Editing Philip K. Dick (section)

==Style and works==

===Themes===
Dick's stories typically focus on the fragile nature of what is real and the construction of [[personal identity]]. His stories often become surreal fantasies, as the main characters slowly discover that their everyday world is actually an illusion assembled by powerful external entities, such as the suspended animation in ''Ubik'',<ref name="Ursula" /> vast political conspiracies or the vicissitudes of an [[unreliable narrator]]. "All of his work starts with the basic assumption that there cannot be one, single, objective reality", writes science fiction author [[Charles Platt (science-fiction author)|Charles Platt]]. "Everything is a matter of perception. The ground is liable to shift under your feet. A protagonist may find himself living out another person's dream, or he may enter a drug-induced state that actually makes better sense than the real world, or he may cross into a different universe completely."<ref name=Platt>{{Cite book| last = Platt| first = Charles| author-link = Charles Platt (science-fiction author)| title = Dream Makers: The Uncommon People Who Write Science Fiction| publisher = Berkley Publishing| year = 1980| isbn = 0-425-04668-0| url = https://archive.org/details/dreammakers00char}}</ref>

[[Parallel universe (fiction)|Alternate universes]] and [[simulacrum|simulacra]] are common [[plot devices]], with fictional worlds inhabited by common, working people, rather than galactic elites. "There are no heroes in Dick's books", [[Ursula K. Le Guin]] wrote, "but there are heroics. One is reminded of [[Charles Dickens|Dickens]]: what counts is the honesty, constancy, kindness and patience of ordinary people."<ref name="Ursula">{{cite web| title = Criticism and analysis| publisher = Gale Research| year = 1996| url = http://www.stud.hum.ku.dk/rydahl/pkd/PKDcritic1.htm| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070307193543/http://www.stud.hum.ku.dk/rydahl/pkd/PKDcritic1.htm| archive-date = March 7, 2007| access-date = April 20, 2007| url-status = dead}}</ref> Dick made no secret that much of his thinking and work was heavily influenced by the writings of [[Carl Jung]].<ref name=carrere>{{Cite book|title=I Am Alive and You Are Dead: A Journey Into the Mind of Philp K. Dick |last=Carrère |first=Emmanuel |year=2004 |publisher=Metropolitan Books |location=New York |isbn=0-8050-5464-2 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.philipkdick.com/media_sfeye87.html A Conversation With Philip K. Dick]  {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120511082635/http://www.philipkdick.com/media_sfeye87.html |date=May 11, 2012 }}</ref> The Jungian constructs and models that most concerned Dick seem to be the archetypes of the [[collective unconscious]], group projection/hallucination, [[synchronicity|synchronicities]], and personality theory.<ref name=carrere /> Many of Dick's protagonists overtly analyze reality and their perceptions in Jungian terms (see ''[[The Unteleported Man|Lies, Inc.]]'').{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

Dick identified one major theme of his work as the question, "What constitutes the authentic human being?"<ref>{{cite book|last=Dick|first=Philip K.|title=I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon|year=1985|publisher=[[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]]|isbn=0-385-19567-2|page=2}}</ref> In works such as ''[[Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?]]'', beings can appear totally human in every respect while lacking soul or compassion, while completely alien beings such as Glimmung in ''[[Galactic Pot-Healer]]'' may be more humane and complex than their human peers. Understood correctly, said Dick, the term "human being" applies "not to origin or to any ontology but to a way of being in the world."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dick |first=Philip K. |title=The Shifting Realities of Philip K. Dick: Selected Literary and Philosophical Writings |publisher=Vintage |year=1995 |editor-last=Sutin |editor-first=Lawrence |pages=212}}</ref> This authentic way of being manifests itself in compassion that recognizes the oneness of all life. "In Dick's vision, the moral imperative calls on us to care for all sentient beings, human or nonhuman, natural or artificial, regardless of their place in the order of things. And Dick makes clear that this imperative is grounded in empathy, not reason, whatever subsequent role reason may play."<ref>Taylor, Angus (2008). "Electric Sheep and the New Argument from Nature", in Jodey Castricano (ed.), ''Animal Subjects: An Ethical Reader in a Posthuman World''. Wilfrid Laurier University Press. p. 188.</ref> The figure of the android depicts those who are deficient in empathy, who are alienated from others and are becoming more mechanical (emotionless) in their behaviour. "In general, then, it can be said that for Dick robots represent machines that are becoming more like humans, while androids represent humans that are becoming more like machines."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Taylor |first=Angus |date=1975 |title=Philip K. Dick and the Umbrella of Light |url=https://philipdick.com/mirror/essays/umbrellaoflight.pdf |access-date=June 4, 2022 |website=Philip K. Dick |page=33 |archive-date=June 16, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220616051030/https://philipdick.com/mirror/essays/umbrellaoflight.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

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|quote= Dick's third major theme is his fascination with war and his fear and hatred of it. One hardly sees critical mention of it, yet it is as integral to his body of work as oxygen is to water.<ref>The Collected Stories Of Philip K. Dick, Volume 1, ''[[The Short Happy Life of the Brown Oxford (collection)|The Short Happy Life of the Brown Oxford]]'', (1990), Citadel Twilight, p. xvi, {{ISBN|0-8065-1153-2}}</ref>
|source= —Steven Owen Godersky
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Mental illness was a constant interest of Dick's, and themes of mental illness permeate his work. The character Jack Bohlen in the 1964 novel ''[[Martian Time-Slip]]'' is an "ex-schizophrenic". The novel ''[[Clans of the Alphane Moon]]'' centers on an entire society made up of descendants of lunatic asylum inmates. In 1965, he wrote the essay titled "Schizophrenia and the Book of Changes".<ref name=sutin>Sutin, npg</ref>

