# Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams



## Cli-Fi (May 24, 2017)

This looks really, really good: 

‘Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams’: Mel Rodriguez & Vera Farmiga Join Sci-Fi Anthology Series

Bryan Cranston To Appear In ‘Electric Dreams: The World Of Philip K. Dick’ For Sony, Channel 4

Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams - Wikipedia


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## Vince W (May 24, 2017)

I'll be very interested to give this a look.


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## Cli-Fi (Aug 21, 2017)

First Trailer: Channel 4 (UK), Amazon Prime (US) and Stan (Australia).






NO release date set yet


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## Danny McG (Sep 12, 2017)

Ready for Sunday night
Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams - Wikipedia


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## nixie (Sep 12, 2017)

dannymcg said:


> Ready for Sunday night
> Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams - Wikipedia


Looking forward to this


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## Brian G Turner (Sep 12, 2017)

Cool - I didn't know about this at all.


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## johnnyjet (Sep 12, 2017)

Just heard about this myself!  Looking forward.


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## Biskit (Sep 12, 2017)

Caught the trailer for this at the end of a film today - already set and waiting.


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## Dave (Sep 12, 2017)

Thanks, this is the first I've heard about it too. Will certainly watch.


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## Danny McG (Sep 13, 2017)

Biskit said:


> Caught the trailer for this at the end of a film today - already set and waiting.



That's how I heard about it 
It doesn't seem to have been publicised very much - unless the weekend TV guides play it up big time


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## Kylara (Sep 13, 2017)

You've found a date? Brilliant. All I've been able tokwind for ages is 'coming soon'. 

Hoping for good things


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## Dave (Sep 13, 2017)

At 9pm Sunday but not listed anywhere on Channel 4's main page, as if they don't want to promote it. I searched and found this:
Philip K Dick's Electric Dreams premiere on Channel 4 - Channel 4 - 4viewers


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## Biskit (Sep 13, 2017)

dannymcg said:


> That's how I heard about it


And a minor miracle for us - programmes often sit on the hard-drive for months and by the time we see a trailer for something, it's long past.


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## Danny McG (Sep 18, 2017)

Drat and double drat! 
I forgot all about it being on.
Have to get it on catch up now - did anyone watch episode one? Review?


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## Dave (Sep 18, 2017)

*The Hoodmaker*

I was impressed on what was done with a TV budget. The background scenery, effects and costumes were quite detailed. I also liked that they didn't try to modernise it - so they used celluloid film on reels, drove old cars, and read books with linen bindings - this was a 1950's alternative future not a 2017 future. I imagine that not to do so would have meant altering the story too much (though it isn't a short story I remember reading.)

As for the story, I wouldn't want to spoil. You can easily get it on catch up. It concerns mutants with facial scars and telepathic powers who are demanding political freedoms. There is street violence and the government agents are using telepaths to 'read' suspects, and to pull out the ring leaders. Some wearing 'hoods' cannot be 'read.' They investigate these 'hoods' further and look for the enigmatic 'hoodmaker.'


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## Vince W (Sep 18, 2017)

The first episode of Electric Dreams aired last night.

It was quite good, but bears very little resemblance to the source material. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.


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## Dave (Sep 18, 2017)

I've merged the two threads, in case the posts order seems odd.


Vince W said:


> It was quite good, but bears very little resemblance to the source material.


What was the original story? I've read stacks of PKD anthologies but don't remember this story.


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## Vince W (Sep 18, 2017)

The original has the same title, _The Hood Make_r. You can find it in the anthology _Second Variety_.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1857988809/?tag=brite-21


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## Dave (Sep 18, 2017)

In the late 1980's I used to read the yellow covered, hard-back, Gollancz anthologies that were held by the public libraries. I must have read 50-100 stories but not that. He was certainly a prolific writer.


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## Kylara (Sep 18, 2017)

I thought it was good. 

I do feel the need to dig out my short story collection and re read the original though - felt a bit like my memory is off, which isn't usual, but it has been so long since I read the book it's in I'm not sure!


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## Rodders (Sep 18, 2017)

Alas, i'll have to wait for it to be released on Blu Ray. I caught an advert last night and i'm prety excited by it.


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## Dave (Sep 24, 2017)

Watching the second episode, *The Impossible Planet*. This is a very good series. It deserves more attention that it appears to be getting here.


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## Dave (Sep 24, 2017)

As with last week, not a story I'm familiar with. I think I might have read next week's though.


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## Cli-Fi (Sep 24, 2017)

Dave said:


> As with last week, not a story I'm familiar with. I think I might have read next week's though.



It's not on Amazon Prime in the US yet, so that's probably why. Time to do some UK IP masking?


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## Moonbat (Sep 25, 2017)

I felt the second episode was a bit naff, certainly not as good as the first episode.
Next week is Timothy Spall (looking quite thin) in 'the commuter' hopefully it'll pick up where episode 1 left off.


