Today for #OnlySky (well, the first of two, I think - but coffee before I post the next), a TV review and some #SciFi talk.

Specifically, I look at The Peripheral: William Gibson's version, and the version presented by Amazon Prime in its freshly launched TV adaptation. Are you watching?

Sadly, a lot is lost in the choice to soften the class politics in Gibson's future thinking. ⬇️ When *will* we get better at bringing class into the equation?

#CoSoTV
https://onlysky.media/mclark/the-peripheral-plays-it-safe-with-william-gibsons-future-thinking/

@MLClark I mentioned in my podcast that I was getting the distinct feeling that people who were creating all these versions of classic literature clearly didn't actually like the originals very much or somehow felt they could be "improved" or made more palatable. I feel like The Peripheral is one of these victims. This idea that "this would be so great IF" when it comes to classics really bothers me and it wrecks things. There is an art to ruining something though ... and I can appreciate that.

@thewebrecluse "There is an art to ruining something, though ... and I can appreciate that."

Oh, that gave me a laugh - thank you. :) We live in an age of such artistry. I also think many don't really understand the originals - which isn't to suggest there's "One True Meaning" to anything: only, that some latch on to a single element of a given movie, book, series, song, etc., and forget that it belonged to a context. So, when they try to replicate it outside the context, it often doesn't work.

@MLClark "some latch on to a single element of a given movie, book, series, song, etc., and forget that it belonged to a context."

As usual M, you nail it eloquently and way better than I ever can manage.

I am finding that in reading these classic books for the first time, all the alt-versions we have come to know really tend to just center on ONE aspect of the story as if it existed in some vacuum and had nothing else to support it. Or rather that modern directors and writers WISH it did.