I jumped into the book after hearing all the buzz as it seemed like the big scifi hit of 2025. Killer premise and for the most part the fast pacing works... for the first third or so. But it you can feel the short story anthology vibe as it goes on and becomes practically a disconnected series of vignettes, and even the central idea itself loses cohesion. The Big Bad Thing has so many manifestations that it feels like monster of the week rather than a true full book that holds onto a core sharply executed identity. Less a grand thesis than a series of isolated short form thrills.
So the long and short of it is, definitely worth it for the first third and dimishing returns after that.
As for the short film, I think it's great for what it is, gets better and better as it goes and is worth the short watch. Fascinating seeing the visual depictions of the stuff the book talks about both foreground and background.
It's been a long time since a book has gripped my attention like the one this short film is based on. It has many interesting ideas and a plot with some truly unexpected twists.
The latest version of the book distances itself from the source material (a good decision imo): The SCP Foundation. It's an extremely interesting project, with some parallels to FOSS. I wonder if there are other joint literary projects of similar scale.
manfromchina1
Reminds me of "Total Rickall"(Rick and Morty: Season 2, Episode 4) which itself is probably a retelling of a retelling of a retelling of a retelling.
afandian
Lots of people familiar with the material here, but as somone with zero context, I watched the film and I don't get it.
Is it something where you need to know the backstory to get the importance? The premise just seems quite thin: (Spoiler alert) the guy behind the desk had his mind erased and the guy with the gun is an impostor.
Is there more to it than that?
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bschne
I came back here for the comments after clicking through and my wifi was glitching, leading me to get a "can't find this site" message for a minute. Interesting experience.
morgango
Astrid! Or more accurately, Jasika Nicole.
lowbloodsugar
Jasika will always be Astrid from Fringe. In my head, Helen Hunt plays wheeler.
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coldtea
Did anybody else find the original story mediocre stuff? Interesting premise, but neither novel nor that deep. PKD has done 100x with much less.
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languagehacker
This book was so good. Can't wait to watch this after work :)
the_af
Interesting that there are two versions that I know of!
I watched this one first, and I prefer it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-IiVeGAydE. I like the actress who plays Wheeler better (no disrespect to Jasika Nicole, she does a good job too and I loved her in Fringe), and the script seems to stick closer to the original short story form from the website. Is this new short based on the book? If so, it seems the dialogues in the book are... weaker maybe?
Things I liked in this short: the use of B&W, and I thought the actor who plays O5-8 is stronger in this version.
I wonder if this story could become a "standard" for indie directors to riff off?
show comments
world2vec
I just finished the book and it did not live up to all its hype. Quite boring, actually.
show comments
jmcgough
Read this as "antiemetics" (anti-nausea meds like Zofran) and was very confused for a moment.
I jumped into the book after hearing all the buzz as it seemed like the big scifi hit of 2025. Killer premise and for the most part the fast pacing works... for the first third or so. But it you can feel the short story anthology vibe as it goes on and becomes practically a disconnected series of vignettes, and even the central idea itself loses cohesion. The Big Bad Thing has so many manifestations that it feels like monster of the week rather than a true full book that holds onto a core sharply executed identity. Less a grand thesis than a series of isolated short form thrills.
So the long and short of it is, definitely worth it for the first third and dimishing returns after that.
As for the short film, I think it's great for what it is, gets better and better as it goes and is worth the short watch. Fascinating seeing the visual depictions of the stuff the book talks about both foreground and background.
The originals:
https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/antimemetics-division-hub
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_Is_No_Antimemetics_Divis...
Very nice. This is up there with my favorite DUST short film, "Final Offer". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rv8kOzRZK8g
Oh wow, They filmed it! Twice even!
hn discussion about the written versions
* https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41224225
A different version by different director/actors:
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-IiVeGAydE
It's been a long time since a book has gripped my attention like the one this short film is based on. It has many interesting ideas and a plot with some truly unexpected twists.
The latest version of the book distances itself from the source material (a good decision imo): The SCP Foundation. It's an extremely interesting project, with some parallels to FOSS. I wonder if there are other joint literary projects of similar scale.
Reminds me of "Total Rickall"(Rick and Morty: Season 2, Episode 4) which itself is probably a retelling of a retelling of a retelling of a retelling.
Lots of people familiar with the material here, but as somone with zero context, I watched the film and I don't get it.
Is it something where you need to know the backstory to get the importance? The premise just seems quite thin: (Spoiler alert) the guy behind the desk had his mind erased and the guy with the gun is an impostor.
Is there more to it than that?
I came back here for the comments after clicking through and my wifi was glitching, leading me to get a "can't find this site" message for a minute. Interesting experience.
Astrid! Or more accurately, Jasika Nicole.
Jasika will always be Astrid from Fringe. In my head, Helen Hunt plays wheeler.
Did anybody else find the original story mediocre stuff? Interesting premise, but neither novel nor that deep. PKD has done 100x with much less.
This book was so good. Can't wait to watch this after work :)
Interesting that there are two versions that I know of!
I watched this one first, and I prefer it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-IiVeGAydE. I like the actress who plays Wheeler better (no disrespect to Jasika Nicole, she does a good job too and I loved her in Fringe), and the script seems to stick closer to the original short story form from the website. Is this new short based on the book? If so, it seems the dialogues in the book are... weaker maybe?
Things I liked in this short: the use of B&W, and I thought the actor who plays O5-8 is stronger in this version.
I wonder if this story could become a "standard" for indie directors to riff off?
I just finished the book and it did not live up to all its hype. Quite boring, actually.
Read this as "antiemetics" (anti-nausea meds like Zofran) and was very confused for a moment.
Fnord!
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