From: bd@fluent@dartmouth.EDU (Brice Dowaliby)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies,rec.arts.sf.movies,alt.cult-movies
Subject: Re: Deckard as 6th Replicant doesn't hold water
Date: 28 Sep 92 17:42:15 GMT
Reply-To: bd%fluent@dartmouth.EDU
Distribution: na
Organization: Fluent Inc., Lebanon NH


gmark@cbnewse.cb.att.com (gilbert.m.stewart) writes:

>In article <BD.92Sep26090551@fluent.UUCP> bd%fluent@dartmouth.EDU writes:
>>
>>gmark@cbnewse.cb.att.com (gilbert.m.stewart) writes:
>>
>>>How could someone be responsible for killing lots of other replicants
>>>and keep it a secret?  Sounds reasonable to me that lots of replicants
>>>have heard about him.
>>
>>Sure, like all the little replicants on the outer worlds get
>>together and talk about the newest rumors from earth.

>Why not?  Some of them are extremely intelligent, e. g. Roy.  

I'm not convinced Roy is all that smart.  What he accomplishes he 
accomplishes by brute force, not intelligence, and he failed at his 
one goal - gaining a longer life from Tyrell.  I'm not going
to argue that Roy was dumb, but there isn't a lot of evidence
for him being bright, either.  Poignant, yes.  Bright, maybe.

>They apparently have set up some kind of semi-family unit or
>at least live together.  

Why do you think this?  I don't recall anything in the
movie to suggest this.

>It's certainly not inconceivable
>that this particular unit has communitcated with others.

Not inconceivable, but there's no evidence for it, either.

>There are apparently lots of them out there.  

We really don't know this, do we?

>They aren't in prison
>or kept incommunicado.  

We don't know this, either.  In fact, since one of the
escapees got fried (on a fence?) in the escape, it would not be 
unreasonable to assume that they *are* in prison.

>Some jobs require communication.  

True, but my computer communicates with other computers - I doubt
they gossip behind my back.

>It's no secret which of them are replicants.  They apparently have
>affection and loyalty for one another.  

So?

>They had to make some
>kind of preparations to get to Earth, and they may very well
>have been aided by others with the same aspirations.  

Again, you can assume this if you want to, but there's no
evidence for it in the movie.  If you want to start a
new thread in another group about possible lifestyles
of replicants, that's fine, buit what's it got to
do with this movie?

>It's less probable that they have no knowledge of Earth and what
>awaits them there.  And if they have nascent human emotions,
>I'd consider it much less probable that they could resist
>hearing about Earth and what goes on there.  For instance,
>it didn't take Zhora long to figure out Deckard was a phony.
>She didn't seem naive at all.  Don't know what else there
>is to say

Assuming for the moment that the replicants offworld do live
in some sort of prison (since there is at least *some* evidence
for that in the movie) why would they hear much about life
on earth?

We don't know a whole lot about the blade runner operation
on Earth - all we know is that there are at least 2 blade
runners (Holden and Deckard), and that their boss is in a tiny
little office attached to some police force somewhere.

Since the bladerunner operatiojn is so small budget, with such
slimy little characters populating it (i.e. it's nothing
large-scale, slick, and formal like the FBI), it's fair to assume
that not many skin-jobs get back to earth.

Your scenario, though (that a lot of replicants would have heard
of Deckard) requires not only that a fairly good number of replicants
make it safely to earth (which is doubtful or there would be a larger, 
better equipped blade runner force), but that some of them make
it back to the off-world sites and tell the other replicants what
the story is.

Sorry, Gilbert, it doesn't sound too likely to me.


-- 
   Brice Dowaliby, Fluent Inc., 10 Cavendish Court, Lebanon, NH  03766
                         bd%fluent@dartmouth.edu        
             I don't speak for them, they don't speak for me
                              DoD # 0698
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