Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×
Movies Media Sci-Fi Entertainment

Philip K. Dick's "Flow My Tears" To Be Filmed 117

bowman9991 writes "Philip K. Dick's 1974 novel Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said is being adapted for the big screen. A tale of altered reality, drug use, and the meaning of identity, the novel tells the story of TV celebrity Jason Taverner, who wakes up one morning to find that his very existence has been wiped from everyone's memories. Halcyon, the company behind the upcoming Terminator Salvation movie, decided the novel would be the first adaptation under a rights agreement with Philip K. Dick's estate. Hollywood has certainly taken a shine to Dick's work: Blade Runner, Total Recall, Minority Report, A Scanner Darkly, Impostor, Screamers and Next have all been based on his short stories or novels. Ubik is in development too. In some cases, as with Ridley Scott's sci-fi classic Blade Runner, the adaptations are loose to say the least."
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Philip K. Dick's "Flow My Tears" To Be Filmed

Comments Filter:
  • Hollywood has certainly taken a shine to Dick's work: Blade Runner, Total Recall, Minority Report, A Scanner Darkly, Impostor, Screamers and Next have all been based on his short stories or novels.

    Don't forget Paycheck and Confessions d'un Barjo ("Confessions of a Crap Artist"). As a longtime Dick fan it humors me to see his works start to explode into movies post-2000. Adding to the truth that an artist is never appreciated until he/she is dead.

    The same producer (John Alan Simon) that made the purchase [philipkdick.com] of "Flow My Tears" also purchased the rights to "VALIS [wikipedia.org]" & "Radio Free Albemuth [wikipedia.org]." These last two books are strangely related to The Man in the High Castle [wikipedia.org] (kinda sequel-ish) and he may be thinking of merging the two stories into one movie?

    It's also worth mentioning that "Time Out of Joint [wikipedia.org]" rights have been purchased by Warner Bros.

    Unfortunately for me, these movies are not really my cup of tea. Total Recall was pretty good when I was 12 ... never going to rewatch that again though. I didn't even find Blade Runner that great and honestly haven't bothered to watch Minority Report, Next or Paycheck. I got Scanner Darkly but just because it was more independent than the others. I just have an opposite opinion from the get-all-excited-it's-gonna-be-great folks I guess.

    • I didn't even find Blade Runner that great and honestly haven't bothered to watch Minority Report, Next or Paycheck.

      HEATHEN! EVERYBODY, GET YOUR PITCHFORKS AND TORCHES!

      • I didn't even find Blade Runner that great and honestly haven't bothered to watch Minority Report, Next or Paycheck.

        HEATHEN! EVERYBODY, GET YOUR PITCHFORKS AND TORCHES!

        I'm right here waiting. I'm unarmed except for my imagination.

        Which is more valuable to me than MICHAEL BAY'S "SPLOSIONS" (based on Philip K. Dick's "The Man in the High Castle").

      • by McNihil ( 612243 )

        I definitely have my pliers and blow torch ready. Where is teh critter? I am really in a bug stomping mood right now.

        On a more serious side note: "I didn't even find Blade Runner that great..." should by default make his post "Super Flamebait"

        I guess one had to be living in the early 80ies to fully realize the Deal with the movie... but then again maybe it is about maturity too... I wonder how many of the younger crowd appreciates Citizen Kane and The Trial by Orson Welles?

        But then again I didn't "like" th

        • But then again I didn't "like" the Reboot of Star Trek... (it was entertaining BUT not too thought provoking) IMHO it should have been called "Star Trek Ultra Light"

          How many modern mainstream movies are thought provoking? Not many...

        • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

          by Blakey Rat ( 99501 )

          That's what I use to justify people not liking 2001: A Space Odyssey. "Oh, well, I guess he's just too immature to get it. Maybe in a few years..." I'll never accept that someone can simply dislike the film, damnit.

