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Douglas goes out of consciousness and as soon as he does, the movie picks up as if he's really an agent and needs to save Mars.

Another way to take it, is that the whole thing really happened as a schizophrenic embolism, or whatever the female Dr said it was moments after he gets put to sleep.

Is it really a total recall dream or did something really go wrong with the procedure?

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The whole point is that you are left with an unresolved ambiguity. Lots of P.K.Dick stuff pokes around the idea of "reality" and how much you can really know and what you can really trust. – dmckee Jun 27 '12 at 18:59
@dmckee The question isn't about the PKD story but about the movie that is almost but not quite entirely unlike it. – Gilles Jun 27 '12 at 19:00
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@Gilles: Sure. But the bit they kept was exactly the question of reality versus implanted memory. At least in the Arnie version (I have not seen the more recent one). – dmckee Jun 27 '12 at 19:02
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Must every question on this site contain a spoiler in the title? – Kyralessa Jun 28 '12 at 1:40
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In the movie, we aren't meant to know, so dmckee is right. In the short story, we are meant to know in the end: everything is real, or actually, more weird than the dream they were trying to implant. This is a case where I prefer the movie to the short story. – Andres F. Jun 28 '12 at 2:19

4 Answers

up vote 9 down vote accepted

just like the question of how many licks it takes to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop, the answer is:

The world may never know.

As mentioned in comments, the ambiguity is intentional. We are not meant to know.

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Butbut we do know roughly how many licks it takes! – Izkata Nov 25 '12 at 5:52
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It is part of the dream and not real. The evidence for this is when they are asking what his ideal girl is like the image on screen is identical to the girl he meets on Mars and her mannerisms are the same as he requested.

The alternative is that he described a girl's looks and attitude which caused the computer to display an image which looked exactly like a girl he would meet later who also happened to have the same attitude as Douglas requested.

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Or he was unconsciously describing someone he had already met, making it real and not part of the dream. – Izkata Nov 25 '12 at 5:54
But the girl looked EXACTLY like her, from just a couple of words? If it was linked to his brain then why would they need to ask him anything? – Stefan Nov 26 '12 at 9:22
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It's all in the dream or the recall machine. As seen, he was dreaming in the beginning all the machine did was make his dream a reality. They really tried reaching him but his choices make the things change in his dream. In the end you saw the sign on the advertising board, even then they were trying to reach him and he did realize it but he chose to remain "totally recalled" as the name of the movie states. At least this is my understanding hope it brings light to the whole matter.

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up vote 1 down vote

Its all real. If the idea of recall is that it implants memories, then why do things happen, Conversations between other characters for example, that Howser has no part of.

Out of universe : obviously as film goers we have to see things that aren't from the main characters perspective to keep the story moving effectively. But it ruins the concept of the story, if its a fake memory, then we shouldn't be able to see things that Howser doesn't see.

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