Drug use (including [[Entheogenic|religious]], [[Recreational drug use|recreational]], and [[Drug abuse|abuse]]) was also a theme in many of Dick's works, such as ''[[A Scanner Darkly]]'' and ''[[The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch]]''.<ref>{{Cite journal|url = https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v30/n13/stephanie-burt/kick-over-the-scenery|title = Kick over the Scenery|journal = London Review of Books|date = July 3, 2008|volume = 30|issue = 13|last1 = Burt|first1 = Stephanie|access-date = August 25, 2021|archive-date = August 25, 2021|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210825225641/https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v30/n13/stephanie-burt/kick-over-the-scenery|url-status = live}}</ref> Dick himself was a drug user for much of his life. According to a 1975 interview in ''[[Rolling Stone]]'',<ref name="rollingstone">{{cite magazine| last = Williams| first = Paul| title = The Most Brilliant Sci-Fi Mind on Any Planet: Philip K. Dick| magazine = Rolling Stone| date = November 6, 1975| url = http://www.philipkdickfans.com/mirror/articles/1974_Rolling_Stone.pdf| access-date = November 10, 2014| archive-date = June 26, 2014| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140626113849/http://www.philipkdickfans.com/mirror/articles/1974_Rolling_Stone.pdf| url-status = live}}</ref> Dick wrote all of his books published before 1970 while on [[amphetamine]]s. "''[[A Scanner Darkly]]'' (1977) was the first complete novel I had written without speed", said Dick in the interview. He also experimented briefly with [[psychedelics]], but wrote ''[[The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch]]'' (1965), which ''Rolling Stone'' dubs "the classic [[LSD]] novel of all time", before he had ever tried them. Despite his heavy amphetamine use, however, Dick later said that doctors told him the amphetamines never actually affected him, that his liver had processed them before they reached his brain.<ref name="rollingstone" />

Summing up all these themes in ''Understanding Philip K. Dick'', Eric Carl Link discussed eight themes or "ideas and motifs":<ref name="Eric Carl Link">{{Cite book |last=Link |first=Eric Carl |title=Understanding Philip K. Dick |publisher=[[University of South Carolina Press]] |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-57003-855-6}}</ref>{{rp|48}} Epistemology and the Nature of Reality, Know Thyself, The Android and the Human, Entropy and Pot Healing, The [[Theodicy]] Problem, Warfare and Power Politics, The Evolved Human, and "Technology, Media, Drugs and Madness".<ref name="Eric Carl Link" />{{rp|48–101}}

===Pen names===
Dick had two professional stories published under the [[Pen name#Western literature|pen names]] Richard Phillipps and Jack Dowland. "Some Kinds of Life" was published in October 1953 in ''[[Fantastic Universe]]'' under byline Richard Phillipps, apparently because the magazine had a policy against publishing multiple stories by the same author in the same issue; "Planet for Transients" was published in the same issue under his own name.<ref>Levack, Daniel (1981). ''PKD: A Philip K. Dick Bibliography'', [[Underwood/Miller]], pp. 116, 126 {{ISBN|0-934438-33-1}}</ref>

The short story "[[Orpheus with Clay Feet]]" was published under the pen name Jack Dowland. The protagonist desires to be the [[muse]] for fictional author Jack Dowland, considered the greatest science fiction author of the 20th century. In the story, Dowland publishes a short story titled "Orpheus with Clay Feet" under the pen name Philip K. Dick.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

The surname Dowland refers to [[Renaissance]] composer [[John Dowland]], who is featured in several works. The title ''[[Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said]]'' directly refers to Dowland's best-known composition, "[[Flow, my tears]]". In the novel ''[[The Divine Invasion]]'', the character Linda Fox, created specifically with [[Linda Ronstadt]] in mind, is an intergalactically famous singer whose entire body of work consists of recordings of John Dowland compositions.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

===Selected works===
{{For|a complete bibliography|Philip K. Dick bibliography}}
''[[The Man in the High Castle]]'' (1962) is set in an [[alternate history|alternative history]] in which the United States is ruled by the victorious [[Axis powers]]. It is the only Dick novel to win a [[Hugo Award]]. In 2015 this was adapted into a television series by [[Amazon Studios]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://observer.com/2015/11/isa-hackett-daughter-of-philip-k-dick-discusses-amazons-man-in-the-high-castle/|title=Isa Hackett, Daughter of Philip K. Dick, Discusses Amazon's 'Man in the High Castle'|website=[[The New York Observer]]|date=November 19, 2015|access-date=August 26, 2021|archive-date=August 26, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210826221331/https://observer.com/2015/11/isa-hackett-daughter-of-philip-k-dick-discusses-amazons-man-in-the-high-castle/|url-status=live}}</ref>

