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» » Электрические сны Филипа К. Дика The Father Thing (2017– )

Short summary

The world is under attack from aliens. Charlie must make difficult decisions to protect his mother and the human race, as he is among the first to realize that humans are being replaced by dangerous monsters.

The school teachers last name is on the whiteboard as Mr Dick, then later he's called Philip. A reference to Philip K. Dick whose short stories this series is based off of

User reviews


  • comment
    • Author: Pedar
    I don't know how many cold war films were made where invaders took over common folk. "The Invasion of the Body Snatchers" is probably the prototype. This one borrows from that and a host of others, including the series "Stranger Things." Because the character of Charlie is so well drawn, this works. It would seem that the fatal flaw in the aliens is that they need host bodies. Charlie could have been killed at any time, but they wanted to assimilate him. There is good suspense and some interesting kid characters. The closeness of Charlie and his father makes his task so much more dramatic. The cinematography is very good with some quite positive special effects. Greg Kinear as the father is certainly quietly threatening. We can only wonder what will happen next.
  • comment
    • Author: Error parents
    This one is the real deal, friends, don't confuse this episode as a "mash-up" from other shows, because this one is based in the original short story from Philip K. Dick (hey, his name is in the show's title!) from 1954. If anything, other shows took ideas from these kind of stories.

    I think it was a very good episode. And I'm enjoying a lot watching this show and seeing Mr. Dick's stories come to life (because he didn't just write _that blade runner_ book ;) ).
  • comment
    • Author: Manesenci
    You can't avoid having a « déjà-vu » feeling watching this episode; it's literally a mash-up of movies such as « The Body snatchers », « The Faculty » and the recent TV show « Stranger Things ». But it's not just a cheap rip-off; the SFX are good and the strange atmosphere is well set, and Greg Kinnear is great as usual. If anything it's a little short on time; 15 more minutes would have been nice in order to give some characters more run-time and backstory.
  • comment
    • Author: Mr.mclav
    Playing out like a combination of "Invaders from Mars" and "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", this story centers on a young boy, who, while camping with his father, observes a meteor shower, and later, something much more sinister.

    Convinced that more and more people are not who they appear to be, the tension ratchets up as he investigates what's going on with his father and seemingly everyone else.

    Nicely done riff on a classic science fiction story.
  • comment
    • Author: Mushicage
    I enjoyed this latest entry in the Philip K Dick anthology series even if it was decidedly lighter in tone. This story of young American school-kid Charlie who discovers his beloved, baseball-loving dad has been replaced by a beetle-like alien invader which assumes the host's appearance and memories was like a vaguely Speilberg-ian take on "Home Alone". Convincing his initially reluctant school-chum and said friend's big bully of a brother to help him, they embark on a save-the-world mission in their own backyard as they track down the invading aliens to their incubation pods in a nearby forest.

    Like I said, it's shot very much from young Charlie's Shane-like perspective, with lots of subjective camera work, forward tracking shots and low-angle set-ups, while the narrative is laced with the type of humour the likes of Bill and Ted were dispensing several years ago. I especially liked the simple but effective way the boys literally trampled down the alien threat once it became clear to them.

    Greg Kinnear is the big name in this one, playing Charlie's dad, but the child actors steal the show in a fun and occasionally funny nod to those films from the 80's and 90's where time-travelling, alien-battling, meddling kids were saving the day.
  • comment
    • Author: Ericaz
    Very Stranger Things-esque, the ending almost felt kind of Are You Afraid of the Dark-ish with the goofy alien pods, but I was entertained.

    Greg Kinnear did a really good job as the father and as the alien, but the whole group was well cast in this episode.

    Classic sci-fi goodness here.
  • comment
    • Author: Kelerius
    This story, set in suburban America is centred on Charlie; a young baseball obsessed boy whose relationship with his father is about to change. As they camp in the woods there is a strange meteor shower; the next day many of his classmates are absent. The next night there are more meteors; Charlie sees a strange light in the garage; through the window he sees what appears to be his father and a duplicate! The next day his father's behaviour isn't quite right; Charlie is convinced that he has been replaced. It soon becomes apparent that other people have changed too. Charlie and his friends determine to fight back against whatever is causing the changes.

