Counterfeit Worlds: Philip K. Dick on Film
Robb, Brian J. Counterfeit Worlds: Philip K. Dick on Film. New York: Titan Books, 2006.
Reviewed by David Gregory, in SFRA Review #282 (Sept/Oct/Nov 2007) — on line, "Oct/Nov/Dec 2007" — pp. 4-5.[1] (Quotes lightly edited.)
With entirely appropriate emphasis on Blade Runner/Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Brian J. Robb has put together the most complete description of the various cinematic PKD adaptations to date in Counterfeit Worlds[...,] definitely an interesting read, though PKD scholars will have to wait for a more academic treatment of the subject.
In addition to a brief biography of Dick, Robb gives
a comprehensive description of the media (including TV, radio, and game) adaptations of Dick’s works. There are three chapters on Blade Runner, and chapters on each of the major film adaptations, plus the TV show Total Recall 2070. There are also chapters on “Unmade Projects,” the unproduced Dick-penned screenplay adaptation of Ubik, and the French film adaptation of the non-SF Confessions of a Crap Artist. In an admirable attempt to stay ahead of the PKD-adaptation curve, Robb’s mid-2006-pub- lished book even includes material about the 2006-released film A Scanner Darkly and the loose Dick adaptation that became Next in 2007.[2]
While generally liking Robb's work Gregory usefully lists more scholarly efforts, "For example, Will Brooker’s The Blade Runner Experience: The Legacy of a Science Fiction Classic (Wallflower, 2006) [...] Paul Sammon’s 1996 Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner and Judith Kerman’s 1997 Retrofitting Blade Runner: Issues in Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner and Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?."
The publisher's blurb on Counterfeit Worlds plus rotating brief reader reviews of varying usefulness (and languages) — and the option to order the book — may as of winter 2020 be found on the Amazon site for the book.[3]
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Bibliographical Note:
The hard-copy of SFRA Review #282 in the Initial Compiler's possession is dated Sept/Oct/Nov 2007; on line, the date is moved up a month, apparently correcting an error — #281 was for "July/Aug/Sept" — and possibly preparing to go over to a new dating system by seasons of the year (in #283 f.).
RDE, finishing, 30Dec20