Blade Runner(1982) - The Box Office Flop Which Became A Sci-Fi Classic
Not Seen It?
The Nutshell gives you everything you need to decide if this is your kind of movie. We break down its style, tone, similarities to other films and the basic plot, giving you the full picture without spoilers.
Which will help you decide if it's worth a watch.
Seen It?
What Did You Miss? reveals the details, clues and moments you might have overlooked, giving you a fresh perspective on the film.
Which will help you decide if it's worth a rewatch.
Join Marc, Darren and Paul as they crack open Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1982), the iconic sci-fi noir starring Harrison Ford. Step into a dark, rain-soaked future where humanity and artificial intelligence collide, and a gripping detective story raises questions that remain relevant decades later.
Is Blade Runner a timeless classic, or does its reputation outshine the film itself? Let’s find out.
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What’s in the Episode?
The Nutshell
A spoiler-free breakdown of the film’s premise, style, tone and genre, helping you decide whether it deserves a place on your watchlist.
The Unboxing
We dig deeper into the film, exploring its story, themes, filmmaking and place in cinema history.
What Did You Miss?
We look at the details, clues and moments that might have passed you by the first time around.
Paul’s Facts of the Day
Behind-the-scenes facts and production insights that add another layer to the movie.
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Transcript
Kill Bill with droids.
Paul:There you go.
Done.
Boom.
Marc:Move on.
Darren:Yeah, that's it.
Nailed it.
Grueling.
You had to sit in the chair and ask some questions and then sit in your car and just look at a screen.
It must have been exhausting.
Paul:No sympathy for Harrison there.
Marc:Hello and welcome to Movies in a Nutshell with me, Marc Farquhar, myself, Darren.
Paul:Horn and I, Paul Day.
Marc:Here's why you should tune in every week.
Darren:We help you make better movie choices on films you haven't seen with quick spoiler free breakdowns to help you decide if they're your kind of movie.
Paul:And we help you get more from the movies you have seen with things you missed and details.
You probably didn't know us.
Marc:Plus there's movie facts, trivia and behind the scenes stories.
Paul:There's also your chance to choose the movie.
Marc:So grab some popcorn and let's crack open this week's movie.
Okay.
Welcome back to the show.
e talking about Blade Runner,: Darren:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Bringing the gold.
Marc:It's an iconic movie.
I mean, most people who are into the movies will have.
Even if you've not seen it, you know of it.
I was the same.
Paul:And a massive flop wasn't its initial release.
Darren:Yeah.
Marc:Wow.
Darren:So was the sequel.
Paul:Yeah, I know.
Marc: Well,: Paul:Yeah.
Darren:It wasn't as big as you would think for Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford.
Marc:Yeah.
Darren:And good director.
Marc:Yeah.
It just shows you like you get all the right ingredients.
Doesn't make the recipe.
It's going to be actually that good.
Darren:Nobody knows anything.
Paul:That's your fault.
General public, we're speaking to you.
Marc:Right, so let's begin with the nutshell.
Paul:Yes.
How do we begin by isolating our audience and telling them off.
Marc:How do we condense and squeeze this down into a easily consumable bit of information?
Darren:It's Kill Bill with Droids.
Paul:There you go.
Done.
Boom, boom.
Marc:Move on.
Darren:Yeah, that's it.
Nailed it.
Marc: So it was:How old is Ridley Scott?
Darren:Do we go over, is he like his 80s now?
Marc:It's incredible.
I mean, I know, I know he's got some flops, but like his career is wide spanning.
Darren:But also he.
Yeah, exactly.
It's wide spanning.
Like he doesn't just stay in a niche where he's just like, oh, I can do like sci fi really well.
Marc:You were reading out some of the.
Paul:And I was like, oh, yes.
Wow.
Marc:Variation as well.
Yeah, that's impressive.
I like that.
So this is well it's classed as a.
What you call a futuristic noir crime thriller.
