I think that much of the back-ground and many of the characters were directly taken from Piers Anthony's novel Mute. Having read Phillip's story, the Movie Total Recall doesn't match it in almost any way. I also noticed, in older editions of Total recall...during the credits it actually says based on a novel or written by Piers Anthony...A few years ago, it was changed.
As a fan, still a classic sci-fi flick...worth watching.
