Second Variety by Phillip K Dick

A few weeks ago, I read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, which sent me down a Blade Runner rabbit hole for a few days. Having always really enjoyed the various adaptations of PKD's stories, I decided it was time to sit down and read more of them and maybe compare them to their various films.

After Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, I read We Can Remember It For You Wholesale, the story that inspired Total Recall. I'm a huge fan of the original Total Recall, and must say I was a little disappointed by the story. I see where the inspiration came from, but the short story is very short and a little underdeveloped. I appreciate where Paul Verhoeven took the story and the world he crafted.

(Side note: I rewatched Total Recall from 2012 a few nights ago. The film has some incredible sets and a very well thought-out and lived-in world. It's a very beautiful movie to look at, but man does the story suffer. It starts off slow, then picks up, and then totally botches the ending.)

The next story I read was Second Variety, the story that inspired the 1995 film Screamers.

I first watched Screamers two or three years ago. I really enjoyed it, so much so I blogged about it (which you can read here). It's not a perfect movie, but for lovers of 90s sci-fi and Peter Weller, it's definitely worth a watch.

So, how does Second Variety compare? Well, Second Variety has got to be the closest adaptation of a PKD story. The film follows the beats of the story pretty much start to finish. The dilemma between warring factions was changed from Russian vs. UN, which was no doubt done because the Cold War was over, and instead in the film it's between a mining company and a group of former miners and scientists. It works well in the movie, and really leans into a cyberpunk-type future where companies exploit the workers and have no problem going to war with them on a random planet over resources.

In Second Variety, the war is being dominated by claws (known in the movie as Screamers), little robots that live underground. They lock in on heat signatures and will chase down anything alive and kill them by spinning their blades through the victim. Think the balls from Phantasm, but a billion times scarier.

To protect the UN forces, they have a special bracelet they wear that lets the claws know they are on the same side.

The problem is these robots were designed and then left to build themselves. They begin to evolve and that changes the game.

A Russian runner shows up to the UN command and is immediately killed by the claws. The UN soldiers discover a message in his hand that is asking for a meetup between the two sides' leadership. Thus begins one UN soldier's trek across the wasteland where he encounters a survivor, a young boy, whom he takes with him on his way to the Russian Command.

I won't ruin the story for you, because I think it's worth a read (You can read it here for free). It's short and can easily be read in one sitting, and I really enjoyed it. It's nice to see how much the filmmakers used the story as a blueprint for their film, and upon finishing the story I immediately decided to rewatch Screamers, which I still enjoyed the second time around.

Next up... Paycheck.