''[[The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch]]'' (1965) utilizes an array of science fiction concepts and features several layers of reality and unreality. It is also one of Dick's first works to explore religious themes. The novel takes place in the 21st century, when, under UN authority, mankind has colonized the [[Solar System]]'s every [[habitability|habitable]] [[planet]] and [[moon]]. Life is physically daunting and psychologically monotonous for most colonists, so the UN must draft people to go to the colonies. Most entertain themselves using "Perky Pat" [[doll]]s and accessories manufactured by Earth-based "P.P. Layouts". The company also secretly creates "Can-D", an illegal but widely available hallucinogenic drug allowing the user to "translate" into Perky Pat (if the drug user is a woman) or Pat's boyfriend, Walt (if the drug user is a man). This recreational use of Can-D allows colonists to experience a few minutes of an idealized life on Earth by participating in a collective hallucination.<ref name="NYT-20221026" />

''[[Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?]]'' (1968) is the story of a bounty hunter policing the local android population. It occurs on a dying, poisoned Earth de-populated of almost all animals and all "successful" humans; the only remaining inhabitants of the planet are people with no prospects off-world. The 1968 novel is the literary source of the film ''[[Blade Runner]]'' (1982).<ref name="Sammon">^ Sammon, Paul M. (1996). Future Noir: the Making of Blade Runner. London: Orion Media. p. 49. {{ISBN|0-06-105314-7}}.</ref> It is both a conflation and an intensification of the pivotally Dickian question: "What is real, what is fake? What crucial factor defines humanity as distinctly 'alive', versus those merely alive only in their outward appearance?"{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

''[[Ubik]]'' (1969) employs extensive psychic telepathy and a suspended state after death in creating a state of eroding reality. A group of psychics is sent to investigate a rival organisation, but several of them are apparently killed by a saboteur's bomb. Much of the following novel flicks between different equally plausible realities and the "real" reality, a state of half-life and psychically manipulated realities. In 2005, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine listed it among the "All-TIME 100 Greatest Novels" published since 1923.<ref name="Time"/>

''[[Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said]]'' (1974) concerns Jason Taverner, a television star living in a dystopian near-future [[police state]]. After being attacked by an angry ex-girlfriend, Taverner awakens in a dingy Los Angeles hotel room. He still has his money in his wallet, but his identification cards are missing. This is no minor inconvenience, as security checkpoints (staffed by "pols" and "nats", the police and National Guard) are set up throughout the city to stop and arrest anyone without valid ID. Jason at first thinks that he was robbed, but soon discovers that his entire identity has been erased. There is no record of him in any official database, and even his closest associates do not recognize or remember him. For the first time in many years, Jason has no fame or reputation to rely on. He has only his innate charm and social graces to help him as he tries to find out what happened to his past while avoiding the attention of the pols. The novel was Dick's first published novel after years of silence, during which time his critical reputation had grown, and this novel was awarded the [[John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel]].<ref name="WWE-1975"/> It is the only Philip K. Dick novel nominated for both a Hugo and a [[Nebula Award]].{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

In an essay written two years before his death, Dick described how he learned from his Episcopal priest that an important scene in ''Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said'' – involving its other main character, the eponymous Police General Felix Buckman, was very similar to a scene in ''[[Acts of the Apostles]]'',<ref name="Adherents"/> a book of the [[New Testament]]. Film director Richard Linklater discusses this novel in his film ''[[Waking Life]]'', which begins with a scene reminiscent of another Dick novel, ''[[Time Out of Joint]]''.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

''[[A Scanner Darkly]]'' (1977) is a bleak mixture of science fiction and [[police procedural]] novels; in its story, an undercover narcotics police detective begins to lose touch with reality after falling victim to Substance D, the same permanently mind-altering drug he was enlisted to help fight. Substance D is instantly addictive, beginning with a pleasant euphoria which is quickly replaced with increasing confusion, hallucinations and eventually total psychosis. In this novel, as with all Dick novels, there is an underlying thread of paranoia and dissociation with multiple realities perceived simultaneously. It was adapted to [[A Scanner Darkly (film)|film]] by [[Richard Linklater]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/3284|title=A Scanner Darkly. 2006. Directed by Richard Linklater &#124; MoMA|access-date=August 25, 2021|archive-date=April 20, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220420150627/https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/3284|url-status=live}}</ref>

''[[The Philip K. Dick Reader]]''<ref>{{cite book|last=Dick|first=Philip K.|title=Philip K. Dick Reader, The|year=1997|publisher=Citadel Press|location=New York, NY|isbn=0-8065-1856-1|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780806518565}}</ref> is an introduction to the variety of Dick's short fiction.

''[[VALIS]]'' (1980) is perhaps Dick's most [[postmodernism|postmodern]] and autobiographical novel, examining his own unexplained experiences. It may also be his most academically studied work, and was adapted as an opera by [[Tod Machover]].<ref>{{cite web| last = Machover| first = Tod| author-link = Tod Machover| title = Valis CD| publisher = [[MIT Media Lab]]| url = http://web.media.mit.edu/~tod/Tod/valiscd.html| access-date = April 14, 2008| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080312210723/http://web.media.mit.edu/~tod/Tod/valiscd.html| archive-date = March 12, 2008| url-status = dead}}</ref> Later works like the [[VALIS trilogy]] were heavily autobiographical, many with "two-three-seventy-four" (2-3-74) references and influences. The word [[VALIS]] is the acronym for ''Vast Active Living Intelligence System''. Later, Dick theorized that VALIS was both a "reality generator" and a means of extraterrestrial communication. A fourth VALIS manuscript, ''Radio Free Albemuth'', although composed in 1976, was posthumously published in 1985. This work is described by the publisher (Arbor House) as "an introduction and key to his magnificent VALIS trilogy".<ref>{{cite book |last=Dick |first=Philip K. |author-link=Philip K. Dick |date=1985 |title=Radio Free Albemuth |url=https://archive.org/details/radiofreealbemu000dick/page/n229/mode/2up |url-access=registration |location=New York |publisher=Arbor House |at=Rear dust jacket |isbn=0877957622}}</ref>

