Tag: philip k dick

10 Days and Back Again

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I am watching through Season 3 of The Man in the High Castle and am feeling the urge to write because I haven’t written anything substantial in a long time—that show has a way of inspiring the muse.

I’m watching the final episode tonight, and the fictional stakes couldn’t be any higher, oh how turbulent my emotions are right now.

I’ve been avoiding spoilers by limiting my Internet access all week, while it is easy to do on days I work, the weekends are another story. I can’t wait until this self-imposed Internet exile is over with. I feel like I’ve been missing all the High Castle action on Twitter, but I just can’t binge good, thought provoking shows. I honestly tried!

There’s just something about the anticipation of waiting for the next episode and wondering about your favorite characters that I can’t resist. I love thinking about the previous night’s episode—What is John going to do next? How will Kido react when he sees something? Will Robert survive the trip home? —until I rush home from work to watch the next one. I wish I could beam that feeling directly into your mind! No other show has ever affected me this way.

The only thing I can compare it to is looking forward to the next chapter of a good book and devouring it on your lunch break because you are captivated by its story (okay, so it actually is a great book, but that’s beside the point!).

Here’s a sample of the great lengths I’ve gone to to avoid spoilers:

Smile and laugh, ha ha!

I couldn’t disappear completely, so I blocked off my monitor each night to tweet about each episode. That’s only some of my efforts to avoid spoilers. And with that being said, The Man in the High Castle is the only show I’ve ever gone to such great lengths for.

…Speak of the devil, my phone just alerted me with my weekly usage report, and my “screen time” is down. That’s going to change drastically tonight, ha ha!

After this is all said and done, I might do a how to avoid spoilers in 2018 post. I can’t say my tactics are successful yet since there’s still an episode to go!

Until next time (which will most likely be a review of Season 3), Tschüss!

***

Here is a painting I finished this week in an effort to avoid spoilers. When I break out the paintbrushes, it is a solid chunk of time without being distracted or tempted by the Internet. 

High Castle Awakens

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After two long years, we finally have a release date for Season 3!
October 5th, 2018

Before I delve into the panel at SDCC and the trailer, I want to give a huge thank you to @nerdeeklife for live tweeting it.

As I sat down to put my thoughts together (with High Castle, there are always a million different thoughts running along side each other—sort of like the multiverse!), I decided to organize them into three parts:
Takeaways from the panel
Takeaways from the trailer
Thoughts, theories, and questions

Takeaways from the panel

  • Smith is in a difficult, dark place and commits even further to the Reich. He finds out about the multiverse, and it becomes an obsession (remember the clip from NYCC? The expression on his face says it all). 
  • The resistance plays a prominent role.
  • When asked to describe Season 3 in three words during his takeover of @AmazonVideo IG stories, Jason O’Mara said, “Resistance. Twists. Turns.” 
  • Juliana becomes a leader and a fighter within the resistance. 
  • We will see a lot more of the neutral zone (I mean, it goes without saying since the Resistance will be heavily featured throughout S3). 
  • There will be a larger sci-fi element because of the multiverse. 
  • We’ll learn more about Hawthorne. 
  • High Castle has been renewed for a 4th season!

Takeaways from the trailer

I was speechless after the first time I watched it. I don’t want to admit how many times I’ve seen it since! 
  • The Pacific States are mobilizing their Navy (you can see the Yamato with a fleet of ships near the golden gate bridge). 
  • There is a fuel/gas shortage in the Pacific States, and it is so bad that the citizens are protesting and lashing out against their occupiers.
  • A lot of action involving Juliana and the resistance (guns and explosions).
  • The Reich has a multiverse machine of some sort that Juliana wants to destroy. 
  • Joe says something in favor of the Reich expanding in one flash, and in another, he’s taking a swing at Smith’s aid, Erich Raeder. 
  • Smith is rewarded for his actions in S2. Smith is shocked beyond belief at the end of the trailer. 
  • Juliana is in a prison cell.

Thoughts, theories, and questions

I don’t even know where to begin. After two years of silence, we were showered with news, clues, and clips of Season 3 all within the span of an hour!

I knew Smith would get obsessed with the multiverse from the clip shown at NYCC. My theories for him still stand.

At the panel, Alexa Davalos said that she loves playing Juliana because everything she does is from a place of love. I hope this means that she will change the resistance and mold it into something worth rooting for. I have a gut feeling she will because of the teaser trailer where we see someone sewing a Reich flag into a symbol of peace instead of just tearing it apart like we’ve seen in other shows/movies a million times. Juliana destroyed the films about Thomas’s illness, after all!

As for the scene at the end of the trailer where it looks like John walks into Juliana’s cell and is shocked to see her there, it it is either a clever editing combo of two very different scenes or something more. I can’t help but wonder if Juliana dies and then a Juliana from another universe travels to his, or he sees her disappearing into another reality before his very eyes–I have so many questions!

With all that being said, it is clear that the resistance will be one of the major players (right up there with the Reich and Pacific States). TMITHC thus far has been a unique, creative show which paints characters in realistic shades of grey. I have high hopes that they will continue to produce great content—that teaser trailer.

They could have just had a resistance fighter burn it and shout something cliché like “Freedom!” but no. They showed someone sewing it into something that represents good. I’ve never seen that done before, and that, my friends, is why I have high hopes for Season 3.

I couldn’t fit everything I wanted to say in one post, which means there will be more posts in the future!

After two long years, I look forward to what is in store for us.

I’ll leave you with a bit of fanart I drew ages ago when I thought they were going to announce S3’s release date (you don’t want to know how long ago that was, ha ha!):

Which one do you feed?

