, which we felt overlaid nicely with the retrospective nature of our project and how it applied to our beloved subgenre of speculative-fiction. As this new (fourth?) wave of cyberpunk approaches, we couldn’t help but notice the opportunity to play within this paradoxical arena — one in which we look back at those looking forward in hopes that we ourselves can look forward more clearly.

Frankly, this is a big question with a big, sweeping answer. It’s something like a rite of passage, but I’m currently trying to distill our own version of “What is Cyberpunk?” for the website. Keep checking in, and maybe we can actually define this quicksilver term (with a little help from our friends).

Plus, there’s supposed to be a video game coming out soon, in case you haven’t heard.

3. Is Cyberpunks a solo venture, or do you have a team behind you? If you have a team, who is in your team?

Hah, definitely not a solo venture. By my count, we’ve had about thirty different authors submit work so far. There’s a lot that goes into the making of the sausage. I spend a lot of time pushing buttons and looking for cool projects on the web. Anyone who has story ideas or an article in hand is welcome to email us at info@cyberpunks.com.

4. How do you choose what goes on your website and what doesn’t? In other words, what’s your editorial/curating process?

We ask for pitches and approve what interests us. News and Current Events happen, and sometimes it makes sense to wade in. We’re not afraid of the political, and we’re comfortable with opinion as well, so we’re willing to run the gamut.

As far as process, we’ve got several readers and editors who fact-check and tighten up a submission (if needed), and then we’ll lay this out in a “desktop-first” approach. We’re seeing a lot of sites being lazy about their layouts, just dumping pictures into a stack of words. While I think that works fine if you’re targeting phone users, this allows us to pay fan-service to our cyberpunk friends with six monitors. We look good on mobile too!

5. What are your top three Cyberpunk works, and why?

Desert Island choices, eh? Is this my personal island or the official cyberpunk canon island? Permission to be obtuse?

Choice 1: How about the full Transmetropolitan series for eyecandy and ingenuity?

Choice 2: I’m going to go out on a limb and say Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. This one’s still out of my reach, and I haven’t finished the read. I love the challenge of fordboding, eldritch tomes like Finnegan’s Wake and Gravity’s Rainbow. This one’s super-relevant now as much as ever. It should keep me busy on the desert island.

Choice 3: Maybe “The Unix Programming Environment” or “Introduction to C Programming”? Both were written by researchers at Bell Labs and meant for AT&T’s industrial and business purposes, which at the time was a focus on the nationwide networking of computers via telephones. Pretty incredible systems were implemented to manage that, and we use them in our computing paradigms still to this day. Point being, and I’m as guilty as anyone — we’ve gotten farther away from the source material. The internet has become abstracted away from user interactivity and moved toward user consumption. It’s a cyberpunk’s job to keep it weird and break things. Isn’t it? Anyhow — This is the start of the path to l33t skills.

6. With the advent of drones, robots, the Hong Kong protests and now the Coronavirus, some people think life as we know it is more Cyberpunk than ever. What are your thoughts on the current condition of Cyberpunk in everyday life?

I mean, I touched on it earlier, but it’s pretty obvious. People hate when you point out the obvious. The collected knowledge of the world can be displayed from a device that fits in your hand. You’re probably reading this interview right now with a smartphone in your hand and Apple/Google/Facebook/Verizon are looking over your shoulder. We all know the story already.

Here. I’ll prove it.

Mention a product explicitly within earshot of your phone — What happens?
Name two reasons why you would want to have multiple social media profiles on a single platform.
Tell the truth — Do you ever look at your webcam with a brief flash of paranoia? How often?
What’s the capital of Pennsylvania?

7. What are your thoughts of the future of Cyberpunk media? Are there any titles in particular you’re looking forward to?

William Gibson’s gonna finish his latest trilogy. Cory Doctorow will too. Lots of emergent voices are in this genre genre now, so I’m hoping I can find more time to read them and give them a fair shake. Cyberpunk 2077, of course, could be a clarion call or another death knell for the genre. I’m hopeful, as it’s not the first time I’ve heard it said that cyberpunk is dead.

We’ve talked before about how we’re really missing out by not focusing our attention on the non-fiction side of cyberpunk:

Skill up, kids. The DIY movement is a not-so-new opportunity for cyberpunk media, IMO. This is the true Hacker paradigm: Open Source, GitHub, Hackaday, Stack Exchange, Raspberry Pi, Arduino, Adafruit, MAKE (R.I.P), Prusa Printing — These are the new battlegrounds of cyberpunk, and this is just the tip of the iceberg.

The future is becoming more evenly distributed. I’m just getting my feet wet. How about you?

8. Finally, what does the word “Cyberpunk” mean to you?

See above. If you think that stuff’s weird — You should see our website.

Interviewing the Cyberpunk Community: an ongoing series

Did you like what you read? Then check out the rest of our interview series!

Television

Review: Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 (First Episode)

April 24, 2020 Alexander V Woods 2 Comments

Ghost in the Shell SAC_2045: A new GitS Series on Netflix

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex SAC_2045 is the latest Cyberpunk addition to Netflix. Based on the 1980s classic manga series Ghost in the Shell (which has produced several movies, tv series, and a live action film), this series is a Netflix exclusive in 3D CG format. The series is slated to have 2 seasons of 12 episodes each, the first season of which just released Thursday.

Familiar Ghost in the Shell Characters

Major Motoko is back, of course, along with lens-eyed Batou, Chief Aramaki, and detective Togusa. We also have a new character, nicknamed “clown”. It’s good to see them again.

A New Setting: A Dystopian Future

In order to quickly settle any questions about this new world, which is different enough from previous Ghost in the Shell entries but also for newcomers, Ghost in the Shell SAC_2045 does what many shows seem to do to help its viewers: provide intro text to set the scene and answer questions preemptively. Which is a shame, because I really love figuring things like this out on my own, and have always felt that when shows or movies explain away things for the viewers right off the bat it detracts from the viewing experience. Anyways, here is what they say:

“2042: The Great 4 (American Empire, China, Russia, and EU) sought economic stability for its members. Using AI code 1A84, the American Empire initiated war as an industry. The world dubbed it “sustainable war”. However, each nation put its own economic interests first, and the world soon found itself in dire straits.”

It goes on:

“AD 2044: The Global Simultaneous Default cause financial firms to halt all transactions. Paper currency became worthless, and all virtual currency and e-money vanished from the net. This triggered a rapid escalation in war as an industry. Even advanced nations suffered riots, terrorism, separatist movements, and civil war. Sustainable war slowly but surely began to spread, threatening the human race with extinction.” –Ghost in the Shell SAC 2045 Intro.

This explaining still leaves me with a lot of questions. How does sustainable war make any sense? War against whom? and why would transactions be halted universally and all forms of currency be wiped out? And what did the world replace it with, a barter economy?

