ELECTRIC DREAMS

[gmillerdrake]

Anyone else watched any of this show yet? It’s AMAZONS answer to ‘Black Mirror’. I’ve watche the first two episodes and they were pretty good. Anthology series based off of a series of short stories by Philip K. Dick. It’s geared toward technology as well. As I said, first two episodes I watched were pretty cool.

[lonestar]

I watched the first two as well. Good stuff, though a bit heavy handed in the shock and surprise style, need to back off and be more subtle with it. Not sure if they can do that with just being individual stories though. I'll surely run through the series for sure, definitely worth the time.

[soupytwist]

This was my big disappointment show of last year.   Not a avid reader of Philip K. Dick but have enjoyed his film adaptions in the past, so was expecting interesting things.   But for me most of the episodes fell flat, often with an 'oh is that it' unsatisfying ending.  I think there were a couple of decent episodes along the way, but overall it was a bit of a chore to watch - not in the same league as Black Mirror in my opinion.

[Nekov]

Watched the first episode last night. I'm a big Phillip Dick fan so I'm really excited about this one. I hope it's not as bad as soupytwist says it is. I liked the first one, it had a good vibe and I think depicts in a really good way what Dick presents as failing to grasp the true reality of things.

[gmillerdrake]

This was my big disappointment show of last year.   Not a avid reader of Philip K. Dick but have enjoyed his film adaptions in the past, so was expecting interesting things.   But for me most of the episodes fell flat, often with an 'oh is that it' unsatisfying ending.  I think there were a couple of decent episodes along the way, but overall it was a bit of a chore to watch - not in the same league as Black Mirror in my opinion.

I didn't see it as that poor. I did think that the second episode was rather predictable as to what was going on but I thought the episodes were pretty good. Definitely worth watching the rest of the series for me.

[soupytwist]

This was my big disappointment show of last year.   Not a avid reader of Philip K. Dick but have enjoyed his film adaptions in the past, so was expecting interesting things.   But for me most of the episodes fell flat, often with an 'oh is that it' unsatisfying ending.  I think there were a couple of decent episodes along the way, but overall it was a bit of a chore to watch - not in the same league as Black Mirror in my opinion.

I didn't see it as that poor. I did think that the second episode was rather predictable as to what was going on but I thought the episodes were pretty good. Definitely worth watching the rest of the series for me.

That's fair enough.  There is a good episode towards the end of the run, the rest (to me) just felt average at best - there is some big guest stars to enjoy though (the one with Steve Buscemi was a huge letdown).  Maybe it just wasn't to my taste.

[T-ski]

I thought this was a thread on the 80's movie, my bad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ek08KvgqFGM

[Nekov]

Watched 2 more episodes yesterday. Episode 2 was ok but the 3rd one was trully flat. I think they are grasping the concepts of the short stories but are not being able to deliver them to a full potential which is such a shame.

I thought this was a thread on the 80's movie, my bad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ek08KvgqFGM

What the hell?  The 80s were a weird time

[gmillerdrake]

Episode 2 was ok but the 3rd one was trully flat. I think they are grasping the concepts of the short stories but are not being able to deliver them to a full potential which is such a shame.

Totally agree. And, episode 4 is the same. Even with Brian Cranston in Ep. 3 and Steve Buscemi in Ep. 4, they could not be saved. They really missed the mark. At least Ep. 3 had some sort of 'idea' of what it wanted to pull off they just missed the mark. I have no friggin' idea of what they were trying to accomplish in Ep. 4?

I really 'want' to like this series. The first two episodes were promising in my eyes but the subsequent two have me really concerned. I know AMAZON was hoping for a Black Mirror rival but unless these efforts change dramatically they will have missed the mark.

I'm beginning to understand soupytwist's review of the series now.

[soupytwist]

I'm pretty sure the Buscemi episode was the nadir of the show.  Sounds like your getting them in a different order to Channel 4 showed them, I'm pretty sure the Cranston one was last of the first batch.  Have you watched the train station one?  Or the Police Woman in the VR world yet?  They were probably the best of the first batch (the second batch of 4 episodes was a slight improvement).

[gmillerdrake]

I'm pretty sure the Buscemi episode was the nadir of the show.  Sounds like your getting them in a different order to Channel 4 showed them, I'm pretty sure the Cranston one was last of the first batch.  Have you watched the train station one?  Or the Police Woman in the VR world yet?  They were probably the best of the first batch (the second batch of 4 episodes was a slight improvement).

The order AMAZON has them listed in my App

1. Real Life
2. Autofac
3. Human Is  (Cranston)
4. Crazy Diamond (Buscemi)
5. The Hood Maker
6. Safe and Sound
7. The Father Thing
8. Impossible Planet
9. The Commuter
10. Kill All Others

I've only watched the first four.

[soupytwist]

I'm pretty sure the Buscemi episode was the nadir of the show.  Sounds like your getting them in a different order to Channel 4 showed them, I'm pretty sure the Cranston one was last of the first batch.  Have you watched the train station one?  Or the Police Woman in the VR world yet?  They were probably the best of the first batch (the second batch of 4 episodes was a slight improvement).

