The Man in the High Castle : What is it, Fringe, Time Machine? (may have spoilers in the replies)

I simply love this show, it is just excellent.

But I don't know what I am enjoying

Is it some sort of Fringe and its parallels universes, alternate dimensions, reality dreaming, time travelling or what?

They tried to explain, they started to explain when Juliana met the man, but when the talk was getting hot they quit.

So tell me, what is your take about it?

Tks.

I think it's very close to Fringe in terms of setup if not storyline.

If I were you, I'd wanna be me too.

For those of us who are Fringe-ignorant, could you explain what Fringe is?

It's everything. Think of it as a more scientific based X-Files.

However, starting in the second season there was an alternate universe where 9/11 didn;t happen but there was a big environmental accident that shut off large sections of city. There were some things that stayed the same and some things that didn't.

It was awesome imo.

If I were you, I'd wanna be me too.

Ok, it was a TV series. I didn't know. That makes sense now.

Think about X-Files (kind of).

Science Fiction type stuff. I don't think there was any alien *beep* but it was more unexplained stuff happening on earth (experiments gone wrong as an example - biotech stuff).

An FBI agent, an elderly slightly-crazy mad scientist doctor and his son team up to solve cases of unexplained/strange occurrences. Of course there are evil cabals/companies that might be behind these things.

By season 2 like the guy you responded to said - parallel universes come into play and it becomes more of a story rather than an episodic case-by-case show. Even in season 1 it wasn't that episodic IIRC.

Multiple realities. I'm not sure if the proper term is universes, timelines etc., or if it matters. A small number of people are capable of limited travel between them. The exact reason this isn't explained yet and may simply be an innate part of the universe or multiverse as imagined in the story.

The novel that it's loosely based on only had one example of such travel involving Mr. Tagomi after contemplation of the I Ching and patterns in Frank's jewelry. Instead of films, the book had a banned alternate history novel in which the Axis powers lost, but it isn't OUR world either. Rather, it has a more powerful British Empire which become America's post-war rival.

To some, Tagomi,`s experience, plus the book within a book's suggestion of a third version of WWII, plus some of the novel's philosophical dialogue suggest something like what the show makes explicit. In any event, the author, Philip K Dick, was a big fan of multiple realities, psychic powers and such, sometimes vaguely explained, kind of like a psychedelic version of the Twilight Zone.

I think the tapes are alternate realities. And everytime the primary reality plays a tape the reality within the tape comes to life.

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I think the tapes are alternate realities.

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Yes, the more proper phrase 'alternate realities'.

Though one correction and I hate to nitpick, but these aren't tapes, they're film reels. To those of us that grew up with them know that there's a distinct difference, even if just thinking of them aesthetically rather than the technical differences.

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And everytime the primary reality plays a tape the reality within the tape comes to life.

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This is not something I've seen.

Season 2 spoilers: In fact, some things play out a lot different than what we've seen in the reels, such as Frank's assassination (which didn't end up happening as far as we know), the way Dixon died, etc.

Then there's the San Francisco atomic bomb. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but aside from the Bikini Atoll reel that Tagomi brought back from his alternate reality (which was not San Francisco), didn't we also bomb damage in San Francisco in another reel? If so, that hasn't happened yet either.

Brevity is the soul of wit.

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To some, Tagomi,`s experience, plus the book within a book's suggestion of a third version of WWII, plus some of the novel's philosophical dialogue suggest something like what the show makes explicit. In any event, the author, Philip K Dick, was a big fan of multiple realities, psychic powers and such, sometimes vaguely explained, kind of like a psychedelic version of the Twilight Zone.

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I like the Twilight Zone comparison better than Fringe, even though TZ wasn't just one story (about any one thing).

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I'm not sure if the proper term is universes, timelines etc., or if it matters.

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I've been loosely using the term timelines, but it would be a mistake to think of this show being about Time Travel, so forget the Time Machine part of the subject title.

Alternate realities of the same time period is more accurate I think.

Brevity is the soul of wit.

Fringe was like a singularities they got fond of making. It imploded under the immense weight of the complexities they kept introducing. I watched it to the end, but don't care to repeat those last couple of seasons.

I'll always miss Walter though.

However, this show is a lot easier. I'm not saying that the alternate timeline aspects of the story are not deep, or that they'll get even deeper when the start revealing the mechanics of it.

But so far, none of that has really mattered. We know that some are crossing timelines, thought we're not sure how or why. We know that lots of films got to our prime timeline, but we're still not sure how, even though we've met the Man in the High Castle and a few of his reels.

And story has progressed really well, in my opinion, without having yet heard the explanations of what is actually happening, when did it start, etc. There's a great deal we don't know, right down to why Hilter was obsessed with the films. And the show is still great!

So I wouldn't worry about it.

That said, I'm guessing the other replies to this thread so far have explained what few things we do know. I'll read those before replying further.

Brevity is the soul of wit.

it neither. it's it's own thing because it's based on a 50 year old book.

Yes, I think so. Or hope so. I never saw Fringe but i have seen a couple of other "alternate reality" things based on WWII. I honestly don't care about time travel or parallel universes or other science fiction stuff except to the extent it is grounded in reality and history. In other words, I like the bulk of what we are shown. I don't mind the Japanese Minister's alternate reality, for now, because it seems like something that could have happened in the San Francisco area, with the Japanese-American son marrying an Anglo-American woman after the war and getting involved in the anti-nuclear movement.

The truth is more interesting than fiction, usually, and that's why it helps them to stick to it as much as they can.