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## Montero (Sep 25, 2017)

Possible spoiler
Electric Dreams - noted how one of the uses of telepathy was for sexual fantasy and not in a nice way. First time in SF that I've seen that done. Sadly think that PKD had that right (assuming it was in the original PKD, if not then the screenplay writers) - as in if that could be done it would be done.


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## Vince W (Sep 25, 2017)

The second episode - *Impossible Planet* - was very well done. The cast was excellent and there were a couple of moments of real humour. It follows the original story more closely than the first episode, but the ending is significantly altered.

If you aren't watching this series yet, you really should be.


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## Ursa major (Sep 25, 2017)

Moonbat said:


> I felt the second episode was a bit naff, certainly not as good as the first episode.


Same here. And I was particularly unimpressed by the ending, which makes it all the more odd that:


Vince W said:


> the ending is significantly altered.


(Of course, I may have liked the original's ending even less....)


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## Dave (Sep 25, 2017)

I agree that the first episode was better, and also that the ending to the second episode was unimpressive, but I think there should always be this kind of show (like _The Twilight Zone_ and the _Outer Limits_ or even _The Tales of the Unexpected_) on TV, and so I feel it difficult to criticise one single episode too much until I have seen them all.


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## Vince W (Sep 25, 2017)

Ursa major said:


> (Of course, I may have liked the original's ending even less....)



The made the story more complicated that it needed to be. The original is rather simple for Dick, with very little in the way of double meaning. I think they tried to _Dick-it-up_ a bit more than absolutely necessary.


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## Kylara (Sep 25, 2017)

I got confused, so reread the original and was pleased to discover I was confused for good reason and was not remembering oddly. 

I love the ending to the short story, and it's a shame they changed it. 


I'm really hoping for one particular story, but I doubt it will be done. It's one of my favourites and so sneaky


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## Ursa major (Sep 25, 2017)

I've just noticed that there was a Grauniad article about the series in the _Science Fiction Book_ section (in addition to what was in the _TV & Radio_ section). A couple of quotes from the article:





> Ronald D Moore, the writer behind the _Battlestar Galactica_ reboot, has adapted PKD’s “Exhibit Piece” (retitled “Real Life”) for _Electric Dreams_, and he says: “Very little remains of this story in the show, but the heart, and perhaps more importantly the brains behind the episode originate in this tale.”





> [Philip K. Dick's] UK publisher Gollancz has republished the _Electric Dreams_ stories in an anthology with introductions by the writers who have brought them to TV. What stands out in almost all cases is that they’ve taken PKD’s central idea and built a narrative around it. This is typical: _Blade Runner_, _Total Recall_, _Minority Report _… they all have at their heart the original concept from the source material, but PKD adaptations that slavishly follow the text are rare. _The Man in the High Castle_ has already stretched to two seasons, far outstripping the original book.


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## Cli-Fi (Sep 25, 2017)

As I am sick, I just caught the first two episodes of this. Dare I say, better than Black Mirror? Sorry, U.K. Plus the intro is beautiful. Why aren't there more human looking robots as depicted in the intro???

I liked the first episode a lot better than the second. I think the second has been done way too many times and probably all instances of that were on Doctor Who. That and I didn't really get it. The android cooperating with them was fun, but the relationship between the old lady and the young guy was odd and made no sense. I thought they could have done a lot more with the concept, but I get that they were trying to go for the crappy con-artists angle. They could have been at least, good con-artists. 

The first episode reminded me of Almost Human but with teeps instead of robots. Cool concept, especially how nature created it's own hood.

It's not as shocking as black mirror is, and I don't think it's supposed to be. It's more subtle.


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## Fried Egg (Sep 26, 2017)

Only half way through the second episode and am enjoying them so far.

I wish people would stop comparing this series with Black Mirror, I don't know any reason too (other than the fact that they were both on Channel 4).


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## AlexH (Sep 26, 2017)

I enjoyed the first episode, and it looked great. The second episode looked great, but wasn't as good as the first. And some of it didn't make sense. 



Spoiler



For a start, one of the characters was supposed to be the more likeable of the two con-artists, but he just went along with Benedict Wong after initially flat out refusing. As they seemed to be making enough money for it to be life-changing, why wouldn't he even suggest to Benedict Wong (as a compromise) to actually go to Earth? There was a fair bit that didn't seem believable.



I guess the Black Mirror comparison comes from slightly dark sci-fi? Though Black Mirror easily edges the darkness so far.


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## Kylara (Sep 26, 2017)

Spoiler



in the short story it turns out that Emphor III actually is Earth...



I'm looking forward to the rest  

ETA: just found the list - looking especially forward to Autofac. THE MILK IS PIZZLED!
And to The Father-Thing


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## Dave (Sep 26, 2017)

Kylara said:


> Spoiler
> 
> 
> 
> in the short story it turns out that Emphor III actually is Earth...


I actually thought that would be the ending. It fitted criteria too closely not to be. It would have been a better ending too.


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## Ursa major (Sep 26, 2017)

Dave said:


> I actually thought that would be the ending.


Me too.


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## Cli-Fi (Sep 27, 2017)

AlexH said:


> I guess the Black Mirror comparison comes from slightly dark sci-fi? Though Black Mirror easily edges the darkness so far.





Fried Egg said:


> I wish people would stop comparing this series with Black Mirror, I don't know any reason too (other than the fact that they were both on Channel 4).



I compared it to Black Mirror because it's the only thing that is only remotely similar to it on TV at the moment, and being that there are not new episodes of Black Mirror yet, I am only looking forward to seeing this show more. In fact, I think it's slightly better than Black Mirror and takes itself more seriously. So consider that comparison a compliment.


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## Dave (Oct 1, 2017)

Certainly read something resembling *The Commuter* before. The idea is a fairly well worn concept though.


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## Ursa major (Oct 1, 2017)

But at least _The Commuter_, like _The Hood Make_r, was thought provoking -- in the sense that it positively invited the viewer to consider different perspectives -- which _The Impossible Planet_ simply wasn't (as it was barely two-dimensional).

In fact, though at the start I was worried it would be as flat as the second story, I rather enjoyed it (and that's in spite of not being Timothy Spall's biggest fan).


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## Cli-Fi (Oct 2, 2017)

Ursa major said:


> But at least _The Commuter_, like _The Hood Make_r, was thought provoking -- in the sense that it positively invited the viewer to consider different perspectives -- which _The Impossible Planet_ simply wasn't (as it was barely two-dimensional).
> 
> In fact, though at the start I was worried it would be as flat as the second story, I rather enjoyed it (and that's in spite of not being Timothy Spall's biggest fan).



Cool Story for Episode 3. It was a mixture of reverse Westworld and A Christmas Carol.


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## Lumens (Oct 2, 2017)

I am really enjoying this series! I see people compare it to Black Mirror, which I gave up watching in frustration. No comparison for me. 

ED is particularly well cast too. Pleasure to watch. The only thing I don't like is the intro music, which I find a little bit cliched.


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## Vince W (Oct 2, 2017)

*The Commuter* is certainly one of Dick's more supernatural type of stories, and this episode builds and expands on that. An okay episode, but not outstanding. Certainly my least favourite so far.


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## Fried Egg (Oct 3, 2017)

I really enjoyed 'The Commuter' and, although I know I've read the short story before, I can't remember it that well.

I can see why some wouldn't like it; the SF was non-existent. But personally I don't mind that, I like an engaging story that explores interesting themes.

I know this morning on my regular train commute I was tempted to attempt to open the doors between stations and jump out...


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## Vince W (Oct 9, 2017)

I liked *Crazy Diamonds*, but it's more of an homage to Dick than an actual adaptations of _Sales Pitch_. They got the pitch and feel of Dick right.


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## Dave (Oct 9, 2017)

Yes, I also liked this, but as you say, I'm sure I've read _Sales Pitch_ and none of these stories yet have been very recognisable from the original source material. Which is odd given that I saw an _Electric Dreams_ book in Waterstones on Saturday, that had all the ten original stories collected.


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## Mouse (Oct 11, 2017)

I've seen the first three now. I keep watching because I feel like I should like them. But just finding it all a bit meh.


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## Lumens (Oct 11, 2017)

They are low key, and with open endings. I like them, although they aren't ground breaking. The acting is good though, and that carries it for me. Worth watching in my opinion.


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## Ursa major (Oct 12, 2017)

It's just as well the most recent one was called _Crazy Diamond_, because a lot of it made no sense at all and so was more than hard to believe (even after takinbg on board a huge dose of suspension of disbelief).



Spoiler: mention of the plot



For instance, I can think of why (given what happened later) the role in the break-in played by Ed Morris (Buscemi's character) may not have been made public, but I can't see how Ed could know that it wouldn't: from his perspective, the likelihood would be that he'd be being interrogated as soon as the authorities could find him.



Oh, and why were the workers' houses on a crumbling cliff, while the criminals were nice and safe, miles away from the sea?


*Note*: I have not read the original story, and am assuming that, in terms of plot, the original either made far more sense or the plot holes were "satisfactorily" "explained" (quotes used, because we _are_ talking about PKD...).


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## Vince W (Oct 12, 2017)

Ursa major said:


> It's just as well the most recent one was called _Crazy Diamond_, because a lot of it made no sense at all and so was more than hard to believe (even after takinbg on board a huge dose of suspension of disbelief).
> 
> 
> 
> ...



There is about zero relation to the original story in Crazy Diamond. There is one very tiny reference to it.


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## Ursa major (Oct 12, 2017)

Vince W said:


> There is about zero relation to the original story in Crazy Diamond. There is one very tiny reference to it.


Thanks for the info.


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## Dave (Oct 15, 2017)

Was _Real Life_ based upon _We Can Remember it for you Wholesale_ or were there other similar stories? I can't believe the people on Twitter saying that it is too much like _Inception_. _Inception_? Seriously? Are they really all too young to have never seen _Total Recall?
_
The lesbian super-cop in the flying car was the fake reality. How can you have a future world with a flying car but you still can't get mobile phone reception?


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## Kylara (Oct 16, 2017)

Based on _Exhibit Piece _I think. Earlier shifting reality of his. Is a museum guy who goes through an exhibit and ends up in past/future - reader unsure if past dreaming of future or actually a guy travelling through time. Has two lives. More ambiguous ending than the _Real Life _one IIRC


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## nixie (Oct 16, 2017)

Up to episode three, so far Commuter has been my favourite. Impossible Planet was ok but I found myself zoning out at times.


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## Vince W (Oct 16, 2017)

Dave said:


> Was _Real Life_ based upon _We Can Remember it for you Wholesale_ or were there other similar stories? I can't believe the people on Twitter saying that it is too much like _Inception_. _Inception_? Seriously? Are they really all too young to have never seen _Total Recall?
> _
> The lesbian super-cop in the flying car was the fake reality. How can you have a future world with a flying car but you still can't get mobile phone reception?



I completely thought the same thing. It was closer to _Total Recall_ than it was to _Exhibit Piece_. But then Dick had a thing for stories where reality is a matter of perspective and choice.


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## Kylara (Oct 16, 2017)

I think it was closer than you'd think with the exhibit being replaced by the VR tech and the confusion about reality and not reality and does it matter. It was one of his first in that vein. 

I assume you're talking total recall the film rather than the short which is nothing like either the film or the electric dreams episode.


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## Vince W (Oct 16, 2017)

Yes the film, which is nothing like _We Can Remember It For You Wholesale._


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## Kylara (Oct 16, 2017)

It's my favourite short of his. Just so brilliant on so many levels. 

That and the phrase the milk is pizzled. Which will hopefully be gracing our screens soon!


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## Vince W (Oct 16, 2017)

It would be modernized to the milk is puh-fizzled fo shizzle.


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## Kylara (Oct 16, 2017)

I am going to be so disappointed and upset if they don't use the phrase. I'm trying so hard not to get excited about it, but I'm not doing so well haha! 

THE MILK IS PIZZLED


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## Ursa major (Oct 16, 2017)

I thought _Real Life_ was a cunningly disguised 



Spoiler



"perfect murder"


 story....


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## Cli-Fi (Oct 21, 2017)

Kylara said:


> It's my favourite short of his. Just so brilliant on so many levels.
> 
> That and the phrase the milk is pizzled. Which will hopefully be gracing our screens soon!



Do you think they replaced that phrase with it's fries not fingers?


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## Cli-Fi (Oct 21, 2017)

Dave said:


> Was _Real Life_ based upon _We Can Remember it for you Wholesale_ or were there other similar stories? I can't believe the people on Twitter saying that it is too much like _Inception_. _Inception_? Seriously? Are they really all too young to have never seen _Total Recall?
> _
> The lesbian super-cop in the flying car was the fake reality. How can you have a future world with a flying car but you still can't get mobile phone reception?



I don't know much about Phillip K. Dick, and I think I've read all one of his stories! But I didn't even think of Total Recall or even Inception actually. I'm taking these stories in for the first time. There really weren't many comparisons to be made from either. I've seen lots of stuff about mind-bending realities and none of them came to mind when I was watching Real Life. None of those movies really had the main question of the plot. Which life is real? This one was more low key but thought-provoking whereas Total Recall is more action packed nonsense. 

It's way more complex than any of those movies on a character side. On one end you have the lesbian cop who thinks she can't have this perfect life and wants to punish herself on "vacation." On the other hand you have a Billionaire who is bored with real life and is hurting due to the murder of his wife. 

Your theory makes sense but only if they didn't show the end scene. 



Spoiler



If they weren't watching a foggy video of Terrence Howard crying in a corner.


 They probably put that there on purpose to fool people, but still it doesn't make sense if the Lesbian Cop fantasy wasn't real.


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## Dave (Oct 21, 2017)

My last sentence was meant to be a joke rather than a theory.

PK Dick was a copius writer of short stories, but many are very similar. I agree that _Total Recall_ (only seen first film, though second is apparently an exact copy) is full of nonsense and action, but it is two hours long based upon a very short story. You could say the same for the majority of his films, as few of his books have been filmed -_ A Scanner Darkly, Radio Free Ablemuth - _I would say that an hour long TV show is a much better way to film his short stories.


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## Kylara (Oct 21, 2017)

The milk is pizzled is from a different short story that they are adapting later on in the series. 

The actual we can remember it for you wholesale that total recall is based on could easily be a film. Plenty of twists and existential crises!


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## Dave (Oct 22, 2017)

USA Grand Prix???

Why do they mess around with the scheduling of programmes that I actually want to watch, but never with Reality TV or Soaps. You'll see, next it will be moved to 1.30am, then to 2.30am, then it will miss two weeks and return on a totally different day of the week!

Edit: Channel 4 is pizzled!


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## Vince W (Oct 23, 2017)

Dave said:


> Edit: Channel 4 is pizzled!



Better fire up your mood organ.


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## Dave (Oct 29, 2017)

*Human Is* is my new favourite episode.


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## Ursa major (Oct 29, 2017)

Shame about the next episode being shown not next week...


...but in the new year....


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## Vince W (Oct 30, 2017)

*Human Is *was the best adaptation so far. Top acting and closest to the source material. I'm really looking forward to the next episode in... 2018. Drat.


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## Kylara (Oct 30, 2017)

Really good. Thoroughly enjoyed. 

But why is the milk is pizzled so far away! :'(


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## Ursa major (Oct 31, 2017)

Kylara said:


> But why is the milk is pizzled so far away


Because it's a pizzle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma...?


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## AlexH (Dec 1, 2017)

I wondered what had happened to this. I was a week behind, so stayed away from the thread in case of spoilers. I thought the second episode - Impossible Planet - was the weakest. I've enjoyed every other episode so far. If I had to pick a favourite or two, I'd say The Commuter and Human Is. I thought they all generated a good atmosphere.


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## REBerg (Jan 25, 2018)

I've watched the first two episodes. I liked "Autofac" more than "Real Life". I find blurring reality less intriguing than defining sentience.
I'm looking forward to the remaining eight episodes.


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## Ursa major (Feb 21, 2018)

The series returns to UK screens this coming Monday (the 26th) at 22:00, with an episode with the title, The Father Thing.


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## Lumens (Feb 21, 2018)

Great! 

And congrats on 20k (official) posts.


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## AlexH (Feb 21, 2018)

Ursa major said:


> The series returns to UK screens this coming Monday (the 26th) at 22:00, with an episode with the title, The Father Thing.


Thanks. I did wonder recently if I'd missed out on the second part, but I've been that busy I wasn't bothered. Hopefully I'll find the time as I did enjoy most of the first few episodes. But also I'm only up to series 3 of Breaking Bad and series 4 of Game of Thrones!


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## Dave (Feb 22, 2018)

AlexH said:


> Thanks. I did wonder recently if I'd missed out on the second part, but I've been that busy I wasn't bothered.


I knew I hadn't missed it, but I was going to ask here where it had gone to. I'm also too busy to keep up with all the TV available, but from my calculation there would only be four more episodes left to show?


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## Ursa major (Feb 22, 2018)

I _had_ been keeping an eye out for the programme's return, but this had tailed off.

The only reason I knew it was coming back was because I happened to hear its return being announced on Channel Four during an advert break.


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## Vince W (Feb 22, 2018)

Coming back later than I thought, but great news.


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## Dave (Feb 24, 2018)

I see it is at 10pm on a Monday now, rather than 9pm on a Sunday. Still, it could be worse. Usually, science fiction is shifted to 2am on a Thursday, and with recording and catch up TV you can watch it anytime. It does beg the question though, that if it wasn't getting the audience figures, why stop it for 2 months. Nothing is more certain to kill off a programme than messing around with the schedule.


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## AlexH (Feb 24, 2018)

Dave said:


> I see it is at 10pm on a Monday now, rather than 9pm on a Sunday. Still, it could be worse. Usually, science fiction is shifted to 2am on a Thursday, and with recording and catch up TV you can watch it anytime. It does beg the question though, that if it wasn't getting the audience figures, why stop it for 2 months. Nothing is more certain to kill off a programme than messing around with the schedule.


That's what I was thinking. It got to the stage where  I forgot to look out for it, and now I'm not so bothered it's returning and have to get invested in it again.


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## Dave (Feb 27, 2018)

Channel 4 have also scheduled it against _The X-Files _on Channel 5! 

Anyway, watched this and recorded the other. I have read this story before - _The Father Thing_. Also, it is incredibly similar to the film _Invaders from Mars_, a film which scared the **** out of me as a child. 

I've read next week's, _Autofax_, before too. it seems like they are keeping some of the best for last.


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## J Riff (Feb 27, 2018)

Yes, Invaders from Mars was definitley scary on 60s TV. The music when people walked out to the sand pit and just fell out of sight, bad dad with the scar, the brain in the bubble.  Brrr. *


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## Kylara (Feb 27, 2018)

Autofac is what I've been waiting for THE MILK IS PIZZLED

I thought this one was interesting, bit different to the short, but just modernised it a bit and I enjoyed it, and the homages to all the body snatcher stories of the era.


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## Vince W (Mar 4, 2018)

Just watched The Father Thing. It's not one of Dick's best stories. This adaptation was pretty faithful really, but like the story it's based on it was pretty dull.


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## Kylara (Mar 6, 2018)

Oh yes AUTOFAC
I had PIZZLED, I had two fabulous female leads. I thoroughly enjoyed it. And a brilliant soundtrack. Beautiful CGI on the robot brain too.


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## Vince W (Mar 11, 2018)

Autofac, what happens when Amazon becomes the only source of goods in the world and is allowed to run amok with no restraints. Makes you rethink that Prime membership.

Once more the adaptation is greatly altered from its source. Still, it was an enjoyable episode for what it was, and it did manage to touch on Dick's favourite themes on the nature of reality and identity. The ending was too happy for Dick's taste though.


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## Kylara (Mar 12, 2018)

Yes, it definitely wasn't the Autofac I was hoping for, but it was good on its own merit. And I agree it dealt with reality/identity in a way I think Dick would have liked. 

I much prefer the ending of the short story though! Tiny factory eggs!


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## Kylara (Mar 14, 2018)

Well this one was interesting. I can't decide if it's good or not. It veered heavily away from the source story - I was intrigued when I saw they had chosen _Foster, you're dead_ and this was not what I expected. It felt a little bit like they'd brought elements from _we can remember it for you wholesale_ and _minority report_. With the plot, but I was somewhat astounded by the MC's stupidity/gullibility, especially considering her mother's vibe. 
Like I said I can't decide whether I liked it or not, or whether Dick would be impressed (as I'm sure he would have been by Bryan Cranston's episode!), or if I'm disappointed they didn't follow the short more and focus on the consumerist aspect rather than the faux war scenario...


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## Ursa major (Mar 14, 2018)

There were two things I really didn't really like about "Safe and Sound". Unfortunately, these are about the last couple of parts of the show, so I'll have to put them inside a spoiler tag.


Spoiler: Comments on the last two sections of 'Safe and Sound'



A. Scene where Foster gives a speech

I thought that there was an enormous leap from the paranoid Foster being ruthlessly driven down the rabbit hole by Ethan to the Foster who got to make a speech. There is nothing to explain why she has changed so much (more of which later).
There seems to be no sense (in terms of the story, as opposed to the story telling) in putting someone who has been pushed to, if not over, the edge in front of an audience. Even if they could explain her odd musings as a "result of her mother's indoctrination", that still provides a distraction. And what was the upside? To put a human face to the story? Did that really need a personal appearance? In a society where reality is more created than experienced directly, why didn't they show a recording of her giving a speech? She wasn't there to answer questions.
B. Flashbacks to Ethan

Did we really need to be spoonfed what was happening at the other end of Foster's communications with Ethan? Wasn't it pretty obvious what was happening long before the main story reached its _dénouement_. The only thing it added was showing that Ethan had, for a few brief seconds, something of a conscience. So what? Does anyone care about that? Are we meant to feel sorry for Ethan? I still didn't after seeing that.

Once they had included the scene where Foster got to make a speech (which wasn't needed), it might have been an idea not to tell us what we could already have guessed (see B(1) above), but how they turned the paranoid child they'd created into the self-assured, but still obviously damaged, Foster. (And if they couldn't do it in the time available? Then don't show a live version of Foster.)


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## Dave (Mar 14, 2018)

Yes, I agree with @Ursa major - especially about B1. I also found it quite odd that they thought it was felt necessary to explain this us. 

I've also just binge watched the four seasons of *Black Mirror *which does a much better job of these 'kind' of stories.


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## Kylara (Mar 14, 2018)

I felt the whole thing wavered and fell off the knife edge of believability. I too disliked the final scenes. I was, until that point, thinking maybe it would be a reader/watcher aware of that which the character is not sort of thing but then that totally got trashed and all assumptions of intelligence in the audience vanished. 

Thinking back on it now, I really wish they'd focused on the consumerist aspects of the short story. 

It was a disappointing one.


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## Vince W (Mar 18, 2018)

Just watched Safe and Sound and I wonder where they got that from the original story. While Maura Tierney is completely believable as an angry, alcoholic pseudo-activist the rest of the story was a wash. They seemed to be focusing (again) on Dick's paranoia and questions on reality. It didn't bring anything new to the story or the series. A filler episode to make up numbers to be sure.

@Ursa major hits it spot on, those scenes were pointless and a little insulting to the viewer to think they needed to be told what 'happened'.


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## Dave (Mar 19, 2018)

I thought that final episode _K.A.O._ was the worst of the series. Just a re-tread of old SF ideas. Some of them very old. 

In any case, a society needs free-thinkers. It cannot exist if everyone is a drone. Removing all the _Others _would be a recipe for its demise. I quite liked the idea in the book, _This Perfect Day_, that those very people who escaped the system, and attacked the supercomputer that now ran the world, were the people who were hired as programmers to administer it.


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## Ursa major (Mar 20, 2018)

Dave said:


> I thought that final episode _K.A.O._ was the worst of the series.


It was definitely quite poor.  Well, very poor.

While I had my complaints against last week's episode, I thought the main part of it was rather good in its depiction of a newcomer (a fish out of water introduced into a manipulative society where the usual social pressures to conform are even stronger than we have in our parts of the world) being played to achieve a specific goal.

This week's effort was all over the place. In terms of the story itself.... Some of the time, it seemed to be playing with the idea that the main character was being singled out** in terms of what messages he saw. But given that he was not the first to act on those messages, that didn't seem to be the case.  (Unlike with last week's plot, I would have liked this to be at least partially explained, because it wasn't at all clear.)

The world being depicted didn't make a lot of sense. People drive around in old cars when free new ones are available...? Yeah, right....  If there are a handful of "token" workers, what is everyone else doing? How do they pay for all the stuff being agressively advertised in every room of their homes? A few hints might have been helpful (or, if they were there, made a bit more obvious).

I daresay there might have been the germ of an intriguing idea in there somewhere (perhaps it's in the PKD original, but I haven't read that, so don't know), but if it existed, it was buried under so much dross that I expect it died early on in the production.


** - So it was like last week's episode, but in a completely different situation. In last week's episode, there was a reason the target was selected... and only when the target put themselves on the radar. This week, was there anything special at all about the target? Was his reaction to irritating adverts stronger than anyone else's. (Answer: only if the rest of the population of MexUsCan is drugged with sedatives.) I could imagine that a scenario where the MC was aware of subliminal messages when others were not might have worked (if we'd be shown that this was the case).  But enormous billboards with people (real or otherwise) hanging off them with a noose around their necks is not exactly my idea of subliminal messaging.


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## Kylara (Mar 22, 2018)

I was so sad. The Hanging Man, whilst not a favourite is quite clever and very well written. Succinct even for Dick. Here is a link to the store on Gutenberg - well worth a read The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Hanging Stranger, by Philip K. Dick.

This could have been so good! But it really wasn't. Like ursa said the world wasn't fleshed out, the purposef people wasn't clear, the adverts which seemed so important in the first few minutes quickly vanished... Bit of a mess really.

The whole concept of bait and mind control and the two layers of failure of Loyce in the short were completely missed. It was just a mash up of old tropes that was quite lazily put together.

@Ursa major in the short there is a very good reason why the MC notices things are weird. And who the other people are who notice. And the reason is very good. It could have been something very special.


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## Vince W (Mar 24, 2018)

A dreadful ending to the series. Simply a terrible adaptation with very little in common with its source. It seems all you need to be an 'other' is not be a supra-consumer in a poorly thought out Orwellian North America. Yet why the need for this consumption? No one ever says.

I think it's safe to conclude there will not be another series.


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## Al Jackson (Jul 31, 2018)

Watched this . How strange! Every story was from an SF zine and all were published before 1956!
It was ok, better if this had been done in 1965! 
The best story they did , Dick's Autofac, they radically changed, it was not happy with that one.


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## BigBadBob141 (Nov 2, 2018)

I saw the first one "Impossible Planet", I read the story years ago, fairly good with a twist at the end.
I'm sorry to say the TV version was pretty rubbish, nothing like the story!!!
Saw one of two others, all pretty c**p.
Didn't bother with the rest.
The trouble with doing SF stories on TV, it's usually done by people who know nothing about it.
So they usually make a muck up like this lot!


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## SilentRoamer (Nov 2, 2018)

I thought some of the Electric Dreams were great and it was really nice to see some serial style standalone SF.

I liked the one with the lesbian future cop, the one with Bryan Cranston and the milk is pizzled. There were a few episodes I didn't like - Impossible Planet was probably my least favourite.


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## AlexH (Nov 2, 2018)

I enjoyed most of the first half of the series, but it took a break for a few months and I didn't resume watching.


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## Al Jackson (Nov 2, 2018)

AlexH said:


> I enjoyed most of the first half of the series, but it took a break for a few months and I didn't resume watching.



I was all a bit bizarre , I am familiar with Dick and these are not the best short stories that Dick wrote, but they are good. They sure diddled with them …. especially the best one Autofac…. reworked to make it more like someone's idea of what a Dick story was to be like, it sure is not the one on the page.
I kind of think this series will be a one-off.


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## Dave (Nov 2, 2018)

IIRC the directors of each episode chose the PKD story they wanted to do themselves and then were free to interpret it anyway they wanted. I think that explains the weird choice and the messing about with the stories. Like it or not, that was the whole idea behind the series.


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## Vince W (Nov 2, 2018)

None of the episodes of Electric Dreams were 100% accurate to Dick's stories, but a most were at least in the spirit of his writing. Some did better jobs than others. The best was probably _Autofac_, but the worst for me was _The Father Thing. _I knew by the third episode, though, that there wouldn't be a second series.


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## BigBadBob141 (Nov 4, 2018)

I watched the second one, about the man who kept getting off a train at a strange town.
I found it so thrilling, that it was some hours later I regained consciouness!
Some time ago I got a couple of boxsets called I think "Masters Of Horror".
Pretty good alround!
Then I got "Masters Of Science Fiction".
Same as the P K Dick  lot, episodes based on stories by vary authors.
The whole lot can be summed up in one word, rubbish!!!