The order AMAZON has them listed in my App

1. Real Life
2. Autofac
3. Human Is  (Cranston)
4. Crazy Diamond (Buscemi)
5. The Hood Maker
6. Safe and Sound
7. The Father Thing
8. Impossible Planet
9. The Commuter
10. Kill All Others

I've only watched the first four.

I understand why you were so keen after two episodes now.  Real Life and Autofac are probably the two best episodes - I guess they decided to front load the America release with the better recieved ones (Autofac was actually in the second batch of 4, and Real Life was episode 5 for us).   The Hood Maker and Impossible Planet were the first two we got (both very average).   

[gmillerdrake]

Hood Maker had potential but the ending was exactly what you said in your original post..."oh, is that it?"

I know I'll watch the rest of them because I personally just can't leave things like that unfinished      but outside of Real Life and Autofac this series has been a real let down. And that's even with this host of really good actors/actresses they rounded up to star in these episodes. It's like they are 'that' close to being good but there's something off just a bit....there's no punch or grit it's just been bland.

[kaos2900]

Thanks to this thread, I'm removing this from my watch list.

[gmillerdrake]

Thanks to this thread, I'm removing this from my watch list.

I kind of feel bad for how I've reported on it but I wish I could say better things about it. The positive I've seen is that all the episodes are really well produced and 'look' great      But yeah....it hasn't come close to being as good as Black Mirror. I'm going to finish the season out to just to see if there is any other decent episode.

As soupytwist and I agree though.....Real Life and Autofac are worth the watch. But sadly thus far....the others have been pretty bad.

[soupytwist]

Hood Maker had potential but the ending was exactly what you said in your original post..."oh, is that it?"

I know I'll watch the rest of them because I personally just can't leave things like that unfinished      but outside of Real Life and Autofac this series has been a real let down. And that's even with this host of really good actors/actresses they rounded up to star in these episodes. It's like they are 'that' close to being good but there's something off just a bit....there's no punch or grit it's just been bland.

The final two episodes on your list (The Commuter and Kill All Others) are both decent episodes - they seem to ave put the 4 best episodes as bookends!   If I recall correctly 'The Father Thing' was a real bad one, I've read the synopsis for 'Safe and Sound' and it doesn't ring any bells, so maybe I missed that one.

[Shooters1221]

I just finished this and would have to generally agree with above posts. There were some good episodes only to be ruined by bad endings. I would have to say my  "favs?" were 'The Real Life' and 'Safe and Sound'. It's not like I hated them all, I guess they were just more mediocre and stale, and yes Black Mirror is a much better show of this type. Great production though.

[gmillerdrake]

Great production though.

This is what is so upsetting about these episodes missing the mark. AMAZON clearly is committed to spending whatever $$ necessary to put out an awesome looking product. It's just a shame they couldn't get a writing team together that could hammer out consistent scripts/dialogue to give us some compelling stories.

[Shooters1221]

Great production though.

This is what is so upsetting about these episodes missing the mark. AMAZON clearly is committed to spending whatever $$ necessary to put out an awesome looking product. It's just a shame they couldn't get a writing team together that could hammer out consistent scripts/dialogue to give us some compelling stories.

Yes, compelling, perfect word, it's like I start to watch and I'm generally interested in the beginning at the topic and where it might be going and then as they move along, it just loses steam and I find myself not caring about the characters and story line, and then some unfinished or even blah blah conclusion. So I would think as each episode is different, so will be my view, but no, that formula rang true through all, IMO. Not familiar with his writings, so this comes from a pure TV viewing experience only.

[gmillerdrake]

Great production though.

This is what is so upsetting about these episodes missing the mark. AMAZON clearly is committed to spending whatever $$ necessary to put out an awesome looking product. It's just a shame they couldn't get a writing team together that could hammer out consistent scripts/dialogue to give us some compelling stories.

Yes, compelling, perfect word, it's like I start to watch and I'm generally interested in the beginning at the topic and where it might be going and then as they move along, it just loses steam and I find myself not caring about the characters and story line, and then some unfinished or even blah blah conclusion. So I would think as each episode is different, so will be my view, but no, that formula rang true through all, IMO. Not familiar with his writings, so this comes from a pure TV viewing experience only.

Same here. TV experience only so I'm unsure of where the disconnect is from page to screen.

[Nekov]

I watched the 4th episode last night. I'm not really sure what it was about. By far the worst so far.

[gmillerdrake]

‘Safe and Sound’ was decent. Definitely a shot at big government. ‘The Father Thing’  was rough. Not to mention it’s basicsllly Invasion of the Body snatchers, just done reallly badly.

[gmillerdrake]

Finished the season to be done with it. Impossible Planet was alright, like all of these episodes though it wasn’t difficult to figure out what was going to happen.

I thought The Commuter was good. Interesting concept. Kill All Others was another shot at the government and the actress that played the ‘candidate’ did a perfect Hilary Clinton

Despite great production and very good talent the series IMO really fell short.