Review: “The Preserving Machine and Other Stories” by Philip K. Dick – “Total Recall” by Paul Verhoeven (Arnold Schwarzenegger) – Len Wiseman (Colin Farrell)

PODCAST:

S2E12 – The Preserving Machine and Other Stories*

Listen to the podcast here (click to play/right click and select “save target as” to download):

WRITTEN BOOK REVIEWS:

Ryan: 3 Stars “…An early collection of short stories touching on cold-war era fears, and other weird pseudo-realities…”

Wilk: 3 Stars “…The movie Total Recall is superior in every way…”

Rick: 5 Stars “…This is a nicely packaged story packed with ideas that inspired two of the best Sci-fi films…”

(Click the links to read full written reviews on Goodreads.com)

SUBJECT MATTER:

Book:“The Preserving Machine and Other Stories” by Philip K. Dick

“Ace paperback original. 1976 printing with new cover art. Collection of stories including: The Preserving Machine [Dr. Rupert Labyrinth] (1953); War Game (1959); Upon the Dull Earth (1954); Roog (1953); War Veteran (1955); Top Stand-By Job [Jim Briskin] (1963); Beyond Lies the Wub (1952); We Can Remember It for You Wholesale (1966); Captive Market (1955); If There Were No Benny Cemoli (1963); Retreat Syndrome (1965); The Crawlers (1954); Oh, to Be a Blobel! (1964); What the Dead Men Say (1964); Pay for the Printer (1956).” (from Amazon.com)

*** * ***

Film:“Total Recall” by Paul Verhoeven (Arnold Schwarzenegger)

“Action star extraordinaire Arnold Schwarzenegger is Quaid, a 2084 construction worker haunted by dreams of Mars. Against the wishes of his wife (Sharon Stone), Quaid goes to a company that implants artificial memories, so he can “remember” visiting the red planet. However, Quaid is actually a secret agent from Mars – or is he?” (from Amazon.com)

*** * ***

Film:“Total Recall” by Len Wiseman (Colin Farrell)

“Total Recall is an action thriller about reality and memory, inspired anew by the famous short story “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale” by Philip K. Dick.” (from Amazon.com)

 

SHOW NOTES:

We discuss one of our favorite authors in one of our more contentious shows. The author bio may have gone a little over the approximate 10 minutes usually spent on bios but since Dick’s first bio with NDIOS was so light and reduced him to a random crazy, there was a need to flesh the poor guy out a tad. In the show, Wilk demonstrates exceedingly tactful and gentlemanly debate maneuvers to convince us that he is right on all accounts once again…

Anyway, if you have a book report due and you hope to grasp any insight you can find on PK Dick’s legendary short story, “We can Sell it to Wholesale”, I can’t really say if you are looking in the right place. Better read it and form your own interpretation.

Adieu, my dear friends.

-Rick

FUN FACTOIDS:

Philip K. Dick is a well respected author in the science fiction community and his works often feature themes which blur the lines of reality. Much has been made about this author’s own personal struggles that also seemed to explore these themes.

Check out this documentary about Philip K. Dick which focuses on the author’s mystical experiences: “The Penultimate Truth About Philip K. Dick” on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afam25BJMeU&list=PL0C6AAE4A6BC928CE

 

ADDENDUM: On this episode we talked about claims that PKD was known for speaking in ancient languages and how this was witnessed by others. On Episode #348 of the “Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy” podcast, host David Barr Kirtley interviews American science fiction author and astrophysicist Gregory Benford who personally knew PKD. Starting at about the 28:28 mark in the interview Benford discusses witnessing first hand PKD speak in ancient koine Greek. Take a listen: https://geeksguideshow.com/2019/02/07/ggg348-gregory-benford/.

 

 

 

* DISCLAIMER: Please be advised that the views and opinions of the hosts and guests of NDIOS are completely their own and do not necessarily reflect the views and beliefs of the other hosts and guests or that of NDIOS.

Preview Episode (Total Recall)

PODCAST:

S2P12 – Preview Episode (Total Recall)*

Listen to the podcast here (click to play/right click and select “save target as” to download):

 

SUBJECT MATTER:

Book:“The Preserving Machine and Other Stories” by Philip K. Dick

“Ace paperback original. 1976 printing with new cover art. Collection of stories including: The Preserving Machine [Dr. Rupert Labyrinth] (1953); War Game (1959); Upon the Dull Earth (1954); Roog (1953); War Veteran (1955); Top Stand-By Job [Jim Briskin] (1963); Beyond Lies the Wub (1952); We Can Remember It for You Wholesale (1966); Captive Market (1955); If There Were No Benny Cemoli (1963); Retreat Syndrome (1965); The Crawlers (1954); Oh, to Be a Blobel! (1964); What the Dead Men Say (1964); Pay for the Printer (1956).” (from Amazon.com)

*** * ***

Film:“Total Recall” by Paul Verhoeven (Arnold Schwarzenegger)

“Action star extraordinaire Arnold Schwarzenegger is Quaid, a 2084 construction worker haunted by dreams of Mars. Against the wishes of his wife (Sharon Stone), Quaid goes to a company that implants artificial memories, so he can “remember” visiting the red planet. However, Quaid is actually a secret agent from Mars – or is he?” (from Amazon.com)

*** * ***

Film:“Total Recall” by Len Wiseman (Colin Farrell)

“Total Recall is an action thriller about reality and memory, inspired anew by the famous short story “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale” by Philip K. Dick.” (from Amazon.com)

* DISCLAIMER: Please be advised that the views and opinions of the hosts and guests of NDIOS are completely their own and do not necessarily reflect the views and beliefs of the other hosts and guests or that of NDIOS.