Darren:Sometimes called like neo noir, like neon noir sometimes.
Paul:What's that game you play?
Darren:Cyberpunk.
Paul:Oh, would you put this in cyberpunk sort of land as well?
Yeah, like Kira.
Darren:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc: So it's: Paul: Yeah, what was it,:It's.
Darren:And it's late stage capitalism when everything's kind of falling apart and it's almost like the dream that humanity had didn't emerge into anything.
Paul:So it was in a year or like.
Marc:Yeah, in a month, I think it's.
Darren:Falling apart and then it's about, you know, it's sci fi.
So it actually asks the questions that what does it mean to be human?
But it also feels like a meditation on deep, deep loneliness.
Marc:Okay.
Paul:And it's from a book originally called Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
By Philip K. Dick.
Yeah, Philip K. Dick does lots of these things.
What's he doing?
Darren:Scanner Darkly?
Paul:It's gonna dark.
Total Recall.
Yeah, yeah.
Marc:He wrote the screenplay for those things.
Paul:No, no, no, he wrote.
Marc:They all come from books.
Paul:The short stories are books.
Marc:Right.
Paul:Screenplays tend to sometimes the veer a long way from his books and sometimes they don't.
Marc:Yes.
Darren:In terms of the type of movie this is, it's similar, I think, to Akira in that this movie should be playing on a big screen in a nightclub.
Marc:Yeah.
Darren:And it's something that I'm pretty sure the last time I watched this was just after the divorce and I was living in this kind of.
Not futuristic but very modern building.
I was in a penthouse apartment in a very, very rough area of town.
It was on boccegate.
It was in an old cinema that was converted and just full of drug dealers and sex workers and stuff.
Marc:Cooled.
Paul:Like Blade Runner.
Darren:Yeah, like all the exposed kind of beams and stuff.
Stuff.
Marc:It's like cool but scary.
Darren:And lots of like just people playing music all hours.
Like people smoking in the corridors.
Marc:This side would turn the music off for this side start up.
Darren:Yeah, exactly.
Marc:Oh, man.
Darren:But yeah, and I.
It's not a movie I would sit necessarily and watch.
They would always kind of be a background movie.
I would just have it on.
It's.
It's a vibe.
Marc:It's a stylistic kind of thing.
Paul:Yeah, it's definitely a vibe.
And it's inspired so many other films.
Marc:Yes, definitely.
Paul:Yes.
You see Blade Runner seep into.
Marc:So what are the list of movies that could be compared to.
Or that has inspired.
Paul:Oh, it's tricky.
Darren:That dark city.
Paul:Yes.
That was the only one I wrote down because it's the only one that's really.
But there's so many other ones.
Darren:There's others, but they're not as slow.
Paul:Yeah.
Darren:They're not as slow as the wrong word.
They're not as patient.
Paul:No.
And I think because this is the nutshell and we're trying to tell you maybe if you like it or not, if you think Blade Runners like shooting out sci fi type Star wars stuff, it's not.
It's a film noir.
It's a vibe.
Darren:It's more like Tinker Taylor, Soldier, Spy.
Paul:Yes.
That's a good call.
It's more of a slow burn in.
Marc:I had the Terminator meets Chinatown.
Darren:Yeah, I can see that.
Chinatown's could slow it down a bit.
Marc:The Matrix.
Darren:The Matrix is too fast.
And gun fighting.
Marc:Yeah.
Paul:There's elements of influence in there you can see.
Especially when it gets to the Terminator.
Marc:Definitely.
So definitely with the.
With the slow pursuit of something.
You know, there's like a.
Almost like dual narrative as well.
And Minority Report.
Paul:Yeah, sure.
And that's Philip K. Dick.
Marc:Oh, there you go.
There you go.
Paul:Yeah.
All the other ones I mentioned that were Philip K. Dick are probably in a similar vein as well.
Darren:Also.
It could be similar.
I mean a lot of sci fi will talk about is there God and is there what's our role and what makes us human?
