Every Philip K. Dick TV Adaptation Ranked Worst To Best

Electric Dreams is an anthology series released by Amazon Prime in the US, and Channel 4 in the UK, which adapts ten of Philip K. Dick's short stories into self-contained 50-minute episodes and, on paper at least, it would appear to be an ideal way to present these short, high concept tales.

The series is slickly produced, and with a consistently high production value throughout, each episode looks and sounds fantastic and the acting is top-notch, which is unsurprising given there are some really big names involved: Bryan Cranston, Timothy Spall, Anna Paquin and Steve Buscemi, for example.

Unfortunately, the series is a bit of a mixed bag. There are a few universally acclaimed episodes including Kill All Others and Real Life (based on The Hanging Stranger and Exhibit Piece respectively) but the jury's out on many of the other episodes which range from the distinctly average to the entirely forgettable.

The series sometimes suffers from predictability and overfamiliarity; The Father Thing, for example, feels like a retread of Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, which is perhaps an inevitable symptom of adapting these stories, many of which are over half a century old.

However, Electric Dreams is still easy to recommend. It's a nice collection of interesting science fiction concepts and stories, well produced and well acted, and if they can look past some of the more familiar cliches and tropes, most viewers will have a good time.