You might be concerned this all takes place in the sand and desert but no worries, you’re taken to good ol’ downtown Tokyo 12 minutes into the episode.

Plot

The first episode finds our favorite characters from Section 9 packing some Budweisers (no, I’m not kidding) as they begin an assignment to find and pacify a group of “Nomads” (read “bandits”) and find out what they’re up to. What was supposed to be a simple op becomes more complicated as the nomads are in possession of more advanced military weaponry than expected. Meanwhile, the one member not on the team, Detective Togusa, is solving a case of a currency hacker when he gets contacted by the Chief. Turns out the Chief wants Togusa to help get Section 9 back together, which had somewhat disbanded after the world turned to “Sustainable War”. The end of the episode introduces who might become a villain in the series called “The Good One-Percenter” which is a hilarious but interesting name for a mysterious character. I’m excited to see what comes next.

A New Intro Sequence…

For both the Live Action and Anime movies, the intro sequence is beloved by fans. The artistic process of the android body being coated in white and then skin, while suspended in the air to an ethereal music sequence, is iconic. The SAC series kept the ethereal while introducing an electronic fast and exciting rhythm to it, and once again was excellent.

As for the intro for Ghost in the Shell: SAC 2045, the artistic android body coating is still there, but… die-hard fans may be shocked upon hearing the new sequence.

The song is called Fly With Me by Millenium Parade. On paper, Millenium Parade looks like they would be great to write the score for this series. Check out their bio below:

“Millennium parade is a group of energetic digital creators organized by Daiki Tsuneta, a producer and songwriter based in Tokyo, Japan. The group is composed of artists from various creative fields including musicians, a film director, visual effects artist, designer, illustrator and so on. Their sound is electronic-leaning, featuring synths and pop-inspired melodies, overlaying chaotic beats.

Millennium parade’s concept is inspired by ”Hyakki Yakō” – “The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons”, deriving from centuries old Japanese folklore and tales of mysterious supernatural creatures. The ‘night parade’ saw ghosts and monsters roam the streets causing utter pandemonium throughout Japan. This chaos and mystery underlies the group’s collective vision to present Tokyo’s new values to the rest of the world.

In May 2019, millennium parade held their project launch party show using 3D technology and tickets sold out immediately. Subsequent live shows in Tokyo and Osaka were also in high demand. They have already collaborated with DIOR and written the main theme song for the world famous Japanese animation ‘Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045’.” –Millenium Parade’s Bio on Spotify

Unfortunately, their single Fly with Me…

…Fails to Live up to Expectations

It’s like they got the wrong music downloaded for the intro sequence.

It’s…hip hop? Or something. Maybe they wanted to try to be new and edgy? But dear god, something must have gone wrong. The song’s lyrics start with “money make the world go round.” In a world which supposedly has no money.

…What?

I can’t make this up. This is seriously what they chose was best. I try to give the media I consume a wide berth and a benefit of the doubt, I try to be generous, but this…honestly, the music is just terrible. Thank god Netflix has a skip intro feature.

New and Old Ghost in the Shell Tech

The series brings back communicating via Neuro-link, which I always greatly appreciated in both the Ghost in the Shell films and the Stand Alone Complex series. Also returning is active camouflage, and the Tachikomas are back too from the Stand Alone Complex series.

Tachikomas are way too excited to kick ass. Don’t you love ’em?

Final Verdict: 8/10

Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 is a fun, exciting new series with your typical too-cool Japanese anime characters. The action, once it starts, is fast-paced, exciting and surprising. The characters are interesting and believable, the pacing is good, and there are even some comical Japanese-style moments of levity as well. It’s definitely worth your time if you can get past the 3D CG video-game style animation, which takes some getting used to at the beginning. The feeling of the first episode, despite the fast-paced action, is one of devil-may-care. Missing to give it a complete 10 is something truly mind-blowing or any deep concepts or ideas. None came up in this first episode, but the series still has time with 12 episodes, and perhaps is in no hurry as it kicks off.

Over here in France, Netflix has the audio as available only in its original Japanese, with subtitles available in multiple languages. If the voice actors are good I usually prefer dubs to subs so I don’t have to watch the bottom of the screen all the time, but it’s nice to watch it in its original language at the same time.

What did you think of Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045?

But these are just my impressions. What did you think about Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045? Did you notice something I didn’t? Do you agree or disagree with my first impressions? Let me know in the comments below!

Is this Cyberpunk?, Movies

The Wolverine–Is This Cyberpunk?

April 19, 2020 Alexander V Woods 4 Comments

The Wolverine: A Cyberpunk Entry? Let’s Find Out

Note: This is part of my ongoing series Is This Cyberpunk? where I look at different media in the Cyberpunk grey area, to help come to that ever-elusive definition of what Cyberpunk really is. In today’s post, I will consider if The Wolverine counts as a Cyberpunk movie, or not.

He’s certainly dark and broody enough…

Logan / Wolverine (the character)

The Wolverine is one of many Marvel X-Men movies, and one of several movies that focus specifically on Wolverine, played by Hugh Jackman. Although Wolverine has claws and super-healing, he was enhanced using advanced technology to give him an adamantium skeleton augmenting his body.

The Wolverine (the movie)

The Wolverine was a movie that came out in 2013 from 20th Century Fox and is both the sixth film in the X-Men film series and a sequel to the trilogy of stand-alone films focused on Logan / Wolverine’s character. It’s also a direct sequel to the 2006 X-Men film The Last Stand. Of all the X-Men and Wolverine movies, I took a particular notice of this movie because of its setting in Japan. The story follows Logan as he flies to Tokyo to meet an old acquaintance, which leads to him getting embroiled in a family power struggle involving ninjas, samurai, and a loss of his super-healing powers.

A Familiar Adage

One of the interesting things that struck me when watching this was an early line in the movie: “Yashida is old fashioned: one eye on the past, and the other on the future”. This reflects a lot of the Yakuza-style Cyberpunk that we’ve seen, including in such works as Altered Carbon, Neuromancer, and Snowcrash. Traditions and honor can last generations, while technology continues to develop and innovate at the same time.

Some High-Tech

We get our first glimpse at high-tech with the cutting-edge sick bed that the company executive, Yashida, is using. Wolverine then glances at screens as Yashida takes some tea from his aide, and the viewers can see tiny robots repairing what appear to be X-rays of Yashida’s failing organs. “Yashida industries can do anything” Yashida proclaims, as he offers Logan the bait: an end to his eternity, to his both blessing and curse of super-healing.

A Familiar Face

As the movie progresses, I suddenly recognized a familiar face I hadn’t recognized before: Will Yun Lee! Also known as one of several Takeshi Kovacs from Altered Carbon! And dressed in black as a modern ninja of sorts, he looks awesome!

Cyberpunk Elements

Sunglasses, leather jackets, tattoos, Yakuza, ninjas, and Taiko drums leading a parkour-style chase through Tokyo all make for compelling Cyberpunk action scenes and visuals.