    This instalment of the series has a nice 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' feel with its cast of ordinary characters whose behaviour only changes subtly when they are duplicated... if we weren't shown what Charlie saw in the garage it would be easy to assume he was paranoid. Young Jack Gore goes a solid job as Charlie and Greg Kinnear really impresses as his father; he manages to make the character just slightly off without being obviously 'wrong'. The special effects are pretty good and not over-used. Overall this might not be the best story in the series but it is still pretty good.
  • comment
    • Author: Alsardin
    The father thing is a reoccurring theme, not only in PK dick, but also in most peoples changing cognitive viewpoint as they grow out of childhood.

    There reaches a point in our lives when we see our parents as others do. Just people trying to get on in a complicated world, with all the failings of human frailty. And yeah, its a scary time, and suddenly parents do seem like aliens, but that is to do with ourselves, not our parents. It is us that are changing not them.

    The father thing is therefore not about aliens taking over people. That is a theme of other films such as body snatchers, which in itself is a metaphor for the worlds' tangled cold war relations at the time when it was written.

    As a tv program the father is thing ok - really nothing special - as a representation of the actual story that it claims it is based on - it - to use common American teenage parlance - sucks.
  • comment
    • Author: Unde
    I've seen this episode compared to Stranger Things. I think that comparison is unfair on Stranger Things, which is full of charm and a twisting plot. This one is really a slog. Kid sees his father replaced by an alien, tries to tell people but no one believes him. There are certain humourous moments in the episode and a few darkly comic moments such as when the father has something moving under the skin if his face. But there aren't nearly enough of these moments to make the episode enjoyable. There are no real twists in the plot and moral issues aren't explored in any depth. Nor do we even find out where the aliens came from, what they are or why they're here. The final scene is a bit unsettling as the main character does something disturbing. But there's no explanation, and the episode just seems... pointless.

    The father's actor is pretty good, but not that memorable in any way. He's not very creepy and not very funny. Equally the kid actors is okay but lacks the charm of the kids in Stranger Things or in movies like ET.

    Overall, this is the weakest episode yet, even weaker than 'Crazy Diamond', because at least that episode had a delightfully bizarre world.
  • comment
    • Author: Lailace
    There is nothing inherently bad about The Father Thing, however there is nothing that notable about it apart from on the surface it tells a similar story to the Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

    After a meteor shower, some of the townsfolk in a Chicago suburb seems to have been replaced. A few people notice the strange behaviour. Charlie Cotrell (Jack Gore) has a shared love of baseball with his dad (Greg Kinnear) but then suspects that his dad has been taken over by an alien entity.

    Charlie starts an online resistance movement and ropes in other school kids in the town to expose the aliens.

    Maybe this story is a parable of kids growing up in a hostile adult world or households that have been split by divorce and the child inherits a substitute father or mother figure.
  • Episode cast overview, first billed only:
    Greg Kinnear Greg Kinnear - The Father / The Father Thing
    Jack Gore Jack Gore - Charlie Cotrell
    Shannon Brown Shannon Brown - Rotko (as Shannon Merrill Brown)
    Alana Arenas Alana Arenas - Detective Fernandez
    Terry Kinney Terry Kinney - Mr. Dick
    Marc Grapey Marc Grapey - Principal
    Jack Lewis Jack Lewis - Dylan Peretti
    Zakk Paradise Zakk Paradise - Henry Peretti
    Mireille Enos Mireille Enos - The Mother / The Mother Thing
    Cole Keriazakos Cole Keriazakos - Dashiell
    Philip Ghantous Philip Ghantous - Tall Bald Man
    Brian Boland Brian Boland - Mr. Daltry
    Ryan Evans Ryan Evans - The Attendant
    Andrew Rothenberg Andrew Rothenberg - Captain Miller
    Eric C. Lynch Eric C. Lynch - Golan (as Eric Lynch)
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