The Man in the High Castle on Amazon Prime

Luath

Luath

I have some thoughts, while the series has largely delt with the book, there are still areas that require consideration. For example;

How are the respective German and Japanese dominions managed? Is the GGR, for example, managed as an extension of the Reich with Gaus or have the states been preserved? We've seen what Berlin looks like, so will we get to see the Japanese mainland, or elsewhere in the empire?

On that note, how has Japan delt with the various ethnicities in its empire? There would be a growing mass of Chinese, both in China proper and existing and fresh migrants to the PSA, at least I hope they haven't delt with them in the other way. Anyway, could there possibly be fraternity between the whites and the Chinese against the Japanese? Or are they being played off against each other? Or are there any pro-democracy movements in Japan reaching out to the resistance?

One thing that strikes me about MITHC is just how empty the world must be, assuming that it's not just North America, a massively expanded general plan ost has probably been put into effect on not just Eastern Europe and the USSR but Africa, the Middle East and the American South. The global population in 1962 is not two billion, not by a long shot.
 
Athelstane

Athelstane

Luath said:
I have some thoughts, while the series has largely delt with the book, there are still areas that require consideration. For example;

How are the respective German and Japanese dominions managed? Is the GGR, for example, managed as an extension of the Reich with Gaus or have the states been preserved? We've seen what Berlin looks like, so will we get to see the Japanese mainland, or elsewhere in the empire?

On that note, how has Japan delt with the various ethnicities in its empire? There would be a growing mass of Chinese, both in China proper and existing and fresh migrants to the PSA, at least I hope they haven't delt with them in the other way. Anyway, could there possibly be fraternity between the whites and the Chinese against the Japanese? Or are they being played off against each other? Or are there any pro-democracy movements in Japan reaching out to the resistance?

One thing that strikes me about MITHC is just how empty the world must be, assuming that it's not just North America, a massively expanded general plan ost has probably been put into effect on not just Eastern Europe and the USSR but Africa, the Middle East and the American South. The global population in 1962 is not two billion, not by a long shot.
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For Japan, at least, the model of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere seems to have been merely extended by Dick: While parts of China were to be annexed outright (like Manchuria and Formosa), most colonies and states were to be nominally independent while functioning as de facto Japanese protectorates, their economies closely tied to Japan's, whose economic needs would take priority. The Pacific States seems another such case, nominally independent while in reality, just a Japanese protectorate, somewhat more closely controlled since it had been a former major enemy.
 
Leo euler

Leo euler

Just watched the series over Thanksgiving. I loved it. I am also very happy that an alternate history series has gotten such a high profile.

empty said:
It was well made but generally not what I really was hoping for in terms of an alternate history show. Are, we getting a second season or something?

This was my take on the end. Is this even remotely right or is it supposed to be vague at this point? On the scale of the universe all timelines are weakly connected and things like films slip through, whether through some conscious will or some natural force. Whatever the mcguffin is it's not ITTL. Hitler becomes aware of these disturbances at some pre-WW2 point in his life and takes advantage of them, especially the films. After WW2 he uses secret organizations and rebel groups throughout the world to gather the films as they appear wherever they may pop up. These organizations bring the films to him, the man in the high castle. He does this outside of the state's apparatus because he rightfully does not trust anybody. The Nazi concern with the films may or may not be wholly his doing either. Allowing John Smith's operation to continue to exist (if he is not the one who created it) gives him more information about the films which make him basically all-powerful. In this case the senior officials vying for power would legitimately be trying to find and capture or destroy the films before they reach Hitler.

Never thought I'd watch a show or movie where the good guy is interdimensional wizard Hitler.
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I don't think Hitler is the Man in the High Castle, although it seems very possible that the Nazis did so well in this timeline because they had access to these films and so could predict the future or get information on what is going on. Hitler in general seems to be quite a bit smarter and more rational than in OTL, also.

The films themselves seem to be from both alternate timelines and alternate futures--the one showing San Francisco nuked, for example, seems to indicate that it is possibly from the show's timeline's future. So the films are obviously very effective "secret weapons" to whoever possesses them.


As to exactly how the films are collected, here is my theory: We see in the last part of the last episode how Tagomi is transported into OTL San Francisco (or maybe a slightly-different ATL; it hasn't been confirmed yet). This is similar to what happened in the book, where he is transported to another reality by meditating on the heart pendant.

It seems like certain objects endowed with "Wu", like the pendant or the Indian buffalo pendant, can allow people to go into other universes somehow. They then bring films back from those universes.

Here is an interesting analysis I found regarding the alternate realities in the book.
 
Leo euler

Leo euler

I also wanted to mention what I thought was the funniest line in the show (can't remember the exact words):

"Please give me a moment...I have an anxious disposition.....OK--my greed has returned undiminished." :p

I am really liking most of the characters.
 
Zachanassian

Zachanassian

Gone Fishin'
Watched episodes 2 through 10 over the past three days.

Holy. Crap.

I figure there is going to be a season two, though I'd be fine with them leaving it on the somewhat ambiguous ending, but I doubt that they're going to do that.

My biggest complaint, really, is that the American-SS wear exactly the same uniforms as their German counterparts. It's a bit unclear as to whether the American Reich is part of the Großdeutsches Reich, a subordinate puppet state, or a British Commonwealth-type situation with a separate home government but with Hitler as a shared Führer. I liked how in the pilot the highway patrol man who helped Joe out was wearing a normal US-style police uniform but with a swastika armband, and I was somewhat hoping for more of that and less of a complete carbon copy of Nazi uniforms.

