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A few weeks ago I read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, and as a long time fan of Blade Runner it provided a lot of good back story on the movie. Highly re

A few weeks ago I read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, and as a long time fan of Blade Runner it provided a lot of good back story on the movie. Highly recommended.

PNewling 3y ago
Definitely read as it is a classic, just prepare yourself for a lot of talking about sheep (I think it was a sheep, it's been awhile).
- cvwright 3y ago
  Sure you’re not thinking of the John Scalzi book with the similar (referential) title?
  - linsomniac 3y ago
    As implied by the name of the story, it was indeed a lot of talk about an electric sheep. Maybe Scalzi has a book that also talks a lot about a sheep, but it definitely fits for this story as well.
    - tomnipotent 3y ago
      > it was indeed a lot of talk about an electric sheep And I believe one of the things Deckard talked to his wife about was saving up enough to buy a real sheep, which is what leads him to the Tyrell corporation.
      - PNewling 3y ago
        Yeah, this is what I was remembering. It was really more of talk about "keeping up with the jones", but the sheep was the core object of this conversation.
yomlica8 3y ago
Recently read this as well. I found the movie kind of uneven in parts but felt it was mostly a better story than the book, which I didn't expect to be the case. I guess I didn't totally get the Mercerism and animal angle, it seemed to exist mostly to highlight a difference in empathy between characters. I think the film is better without it. The android test Mexican standoff was amusing though.
- Finnucane 3y ago
  The differences in empathy was kinda the whole point of the book. Which is to say, the androids didn't have any. In the context of the story, they could act and look like humans, but were essentially psychopathic killing machines. PKD felt that being fully human required empathy.
  - yomlica8 3y ago
    I guess I kind of felt it was a wacky way to establish that, and I felt it wasn't necessary. The absence of it in the androids would be sufficient to highlight it. The aspect of Mercerism being unveiled as a fraud being the androids grand plan and it not mattering (because Mercer being a real deity was never the actual point anyway) was great at highlighting how the entire idea was just a bridge to far for the androids. I probably just have some bias here since I like the film's nuanced interpretation of the androids and having one of them show mercy at the last moment is a better twist to me.
    - Finnucane 3y ago
      The book goes the other way--in the end, Deckard quits his job because he is starting to feel empathy for the androids.
- nidnogg 3y ago
  I had a similar impression. For me those two hit the hardest and I think it can drag a bit in those moments. I expected a more in depth view as is often the case with source material, not an entirely different societal mindset from most characters. It's as if they forked out a huge part of the story for the movies and honestly I'm glad they did so. I was a bit skeptic of Philip K Dick once I finished it but I'm glad I took up Ubik a couple of years after - it turned out to be one of my favorite reads.

A few weeks ago I read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, and as a long time fan of Blade Runner it provided a lot of good back story on the movie. Highly recommended.

PNewling 3y ago

Definitely read as it is a classic, just prepare yourself for a lot of talking about sheep (I think it was a sheep, it's been awhile).

cvwright 3y ago
Sure you’re not thinking of the John Scalzi book with the similar (referential) title?
- linsomniac 3y ago
  As implied by the name of the story, it was indeed a lot of talk about an electric sheep. Maybe Scalzi has a book that also talks a lot about a sheep, but it definitely fits for this story as well.
  - tomnipotent 3y ago
    > it was indeed a lot of talk about an electric sheep And I believe one of the things Deckard talked to his wife about was saving up enough to buy a real sheep, which is what leads him to the Tyrell corporation.
    - PNewling 3y ago
      Yeah, this is what I was remembering. It was really more of talk about "keeping up with the jones", but the sheep was the core object of this conversation.

yomlica8 3y ago

Recently read this as well. I found the movie kind of uneven in parts but felt it was mostly a better story than the book, which I didn't expect to be the case. I guess I didn't totally get the Mercerism and animal angle, it seemed to exist mostly to highlight a difference in empathy between characters. I think the film is better without it. The android test Mexican standoff was amusing though.

Finnucane 3y ago
The differences in empathy was kinda the whole point of the book. Which is to say, the androids didn't have any. In the context of the story, they could act and look like humans, but were essentially psychopathic killing machines. PKD felt that being fully human required empathy.
- yomlica8 3y ago
  I guess I kind of felt it was a wacky way to establish that, and I felt it wasn't necessary. The absence of it in the androids would be sufficient to highlight it. The aspect of Mercerism being unveiled as a fraud being the androids grand plan and it not mattering (because Mercer being a real deity was never the actual point anyway) was great at highlighting how the entire idea was just a bridge to far for the androids. I probably just have some bias here since I like the film's nuanced interpretation of the androids and having one of them show mercy at the last moment is a better twist to me.
  - Finnucane 3y ago
    The book goes the other way--in the end, Deckard quits his job because he is starting to feel empathy for the androids.
nidnogg 3y ago
I had a similar impression. For me those two hit the hardest and I think it can drag a bit in those moments. I expected a more in depth view as is often the case with source material, not an entirely different societal mindset from most characters. It's as if they forked out a huge part of the story for the movies and honestly I'm glad they did so. I was a bit skeptic of Philip K Dick once I finished it but I'm glad I took up Ubik a couple of years after - it turned out to be one of my favorite reads.