The Color of Television

The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.

“–William Gibson”, Neuromancer [1] (1984)

I saw that it made the Top 100 Best First Lines from Novels [2] (link via Jason Kottke [3]) and it struck me that today's kids will get a vastly different feel from that opening line than I did when reading the book as a kid.

Why?

Because the color of television, tuned to a dead channel, has changed in the past twenty-two years. Twenty-two years, the color of television, tuned to a dead channel was:

The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.

“–William Gibson”, Neuromancer [4] (1984)

And the color of television, tuned to a dead channel, these days:

The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.

“–William Gibson”, Neuromancer [5] (1984)

I don't think Mr. Gibson envisioned a bright blue sky for the opening of his book.

=> [1] http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0441000681/conmanlaborat-20 | [2] http://www.litline.org/ABR/100bestfirstlines.html | [3] http://www.kottke.org/remainder/06/01/10341.html | [4] http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0441000681/conmanlaborat-20 | [5] http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0441000681/conmanlaborat-20

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