From: muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au (Murray Chapman)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies,alt.cult-movies
Subject: BLADE RUNNER FAQ Version 0.9
Date: 18 Dec 92 02:59:01 GMT
Reply-To: muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au
Followup-To: poster


BLADE RUNNER
Frequently Asked Questions 
Version 0.9 (December 1992)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Compiled by Murray Chapman (muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au)

Please send your contributions/corrections/donations/suggestions to
muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au.  Please DO NOT POST to the net, as I may not see
your posting, and it bugs the people who are not interested in this
rubbish.  I'll include any and all relevant and substatiated material in
the next version of this file.


			     INTRODUCTION
			     ------------

The movie "Blade Runner" is one of rec.arts.movies and alt.cult-movies most
talked about movies.  In an attempt to stop the same questions being asked and
answered every few months or so, I present the Blade Runner FAQ.


Suggestions welcome (ie wanted desperately) for all areas, especially those
marked with []'s.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This FAQ contains spoilers.


			      CONTENTS
			      --------

1.  What is Blade Runner?
2.  What book is it based on?
3.  Is the sound track available?
4.  What are replicants?
5.  Who/what is <so-and-so>?
6.  I don't like the voice-overs/ending.
7.  What different versions of Blade Runner are there?
8.  Memorable Quotes
9.  What is the significance of the unicorn?
10. Problems in Blade Runner
11. Trivia / What makes Blade Runner popular/special?
12. More questions.
13. Is Deckard a replicant?

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1. WHAT IS BLADE RUNNER?

Blade Runner (BR) is a science-fiction film starring Harrison Ford, Rutger
Hauer, Sean Young, and Daryl Hannah.  Although it was a box-office failure, it
has become perhaps the definitive cult movie.

Blade Runner was directed by Ridley Scott, and features music by Vangelis.


Plot Synopsis
-------------
[anyone got the scrolly thing from the beginning of the movie?]

In the future, mankind has created "replicants" to carry out work too boring
or dangerous for humans.  The latest model replicants are physically superiour
to humans, and virtually indistinguishable.  Replicants have been banned from
Earth, due to several mutinies.  While Earth is still the "home" of the human
race, it has become a polluted ghetto, and is populated mostly by people who
can't afford to leave.

Ford is a Blade Runner, a bounty hunter who tracks down renegade replicants. 
He is given the assignment of tracking down a number of replicants who have
managed to make it to Earth.  During the course of this assignment, he has to
come to terms with the fundamental question of what makes a human a human.




-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. WHAT BOOK IS IT BASED ON?

Blade Runner is loosely based on a Philip K. Dick novel, "Do Androids Dream
of Electric Sheep".  Dick also wrote the novel that "Total Recall" was based
on, "Yes We Can Remember It For You Wholesale".  A recurring theme in Dick's
work is the question of personal and human identity.




-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. IS THE SOUND TRACK AVAILABLE?

The original movie soundtrack has never been officially released.  There is
an album called the "Blade Runner Soundtrack", but it is NOT the music from the
movie, rather an orchestral arrangement.  Vangelis released an album called
"Themes", which contains (among other things), "End Title Theme for Blade
Runner".




-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. WHAT ARE REPLICANTS?

From the BR script:

_android_	(an'droid) adj.  Possessing human features -n.  
		A synthetic man created from biological materials.
		Also called humanoid.  (Late Greek androeides,
		manlike:  ANDR(O) - OID.)

					THE AMERICAN HERITAGE
					DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH
					LANGUAGE (1976)


_android_	(an'droid) n, Gk.  humanoid automation.  more at
		robot./  1.  early version utilized for work too
		boring, dangerous or unpleasant for humans.
		2.  second generation bio-engineered.  Electronic
		relay units and positronic brains.  Used in space
		to explore inhospitable environments.  3.  third
		generation synthogenetic.  REPLICANT, constructed
		of skin/flesh culture.  Selected enogenic transfer
		conversion.  Capable of self perpetuating thought.
		Paraphysical abilities.  Developed for emigration
		program.

					WEBSTER'S DICTIONARY
					New International (2012)


Replicants are manufactured organisms designed to carry out work too boring
or dangerous for humans.  Early models were crude and clumsy, but the new
"NEXUS 6" replicants are nearly indestinguishable from humans.  (An early
draft of the script claimed that an autopsy on a body only determined that
it was a replicant after two hours).

Replicants behave differently to humans in two ways:

	1. Their eyes glow during periods of stress.
	2. They have no real emotions.

Replicants can be unaware that they are replicants, as their memories have been
programmed into them.  A test, called the "Voight-Kompf Test" [sp?] is
administered to determine if the subject is a replicant by trying to elict an
emotional response.

NEXUS 6 (and possibly all other) replicants are manufactured by the Tyrell
Corporation, although there is evidence that third party manufacturers are
utilized.  (Chew, the eye maker).  Although replicants can endure
greater pain than humans, and are generally physically superior, they have a
built-in self-destruct mechanism, which means that they only have a lifespan of
a few years.




