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CYBERPUNK: Origins, Evolution, Decline and Rebirth
🕑 Added 2019-06-01 19:29:46 +0000 UTCHello everyone,
I'm planning on recording a vlog for you all in the next few days, but in the meantime, I wanted to share with you my plans for my upcoming "cyberpunk" documentary!
First of all, I think I will do this as sort of a mini-series, broken up into parts (likely 15-25 minutes each I reckon), as tackling another feature-length video seems daunting to me at the moment. I have been working with a friend as a co-writer, fellow YouTube creator (Shalashaskka) -- who has helped me research and structure the video, so I think this will make a lot of sense.
Plans could obviously change, but so far, I am planning to make the following episodes...
Part 1 - CYBERPUNK: Origins
A look at the origination of cybernetics, cyberpunk, cyberspace and how all of these sorts of concepts came to be, out of the ashes of World War II. A lot of it originated in the 60's and 70's, but this first video will primarily be about the very first cyberpunk books, movies and anime coming out of the 1980's, and the art and social movements that inspired them. Most notably, Neuromancer, Blade Runner, Akira and the Shadowrun tabletop game.
Part 2 - CYBERPUNK: Evolution
In part 2, we look at probably the densest decade in cyberpunk's history -- the 1990s. From Shadowrun video games, Johnny Mnemonic, Ghost in the Shell, The Matrix, and countless other media both popular and obscure. This was an exciting time for cyberpunk, but it also led to the genre getting mixed in with "mainstream" culture and getting watered down with the likes of Hackers and other "so-bad-it's-good" titles.
Part 3 - CYBERPUNK: Decline
The 2000's started strong with legendary titles like Deus Ex, but cyberpunk media became quickly scarce. Films like Minority Report saw a distinct change in flavor and style, brightly lit, daytime sci-fi, rather than the gritty streets of Megacity 1 in Judge Dredd or Los Angeles 2019 in Blade Runner. There were a few standout media during this time, but it seemed like the genre had suffered a slow death, following the tech bubble in the early 2000's.
Part 4 - CYBERPUNK: Rebirth
The 2010's brought a surprise return to form for cyberpunk, from the ultraviolent Dredd, to the visually-visceral Altered Carbon, a sequel to Blade Runner, a brilliant reboot of the Shadowrun video games, and many more titles. This started what seems to be a rebirth of the genre, much more technologically-advanced than the 80's and 90's, and in some cases achieving the same level of quality in terms of storytelling.
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I hope this gives you a good idea of what the series will cover and how it will be structured, and here is a list of media I plan to mention in the series. It's a ton (over 80 titles so far), but I think it will be worth being thorough to cover the most famous parts of the genre, as well as its lesser-known names as well. I know there are dozens more Japanese movies and anime that fit this honor as well, which I am currently researching and adding to the list.
Let me know if you have any other ideas of games, movies, books or movies I may not know about, let me know in the comments! I hope you found this overview interesting, talk to you soon!
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Tentative List of Media:
- Métal Hurlant: The Long Tomorrow (1976)
- 2000 AD (1977)
- Akira (1982)
- Blade Runner (1982)
- Burning Chrome (1982)
- Neuromancer (1984)
- Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future (1985)
- Count Zero (1986)
- Mirrorshades (1986)
- RoboCop (1987)
- The Running Man (1987)
- Akira (1988)
- Cyberpunk 2020 (1988)
- Mona Lisa Overdrive (1988)
- Neuromancer (DOS/Amiga) (1988)
- Shadowrun (TRPG) (1988)
- Snatcher (1988)
- Circuit’s Edge (1990)
- Cyber City Oedo 808 (1990)
- Total Recall (1990)
- Freejack (1992)
- The Lawnmower Man (1992)
- Battle Angel Alita (1993)
- BloodNet (1993)
- Shadowrun (SNES) (1993)
- Syndicate (1993)
- Wild Palms (1993)
- Dreamweb (1994)
- Hell: A Cyberpunk Thriller (1994)
- Shadowrun (Genesis) (1994)
- System Shock (1994)
- Armitage III (1995)
- Ghost in the Shell (1995)
- Hackers (1995)
- I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream (1995)
- Johnny Mnemonic (1995)
- Judge Dredd (1995)
- Strange Days (1995)
- Virtuosity (1995)
- Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace (1996)
- Syndicate Wars (1996)
- Blade Runner (1997)
- Dark City (1998)
- eXistenZ (1999)
- New Rose Hotel (1999)
- System Shock 2 (1999)
- The Matrix (1999)
- Thirteenth Floor (1999)
- Total Recall 2070 (1999)
- Dark Angel (2000)
- Deus Ex (2000)
- Avalon (2001)
- Cypher (2002)
- Equilibrium (2002)
- Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (2002)
- Neocron (2002)
- Deus Ex: Invisible War (2003)
- The Matrix: Reloaded (2003)
- The Matrix: Revolutions (2003)
- Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (2004)
- Renaissance (2006)
- Shadowrun (2007)
- Babylon A.D. (2008)
- Deus Ex: Human Revolution (2011)
- Gemini Rue (2011)
- Binary Domain (2012)
- Cypher (2012)
- Dredd (2012)
- Looper (2012)
- Psycho-Pass (2012)
- Syndicate (2012)
- Total Recall (2012)
- Almost Human (2013)
- Shadowrun Returns (2013)
- Shadowrun: Dragonfall (2014)
- The Machine (2014)
- Shadowrun: Hong Kong (2015)
- Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (2016)
- Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
- Electric Dreams (2017)
- Ghost in the Shell (2017)
- >Observer_ (2017)
- Altered Carbon (2018)
- Upgrade (2018)
- Alita: Battle Angel (2019)
- Cyberpunk 2077
Comments
Indigo Gaming
That's a good one, I remember hearing that as a must-watch anime a while back, despite its silly name.
Jason Alvarez
Hmmm, only think I can think of adding to that already gargantuan list is the original Bubblegum Crisis. Though that's more to help show how influential Bladerunner was and less due to it's . . . artistic gravitas.
Ana Livingston Fine Artist
It's going to be great!
