From: jsheppar@escher.cs.jhu.edu (John Sheppard)
Subject: Re: Blade Runner Sequel (?!)
Organization: The Johns Hopkins University CS Department
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1992 20:05:26 GMT


Attached is a message from Bill Kolb.

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IS DECKARD A NEXUS 6?
Even in the first movie, Scott fully intended Deckard to be a
replicant and claimed in an interview this was the only logical
conclusion.  The evidence that he is a replicant is much less
subtle in the Director's Cut and the unicorn scenes were
meant to firmly establish this connection in the viewer's
mind.  The argument that if Deckard had super-human
strength, he'd know he was a replicant, seems a valid one. 
Deckard's real usefulness lies in his uncanny detective
abilities, which are a sort of sixth-sense.  In one script,
Deckard muses to himself, "I had no instinct on her... no
magic!  I couldn't believe what I was reading.  It gave me
cold chills."  The only remaining references to his special
ability are when Bryant says, "I need your magic," or, "You
could learn from this guy, Gaff."  Since Bryant specifically
tells Deckard that Rachael is a Nexus 6, there's no reason to
believe Deckard could not also be a Nexus 6 (although he
might be a competitor's model).  Since Gaff knows about
Deckard's unicorn dream, the police are probably keeping an
eye on Deckard in case he develops emotional responses.  No
one has commented on the possible significance of the
stuffed unicorn on Sebastian's work table (screen right as the
mice scurry over scattered paraphenalia while Sebastian
sleeps).

THE SIXTH REPLICANT
Only five replicants were intended in the final film, not
counting Deckard and Rachael.  At one point in the
evolution of the screenplay there were seven replicants.  No.
7 was Hobson, who Deckard and Gaff surprise in Leon's
apartment.  Hobson nearly kills Gaff before Deckard "airs
him out."  Hobson was deleted in subsequent scripts.  No. 6
was Mary, a non-competitive day-care model who tries to
avoid violence.  Mary was deleted from the final script but
the earlier dialog between Bryant and Deckard slipped into
the film before anyone noticed.  Major editing was needed,
however, to correct the oversight later in the film after
Deckard kills Leon.  When Bryant tells Deckard there are
four more to go, he is referring to Mary, Pris, Batty and
Rachael.  Scott was forced to move this conversation ahead
of Leon's retirement so that it would appear Bryant is
referring to Leon, Pris, Batty and Rachael.  Evidence of this
switch is the scrape on Deckard's face which disappears after
the conversation with Bryant and reappears after Leon's
death.  The missing bottle of Tsingtao is another clue and
Bryant's comments about Deckard being a one-man
slaughter-house and the skin-job he left on the sidewalk make
more sense.

REPLICANT LIFE
Replicants are apparently one of the inducements to emigrate
Off-world.  If you listen carefully to the Off-world blimp
announcement, you can hear, "...loyal trouble-free companion
given to you upon your arrival absolutely free.  Use your new
friend as a personal body servant or a tireless field hand. 
The custom tailored genetically engineered humanoid
replicant designed especially for your needs..."  In the book as
well as early scripts, the escaped replicants form a close-knit
family unit.  Rutger Hauer said in an early interview that
"[he] wanted a small, little society where people were really
nice to each other....[but] the filmmakers made the decision
to play up the love story between Ford and the experimental
replicant Rachael instead of the replicants' story."

CAN IMPLANTS BE CHANGED AFTER INCEPT?
There are indications in the film that replicants can be
reprogrammed.  According to her incept data, Zhora was
reprogrammed for political homicide almost two years after
her incept date.  Also, Tyrell asks Roy, "Would you like to be
modified?"  Whether these refer to retraining,
re-implantation, or something else remains delightfully
ambiguous.  In a early script, Tyrell used brain tissue from
his niece to create Rachael's implants.


I agree with Stephen Jonke's assessment that there is a strong
correlation between the film's allusions to what makes
someone human and the plight of slaves or minorities
throughout history.  If we have trouble accepting Deckard as
a replicant, then we are just like the rest of the humans in
the film and are perhaps missing a valuable object lesson. 
The replicants have all the qualities we ordinarily think of as
defining a human--except having a mother (they are, as Pris
puts it, sort of orphans).  I think it is telling that as long as
Rachael thinks she is human, she is quite affectless.  The
same is true of Deckard, though he goes through a more
protracted period of thinking he's a human to thinking he's a
replicant--but at the same time becoming more human than
the characters we assumed were human.  Sebastian seems to
be a lone exception but his limited life-span puts him in a
special category more closely aligned with replicants than
humans.  Must reading for anyone interested in the film is
the November issue of STARLOG and the October issue of
DETAILS.


Bill Kolb
Newsgroups: alt.cult-movies