Blade Runner Final Cut

[softwillow]

I would suggest the serious fans get a copy of Paul M. Sammon's "Future Noir: The making of Bladerunner."

Sammon was working on writing articles about Bladerunner for magazines while Scott was filming it, so he has alot of interview information that is first hand and from the time, not retconned many years later. It's been a while since I read the book, but I believe in the interviews, Deckard's status as a replicant was deliberately unanswered, even to the actor during filming.

Some great scenes never filmed/filmed but not noticeable/filmed but editted out:
-the replicant escape from the off-world morgue to Earth
-Deckard verifying replicant status by pulling out a dead "persons" jawbone to see if it had a serial number on it
-The attention to detail on the set. The parking meters even had instructions written, "Warning - Danger! You Can Be Killed By Internal Electrical System If This Meter is Tampered With."
-Holden and the hospital: Holden reminding Deckard that "they" are just machines and that if he fucks a toaster oven, he shouldn't expect it to love him back. (filmed, but the recording of the sound was not production level).

[Szlia]

Originally Posted by Khorum

The theatrical ending was the one where they were driving through some sunny Canadian forest preserve and Deckard was talking about what little time they may have.

It's more happy happy than that since the voice over says "Gaff had been there, and let her live. Four years, he figured. He was wrong. Tyrell had told me Rachael was special: no termination date. I didn't know how long we had together. Who does?"

[Khorum]

Originally Posted by Szlia

It's more happy happy than that since the voice over says "Gaff had been there, and let her live. Four years, he figured. He was wrong. Tyrell had told me Rachael was special: no termination date. I didn't know how long we had together. Who does?"

I didn't really have a huge problem with that ending tbh, but it was almost a STOCK shot that definitely felt incongruous with the rest of the film. It had more sunlight in 60 seconds than the other 120 minutes of the film too. If they'd actually shot something that worked with the rest of the movie it would've been less awkward. But Scott's ending is definitely better imo.

[Kreugen]

The wiki says the shot was from The Shining ;p

[spronk]

There's a good UK set of interviews with most of the crew/cast of BladeRunner called "On The Edge of Bladerunner", shot last year I believe. Pretty much everyone except Harrison Ford participated, good to watch - Priss, Rutger Hauer, the guy with the aging disease, everyone is interviewed.

Ridley Scott says flat out in it that Deckard is a replicant, the key is the unicorn dream and unicorn origami that Admiral Adama leave behind. In the new cut, the unicorn scene is in and in black and white (was color in the "last" release), to emphasize its a dream sequence and "implanted" memories.

It'll probably still be subtle, after all its just that scene and the end (new cut I believe, not the Shining extras) that really put it all together, so pretty open to debate. Personally I think the movie works better with Deckard as a human, but I guess Ridley Scott really wanted to make him a replicant...

By the way for anyone really into Blade Runner go watch Soldier (1998) with Kurt Russell, not a very good movie (kinda like a bad Van Damme movie... lol) but I believe its set in the same universe as Blade Runner, with a few minor hints like one of the characters mentioning the Tanhauser Gates.

[Kreugen]

The Soldiers being human doesn't make much sense in that setting.

[Khorum]

Well it wasn't just Ridley Scott who insisted that Deckard was a replicant, it's pretty clearly implied by Phillip K. Dick. In the novel, Deckard has a revelation about humanity after killing a couple "andy's" and goes to the station to take the voight-kampff test himself and fails. It's still pretty ambiguous, but it questions the validity of the voight-kampff test and the nature of humanity too; but I really like how Scott played it out.

LOL Soldier was co-written by the dude who adapted Blade Runner's screenplay from the novel, and he admits that it's supposed to be in the same universe--it just doesn't look like it. Pretty bad movie. Tannhauser gates get a lot of mention in scifi though, even in anime too--gundam and gunbuster mentioned them.

EDIT: apparently Kurt Russell and his buds were supposed to be replicants too, just don't remember it being mentioned in that movie.

[Rezz]

Really? It doesn't even seem like it's alluded too, the kids are all very much human and get turned into killing machines by the government in Soldier.

[Kreugen]

Well, the dudes that replace them could be I guess.

[Drajakur]

I totally love Bladerunner, especially the non-narrated version. I used to watch this and then Alien and Aliens for a night of sci-fi geekery. The fact that it has turned into a cash cow does somewhat irk me, but, hey, what are you gonna do. I might buy it in Blu-Ray (if it is coming out for it?) but it isn't like I'm gonna buy a second copy of basically the same movie.

[The Ancient]

Originally Posted by Khorum

Well it wasn't just Ridley Scott who insisted that Deckard was a replicant, it's pretty clearly implied by Phillip K. Dick. In the novel, Deckard has a revelation about humanity after killing a couple "andy's" and goes to the station to take the voight-kampff test himself and fails. It's still pretty ambiguous, but it questions the validity of the voight-kampff test and the nature of humanity too; but I really like how Scott played it out.

No, you just missed the point which is that the line is blurred. What's clearly implied is not that Deckard is an android, but that the utilized definitions of humanity are incongruous.

[Khorum]

Only you quoted me NOT missing it in that paragraph. Yeah outcome was ambiguous but the context of that point in the book pretty much settles it: The reason Deckard tested himself in the first place was that he had just chased down some androids who had been programmed to function as cops, and even had a fake police station to finalize their training. The event in the book brings into question the validity of the Voight-Kampff devices the blade runners use and the very nature of their humanity. Ridley Scott took all that exposition and wrapped it around the vague dilemmas with Rachel's test results. Plus the whole thing about the Unicorn (which was a recycled memory used for replicants), and the black and white family photos.

As far as Soldier went I'm not sure if Kurt Russel himself was meant to be a replicant, or if the screenwriter just had his own notions of what the replicants really were, but that's just what I read from some interview about that movie. It really was a pretty bad fucking movie.

[The Ancient]

Then I missed the part where you explained that it's clearly implied that Deckard is a replicant in the novel. What's clearly implied is that we should question convention.

[Khorum]

The whole book, not to mention Dick's entire career, implies THAT. But I meant only that particular situation. He goes to retire a few other androids in that fake police station and it even seemed like a couple of them were being trained as Blade Runners. Scott's been pretty definitive about Deckard being a replicant in interviews recently although there had been more than enough hints in the movie, my point was that the book wasn't quite as subtle about it. Though it WAS still ambiguous in that Dick doesn't go right out and say it in a press junket.

[The Ancient]

I'll have to re-read it then, because the solid impression I was left with from the book was not "Deckard is a replicant" but "Does it matter who is or who isn't?"

That's why I'm so against an implicit declaration that he was a replicant, it diminishes the entire message.