The next movie based on a Philip K. Dick story is to be called… “Next”. I haven’t read this story (or don’t remember it), about a mutant product of a radioactive war who is gold-colored, sexually irresistable, impossible to kill and a Threat To Humanity.
I wonder how the presumeably soon-to-be-released animated “A Scanner Darkly” is coming along. I loved the book when I first read it, long ago, but couldn’t get through it on a recent re-reading.
The odds don’t look good for “Next”. Movies based on Dick’s works have rarely been brilliant.
Blade Runner. Hardly anything at all like the book (“Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep”); but a great movie. I love the movie, love the book… It’s a decent retelling of some of the book’s themes. They cut out his humdrum domestic, pathetic home life and made Deckard far more of a heroic action figure. But it’s a good movie.
Total Recall, based on the short story “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale”. Almost entirely unlike the short story. The movie was okay. The original story was a one-trick pony, but I suppose that’s why it was a short story.
Screamers, based on “Second Variety”. Somewhat the same as the short story. They tried to flesh it out somewhat. The original story was creepy; the movie wasn’t that great. The themes, though, pop up again and again. The new Battlestar Galactica series has that as one of its main themes - done very well.
“Paycheck”. Ally and I saw the previews for this, and immediately thought it must be based on Dick’s story. It was, but it dumbed the story down and gave it more action hero gloss. The device in the story was a time scoop; let you take things from the past or future. Which made the final bit in the book a lot of fun. Since the movie just had a time VIEWER, the bit with all the objects no longer made any sense. Also: Isn’t it handy that time viewers, or any viewer (like Star Trek - infamous example), always focus on print newspaper headlines? You’d think sooner or later, they’ll go to websites… Movie stunk. Story was fun.
Minority Report - bears little relation to the short story. Excellent movie, but it is so far removed from the story that it’s impossible to compare them. I didn’t really like the story… when it was written, I saw a lot of similar stories in the SF literature. The spectre of crime prevention by some SF-nal means or other (mind reading, future viewing, what not) as a means of writing about the loss of privacy in the name of the public good was a mainstay of the 70s. Fat lot good it did, given today’s assaults on freedom in the name of safety.