Total Recall 2070

IMDb RATING
6.8/10
1.5K
YOUR RATING
Total Recall 2070 (1999)

A detective for a police agency is teamed with a naive new officer, who is secretly an android, and often conflicts with the Assessor's Office and the security forces of "the Consortium", a ...Read allA detective for a police agency is teamed with a naive new officer, who is secretly an android, and often conflicts with the Assessor's Office and the security forces of "the Consortium", a small number of extremely powerful companies.A detective for a police agency is teamed with a naive new officer, who is secretly an android, and often conflicts with the Assessor's Office and the security forces of "the Consortium", a small number of extremely powerful companies.

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    Michael Easton
    Michael Easton
    • 1999
    Karl Pruner
    • 1999
    Cynthia Preston
    Cynthia Preston
    • 1999
    Michael Anthony Rawlins
    Michael Anthony Rawlins
    • 1999
    Judith Krant
    • 1999
    Matthew Bennett
    Matthew Bennett
    • 1999
    Damon D'Oliveira
    Damon D'Oliveira
    • 1999
    John Bekavac
    • 1999
    Peter Firth
    Peter Firth
    • 1999
    Paulino Nunes
    Paulino Nunes
    • 1999
    Kevin Jubinville
    Kevin Jubinville
    • 1999
    Victoria Snow
    Victoria Snow
    • 1999
    Kevin Hare
    Kevin Hare
    • 1999
    Anne Marie DeLuise
    Anne Marie DeLuise
    • 1999
    Scott Wickware
    Scott Wickware
    • 1999
    Deborah Odell
    Deborah Odell
    • 1999
    David Warner
    David Warner
    • 1999
    Anthony Zerbe
    Anthony Zerbe
    • 1999
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    Featured reviews

    Absolutely outstanding, why was it cancelled?

    As far as TV series go, this one is perfect in every detail. I particularly appreciate the way relationships between the main characters are explored and developed. At last someone has created characters that are flawed and full of insecurities; nobody is a jock or a superhero.

    I have tried to participate in a "Save the Program" campaign, along with others who have enjoyed the series, but it seems that our efforts have been unsuccessful so far.

    Promising Premise

    Easton & Pruner play a perfect pair of cops who work off each others strongpoints and makes for enlightening scenario of the future mental battles of crime. Easton keeps his character as dark and moody as he has in the past. Pruner is great as an android partner who craves human traits and feelings so he can fit in with his human counterpart Easton. Great series set with a toned down "BladeRunner" motif. Brings back memories of "Mann & Machine". Hopefully this series will last longer than "M&M" CDB

    Fantastic visual representation of Philip K. Dick.

    Sadly, most people have never read any of Philip K. Dick's novels and short stories and only connect him with the movie Blade Runner. This is unfortunate because PKD's stories were more entertaining, layered and intellectually versatile than what is offered in Blade Runner. Total Recall 2070 is less of an amalgamation of Blade Runner and Total Recall, and more a mix of their literary sources: 'We Can Remember It For You, Wholesale' [short story] and 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep' [novel], both by PKD. Both of these have very real, flawed characters with a quirky, inventive mood that always entertain.

    The story of Total Recall 2070 was nearly that of '...Sheep.' For the benefit of the movie going masses' recognition, the names of things from the movie version of Total Recall were used. The story was about the philosophy behind automated sentiency, mechanized religion and the need for humanity to regain its sense of purpose above the machine, while also living beside it. This is something the series was only beginning to touch before it was canceled.

    The lack of knowledge about the show's true roots has led to a complete misunderstanding of it. It is a near perfect representation of PKD's wonderfully strange and murky imagination. People call Total Recall 2070 a rip-off of the movies when in reality the movies were a pale shadows of their sources. Total Recall 2070 is the most genuine incarnation of Philip K. Dick's worlds to date.

    Unique show about the future cannot rise above mediocrity

    When I read this show was very much Philip K Dick inspired, using many of his ideas, rather than just a spin off, I knew I had to see it.

    Total Recall 2070 shows a futuristic world dominated by multinational corporations, many of them operating on Mars as well. While crime has reduced spectacularly, there are still many problems in society. The show deals with a lot of cyberpunk topics: brain manipulation, androids, genetics, virtual reality, viruses etcetera. The CPB, a type of independent police force, often competing with other jurisdictions, has their hands full on it.

    Visually the show is literally very dark with sparse lighting and often a foggy, rainy scenery whenever things take place outside. Clearly the show had a tight budget, often repeating the same cgi imagery transiting between scenes to show parts of the city, but it was very cleverly used. The backgrounds show us but a glimpse of a grim world that is rebuilding itself on technology, nature having been destroyed mostly.

    Unfortunately the show is not addictive at all and there are some important elements missing to make it great: humor, a clear direction of storyline, well- motivated and consistent emotions. It too often feels as just another bland cop show, just set in the future, although it's really much deeper than your average police fare. Some characters, like David Hume's wife, or the female lab researcher,Olan Chang, are underdeveloped. But Hume and Farve, his android partner, are excellently casted. Hume is the cool, but emotional and aggressive agent, while Farve is the brilliant investigator, looking for his unknown origins.

    The ambient synth music fits very well with the whole Blade Runner feel. It would be unfair to compare it all with what Vangelis and Ridley Scott did for atmosphere: for a TV show they've done a good job transferring the script to a very watchable programme.

    Total Recall has occasional swearing and some sex but it is all functional, not just for the heck of it. Overall a very smart show with a lot of conspiracy, cover ups, tensions, but most importantly very relevant issues regarding humanity's fate in a world where technology can be one's friend or worst enemy, depending who is using it, who wants to have it, who owns it and who decides what is legal to do with it.

    So, there's some good and some bad. I didn't mind the lower production values but compared to this show, writing has dramatically improved for so many shows these days and so has their addictiveness. I hope to see a nice new cyberpunk/futuristic show soon, right now Westworld is the best one to watch.

    In particular avid Philip K Dick and sci fi fans should give this show a shot but you may get bored after an episode or 6.

    Doomed to obscurity due to bad naming

    This is a a textbook case of how a title can negatively affect the reception of a show. People tuned in expecting something like Total Recall (Mars, action, Arnold) and what they got was something that's only connection to the movie was the recall corporation. If this show had been called like "Blade Runner: Memories" and just called the androids replicants, I imagine it would have been much better received. If you are looking for a nice, cyberpunky neo-noir base on the writings of Phillip K Dick, this should do nicely. The CG is a bit rough but the sets are nice and the acting is enjoyable, though the main character leans a weee bit too hard into the gruff cop character imo.

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    • Trivia
      Pilot "Machine Dreams" is a full length TV film running at 83 minutes.

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    Details

    • Runtime
      • 44m
    • Color
    • Sound mix
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.33 : 1

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