User reviews

I've read several critics' reviews comparing this show to Black Mirror as if it fails in comparison. I don't think that's accurate. Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams is visually, thematically and, most importantly, narratively interesting. What is real or normal? What makes a human? Meanwhile, there are at least 2 episodes from S4 of Black Mirror that don't measure up to what I've seen so far in Electric Dreams, and apparently I've been watching the dud episodes, per critics' reviews.

Does everything need to have some heightened level of abstraction to be interesting? I don't think so; straightforward storytelling with very good actors set in a world that's different than my own that makes me think is good enough for me.

Worth your time.

There can be no denying that on first look this episode of Electric Dreams borrows heavily from the likes of Blade Runner, Black Mirror, Children of Men... etc, but of course the source material for this provides inspiration for the aforementioned titles, and so it's get an originality pass in my book.

A key feature for me with sci-fi is the dealing with the creation of alternate universes, where key events change the course of evolution. On this front the episode succeeds within that premise. There have been many mediocre sci-fi presentations that have come and gone - set up with weaker writing and concepts, and possibly better acting (though I will give a special exception to Holliday Grainger, who put in a very good performance). If the future world is unconvincing, however, it drags the performances down. I felt it was convincing enough here.

In summary, is definitely worth a watch, and look forward to other episodes within the series - it's a short story and it's designed to make you think where the themes could possibly go within the world that's been created. And as such, it's succeeded. A test of it's success is that I'd have been quite happy seeing where the world would have progressed after the end scenes. A solid start.

The Hood Maker was an episode inspired by - but very different to - the short story by Phillip K Dick but the world created on the screen was one I recognized from both Blade Runner and the many short stories Dick wrote from the 1950s onward.

It was dark but laced with a cynical, dry humour - Dick's forte - and was complex and adult - even hard to watch in places - so well done on not copping out on the darker aspects of Dick's work, even for a mass TV audience.

For those who complain about the show changing the stories (but keeping the themes), try comparing Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and Blade Runner: Dick's imagination was possibly too wild for any scene-for-scene adaption of his work, as his radically different movie adaptions suggest.

Overall, I was very encouraged by the first episode and look forward to the rest of this intelligent, visually enticing series.

Amazingly crafted set of sci-fi stories, Few episodes are highly impact-full and few of them are little dull in terms of story pacing, but each one of them gives you a unique story. Hats off to Phillip K Dick's vision and the show maker's visual creativity around the making process. Highly recommended.

First 3 episodes are a bit average, then, it improves from ep4 onward. 4,5,6 are good. 7 (Kill All Others) is an *excellent* episode. 8 (Autofac) is good. Haven't seen 9 & 10 yet.

Don't let the first 3 episodes put you off. Keep watching.

Great anthology . Acting and production is very good.

Gave a seven instead of a ten because not all were tens but all were worth the watch..

I watched these one a day... some entertainment deserves some reflection and digestion..

Dinner and Moore have developed an ingenious science fiction thriller anthology series. Based on Philip K. Dick's short stories I was fascinated to learn that most of these short stories were published between 1953-1955. Just being based on the stories it is amazing that Dick was so far ahead of his time with the basic premises of the stories. This series has outstanding direction, writing, cinematography, special effects, custome, settings, soundtrack and acting. The entire cast deliver bravura performances and includes the likes of Howard, Buscemi, Cranston, Paquin, Kinnear, Enos, Farmiga, Temple and many more stellar artists. The series is a tapestry of futuristic stand alone tales that are thrilling, perplexing, crisp, intelligent and full of satire. Using technology as a source of paranoia, the stories explore the collective anxious state of mind of the world. Each story features it's own cast of prodigious and mystifying characters. The plots for each episode are clever, unique, thought provoking, insightful, duplicitous, cathartic and have stunning endings. It's a refreshing look at how technology can turn on society when in today's world people feel like they're missing out on or aren't part of something bigger if they're not participating in some form of social media. The series also scrutinizes technology turning on itself, humans using technology to turn on eachother and humans using technology to turn on themselves. My favorite episodes are, "The Hood Maker" because of it's neo-noir feeling. The second is, "Kill All Others" because it resonates in today's world. The main character sees the truth about political propaganda being spread using technology to eliminate any dissenters. This is a captivating, mesmorizing and memorable series that is at the top in it's genre.

