Man in the High Castle - Amazon

Well....that is the conclusion of The Prestige novel and, while he doesn't generated ghost duplicates every time (only at the conclusion), he generates mindless duplicate bodies. So...probably not it but there is an interesting premise from Illium by Dan Simmons the teleported are destroyed ("killed") the person going through storing memories on a hard drive and then recreating the same body from a template of their body and then dumping the consciousness into it but, no, I don't recall ghost people u less it's an episode of Star Trek The Next Generation you're thinking of.

 

The second one is a possibility, I seem to only remember the early introduction in the story of what I described, but I do remember it getting kind of dark later in the story. It was a book, and I seem to think that the ghost people got together and figured something out that was of course sinister about the whole deal. It's not A LOT to go on but on the other hand there probably aren't too many books with that premise.

 

Maybe that is it, maybe the ghost scenario was projected in the mind of the original teleported person who was actually kidnapped then put into a UBIK type of scenario...

 

Sounds like a transporter accident!

 

"A visionary among the charlatans," as Stanislaw Lem called him. PKD from 1962-70 is without peer. He created his own world compelling world view, and pulled philosophy and metaphysics along for the ride. I was a big reader as a kid, but Dick was my gateway drug into literature. At his best, I think he was a very humane writer.

You may be right about the strokes, possibly brought on by his drug use.

 

Here is a scenario: McGovern wins in '72 altering history just enough which causes Ridley Scott to get the Dune film, David Lynch directs The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch and disco never happens (not necessarily in that order)... Lynch makes Blue Velvet but with Harry Dean Stanton as Frank.
Feel free to construct other changes / possibilities.

 

That sounds exactly like something the Doctor would say!

 

Yes, Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said was a great book. It's been a long time since I read all those novels. I do have a five-volume set of his short-stories, which I will grab when I need a quick fix of Dick.
I think Luc Besson's film, The Fifth Element, with Mila Jovovich, Bruce Willis, and Gary Oldman, is a homage to UBIK, not in the story line, but aspects of the art direction, mise en scéne, and wardrobe, to me, reflect a strong influence.

 

I have all the books. The Zap Gun (a favorite!) was the first I read, bought in Giannopolis bookstore in Addis Ababa when I was 12, and I love readking Philip K. Dick.

But. . . I just couldn't get into this Amazon series. Not very PKD-like to me, and just not that interesting. I tried four episodes. I keep saying I'll get back to it. . . but I haven't and probably won't. Meh.

 

Same here, I gave up after 2 episodes. I do have most of his books in one form or another.

 

Regarding season 2 - does anyone know if they plan to release all 10 episodes at once on December 16th? Or do they usually stretch out the release? I usually just sign up for Prime for one month out of the year to catch up on the few shows I watch.

 

They normally release everything at once. They did for the first season.

 

Season 2 hopefully will be an improvement over the 1st season, I still don't really like the changing of The Grasshopper Lies Heavy element from a book to a film. With a book people can get a copy of it and read, but a film consisting of many reels just seems awkward.

 

Good point, but a reel of film has more dramatic impact when used within a visual medium (TV, movie, etc.). It would be pretty boring as a viewer to see people reacting to static photos in a book. I don't think it would have been nearly as impactful as the clip we witnessed along with the characters' reactions.

I agree that if you make the decision to use reels of film as the vehicles for the drama, projectors had better be a dime a dozen in the world in which the characters live.

 

Season 2 is streaming

 

I'd been so busy last week, and tonight, I went to Amazon Video to look for something, and the Header at the top of the splash page was TMITHC Season 2.

So I selected it, and watched the first episode of Season 2.

I really should have watched the last episode of Season 1 and then launched into Season 2. I may still do that.

Without giving any of the plot away, we finally get to see TMITHC in the first episode of Season 2.

The hard thing about this series, is you have 5 story lines going at the same time.

No binge watching tonight.

 

Yeah, that sucks and is the biggest problem I have with GoT. I'd place an absolute maximum of three simultaneous story arcs in any season-wide narrative.

I haven't started watching yet, but I have read that some reviewers complain about a certain lack of focus, which no doubt relates to the scattered narrative. But at least I'll be able to binge it so that keeping all the details fresh will be easier.

 

That's what the book is like, though. Typical PKD.

 

yup....it's a snoozer.
Even Stephen Root can't save it!

 

Well... just watching Ep. 7
It's..... getting somewhere....

 

somewhere ........good?

 

.....well....
After watching the whole season....
I can honestly say.... Ep. 7 was THE BEST!
Only because of the talented DJ Qualls!
He and the owner of the antiques show go to the Yakuza, and... stuff goes down.
They play this awesome song called "Otemoyan" by Eric Chiemi...

It's almost 'Tarantino-esque'....
Other than that.... the resolve of the season was pretty tame.

 

Loved Season 1. Just finished Season 2 and loved that one even more (more emotional connection with some characters by this point, I suppose).

Most of the actors are terrific, too.

Never read the book.

 

Seen all of season 2 now. Overall I liked it. The season is at its best when it's propelling the central plot along. Unfortunately, that happens sporadically. There is way too much filler/padding scenes here, especially around the middle episodes. This could easily have been a tight 6 episode season if they trimmed all the fat, which pretty much includes most of Joe's scenes and his new girlfriend, the Yakuza sub-plot could go entirely as well as some of the Juliana NY domestic scenes.

But, even so, things really picked in the last few episodes which made for a decent conclusion. I really enjoyed all the Japanese character actors - they lend a great deal of heft in all their scenes.

Still, I don't know where the show can go now that we know how the films are made - by some people wishing(!) themselves into alternate realities and bringing back films from that reality. Why do we care about what happens in any particular reality when (certain) people have access to an infinite number of alternate realities where circumstances might be better?

 

Amazon has renewed the series for a third season.

Amazon Renews Man in the High Castle for a Third Season, Because People Are Really Craving a Fascist Alternate Universe Right Now »