The Man in the High Castle

   I can almost hear you now, saying,
            “The Man in the High Castle? That’s old news! Two years ago, at least.”
Well, yes, the wonderful TV series (still available on Amazon Prime for free) finished in November 2019. But that’s not what I’m here to discuss today. Did you know that the series was based on a novel by the famous science fiction writer Philip K Dick? Or that his book was originally published way back in 1962?
           “Philip K Dick?” you ask. “Who’s that?” Many people today sadly have no idea who this famous author was, but most science fiction aficionados would no doubt be familiar with his works. (Picture: Google images)

Philip K Dick was born in 1928, and sadly passed away in 1982. Interesting numbers those. A bit like how George Orwell wrote 1984 in 1948. Anyway, before Philip K Dick died at the young age of 53, he wrote 44 novels, some of which you may have heard of, apart from The Man in the High Castle. ‘A Scanner Darkly’ might ring a few bells. More importantly, he wrote 121 short stories, many of which became extremely popular movies. These are the kinds of movies you would definitely remember, if you like watching movies. (Picture: Google images)

Let’s begin with Blade Runner, the famous 80’s sci-fi movie starring Harrison Ford and Rutger Hauer. It was based on the author’s novel (in this case), “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” Tragically, four months before the release of the film, Philip K Dick died from a stroke. However, he was invited by the film’s director, Ridley Scott, to see some of the early footage during the making of the movie on set, and gave it his enthusiastic approval. He told Scott that the futuristic Los Angeles was exactly as he had imagined it.
(Pictures: Google images)

Three more movies, based on his short stories, were released in the 90’s. Two of them struck box office gold: Total Recall with Arnold Schwarzenegger (based on the book 'We Can Remember It For You Wholesale'), and Screamers starring Paul Weller (based on the story 'Second Variety'). The third movie was titled, Confessions d’un Barjo. I must admit, I’m not familiar with this last French film, later released in English simply as Barjo. It was based on a short story with a funny name, “Confessions of a Crap Artist.” (Pictures: Google images)

See more below, including Minority Report, Paycheck, A Scanner Darkly, Next, and The Adjustment Bureau.

Following the success of these films, the tap was turned on at the turn of the 21st century. Minority Report, directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Cruise, was released in 2002, based on Dick’s short story of the same name. (Picture: Google images)
 
The same year Impostor hit cinema screens, and starred Gary Sinise, Madeleine Stowe and Vincent D’Onofrio. In 2003, John Woo directed Paycheck, starring Ben Affleck and based on the author’s short story of the same name. (Pictures: Google images)

Another of Philip K Dick’s novels was transferred to the silver screen in 2006, the well known A Scanner Darkly. Bizarrely, despite being filmed as a live-action motion picture, it was then animated over before being released. It starred Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder and Robert Downey Jnr.
 
Next, loosely based on Dick’s short story, “The Golden Man,” came out in 2007 and starred Nicholas Cage and Lee Tamahori. Radio Free Albemuth, another film I’m sorry to say I’m unfamiliar with, was released in 2010, based on the author’s short story of the same name. However, being a Matt Damon fan, I did catch The Adjustment Bureau when it was released the following year, which was loosely based on Philip K Dick’s short story, “Adjustment Team.”
(Pictures: Google images)

One of my favorite sci-fi flicks, Total Recall, based on the author’s short story, “We Can Remember It for You, Wholesale,” was re-released in 2012. No offense to Colin Farrell but I preferred the original with Arnold Schwarzenegger.
 
This next film, while not a remake, was a sequel to another favorite sci-fi film of mine, Blade Runner. Blade Runner 2049 impressed me, as sequels rarely do, but this movie starring Ryan Gosling and with Harrison Ford reprising his role from the original, was excellent. I did miss 80’s regular Rutger Hauer though.
 
The Terminator franchise, while not based directly on Philip K Dick’s books, did have a link nevertheless. The robotic killing machines, humanoid in design,  were also based on his story, “Second Variety.” (Pictures: Google images)

It wasn’t just movies that Philip K Dick’s works inspired, but also television and stage plays. There was the aforementioned 4-season TV series The Man in the High Castle, which I enjoyed immensely and was sad to see it come to an abrupt end in 2019. Around the same time, Minority Report was also turned into a TV series, but was canceled after just one season. And then Sony Pictures made and distributed a new TV series called Philip K Dick’s Electric Dreams. I haven’t seen either of these last two series, and so can’t report much about them. (Pictures: Google images)

The first of four stage plays based on books by Philip K Dick emerged in the early 80’s, Radio Free Albemuth. Following this, Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said, premiered as a stage play in 1985 in Boston, and then later in New York and Chicago. In 1999, further productions appeared in Los Angeles and London. In 1987, VALIS premiered in Paris. It was later revised and readapted into English. Moving into the 21st Century, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? premiered as a stage production in Manhattan.
(Pictures: Google images)

Being a fan of Stephen King, especially his use of paranormal and sci-fi concepts in his early books, I imagine that Philip K Dick was one of his inspirations. Prominent literary critic Frederick Jameson was quoted as saying that Philip K Dick was “the Shakespeare of Science Fiction.” In addition to the movies and TV series listed above, other film makers were also influenced by the author, including the Wachowskis, who went onto make the Matrix franchise, David Cronenberg, Spike Jonze, Peter Weir (director of The Truman Show), Terry Gilliam, who made the suspenseful sci-fi movie, 12 Monkeys, Richard Kelly (creator of Donnie Darko, which I loved) and Christopher Nolan, especially with regard to his sci-fi movies.
 
Even musicians have been inspired by Philip K Dick, including Gary Numan, during his Tubeway Army years. Various references to Philip K Dick and/or his works appear in songs by artists such as The Weeknd, Trivium, Blind Guardian, Janelle Monae, Japancakes, Sonic Youth, Bloc Party, El-P, Hugh Cornwell, Liars, Levente, and Stuart Hamm, to name a few. (Pictures: Google images)

Californium, a video game developed in 2016, was created as a tribute to the author. Philip K Dick was also inducted in the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2005. He was also the recipient of many awards for his more famous works, including three Hugo Awards, numerous Nebular Awards, the British Science Fiction Association Award, among others. There is even a Philip K Dick Award for the best sci-fi paperback novels published in the United States.
 
So if you haven’t read the book, The Man in the High Castle, or seen the amazing TV series, I highly recommend that you do. Plus, also be sure to check out the author’s others works and movies based on his books and short stories. (Pictures below: Google images)

Have a great week, and best regards,

Chris