I was really into the genre back in high school and college, so I read the book back then, along with similar works like Fatherland -- alternate histories where the Axis won WWII, but before it was really, truly played out.
That said, Philip K. Dick is pretty much always better watched than read, and this is no exception. PKD is an idea man; he comes up with great concepts, but his execution is often (to me) unreadable.
It's a solid adaption of the book, one that understandably charts its own path after setting things up similarly to the book in the (very) broad strokes. It LOOKS great; the writing is uneven at times, though it's usually quite good. Rufus Sewell does an outstanding job making his character menacing and creepy yet still layered, instead of just a one-dimensional a Nazi caricature. Your opinion changes on every single character throughout the run of the show; heroes aren't always heroic; villains show their own kind of honor and integrity.
The look of it is pretty amazing given the venue and what must have been a relatively low budget. Some of the CGI is . . . less than good. But that's more than made up for in the costumes, sets, and the design of a a fully-realized world . . . including weird, original cars which never existed, but look like they fit in the alternate 1962 of the show, as in, they're the kind of cars you'd expect to see given the timeline.
I was hooked. I watched a couple of episodes per night and couldn't wait to get back to it every evening. The story went where I thought it was going to, but I don't mean that it's predictable; I just mean that 40 years of reading alternate histories pretty much prepares you for whatever's coming. (Kind of like BioShock Infinite, but that's another discussion.)
Some people think it's slow at the beginning, and I don't begrudge them that. I didn't find it that way, but I understand why others might. Make it to the 4th or 5th episode, and you'll want to see it through to the end.
That said, Philip K. Dick is pretty much always better watched than read, and this is no exception. PKD is an idea man; he comes up with great concepts, but his execution is often (to me) unreadable.
It's a solid adaption of the book, one that understandably charts its own path after setting things up similarly to the book in the (very) broad strokes. It LOOKS great; the writing is uneven at times, though it's usually quite good. Rufus Sewell does an outstanding job making his character menacing and creepy yet still layered, instead of just a one-dimensional a Nazi caricature. Your opinion changes on every single character throughout the run of the show; heroes aren't always heroic; villains show their own kind of honor and integrity.
The look of it is pretty amazing given the venue and what must have been a relatively low budget. Some of the CGI is . . . less than good. But that's more than made up for in the costumes, sets, and the design of a a fully-realized world . . . including weird, original cars which never existed, but look like they fit in the alternate 1962 of the show, as in, they're the kind of cars you'd expect to see given the timeline.
I was hooked. I watched a couple of episodes per night and couldn't wait to get back to it every evening. The story went where I thought it was going to, but I don't mean that it's predictable; I just mean that 40 years of reading alternate histories pretty much prepares you for whatever's coming. (Kind of like BioShock Infinite, but that's another discussion.)
Some people think it's slow at the beginning, and I don't begrudge them that. I didn't find it that way, but I understand why others might. Make it to the 4th or 5th episode, and you'll want to see it through to the end.
