Total Recall 2070
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Total Recall 2070 | |
|---|---|
| Format | Science fiction |
| Created by | Art Monterastelli |
| Starring | Michael Easton Karl Pruner Cynthia Preston Michael Rawlins Judith Krant Matthew Bennett |
| Country of origin |  Canada |
| No. of episodes | 22 |
| Production | |
| Running time | approx. 42 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | OnTV |
| Original run | January 5, 1999 – June 8, 1999 |
| External links | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
Total Recall 2070 is a short-lived science fiction television series first broadcast in 1999 on the Canadian television channel CHCH-TV and later the same year on the American Showtime channel. It was later syndicated in the United States with some editing to remove scenes of nudity and violence. Total Recall 2070 is very loosely based on two works by the author Philip K. Dick: his short story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale," which was adapted into the film Total Recall, and his novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, which was adapted into the film Blade Runner.
The series was filmed in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was a Canadian/German co-production. Only one season consisting of 22 episodes was produced.
Contents |
[edit] Story
Total Recall 2070 takes place in a dark, crowded, industrial and cosmopolitan setting. The government mostly runs at the behest of a small number of extremely powerful companies called the "Consortium" (including computer memory and virtual-reality vacation provider "Rekall" and android manufacturer "Uber Braun"). David Hume is a senior detective for the Citizens Protection Bureau (CPB). After his first partner is killed by self-aware androids, he is partnered against his wishes with Ian Farve, an earnest and upright officer new to the department. Hume and the CPB often have conflicts with the Assessor's Office (the branch of the government that has sole jurisdiction over crimes related to the Consortium) and with the private security forces of Consortium companies. The main story arcs of the series concern the agendas of Ian Farve, Hume’s wife Olivia, and the mysterious manufacturer of Alpha Class androids.
The series introduced two important twists, one early and another about half its run. The first was the fact that Farve was an Alpha Class android, which Hume did not learn until after they've been partnered. The second was the fact that Olivia's memories were implanted before she married Hume,[1] which led her to leave him to find who she really was.[2] The last plot twist, never answered due to the series cancellation, was that the mysterious manufacturer of Alpha Class androids looked exactly like Farve, only older.[3]
[edit] Main characters
| Character | Actor | Description |
|---|---|---|
| David Hume | Michael Easton | Detective in the Citizens Protection Bureau (CPB) |
| Ian Farve | Karl Pruner | Hume's partner |
| Olivia Hume | Cynthia Preston | Hume's wife |
| Martin Ehrenthal | Michael Rawlins | Hume's superior |
| Olan Chang | Judith Krant | CPB scientist and forensic investigator |
| James Calley | Matthew Bennett | Representative of the Assessor's Office |
[edit] Episode list
| Episode | First airdate | Plot |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Machine Dreams (1) (pilot) | January 5, 1999 | David Hume and his new partner Ian Farve must track down a gang of androids. |
| 2. Machine Dreams (2) (pilot) | January 12, 1999 | The Detectives hunt for the androids take them to Mars. |
| 3. Nothing Like the Real Thing | January 19, 1999 | A motiveless murder leads Hume to investigate black-market memory implants. |
| 4. Self-Inflicted | February 2, 1999 | CPB investigates a potential biohazard situation. |
| 5. Allure | February 9, 1999 | Hume investigates a puzzling suicide. |
| 6. Infiltration | February 16, 1999 | Hume and Farve investigate the murder of an Uber-Braun employee. |
| 7. Rough Whimper of Insanity | February 23, 1999 | Farve starts behaving erratically. |
| 8. First Wave | March 2, 1999 | The CPB computer network goes haywire. |
| 9. Baby Lottery | March 9, 1999 | A baby is taken from his parents because of a genetic disposition towards crime. |
| 10. Brain Fever | March 16, 1999 | The head of the Mars Miners Union is shot by a member who then attempts to kill himself. |
| 11. Begotten Not Made | March 23, 1999 | Dr. Latham is starting to cooperate, when a lawyer from Rekall shows up demands his release. |
| 12. Brightness Falls | March 30, 1999 | Farve and Moralez investigate the death of a cult leader. |
| 13. Burning Desire | April 6, 1999 | CPB investigates the death of a man who was fried in his sublimator. |
| 14. Astral Projections | April 13, 1999 | Hume and Farve investigate a cargo transport that went down in the freezing "New Territories". |
| 15. Paranoid | April 20, 1999 | Farve and Hume investigate the murder of the head of the Nexus dating service. |
| 16. Restitution | April 27, 1999 | Brant is kidnapped on his way to a Mars safe house. |
| 17. Bones Beneath My Skin | May 4, 1999 | Farve and Hume investigate the destruction of an android at a chemical company. |
| 18. Assessment | May 11, 1999 | Farve and Hume are ambushed and captured by a rogue section of the assessor's office. |
| 19. Eye Witness | May 18, 1999 | Olivia finds a friend's rich husband standing over a bloody corpse. |
| 20. Personal Effects | May 25, 1999 | Olan decides to keep a vial found on a corpse in a crashed shuttle out of her report. |
| 21. Virtual Justice | June 1, 1999 | After witnessing a fellow cop kill a cornered prison escapee, Hume looks into the dead man's case. |
| 22. Meet My Maker | June 8, 1999 | Farve takes Hume to meet the alpha-android's creator. |
[edit] The Consortium
By the year 2070 the Earth is ruled by a one-world government known as the Interplanetary Council. However, a lot of the real power lies with the Consortium, the six multi-global companies that financed the colonization of Mars.
The six companies are;
- Rekall is described as as the information technology powerhouse of the twenty-first century (like Sony, IBM, Intel and Microsoft in one single company).
- Minacon is the energy supply company, and supplies the oil on Earth and the Deuterium on Mars.
- Tashimo-Pacific is the transport company, and creators of "Johnny Cab".
- Uber Braun are the rocket and robotics corporation who build the service androids.
- Variable Dynamics are a medical and bio-tech company who are interested in creating synthetic humans.
- Tillman Health are the agriculture and chemicals giant who are working on illegal cloning.[4]
[edit] DVD
The 2-hour series pilot ("Machine Dreams") is available on Region 1 DVD (Canada and the United States) and region 2 DVD (United Kingdom). The complete series was released in NTSC DVD in Japan (in English and dubbed in Japanese) but is long since unavailable. No release dates for other Regions have been set as yet.
[edit] Internet Distribution
The entire series, as of April 2007, is available online through the Joost beta system[5] worldwide except in the United States and Canada. It can be found on the Alliance Atlantis Sci-Fi channel or via a search for "Total Recall 2070".
All 22 episodes are also available, ad supported, on the hulu service.
[edit] Production
Most of this series was filmed at the Downsview Park studio, at the location of the former CFB Downsview in north Toronto. An entire futuristic environment of different sets was constructed for the production.[6]
[edit] External Links
- TV.com Episode Guide
- Total Recall 2070 on Joost
- Total Recall 2070 Theme on YouTube
- French Total Recall 2070 site
[edit] References
- ^ "Paranoid". Total Recall 2070. No. 15, season 1.
- ^ "Bones Beneath My Skin". Total Recall 2070. No. 17, season 1.
- ^ "Meet My Maker". Total Recall 2070. No. 22, season 1.
- ^ a b Robb, Brian J. "Counterfeit Worlds: Philip K. Dick on Film", Titan Books, 2006, pp. 200-225. (English)
- ^ Joost Channel Overview. Retrieved on 2007-04-03.
- ^ Downsview Park Film Studios. Retrieved on 2008-01-21.
