Throughout most of his life, Philip K. Dick was obsessed with the concept of alternative realities. There was a time for instance, when he believed he’d switched places with his twin sister, who passed away only six weeks after they were born prematurely, and that he was the one who had died. On other occasion he became convinced that the Nixon regime was actually a ‘projection’ of the Roman empire in which he was still living, as a persecuted Christian of the first century A.D.
Schizophrenic delusions or perhaps glimpses of parallel universes, we’ll never know for certain. What we do know is that his visions inspired his literary work, and in 1963 he won the Hugo award for his novel The Man in the High Castle, an alternative history novel in which the Axis powers won the 2nd. World War, and have divided the rest of the globe among themselves.
Now Amazon has made a video series adaptation of Dick’s story –Must we still call these ‘TV series’?– Starring Rufus Sewell, Luke Kleintank, Alexa Davalos, and executive produced by Riddley Scott; you can watch the pilot episode for free by clicking here.
Here are a couple of segments to pique your interest:
Whether Dick would be pleased with this adaptation –or surprised with the fact that the United States is now more resemblant of a police state than ever– is also something we’ll never know… or will we?