There is even a fast-paced fight on top of a Shinkansen (bullet-train)!

47 minutes in, Logan decides to hide Mariko in a pod hotel that looks very cyberpunk indeed.

It turns out to be a love hotel! Between the three options of a nurse’s room, a dungeon, and a mission to mars: they choose the latter.

The rooms ends up having even more cyberpunk lighting, and reminds me of the many Cyberpunk stories that do indeed feature the red planet. Examples include several stories from Philip K Dick, the original Total Recall film, and finally the Broken Angels novel and Altered Carbon Season 2. I wonder if it was at all inspired by these works or simply a coincidence!

The Cyberpunk-like movie shots are really piling up at this point. There are two dark rain-set scenes already, with somewhat neon lights–just like the iconic “tears in the rain” scene reminds us of from Blade Runner.

Logan keeps on having hallucinations of Jean Grey. She visits him in the Love hotel as well, as an apparition in the rain illuminated by neon lights outside his window. It’s beautiful.

Cultural Commentary as a Sub-Theme

The Wolverine is also a beautiful movie at times because it’s both a subtle and not-so-subtle commentary on the differences in tradition between Japan and the United States, which is similar to many movies where one of the characters travel to a foreign land with different customs and has to acclimate himself or herself to the new culture and customs. Moments where Logan has to be told to bow, or to not stick his chopsticks in his bowl, are more obvious than other moments where a subtle sense of tradition and proper order permeates everything the Japanese do.

Some Bio-Gore

The movie then settles down, before turning to a bit of bio-gore as Logan has to heal himself in an undeniably gruesome way. I won’t spoil that part with any pictures.

Concept Art

Mecha-Samurai

The giant electro-mechanical Samurai robot is somewhat reminiscent of the Terminator. It’s a giant, fearful thing, both Japanese and Cyberpunk in vibe.

Non-Cyberpunk Elements

Mutants with various abilities, like being able to see the moment of someone’s death or having viper-like abilities, add a dose of fantasy that is decidedly not Cyberpunk. Also, on the whole the film is not very futuristic or high-tech at all. There is also no mention of a dystopian world, it’s rather centered on the present day. This is probably one of its biggest detractors from being a considered a Cyberpunk film.

Final Verdict and Review: Great Movie, Many Cyberpunk Visuals, but not Cyberpunk

This is not a Cyberpunk movie. The high-tech elements are too few and far between, there is very little punk about this, and there is no hacking or virtual or online internet elements at all. Despite one giant corporation appearing in the film, the conflict is completely self-contained within the company itself–it has no social commentary or dystopian society–and is thus ultimately just another Wolverine adventure.

The Final Word?

So that’s how I feel about the movie. But what do you think? Have you seen it? Do you agree with my verdict? Why/why not? Feel free to have the final word in the comments below.

Is this Cyberpunk?

Is This Cyberpunk? A New Series at Cyberpunk Matrix

April 18, 2020 Alexander V Woods 3 Comments

In the Pursuit of Defining Cyberpunk

Here at Cyberpunk Matrix, I talk about Cyberpunk a whole lot. To do so, it’s important that I keep in mind my ability to recognize what Cyberpunk is, and what it’s not.

Finding Clear Boundaries

Sometimes it’s very easy to recognize what is and isn’t. For instance, when I see Blade Runner, I think, yup, Cyberpunk!

Yea, definitely Cyberpunk.

Then other days I come across a movie like Maid in Manhattan, and I think to myself, ah, now that’s definitely NOT cyberpunk.

Bet you never thought you’d see a movie like that mentioned in a website like this, huh? Life’s full of surprises.

When one is so invested in a genre, it’s natural to walk around the world wearing mirrorshades and seeing everything in hues of Cyberpunk or not.

Finding the Grey Area

But sometimes, it’s not that easy.

I find a lot of great content online that looks close to being Cyberpunk, but not quite. It resides a sort of grey area. So naturally, I wonder: Does it pass the smell test of being Cyberpunk?

Some, for instance, think The Terminator isn’t “Cyberpunk” enough a movie to qualify. I beg to differ.

In order to celebrate this ambiguity, I will be doing a new series called “Is This Cyberpunk?” So feel free to debate these pieces of media with me. It will mostly be movies in the series, but may be a TV series as well, or the occasional book or video game. Of course, in order to successfully debate whether something is Cyberpunk or not, we need to have a really solid understanding of what Cyberpunk is. For my interpretation of what Cyberpunk is, check out the page defining it here.

While being dystopian and having origins from one of Philip K Dick’s most popular stories, The Man in the High Castle is Alternate History, and decidedly NOT cyberpunk. It’s still cool though.

Also, if you know of anything that sits squarely in the grey area and can’t figure it out, post it in the comments below and let’s analyze it together!

Interviews, Movies, Podcast

The Cyberpunk Genre, our First Viewing Experiences of The Matrix, and Matrix 4: Interview with NeoMatrixology

April 11, 2020 Alexander V Woods 3 Comments

What is NeoMatrixology?

“Welcome to the bottom of the rabbit hole! Remember, as one realizes that one is a dream figure in another person’s dream–that is self-awareness.”–Lazarus, NeoMatrixology founder

NeoMatrixology is the YouTube channel from Lazarus who, along with his Instagram and Twitter channels, breaks down in great detail the Matrix trilogy and all other related Matrix media using a “logical ‘yellow pill’ approach to research (by making sure all his sources are valid and not rumor mills).

Who is Lazarus?

Lazarus was born and raised in the East Coast, near Philadelphia, but chose to be anonymous so he could be the “voice behind the screen.” He has done some work in the music industry as a DJ, but other than that, we know very little about the mysterious man behind NeoMatrixology. And he likes it that way.

However, if you want to meet him in person, he is hosting a “Project Matriculated” screening project in order to watch the premiere of Matrix 4 for the Cyberpunk Community, if you can snag a ticket.

Discussing the Cyberpunk Genre, Our First Matrix Viewing Experiences, and What Might Come Next for Matrix 4

To listen to the complete podcast, click the link below.

Topics that we cover:

In this podcast with Lazarus we cover the following topics:

Will Matrix 4 and John Wick 4 happen on the same day?
What video games and technology he grew up with.
Does Isaac Asimov count as Cyberpunk?
How does Lazarus define “Cyberpunk”?
What are his early influences of Cyberpunk?
What are his favorite Cyberpunk works?
Which Terminator film is the best.
Which Matrix film is his favorite?
He tells us his story of how he saw The Matrix for the first time.
I share the unusual way that I saw The Matrix for the first time.
How and Why Lazarus started his NeoMatrixology YouTube channel.
The Matrix Online Universe with its different factions and communities.
How he merged the Matrix and Terminator story lines to make montage videos.
We discuss The Path of Neo video game.
What happens in The Matrix Online Canon (including major events with Morpheus and Trinity.
What may appear in Matrix 4 from Matrix Online, if any.
From Matrix Online, who the General is and how he might be important and why in Matrix 4
How Sense 8 and David Mitchell may (or may not) have any influence on Matrix 4.