          • by Thing 1 ( 178996 )

            That's what I use to justify people not liking 2001: A Space Odyssey. "Oh, well, I guess he's just too immature to get it. Maybe in a few years..." I'll never accept that someone can simply dislike the film, damnit.

            Watch it a few times; it gets rather boring quickly.

            Other movies that I recalled fondly, then resolved to never, ever re-watch again (i.e., after the second viewing), were Contact and Heat.

            On the contrary, Pulp Fiction had a long walking scene where he's going to get his watch, but the music mad

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by pete-classic ( 75983 )

      You probably saw the theatrical version of Blade Runner. Give one of the director's cuts a look. The lack of studio-mandated voice-over certainly makes the film more moody and atmospheric.

      Minority Report was a decent movie, but wasn't based on the short-story beyond the kernel of the idea.

      Next and Paycheck were both pretty craptastic.

      -Peter

      • > The lack of studio-mandated voice-over certainly makes the film more moody and atmospheric.

        Give me a break. It leaves frustratingly long periods of blank looks while the actors sit there and stare at each other during the periods that formerly held the dialog.

        Maury

        • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

          by h4rm0ny ( 722443 )

          Give me a break. It leaves frustratingly long periods of blank looks while the actors sit there and stare at each other during the periods that formerly held the dialog.

          Ohhhhhh! That's what was going on. I got the recentish Blade Runner: Final Cut on Blu-Ray. I liked it, I thought it was good though the female characters looked ridiculously made up. But I didn't get the reason for some of the really long pauses. The interview between Deckard and his police superior, where they're looking at the pict

          • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

            by pete-classic ( 75983 )

            That's not, in fact, what was going on. The voice-over wasn't conceived until after the film was shot.

            Maybe we can assume that more breathing room was left in the scenes in the theatrical cut to allow for the after-the-fact voice-over, but I think Ridley Scott is an adequately skilled and conscientious director not to leave all that air in the scenes when he re-cut (or in the first cut, before the voice-over) if it wasn't for a purpose beyond the voice-over.

            Blade Runner certainly wasn't paced the same way

          • ... well I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it.

            Blade Runner. You don't want to give away any spoilers for Blade Runner. I'm not even going to touch the one about it coming out in 1982. Not going to ask you if know what site you posted that on, either... ;)

          • The female characters (one, in particular) looking ridiculously made up is also a hint.

        • by dave562 ( 969951 )
          I agree with you about the dialog. The first version of the movie that I saw was the director's cut when it was in the theaters sometime in the mid-90s. A few years after that I saw the original with the voice-overs and it made a lot more sense. After that I saw the director's cut again and appreciated it more.
      • by cblack ( 4342 )

        I thought Paycheck was ok, if a bit cheesy. Next was absolute crap though. I reread the story before seeing it and was trying to figure out how they would make it into a movie.

        • by smclean ( 521851 )

          Given the lack of similarity between Next and The Golden Man, I was very surprised that they credited Dick at all.

          If I'd seen that movie without knowing it was supposed to be based on The Golden Man, which I'd just read by coincidence a couple weeks before seeing Next, I'd never have even thought of it.

          • by jgrahn ( 181062 )

            Given the lack of similarity between Next and The Golden Man, I was very surprised that they credited Dick at all.

            I didn't know there was a movie based on that one. What a bummer that would have been, if any of the elements of the actual story made it to the movie. Just a bunch of depressed bureaucrats who know they're going to fail, complain loudly that they are going to fail, and eventually fail.