Review: “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” (Phillip K. Dick) and “Bladerunner” (Ridley Scott)

PODCAST:

Listen to the podcast here (click to play/right click and select “save target as” to download):

  S1E1:- Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep / Bladerunner 

WRITTEN BOOK REVIEWS:

Ryan: 4 Stars “A mind-bending dystopian hero’s quest through the looking glass…”

Wilk: 3 Stars “It was strictly alright. The end of the book seemed to get very ambitious and ambiguous at the same time- in the sense that the writer wrote himself into a corner…”

Beam: 3 Stars “(no written review)”

(Click the links to read full written reviews on Goodreads.com)

SUBJECT MATTER:

“Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” By Phillip K. Dick

Book: “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” by Philip K. Dick

“By 2021, the World War had killed millions, driving entire species into extinction and sending mankind off-planet. Those who remained coveted any living creature, and for people who couldn’t afford one, companies built incredibly realistic simulacrae: horses, birds, cats, sheep. . . They even built humans.

Emigrées to Mars received androids so sophisticated it was impossible to tell them from true men or women. Fearful of the havoc these artificial humans could wreak, the government banned them from Earth. But when androids didn’t want to be identified, they just blended in.

Rick Deckard was an officially sanctioned bounty hunter whose job was to find rogue androids, and to retire them. But cornered, androids tended to fight back, with deadly results.” (from Amazon.com)

*** * ***

“Bladerunner” by Ridley Scott

Movie: “Bladerunner” by Ridley Scott

“Visually spectacular, intensely action-packed and powerfully prophetic since its debut, Blade Runner returns in Ridley Scott’s definitive Final Cut, including extended scenes and never-before-seen special effects.

In a signature role as 21st-century detective Rick Deckard, Harrison Ford brings his masculine-yet-vulnerable presence to this stylish noir thriller. In a future of high-tech possibility soured by urban and social decay, Deckard hunts for fugitive, muderous replicants – and is drawn to a mystery woman whose secrets may undermine his soul.

This incredible 2-Disc Set features the definitive Final Cut of Ridley Scott’s legendary Sci-Fi classic and the in-depth feature length documentary “Dangerous Days” and features all new 5.1 Audio.” (from Amazon.com)

WILK’S SHOW NOTES:

The first episode of No Deodorant In Outer Space did not result in a physical injury for any of the participants.  This aspect exceeded the expectations of the group, some of whom are now speaking to each other.

Episode one of NDIOS consisted of a discussion of the Movie “Blade Runner” and the book it was loosely based on, “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”. Despite violating several of Emily Post’s established rules of etiquette (Never answer a question with a question, or title a book with a question, or have intercourse with a robot) the novel was considered the superior medium by three of the four contributors. The Fourth contributor, a petulant toddler often heard in the background, insisted that the rubber ball covered in her saliva was far more noteworthy then either the book or the film. She has since left the group to pursue other interest; namely examining what exactly is in the vents near the window.

The panel felt that neither the book nor the movie were without flaws. The book itself was thought to contain a clunky reference to a “future” religion that felt tagged on, according to Dave and Jim. Ryan maintained that this religion was interesting and he “liked” it, despite Dave repeatedly telling Ryan that Ryan did not understand his own thoughts, emotions, or words and in fact did not like the book. This discussion went on for some time and was likely edited for content. Content is of courses code for “slurs and personal attacks against Ryan by Dave”.

In an effort to not redeem himself, Dave did a half ass job on researching the Director and provided a biography of CS Lewis instead. He continued to insist that Ridley Scott was friends with JR Tolkien and worked at Oxford before breaking into laughter. The audience learned little from this and it left Dave feeling broken and empty for the next few weeks.  The panel did conclude that the film moved very slowly and differed so significantly from the novel that it would be unfair to call it inconsistent. It was simply a different story with some parse elements from the book- and it ultimately did not entertain.

Jim researched the book and provided some interesting facts about the author’s insanity (click here to see the letters to the FBI referenced in the show).  Dick suffered from undiagnosed mental ailments that may have sifted into his work. It was unclear if these had any effect on the novel. The book itself was considered very engrossing by all three members and worth reading. Although they disagreed on how certain elements were introduced it was overall a very good read. The consensus was that the ending of the book is what prevents it from being a true classic novel (although Ryan disagreed).

The aftermath of the podcast consisted of a Sisyphean ordeal in terms of editing the audio and communicating with each other. Several friendships were severed while secret alliances remained strong and ready to strike. It is the hope of everyone at NDIOS that our future episodes will be more polished, like a rock thrown at people who insist that the earth revolves around the sun and shrimp are delicious. You don’t throw dirty rocks at those kinds of people. You throw your best polished rock. It just how it is done.

And remember…..There is no deodorant in outer space so you better shower before you get on the shuttle.

– Wilk