Total Recall
ftw3...@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu
No doubt in my mind that it was a dream.
I mean, since his wife is alive , he couldn't have killed her "in his past"
Don't forget, that REkall doesn't "give you a dream" as give you a vacation
in the past.
Frank
Bob Alberti
Having just seen this pathetic sci-fi movie (I use the term deliberately),
I will have to read the book to find out what really happened (even if
if the book left a vague ending, I have faith that Dick executed it better
than the movie). It's my hope that Dick's novel bore the same resemblance to
the movie as "Do Androids..." bore to "Blade Runner".
Unfortunately, I missed the novel credits in the movie - what's the novel?
And IS it worth reading?
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ftw3...@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu
The novel is also called "Total Recall" it's by piers anthony, & is definitely
worth reading. The story is a lot better, & I'm thinking that it was an
original script, chopped because it was too long.
The dream sequence, where That mental alien enters quail's mind, was at least
20-30 times longer in the book. A lot better too.
I liked the movie though. It had you thinking most of the time whether it was
real or not. It had a plot. Nice special effects. A bit much on gore, heck,
nobody deserves to be shot 30 times, but hey, I guess I'll have to live with it.
Frank
Valentino Herrera
>RE: Total Recall -
>Unfortunately, I missed the novel credits in the movie - what's the novel?
>And IS it worth reading?
The novel based on the movie is "Total Recall" by Piers Anthony. It is
allegedly very close to the movie.
The story both are based on is the Philip K. Dick short story, "We Can
Dream It For You Wholesale". It appeared in The Best of Fantasy and
Science Fiction, c.1968, as well as in one issue. I can't find it
anywhere, including used bookstores. If anyone can tell me how I can get
a copy, please let me know.
--
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
|Valentino Herrera Tegra/Varityper tegra!her...@ulowell.edu |
| "And the meek shall inherit s**t" |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
Joseph Edward Herbers
>>No doubt in my mind that it was a dream.
>I will have to read the book to find out what really happened (even if
>if the book left a vague ending, I have faith that Dick executed it better
>than the movie). It's my hope that Dick's novel bore the same resemblance to
>the movie as "Do Androids..." bore to "Blade Runner".
Uh, no. As we discussed when the movie was out, Dick's original was a
short story of maybe 20 pages. The movie starts out the same for maybe
15 minutes (guessing) and then the book just ends (with a twist of course)
while the movie develops into a whole new story. So it is vastly different
from the movie. (I think it was Mark Leeper that posted a list of sources
for the short story).
>Unfortunately, I missed the novel credits in the movie - what's the novel?
>And IS it worth reading?
The novelization is by Piers Anthony, so it's fluffy like most of his
recent stuff. It's VERY similar to the movie, but different enough
that it's "reality" viewpoint does not translate to the movie (which
was of course, a fantasy).
I had mixed feelings myself about Total Recall when I first saw it
(and me a devoted Arnie fan) probably because of all the violence.
When you really think about it, there was a lot going on in terms
of reality/fantasy. The scene in the hotel with the doctor was
excellent. But after that, it was all action and blood, and they
never really came back to the mental stuff. I like the movie but
thought it could have been great if they'd cut down the violence
and put together the ending better. My $.02
Joe "Arnie Forever!" Herbers
Rhodri James
>I will have to read the book to find out what really happened (even if
>if the book left a vague ending, I have faith that Dick executed it better
>than the movie). It's my hope that Dick's novel bore the same resemblance to
>the movie as "Do Androids..." bore to "Blade Runner".
>
>Unfortunately, I missed the novel credits in the movie - what's the novel?
>And IS it worth reading?
The novel is "Total Recall" by Piers Anthony. The short story on which
the film was based is "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale". The film
uses many of the themes of the short, but with a different set of
twists (the originals wouldn't have worked at film length, so IMHO they
were right to rewrite here).
Sorry you couldn't follow the movie. I found it perfectly reasonable and
highly ambiguous - deliberatly so - even given that I watched it on
board a ferry and had other things on my... mind.
--
* Windsinger * "Nothing is forgotten..."
* r...@islay.tcom.stc.co.uk * Mike Whitaker
* or (occasionally) * "...except sometimes the words"
* rm...@phx.cam.ac.uk * Phil Allcock
Doug Fierro
She was alive before Arnie went to Recall, but there is nothing that
says that she went back in time. Don't forget that what he considers
reality (his past) may be what is happening right now for his wife.