And it feels like it could also be like movies like that that questions faith.
Marc:Yeah.
Most of the movie happens at night.
It's rain soaked.
Darren:Well, it feels.
We don't.
I'm not sure if it says in the opening legend on screen, but it feels like that's man made pollution.
It's just blocked out the sun.
Marc:Yes.
Yeah.
Darren:And so it's just rainy and dark and neon like England.
And it.
It's.
It's almost like not populated much but also overcrowded in areas.
Marc:Yes.
Darren:So there's a sense of like there's people everywhere but there's also nowhere.
Marc:Yeah.
If you're expecting a fast paced non stop action thing, this is not your movie.
No, it's.
It's overall quite slow burning.
So.
Bill.
But it's.
It's got suspense, it's got tension, it's mesmerizing.
Yes.
Atmospheric, a lot of mystery.
It's dystopian.
Darren:It's also really about slaves.
Yeah.
100.
But it.
So it's about, you know, the main character.
Harrison Ford is Deckard is his job is to hunt down rogue slaves, which is exactly what the police force were doing.
I believe in North America when slaves were freed, then they would go around trying to find any reason to arrest them and just put them into jail.
Paul:And.
And the bit of what is human comes up in this all the time.
Like we said before, it's very much like, well, if you've got memories, does that make you human?
Marc:Because even if you didn't experience them, they're just memories.
Yeah, but does it make them any less real?
Paul:Yeah, you might not have experienced them, but to you, you felt like you did, so therefore does that make it a reality?
Darren:But our memories on the whole are flawed as.
Marc:Oh, they fade over time.
They change over time.
Darren:Yeah.
Marc:And you'll meet, you'll talk yourself, but you'll talk to someone who was there at the time.
They got.
No, no, that's not happened.
This happened.
And you're like, oh, yeah, I forgot about that.
I like, that's not how I remember it.
But that's your memory for you.
Paul:I tend to be the one who.
Marc:Remembers what happened though, usually because you don't drink, you're never drunk, sir.
Paul:And everyone's like, is that right?
Darren:It's like, yeah, it's also there's a big push on empathy.
Marc:The empathy is the thing having feelings.
Yeah.
This is definitely artificial intelligence element to this movie as well.
Paul:So maybe that's another potential film.
I don't know.
Have you seen that AI With Spielberg?
Darren:I think so once.
Paul:Kubrick.
That's quite a slow burn for a lot of it as well.
Marc:So there's a lot of corporate power in this movie as well.
But, you know, the big company, the big companies who own or who fund things like, you know, like the slaves, the slave industry and stuff like that.
Paul:Yeah.
And then you've kind of got your figure who's.
Which I didn't think of until I watched it this time.
But you're like Elon Musk figure, I suppose because he's like in inventing these, what we calling them, not cyborgs.
Darren:Are they Replicants?
Paul:Replicants, yeah.
Thank you.
Yeah.
Marc:So this is another movie that keeps you guessing as well and makes you think and maybe like go back and change your mind on something.
Oh, no, I was wrong.
Oh, I was right in the end.
So it's good in that way, though.
It is a slow moving movie.
It will keep you on your toes at the same time in parts.
So.
Paul: of in the cut, we watched the:It was one of those nights I was sat by the bar.
Kind of steering you through the story as well.
Marc:Yes.
Paul:I'll go on to the differences in the cuts as we move along.
atching the original one from:Yeah.
There's a bit of that kind of voiceovery guiding you through the story as well.
Marc:Yep.
Anything else to add before we move on?
Darren:Nothing else covers it.
Marc:Okay, thank you very much.
Let's move on to part two, the unboxing.
There will be spoilers ahead, so if you haven't seen Blade Runner and you feel like you should, I will recommend that you do go and do that and then come back because there is going to be quite a few spoilers going forward.
So what did you miss?
It was your choice, Darren.
So I'm going to go over to you first.
