Man in the High Castle & Jessica Jones now live!

[Ubik]

So, pretty big week for new streaming content. We have season 1 of Amazon's adaptation of PKD's 'Man in the High Castle' and Netflix's 'Jessica Jones'.

Have started on Man in the High Castle, don't have Netflix presently as I got sick of how crap the film selection was. Will re-sub over Christmas to watch Jessica Jones. I loved 'Alias', perhaps one of the first and best Marvel comics that was truly aimed at an adult audience. Very curious to see how the series has turned out, although I must admit I am skeptical about David Tennant seriously as a villain. Reports have been positive though!

[babylonlurker]

So, pretty big week for new streaming content. We have season 1 of Amazon's adaptation of PKD's 'Man in the High Castle' and Netflix's 'Jessica Jones'.

Have started on Man in the High Castle, don't have Netflix presently as I got sick of how crap the film selection was. Will re-sub over Christmas to watch Jessica Jones. I loved 'Alias', perhaps one of the first and best Marvel comics that was truly aimed at an adult audience. Very curious to see how the series has turned out, although I must admit I am skeptical about David Tennant seriously as a villain. Reports have been positive though!

I am half way through JJ. I like Tennant in that role. No spoilers ...

[JasonDavis]

Ubik,

I'm midway through both The Man in the High Castle and Jessica Jones; I'm using the former as a respite from the emotional drain of the latter, so that gives you a sense of the tone.

All I'll say about Jones is: Tennant won't be worried about being typecast as the hero anymore.

I adored both Dick's novel and Alias. Frank Spotnitz and his writers have done an exemplary job of extrapolating out from Dick's text and Melissa Rosenberg, Krysten Ritter and the rest of the folks on Jessica Jones have adapted an exemplary comic into an extraordinary Netflix serial.

[Ubik]

Ubik,

I'm midway through both The Man in the High Castle and Jessica Jones; I'm using the former as a respite from the emotional drain of the latter, so that gives you a sense of the tone.

All I'll say about Jones is: Tennant won't be worried about being typecast as the hero anymore.

I adored both Dick's novel and Alias. Frank Spotnitz and his writers have done an exemplary job of extrapolating out from Dick's text and Melissa Rosenberg, Krysten Ritter and the rest of the folks on Jessica Jones have adapted an exemplary comic into an extraordinary Netflix serial.

I feel like I should save these two series for over Christmas! I am relieved to hear that Tennant is excellent in his role. Netflix seems to have pretty high quality control on their shows thus far.

I'm on Ep.4 of Man in High Castle and it's solid. I feel like I should re-read the book to have it fresh in my memory. I know they've certainly taken some liberties, but I would always rather this than a direct adaptation that adds nothing new to the source material. Blade Runner / Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep is always the perfect of example of this. If they get the tone right and the core concerns, then I'll always be interested.

Interested to see how it plays out, as they definitely can't end it in the same way as the book!

[JasonDavis]

A little background on how The Man in the High Castle came to Amazon:

Dick's novel was initially developed for SyFy as a four-hour miniseries intended only to dramatize the book. Frank Spotnitz wrote the first two episodes and Thomas Schnauz (fresh from finishing off Breaking Bad) wrote the third and forth. SyFy eventually passed.

When a new Amazon executive asked Spotnitz if he had any unproduced pilots he'd love to see made, The Man in the High Castle resurfaced. Amazon wanted an ongoing series so Spotnitz assembled an Anglo-American writing staff based in London and set to work. The first two episodes remained as originally scripted for SyFy. Because Schnauz had joined Better Call Saul in the interim, and his two episodes finished off the adaptation, they were reworked by Spotnitz and his staff to further develop Dick's parallel world.

In an unusual move, Spotnitz hired the principal director, Daniel Percival, to be present with the writing staff during the breaking and writing of the scripts so that he'd be better able to serve as the writers' representative on set in Vancouver.

[Dan Dassow]

A little background on how The Man in the High Castle came to Amazon:

Dick's novel was initially developed for SyFy as a four-hour miniseries intended only to dramatize the book. Frank Spotnitz wrote the first two episodes and Thomas Schnauz (fresh from finishing off Breaking Bad) wrote the third and forth. SyFy eventually passed.

When a new Amazon executive asked Spotnitz if he had any unproduced pilots he'd love to see made, The Man in the High Castle resurfaced. Amazon wanted an ongoing series so Spotnitz assembled an Anglo-American writing staff based in London and set to work. The first two episodes remained as originally scripted for SyFy. Because Schnauz had joined Better Call Saul in the interim, and his two episodes finished off the adaptation, they were reworked by Spotnitz and his staff to further develop Dick's parallel world.

In an unusual move, Spotnitz hired the principal director, Daniel Percival, to be present with the writing staff during the breaking and writing of the scripts so that he'd be better able to serve as the writers' representative on set in Vancouver.

The daughter of Philip K. Dick, Isa Dick Hackett, is an executive producer for The Man in the High Castle. She is the Co-Founder/Owner with sister (Laura Leslie) of Electric Shepherd Productions which produces adaptations of their father's work. Ms. Hackett was at SDCC 2015 to promote The Man in the High Castle.

I read the book more than 45 years ago while in junior high, and look forward to seeing the television production.

[Ubik]

The daughter of Philip K. Dick, Isa Dick Hackett, is an executive producer for The Man in the High Castle. She is the Co-Founder/Owner with sister (Laura Leslie) of Electric Shepherd Productions which produces adaptations of their father's work. Ms. Hackett was at SDCC 2015 to promote The Man in the High Castle.

I read the book more than 45 years ago while in junior high, and look forward to seeing the television production.

They are doing some interesting things with the story for sure. If I remember correctly, the book really does leave quite a lot up in the air. For those who might not have read "I Am Alive and You Are Dead: A Journey into the Mind of Philip K. Dick", Emmanuel Carrere reveals that much of the 'The Man in the High Castle' was plotted according to advice received from the I Ching, which also features prominently in the book.

I think he also consulted the I Ching on how to end the book, which may explain away some of the oddness.

In any case, I am keen to see where they go with the alternate reality / alternate worlds sub theme.

[DaveNarn]

I saw the first episode that Amazon is offering at no charge and was impressed with the sets and production.
The changes to the story are immediately noticed with the absence of Mr. Childan the shop keeper and Frank and Juliana are on better terms.

I got a kick out of the original idea of "The Grasshopper Lies Heavy" in the book but am intrigued by how they are using it in the series.

[Jonas]

I am watching Jessica Jones with my wife and we are both hating it. Hoping it will get better, but so far everything about it seems pretty abysmal. Especially the writing. It's a bit like someone took Daredevil and drained it of all humanity.

Haven't watched The Man in the High Castle yet, but the book is excellent. I'm not sure it's possible to adapt it - the plot is almost irrelevant, the part that really matters has to do with our understanding of the nature of reality, but barely impacts the events of the story and is never "explained" as such - but I do look forward to seeing how they've approached it.

[Looney]

It's a bit like someone took Daredevil and drained it of all humanity.

I love that analogy, but I think Jessica Jones is okay. I am only a few episodes in and I am still looking forward to watching more. It is definitely not Daredevil, but I had low expectations and so far it has managed to stay slightly above them. Tennant does help. I just finally finished all of his Doctor Who episodes and Jessica Jones has been a great transition. I did watch him in Gracepoint, but his character was soooo blah he really added nothing to the show.