The Man in the High Castle

[Flashman]

Anyone else seen the TV pilot?

You can watch for free on Amazon, then vote on them producing a full series.

If you don’t know, the story is set in an alternative reality where Germany and Japan won WWII and partition America between themselves.

Although, in one sense, it gives away the big twist in the story, I thought it was a eerily effective depiction of an Axis victory, particularly in showing the cold winter of German occupation without resorting to the usual heel-clicking cartoon Hollywood Nazis.

[Witt]

Where did you see that, Flashman? Not heard of it. I am guessing you like it.
Hi, by the way. Been a while.

[Flashman]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00RWYOWEM/ref=amb_link_185540827_11?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-6&pf_rd_r=1EFZ3JBXM2PTDSEKE4NE&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=574386407&pf_rd_i=5687760031

You may need to download Silverlight, but it’s straightforward.

If you watch, see if you can spot who is sitting in the diner making the origami animal. Remember, this is based on a Philip K. Dick acid trip…

Youtube has a cropped version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6v1WxzP3Ek

[Narvik]

…nahh I don’t buy it. After Japan and Germany had won the war, it is likely they would have started fighting each other, just like USA and Sovjet in the Cold War. The only reason the Cold war didn’t go hot is the a-bomb and nuking. In the book, did Japan and Germany too got some kind of MAD balance that kept them from attacking each other ? If not, the author is weak. Also, Sovjet Union only lasted 60 years because of resistance from within, and this is common to dictatorships,  so where is the inherent resistance ?

[Flashman]

Watch the show. There is a resistance, and Himmler is planning to nuke the Japs in California when the old man kicks the coal scuttle.

[robbie358]

I never saw any adaptation of the novel, but the book was pretty awesome.  Typical Philip K. Dick mind-trip.

The characters talk about reading a book called The Grasshopper Lies Heavy, which is based on real history.  So we’re reading a story about people who are reading a story about us.

[CWO Marc]

Another book along these lines is Eric Norden’s alternate-history novel The Ultimate Solution, which ends with the Nazi-dominated half of the world about to initiate a nuclear exchange with the Japanese-dominated half of the world.