If you like this interview and want to comment on any of the things we covered, comment below! You can find Lazarus over at his YouTube and Twitter channels.

Correction: The director of Oblivion is Joseph Kosinski, who also directed Tron: Legacy, not Ghost in the Shell. Ghost in the Shell (2017) was directed by Rupert Sanders, who also directed Snow White and the Huntsman. Still, they’re all great films!

News

Cyberpunk and Coronavirus: A Dystopian Global Pandemic Happening In Real Time

April 4, 2020 Alexander V Woods 2 Comments

Police Decontamination team in Bozhou, China

Living in a Present-day Dystopia with Cyberpunk Tones

What a time to be alive. No literally, people around the world are dying from COVID-19, so if we are alive right now, we are lucky. Although honestly, life is a gift, so any day we are alive should be counted as lucky.

But something truly remarkable is happening right now. All around the world, we are experiencing a collective feeling and thought process. ~~2.6 billion~~ (now 3.9 billion) humans are in isolation right now, ~~representing 1/3 of~~ ~~humanity~~ (it is now half of humanity). Think about that. Almost one third of humanity, provided they have the resources, are coming together through the internet, online virtual classrooms and meetings while practicing isolation.

A New Era of Confinement from COVID-19

Welcome to the new era. Of Confinement, social distancing, online communities, and virtual classrooms and meetings. In this new, dare I say, dystopian Cyberpunk world, we have drones decontaminating empty streets.

Drone in UAE decontaminating the streets (Reddit)

Necessity is the Mother of Invention

As people stay at home, and simply going outside presents a health risk, humanity is finding new and ingenious ways to get work done in safe ways. Like using this cyberpunk-looking UV machine to speed-decontaminate hospital rooms .

Source: Illumipure.com

Returning to a New Normal

In China, where the Coronavirus is getting more under control as the number of cases levels off and drops, workers are returning to work under a new “normal”–with distancing measures in place, like this picture a local Chinese plant shows.

Source: Wired.com

Drones!

Drones have already been, I would say, cyberpunk enough–it’s a relatively new trend, but something that has been growing a lot already in 2019. They can do cool things like debris removal on power lines with flamethrowers, or shoot fireworks at annoyingly loud neighbors.

Probably one of the coolest jobs ever.

What can’t they do?

But now with the Coronavirus, drones are a cool, futuristic, yet practical way to get work done remotely. Like walking your dog! Because dogs are immune to Coronavirus, so why not walk them with your drone?

This pup in Cyprus seems to enjoy the idea.

It’s so surreal

The entire world is going into lockdown, and many might think this new, different, crazy world of confinement feels more like a dream than reality. In fact, it’s even been shown as a dream before, like in that scene at the beginning of Vanilla Sky where Tom Cruise finds himself in downtown Times Square, except all the streets everywhere is completely deserted, before he wakes up and realizes he was just dreaming. But now that wouldn’t seem like such a far-fetched dream, now, would it? Who else has ever in their lifetime experienced anything like this before?

It’s a world where seeing images like this isn’t so odd or uncommon anymore. Which, for cyberpunk fans, is kinda cool, no?

Eerie Emptiness thanks to COVID-19

All of a sudden, big usually-busy public squares are completely empty of humans. Mother nature is reclaiming its rightful claim on the world. Just look at the beautiful, eerily desolate pictures around the world from this Atlantic article:

Washington DC

San Francisco

Disneyworld, Florida

Paris

Pisa, Italy

The Brooklyn Bridge

A Mall in Richmond, California

Rue de Rivoli in Paris

London’s Eye from Westminster Bridge

Notre-Dame, Paris

Hangzhou, China

Going Virtual

The entirety of humanity has had to adapt due to the Coronavirus, as everything moves online. One of the starkest examples of this are the schools and universities around the world who have had to suddenly switch to online and virtual classes. Above is a science teacher live-streaming to her students using her phone and a tripod.

Zoom!

One online platform that has seen a huge growth in users has been the online meeting software zoom. Millions of people around the world are now using this platform for school or work, and are adjusting to their new virtual reality. I personally have started using this for work as well myself.

One cool thing I learned about Zoom is that for video, you can add a virtual background including a video of a beach by the sea with palm trees.

Zoom virtual background

Just the Beginning of Virtual

This led me to think about Deepfakes, and what would happen if people started working online constantly using deepfakes. If that were the case, someone could actively mask their identity or pretend they were continuously someone else. Pretty Cyberpunk, no?

What if we deepfakes were used with Zoom? Source: dreadcentral.com

A New Normal with Masks Protecting from Coronavirus

As different regulations are passed, everyday people wearing masks is quickly becoming the norm. For some cultures like in Japan or China, masks might have been already somewhat ubiquitous, but to see them in places like New York City or Paris is incredibly new and surreal.

Times Square

King Cross Station

The Effect of COVID-19 on the Cyberpunk Genre

COVID-19 has affected virtually every single industry there is because of how incredibly global its effect is. The Cyberpunk genre is no different, and has had both its pros and cons as a result of the virus.

Recognizing the Negative of Coronavirus on Cyberpunk

Let’s start with the negative first, before going with the positive. As the saying goes, you gotta take the bad with the good.

Juan Gimenez dies from COVID-19 complications

One sad result was the death of Juan Gimenez, an acclaimed comic book artist who happened to draw one of my favorite, and maybe the most iconic, illustration of Case and Molly Millions from the Cyberpunk classic Neuromancer. Juan, you will be sorely missed. May you rest in peace.

Matrix 4 delayed

Another unfortunate result of COVID-19 is the delays of major Hollywood productions, including in particular Matrix 4. Variety has reported that production of Matrix 4 may have to be delayed until at least mid-may. This may affect the release date of May 21st, 2021, but since it’s far out enough, it may be possible that it won’t be pushed back too much. John Wick 4 will also probably be delayed, so we’ll see if Keanu Reeves day will still be a thing, but as I mentioned before, I doubt both will end up releasing on the same day.

Source: Digitalanime.dz

Seeing the Positive from Cyberpunk during COVID-19

One positive bit of news, however, is how communities are giving back and providing help. Two major companies giving back are CD Projekt Red and Tesla.

CD Projekt Red gives back

CD Projekt Red, which is of course the major Video Game Production company behind the upcoming Cyberpunk 2077, agreed to donate $950,000 to help fight the disease. “In these hard times, every help counts…We would also like to thank the entire medical service and everyone involved in the fight against the virus. Risking your own health, you fight for ours every day – your hard work is our inspiration.”

Tesla promises ventilators

Tesla is doing its part by doing its best to start cranking out desperately-needed ventilators. Elon Musk announced last week that Tesla’s New York Gigafactory would be re-opening to start producing these ventilators as soon as possible.

