🎬 Book vs movie · Full spoilers
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep vs Blade Runner
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep vs Blade Runner: Mercerism, the electric animals and the empathy test, what the film cut, kept and changed. Full spoilers.
Science fiction, post-apocalyptic (adult)
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
by Philip K. Dick
A bounty hunter hunts escaped androids to buy a real goat, in a world where a borrowed religion and a mood dial decide how everyone feels.
★★★★☆ 4 / 5
A short, strange 1968 novel that is more about empathy, fake and real animals and a religion that survives its own exposure than about a chase. It has some violence, animal cruelty and non-graphic sex. Four out of five, an opinion draft.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?: book vs movie
Every guide comes as a video and a full written article. Pick the one you need: the review is spoiler-free, the ending explained is not.
What is Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? about?
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968) is a science fiction novel by Philip K. Dick. After a world war, bounty hunter Rick Deckard is paid to retire escaped Nexus-6 androids while he and his wife Iran dream of owning a real animal. The 1982 film Blade Runner is loosely based on it.
Content note: the book has laser killings, animal cruelty, a seduction scene and drinking, and it uses in-world slurs such as chickenhead for people with impaired minds.
Below you’ll find how the book compares with the film: Mercerism, the electric animals, the empathy test and a table of what was kept, cut and changed. Full spoilers.
Read it if
- You have seen Blade Runner and want the book's very different ideas
- You like science fiction about empathy and what makes someone human
- You want a short novel with a bleak, odd sense of humour
- You are curious about Mercerism and the electric animals
Skip it if
- You want the film's story: the book drops much of it and adds a religion
- Animal cruelty and spider mutilation are a hard line for you
- You dislike abrupt, philosophical endings
- You want a fast, plot-first thriller
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? review scorecard
Pace
4
Ideas
5
Atmosphere
4
Characters
3.5
Prose
3.5
Average4.0 / 5
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?: questions people ask
Is Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? worth reading?
A short, strange 1968 novel that is more about empathy, fake and real animals and a religion that survives its own exposure than about a chase. It has some violence, animal cruelty and non-graphic sex. Four out of five, an opinion draft. Read it if: you have seen blade runner and want the book's very different ideas; you like science fiction about empathy and what makes someone human; you want a short novel with a bleak, odd sense of humour; you are curious about mercerism and the electric animals. Skip it if: you want the film's story: the book drops much of it and adds a religion; animal cruelty and spider mutilation are a hard line for you; you dislike abrupt, philosophical endings; you want a fast, plot-first thriller.
Is there a Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? movie or series?
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep vs Blade Runner: Mercerism, the electric animals and the empathy test, what the film cut, kept and changed. Full spoilers. Book vs movie: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? →
What is Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? about?
Philip K. Dick's 1968 novel follows bounty hunter Rick Deckard, who is paid to retire escaped Nexus-6 androids, while he and his wife Iran long for a real animal in a world where living animals have become a status symbol.
Is the book the same as Blade Runner?
No. Blade Runner (1982) keeps the bounty hunter, the empathy test and the escaped androids, but reported summaries say it leaves out Mercerism, Deckard's wife and the quest for a real animal.
What is Mercerism?
In the novel, followers grip the handles of an empathy box and fuse with Wilbur Mercer, an old man climbing a hill while rocks hit him. Late in the book a TV host claims Mercer is a fraud, and Mercer himself admits it.
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