Regardless of the feeling that he was somehow experiencing a divine communication, Dick was never fully able to rationalize the events. For the rest of his life, he struggled to comprehend what was occurring, questioning his own sanity and perception of reality. He transcribed what thoughts he could into an eight-thousand-page, one-million-word [[diary|journal]] dubbed the ''[[Exegesis (book)|Exegesis]]''. From 1974 until his death in 1982, Dick spent many nights writing in this journal. A recurring theme in ''Exegesis'' is Dick's hypothesis that history had been stopped in the first century AD, and that "the [[Roman Empire|Empire]] never ended". He saw Rome as the pinnacle of [[materialism]] and [[despotism]], which, after forcing the [[Gnosticism|Gnostics]] underground, had kept the population of Earth enslaved to worldly possessions. Dick believed that VALIS had communicated with him, and anonymously others, to induce the [[Federal impeachment in the United States|impeachment]] of U.S. President [[Richard Nixon]], whom Dick believed to be the current Emperor of Rome incarnate.<ref>{{Cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=cptHDAAAQBAJ&q=Nixon+emperor+of+rome+philip+k+dick&pg=PA139|title = The Divine Madness of Philip K. Dick|isbn = 978-0-19-049830-6|last1 = Arnold|first1 = Kyle|date = May 2, 2016| publisher=Oxford University Press |access-date = September 20, 2021|archive-date = April 28, 2023|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230428155005/https://books.google.com/books?id=cptHDAAAQBAJ&q=Nixon+emperor+of+rome+philip+k+dick&pg=PA139|url-status = live}}</ref>

In a 1968 essay titled "Self Portrait", collected in the 1995 book ''The Shifting Realities of Philip K. Dick'', Dick reflects on his work and lists which books he feels "might escape World War Three": ''[[Eye in the Sky (novel)|Eye in the Sky]]'', ''[[The Man in the High Castle]]'', ''[[Martian Time-Slip]]'', ''[[Dr. Bloodmoney, or How We Got Along After the Bomb]]'', ''[[The Zap Gun]]'', ''[[The Penultimate Truth]]'', ''[[The Simulacra]]'', ''[[The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch]]'' (which he refers to as "the most vital of them all"), ''[[Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?]]'', and ''[[Ubik]]''.<ref>Philip K. Dick, "Self Portrait", 1968, (''The Shifting Realities of Philip K. Dick'', 1995)</ref> In a 1976 interview, Dick cited ''A Scanner Darkly'' as his best work, feeling that he "had finally written a true masterpiece, after 25 years of writing".<ref>[http://philipkdick.com/media_sfreview.html AN INTERVIEW WITH PHILIP K. DICK] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120511085817/http://philipkdick.com/media_sfreview.html |date=May 11, 2012 }} Daniel DePerez, September 10, 1976, Science Fiction Review, No. 19, Vol. 5, no. 3, August 1976</ref>

