Dick Docu

I tried to do without any lame dick-references in the title, but who am I kidding?!

Anyway, this is a great and long documentary about the amazing Philip K. Dick which the BBC produced and aired in 1994 as a part of its "Arena"-program.

The ill-fated Dick was one of the most prolific and visionary sci-fi authors, whose vision and impact was only beginning to be felt shortly after his death, when "Blade Runner" made him a household name.


In a way PKD is the American counterpart to J.G. Ballard. Whereas JGBs characters tend to embrace global catastrophy and social decline as a chance to find a sort of inner freedom, Dicks protagonists wander through dystopian landscapes with a piercing objectivity that offers the reader a look at the present as if seeing it through a one-way mirror.

Both authors refrain from moralizing and at times they thrill us with the idea that they actually do enjoy the situations they dreamed up for their protagonists.
While Ballard was seen as burning more bridges behind and in front of him with the release of "Crash", Dick was more or less ignored as a pessimistic sci-fi author by the American public.

The docu features has many "guest appearances" by BBC regulars such as Terry Gilliam and Elvis Costello, but there are also some acidic remarks in interviews by colleagues, such as fellow sci-fi author Thomas M. Dish, who recently decided to end his life.

The whole thing consists of six parts which you can see here:
2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6