May 09, 2005 Miscellaneous

PK Dick

The always inimitable Audrey of Seattlest fame just mentioned that Philip K. Dick was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame. It’s about time, in my opinion. Dick’s storytelling has done more to shape modern science fiction than just about anyone else. You can feel the strains of Gibson’s Neuromancer embedded deeply within Blade Runner, which was based upon PK Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.

In opposition to my typical feelings on this subject, I’ve always been far more partial to Blade Runner than its source material, but A Scanner Darkly has always touched me more deeply than words can easily express. It’s also being turned into a movie that hopefully not even Keanu Reeves can ruin. Only time will tell, though. It certainly looks beautiful, eerie, and terribly depressing, which is all I can really ask for in a film adaptation from any of Philip K. Dick’s books. I’ve been meaning to watch Blade Runner again for a while now, and I think I’m going to have to sometime this week now.

And, as far as guns/walkie-talkies go, it could always be worse…