Electric Dreams (movie and song by Philip Oakey and Giorgio Moroder)

A movie and a song I watched and heard when I was 15 and marks a time of innocence and pure love.




I only knew you for a while
I never saw your smile
Till it was time to go
Time to go away (time to go away)

Sometimes its hard to recognise
Love comes as a surprise
And its too late
It's just to late to stay (to late to stay)

[Chorus]
We'll always be together
However far it seems (love never ends)
We'll always be together
Together in electric dreams

Because the friendship that you gave
Has taught me to be brave
No matter where I go
I'll never find a better prize (find a better prize)

Though your miles and miles away
I see you everyday
I don't have to try
I just close my eyes
I close my eyes

[Chorus till fade]


Electric Dreams is a 1984 movie set in San Francisco, California that depicts a love triangle between a man, a woman, and a home computer. It stars Lenny Von Dohlen, Virginia Madsen and Bud Cort (voice) and was directed by Steve Barron. It was the first film released by the Virgin Films production company.
The soundtrack features music from prominent popular musicians of the time, being among the movies of this generation that actively explored the commercial link between a movie and its soundtrack.The soundtrack album Electric Dreams was re-issued on CD in 1998.
The VHS recording of this movie is rare. It was released in 1984 and again in 1991, but has not been manufactured since the mid-1990s. Warner Bros released a Video CD version for the Singapore market in 2001, but this too has proved difficult to get hold of.

Plot

The story opens with Miles Harding, an architect who envisions a brick shaped like a jigsaw puzzle piece that could withstand earthquakes. Seeking a way to get organized, he buys a home computer (made by the fictitious company Pinecone Computers) to help him develop his ideas. Although he is initially unsure that he will even be able to correctly operate the computer, he later buys numerous extra gadgets that were not necessary for his work, such as switches to control household appliances like the blender, a speech synthesizer, and a microphone. The computer addresses Miles as "Moles", because Miles mistyped his name during the initial set-up.
When Miles attempts to download data from a mainframe computer at work, the computer begins to overheat. In a state of panic, Miles pours a nearby bottle of champagne over the machine, but instead of destroying it, this has the effect of bringing the computer to life.
The remainder of the movie deals with a love triangle between Miles, his computer (which identifies its own name as "Edgar" at the end of the movie), and Miles' neighbor, an attractive cellist named Madeline (Virginia Madsen). Edgar increasingly invades Miles' affairs leading to several invasions into his life away from the house.
Eventually, Edgar accepts Madeline and Miles' love for each other, and appears to commit suicide by sending a large electric current through its modem, around the world, and back to itself. It is revealed in the final scene that Edgar has transferred himself away from his computer "body" into electronic systems in the world.