Darren:So this is one of the first movies I ever did a film studies class on because I did it at A level art.
And I had this amazing tutor called Stuart Stevens down in Ridgeway School in Plimmerton.
And he would just sometimes randomly do little stuff.
Like at one point he brought in Picasso's model to kind of meet us.
And we're like, right.
Because back then.
Now it still stuns me that Picasso was painting in the 70s.
I always kind of forget that.
Marc:Yeah.
Darren:And.
And then one day he just showed like.
You know, he would show us, like, the Peter Gabriel sledgehammer music video.
Hey, check this out.
And then one day he was like, we just watched a scene from Blade Runner.
And he was like, do you know.
Marc:What the scene was?
Darren:Yeah, it was the one when he's kind of sitting on the street.
I think he's waiting for his food.
And he stood in front of a shop that's selling TVs where all the TVs have white static on.
And he was like, what does that say about the world?
And we were like, oh, the world's technologically kind of breaking down.
Everything's not working.
Marc:A lot of noise.
That means nothing.
Darren:Yeah.
So, you know, when I was a teenager, I would have watched this.
And I mean, when.
When we're watching movies as teenagers, it was hell anyway, because it might be on tv, but it could be four by three or pan and scan or whatever.
And then you'd watch a letterbox version, which would be good.
Marc:Or it's like in the background, there's loads of noise, but you.
So you can't really watch it.
Darren:Yeah.
And then every few years I would watch it, like I've said this before, like I'll get a new girlfriend and they'll be like, oh, they.
You haven't seen Blade Runner?
I was like, sit the fuck down.
We're going to be watching Blade Runner.
Paul:Is this a good decider on whether they're a keeper or not?
Darren:Every time I watch it, I kind of bounced between whether I like it or not.
And sometimes I'm just like, God, that's overrated.
And my memory of it is, it's a long film.
Like I always think it's going to be 2 hours 40 or something.
Paul:So is this, I think the sequel is.
Darren:Yeah.
Marc:Is this a long left for watching it now?
When was the last time you watched it before?
Darren:Man, I.
Over 10 years ago.
Marc:Oh, wow.
Okay.
Darren:I would think so here I am watching it again.
So it's not so much that I want to focus on what people miss because there's documentaries on this and you know, there's tons of YouTubers who've broken it down.
But some things that I, that were new to me on this one is I never remember paying attention as much that these guys are actively called slaves.
Like it is.
It's in the opening text.
It was like they were ideal slave labor.
And I was like, shit, so this is about slaves.
So then it becomes this next stage of it was they have a four year lifespan.
I was like, wait, so they're four years old, so what does that mean?
Can that mean that they're adults or are they children?
So then it becomes, well, what makes a child and what makes an adult?
And the argument would be that they're in a adult sized body, so they're adults.
But that's nonsense, obviously.
So then the argument is, well, they're intelligent, so they must be adults.
But just because, you know, you know, Battleship startup codes and planetary kind of geography or battle techniques doesn't mean that you're an adult.
It just means, you know, stuff, you know.
So then it becomes, well, what does make us human?
And as you were saying earlier, it could be memories, but then it could be, well, empathy.
If you can feel empathy, that's what makes us human.
But there's tons of humans, like a high amount who are.
I can never remember if there's sociopaths, psychopaths or they have antisocial personality disorder, but there's a percentage, I think it's like some.
It's like 1 in 50 people don't feel empathy, is it not?
Yeah, like I just googled it to check.
Yeah, but psychopaths, you know, we think people are going to be crazy.
But I'm sure I read years ago that a lot of surgeons don't have empathy, so they're psychopaths.
Because you have to be able to switch off so intensely when you're operating on someone at that level.
Having no empathy doesn't mean you're not human.
It just means you're someone without empathy.
So I'm kind of watching it from this point of view and being like, okay, so what am I going to do with this?
And this Asian keeps coming back.
Leon at the beginning is like, how old am I?
And he's playing quite young.