===Adaptations===
{{Main|List of adaptations of works by Philip K. Dick}}

====Films====
Several of Dick's stories have been made into films. Dick himself wrote a screenplay for an intended film adaptation of ''[[Ubik]]'' in 1974, but the film was never made. Many film adaptations have not used Dick's original titles. When asked why this was, Dick's ex-wife Tessa said, "Actually, the books rarely carry Phil's original titles, as the editors usually wrote new titles after reading his manuscripts. Phil often commented that he couldn't write good titles. If he could, he would have been an advertising writer instead of a novelist."<ref>{{cite web| last = Knight| first = Annie| author2 = John T Cullen| author3 = the staff of Deep Outside SFFH| title = About Philip K. Dick: An interview with Tessa, Chris, and Ranea Dick| work = Deep Outside SFFH| publisher = Far Sector SFFH| date = November 2002| url = http://www.farsector.com/hot_content1.htm| access-date = April 14, 2008| archive-date = February 19, 2008| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080219195229/http://www.farsector.com/hot_content1.htm| url-status = live}}</ref> Films based on Dick's writing had accumulated a total revenue of over US$1&nbsp;billion by 2009.<ref>{{cite web|title=Philip K. Dick Films |publisher=Philip K. Dick Trust |date=August 11, 2009 |url=http://www.philipkdick.com/films_intro.html |access-date=September 3, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100822135308/http://www.philipkdick.com/films_intro.html |archive-date=August 22, 2010 }}</ref>
*''[[Blade Runner]]'' (1982), based on Dick's 1968 novel ''[[Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?]]'', directed by [[Ridley Scott]] and starring [[Harrison Ford]], [[Sean Young]] and [[Rutger Hauer]]. A screenplay had been in the works for years before Scott took the helm, with Dick being extremely critical of all versions. Dick was still apprehensive about how his story would be adapted for the film when the project was finally put into motion. Among other things, he refused to do a novelization of the film. But when Dick was given an opportunity to watch a few sequences portraying the film's imagined Los Angeles of 2019, he was amazed that the environment was "exactly as how I'd imagined it!"—even though Ridley Scott has mentioned he had never even read the source material.<ref>{{Cite AV media | people = Kermode, Mark| title = On the Edge of Bladerunner| medium = TV documentary|publisher=Channel 4 |location=UK | date = July 15, 2000}}</ref> Following the screening, Dick and Scott had a frank but cordial discussion of ''Blade Runner''{{'}}s themes and characters, and although they had wildly differing views, Dick fully backed the film from then on, stating that his "life and creative work are justified and completed by ''Blade Runner''".<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.philipkdick.com/new_letters-laddcompany.html | title=Letter to Jeff Walker regarding 'Blade Runner' | access-date=May 31, 2016 | last=Dick | first=Philip K. | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031213103657/http://www.philipkdick.com/new_letters-laddcompany.html | archive-date=December 13, 2003}}</ref> Dick died from a stroke less than four months before the release of the film.
*''[[Total Recall (1990 film)|Total Recall]]'' (1990), based on the short story "[[We Can Remember It for You Wholesale]]", directed by [[Paul Verhoeven]] and starring [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]].<ref name="auto">{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/2010/10/7-past-and-future-philip-k-dick-adaptations/|title=7 Past and Future Philip K. Dick Adaptations|first=Robert|last=Capps|magazine=Wired|date=October 7, 2010|via=www.wired.com|access-date=April 5, 2020|archive-date=September 22, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200922214306/https://www.wired.com/2010/10/7-past-and-future-philip-k-dick-adaptations/|url-status=live}}</ref>
* ''[[Confessions d'un Barjo]]'' (1992), titled ''Barjo'' in its English-language release, a French film based on the non-science-fiction novel ''[[Confessions of a Crap Artist]]''.
* ''[[Screamers (1995 film)|Screamers]]'' (1995), based on the short story "[[Second Variety]]",<ref name="irishtimes.com" /> directed by [[Christian Duguay (director)|Christian Duguay]] and starring [[Peter Weller]]. The location was altered from a war-devastated Earth to a distant planet. A sequel, titled ''[[Screamers: The Hunting]]'', was released [[direct-to-video|straight to DVD]] in 2009.
* ''[[Minority Report (film)|Minority Report]]'' (2002), based on the short story "[[The Minority Report]]", directed by [[Steven Spielberg]] and starring [[Tom Cruise]].
* ''[[Impostor (2002 film)|Impostor]]'' (2002), based on the 1953 story "[[Impostor (short story)|Impostor]]", directed by [[Gary Fleder]] and starring [[Gary Sinise]], [[Vincent D'Onofrio]] and [[Madeleine Stowe]]. The story was also adapted in 1962 for the British television anthology series ''[[Out of This World (UK TV series)|Out of This World]]''.
* ''[[Paycheck (film)|Paycheck]]'' (2003), directed by [[John Woo]] and starring [[Ben Affleck]], based on Dick's [[Paycheck (short story)|short story of the same name]].<ref name="irishtimes.com"/>
* ''[[A Scanner Darkly (film)|A Scanner Darkly]]'' (2006), directed by [[Richard Linklater]] and starring [[Keanu Reeves]], [[Winona Ryder]], and [[Robert Downey Jr.]], based on Dick's [[A Scanner Darkly|novel of the same name]]. The film was produced using the process of [[rotoscoping]]: it was first shot in live-action and then the live footage was animated over.<ref name="auto"/>
* ''[[Next (2007 film)|Next]]'' (2007), directed by [[Lee Tamahori]] and starring [[Nicolas Cage]], loosely based on the short story "[[The Golden Man]]".<ref name="auto"/>
* ''[[Radio Free Albemuth (film)|Radio Free Albemuth]]'' (2010), directed by John Alan Simon loosely based on the novel ''[[Radio Free Albemuth]]''.
* ''[[The Adjustment Bureau]]'' (2011), directed by [[George Nolfi]] and starring [[Matt Damon]], loosely based on the short story "[[Adjustment Team]]".
* ''[[Total Recall (2012 film)|Total Recall]]'' (2012), directed by [[Len Wiseman]] and starring [[Colin Farrell]], second film adaptation of the short story "[[We Can Remember It for You Wholesale]]".

