"The Impossible Planet" is a

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

short story by American writer Philip K. Dick, first published in the October 1953 issue of ''

Imagination Imagination is the production or simulation of novel objects, sensations, and ideas in the mind without any immediate input of the senses. Stefan Szczelkun characterises it as the forming of experiences in one's mind, which can be re-creations ...

''. It has been reprinted over 30 times, including

Brian Aldiss Brian Wilson Aldiss (; 18 August 1925 – 19 August 2017) was an English writer, artist, and anthology editor, best known for science fiction novels and short stories. His byline reads either Brian W. Aldiss or simply Brian Aldiss, except for o ...

's 1974 '' Space Odysseys'' anthology. It was also published in

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and

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translations. The writer originally submitted it to the Scott Meredith Literary Agency on February 11, 1953, with the title "Legend."

Plot

A 350-year-old woman asks the captain of an interplanetary ship to take her to Earth. As Earth is believed to be a myth, the captain finds a record of a planet that is not called "Earth" but has one moon, and is in a star system of nine planets. The four main characters take the journey to this inhospitable destination: the captain, his more ethical crew member, the old woman, and the woman's robotic servant.

Adaptation

The story was adapted and directed by David Farr as an episode of the

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'' Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams''. The script is somewhat faithful to Dick's original story, but with the addition of a romantic sub-story, and with a more ambiguous ending.

Plot

Space tourism guide Brian Norton routinely augments the experiences of tourists with lighting tricks. While not conning the customers, he seeks a promotion and transfer to the tourism agency's corporate offices to please his upwardly-mobile girlfriend, Barbara. Norton and cynical space tourism agency branch manager Ed Andrews are approached by a 342-year-old woman, Irma Louise Gordon. Facing death from a heart condition and nearly completely deaf, Irma offers them each five times their annual salary to take her on a trip to Earth. As they are not sure the planet still exists, having been evacuated centuries before due to solar flares, they head for a similar planet. Irma's protective robot servant, RB29, deduces and maintains the subterfuge. Irma has a very specific dream about her grandparents swimming in a river in Carolina, and wants to re-enact this with Norton, who closely resembles her grandfather.

Cast

Jack Reynor Jack Reynor (born 23 January 1992) is an Irish-American actor. His notable roles include the films '' What Richard Did'', '' Transformers: Age of Extinction'', ''Glassland'', ''Macbeth'', '' Sing Street'', and ''Midsommar'', as well as the seri ...

as Brian Norton *

Benedict Wong Benedict Wong (born 3 July 1971) is an English actor. He is known for his roles as Kublai Khan in Netflix's ''Marco Polo'' (2014–2016), Bruce Ng in '' The Martian'' (2015), and Wong in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since ''Doctor Strange'' (2 ...

as Ed Andrews *

Geraldine Chaplin Geraldine Leigh Chaplin (born July 31, 1944) is an American actress. She is the daughter of Charlie Chaplin, the first of eight children with his fourth wife, Oona O'Neill. After beginnings in dance and modeling, she turned her attention to act ...

as Irma Louise Gordon *

Georgina Campbell Georgina Alice Campbell (born 12 June 1992) is an English actress and model. She won the 2015 BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for '' Murdered by My Boyfriend'' (2014). Her other television credits include ''Flowers'' (2016), ''Broadchurch'' (20 ...

as Barbara * Malik Ibheis as RB29

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Impossible Planet, The Short stories by Philip K. Dick 1953 short stories