            What's next? A movie based on that one where Jesus materializes in a spaceship, and eats the protagonist's f

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Anenome ( 1250374 )

        I saw Blade Runner when I was young, with voiceovers. I actually prefer it that way. Nowadays it's nearly impossible to find the non-removed voiceover version from my childhood. There's nothing wrong with people liking different versions if you ask me. Personally, I prefer having more info rather than less, and the interior monologue worked for me. Similarly, I would hate to see a version of Dune with the voiceovers removed (thank god it doesn't exist). Dune used the VO's in a different way, as actual 1st p

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      Total Recall is still relatively good when watching it when you're older. Not many people I know who saw this movie recognized that at the end, you still don't know if it is the virtual vacation you are watching and if he needs to be lobotomized after this, or not; everything that happens in the story is exactly what he wanted from his vacation. With that in mind, the red pill scene is pretty interesting, where the rekall team tries to give him a way out without damaging his brain, but he chooses to remain

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by vidarh ( 309115 )
      You have to watch those movies under the assumption that they are not as much "adaptations" as they are "inspired by".

      I loved reading Minority Report and Paycheck, and I liked the movies too, but they only really have the overall "in your face" part of the story/idea in common with each other - PKD's subtext and deeper stuff largely gets ignored (which makes sense - it'd be a nightmare to try to make something faithful to PKD's vision without making it unwatchable). They look similar if you read a blurb a

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by wwphx ( 225607 )

      I'd have to agree with you about Bladerunner. I don't know how many times I've seen it, saw the super deluxe director's cut last year. The thing that grabs me about the movie, though, is the visuals. Scott did such an amazing job with the visuals that I'm blown away every time that I see it, and since he was able to show some of the early footage to Dick before he passed, that's double-plus good.

  • by gnarlyhotep ( 872433 ) on Friday May 15, 2009 @12:53PM (#27969063)

    In some cases, as with Ridley Scott's sci-fi classic Blade Runner, the adaptations are loose to say the least.

    Given the nature of most of Dick's work, a direct 1:1 film adaptation of his writing would be at best nonsensical. Adapting the theme of the work, and leaving leeway with the details is generally the best approach.

    Hell, even with other author's works it's the best approach. They are completely different media after all, and require completely different approaches to storytelling.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      I dunno, I thought A Scanner Darkly turned out pretty damn well(casting of Keanu and Winona not withstanding) and was the most direct translation of a PKD book to date in my estimation.

      • by Mister Whirly ( 964219 ) on Friday May 15, 2009 @01:11PM (#27969371) Homepage
        I have the same opinion. I hate Keanu and Ryder but love Robert Downey Jr, and thought the stuff between him and Woody Harrelson was priceless. They gave a much needed comic aspect to the pretty dark material. Overall I thought the film was done well, and stayed relatively faithful to the story - especially considering some of the other "adaptations" of his work on film.
        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          by mobby_6kl ( 668092 )

          I'm not a big fan of Keanu either, but his "Whoa, I don't know what the fuck is going on" talent works perfectly for the completely confused/high/mental Bob Arctor.

        • by Thing 1 ( 178996 )
          Yeah, some hilarious moments in "A Scanner Darkly", like: they got a great deal on an 18-speed bicycle, which upon analysis only has 3 gears in the front and 6 in the back -- that only adds up to 9 gears, so they got ripped off!
    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by gowen ( 141411 )

      I remember reading "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" after having seen Total Recall and ... well, I love PKD, and Total Recall is way more entertaining than WCRIFYW. "Flow My Tears..." is amongst my favourites, and probably among the more cinematic, but like Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, there's are all the druggy psychedelic passages that may not translate well.

      Of his classics, probably only Man In The High Castle and Radio Free Albemuth [the coherent Ubik] would be filmable. Lots of the schlo

      • by gowen ( 141411 )

        Radio Free Albemuth [the coherent Ubik] -- oops, I mean VALIS, of course.

      • by jgrahn ( 181062 )

        I remember reading "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" after having seen Total Recall and ... well, I love PKD, and Total Recall is way more entertaining than WCRIFYW.

        I disagree. Both are very cool, but in different ways. I read the short story when I was like thirteen, and I still remembered it when I picked up the short story collection twenty years later.