Final Thoughts

It looks like for the next couple months, COVID-19 is here to stay. How will the world look post-coronavirus? Will it spur the entire world to becoming more virtual, more online, and using more drones? Is this a jump forward towards a Cyberpunk future? I certainly think so, or at least, it will move things along more quickly. Finally, what do you think about coronavirus and COVID-19? Are there any more connections between Cyberpunk and the Coronavirus that I didn’t mention? Make sure to let me know in the comments below.

Movies

Review: Altered Carbon: Resleeved

March 21, 2020 Alexander V Woods 1 Comment

Continuing the Altered Carbon Universe

Altered Carbon: Resleeved is the latest Cyberpunk movie to stream on Netflix. A Japanese anime movie spin-off, it is set in the Altered Carbon Universe and features Takeshi Kovacs and Taneda Hideki on planet Latimer. In return for wiping his slate clean on Harlan’s World, Hideki hires Kovacs to protect a tattoo artist in order to investigate another faction of the Yakuza clan. The visual style is done in 3-D anime, which strongly resembles the Borderlands aesthetic. For me, it took some getting used to, but after the first 5 minutes I was able to settle in for the ride and forget about it.

The characters

You may know Takeshi Kovacs well enough from the two live action seasons on Netflix. This movie has him in another sleeve, of course, in a suit with short white hair. Quickly after he meets in virtual with his employer, Tanaseda Hideki, he meets the Yakuza clan tattoo artist he’s supposed to protect — the young Holly Togram. At the same time that he tries to protect Holly from various mysterious ninjas that attack her, she is also wanted by CTAC. When the leader of CTAC, Gena, finds Holly, she reluctantly agrees to team up with Kovacs in protecting and using Holly to infiltrate the Yakuza clan in order to unearth the secret of why she is wanted dead so badly, and by whom. We also meet Shinji, the other Yakuza clan leader who is Holly’s employer, and Ogai, an AI butler and manager of the AI hotel The Wild Geese.

A New Takeshi Kovacs (again)

Although a short film at under an hour and a half, this movie kept my attention from beginning to end. Kovacs here is no brooding film-noir type like we saw in Season 1, nor the Quell-obsessed idealist in Season 2. Rather, he is a protective big brother figure and still very much a bad-ass. I quite enjoyed watching him team up with Gena as they fight faceless deadly ninjas again and again.

Oh. Did I mention they have ninjas in this movie? Because they do. In ample supply, and it’s awesome!

Ninja-Fest

These ninjas throw ninja stars, use smoke and strike from the shadows, and have a variety of different weapons–not just katanas! They also appear in various different styles, from hooded street hoodlum (above) to futuristic visor-toting assailants, and finally as bad-ass samurai-style ninjas. As you will see, they’re quite difficult to kill!

A Distinct Genre of Film

The story of this movie definitely takes a bit of a step back to the action, and if you like Japanese Yakuza ninja-style action, then this is definitely the movie for you. If you prefer a detective film-noir, however, this won’t be for you. I also noted that while there was plenty of neon lights to feast your eyes on, if you don’t care for the Japanese aesthetic and prefer more cyborgs and futuristic tech elements, you might be disappointed. Although firmly rooted in the Altered Carbon universe, the movie doesn’t play around much with its parameters like seasons 1 and 2 did. This is truly an action-focused film, a nice stand-alone entry in the Altered Carbon Universe. Which is why the lead-up to the final epic showdown is so excellent. It’s fast-paced, completely brutal, and very well done. The style of this film is absolutely in the anime style, which makes sense considering the origins of its creator (Dai Sato was also a writer for Cowboy Bebop and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex).

Final Verdict: 7.5/10

I really enjoyed watching this movie, and if you’re a fan of Japanese Yakuza, Ninjas, and epic brutal fighting, then you will too. With a decent musical score and voice acting, this movie’s incredible action sequences and beautiful visuals make up for its lackluster characters and somewhat shallow themes. The story delivers a brisk pace with enough intrigue to keep the viewer’s attention, and while not as full of high tech or futuristic world-building as other Altered Carbon stories, it does have sprinkle enough throughout it to remind the viewer this is no ordinary Earth. I give this movie 7.5/10.

Now it’s your turn

Did you see Altered Carbon: Resleeved? What did you think? Let me know in the comments below, or on twitter at @cyberpunkmatrix.

Movies

Matrix 4: 2020 Updates

March 15, 2020 Alexander V Woods 1 Comment

Matrix 4: What 2020 Updates we know so far as of March 15th

It is now mid-March and I just realized I haven’t provided an official Matrix 4 production update since last December 2019!

So without further ado, here’s everything new that’s happened with Matrix 4 Production since then:

New Casting announcements:

Max Riemelt (Sense 8)

Riemelt is a 36 year old German actor mostly known for his work with the Wachoskis in their Netflix series Sense8 as Wolfgang Bogdanow. Apparently, he’s also well known in Germany for acting and directing.

Priyanka Chopra (Baywatch, among others)

Chopra may be a little more well-known than her Matrix 4 peers. Chopra is an Indian actress, singer, producer, and winner of the Miss World 2000 pageant. Named one of the top 100 most influential people by Time and one of the top 100 most powerful women by Forbes, Chopra is also a vocal defender of social causes like women’s rights and the environment. Oh and she’s also the wife of Nick Jonas. This created a lot of buzz for the casting, as no one knows who she will be playing. One thought that I had (and wasn’t alone, apparently) was that maybe Chopra could be replacing Monica Belucci as the Merovingian’s beau.

Andrew Caldwell (iZombie)

Andrew Caldwell is an American actor from Michigan whose most prominent role was being cast as Harley Jones in the third season of the CW series iZombie. He is probably one of the least well known casting choices of the actors announced, so we’ll see what his role is and how he does in Matrix 4.

Brian J Smith (Sense 8)

Brian J Smith is an American actor from Texas who is another Sense 8 alum, working with the Wachowskis as Will Gorski. He’s also played lieutenant Matthew Scott in the TV series Star Gate Universe, and was nominated for a Tony award for his role as Jim O’Connor in the 2013 revival of The Glass Menagerie.

Ellen Hollman (Spartacus)

Ellen Hollman is an American actress from Detroit, Michigan and is perhaps best known for her roles as Saxa in Spartacus and Regent Warrior Zypher in AMC’s Into The Badlands. Considering many of her roles have required intensive fight scenes and have been physically demanding, I’m excited to see what fighting role she will probably take up, especially considering she’s trained in Jiu Jitsu.

Lambert Wilson (The Merovingian, Matrix Trilogy)

Probably one of the most exciting announcements we’ve heard is that Lambert Wilson officially confirmed that he will be returning! Wilson is of course the smooth-talking, philosophy-waxing Frenchman and power-hungry rogue program that antagonized Neo, Morpheus and Trinity in Matrix Reloaded and Matrix Revolutions. Glad to have you back, Wilson!