Future films based on Dick's writing include a film adaptation of ''Ubik'' which, according to Dick's daughter, Isa Dick Hackett, is in advanced negotiation.<ref>{{cite web |last=Roberts |first=Randall |url=http://www.calendarlive.com/books/cl-et-dick15sep15,0,5604716.story?coll=cl-books-features |title=calendarlive.com |publisher=calendarlive.com |access-date=November 12, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071211064053/http://www.calendarlive.com/books/cl-et-dick15sep15%2C0%2C5604716.story?coll=cl-books-features |archive-date=December 11, 2007 }}</ref> Ubik was set to be made into a film by [[Michel Gondry]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.scifimoviepage.com/upcoming/previews/ubik.html |title=Ubik (2010) – Preview |publisher=Sci-Fi Movie Page |access-date=November 12, 2013 |archive-date=July 28, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130728225907/http://www.scifimoviepage.com/upcoming/previews/ubik.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2014, however, Gondry told French outlet Telerama (via Jeux Actu), that he was no longer working on the project.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/michel-gondry-abandons-ubik/|title=Michel Gondry Abandons Ubik|website=Empire|first=Owen|last=Williams|date=May 6, 2014|access-date=August 25, 2021|archive-date=August 25, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210825221206/https://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/michel-gondry-abandons-ubik/|url-status=live}}</ref> In November 2021, it was announced that [[Francis Lawrence]] will direct a film adaptation of ''[[Vulcan's Hammer]]'', with Lawrence's about:blank production company, alongside [[New Republic Pictures]] and [[Electric Shepherd Productions]], producing.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Pedersen |first1=Erik |date=November 8, 2021 |title='Vulcan's Hammer': Francis Lawrence Directs Film Version Of Philip K. Dick Novel In Works From New Republic |url=https://deadline.com/2021/11/vulcans-hammer-film-philip-k-dick-novel-francis-lawrence-new-republic-1234869982/ |access-date=April 4, 2022 |website=Deadline |language=en-US |archive-date=December 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211208161554/https://deadline.com/2021/11/vulcans-hammer-film-philip-k-dick-novel-francis-lawrence-new-republic-1234869982/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

An animated adaptation of ''[[The King of the Elves]]'' from [[Walt Disney Animation Studios]] was in production and was set to be released in the spring of 2016 but it was cancelled following multiple creative problems.<ref>{{Cite web |date=February 28, 2022 |title=What happened to Disney's King of the Elves? |url=https://collider.com/king-of-the-elves-what-happened-disney/ |access-date=April 4, 2022 |first=Douglas |last=Laman |website=Collider |language=en-US |archive-date=April 4, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220404061815/https://collider.com/king-of-the-elves-what-happened-disney/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The ''[[Terminator (franchise)|Terminator]]'' series prominently features the theme of humanoid assassination machines first portrayed in ''Second Variety''. [[The Halcyon Company]], known for developing the ''[[Terminator (franchise)|Terminator]]'' franchise, acquired [[right of first refusal]] to film adaptations of the works of Philip K. Dick in 2007. In May 2009, they announced plans for an adaptation of ''[[Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said]]''.<ref>[http://www.firstshowing.net/2009/05/12/philip-k-dicks-flow-my-tears-the-policeman-said-being-adapted/ Philip K. Dick's 'Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said' Being Adapted] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090515020745/http://www.firstshowing.net/2009/05/12/philip-k-dicks-flow-my-tears-the-policeman-said-being-adapted/ |date=May 15, 2009 }} Alex Billington, FirstShowing.net, May 12, 2009</ref>

====Television====
It was reported in 2010 that Ridley Scott would produce an [[The Man in the High Castle (TV series)|adaptation]] of ''The Man in the High Castle'' for the BBC, in the form of a miniseries.<ref name=Guardian2010 >{{cite news |title=Ridley Scott to return to work of sci-fi icon for BBC mini-series: Blade Runner director to executive produce four-part BBC1 adaptation of Philip K Dick's The Man in the High Castle |last=Sweney |first=Mark |date=October 7, 2010 |newspaper=The Observer |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2010/oct/07/ridley-scott-sci-fi-philip-k-dick-bbc-drama |access-date=December 12, 2016 |archive-date=December 2, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161202023815/https://www.theguardian.com/media/2010/oct/07/ridley-scott-sci-fi-philip-k-dick-bbc-drama |url-status=live }}</ref> A pilot episode was released on [[Amazon Prime Video]] in January 2015 and season 1 was fully released in ten episodes of about 60 minutes each on November 20, 2015.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.amazon.com/The-New-World/dp/B00RSGFRY8/|title=Watch The Man in the High Castle - Season 1 &#124; Prime Video|website=www.amazon.com|access-date=September 8, 2017|archive-date=March 5, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305164620/http://www.amazon.com/The-New-World/dp/B00RSGFRY8/|url-status=live}}</ref> Premiering in January 2015, the pilot was Amazon's "most-watched since the original series development program began." The next month Amazon ordered episodes to fill out a ten-episode season, which was released in November, to positive reviews. A second season of ten episodes premiered in December 2016, and a third season was released on October 5, 2018. The fourth and final season premiered on November 15, 2019.<ref>{{cite web|title=Amazon Prime for November 2019: More 'Jack Ryan,' 'The Report,' 'Man in the High Castle'|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/tv/2019/10/30/amazon-prime-november-more-jack-ryan-man-high-castle/4001064002/|website=USA Today|date=October 30, 2019|access-date=November 16, 2019}}</ref>