        "Flow My Tears..." is amongst my favourites, and probably among the more cinematic, but like Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, there's are all the

    • by goombah99 ( 560566 ) on Friday May 15, 2009 @01:08PM (#27969333)

      Blade runner I suspect was really a merger of the plot line of "do androids dream of electic sheep" with the thematic asian dominated backdrop of the man in the high castle.

      I regard blade runner as one of the few movies that is substantially better than the book ("androids dream" ) it is based on.

      Most of Philip Dicks' work seems to me to be wonderfully inspired plots and concepts that get at the nature of perception but executed with cardboard characters and loads of quirky descriptive artifacts. I note that for it's period, sci-fi in general tended to lack real characterization and larded in lots of gee-whiz artifcats. PKD endures because of those timeless themes and questions. Hence they make great sources for movies cause after you distill all the dated parts of his work, the stories really are pretty short and snappy.

      Also one other comment: could there be a better production company name than Halcyon given that the drug names that promotes the dream state.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by DeepHurtn! ( 773713 )
        I think the critique of Dick's characterization is off the mark; that just wasn't what he was *doing*. Dick wasn't writing a 19th century psychological novel; if you want that, go read someone Russian. But to attack Dick for his lack of characterization would be like doing so to Kafka or Pynchon. They're just not playing that genre.
        • by jgrahn ( 181062 )

          I think the critique of Dick's characterization is off the mark; that just wasn't what he was *doing*. Dick wasn't writing a 19th century psychological novel; if you want that, go read someone Russian. But to attack Dick for his lack of characterization would be like doing so to Kafka or Pynchon.

          And the same could be said about the grandparent's critique of 1950s--1960s SF in general. Not that they were all doing what Dick did, but there are things which need to be written about which are neither "real ch

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by northernboy ( 661897 )

      There are two rules for making a good movie.

      1. Find a good story.
      2. Tell it well.

      Philip K Dick is my favorite science fiction author. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (um, the source for the Blade Runner screenplay) is among his very best books. And I thought Blade Runner was amazing, even though they had to leave out far more of the book than they left in.

      In an aside to the audience on her Miles of Aisles live album, Joni Mitchell says to the audience, "Nobody ever said to Picasso, 'Paint A Starry N

    • Wholeheartedly agree with poster. I read "Sheep" and it came off like a Hunter S. Thompson work. Pretty bizarre. Blade Runner the movie script was much more suited to moviemaking, it eliminated a lot of the unnecessary detail and focused on the core elements of the story. By then it was barely recognizable, but that's a very good thing. I think this is the best way to adapt a lot of sci fi work.

      When you take books literally, you end up with Lord of the Rings, which is paced very slowly, and kind of

      • If you're referring to Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movies, they deviated from the books in a few major ways to make it more exciting and film-able.
      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by vidarh ( 309115 )
        Describing "Sheep" as "bizarre" is pretty funny, considering it's overall one of PKD novels that are most "mainstream". I don't agree with you that Blade Runner eliminated "unnecessary detail" - it fundamentally altered the story. Doesn't mean it's a bad movie, just not the same story.

        I want to see a "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" movie. You could make one with most of the mainstream audience not even realizing it had anything to do with Blade Runner.

        And if you take PKD books literally, you don't

        • by snuf23 ( 182335 )

          Even for one of Dick's "simple" stories they had to completely take out the religious element (Mercerism) and barely eluded to the almost total extinction of animals and the resulting psychological effects on people. If I recall correctly the replicants in the book were also generally not sympathetic characters but utterly cold and inhuman. The one exception I recall being the singer (opera star in the book/stripper in the movie).

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by MrHanky ( 141717 )

      Well, the main difference between Blade Runner and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep is the theme: one is mainly about man (or android) revolting against God (or death) in a godless universe, the other is about the authenticity of emotions and empathy in a modern society of drugs & media. The story is basically the same, though (apart from the film's more spectacular ending, of course).

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      Hell, even with other author's works it's the best approach. They are completely different media after all, and require completely different approaches to storytelling.

