PHILIP K. DICK’S ELECTRIC DREAMS — ‘The Hood Maker’ ✭✭✭✩✩
This Black Mirror wannabe lacks satirical bite.
The esteemed American sci-fi author Philip K. Dick wrote that weird 1984 movie about a desktop PC that falls in love with a cello-player next door? No, of course not. Electric Dreams is merely a strained echo of his best-known novel, “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” (1968), which was famously turned into the Ridley Scott movie Blade Runner (1982). Dick sadly died in ‘82, so never saw the huge influence his work’s had on other artists and filmmakers in the decades that followed. The strange thing about his stories is they’re rarely adapted 100% faithfully, as it’s their concepts them inspire other artist’s imaginations. The same is very true of “The Hood Maker”, the first instalment of Channel 4’s sci-fi anthology series.
Electric Dreams is an Anglo-American co-production from Sony Picture Television, airing on Channel 4 in the UK and Amazon Prime Video in the US. It’s executive produced by Ronald D. Moore (Battlestar Galactica), who’s used to working with UK co-productions thanks to Outlander on Starz, Michael Dinner (Chicago Hope, Kidnapped), and Bryan Cranston (Sneaky Pete, Breaking Bad).
This premiere, “The Hood Maker” is based on Philip K. Dick’s 1955 short story, which is only 18 pages long. Consequently, writer Matthew Graham (Life on Mars, Ashes to Ashes) has broadened the story considerably, adding new characters and creating fresh dynamics. Again, it’s an example of Dick’s work being treated as the launchpad for a new interpretation.
In both stories, we’re introduced to a near-future society where “Normals” are subject to telepathic investigation by “Teeps”, as the government want to create a world where they have permission to dig around in their citizen’s minds. Clearly some “thought police” overtones from George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949). In the TV version specifically, we follow Ross (Richard Madden), an agent working for Free Union movement alongside an ostracised “teep” called Honor (Holliday Grainger), as both get embroiled in a case involving a special hood that can shield wearers from telepaths.
There’s a slight Blade Runner overtone to “The Hood Maker” (unavoidable when working on a PKD story these days?), not helped by the fact Madden wears a brown jacket similar to Harrison Ford’s, and favours a fedora like all good ’40s gumshoes. Honor even has the faint whiff of replicant Pris Stratton (Daryl Hannah) to her, as they’re both quite “alien” with memorable designs around their eyes. Honor, like other teeps, has a strange vertical red mark down her left eye and cheek, similar to Blofeld’s scar from James Bond. Both cities are also rundown dystopias, although “The Hood Maker” is certainly less rainy and more choked by a sulphuric yellow haze.
The problem with “The Hood Maker” is that Richard Madden’s an inordinately boring actor, which wasn’t so noticeable when he was in a big ensemble on Game of Thrones. And the romantic element he’s given with Grainger is too undercooked, so there’s no weight to where that relationship ultimately ends up.
We’ve also seen variations on this story’s ideas many times before. When you have a telepaths prying into people’s thoughts, often without their consent, you have to do something subvert expectations, or push forward an allegory about modern life. The rise of the surveillance state is fertile ground that would hit home, but “The Hood Maker” doesn’t do enough to make us feel like it has anything very disturbing or insightful to say about 2017.
In that respect, the shadow of Black Mirror hangs over Electric Dreams.
Netflix poached Charlie Brooker’s Emmy-winning anthology drama from Channel 4 a few years ago, so it’s hard not to believe Electric Dreams is their way of replacing it. It even shares the same Sunday night time slot. AMC were originally set to partner with Amazon Prime on the show, but after they dropped out Channel 4 swiftly replaced them. It seems likely they wanted to emulate Black Mirror but with a more prestigious derivation in Philip K. Dick.
Like Black Mirror, there’s a very British vibe to “The Hood Maker”, despite the American influence the series has elsewhere. This hour was directed by BAFTA-winning Julian Jarrold (Brideshead Revisited, The Crown), and contains very little that’s “American”— unless you fixate on Madden’s fedora. Many of the writers and directors for subsequent episodes are also from this side of the pond: David Farr (The Night Manager), Tom Harper (Peaky Blinders), Jack Thorne (Skins), Marc Munden (Utopia), and Tony Grisoni (Red Riding).
But while it has the same icy feel, this isn’t Black Mirror.
Brooker’s Emmy-winning drama shines a light on current concerns in a far smarter way, while serving up ingenious twists, emotional highs, and devastating lows. “The Hood Maker” felt comparatively sedate, even dawdling at times, albeit with noble intentions and a couple of memorable moments (the best being Honor’s interrogation of a suspect using the power of her mind). It’s just that the whole idea felt a little… played out. No offence to Philip K. Dick and his many fans, but his story is now 62 years old and has never been considered a “classic” or even an under-appreciated gem.
There’s only so much that could be done in terms of updating this for the 21st-century, and I worry that Dick’s best work been taken by Ridley Scott (Blade Runner), Richard Linklater (A Scanner Darkly), and Amazon Prime (The Man in the High Castle). Are these Electric Dreams going to be the background static to Dick’s seminal pieces of fiction?
We’ll have to wait and see how the remaining nine instalments of Electric Dreams fare, but considering you tend to launch anthologies with an instalment that’s amongst your best, if not the best, it’s a definite concern. “The Hood Maker” wasn’t terrible television or especially bad science fiction, but neither did it feel like essential viewing and an exciting way to begin a new drama. However, as with all anthologies dating back to classics like The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits, there’s always hope that next week’s will be better…
Cast & Crew
writer: Matthew Graham.
director: Julian Jarrold
starring: Richard Madden, Holliday Grainger, Noma Dumezweni, Anneika Rose, Richard McCabe, Paul Ritter & Tony Way.
