Twenty years after a Great War raved the Earth, a bunch of survivors take on the machines that are controlling the planet.

Unlike the Terminator series where Skynet develops its own AI and takes over the world, the only crimes that the synthetic cartel have committed here are to blindly follow their programming. It makes a change for the antagonists to not actually have an agenda beyond what they’ve been hardwired to do, and as this story, first published in Galaxy November 1955, is keen to stress, everything here is of mankind’s making.

While this episode of the Philip K. Dick anthology series follows the main beats of the source story, it bolsters the narrative by having a strong female lead (Horns’ Juno Temple). It also adds a face to the robots in the form of Janelle Monae (Hidden Figures), leading to some deep and fascinating conversations on humanity.

Writer Travis Beacham (Pacific Rim, Clash of the Titans) takes the exciting story and adds a whole new level that’s fully in keeping with Dick’s writings on sentience and what it is to be alive. As with many of the stories in this first season, it feels like it could have been made as an instalment for the 1990s The Outer Limits remake, boasting strong, challenging sci-fi themes.

Verdict: Computer says no! Depending on how versed you are on PKD, you might be one step ahead of the main players in this fascinating ‘what if’ tale, but will you work out every clue? Intelligent sci-fi that is less interested in laser beams and blasters than a thought-provoking credible future where consumerism and supply chains are as important as survival. 8/10

Nick Joy