It's a little to early in its own timeline to be cyberpunk, I think.

For me, some future cybernetics and/or future dystopia are a must. So, the second lawnmower man movie? Johnny Nemonic? How bout motherfucking Akira and Bladerunner?!

See, I don't really think of blade runner or Akira as cyberpunk. Like, when I first read Snowcrash and Neuromancer I didn't really get the fact that they weren't living IN the Metaverse or what have you, but when I was able to make that distinction, I associated Cyberpunk with a disconnect from the real world around them, the "cyber" aspect being the computer or what have you. But blade runner and Akira's characters EXIST only in that real world.. I dunno. Still love those movies but to me they're not "cyberpunk.."

fine then; ghost in the shell.

anyhow, hackers just doesn't have that future-ish/dystopia-ish setting needed for cyberpunk...it's just set in regular, what was it, 90s los angeles?

>> That's funny, yesterday I was having a conversation with a person... who wanted to know what "Cyberpunk" is.

Was it one of the RLM guys? They've displayed a shocking level of ignorance about cyberpunk in the past.

>> anyhow, hackers just doesn't have that future-ish/dystopia-ish setting needed for cyberpunk

When Hackers came out, this WAS pretty future-ish.

Yeah! GitS is a closer example, maybe Lain or Paprika being even better ones (or Sword Art Online, although I haven't seen it)..

Yeah I always assumed Hackers took place in some 20XX alternate universe, mostly because of that "Wipeout" game they're playing and a few other things, but according to Wikipedia it takes place 7 years after Zero Cool gets busted in 1988, so that's '95! Looking on Wiki there's actually some other kind of cool things, like Matthew "I've been in nothing but Scooby Doo for the past 5 years" Lillard's character being named after the founder of 2600 Magazine and such.

I've had it sitting around on VHS for years now and never really felt like watching it, but maybe I will for old times' sake and learn a thing or two about hacking while I'm at it!

The core themes of cyberpunk are expensive, high-level technology becoming ubiquitous and invasive (usually in a physical sense) in a world where, socially, not much has changed for the better just because of the technology which is why, traditionally, true cyberpunk fiction is usually just old fashioned pulp crime stories taking place in a world heavily altered by the technological landscape. Generally the genre is defined less by it's obsession with shiny computers and technology (though it is important) and more with how technology encroaches on people's humanity, which is why themes like cybernetics and genetic engineering are attached to it so firmly.

Gibson's "Sprawl" stories are probably the most obvious examples of this being just basically Raymond Chandler-esque crime-stories with cybernetics and laser guns. Gibson himself infamously knew virtually nothing about computers or robotics or anything when he wrote the stuff; he just assumed what he was writing was just around the corner. But some (including me) would probably argue that cyberpunk goes way back in sci-fi literature.

Hackers doesn't really qualify, but Strange Days, which came out the same year, probably would.

i'll save you some time with sword art;

first couple episodes look promising, then it turns into a harem anime set in a fantasy video game...also the writer likes to put the main female characters into nearly-rape situations.

Classics of crap cyberpunk cinema include:

Johnny Mnemonic
Circuitry Man
Death Machine
Circuitry Man II

R.O.T.O.R.
Webmaster

Ah Strange Days! I loved that movie. I believe it was marketed as "FROM THE WIFE OF JAMES CAMERON (WHOEVER SHE IS), JAMES CAMERON PRESENTS.." it made Kathryn Bigelow's Oscar win for Hurt Locker over Cameron's shitty Avatar all the more sweet.

To be kinda fair, Cameron did write Strange days, but I have a feeling it would've been pretty shitty if he'd directed it, kind of like how Avatar could've been pretty cool with a different director who wasn't so full of himself. On that note, does Avatar count as cyberpunk in a weird way too?

Avatar's Earth might be a cyberpunk setting, the first movie is more a cyberpunk camping trip

JESUS CHRIST ZEST

Yes?

Wow dude, meeting Norm at a TayJays and high school with Matthew Lillard? All I've got was that I was the boss of the daughter of the guy who did Coven on which American Movie was based, and I guess the RLM guys.. Oh yeah I went to a party at the fat kid from The Sandlot's house too. We're both famous That guy!

All of my celebrity encounters have been musicians but nobody gives a shit about those.

Oh yeah I wasn't thinking about musicians.. I remember seeing John Doe playing a solo show one night and he was at the bar by himself and I was kind of drunk.. I looked a lot like John Doe in early X in my 20s so I sat next to him and told him I was his son and that I've finally tracked him down. He was genuinely convinced for about a minute or two before I dropped it. Really nice guy.