# Movie Adaptations of Philip K. Dick stories **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 7, 2003, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-adaptations-of-philip-k-dick-stories/180337 "2003-06-07T20:50:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2003, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-adaptations-of-philip-k-dick-stories/180337/41 "2003-06-19T00:20:17Z")
Howdy, y’all. I’m a P.K. Dickhead, too. Just a little late getting to this thread. While the movies in the OP can be said to be _based on_ Dick’s stories, they sure don’t cut it as \* film adaptations\* of them, imho. But, I have enjoyed them. I especialy the way Rutger Hauer’s character was done in _Blade Runner_. Wonderful! Actually, _Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep_ had so much going on it, that I thought _Blade Runner_ improved on the story by lifting only what was needed for the film. _Total Recall_? I didn’t know for quite a while that it was supposed to be based on _We Can Remember It For You Wholesale._ I just thought about how few original ideas there must be left. Oh well. I’m sure I’ll be seeing _Paycheck_. ---
**Author:** ![Grousser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9d8465/32.png) [@Grousser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grousser)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2003, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-adaptations-of-philip-k-dick-stories/180337/42 "2003-06-19T08:14:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Avumede \* > \*\*Grousser, you left out I think the best of Dick’s themes: > > 1. _Man am I fucked up_ - **Valis** , **Radio Free Albermuth** , and a few others, which I can’t remember right now.\*\* Yeap, but I prefer ignore that issue, focussing in his times of a pulp writer (or what remained in him of it), times where he was at least plot-consistent. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-adaptations-of-philip-k-dick-stories/180337/43 "2003-06-20T00:28:28Z")
1. I’ve always said that, although the beginning of **Total Recall** does indeed use some of the material from WCRIFYW, the bulk of the film fells an _awful_ lot like Robert Sheckley’s **The Status Civilization** (Mutant Town; mutants with paranormal abilities; mutants who can tell you who you used to be; lots of gunplay, etc.) SPOILER! 2. Someone has pinted out that Dick’s **Second Variety** actually gives you the “flashback” (“flash forward?”) section from the movie **Terminator**. Although Harlan Elliso sued over what he claimed was he theft of his ideas (from the Outer Limits episodes "Demon with a Glass Hand"and “Soldier”), neither of those featured a human=shaped robot inended to slip in among humans in order to kill them. Dick’s sory did. END SPOILER! 1. I don;t understand why they keep “adapting” philip K. Dick storis when they have to change them so completely. Read the stories that **Minority Report** and **Bladerunner** are based on.Even B]Total Recall\*\* at the beginning (the only part where it resembles the Dick story) doesn’t follow it very cloely. ---
**Author:** ![Grousser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9d8465/32.png) [@Grousser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grousser)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2003, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-adaptations-of-philip-k-dick-stories/180337/44 "2003-07-04T20:49:24Z")
(picking up this thread) > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CalMeacham \* > I don’t understand why they keep “adapting” Philip K. Dick stories when they have to change them so completely. Read the stories that **Minority Report** and **Bladerunner** are based on. Even **Total Recall** at the beginning (the only part where it resembles the Dick story) doesn’t follow it very closely. I agree. I read those _after seeing the movies_. I think the reason may be that they choose stories which wasn’t conceived for the screen. That’s understandable, but there are many good short stories and novels that _do have_ the structure of films, I cite **Ubik** again, the mentioned **Paycheck** and **Impostor** , this one could not pass the line, however. Other examples are **Eye In The Sky** , **Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said** , **A Scanner Darkly** and **A Maze of Death**. But those deals with obscure subjects, the issues for capturing popular attention may be the short stories. I recall a couple of them: **Pipers In The Woods** , where a scientist investigates strange psychological mutations of men into plants in an Earth-like asteroid. Fascinating, but it is only a set-up, I hardly imagine it as a movie the way it’s written. The other one is **Adjustment Team** , about a man who goes to work and find a “de-energized sector”: buildings, people, everything gray, dusty, dead, all of that because of a higher entities fatal error… well handled, this story may result in a creepy movie. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-adaptations-of-philip-k-dick-stories/180337.md?page=2)