This is exactly the way PKD wrote - his style, his characters, his words. If anything they are a bit too long (if you've read his short short fiction, you know what I mean). Aside from some banal special effects, these are great film tales as created by the master. Loved all 10 in a binge watch today!

About 7 of these are really good the poor ones are the commuter and kill all others( funny enough the ones the critics rate the best two ) , i still have two more to watch at this point , but autofac , human is , the father thing are my favs, nothing like black mirror , there sci fi stories not meant to shock but i can see why the comparison was made , i want more shame i think this series has been cancelled , but the world needs more philip k dick series and i have lapped up everything of his , this was really good but i wish there was or will be a series two to build on because he has loads more great stories out there .

I was browsing through things to watch on Amazon Prime and ran across Electric Dreams. WOW! Best entertainment I have had in a long time! Excellent show- very unique, creative. I'll be very disappointed if this show is cancelled.

Summary

Remarkable anthology series, a collection of ten independent chapters based on the science fiction and fantasy short stories of Philip K. Dick, with a dazzling production and the attractiveness of a numerous first-rate cast in atypical roles and settings that includes Brian Cranston, Geraldine Chaplin, Steve Buscemi, Anna Paquin, Sidse Babett Knudsen (the protagonist of Borgen) and Vera Farmiga among many others.

In the midst of an offer with so many series that in general develop (and often stretch) a story and the same characters throughout several chapters (and seasons), the generosity of a series that displays such variety and conciseness with that makes.

Review

Philip Dick's Electric Dreams is an anthology series made up of ten independent chapters based on stories by Philip Dick.

The stories include several constants of the famous writer of a science fiction of social and psychological projections and the occasional moralizing message in generally dystopian worlds: the human condition as opposed to that of humanized machines, loneliness, guarded societies, alternative realities, uchronies, the differences between reality and representation or fantasy, dystopian worlds, mutant beings), distributed, however, in a varied range of stories that cross science fiction or the fantasy genre with family or couple dramas, noir, police or political-social conflicts and with rather lonely protagonists faced with an adverse reality and who do not fully understand.

This Channel Four series unfolds a dazzling production that turns each episode into a wonderfully photographed, cinematic-grade medium-length film.

On the other hand, Electric Dreams brings together a cast of top-level actors and actresses in atypical roles and settings, far removed from those in which we usually see them. Thus parade, for example, Bryan Cranston as a space commander, Sidse Babett Knudsen (the protagonist of Borgen) as a disturbing and very particular femme fatal, Steve Buscemi as a gray employee of a biotechnology company, Geraldine Chaplin as an old space traveler, Timmothy Spall as a troubled train guard, a notable Essie Davis (far removed from her detective Miss Fisher or her mother in the horror film Babadook) composing a woman abused by her military husband on a space base but far from resignation and Vera Farmiga as a fearsome right-wing leader.

In the midst of an offer with so many series that in general develop (and often stretch) a story and the same characters throughout several chapters, the generosity of one that displays such a variety of stories, characters and settings and the conciseness is appreciated. With what it does.

Here is a brief review or the triggers for each chapter.

1. Real Life (based on Collectible Piece)

Anna Paquin is a policewoman from the future whose mind oscillates between two bodies and alternative realities.

2. Autofac (based on Automation)

In a dystopian future, a factory continues to compulsively distribute its products while exercising a fierce vigilance on consumers.

3. Human Is (Human is, based on the homonymous story)

Bryan Cranston is a military commander of a spaceship that makes an incursion into another planet and is married to Vera, an official played by Essie Davis, with whom he has marital and political disagreements.

4. Crazy Diamond (based on Ad Campaign)

Ed (Steve Buscemi) is a married man who works in a genetic engineering company in a particular dystopian world, and is related to the disturbing Jill (Sidse Babett Knudsen), a very particular femme fatal.