Not returning: Hugo Weaving (Agent Smith, Matrix Trilogy)

Unfortunately, due to scheduling difficulties, Hugo Weaving will not be able to return as Agent Smith in Matrix 4. Few could forget his memorable performances in all three Matrix films opposite Keanu Reeves, but his departure can be easily explained story-wise, as Neo sacrificed himself to destroy Smith at the end of Matrix Revolutions. The new agent or agents could be played by anyone for Matrix 4, but my hope is that their diction and slow eloquence match the excellence that Weaving delivered. Because if not, he will be even more sorely missed.

Matrix 4 filming in San Francisco: Explosions, stunts, and property damage.

Filming in Alameda and San Francisco, California began in February and ended beginning March. Which is just as well, too considering that if they had planned filming any later in March or April, things could have been delayed due to the Coronavirus.

As it is, people in both Alameda and San Francisco were treated to some sneak peeks of what the film has in store for us. I should warn you that while I could not resist looking at these photos, part of me regrets doing so, because now I will be looking out for these scenes in the film once it is finally released. So if you don’t want to have any spoilers whatsoever for Matrix 4, GO NO FURTHER!

However, if you’re like me, continue scrolling down. I chose to select the most representative images of what happened, so you can see what kinds of things are in store without having too many revealers. Of course if you want even more images, you are welcome to google them yourself, or find them on twitter, where you will find plenty.

Filming on set in Alameda

The first image we saw was this film set behind barriers on set in Alameda. This is where they filmed the set performances for the previous Matrix movies as well. It looks like from the suspension cables and the high altitude on these crates, that it could be that some jumps or flying stunts were filmed here.

Stunts between Skyscrapers

The stunts didn’t stay on set, however. We were then treated to these images and videos of daring stunt work with two actors dangling from cables suspended between two different skyscrapers in downtown San Francisco. It looked like the character above, who resembled Trinity, was teaching the character below her, who could have been Neo, how to jump and/or fly in what presumably is the Matrix. Whatever it is, I can’t wait to see what’s happening here on the big screen! It looks like they got some great shots!

Street Shots near House of Nanking in Downtown San Francisco

As you can see from the text, we were then treated to multiple different shots of screening in downtown San Francisco, right next to the chinese restaurant House of Nanking. Here we see a grizzly-looking Keanu Reeves in plain clothes walking down the street with what are presumably extras. What happened to Neo, and how is he back in the Matrix? What’s also convenient here is that Lana Wachowski stands out like brilliantly shining lightbulb, easy to pick out with her neon dreadlocks. She seems very secure in her direction of the scenes, and as far as I can tell, she’s doing a great job! In the Wachowskis we trust!

Neo and Trinity reunited at last on the back of a motorcycle

This shot is one of the ones that made me most sentimental. Here we have a clear shot of once again a grizzly-looking Neo holding onto the shoulders of his lover Trinity as she drives both of them on a motorcycle. The motorcycle was attached to rigging part of the time to allow for easy filming of the scenes, which included some smoke machines in the streets of San Fran. I decided not to show any further pictures for the sake of spoiling the magic of filming, but needless to say I am super excited to see these two back on the big screen, and it’s very cool to see a sneak peek of what they will both look like in the film.

Hovering Helicopters in Downtown San Francisco

This shot came as little surprise, as the announcements for filming in San Francisco for residents including warnings of explosions, gunshots, and hovering helicopters. But it was super cool all the same to see both shots and video of two black military-style helicopters hovering overhead in the streets of San Francisco, as well as the subsequent planned explosions. Matrix is back, and big as ever!

Minor Property Damage from Explosions and Heat

What wasn’t anticipated by the crew, however, is that the intensity of the explosions caused a window to shatter and the plastic covering some marketing signs and lampposts to melt from the heat of it all. Notice the slightly melted lamp post on the wall above. The filming crew will of course pay to replace anything they destroyed, however, and I think this speaks to the vision and ambition of Lana Wachowski that they’re not messing around with Matrix 4! It’ll be some intense explosions and action scenes indeed!

Looking to the future

For now, Matrix 4 is planning to go ahead and film as planned in Berlin and in California despite the worldwide Coronavirus pandemic. However, the situation is continuously changing, and many other movie productions have halted or delayed due to the Coronavirus. Others have delayed their release date due to movie theaters being closed. So what does this mean for Matrix 4? Since its release date of May 21st, 2021 is still so far away, I think it’s safe to say that the release date won’t be affected. I hope that the production won’t be forced to halt or be delayed, but if so, that could affect its release date after all. Regardless of the production crew’s decisions, here’s to hoping all involved stay safe!

Did you like this blog post on 2020 Updates for Matrix 4? Then share it with a friend on social media so they too can stay plugged into the Matrix!

Books

Review: Minority Report (and other Cyberpunk short stories)

March 8, 2020 Alexander V Woods 2 Comments

Minority Report: A Review

Although this book is technically called Minority Report, it should really be called Minority Report (and other Cyberpunk short stories) by Philip K. Dick. Indeed, nowhere on the back of the book nor on the cover does the book reveal that Philip K. Dick’s Minority Report is in fact only a short story of 45 pages. The contents of this book are actually as follows:

Minority Report
Imposter
Second Variety
War Game
What the Dead Men Say
Oh, to Be a Blobel!
The Electric Ant
Faith of Our Fathers
We Can Remember it for You Wholesale

This book has no less than nine short stories! And of particular note is the last short story, We Can Remember it for You Wholesale, is none other than the short story that inspired the famous Cyberpunk 1990 flick Total Recall with Arnold Schwarzenegger (and its subsequent 2012 reboot).

Reviewing each Cyberpunk / Alternate Reality Story

So how good are these short stories? Are they worth your time? Absolutely. But, like anything else, some are much better than others, both in excitement level and in mind-bending ideas. So without further ado, here’s my review for Minority Report (and other short stories by Philip K Dick).

Minority Report: 8/10

John Anderton is the commissioner of Precrime, a futuristic division of the police that prevents crimes before they happen with the help of three precogs. Unlike the film with Tom Cruise, the source material is a lot more tame–the short story reads more like a detective mystery novel, as Anderton must race against time to solve the mystery of how he is supposed to kill a man he has never heard of before in the next 48 hours. As the story develops and Anderton goes to different places to piece together the clues, the story’s message is a lot more about political power than it is about broken families or Anderton surviving. Indeed, Anderton’s survival almost seems to take a back seat to his ascertaining if the system itself suddenly has a flaw or not, which would put into question everything he had done before that moment. Still, with a short but exciting moment when Anderton is on the run, this story was one of my favorites of the nine, as it is different enough from the film that it kept me guessing until the very end.

