Parents' Guide to Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams

Sci-fi fans who crave dramas with flying cars and spaceships, take note: Philip K. Dick's "futuristic" scenarios are potent and interesting, but carry with them an '80s vibe. Makes sense, since the noted writer died in 1982, and never lived to see many of the technological marvels we now take for granted. So modern techno-geeks prepared to be dazzled, Black Mirror-style, with out-there new ideas, may be a bit disappointed in some of this show's slightly musty setups: an android who wants to extend her artificial lifespan, a plotline about paranoia that amounts to a retread on the Cold War-era Twilight Zone episode "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street."

Still, the best thing about an anthology is that even when some episodes are a little shopworn, you can just skip past them to the gems. And there are gems here. In "The Commuter," a railway worker takes a train journey to a mysterious town where all your troubles are wiped away -- only to find upon his return that his real life has been, too. (Twilight Zone fans might note a superficial resemblance to the classic episode "A Stop at Willoughby," though this take is darker.) In "Real Life," a character becomes confused between what's real and what's virtual reality, and in "The Hood Maker," a psychic and a detective team up to capture a man with dangerous new ideas. As you can see, none of these ideas are brand-new and fresh. But for sci-fi fans, they still hold appeal -- and in the best episodes of Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams, they're fleshed out with unnerving intensity and artistry.