Harrison Ford often plays childlike, particularly when he's suffering.
He does it as Indiana Jones, does it as Han Solo.
So he looks quite childlike sometimes, particularly when he's being hurt.
He's responsive.
Rucker Hauer looks very childlike near the end.
And he's playing games with Pris.
It's almost like they don't really understand what death means.
And they don't have religion because they're replicants.
So they're struggling to find their place and want to meet their maker.
But then Pris is killing him, and in some sorts of way, because she wants to kill him in a cooler version.
It's almost like that thing where you're playing with toys as a kid and you have like a plane in one hand and something.
And then they'll kill them, but then you'll redo it in your.
You'll pull your hand back and be like, let's do that again.
And you'll do it like four or five times.
So she's doing that and Roy's doing the same.
Like.
Like at one point, well, he starts.
Paul:Doing the whole Aru.
Pretending he's a wolf.
Darren:Exactly.
And then he looks out the window, he's like, where are you going?
And it's like he's playing a game.
And even when he meets Sebastian, he says, oh, you've got some wonderful toys here because he's four fucking years old.
Yeah, right.
Marc:Yeah.
Darren:So that's good.
They're kids.
But it goes further than that because, you know, Deckard is.
I mean, I still like him as a character, but he's problematic as fuck because first he's kind of an alcoholic.
Well, he is an alcoholic.
He's got the shakes.
I think when he gets his first kill.
Is it Zora?
He immediately goes to the bar to get some alcohol because he's struggling and.
Marc:He struggles to focus.
Darren:Yeah.
He struggles to focus, and obviously then he meets Rachel.
And he said, well, Rachel is a Replicant, but she's been given fake memories, so she's possibly more human.
It's like, so what if she thinks she's real?
So if I lose my memory through, like, an accident, am I then not human?
That doesn't make sense.
But then.
So she's also very young.
I mean, I don't know how she actually, like, one or two years old.
She's new, isn't she?
Yeah, she's just off the assembly line.
So she's got no lived experience of how to be in the world.
Which means she's never had sex before, probably.
She's probably never had a first kiss.
Marc:Is this Sean Young?
Darren:Yeah.
And then at one point, he, like this.
This goes back to practical magic.
He's the cop investigating this and decides he wants to fuck.
Paul:I never thought we'd compare, Blade, but there it is.
Yeah, you're right.
And because Tyrell's like, she's good, isn't?
It's like he's showing off her as the new model.
Like, she doesn't even know she's a Replicant.
Darren:Yeah.
Where.
So if she's not human, either she's human or she's property.
And if she's property, he just stole her.
And if she's human, she's totally inexperienced and she's a child.
So, like, she.
He decides he wants to have sex with her, she runs and he grabs her and drags her back.
He basically orders her to give consent.
And he's like, say, kiss me.
And she's like, okay, kiss me.
He's an armed alcoholic cop.
Paul:You did say it's problematic in a.
Darren:Position of power, who is then forcing himself on this inexperienced girl who's almost like, you know, the toddler in the tower who's lived in an ivory tower, only spoken to her creator, basically, when a pet owl.
Paul:It's like she's Rapunzel.
Darren:Yeah, kind of.
Yeah.
So on the whole, with that, I was just like.
It just changed the framing of the whole film.
And I was just like, I don't like where this is going.
And I ended up liking the replicants quite a lot.
I thought they were interesting.
And also they had fear, like Zor.
I think it's all the one.
Marc:They were.
Their fear was of dying, of not being to live.
Darren:Yeah.
And they weren't doing anything bad.
Zora was working as a stripper, you know.
Marc:Yeah.
Darren:Chris was maybe homeless.
Liam was working in a factory.
It's like Why'd you have to hunt these guys down?
You crazy?
Marc:Just.
He's just following the law.
Paul:And Deckard kind of doesn't want to do it, does he?
He drag him in and he's like, I haven't got a choice, have I?
And he's like, no, you need to do it.
Marc:Yeah.