      I think this is a very good comment. A currently popular Sci Fi author is scheduled to have the first (to my knowledge) film made from one of his books in the next year or two. This author is not universally liked, so I'm not naming him so as to avoid starting an endless thread on his works. Anyway, he said that once you agree to sell the rights to a movie from something you wrote, you give up all rights to how the movie comes out. Maybe you get lucky and it turns out like Harry Potter or Lord Of The Ri

      • by smithmc ( 451373 ) *

        Solaris by Stanislaw Lem is a great example. The late great Andrei Tarkovksy directed a film based on this in the early 1970s in the USSR. Many people, including me, consider this film to be a classic, but Lem hated it.

        So did I. BOOOOO-RING. That ridiculous half-hour montage where Kelvin is being driven to meet with the council? What was that supposed to be, propaganda for great new clean beautiful Soviet Russian highway? Holy cow.

        The 2002 film starring George Clooney was a big failure and many hate it, but Lem himself loved it because he considered it to be true to his original story. Go figure.

        I loved it (well, I liked it a lot), not only because it was closer to the original story, but because it's simply a much better piece of film - better paced, much more beautiful (to be expected, I know), and 'cause Natascha MacElhone's in it. ;-)

        • by Coryoth ( 254751 )

          That ridiculous half-hour montage where Kelvin is being driven to meet with the council? What was that supposed to be, propaganda for great new clean beautiful Soviet Russian highway?

          Presumably not, since it was shot in Tokyo. I recall reading about how Tarkovsky battled to be allowed to do some filming in Japan, but, for one reason or another, most of the shooting done there couldn't be used and the extended highway scene is all that he could get from it all (and hence presumably was as long as it was because he wanted to use as much material as he could).

      • Good point but in regard to Lem and Tarkovsky you have to keep in mind that there has been a flame war going on between Polish and Russian writers for hundreds of years.

        See for example, Dostoevsky (whose every Polish character is a cheap swindler), or Nabokov (ditto) or Conrad (who wrote an entire book about how the Russian government sponsors terrorists, being careful to note that the Russians are really asiatic and not european people). I think Lem was simply bound by centuries old tradition to give Tarko

  • Roog! (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Roog

    • That one was awesome! It would be pretty psychedelic to film it without giving the actual point of view away. Done well (as animation perhaps?) it could really be good!

      • It'd be really cool to have it done as a short film leading in to the main feature, sort of like the 007 teasers. That way, when the proper film begins, the audiences' minds are already blown and in the mood.

    • by Mursk ( 928595 )
      Whoever marked this off-topic obviously doesn't know Dick.
    • or how about "The Short Happy Life of the Brown Oxford"?

  • Catchier title? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by jd2112 ( 1535857 )
    How about "Nowhere Man - The Motion Picture"
    • by HTH NE1 ( 675604 )

      How about "Nowhere Man - The Motion Picture"

      I thought about that too, but then was Nowhere Man really about a man who was erased or about a man whose own memories were fiction?

    • Wow, now that's a blast from the past. I used to love that show when I was a kid. Thanks for the reminder, added dvds to netflix.
  • by hal2814 ( 725639 ) on Friday May 15, 2009 @01:00PM (#27969179)

    I'm just waiting for the average moviegoer to start complaining about how these upcoming Dick movies ripped off ideas from films like the Matrix, Truman Show, The Net, etc.

    • I'm just waiting for the average moviegoer to start complaining about how these upcoming Dick movies ripped off ideas from films like the Matrix, Truman Show, The Net, etc.

      I was thinking similarly... just wait for the "in popular culture" references!

  • by Aladrin ( 926209 ) on Friday May 15, 2009 @01:07PM (#27969321)

    I think it's important to note why the adaptations are loose: PK Dick wrote short stories. Very, very good stories, but short. The main idea in the story is told in few words, but well.

    A movie also has an obligation to fill 90 minutes of screen time, at least. Some of the actual concepts can be described in under a minute. The rest of the time in the short story or movie is spent exploring the concept.

