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Man In the High Castle (Amazon) (1 Viewer)

mattCR

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Amazon this weekend only, apparently is letting people watch Episode 2 of their series "Man in the High Castle".


Based on the Phillip K Dick novel, it presents a dark current, in which Nazi Germany and Japan won world war II, divided the world and divided the United States.


The pilot has been available for a while, all episodes can be binged 11/20, but the first two episodes together are a HELL of a punch.


Solid recommend for those that like truly unique sci fi on a series that looks like they spent real money to make it look unique.. great set designs and a pretty cool layout of how this will go..
 

Adam Lenhardt

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There are better written shows on TV right now, but "Game of Thrones" is the only one that comes close to this level of worldbuilding. So much thought has gone into every frame, creating not only a 1962 period piece, but an alternate 1962 period piece. From the alternate New York City of the Greater Nazi Reich to the alternate San Francisco of the Japanese Pacific States to the burnt out, rusted relics of the abandoned, third world Neutral Zone, each location feels like a discrete place with history and weight. And none of them feel like a thinly veiled Vancouver (or in the pilot, Roslyn, Washington), which is the real triumph.
As events progress, things get more and more harrowing, but seldom in an overt way. The threat hangs in the air, sometimes silently. The plight of Frank Frink's sister, niece and nephew is all the more horrifying for the sober, sanitary almost polite way in which it is engineered. This is a world that has perfected state-sponsored terror and genocide.
In some ways, this is a remarkably faithful adaptation; like the book, it is set in 1962 and most of the main characters are drawn directly from the text more or less intact -- Frank's job, Julianna's martial arts background, Tagomi's use of yarrow stalks for I Ching divination.
In other ways, there appear to be significant differences:
In the novel, the divergence point was February 15, 1933. Giuseppe Zangara successfully assassinated FDR instead of or in addition to his actual victim (Chicago mayor Anton Cermak). Without the New Deal, the US economy never recovered from the Great Depression and there was no counterweight in the White House to the strong isolationist sentiments of the American public. As a result, the US was much less prepared for entry into World War II and the Japanese were able to destroy the entire Pacific fleet with the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. The Allies were forced to surrender to the Axis Powers by 1947. The period that followed marked a Cold War between the Japanese and the Germans that mirrored the real world Cold War between the United States and the Soviets.
In this show, the divergence point seems to be much later. Instead of FDR's assassination in 1933 being the divergence point, the Germans beating the Americans to the atomic bomb seems to be the point of divergence. Judging by Juliana's reaction to the newsreel, FDR did become president but the landings at Normandy never happened. So we can assume that Washington, D.C. was nuked sometime prior to 1944. A character mentioned that "V-A Day" was in 1952, so we can assume that the war dragged on at least five years longer than in the book. And because the Nazi victory was driven by Germany's nuclear prowess, the post-war status quo seems to be much less evenly balanced, with the German Empire at a significant advantage over the Japanese empire. Hitler does not die of syphilis and still clinging on to power as a 73 year old being slowly crippled by Parkinson's.
The nature of The Grasshopper Lies Heavy is also different. In the novel, it is a novel-within-the-novel by Hawthorne Abendsen, banned by the Germans in the East, illicit but tolerated by the Japenese in West, and circulated freely in the nuetral zone. While the novel-within-the-novel depicts an alternate reality where the Allies won World War II, it is a different Allied victory than the one of our world, with an intact British Empire, no communist government in China, and ultimately a Cold War between the British Empire and the United States.
The translation The Grasshopper Lies Heavy from a novel to an illicit newsreel (or series of newsreels) is an elegant one. But, the power of photography to convince is more powerful than a written (and presumed fictional) novel. As a result, it's a much hotter potato, with a much stronger response from the military. And given that it uses actual historical footage, there's little doubt that the alternate reality being presented is our reality. There's nothing wrong with that -- if anything, it provides a much stronger jolt to viewers than a different different reality would have -- but it's a sizable difference.
Over on LinkedIn, Agness Kaku has a pretty interesting critique of the show's depiction of San Francisco in the Japanese Pacific States. Her main argument is that while in the novel Dick made great efforts to explore the cultural and linguistic implications of the West Coast Americans being a conquered people, the show is mainly interested in the political implications. As a result, there is too much of the Japanese accomodating themselves to American language and culture, and not enough of the Americans accomodating themselves to Japanese language and culture.
 

