The SFFaudio Podcast #391 – Jesse, Paul, and Marissa talk about Second Variety by Philip K. Dick.

talked about on today’s show:
Space Science Fiction, May 1953, usual playfulness, written for the market, military guys, Imposter by Philip K. Dick, Imposter (2012), shield technology, replicants (androids), implanted memories, how many Philip K. Dick stories have androids in them?, an abiding theme, foregrounded or backgrounded, robot balls, little boys, wounded soldiers, beautiful women, they’re fighting each other now, evolution, Richard Dawkins’ The Selfish Gene, the 1995 movie Screamers, aging special effects, very very faithful to the story, an alien planet (not Earth), “trade federation”, new Cold War, sympathetic Ivans, colonel not major, the double twist ending, something Dick would have been happy with, the hand slash, even more human, it was a different time, in the 1990s a sponge-bath was romance enough, that’s all it takes Paul, movie reality, Phillip K. Dick read (and loved) the script, a tremendous shriek, “better than my original story”, which ending is he happy about?, “I’m an andorid”, David’s robot teddy bear, Teddy Ruxpin conquers the Earth, The Little Movement by Philip K. Dick, Philip K. Dick fans site, Dan O’Bannon, filmed in Quebec, Alien (1979), he really got SF and PKD, a remake?, the sequel, one teddy bear vs. the world, a teddy bear with an autofac, the premise of The Little Movement, Lifeforce (1985), Space Vampires, Total Recall, the red cigarettes, keeping all the smoking, a solider thing, senet (an ancient Egyptian board game), Peter Weller, Mozart, long hair music, Don Giovanni, good writing, tossing the coin, the chips, swords instead of claws, better than expected, complete rubbish, “and me too!”, greenlit because of Blade Runner and Total Recall, the sequel movie: Screamers: The Hunting, and the sequel story Jon’s World, the female lead, LV386, Sirius 6B, how do we raise the stakes?, the script from Aliens jammed into the Screamers story, tying back to Dan O’Bannon, no-James Cameron, Hendrickson killed himself, Peter Weller acts as Sigourney Weaver for Screamers: The Hunting, as you do, time travel and a lobotomized boy, one of Philip K. Dick’s worst stories, definitely interesting (but a bad story), deconstructing the ending, an unpolished story, why the knobs and turrets?, well actually the submarine was blah blah blah, underlines and notes, more for the Philip K. Dick rhetorizer, session writing, “rigid”, Jon the boy, an autistic kid (son or neighbor?), the lobotimization was kinda random, going back in time to get the plans for the artificial brain, stories set after nuclear wars, happy go lucky mutants, grey dust, ash and pain, the wheel was a good thing, wheels on tanks and wheelbarrows, recreating the brains, Asimov robots, Elon Musk, high-brows, Ex Machina (2015), A.I. (2001), crapsack future, puttering along, Millennium by John Varley, Captive Market by Philip K. Dick, Marissa has met such psychic time travelers in Los Angeles, The Terminator, Screamers and Second Variety lead to The Terminator, what are the claws if not Terminators?, infiltration units, Michael Biehn (Kyle Reese), hypnagogic dream flashbacks, they bleed (they’re cyborgs), a natural extension, Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, Oblivion (2013), Battlestar Galactica‘s cylons (are claws), a long lost colony of Earth, the lobotomized kid baggage, licked the proclivity, unconnected thoughts, preferring illusion to reality, the world of ultimate reality, terror of the world, the harsh world of reality, beyond and above, paths for people to walk, men and women in robes, not like our cities, the best lobotomist, shadows of the ultimate reality, fucked with reality, a utopian paradise that’s fictional, recursive, if Dick was still alive he would have mined these stories for a novel, a Jon’s World podcast, more than four varieties, a parallel time sense, Philip K. Dick talking about himself, whole new lines of speculation, other futures, the visions of the eternal unchanging, this story exists out of time, THIS world, Greek oracles, prophecy in general, this crazy story, if you want to call it a story, on a tour bus through PKD’s mind, jazzy, totally not resolved, the trees beyond the ship, evergreen trees, briefcase, why is he taking the briefcase?, discussing things, metaphysical things, temper tantrums or whatever it is, PKD’s idea of utopia, robes instead of t-shirts, deer running free, we’re supposed to see this vision as suspect, steel isn’t just for tanks, the clean utopia is an artificial vision, horror movies, the horrible burning, it was worth it, escaping into an artificial reality, they’re all escaping the horror of their lives into Jon’s world, yeah we’ve all got to get lobotomized, in an insane asylum drooling, we’re the apex predator, the ending for Brazil (1985), a couple of weeks ago a kid was mauled by a bear near Jesse, nature wants to fucking kill you, the garden of Eden is a myth, bad affectation, the word lobotomy is scary, seizures vs. visions, religious ecstatic tradition, tribal society, Vikings, vikings a native North Americans with steel, Progeny by Philip K. Dick, Martian Time-Slip, a false impression of PKD, a Philip K. Dick action story ends with a guy sitting on a park bench, Second Variety is so good but less interesting than Jon’s World

Posted by Jesse Willis