5. The Hood Maker (based on the homonymous story)

In an imminent confrontation between the Normals and the telepathic mutants, a Normal cop (Richard Madden) and a telepath work together to investigate him.

6. Safe and Sound (Safe and sound based on Foster, you're dead)

A teenage girl moves with her mother, an anti-policing activist (Maura Tierney), to an area of the US with privatized security to continue her studies in high school.

7. The Father Thing (The father-thing, based on the homonymous story)

A boy (whose father plays Greg Kinear) begins to realize that the humans in the suburb where he lives are being replaced by aliens.

8. Impossible Planet (The impossible planet, based on the homonymous story)

An old woman (Geraldine Chaplin) hires a space tour to visit Earth, in search of a reunion with her past.

9. The Commuter (based on The Subscriber)

Ed (Timmothy Spall), an employee at a train station with a troubled family situation, she begins to worry when a traveler repeatedly requests tickets to a town that does not appear on the route.

10. Kill All Others

An employee of an almost totally automated factory begins to perceive disturbing signs of social and media violence in a hypervigilated and authoritarian society in solitude.

Each episode can be very different, however I am rarely disappointed with any of them. The program has been consistently good, and I would a watch to anyone into science fiction.

I think it's best to say judge for yourself. I really enjoy this collection of episodes with one or two exceptions. Well made with an array of actors ( big name actors) ,with great set designs and interesting ideas. I'm a huge sci-fi fan ( Blade Runner being my favourite of all)! and appreciate that each episodes is about an hour in length and concludes. Easy to compare with Black Mirror which I though was excellent. Well worth a go!

But why is it filmed so dark.

Much of the show is so dark its difficult to watch.

Really too dark.

Tv on max output brighness and suchno problems with other movies or shows..

Half of these were excellent, the other half decent or (sub)mediocre. Maybe I'm not Dick's greatest fan because I liked some scripts that apparently have been changed vs. the original, but I really liked what the screenwriters and the whole production team did here with "The Hood Maker", "Real Life", "Human Is", "Autofac" and "Safe and Sound". As for the rest, I was OK with "Impossible Planet" and "Kill All Others", and could've easily lived without the remaining 3 episodes.

Just please stop comparing this to Black Mirror, it's not the same thing. It's a bit more like Twilight Zone or Outer Limits, more fantastic and out there, not so anchored in today's and the near-future's technologies and social worries like Black Mirror.

This feels like a syfy show from the 90th, badly acted, bad script, boring and ugly, even the music is subpar and boring. Couldn't get through the first episode.

This show, like a lot of new shows, uses high pitched tones to indicate trauma to a character, but these sounds are a torture, and, I think, maybe cause tinnitus. Please stop.

PKD's work has been ransacked by film and TV producers for decades. Some adaptations are great, some good, and some not so much. Same goes for the episodes in electric dreams. It's hard to understand whether differences in quality are due to the original story, its adaptation, the cast and crew, or simply personal taste, but the disparity is undeniably there. Real life is a good idea, but underdeveloped, in that we (the audience) cannot really buy the final choice. Also, the sex scene is completely unnecessary. It's not as bad as the one in autofac at least, but if the producers think that they need to spice things up with a bit of sex to attract more viewers, then maybe they should spend more money on developing a good script. Impossible Planet was quite good, but the screenwriters changed the story and the ending without really adding much, and made it actually less believable. 'Human is' has the best direction and a glorious Bryan Cranston who gets to act two different parts. By contrast, the direction in Crazy Diamond is just too arty and, despite the beautiful photography and masterful acting, we never really care too much about any of the characters or how the plot unfolds. The hoodmaker is a jewel and robb stark is super hot in his native scottish accent. Safe and Sound was nearly perfect, with its typical dickian paranoia exploited to the max. Anyone familiar with PKD's writing would have known exactly where the episode was going, but that did not make it any less enjoyable. And then, someone had the ingenuous idea to add an extra couple of minutes to explain the ending! Seriously?! I still have a few to watch but so far, I think it deserves an 8.

I really enjoyed this series of stories. I particularly enjoyed the first and last episodes.