In late 2015, [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] aired ''[[Minority Report (TV series)|Minority Report]]'', a television series sequel adaptation to the [[Minority Report (film)|2002 film of the same name]] based on Dick's short story "[[The Minority Report]]" (1956).  The show was cancelled after one 10-episode season.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Palmer |first1=Katie |date=November 3, 2020 |title=Minority Report season 2 release date: Will there be another series of Minority Report? |url=https://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/1354231/minority-report-season-2-release-date-another-series-minority-report-fox-evg |website=express.co.uk |publisher=Express |access-date=September 11, 2021 |archive-date=September 11, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210911225946/https://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/1354231/minority-report-season-2-release-date-another-series-minority-report-fox-evg |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In May 2016, it was announced that a 10-part [[anthology series]] was in the works. Titled ''[[Electric Dreams (2017 TV series)|Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams]]'', the series was distributed by [[Sony Pictures Television]] and premiered on [[Channel 4]] in the United Kingdom and Amazon Prime Video in the United States.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2017/tv/news/philip-k-dick-bryan-cranston-electric-dreams-anthology-series-1201987470/|title=Amazon Grabs U.S. Rights to Bryan Cranston's 'Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams' Anthology Series|author=Cynthia Littleton|work=Variety|date=February 14, 2017|access-date=December 12, 2017|archive-date=April 24, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170424234338/http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/philip-k-dick-bryan-cranston-electric-dreams-anthology-series-1201987470/|url-status=live}}</ref> It was written by executive producers [[Ronald D. Moore]] and [[Michael Dinner]], with executive input from Dick's daughter [[Isa Dick Hackett]], and stars [[Bryan Cranston]], also an executive producer.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.variety.com/2016/tv/news/bryan-cranston-boards-electric-dreams-for-sony-and-channel-4-1201770073/|title=Bryan Cranston to Star in Philip K. Dick Series From 'Outlander's' Ron Moore|last=Lodderhose|first=Diana|date=May 10, 2016|website=Variety|access-date=May 11, 2016|archive-date=May 10, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160510202606/http://variety.com/2016/tv/news/bryan-cranston-boards-electric-dreams-for-sony-and-channel-4-1201770073/|url-status=live}}</ref>

====Stage and radio====
Four of Dick's works have been adapted for the stage.

One was the opera ''VALIS'', composed and with [[libretto]] by [[Tod Machover]], which premiered at the [[Pompidou Center]] in Paris<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.openculture.com/2016/08/hear-valis-an-opera-based-on-philip-k-dicks-metaphysical-novel.html|title=Hear VALIS, an Opera Based on Philip K. Dick's Metaphysical Novel &#124; Open Culture|access-date=August 25, 2021|archive-date=August 25, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210825221840/https://www.openculture.com/2016/08/hear-valis-an-opera-based-on-philip-k-dicks-metaphysical-novel.html|url-status=live}}</ref> on December 1, 1987, with a French libretto. It was subsequently revised and readapted into English, and was recorded and released on CD (Bridge Records BCD9007) in 1988.<ref>{{cite web | title=Machover's VALIS This Way Comes | website=The Boston Musical Intelligencer | date=August 30, 2023 | url=https://www.classical-scene.com/2023/08/30/valis-comes/ | access-date=August 17, 2024}}</ref>

Another was ''[[Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said]]'', adapted by Linda Hartinian and produced by the New York-based avant-garde company [[Mabou Mines]]. It premiered in Boston at the Boston Shakespeare Theatre (June 18–30, 1985) and was subsequently staged in New York and Chicago. Productions of ''Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said'' were also staged by the Evidence Room<ref>{{cite web|url=http://evidenceroomtheater.com/past.html|title=evidEnce room – past productions|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207094749/http://www.evidenceroomtheater.com/past.html|archive-date=February 7, 2012|access-date=May 28, 2012}}</ref> in Los Angeles in 1999<ref>{{cite news|last=Foley|first=Kathleen|title='Flow My Tears' Has Hallucinatory Style|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-apr-22-ca-29736-story.html|access-date=May 28, 2012|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=April 22, 1999|archive-date=October 15, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121015154138/http://articles.latimes.com/1999/apr/22/entertainment/ca-29736|url-status=live}}</ref> and by the Fifth Column Theatre Company at the [[Ovalhouse|Oval House Theatre]] in London in the same year.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ntk.net/1999/06/11/ |title=Archived NTK email newsletter from 11 June 1999 |date=June 11, 1999 |publisher=Ntk.net |access-date=November 12, 2013 |archive-date=January 20, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130120164444/http://www.ntk.net/1999/06/11/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

A play based on ''[[Radio Free Albemuth]]'' also had a brief run in the 1980s.{{clarify|date=April 2021}}{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

In November 2010, a production of ''[[Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?]]'', adapted by [[Edward Einhorn]], premiered at the 3LD Art and Technology Center in Manhattan.<ref>{{cite news |first=Jason |last=Zinoman |title=A Test for Humanity in a Post-Apocalyptic World |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=December 3, 2010 |url=http://theater.nytimes.com/2010/12/04/theater/04android.html |access-date=December 28, 2010 |archive-date=March 25, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120325122204/http://theater.nytimes.com/2010/12/04/theater/04android.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

A radio drama adaptation of Dick's short story "Mr. Spaceship" was aired by the Finnish Broadcasting Company (Yleisradio) in 1996 under the name ''Menolippu Paratiisiin''. Radio dramatizations of Dick's short stories ''Colony'' and ''The Defenders''<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/28767|title=The Defenders|via=Project Gutenberg|access-date=August 28, 2020|archive-date=August 9, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200809021825/http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/28767|url-status=live}}</ref> were aired by [[NBC]] in 1956 as part of the series ''[[X Minus One]]''.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