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5. WHO/WHAT IS <SO-AND-SO>?

Terminology
-----------

BLADE RUNNER: Bounty hunter, retires replicants.

OFFWORLD: Colonies not on earth

SKIN JOB: (slang, possibly derogative) Replicants.

RETIRE: (slang) Kill.

[anything else?]


Behind the Scenes
-----------------

RIDLEY SCOTT: Director.  A veteran television commercial maker, Scott
consistenly makes quality movies.  His feature-film credits include:
The Duellists, Alien, Blade Runner, Someone to Watch Over Me, Legend,
Black Rain, Thelma and Louise, 1492.  Ridley's brother Tony is also a
director, and his film credits include Top Gun, The Last Boy Scout, and
Days of Thunder.

SID MEAD: Visual Futurist [bio/info needed]

VANGELIS: Composer.  He has written numerous movie scores, perhaps the most
famous being for "Chariots of Fire".  His music is synthesizer based.
[bio/info needed]



On Screen
---------

DECKARD (HARRISON FORD):  Ex Blade Runner.

Dr [Eugene?] TYRELL (Joe Turkel): Owner/Chairman of the Tyrell Corp,
manufacturers of replicants.  Extremely intelligent, designed the NEXUS 6 brain.

RACHAEL (Sean Young): Prototype post-NEXUS 6 replicant.  Works for Tyrell.

ROY BATTY (Rutger Hauer):  Leader of the renegade replicants.  An "A" physical
and mental.

PRIS (Daryl Hannah):  Replicant, pleasure model.  "A" physical, "B" mental.

ZHORA (Joanna Cassidy): Replicant, military model.  "A" physical, "B" mental.

LEON (Brion James): Replicant, "A" Physical, "C" mental.

SEBASTIAN (William Sanderson): Genetic designer for the Tyrell Corporation.
Stuck on Earth because of a premature geriactricism [Mathusula's Syndrome????].
Intelligent enough to.  defeat Tyrell at chess once.

BRYANT (M Emmet Walsh): Member of the Police force, Deckard's former boss.

GAFF (Edward James Olmos):  A member of the Police Force.  Makes origami.

HOLDEN (?): Blade Runner, killed by Leon.




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6. I DON'T LIKE THE VOICE-OVERS/ENDING.

Ridley Scott made BR in a style called "flim noir".  Film noir is the
"hardboiled detective" style of film making, and perhaps the most famous
example is the Humphrey Bogart movie "The Maltese Falcon".  A characteristic of
this film is the voice-overs by the detective, explaining what he is
thinking/doing at the time.

Having said that, it is interesting to note that Ridley Scott originally
made BR *without* the voice-overs, but due to it's poor reception when
sneak-previewed, the studio insisted that the voice-overs be added.
Ridley Scott said that in film noir, voice-overs sometimes work, and sometimes
don't, and they didn't work in BR.
(It is unfortunate that a director's artistic license is subject to the
whims of a small group of Americans, who require their plots fed to them
in small, easily digestable pieces that require no chewing.)

The ending of the film was also changed by the studio.  Scott wanted to end
the film with Deckard and Rachael getting into the elevator, but the studio
decided that the film needed a happier, less ambiguous ending.

In 1992, Ridley Scott released a "Director's Cut" of Blade Runner (BRDC), which
eliminates the voice-overs and the happy ending.  This version is discussed
in more detail below.




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7. WHAT DIFFERENT VERSIONS OF BLADE RUNNER ARE THERE?

[Script changes needed!  HELP!]
[laserdisc info needed... versions, running times... differences... HELP!]
[BRDC info needed!  It hasn't been released in Australia yet!  HELP!]




-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8. MEMORABLE QUOTES.

[OK... let the flame war begin!  They're probably not accurate:]

ROY BATTY:
	"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.
	 I saw attacks ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion.
	 I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.
	 All these memories will be lost in time, like tears in the rain...
	 Time to die."

TYRELL:
	"The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long...
	 ...and you have burned so very, very brightly indeed, Roy."

LEON:
	"Wake up!  Time to die!"

GAFF:
	"Too bad she won't live!  But then again, who does?"




-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
9. WHAT IS THE SIGNIFIGANCE OF THE UNICORN?

When Deckard leaves his apartment with Rachael at the end of the film, she
knocks over an origami unicorn, probably left there by Gantt.

A unicorn was used in Tennessee Williams' "The Glass Menagerie" to symbolize
that the girl was "different to other horses".  The horn on this unicorn
represented her physical handicap, which prevented her from meeting people.
When she finally did meet a man, they danced and knocked over the unicorn,
breaking it's horn off.  "It's just like all the other horses now.", she said,
which symbolizes that she has overcome her shyness.

The unicorn may symbolize one of the following:

	- Rachael is (and always will be) a replicant among humans, and will
	  be different, like a unicorn among horses, because of her termination
	  date.  (In the tacked-on ending, Deckard says that she doesn't have a
	  termination date)

	- Rachael leaving and knocking over the unicorn symbolizes her escape
	  from the Tyrell corporation, which only looked at her as a replicant.
	  Deckard fell in love with her as a human, and by doing so, she became
	  human.