mattCR

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I'd agree with a lot of that assessment. Outside of the deaths of the sister etc the moment that got me was the discussion with the police officer "oh, that ash? It's Tuesday at the hospital"

The show is different then the book, but it seems in pursuit of a similar idea.. that humanity ends up accepting horrors and so many just go back to they're day to day
 

dana martin

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First of all was wondering if this already had a thread on the site, I happened on this all because of Spectre, there was a promo before the film, Sir Ridley, Frank Spotnitz and Philip K.Dick. All sounded like a no-brainer to me, started to watch the first episode, and then turned it off, have a different plan. Think I am going to wait until I can view it all as one large film. I know it is being presented as series TV, but I think that this will end up being quite limited, like one season. It looks fantastic from wat I have seen, agree on the world building and it shows the sad state of actual programming that is on current network television.


Not that it is that odd anymore, what one was controlled by the three major networks for most of my childhood has expanded. FX, AMC, HBO, STARZ, Showtime, and Netflix, all have something that that I am currently interested in, the only Major networks getting any attention is CW and ABC Flash and AoS being two shows I DVR. So now I have two more to work on this holiday season, this and Jessica Jones on Netflix.
 

mattCR

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I've been devouring this show this morning; this is to me the best thing Amazon has put out. I enjoyed Transparent, but this is the kind of scifi I always wish there was more of.. I'm at episode 5 now, and it has grown a lot deeper, smarter, serious as the series has went on. This show started great and it surprises me how good this thing gets for something from Amazon.


I'm just hoping it stays this good the rest of the way because if it does, that's an accomplishment
 

Walter Kittel

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I have a buddy who doesn't have Prime who is going to be viewing this series with me. We watched the pilot together earlier this year and both tremendously enjoyed it. We may restart it this weekend.


- Walter.
 

skylark68

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Maybe I was just really tired, but I watched the pilot and some of the 2nd episode and just couldn't get into it. I usually heartily enjoy these types of shows but I can't just get into this one.


I did really like the old HBO Fatherland movie. That was another alternate history with the Germans mostly winning the war.
 

Ronald Epstein

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I liked the first episode when I saw it earlier this year.


I will probably give the others a watch.
 

albert_m2

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I saw the first two episodes a few weeks ago and the show has a lot of potential. Look forward to seeing the rest soon.
 

mattCR

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I'm not just racing through this as I have had family events this weekend, but just finished Episode 9.. holy heck what a closing on that episode!
 

Matt Hough

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Once we get into reruns of network broadcast shows (which should be in the next week), I know which series I'll be watching to fill in those gaps.


Thanks, everybody, for the critiques and recommendations. Looking forward to seeing what this is all about.
 

dana martin

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The production values on this are so high, dare I say the bets that cable tv has had the past few years, FX and AMC and HBO and STARZ. I hope it gets the same considerations when awards time rolls around, and I also hope that it leads to that second season. After a quality "Amazon Exclusive" blu ray release I hope that happens. Currently I, have Mr. Harris' restoration of Leni Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will, on pre-order, dear lord what a terrifying double feature using that as a preface then following up with this program. Think I will do that once it arrives, and watch this program again, but this series does make the hair stand up on the back of your neck.
 

Patrick Sun

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I'm ambivalent on this show. It just felted too padded, like 4 episodes too padded, so not as high on the show as others.
 

todd s

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Question for those who read the books or saw all the episodes...

Do they ever explain how their is film footage of the allies winning? I am curious how it came about. Thanks
 

Josh Dial

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Regarding Todd's spoiler:


In the book, the film reel is actually a novel (so it's a novel within a novel).
 

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