I can't believe how much the show got me rooting for characters like John Smith and Chief Inspector Kido. Especially Kido. Part of me wanted him to figure out the thing he was working on, even though that would mean bad things for other characters I liked as well. About the only characters I wanted to see end up dead were that psychopathic bounty hunter (damnit he's still alive) and Heydrich (the guy playing him did an excellent job, by the way). I also think it's kind of funny they got a Danish actor to play a German character who masquerades as a Swede.

Reading the novel's summary on Wikipedia, it's quite clear that the TV show is WILDLY different than the book to the point where I'd say the show is "inspired by" rather than "based on" Dick's novel. But, hey, it still works great and from what I understand of Dick's novels that might be a good thing as following the plot exactly might not have translated well to the screen.

Also, I don't know if anyone else caught it, but I'm pretty sure Tagomi's assistant (I forget his name) dimension jumped in a similar way to Tagomi at the end of Episode 10. There's a brief scene where he's leaning down to pick up files he dropped, and Jules see rather severe burn scars on his arms, hidden by his suit. That, combined with the fact that he tells Tagomi his hometown is Nagasaki makes me pretty sure he's a jumper from our time line, or at least one very similar to ours.
 
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tukk323

Zachanassian said:
Watched episodes 2 through 10 over the past three days.


Also, I don't know if anyone else caught it, but I'm pretty sure Tagomi's assistant (I forget his name) dimension jumped in a similar way to Tagomi at the end of Episode 10. There's a brief scene where he's leaning down to pick up files he dropped, and Jules see rather severe burn scars on his arms, hidden by his suit. That, combined with the fact that he tells Tagomi his hometown is Nagasaki makes me pretty sure he's a jumper from our time line, or at least one very similar to ours.
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On that note
I actually didn't pay attention to the burn scars and his Nagasaki story enough to connect the dots but when he implores Tagomi not to give up on meditation it made me think that he knows about 'jumping' between timelines. Just a feeling I had form the way the actor delivered the lines in that scene
 
Upvoteanthology

Upvoteanthology

Donor
tukk323 said:
On that note
I actually didn't pay attention to the burn scars and his Nagasaki story enough to connect the dots but when he implores Tagomi not to give up on meditation it made me think that he knows about 'jumping' between timelines. Just a feeling I had form the way the actor delivered the lines in that scene
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Speaking of acting, the performances for this show were amazing.
 
Leo euler

Leo euler

By the way, in one of the episodes, the song Sukiyaki is playing. It's a pretty good song. It was the only Japanese song to ever hit number one on the American charts. They also played it in a scene in Mad Men.

It came out in 1963, though, which is one year after the show. Oh well. :p
 
water123

water123

tukk323 said:
On that note
I actually didn't pay attention to the burn scars and his Nagasaki story enough to connect the dots but when he implores Tagomi not to give up on meditation it made me think that he knows about 'jumping' between timelines. Just a feeling I had form the way the actor delivered the lines in that scene
Click to expand...

My personal theory is that Tagomi in the TV series is FROM Nagasaki, so they will explore that dynamic of "yes the world is better but my hometown was reduced to rubble" from Tagomi's rather fascinating standpoint.
 
Leo euler

Leo euler

Aqua817 said:
My personal theory is that Tagomi in the TV series is FROM Nagasaki, so they will explore that dynamic of "yes the world is better but my hometown was reduced to rubble" from Tagomi's rather fascinating standpoint.
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To add to the theory that his assistant might be from another timeline, I heard a theory that his assistant is in fact his son. We know that Tagomi's son and wife died (I assume those were the people in the pictures on his desk), so maybe so.
 

gladiator8085

This isn't about the series itself, but the issue that Amazon had a few weeks ago for its advertising campaign. I was just wondering if anyone else heard about this. Someone at Amazon Prime apparently thought that it would be a good idea to advertise the series in New York by putting Nazi posters in the subway system. :eek: Apparently nobody in the NYC subway system thought that this was a bad idea and might offend some people before they put the posters up. :confused: It didn't take very long for the #@$@ to hit the fan so it was pulled pretty quickly last month.
 

Rush Tarquin

A spoilerific review of the first season.

I do have to agree that the lead performances are often the weakest point (the drama could drive the lead character's on regardless, as with Frank's kaddith scene, but could also make the lead characters all the more tired, as with Frank and Juliana's relationship dramas) whereas Sewell's John Smith and Tagawa's Tagomi were both great, as were the majority of the supporting cast really, particularly the actors playing Heydrich, Wegener and Childan.

The series has quite a unique feel to it in that it's more unrelentingly sad than grimdark. It's really uncomfortable to say, but Japanese-occupied San Francisco is sadly beautiful and somewhere I'm actually drawn to whereas every city the Nazis have touched has become brutally ugly.
 

Isambard

Season 2 is going to be detailed today at the San Diego Comic-Con.

Any hopes or predictions for what might be revealed at the panel, scheduled for this afternoon?
 

rvbomally

I'm surprised there hasn't been a post about this yet, but there's a world map in the background. Hopefully we'll get a better look at the entire thing when the episode comes out. Looks like Mexico is neutral, Canada met the same fate as the United States (unsurprising), but South America has also been divided between the Germans and Japanese, contrary to expectations based on dialogue in the first season. The Amazon looks like it's being kept neutral, and I guess neither empire is willing to expend the manpower to manage the rainforest. The Caribbean and Central America are firmly under German control, and this likely gives the Kriegsmarine superiority in the New World.



map.PNG
 
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