Book vs. Film: DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP vs. BLADE RUNNER

I was suprised how different they be

One tiny thread of the book was made into a movie. The many more threads of the book make it the greater work.

But damn does Blade Runner have an atmosphere of cool. And Rutger going ham.

I do like when Rutger dies and says sad things about existence. "like tears in the rain" - in one of the outtakes after he says that Harrison Ford says "ahh shaddap"

the film is definitely better than the book, which is really one of Dick's fair-to-middling efforts

I heard a rumor that Rutger made up that sad line about existence and tears in the rain and it wasn't in the script. Could that possibly be true!?

it is true, Rutger re-wrote the monologue the night before shooting

Dick's fair-to-middling efforts >>> Ridley Scott's best movies

film by a mile

PKD in general is way more interesting than the content of 'blade runner' but the film does have a totally unique look and feel that i value more than 'androids' on its own.

The story opens with Miles Harding (Von Dohlen), an architect who envisions a brick shaped like a jigsaw puzzle piece that could enable buildings to withstand earthquakes. Seeking a way to get organized, he buys a home computer (made by the fictitious company Pinecone Computers) to help him develop his ideas. Although he is initially unsure that he will even be able to correctly operate the computer, he later buys numerous extra gadgets that were not necessary for his work, such as switches to control household appliances like the blender, a speech synthesizer, and a microphone. The computer (Cort) addresses Miles as "Moles", because Miles mistyped his name during the initial set-up.

When Miles attempts to download data from a mainframe computer at work, the computer begins to overheat. In a state of panic, Miles pours a nearby bottle of champagne over the machine, which then becomes sentient.
The remainder of the movie deals with a love triangle between Miles, his computer (which identifies its own name as "Edgar" at the end of the movie), and Miles' neighbor, an attractive cellist named Madeline (Madsen). Edgar composes a piece of music for Madeline after hearing her practicing through an air vent that connects the two apartments. She believes that Miles composed the piece and begins to fall in love with him. Edgar responds with jealousy, canceling Miles' credit cards and registering him as an "armed and dangerous" criminal.

Miles shoves the computer and tries to unplug it, getting an electric shock. Then the computer retaliates by harassing him with household electronics.

Eventually, Edgar accepts Madeline and Miles' love for each other, and appears to commit suicide by sending a large electric current through its acoustic coupler, around the world, and back to itself. In the final scene, a pop song ("Together in Electric Dreams") written by Edgar as a tribute to Miles and Madeline plays on radio stations around the United States.

emphasis mine

wrong thread?

book by a mile btw

I saw the film first and when I read the book I was still young and it was my first Dick - capital D ok out-of-context fans - and I thought "what is this crazy shit?" Now I've read a lot more Dick but I'm still not entirely sure about a religion based on sharing the pain of an old man walking up a hill. The film otoh is tight.

The religion subplot, which made little sense to me too, plus the psychedelic conclusion of the book are definitely what make it a no contest in favor of the film, for me.

I'm a pretty big fan of both, I'm tempted to vote for the film, but I think that I can't help but compare the book to PKD's other, much better books, which makes the book seem worse than it actually is.

I remember reading the book the first time (after having already seen the film several times) and getting to the bit with the fake police station and wondering how they could have left something like this out of the film. I think at that point I thought it was basically the most amazing thing I'd ever read and it was that bit more than anything else that made me seek out PKD's other books. I wanted more of that.

I really liked religion subplot in the book; that, and Deckard being a more multi-faceted character than in the movie made me vote for it. Also, the central "what does being human mean?" question is handled with more nuance manner in the book. The movie has better supporting characters and better plotting though.

"is handled in a more nuanced manner"

The sufferin' old man religion is actually the thing that has stayed with me the most from the novel lo these twenty years. That and the poignant 'oh wait that's not a real animal' moment. I am reading Dick right now for the first time in decades and may include DADOES in this stint.

On the other hand, I've been soaking in bootlegs of the Vangelis score for the film, which is so damn potent.

Also, the central "what does being human mean?" question is handled in a more nuanced manner in the book.

this is def true

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Since I started this poll...

Not a diss against Dick, since I've read other stuff by him and liked it better, but DADOES's psychedelic turn towards the end kinda sent it off the rails for me. Of course, having loved the movie for years before actually reading the book undoubtedly had some effect on how I would process the book, but I don't think I'd've liked the last 20 pages even if there were no BLADE RUNNER.

The movie is perfection. I don't even hate the narration (not that I *like* it all that much either). Obviously, it gets my vote.

aw man, i LOVED "Electric Dreams".

Book v film very different experiences, i think; book has a richer story, and Mercerism which is connected both to the theme of the novel and much of PKD's work. Film has art design and Vangelis and that spooky ass run-down hotel and glowing eyes and I think was the first-ever appearance of the proto-cyberpunk city vibe of NeoTokyo.

Book also has a far more depressing backstory, for the reason why the Tyrell Corp gets into synthetic life and why everybody who could afford it got the fuck off the planet.

I think you can get more out of the film with repeated consumption than the novel, tho.

Though I amused that White Zombie got a hit single named after the Tyrell motto.

PKD in general is way more interesting than the content of 'blade runner' but the film does have a totally unique look and feel that i value more than 'androids' on its own

This is very well said.

Reading the book definitely adds to the film, it finally makes sense why the voigt-kampf test includes all those weird questions about turtles etc. although to be fair to the film they're not that weird out of context, they just seem like general questions about empathy.

Book but I like books. I like films too and I like Blade Runner but I like films like Blade Runner less than I like books like Androids. It's not like I actually have to choose tho.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

am reading Androids right now, halfway through, vaguely remembering this thread as I read and being slightly annoyed by how many were calling this novel subpar Dick--am enjoying the fuck out of it, there are a lot of cool sequences in this book so far and there are a lot of fascinating ways in which the thematic concerns work themselves through the plot--but upon rereading this thread I realize that I have not made it to the 'psychedelic ending' yet and there's still lots of room for things to kind of fall apart

also I haven't seen Blade Runner in years, ever since my first time at college when I was taking some philosophy class, either Philosophy of the Mind or a Cognitive Science course, both taught by the same professor and both taken at the urgings of a bunch of other stoners with whom I was kicking it at the time