We don’t know a ton about the forthcoming anthology series, Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams, but we know that it has some serious talent involved. Brian Cranston (Breaking Bad) and writer-producer Ronald D. Moore (Battlestar Galactica, Outlander) are some of the executive producers. The writing staff includes Travis Beacham (Pacific Rim), David Farr (The Night Manager), Dee Rees (Bessie, Mudbound), and Tony Grisoni (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas). The cast includes Steve Buscemi, Terrence Howard, Anna Paquin, Timothy Spall, Benedict Wong, and Janelle Monáe.
(Listen, marketers. When you have Janelle Monáe in your cast, put her in every trailer! Why is she not here?)
The trailer definitely hints at the sort of mind-blowing revelations and world-shifting secrets that characterized much of Dick’s work. Issues of identity, reality, and memory also play strongly here, and it looks darkly trippy. This feels fitting, since Dick’s work isn’t always trippy in the Doctor Strange, lights-and-colors sense, but rather in the sense of “new worlds, sensations, and understandings have been opened to me, and they’re terrifying.”
Given that this is a science fiction anthology series, I’m sure the producers are hoping to be the next Black Mirror. That shows a bit in the color scheme and cinematography, but for now, it looked appropriate for the material.
For those of you who were curious about which material the show is drawing from, here are some of the stories they’ll adapt:
- “The Commuter”
- “The Impossible Planet”
- “Sales Pitch”
- “Human Is”
- “The Father-thing”
- “The Hood Maker”
- “The Hanging Stranger”
- “Autofac”
This particular trailer comes from Stan, the service that will broadcast Electric Dreams in Australia. Channel 4 in the UK and Amazon Video in the United States have also purchased broadcast rights to the show. It’s unclear when it will air in those countries – or worldwide, but I’m at least curious to see more.
What do you think, though, readers?
(Via io9 and Variety; image via screengrab)
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