(note: Spoiler Warning. Be forewarned. And I may ramble on a bit. Again, be forewarned )

I remember how excited I was when I first heard of A Scanner Darkly’s impending release on the big screen. I, along with at least 200 other people, eagerly anticipated the film adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s drug-mired future dystopia. (The film ended up grossing $391,672 its opening weekend….not stellar numbers by any means).

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While a great number of the film’s enthusiasts got on board because of their appreciation for Philip K. Dick’s writings, I was not among them. Like every nerd, science fiction holds a dear place in my heart, but over the last decade I’ve not cracked open a science fiction novel, save rereading a few classic favorites (you can’t front on Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land or Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange). My nerdliness taking a shift towards music & art rather than Dungeons & Dragons, and never being a particular fan of Dick’s writing in the first place, I was on board because of a particular name attached to the film. And this name was not a part of A Scanner Darkly’s leading cast — all in their real lives inextricably linked to delinquency and drug-usage (Robert Downey Jr., Woody Harrelson and Winona Ryder) or, failing that, dumb-as-dirt-ness (Keanu Reeves) — but instead, the film’s director and screenwriter, Richard Linklater.

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