In January 2006, a theatre adaptation of ''The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch'' (English for {{lang|pl|Trzy stygmaty Palmera Eldritcha}}) premiered in Stary Teatr in [[Kraków]], with an extensive use of lights and laser choreography.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.encyklopediateatru.pl/przedstawienie/38116/trzy-stygmaty-palmera-eldritcha|title=Przedstawienie Trzy stygmaty Palmera Eldritcha|publisher=encyklopediateatru.pl|access-date=October 10, 2016|archive-date=October 11, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161011060953/http://www.encyklopediateatru.pl/przedstawienie/38116/trzy-stygmaty-palmera-eldritcha|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://krakow.wyborcza.pl/krakow/1,35796,3115115.html?disableRedirects=true|title=Trzy stygmaty Palmera Eldritcha – Stary Teatr|work=Gazeta Wyborcza|access-date=October 10, 2016|archive-date=September 14, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170914041134/http://krakow.wyborcza.pl/krakow/1,35796,3115115.html?disableRedirects=true|url-status=live}}</ref>

In June 2014, the BBC broadcast a two-part adaptation of ''Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?'' on [[BBC Radio 4]], starring [[James Purefoy]] as Rick Deckard.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b046j873|title=Episode 1, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Dangerous Visions – BBC Radio 4|access-date=September 20, 2018|archive-date=October 13, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181013235553/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b046j873|url-status=live}}</ref>

====Comics====
[[Marvel Comics]] adapted Dick's short story "[[The Electric Ant]]" as a [[Limited series (comics)|limited series]] which was released in 2009. The comic was produced by writer [[David W. Mack|David Mack]] (''[[Daredevil (Marvel Comics series)|Daredevil]]'') and artist Pascal Alixe (''[[Ultimate X-Men]]''), with covers provided by artist [[Paul Pope]].<ref>{{cite web|title=MARVEL BRINGS PHILIP K DICK'S ELECTRIC ANT TO LIFE IN NEW SERIES |publisher=philipkdick.com |date=July 24, 2008 |url=http://www.philipkdick.com/media_pr-072408.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120812121407/http://philipkdick.com/media_pr-072408.html |archive-date=August 12, 2012 }}</ref> "[[The Electric Ant]]" had earlier been loosely adapted by Frank Miller and Geof Darrow in their 3-issue mini-series ''[[Hard Boiled (comics)|Hard Boiled]]'' published by [[Dark Horse Comics]] in 1990–1992.<ref>[https://www.ign.com/articles/2008/07/25/sdcc-08-philip-k-dick-comes-to-marvel SDCC 08: PHILIP K. DICK COMES TO MARVEL] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201015131904/https://www.ign.com/articles/2008/07/25/sdcc-08-philip-k-dick-comes-to-marvel |date=October 15, 2020 }} www.ign.com</ref>

In 2009, BOOM! Studios started publishing a 24-issue miniseries comic book adaptation of ''[[Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?]]''<ref>[http://philipkdick.com/media_pr-040709.html Philip K. Dick Press Release – BOOM! ANNOUNCES DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP?] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120920112820/http://philipkdick.com/media_pr-040709.html |date=September 20, 2012 }}</ref> ''[[Blade Runner]]'', the 1982 film adapted from ''Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?'', had previously been adapted to comics as ''[[A Marvel Comics Super Special: Blade Runner]]''.<ref>{{cite web|first= Alex|last= Carnevale|title= Blade Runner Started, And Ended, As A Comic Book|url=http://io9.gizmodo.com/5059235/blade-runner-started-and-ended-as-a-comic-book|publisher=[[io9]]|date=October 6, 2008|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160613235526/https://io9.gizmodo.com/5059235/blade-runner-started-and-ended-as-a-comic-book|archive-date= June 13, 2016|url-status= live|df= mdy-all|access-date=July 15, 2017}}</ref>

In 2011, Dynamite Entertainment published a four-issue miniseries ''Total Recall'', a sequel to the 1990 film ''[[Total Recall (1990 film)|Total Recall]]'', inspired by Philip K. Dick's short story "[[We Can Remember It for You Wholesale]]".<ref>[http://www.dynamite.com/htmlfiles/viewProduct.html?PRO=C725130167316 TOTAL RECALL #1 (OF 4)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140912052916/http://www.dynamite.com/htmlfiles/viewProduct.html?PRO=C725130167316 |date=September 12, 2014 }} www.dynamite.com</ref> In 1990, [[DC Comics]] published the official adaptation of the original film as a ''DC Movie Special: Total Recall''.<ref>[http://www.comicvine.com/total-recall-1/4000-271271/ Total Recall #1] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904011036/http://www.comicvine.com/total-recall-1/4000-271271/ |date=September 4, 2015 }} www.comicvine.com</ref>

===Alternative formats===
In response to a 1975 request from the [[National Library for the Blind]] for permission to make use of ''[[The Man in the High Castle]]'', Dick responded, "I also grant you a general permission to transcribe any of my former, present or future work, so indeed you can add my name to your 'general permission' list."<ref>The Selected Letters of Philip K. Dick, 1975–1976. Novato, California : Underwood-Miller, 1993 (Trade edition) {{ISBN|0-88733-111-4}} p. 240</ref> Some of his books and stories are available in [[braille]] and other specialized formats through the NLS.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/nls/index.html |title=Home Page of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) |publisher=Loc.gov |date=October 28, 2013 |access-date=November 12, 2013 |archive-date=October 20, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020185103/http://www.loc.gov/nls/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

As of December 2012, thirteen of Philip K. Dick's early works in the [[public domain]] in the United States are available in ebook form from [[Project Gutenberg]]. As of December 2019, [[Wikisource]] has three of Philip K. Dick's early works in the public domain in the United States available in ebook form which is not from Project Gutenberg.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}