The Director's Cut includes a scene not in the original release.  It is a dream
sequence, showing Deckard's dream of a white unicorn.  Given this, one can
argue that Gantt left the unicorn outside Deckard's apartment because he knew
that Deckard dreamt of a unicorn.  If Gantt knew what Deckard was dreaming, then
we can assume that Deckard was a replicant himself, and Gantt knew he was
programmed to dream of a unicorn.




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10. PROBLEMS IN BLADE RUNNER

Plot
----

[6th replicant problem]

[Mary]

How did Roy get into Tyrell's office so easily?  Surely Tyrell's security system
wouldn't allow an elevator to come right to his penthouse without checking
who was in it.  And if the elevator had something in it which checked the
identity of the people in it, it musn't have recognized Roy as a human,
so why not use that instead of the Voight-Kompf tests?

Technical
---------

In the very first shot of Batty, we see his hand clenching up. If you look
carefully as he turns his hand just before the shot changes, you can see
the nail sticking through the back of his hand. He doesn't actually insert
that nail until later in the film.  [Couldn't find this.  Anyone?]

When Leon throws Deckard into the car window, the window was already broken.
Not necessarily a goof, but could be.

When Zhora goes crashing through those plate-glass windows, the stunt double
looks nothing like the actress.

Deckard talks to Bryant with sticking plaster on his face, which
doesn't match his current injuries.  (This is related to the "Mary" replicant
problem: an old draft of the script called for him to get those wounds when
he killed "Mary".  When Mary was cut from the film, they still needed to have
Deckard meet his boss, so they moved this scene to later in the film)
[is this right?]

Support cables are clearly visible when one of the skimmers take off.

In the Deckard/Batty confrontation, after Deckard has been given his gun back,
and stalk off, you can see (in letterboxed/widescreen versions) the shadow of
the cameraman and camera on the wall.

The song Rachael plays on the piano does not match the music she is looking at.

When Deckard puts Leon's "polaroid" into his home scanner and manipulates it,
it appears that he is able to look behind objects in the photo.  This
implies that the original picture was taken from more than one viewpoint, a
notion which a lot of people are uncomfortable with.

The commands that Deckard gives to his scanner aren't consistent with the
actions that it performs.




-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11. TRIVIA / WHAT MAKES BLADE RUNNER POPULAR/SPECIAL?

The secret of Blade Runner is the attention to detail, and the mystery.

Consider this first:

Deckard only kills women.

All the Origami is of animals.

[more needed]

The production design is excellent, realistic, and highly symbolic:

Tyrell lives in a giant Pyramid, like a Pharoh.  An early draft of the script
had the REAL Tyrell in suspended animation in the depths of the pyramid, like
a dead Pharoh.  (The Tyrell we see would have been a replicant.)

When Roy Batty leaves the Tyrell Corporation in the elevator after killing
Tyrell, the cinematography shows him to be a "falling angel".

When Batty dies, he is relased for torment as he releases the dove.  First shot
of blue sky.

[more needed!]




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12. MORE QUESTIONS

6. What's with all the eyes?
7. Whose eye is it at the start?
8. What do the glowing eyes mean? 
9. Do Holden's eyes glow?
10. Do Deckard's eyes glow?
11. What biblical parallels are there?
12. Why couldn't Tyrell afford a real owl?
17. Where does the poem come from?
18. Where did Deckard's bottle go?
19. Did Rachel's picture move?
21. What are the differences between the various editions?
22. What's the meaning of the chase scene?
23. What's the meaning of the chess game?
24. What books are available?
25. What does Winnie the Pooh have to do with it?



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
13. IS DECKARD A REPLICANT?

This question causes the most debate among BR fans.  The different versions
of BR support this notion to differing degrees.  There is no definitive
answer: Ridley Scott himself has stated that he deliberately made the ending
amgibuous.

The "for" case
--------------

- Gantt knew that Deckard dreamt of a unicorn, therefore Gantt knew what dreams
  that Deckard had been programmed with. (BRDC only)

- Replicants have a penchant for photographs, because it gives them a tie to
  their non-existant past.  Deckard's flat is packed with photos.

- Only a replicant could survive the beating that Deckard took.

- Deckard's eyes glow (BRDC only [really?])


The "against" case
------------------

- The whole idea of the film was to show Deckard (ie The Common Man) how
  good it is to be alive, and how much we take it for granted.  "What's it
  like to live in fear?"

- The issue was not adequately explored, so it is unimportant.

- The most important "evidence" for the "for" case was left out in most
  versions.

- The story is good/complex enough without Deckard being a replicant.

- Why send a replicant to kill other replicants?  What was Deckard doing on
  Earth?  Why did the police trust him?

- Deckard wasn't a replicant in the novel [??????]
--
~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^
  Murray Chapman                           muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au
  University of Queensland                 How many lightbulb jokes does it
  Brisbane, Australia                      take to change the subject?
Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies