[Excelsior]

Excellent show. The intro is incredible, one of the most haunting and fitting I've ever seen on television.

WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW








This intro is beautiful yet depressing at the same time. It is incredible how they took a song meant for an anti-nazi musical and made it into a haunting anthem that almost sounds like it could have been made by the Greater Nazi Reich itself. All I can think about when I hear it is what could have been - where would I be had this world come to pass? I don't come up with good answers when I think about that question (I'm not racially kosher by National Socialist standards, nor do I suspect I'd have been warmly welcomes by the Japanese in their racially conscious, stratified empire), so the haunting tone of the song fits. This kind of thing makes me appreciate the world I live in, as awkward and plagued with pathological progressivism as it can be sometimes. At least I'm free to be as I am without getting shot or castrated for being of the wrong genetic lineage.

My favorite part about the show is the exploration of the politics and the dynamics of the Reich and Japan. As a student of history, WW2 (especially WW2 in Europe) was my passion. This alternative history fascinates me because of all of the historical implications. I want to know everything about this alternate world, and Man in High Castle does a pretty good job of showing some of the intricacies of it (from the big bits about SS politics, and the noticeable societal acceptance of abused human rights i.e. burning the disabled, to the little surface things about the supersonic transports and all of the alternate technologies that have become common trappings of daily life). They need to spend more time doing that - the storylines following the resistance were not as interesting as the bits following Tagomi and Smith, IMO. I want to see more of the Reich (take us to Berlin more; show us more of how this expanded empire is governed, and the politics that affect that) and Imperial Japan (how much of Asia do they control? How stable is that control? Are Nazi agents de-stabilizing the empire in Asia? How are Imperial leaders coping individually with the growing tech gap between themselves and the Germans?). Show me how this alternate universe works - give me more of the "House of Cards" style political intrigue. I don't need more of Jules' flakiness and Joe's unrequited affection for her. Give me more of Smith (how'd he become what he is now? How's he going to deal with the issues regarding his son?) and Tagomi-san (does he come back to our time? Has he jumped before? How does this influence his politics and place within the empire?), as well as Kido (I don't like the character as a person, but the actor is excellent and his arc is interesting - dive deeper into why he's who he is, who he reports to, etc).

The ending made it appear as though Hitler is "the man in high castle". Aside from literally living in a high castle, he appears to have many of the films from the alternate universes. The films most certainly do indeed come from alternate universes, as they're too realistic to have been made in the show's timeline. A theory I read (and one I sort of buy) is that Hitler may not be THE many in high castle, but simple "A" man in high castle. He does not gather the films first - someone else (perhaps THE man in high castle or multiple men in high castles - in the book I think it is one man, but the show may change things up pretty drastically) with the power to leap multiverses collects the films and brings them to the show's universe, and Hitler uses the resistance as a tool to gather them. Hitler then uses the films to see potential outcomes and guard against those that are unfavorable to him, thus allowing him to hold onto power. It is also possible that the realities shown in the alternative universes allow the Nazis to gain that technological edge (with enough films of the alternate realities, they can see many of the possible tech innovations that could have come about during within the other timelines and made it happen in their own universe).

A very important bit in the show is the concept of "wu" (I think that's how its spelled). The fine ass J-Girl (Tao Okamoto - 9/10, WB) who the antique-dealing dude made the necklace for mentioned this - she said there was "great sorrow" in the artifact he made, and she could feel it. I think this is a key ingredient in multiverse hopping. Note that Tagomi uses Jule's necklace to do the multiverse jump at the end - Frank made that necklace, and it is like that it too had "wu". Frank has an ability to imbue his artifacts with that necessary ingredient (some combo of true sorrow, meaningful emotion, deep spiritual pain) to make multiverse hopping possible, and that makes him a very special character. There are others in this multiverse who, one way or another, have acquired this "multiverse jumping" ability, and they (or at least one among them) are responsible for all of the videos that show up from other timelines. What the show has yet to tell us is how many people have this ability (Tagomi's assistant is strongly implied to be one of them), how many know this ability even exists (it is strongly implied that Hitler knows, and Tagomi has figured it out by the end of the show), and why they use it the way they do.

I cannot wait for the second season. Happy to hear it is already filming. We need more TV like this.

[EDantes]

(11-22-2015 02:21 AM)Robert Hedrock Wrote:  

This series is exceptional.

Watch all 10 episodes. You don't need to have netflix to enjoy it.

http://www.tvmuse.com/tv-shows/The-Man-i...tle_38182/

It is a strong meditation on history, masculinity, duty, honor, love, solid game principles, 48 laws of power, etc. beautifully shot and well done.

Based on philip k dick book: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_in...igh_Castle

Thanks for the recommendation, I saw the pilot and was intrigued, might return to watching it

[Paracelsus]

Just got through the first season.

Really impressive stuff. Alternate-universe is very difficult to do right for some reason, but for once shrouding everyone in greys and shadows really works for the mood of the piece.

It was in the small details I think they convinced me. Especially that one occasion when Joe's stopped on the road and there's all this grey snow falling. And the cop tells him: "Yeah, that's the hospital. They always burn the cripples and defectives on a Tuesday." It was just the way he delivered the line; such matter-of-factness and the implications of that routine statement that chilled me to the bone. I was sold on the concept from pretty much that point on, and the show is gripping stuff. I didn't think an X-Files alumnus could actually produce something this nuanced and thought-out, but Frank Spotnitz seems to have done it.

In terms of standout performances - while "John Smith" was in pretty good hands with Rufus Sewell, I thought all the Japanese characters (or rather, the Asian actors) stole the show.

Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa was just extraordinary. To my eternal shame and dishonour the only things I remembered him being in was chewing the scenery in Mortal Kombat and as a slick Japanese guy in Rising Sun. But his filmography is extraordinary, he doesn't seem to have been out of work for thirty years or so, and while most of it has been B-Movie, Token Asian stuff, I was enthralled with his performance.

And holy shit, Joel de la Fuente as Inspector Kido, how good was he? Never mind the fact he looks like he's in his early thirties when he's actually 46, that's what clean living and Asian genes give you, ladies and gentlemen. He brought this wonderful contrast to Tagawa; their scenes together were just electric.

On to some spoilers....










































Yeah, I'd have to agree, it looks like Frank has some sort of ability to provide the necessary fuel for timeline-jumping. It'll be interesting to see how they develop Miss Fine-Ass who sensed the wu as well; her husband didn't notice it, and given the focus on her I'm guessing we'll be seeing her develop into some sort of timejumping as well.

That said: I've got a feeling Tagami isn't from around here, that his home isn't in the show's original timeline (call it the Prime). Here's my hypothesis: he's actually from the future of the Prime, from the same rough period as the final film that Joe and Frank feature in. But Tagami jumped back from that future to a point many, many years prior to the show's opening, and using the knowledge he had, was trying to avert that timeline coming to pass -- by trying to make Japan and Germany equal in the arms race. It's when the Japanese general comes to him and tells him the Heisenberg Device plans will allow Japan to go to war against Germany - that's when he loses all stopping the future he's seen from coming to pass.

I think he realises he can switch timelines again from pretty much the moment he picks up Juliana's necklace, but he doesn't try to do so until all his plans have come to nought and he's ruined.

I think the necklace and its energy are like a Stage 1 booster for timejumpers - they can travel, but they need an object with enough wu in it to make the jump, they can't do it themselves, and the object loses its energy in the transit. Even allowing for his character's reserve, he does not look the least bit surprised when he winds up in the alternate timeline. But he didn't want to go until it was obvious he could do nothing more to alter the Prime's fate.

[AnonymousBosch]

SPOILERS

Took the time to watch this one over a series of flights. The good: Awesome cinematography and world-building. Great performances from the older members of the cast, particularly the pair Paracelus signalled out. The disappointing: The younger trio have the standard Millennial Actor thing going on where they lack charisma and seem to be constantly collapsing into themselves. The dreadful: Burn Gorman appears for two episodes early on and gives a ridiculous performance as a Marshall that belongs in another, much stupider, show. The patronising: The Evil Nazi starts to show doubts in his conviction when their policies might affect his family, and I'm deeply-uninterested in seeing that plotline play out. The frustrating: Figured out in the first episode what was going on, wanted more of that, and had to wait another nine episodes for the show to confirm it right at the last minute.

It's flawed, but worth a watch.

[Caravaggio]

Related: you should definitely check out more of Philip k. Dicks stuff. Top notch science fiction which gives a lot of food for thoughts.

A scanner darkly, blade runner and minority report are among the movies his books inspired.

[RexImperator]

It was reported on Vox Day's site that this image was used to promote the show using the Twitter hashtag #whatifwelost... But the campaign just ended up getting trolled by white nationalists and then pulled. Backfiring, basically. I don't follow Twitter stuff but it makes a good story.

[Alsos]

(05-12-2016 10:23 PM)RexImperator Wrote:  

It was reported on Vox Day's site that this image was used to promote the show using the Twitter hashtag #whatifwelost... But the campaign just ended up getting trolled by white nationalists and then pulled. Backfiring, basically. I don't follow Twitter stuff but it makes a good story.

Part of the problem is that the artist didn't really capture the vaguely unsettling nature of actual Nazi propaganda posters. If you stripped away the swastikas, the armband, and the doll's saluting arm, it would look like a motorcycle cop posing with his altogether nice family - completely unobjectionable.

The father and the son don't quite have that over-perfected Teutonic warrior ubermensch vibe of the real thing, or the mother the gleam of fanaticism to go with her Motherhood medal, or the daughter the "Village of the Damned" uncanniness. For this to have worked optimally, it really needed to be subtly and subconsciously disturbing even without the obvious symbolism.

And oh, would the scheiss have really hit the fan then.

[LeoneVolpe]

I really need to give this show another shot. I watched the first few episodes on Amazon and although I liked what I saw, I have to admit I found its pacing a bit slow. But I suppose that is to be expected when first establishing a series.

[Germanicus]

(05-13-2016 12:03 AM)Alsos Wrote:  

(05-12-2016 10:23 PM)RexImperator Wrote:  

It was reported on Vox Day's site that this image was used to promote the show using the Twitter hashtag #whatifwelost... But the campaign just ended up getting trolled by white nationalists and then pulled. Backfiring, basically. I don't follow Twitter stuff but it makes a good story.

Part of the problem is that the artist didn't really capture the vaguely unsettling nature of actual Nazi propaganda posters. If you stripped away the swastikas, the armband, and the doll's saluting arm, it would look like a motorcycle cop posing with his altogether nice family - completely unobjectionable.

The father and the son don't quite have that over-perfected Teutonic warrior ubermensch vibe of the real thing, or the mother the gleam of fanaticism to go with her Motherhood medal, or the daughter the "Village of the Damned" uncanniness. For this to have worked optimally, it really needed to be subtly and subconsciously disturbing even without the obvious symbolism.

And oh, would the scheiss have really hit the fan then.

The real takeaway is that the Marxist SJW filth in Hollywood produced this poster because they found it horrifying and expected everyone else to see it the same way.

As noted on Vox Day's site, it was pulled when they realized that not only is it not horrifying to the psyches of white Americans, it has plenty of appeal. As it should, because also as noted by Vox Day, compared to the coming Social Justice Soros-topia, the world depicted on that poster is completely superior. At least for white people.

Vox's original post:

https://voxday.blogspot.ca/2016/05/why-w...-work.html

He initially tells spergling White Nationalists why their half-witted attempts to use social media have failed (other than their own autism and idiocy) and then discusses the poster about halfway through the article.

[Tenebrous]

New trailer for season 2 is here

T

[DannyAlberta]

Any word on whether season 1 will make it to Blu-Ray? Couldn't find any mention of it on line.

(Yes I am a Gen-X'er who still likes to own physical video stuff - also my home theatre has high def sound - mock away if you must)

[sterling_archer]

Trailer looks cool, these last seconds at the end seem to imply we will see maybe doubles of the protagonists.

[iknowexactly]

(11-22-2015 06:09 PM)kaotic Wrote:  

The last series I ever watched was battlestar galactica (yeah I was a nerd back then).

Battlestar Galactica was one of the best shows ever made for television, the idea of the Ceylons, fantastic premise.

Online you can also find the show "bible' ( backstory and plans for the origin, look and narrative progress of the series) which is highly educational if you want to write for TV.

[sterling_archer]

Btw, I am using I Ching like the Tagomi does, but I use either three or two coins method. I asked just now will DT win the elections. Result is Hexagram 12.

http://yijing.nl/hex/hex_12.html

[Paracelsus]

(10-31-2016 05:40 AM)iknowexactly Wrote:  

(11-22-2015 06:09 PM)kaotic Wrote:  

The last series I ever watched was battlestar galactica (yeah I was a nerd back then).

Battlestar Galactica was one of the best shows ever made for television, the idea of the Ceylons, fantastic premise.

I recently went back and watched through the main run of the series (skipping the cashgrab webisodes.)

The show comes out a hell of a lot better on rewatch. The only persistent weak point I noticed in the series hits around the beginning of season 4, which also coincided with the Writers' Strike. The 'god' stuff doesn't come out of nowhere at all; indeed it's pretty much there from the start of the series, and on rewatch it's hilarious exactly how much deus ex machina in the form of Baltar's Head Six there really was. And of course Tricia Helfer was a Wall survivor, and Grace Park just had an amazing body throughout.

[NilNisiOptimum]

(04-21-2016 09:13 AM)Paracelsus Wrote:  

It was in the small details I think they convinced me. Especially that one occasion when Joe's stopped on the road and there's all this grey snow falling. And the cop tells him: "Yeah, that's the hospital. They always burn the cripples and defectives on a Tuesday." It was just the way he delivered the line; such matter-of-factness and the implications of that routine statement that chilled me to the bone. I was sold on the concept from pretty much that point on, and the show is gripping stuff. I didn't think an X-Files alumnus could actually produce something this nuanced and thought-out, but Frank Spotnitz seems to have done it.

I finally fished the first season after this thread first brought the show to my attention. This moment that Paracelsus mentions is what hooked me too. This scene clearly illustrates the old adage "show, don't tell". Too many works of fiction now insist on TELLING you how the world operates. This moment SHOWS how the world operates. A great world in fiction is shown in action. The way the officer is so casual about saying the hospital burns cripples galvanized the wold in my mind.

[EvanWilson]

I watched this late last year, while I was home sick for a few days. I am waiting for season 2 to come out in a few days and expect it will be good.

Some general thoughts and comments about the series and WWII related subjects.

I will divide this into different postings to make replies shorter and on topic with an item.

1: My impression of the scenes with the 'Man in the High Castle' from the last episode of season one, is that he is indeed Hitler, since when any character is talking about that man, or to the man, they always address him as "Führer". Also the age of the man would be about the right age, since Hitler was 56 in 1945, so 17 years later in 1962 he would have been around 73 years old, and the character is depicted as being very elderly and even in the starting stages of some kind of mental ability decline.

[EvanWilson]

2: I had the fortune of living in a small multi unit apartment building (only 4 units total) that was owned by a couple that were living in Poland when WWII started. Both have since passed away but both of them told me some of the stories about their time in Poland and a factory during WWII.

Joe told me one time he was living in eastern Poland and was driving a supply truck for the German army with another guy. They came across a supply truck coming the other way that had all of its tires shot out from Soviet Partisans. They ran into the same group of partisans, who stopped the truck and stole everything. The only reason they did not shot Joe was because he was able to speak Russian and able to tell them that he was Polish, not German. Later in the war Joe worked in a factory as part of the forced labor in western Germany. One time Joe saw a shot down fighter that had been taking part in one of the air battles involving Allied bombers. (I think Joe said it was a German fighter that he saw.)

Pearl, Joe's wife, use to remember every September 1 'that the war started that day' in 1939, and for them it changed everything. Since if the war never happened, neither one of them probably would not have ended up in the United States. A few weeks before Pearl passed away I had a chance to talk with her for a while about her time during WWII. She remember May 5, 1940. That was the day the Gestapo raid her family house while she was visiting over at a friends house and arrested everyone else in her family. She ended up staying until they thought it was safe for her to return home. There was also discussion in 1944 that Germany would have allowed members of her family to be given Reich citizenship, since they considered them 'German enough' with their Polish background. The benefit of taking the deal, is that they would have had no more problems with the police, or at least no more problems than any other citizen of the Reich. The downside was that all of the men of military age would have been drafted and sent off to fight on one of the fronts. There was a discussion within the family on what to do. The sons said that if the family took the citizenship, then they planned on going into hiding with the underground, so they decided not to take the deal.

[EvanWilson]

3: The tension between Japan and Germany. I was surprised to see this depicted. I do remember one source discussing that Japan planned an immediate offensive into the Soviet Far East if it looked like Russia was going to fall. The main objective was to take as much territory as possible in order to keep Germany as far away as possible from mainland Japan. That plan did show that while they were Allies, there was a concern in Japan that Germany would start to ‘overshadow’ their influence in Asia if Germany was able to defeat the Allies. While Germany and Japan were Allies, they did not cooperate that much, and only had limited transfers of technology, information or material. While never really made clear, it seemed that Germany did not want to give Japan access to the technology that it had, which it could have easily done prior to the start of the war with Russia in 1941, and still done into 1942 with long range flights from forward airbases bases in the Soviet Union.

There was also no coordination on grand strategy. Germany was never able to get Japan to attack Russia in 1941, and this allowed Russia to transfer its Siberian army to defend Moscow and launch the winter offensive that did a lot of damage to the German forces in front of Moscow.

Japan never seems to have shared with Germany that it was about to bring the United States into the war December 1941 or what would happen next if the United States was now in the war. There was also the possibility that the United States would have been only at war with Japan if Germany did not declare war on the United States.In that situation, Germany could have done a lot better against Britain and Russia, since there would have been no United States forces in that theater, but Japan would have done a lot worse since most of the United States forces would have been available to be deployed against Japan only.

On a grand strategic level, I think one of the biggest mistakes for the Axis was bringing the United States into the war. If Japan had not done the attack at Pearl Harbor, and had either attacked Russia or, in the alternative, just did an offensive in Southeast Asia and Pacific against Britain, French areas, Dutch areas, but left United States and Philippines alone; it is possible that the United States would have not entered the war until much later and Japan had already consolidated its conquests.

[EvanWilson]

Additional for item #1:
My impression of the castle, was that it was Berghof at Berchtesgaden.

[sterling_archer]

He was Hitler, why did you doubt it? In the first few episodes he is even on TV and you can compare that to last episode. Fun fact: castle is the same that was used to film "Where eagles dare" with Clint Eastwood and Richard Burton. Its name is Hohenwerfen.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hohenwerfen_Castle

[Alsos]

(12-07-2016 09:55 PM)EvanWilson Wrote:  

Additional for item #1:
My impression of the castle, was that it was Berghof at Berchtesgaden.

The real-world Berghof was more of an alpine chalet. The location used in filming is a place called Hohenwerfen near Salzburg, about 40km by road from Berchtesgaden: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hohenwerfen_Castle

Since it's alt-history, who knows? Maybe it's Hohenwerfen in the fictional universe as well, given its proximity to Berchtesgaden.

[Kurgan]

I read the book a long time ago and started watching it on Amazon and I have to say I like the series better. There are some things tv and movies can do better than the book.

[EvanWilson]

(12-08-2016 01:54 AM)sterling_archer Wrote:  

He was Hitler, why did you doubt it? In the first few episodes he is even on TV and you can compare that to last episode. Fun fact: castle is the same that was used to film "Where eagles dare" with Clint Eastwood and Richard Burton. Its name is Hohenwerfen.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hohenwerfen_Castle

I initially was not sure, since he is only referred to as "Fuhrer" or The Fuhrer, never calling him by name. Just about every other ranking party member is called or referred to by name at some point within the series.

I still have a question as to if the Fuhrer is The Man in the High Castle or somewhere is there another person that is him, and he is the one making or somehow getting the movies from somewhere.

One possibility that occurred to me recently, is that the Fuhrer may be using the resistance to gather up the movies because he is unable to trust the government/military entities that would normally handle something as important as this. i.e. There may be problems within his own agencies or people refusing to cooperate, even worse, may be working for another side. It would also be a given that the Japanese could not be told about the films or what they are since then they would be working to collect them also, taking away the Fuhrer's advantage in having the information from the films.

[sterling_archer]

He could be, we'll see in second season which premiers on 16th December, so in a 5 days. From trailer I deduced that main characters have become aware of existence of other timelines / parallel universes.
Hitler is obviously aware of that, and I hope to hear some kind of explanation for all that.