    PK Dick is definitely one of my top 5 favorite authors.

    • by cblack ( 4342 )

      Just to be clear, most of the movies that have been made from PKD's works are indeed based on his short stories, but that is far from all he wrote. A Scanner Darkly was a regular length book as is Flow My Tears.

      • by jgrahn ( 181062 )

        Just to be clear, most of the movies that have been made from PKD's works are indeed based on his short stories, but that is far from all he wrote. A Scanner Darkly was a regular length book as is Flow My Tears.

        Most of his later works were novels. He basically stopped writing short stories, because he got paid better to write novels (read: didn't have to physically starve).

    • Another reason the adaptations are loose: PK Dick was arguably insane.

      No, seriously, I don't know if it was from the drugs or what, but anyone that thinks we're living in ancient Greece and that our world is being projected onto our consciousness by benevolent aliens/gods has got to be at least a little bit crazy. Especially if that belief is based in large part on an incident where he helped a Black guy stranded on the side of the road; all because a similar story takes place in Acts in the bible.

    • I think it's important to note why the adaptations are loose: PK Dick wrote short stories. Very, very good stories, but short. The main idea in the story is told in few words, but well.

      I don't think that's it - I suspect that its easier to dream up a few subplots to pad a short out to feature length than it is to condense a full length novel into two hours without messing up the plot.

      Anyway - Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep was a full length novel, but Blade Runner was still a very loose adaptation of that. The book is so different from the film (and the message so totally different) that one doesn't really detract from the other.

      I think part of the success of the PKD-derived film

  • Hollywood has certainly taken a shine to Dick's work...

    ...ever since he died.

  • Adaptations of Philip K Dick books are notorious for being put in development hell. Scanner Darkly, IIRC, went through several attempted treatments before we got the rotoscoped version. And there's been attempts off and on to bring us Ubik on the big screen, though the last I heard of that was a few years ago and it was just being written.

    ...not to say that I'm not still cautiously excited!
    • Adaptations of Philip K Dick books are notorious for being put in development hell. Scanner Darkly, IIRC, went through several attempted treatments before we got the rotoscoped version. And there's been attempts off and on to bring us Ubik on the big screen, though the last I heard of that was a few years ago and it was just being written.

      Dick even wrote the screenplay [amazon.com] for Ubik himself - though it probably won't be used.

  • Alfred Bester (Score:1, Interesting)

    by zoomshorts ( 137587 )

    When will this author's works make it to the big
    screen? The Demolished Man was a masterpiece.

    Heinlein's, Stranger in a Strange Land ,would also rock.

    Slow down cowboy? WTF? It took me 60 seconds to write
    this post without using the word 'nigger'.

    What do you want?!?!?! Waits 2 minutes before submitting.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      Phillip K. Dick's works were weird and surreal.

      Alfred Bester's works were weird and hyper-real. You couldn't get away with hazy camerawork and plot elements that were forgivably nonsensical in a Bester film. You'd need to show how people can jaunt, you'd need to show small-craft space combat, and you'd need to show that glowing guy who shorts out robots near him. In other words, you can paper over many of the images in Dick's work, but with Bester you'd have to show them. And that would cost money. Dem

    • When will this author's works make it to the big screen? The Demolished Man was a masterpiece.

      The Stars My Destination, too. ("Tiger, Tiger" in the UK). Too complex for a big screen movie; possibly doable as an HBO miniseries.

    • by lanthar ( 962279 )
      Actually, The Stars My Destination (Tiger Tiger) has had the movie rights recently purchased. I'm frightened that it will almost certainly fail to live up to the book... but one can always hope for some goodness from it. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117940125.html?categoryid=13&cs=1 [variety.com](variety.com)

      http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0783588/ [imdb.com]Here's the imdb link but it's locked to Pro only... It used to say 2010... now it says 2012. Guess Jumper sort of messed up the jaunting storyline.