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## Guttersnipe (Aug 25, 2020)

I just started watching this series and think it's amazing. Writing aside, the intro is wonderfully surreal and the cinematography in each episode is breathtaking. So far I've seen "The Commuter," "The Father Thing," and "Kill All Others." Reverse the order: this is my ranking of them from best to least pleasing. Having not read "The Commuter," I had no expectations and wasn't disappointed. It reminded me slightly of something Rod Serling might write. "The Father Thing" was a welcome expansion on the source material and I found myself silently cheering all along. "Kill All Others," while bearing little resemblance to "The Hanging Stranger," gave me such discomfort and angst that I really think the master of paranoid fiction would approve. I intend to complete viewing of the other episodes soon.

I'm genuinely surprised at all the criticism but I understand die-hard fans can be hard to please.


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## Vince W (Aug 26, 2020)

My critisms were generally with how closely the adaptations were to the source material. The acting is quite solid throughout the series but the biggest problem is it doesn't appeal to the casual viewer. It is very much a niche series which is why we didn't get a second outing.


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## AlexH (Aug 26, 2020)

AlexH said:


> I enjoyed most of the first half of the series, but it took a break for a few months and I didn't resume watching.


Hmmm. Maybe it's time to catch up. Based on IMDB ratings, some of the best episodes are in the second half.


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## Don (Nov 17, 2020)

OK, I'm a couple of _years_ late to the party. Be that as it may, allow me to contribute my own two cents:

A 2017 TV series entitled Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams recently came to my attention. It's a collection, an adaptation of ten, less than novel length, stories.

An intriguing aspect of the TV series is the age of the stories selected for adaptation. PKD wrote all of the stories during the 1950s, close to the start of his career as an author. As such, all ten stories are apparently now in the public domain.

Readers can utilize archive.org links, found near the bottom of this webpage, to read the pertinent source stories. Three stories are found in archive.org's online copy of The Philip K Dick Reader.

Caveat: sometimes archive.org's Reader link works "as is," while at other times (when someone else simultaneously accesses it first?) it insists upon either a one hour or a fourteen day reservation. Presumably archive.org aspires to become an online digital library.

Although most links (except an audio adaptation of "Sales Pitch") present stories in "2-up," two page format, there's two types of 2-up links. The first type's known as a "2-up with details," and it shows a story along with other formats available for download. The second type's called a "full 2-up" and it shows only the story.

Happy reading to all PKD fans!

_(excerpt, more available at the link)_

"Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams: Story Links by Don Kuenz


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## Ursa major (Nov 17, 2020)

Don said:


> As such, all ten stories are apparently now in the public domain.


That may be true where you live, but that isn't necessarily true elsewhere: some jurisdictions apply a 70 period after the death of the author, and PKD didn't die until 1982.


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## Vince W (Nov 17, 2020)

No need to waste time with the dodgy archive.org either. All the stories from the series are available in a single collection.

Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams: Volume 1: The stories which inspired the hit Channel 4 series eBook: Dick, Philip K.: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store


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## Don (Nov 18, 2020)

One of my eccentricities is a passion to read stories in their original context. Additional context enigmatically promotes vicarious, literary pseudo-time travel, which somehow adds an extra dimension to the story. When a story's originally published in an old magazine, I want to read it in the old magazine. For instance, the original short stories of Asimov's _Foundation_ feel more authentic when read  from old 1940s _Astounding_ magazines.

The original pulp copy is procured whenever possible because nothing beats it in regards to pseudo-time travel. It contains far more _historicity, _so to speak.

There's also a place for ebooks in my world. They're invaluable when looking up the correct spelling of _historicity_, for example. Searching through an ebook for the spelling feels more authentic than _just googling it_.


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## Rodders (Nov 18, 2020)

So many of his stories have been filmed. PKD was the best short story writer in my opinion. I have read his five volume collection and while there are some duds, the quality of the stories is very high. 

I haven't yet seen Electric Dreams, but I am on Amazon Prime now, so I need to try and watch this.


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## Rodders (Jan 12, 2022)

Bumping this as I started watching last night with "Real Life". 

An impressive cast and a somewhat bleak (very PKD ending). I have to confess to being a bit non-plussed by this episode.


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## Rodders (Jan 14, 2022)

Just finished the series and i have to confess that i am a little underwhelmed by Electric Dreams and actually found it quite boring. A very sub-par series considering the talent involved.


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## paranoid marvin (Jan 16, 2022)

It felt like an attempt to do an alternative to Black Mirror, but the drama us far too 'gentle' and lacks the biting satire to compare with that series. It just isn't compelling viewing in a way that it ought or intended to be.

'Underwhelmed' is probably the most accurate description. It's not bad tv, it's just not particularly interesting viewing.


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