The Prathra Project Files: A High Castle Fan Tale

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Don’t forget to read the disclaimer at the end!

The year was 1962, Kennedy was president, and the Cubin Missile Crisis was just around the corner. Deep within the darkest corner of the CIA’s science and technology division, The Prathra Project was in full swing.

Deputy Director Klemm was about to cut the project from the budget and end it entirely when he saw something that rocked him to the very core.

Enter File 02365

On the frigid morning of 3 February, 1962, Klemm received an emergency call regarding the Prathra Project.

He felt a sense of annoyance as he headed down the stairwell that would take him into the basement level of redacted. He had always kept a wary eye on wild, conspiracy-theory ridden experiments like this one.

So long as the higher ups insisted on studying ridiculous notions like telepathy, alternate dimensions, and alien life, Klemm had no choice but to keep the projects running—unless, of course, there was a sudden need to reallocate funds elsewhere.

He walked along the narrow hallway, his dress shoes echoing off the hard floor like raindrops on a tin roof. Klemm stopped at the last door on the left, punched in the code, and opened the door.

The hum of electrical equipment warmed the room. A scientist in a white lab coat ushered him through another door, hardly giving him a chance to inspect the instruments and calculations scrawled on the blackboard to his left.

The next chamber felt Spartan and oddly so, for the only piece of furniture there was a metal chair. A man sat in it, pressing an ice bag against the left side of his face. A silver necklace swayed in his other hand.

“It’s real,” the man rasped. “There are other worlds.” Klemm held his breath and waited for the crazy half-witted explanation. Was this really worth skipping breakfast for?

“I saw it. I know I recognized him. He served with me in Korea. I’d know John’s face anywhere.” The man lowered the ice pack and stared into Klemm’s eyes. The necklace slipped from his pale fingertips, landing to the barren floor with a soft clink. “You-you were there too.”

“Is he on anything?” Klemm sighed, shooting the scientist a scowl.

“No sir. We-we have proof.” His lab coat whipped behind him as he scurried out of the room. Klemm folded his arms across his chest.

“I’ve been there three times,” the man in the chair whispered. A grotesque bruise along his jaw glared at him through the dim lighting of the room. “This is the first time I saw him…and you.” He shuddered and placed the ice against his face again.

Klemm began to pace. “And who am I in this other world of yours?”

“You’re-we lost the war.”

“It was a stalemate.”

“No. Not that war.” He shook his head. “World War Two. We lost.” Klemm drew a deep breath and continued pacing.

“John is alive in it. He’s an Obergruppenführer of the SS.”

“That’s not what I asked you,” Klemm muttered. Not that it mattered. There were dozens of pulp magazines with trashy Nazi stories out there right now. It was the latest fad. As far as he was concerned, this guy had been injected with something and was suffering from delusions.

“You are an SS Major.”

Klemm snorted.

“We have photos of Smith,” the scientist appeared in the doorway, holding a film canister in one hand and an SS officer’s cap in the other. “But most importantly, we’ve managed to film it.”

Chills dripped down Klemm’s spine. They wouldn’t lie about evidence like that, and it didn’t get much more Damning than a film.

“I want everything there is to know about this John Smith.” He strode across the room and took the canister from the man’s outstretched hand. “I want fingerprints.”

** I am not affiliated with Amazon nor the CIA. I am just a fan, and this is a work of fiction. I hope you enjoyed it! Please read the disclaimer below! ** 

Take a peak at the closeups of Klemm’s memorandum and John’s file! Click on them to view full size.

High Castle at NYCC!

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The Man in the High Castle cast members were at NYCC to discuss Season 3. Oh, and the best part? An exclusive early look!

A huge thanks to @nerdophiles for live tweeting the panel!

The official sneak peak!

Talk about a thriller! Here are my thoughts & theories, some T&T:

Smith’s Revealing Facial Expressions

Season 2 left us with Smith preventing a nuclear war and getting access to Hitler’s vault of films.

In the clip above, he is clearly troubled before the doctor even begins his spiel about the traveler on the table.

My initial guess is that Smith watched some of the films, saw a different version of himself or something equally disturbing, and was suddenly called to the lab. The doctor only confirmed what looked like a world-shattering suspicion for him. Look at the way he moves and rubs the back of his head. Smith, who is always in control and always has a plan within a plan, is distressed.

Another factor that most certainly has a play in Smith’s temperament is Thomas’s fateful decision at the end of Season 2. I can’t imagine what he thought when he returned home and discovered his son had decided to be euthanized. It had to be life shattering.

 And then to have your entire reality as you know it broken like that with clear evidence that, yes, the films are real and that there are different versions of you running around in alternate worlds…

When the doctor says they are working on mechanical ways to travel between worlds, the camera zooms in on Smith’s face. I get the distinct feeling he is thinking about Thomas and making mental plans to steal a Thomas from another world as soon as they figure out how.

The Multiverse

The doctor calls the other worlds “the multiverse” and reveals that they’ve been trying to find a way to cross into other worlds. I have no theories on how the writers will incorporate “the multiverse” into the story now, but since they’ve done such an awesome job at keeping this show unique, I am confident that it will be good and not your run of the mill sci-fi cliché.

Season 3 to be released in 2018

Nooooo! All I can hope is that it’s not released when I have to travel (my work’s travel season starts in 2018). I will not have time to watch it when I’m away. I am hoping they release it between trips or after travel season. *crosses fingers*

Avoiding spoilers when you are not a binge watcher is rough as it is, but add I-literally-cannot-watch-it to the 10 days (1 ep a night) it will take me to watch the show? *cries*

Whenever they release it, here’s to looking forward to what Season 3 has in store for us!