It all depends on your point of view of reality, which gets pretty
confusing.
Is there a hole in that argument somewhere?? I'm not very
good at reality :-)
Doug
Mac
>Having just seen this pathetic sci-fi movie (I use the term deliberately),
Ah, such a shame there aren't more Arnie fans in the world....
>I will have to read the book to find out what really happened (even if
>if the book left a vague ending, I have faith that Dick executed it better
>than the movie). It's my hope that Dick's novel bore the same resemblance to
>the movie as "Do Androids..." bore to "Blade Runner".
>
>Unfortunately, I missed the novel credits in the movie - what's the novel?
>And IS it worth reading?
The short story (!) is called _We can remember it for you wholesale_ and is
typically Dick. Highly witty and intellectually stimulating. I think you will
find it in the collection _The Golden Man_ but I'm not sure. But be warned,
the only similarity is the concept. (ie the first 20 minutes of the film).
Mac. (Also an Arnie fan. Gotta have a break sometime! ;-)
--
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Mac.(ma...@uk.ac.warwick.cu) | Colin A. McDonald, (ibs...@uk.ac.brunel.cc)
"A witty saying proves nothing!"| Chairman - British Space School Association,
-Voltaire | ( My views are NOT also the Association's)
Ron Christian
>The story both are based on is the Philip K. Dick short story, "We Can
>Dream It For You Wholesale".
"We can remember it for you wholesale". Great story. The movie is
relitively faithful to the story up to, but not including, the point
where the line "get your ass to Mars" is invoked. After that, the
movie goes off on a bizarre tangent.
Ron
Carolyn Osmond
Actually the title is, "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale."
I found it at the local library in the following book:
Twenty Years of the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (c 1970),
edited by Edward Ferman and Robert Mills.
-Brian
Deborah Brown
>In article <1990Sep11.1...@cs.umn.edu> alb...@cs.umn.edu (Bob Alberti) writes:
>>Having just seen this pathetic sci-fi movie (I use the term deliberately),
>Ah, such a shame there aren't more Arnie fans in the world....
>The short story (!) is called _We can remember it for you wholesale_ and is
>typically Dick. Highly witty and intellectually stimulating. I think you will
>find it in the collection _The Golden Man_ but I'm not sure. But be warned,
>the only similarity is the concept. (ie the first 20 minutes of the film).
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Interesting.... This was the only part of the movie I enjoyed. They got to
Mars and IMHO it fell apart immediately.
>Mac. (Also an Arnie fan. Gotta have a break sometime! ;-)
Also an Arnie fan. Too bad the movie was such a disappointment.
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Gabe NEWELL
>
> The novel is also called "Total Recall" it's by piers anthony, & is definitely
> worth reading. The story is a lot better, & I'm thinking that it was an
> original script, chopped because it was too long.
The movie was based on a Phillip K. Dick short story called "We can
Remember It For You Wholesale." Piers Anthony did the novelization of
the movie screenplay.
Ron Rejmaniak
No doubt in my mind that ... it was a movie.
Actually I say that in the course of the story it was real. There are
scenes where Arnold isn't present. If it was Arnold's dream, he would know what
took place in those scenes.
-Ron Rejmaniak
Ulf Dahlen
When Arnold is about to get the implant, the young guy says "Boy, is he
gonna have a good time!" or something like that. It isn't clear at
all that the implant is instantaneous. I mean, it's not clear if REKALL
gives you a memory or a very real dream.
Anyway, your argument seems to me be more like "it's a memory, not a dream"
than "it's a dream, not reality". If it is *not* a dream/memory, then
there is nothin illogical about it.
A very good film, BTW.
--Ulf Dahlen
Linkoping University, Sweden and Edinburgh University, Scotland
Internet: u...@ida.liu.se
Andy Soravilla
those controversial special effects (blue sky on mars, faces swelling and so on)could be explained as what Quaid would believe would happen in those
circumstances.
Well, now that I've answered that, I'm sure a few of us can sleep much easier!
Andy
Sakari Jalovaara
> Dream It For You Wholesale".
"We Can Dream..." is printed in the collection "The Preserving
Machine", Philip K. Dick, Grafton Books, London 1987.
++sja