Blade Runner

So I watched Blade Runner for the first time in a long time tonight. As I was watching, I remember a debate raging a few years ago which stated that Deckard was a replicant. There are certainly things in the director's cut that would lead credence to that theorgy but then I'm not so sure.

Original cut - not a replicant.
Directors cut - is a replicant.

It's pretty clear I think.

It seems to me he is almost certainly a replicant. His dream seems to really make that completely clear. Which makes the movie all the more completely awesome--Edward James Olmos is the actual Bladerunner. Which is why he's at almost every scene and shows up in such odd places. And it all makes sense more generally as well-- why Deckard is such a strangely clumsy and shitty Blade Runner? Well, because he really isn't one, he just thinks he is--EJO is actually following him around, letting him do his dirty work for him and stepping in and finishing the job if anything were to go wrong.

It's sadly more subtle than that Skelly.

Original cut: not a replicant, happy ending.
First Director's Cut (VHS Special Ed): maaaaaybe a replicant, sad ending.
Ultra Mega Directors Cut(s): Definitely a replicant, who gives a shit.

Ridley had it all in that first director's cut--there was nuance, there was pathos. Then he goes and fucking gives it away with that goddamned unicorn dream. What a shithead. It's like that Episode 1 moment where they start explaining the Force with midichlorians or whatever-the-fuck. STOP EXPLAINING IT, WE PREFER THE MYSTERY. You could have it both ways when it's an unknown quantity--maybe he's a replicant and EOJ is pimping him? Maybe he's a human and just can't do this shitty job anymore. Nope, he's a replicant--it's the first one.

I like the unicorn dream. Fuck those who don't.

Every so often I think about buying the DVD. Then the play/amazon search deluges me with the number of different versions. So I think 'sod it, it's too much hassle' and buy something else.

I have the Director's Cut (the middle one). I used to have the original release somewhere. I have never seen the new director's cut. In the original release, he is definitely human because the voice overs give it all away. In the middle version, he could be a replicant and certainly has traits of being one but there are moments where you are not sure. And I don't think it has a sad ending...just an uncertain one.

Ah well...I think it's a good movie.

Buy the FINAL CUT package where you get all the versions.

I liked the original (OK -I'm old), I never really paid much attention when the one time I watched the DC (too much alcohol at that stage of life), and even though I have the FINAL CUT package (and it has been on SKY twice since) I still haven't watched it .

And the argument was between Ford and Scott themselves - Ford said NOT, Scott said YES and made the DC to prove it .

Still a GREAT film - probably my favourite (memo to self ... watch Final Cut soon!)

In the book, he is for certain human. In the movie the whole Unicorn dream sequence and Gaff's Unicorn origami was meant to obscure if he was indeed a replicant. But it's canon at best. But in the novel humans were given enough artificial organs that the fine line between humans and androids became gray. There are a few sequels to the novel not written by P.K.Dick, which I wasn't a huge fan of when I read them. They tend off the story line a lot.

The final package looks good. I have the first UK DVD release that I a terrible transfer in letterboxed 4:3. The resolution is appaling. I think I need to get the new version.

It is ages since I read the book. There was a lot of good stuff in their that didn't make it to the film. Like the radiation, his sheep, his wife, the chickenheads...

Southernman wrote:
"Buy the FINAL CUT package where you get all the versions."
Oh god no! I like the film but I certainly don't want three versions!

Who started all this director's cut nonsense anyway? Sielberg? I seem to remember The Close Encounters Special Edition as the one that started all this. I liked the original Close Encounters....Richard Dreyfus getting sucked up into the ship never to be seen again.

The book is brilliant...never liked the movie as much as others seemed to. Don't know which version I saw though.

Why haven't I posted here yet?

BLADE RUNNER is my all-time favorite film. Maybe not the greatest film ever made, or the most technically sound, but my favorite. I've probably seen it in excess of 100 times in its entirety and every version (including the "work print" that's on the new suitcase edition).

The VK-inspired suitcase edition is far and away the one to get. You get every version of the film (and it is actually worth having them all) and a fantastic 3 hour documentary, DANGEROUS DAYS that gets further into the nuts and bolts than most casual fans will care to bother with. A miniature spinner and a plastic (!?) origami unicorn make it a complete package.

When I was 6-7 years old I saw this thing about the making of BLADE RUNNER on TV. Even at that early age, I was totally into scifi. Other kids got into firetrucks, trains, and dumptrucks at that age but I liked scifi. I remember distinctly sitting in my grandmother's living room while they showed how they did the scene where Deckard is hanging off the building- glass panel, some paint, and matting. Growing up, it seemed like every time the picture was on broadcast TV I was deathly ill. Maybe watching the movie so many times with a high fever had an effect on me.

What is there to say about it all that hasn't been said? I still believe it is- bar none- the finest piece of production design that has ever been put on screen. The effects are absolutely timeless, unlike the CGI crap today that looks dated just five years on. The Vangelis score gives me chillbumps after hearing it countless times. Almost every line is iconic. But above all else, there is an atomsphere and a sense of time and place that very few movies could ever match. There's still a sense of futurity in every frame- something most science fiction films totally forget to bring to the table.

As far as comparing it to the novel- why bother. It's a great adaptation of the key themes and concepts of the book if not the to-the-letter events and characters. If you really read Dick, I can't see how it's even possible to look at BLADE RUNNER and not feel like it's totally a PKD _world_ brought to life.

But it's not the future....There are Pan Am logos and the old Bell logos on stuff...