      According to t
    • by smithmc ( 451373 ) *

      Heinlein's, Stranger in a Strange Land ,would also rock.

      Yes, it would. Meanwhile, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress would rawwwwwwk. I can already picture the trailer in my head, ending with a grain vessel (filled with rocks) being launched off the catapult, pan the camera to a view of Earth, where an earlier launched vessel is exploding on Cheyenne Mountain...

  • re:"A tale of altered reality, drug use, and the meaning of identity"

    Which book of his WASN'T a tale of "altered reality, drug use, and the meaning of identity"? Seriously? Guy had as much variety as Mexican food.

    What's a burrito? A tortilla, meat, beans, cheese. What's a taco? A tortilla, meat, beans, cheese. What's an enchilada? A tortilla, meat, beans, cheese. What's a tostada? A tortilla, meat, beans, cheese.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by cblack ( 4342 )

      Most fiction and certainly most Sci-Fi can be considered about "altered reality" where something or someone that is not true/doesn't exist in our reality is described in a book. That is what makes it fiction.
      As for drug use and meaning of identity, I'd say most of his books DON'T have drug use as a major theme. Meaning of identity is fairly common though. Still, you come off as a hater. The idea of someone being tricked into helping a war effort he doesn't know exists is a pretty cool plot idea and he has m

  • Public domain shorts (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward

    How about one of the PKD shorts that are in the public domain. Project Gutenberg has four of them.

  • This sounds more like Twilight Zone episode material than a complete movie.

    My deepest regret is that PKD never got the benefit of this fame -- or that his estate simply sold out when he had held out.
    • Well, the tagline maybe but the book itself is much more complicated than that. The book is actually mostly about a totalitarian society and the way they keep control.

      PKD picked up on the hatred and fear that is always bubbling under the surface in US (and for that matter all other countries') politics and imagined a very possible totalitarian society that could grow out of it.

      You see the problem with the main character is not that much that nobody remembers him or knows of his existence, but that all recor

  • They should use Stings version of John Dowlands "Flow My Tears" for the soundtrack theme song

  • > In some cases, as with Ridley Scott's sci-fi classic Blade Runner, the adaptations are loose to say the least.

    You want loose? 'Next' was loose!

    EP

  • That idiot ruined "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" so badly he should be banned from ever doing broadcast TV or movie science fiction ever again.

  • The movie "Impostor" really never even gets mentioned, and it was pretty damned faithful to the original story. Dunno why certain movies, that are no less bad than the rest of Hollywood's ... um... output... get passed over in the Public Attention Lottery. (i.e. the film version of Vonnegut's "Breakfast of Champions"... all-star cast, fun performances, pretty close to original novel, and no press / attention whatsoever)
  • A tale of altered reality, drug use, and the meaning of identity, the novel tells the story of TV celebrity Jason Taverner, who wakes up one morning to find that his very existence has been wiped from everyone's memories

    With all due respect - I have to say that this plows what has become some very familiar ground.

  • by lawpoop ( 604919 ) on Friday May 15, 2009 @09:47PM (#27975285) Homepage Journal
    I like some of the movie adaptations of his work, but to me, his real life outshadows all the ideas presented in his work.

    Check out Robert Crumb's The Religious Experience of Phillip K. Dick [philipkdickfans.com]. Basically Dick began to have visions of a past life in ancient Rome as a crypto-Christian. These visions literally saved his son's life when he rushed him to the hospital. Turned out the boy had a hernia and would have been dead in hours. Other most interesting events, too.

    I heard a few years ago there was supposed to be such a film with Paul Giamatti as Dick, but you know how these things go. I think it might be merged with V.A.L.I.S.
  • for either Keanu or Will Smith to be busy that week.

I tell them to turn to the study of mathematics, for it is only there that they might escape the lusts of the flesh. -- Thomas Mann, "The Magic Mountain"

Working...