Imposter: 8.5/10

Imposter apparently got the movie treatment as well, but the film is obscure enough that I’m fairly sure no one has heard of it. This story is about Spence Olham, a man who is suddenly arrested and taken in because the police claim that he is an unwitting spy of the enemy, an android who replaced the real Spence Olham without knowing it, for the purpose of carrying out a terrorist attack. As he is taken back to HQ Olham must try to escape and solve the mystery of who, or what, he is before it is too late. This felt like a real sci-fi thriller as Olham questions whether he is human or not, and how he would even know. It was exciting and fast-paced from beginning to end, and is another one of my favorite stories of the nine.

Second Variety: 9/10

Second Variety is about a group of American soldiers sitting in the trenches on Earch fighting a long, drawn-out war against the Russians in a dystopian future. In this story, the Americans were able to develop a technologically advanced set of robots called Claws that burrow into the ground and attack any living flesh they can. The Americans, who apparently developed the line of robots, are protected from the claws by radioactive “tabs” signalling that they aren’t the enemy.

As one Russian soldier tries to cross no-man’s land and inevitably dies to the Claws, the Americans recover a message from the soldier asking for a chance for negotiating a cease-fire. This leads to the American leader deciding to cross no-man’s land to the Russian trenches in order to negotiate a cease-fire, when he discovers that the robots the Americans had developed have learned to self-develop, resulting in a Second Variety of robots that take on a human appearance in order to kills their prey. What happens next is an incredibly exciting tale of a dystopian future as the humans fight against the robots, and themselves, as they try to determine who the threats really are.

Second Variety was my personal favorite of the nine stories, because of its dystopian setting and truly anxiety and fear-inducing story. It was perhaps the most dystopian and thrilling story of the nine.

War Game: 6/10

War Game is basically a story about quality assurance testers, who are testing kits of technologically-advanced toys for children. It was perhaps my least favorite story, and is very curious. The toy they are testing in question is a castle that is defending itself from toy soldiers who are trying to get into the castle to conquer it. As the toy soldiers slowly get in one by one as the game resets, the testers ponder what will happen when they eventually all get in. It’s a loose reflection on the values that we teach our children, done in a dystopian sci-fi form.

What the Dead Men Say: 6.5/10

What the Dead Men Say is basically the short story that led to Ubik, so if you’ve read Ubik, then this story will look very familiar. It actually has a couple pages that were copied directly into the book. This story is about a world where people can go into cryo-sleep called half-life when they die. When they do, they can have their consciousness connected to a telephone to the outside world, so that the dead may communicate their wishes to the living. Things go awry, however, when the famous head of enterprise Louis Sarapis dies and can’t be reached in his cryo-sleep to determine what his wishes are. Instead, his consciousness starts invading all media sources–newspapers, TV, telephone lines, etc. This complicates things as a major election is about to occur. I personally much preferred Ubik to this short story, as Ubik relates more to the nature of reality, whereas What the Dead Men Say is more of a mystery of what is happening.

Oh, to Be a Blobel!: 6.5/10

This story is about George Munster and his struggle with Blobels, who are an alien blob-like race that humanity fought decades ago. Munster fought in the war against the Blobels, and was genetically altered to spend half a day each day in the form of a Blobel in order to infiltrate their ranks as a spy. Nowadays, however, he is simply a war veteran, and Humans and Blobels live in relative peace with each other (although both humans and Blobels still live on their respective planets, for the most part). Munster must learn how to live a normal, happy life, despite the fact that he keeps on turning into a Blobel every day. The message here seems to be pretty clear that Blobel is just another word for Communist or Soviet, as PKD lived in the time of McCarthyism and spies hiding their true nature was a serious concern of the times.

The Electric Ant: 7.5/10

The Electric Ant is a fun little story about a man that learns that he is in fact an android, and decides to tinker with the mechanical systems within himself that process reality. This story felt like what would happen if a robot tried mind-altering drugs and it actually worked. Very interesting thought experiment once again about the nature of reality.

Faith of Our Fathers: 6/10

This is perhaps one of the oddest of all the stories, and that’s saying a lot for PKD novels. Set in Hanoi, Vietnam, Comrade Chien lives in a 1984-style society where the TV must be on at all times and citizens’ viewing times are recorded, to ensure they watch and listen to enough of the party propaganda. Chien is looking to rise up the ranks in the government when he is given a test of two papers, one a fake and one real, and the party values. This leads to him meeting a member of the resistance and then a later invitation to meet the party leader, but in the process he starts to question reality once again when he is told to take a drug to counteract drugs that are supposed in the water supply, keeping all citizens doped to a certain party level. The meeting of the party leader felt very surreal in this story and its ending felt very open and unfinished, which is why I gave it a lower score compared to other stories on this list.

We Can Remember it for You Wholesale: 7/10

If you’ve seen the beginning of either Total Recalls, then you know the gist of this story. We Can Remember it for You Wholesale is about a man called Douglas Quail who wants to pay for a memory to be implanted in his brain of him having been a spy on Mars, in order to escape his boring life and because he can’t afford an actual trip to Mars. Except things start to go wrong when the implanting process is halted due to previous subconscious memories that indicate that he already went to Mars as a spy. This results in him trying to figure out what he is, as his previous employers race to find him and contain the threat of him learning too much about who he is and what the did. Unlike the movies, however, PKD takes this a couple more levels and then leaves it at that, which was a fun way to once again question reality as the reader is left trying to figure out what truly was real and what wasn’t in

So to review, here’s my aggregate rating of each short story:

Minority Report: 8/10
Imposter: 8.5/10
Second Variety: 9/10
War Game: 6/10
What the Dead Men Say: 6.5/10
Oh, to Be a Blobel!: 6.5/10
The Electric Ant: 7.5/10
Faith of Our Fathers: 6/10
We Can Remember it For you Wholesale: 7.5/10

So that’s my list! Have you read any of the stories on this list? What did you think? Let me know in the comments below 🙂

Television

Altered Carbon: Season 2 Complete Review

March 4, 2020 Alexander V Woods

Image result for altered carbon season 2

Altered Carbon Season 2 Review

Phew! I just finished Altered Carbon Season 2 and let me tell you, it was quite a ride. There are pros and cons to this season, just like any season, and there’s a lot I want to get out of my brain because I have so many thoughts on the series. So without further ado, here we go: my review of Season 2 of Altered Carbon.

General feeling:

The general feeling of the series is very toned down compared to last season, for better or for worse. It’s warmer and more family-friendly. There is less torture, less nudity, and less shocking gore and violence.

Source Material Bias

My experience of the series was probably biased, and shaped from my familiarity with the source material. I found myself often lighting up upon hearing references to characters and concepts from the books. This led me to enjoy the series more, as I often took a very conscious note of their choices to veer from or stick to the original content. Also, as a result, my review will be very much contrasting the book to the series.

General differences between book and series

Quell & Vidaura

One of the biggest differences from the books in this season is the choice of Kalogridis and Schapke to create the love story between Quell and Takeshi. In the books, Takeshi’s trainer and the leader of the rebellion were two different people: Quell was the legendary leader of the rebellion, who inspired people to follow her own life philosophy called Quellism. The leader and trainer of the envoys, meanwhile, was someone called Virginia Vidaura. Kovacs has flings with both Vidaura and Sylvie, but not Quell.

Image result for quell and takeshi

Source: theaquasarah, YouTube

Sex vs. Love

Kovacs has sex with Sylvie (Trepp in the series), but when they do, she switches to the AI copy of Quell. This passion is what triggers the switches in the books. There is no love between Kovacs and Vidaura, or between Kovacs and Sylvie—it’s purely sexual lust, and obviously a certain connection that comes with it.

Many people were turned off by the random, very explicit sex scenes in the books—in particular with Woken Furies. I remember when I read the book it felt like a jarring switch and I was never ready for it, which led me to skim or often just pass over the explicit sex scenes, which often rarely added anything to the actual story.

The complete lack of sex scenes in the second season, except for one very PG-13 one, is perhaps a strong flip to the other side of the coin. And the lack of gratuitous sex mirrors the new emphasis on love in the story, which was virtually non-existent in the books.

Family Ties

There’s also a stronger emphasis on family ties than on the previous season. Season 1 had the mother and family ties from Kristin Ortega, who then tragically died and gave the story more weight. Season 2 is about Trepp doing all she can to find her brother, and then to protect her wife and her son, who ultimately are saved in the end by her actions. Everything she does is to protect her family. And while one of her family members tragically dies to protect her, none of this carries the same weight as Ortega’s family dying in the first season. It almost feels like going through the motions when she discovers her dead family member. I knew I was supposed to feel something, but because of how stiff and set up it all was, I felt little.

Now let’s look at the characters from Season 2.

Characters

Image result for altered carbon poe post it

Poe

I really enjoyed Poe again in this season. Not only is his acting excellent, but he is very well written and is a fun, charming addition to add levity to the more somber moments of the season. His quests to help Takeshi, and to try to remember what he was forgetting, made him incredibly endearing. Even more than before. If that’s even possible.

Tanaseda Hideki

I really liked Tanaseda Hideki’s character. In the books he is simply a Yakuza leader with a shared past with Takeshi, but in this season he acts as a wise, respectful mentor figure for Takeshi. It was a refreshing take on the character.

Cemetaire

I also liked the fact that they put in Cemetaire! His character really bothered Takeshi in the books, because of his profession making money off the lost stacks of the dead–and he was a good addition here (even if his part was very small). I recognized one of his lines as being taken straight from the book: “I am a simple ferryman plucking souls from my ocean wide.”

Trepp

I thought it was interesting that they chose to have the character of Trepp, who acts like a Sylvie with her head coils, yet chose Falconer’s mind as the one with the second personality in her stack instead of in Trepp’s mind. I thought having the second mind/personality downloaded through the coils really made sense in the books, and I would have preferred them doing the same thing with Trepp instead of with Falconer. Still, I really enjoyed the mystery of figuring out who was in Quell’s stack, since it obviously couldn’t be Quell as it was in the books. The way that we were introduced to Takeshi in a completely different sleeve than expected made us believe the second personality could really be anybody, and in my view was quite well done.

Joshua Kemp

I also liked that they included Kemp, but his role was so diminished here. I understand that Kemp had his uses in season 2, but in the books Kemp was a legitimate rebellion leader and very brutal. When you know who he was in the books, his diminished role here really feels a bit like a waste. At least they put in the ascertainment trial, but if you didn’t read the books, know that in the books the trial took hours, but was obviously condensed for the sake of editing.

Stronghold Takeshi

Another big difference was how they changed Takeshi Kovacs’ double-sleeved clone from an earlier period of his life.

In the books his clone slaughtered the entire team Takeshi was working with in the past. Takeshi was incredibly afraid of his brutal clone, because of the regrets he carried from his past choices in life. The books made it feel like his past mistakes were literally hunting him in the present day.

This version of Takeshi, however, is simply a new person. Almost like a long-time brother, one who wasn’t up to speed with what had happened in the world. It felt incredibly different, and while I loved Will Yun Lee’s performance, I think his character was a bit of a wasted opportunity here. There’s so much more they could have done with him. I will admit that Stronghold Takeshi is a little ruthless in the beginning, but by the end all that is quickly erased as his character does a complete 180.

Col. Ivan Carrera

Having Carrera as originally the dogged hunter-soldier made him a force to be reckoned with—especially in the scenes where he is brutally interrogating his prisoners. I wasn’t expecting it to then turn into something where Carrera was an old father figure to Takeshi, and go into their complicated history. It gave a more nuanced side to the character, which I actually liked. In the books he’s simply the leader of the Wedge, a military group instead of a small task force, and he does little more than fight one on one with Takeshi.

Additional mentions: Dig 301 and Danica Harlan

Both Dig 301 and Danica Harlan were technically in the books, but they had almost no part worth mentioning whatsoever. And regarding their roles, I thought they were…fine. Dig 301 simply doesn’t have the charm that Poe does, and I personally didn’t find her very interesting at all. I was happily surprised that Danica Harlan was plenty cunning, very much more than she leads on, and in that way I liked her character.

Angel Fire

Although Sylvie/Quell was able to briefly summon Angel fire, in the books it was unexpected and not understood until afterwards. Similarly to this season, I was incredibly surprised when it happened, as there was no warning this time either. It was incredibly cool to watch Angel Fire on the screen.

Archaeologues

I was also glad they put in a little bit about the archaeologues and deciphering the symbols, like in book 2, even though it was a very small part of the story. It was interesting to see how they changed the portal from the books into the new alien ruin that it is in the season.

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Final Thoughts

If I had to compare this season to the previous season, I would say that it’s not as good as the first half of season 1, but much better than the second half of season 1. The countless naked Reileens attacking an armed Ortega just seemed too over the top and unnecessary, and then the overly dramatic scenes with Lizzie and the confrontations in the end were all new and different from the novel. Reileen, in fact, was never even mentioned in the books—it was all for the TV series. The first season was pure, classic film noir cyberpunk.

Season 2 has none of the bloat or over-dramatic scenes from the first season. It’s all very tight, self-contained narrative with a decent plot and pacing. But barring a few exceptions, nothing really shocks the viewer in this season.

Overall Verdict: 7.5/10

Although a fun and interesting season, after the first couple episodes the season started losing a lot of the Cyberpunk visuals that help make it great. There were no flying cars, or mega-cities, and there were less neon lights as the series moved inside and then into the trees outside. Its excessive violence and gore is toned down, which is great, but so is everything else—less sexuality and greater focus on family, which feels like a more PG-13 kind of season. Nonetheless, the action’s pacing, exciting plot and solid acting performances create an all-around great second season that is well worth watching.