Paul:And then kind of forced in hunting him down.
Darren:And Roy, you know, played by Wakahawa.
This is, I think Wagaha's best.
I mean, Rock Howa makes questionable choices like Hoba with a shotgun.
And is it Blind Fury where he's like a blind samurai?
Marc:I don't know.
Paul:But I want to watch these class.
Darren:Like it's right of passage.
Living in the.
Growing up in the 80s.
But he says it's quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it?
That's what it is, is to be a slave.
And this touches on.
We did a episode on subservience, didn't we?
So.
Paul:Megan Fox 1 yeah.
Darren:So this idea that we're moving in and just see your lifelike things as property that we can, you know, have sex.
Well, it's rape.
It's.
I think it's rape.
Marc:You know, it can't really consent, can it?
Darren:It's freaking four.
Well, I think Rachel's younger than four.
Marc:But, like, even if it does consent, it doesn't really know what it's consenting to.
Darren:No, totally.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Marc:Problematic.
Darren:And then it becomes this whole thing about wanting to meet your maker.
And I do quite like that.
I do like the fact that they are angry.
Marc:And that was kind of what this was building towards, wasn't it?
Darren:Yeah.
And I think I've said this before, that when I die and whatever I find there, there better be a freaking good explanation.
Paul:Take me to Bill Gates now.
Darren:Yeah, it's just like.
Marc:What's that off south park movie?
Get Bill Gates in here now.
I thought you said this was Windows Night.
Was five was faster.
It is.
Anyway.
Sorry, Dan.
Darren:And Rachel's got a memory of a spider creating a web and, you know, it gets destroyed and she makes it again.
Then she has babies and the babies come out and eat her.
So it's about the young eating their parents.
Marc:Yes.
Darren:And so that's almost foreshadowing the fact that Wagahara and the squad are going to kill their maker.
Paul:And I do.
Darren:I mean, JF Sebastian is played by William Sanderson, who's a phenomenal actor.
He's.
He's phenomenal.
In the TV show called Deadwood.
Daryl Hannah as Pris is Phenomenal in this.
I mean, everyone's just phenomenal.
But they then obviously get to Tyrell and kill him.
Marc:And they don't want to kill him.
They.
They find him because they think.
They assume they're going to ask him, make us live longer.
How do we live?
How do we survive?
And he says, I can't do that.
So they kill him.
Darren:Yeah.
Marc:Which is.
I think this movie wants you to feel uncomfortable.
Like, throughout the whole movie, there's things where you're meant to feel uncomfortable.
Do a bit like how you can tell Deckard feels uncomfortable when he kills what's her name, Zora.
Just because to the outside, and probably to him, he's just chasing an innocent woman down who's just screaming.
He just kills her.
Darren:Yeah.
Marc:Doesn't feel like he's killing a replica or a robot.
It.
Just because they're so lifelike, it's uncomfortable.
Darren:Yeah.
What is it again?
What does it mean to be human?
Like they're lifelike.
You can talk to them.
It's.
I don't know.
And also, there's no science at the moment as to why we have consciousness.
You know, we have a.
A ball of meat in our head with electric going through it.
And some of that's given us consciousness.
And there's loads of stuff going on now saying that they feel that there's a consciousness field, and now our brains just kind of pull it in.
Paul:We're melting it with WI fi signals and 5G.
Darren:Yeah, yeah.
And.
And, you know, a lot of.
A lot of artists actually talk about creativity is coming from that consciousness, and they channel it and put it in.
Even Tarantino says that.
There's a quote of him saying, I don't even believe in God, but I write scripts with a pen.
Because there's something about the pen being an antenna to something.
And then that's how I channel these stories.
Paul:Have you seen Tomorrowland?
Darren:Yeah.
Paul:There's kind of a thread in Tomorrowland where the idea is the news that's being pumped out is being pumped out, and everyone's absorbing it as the negative news or everything.
But then the more they're hearing the negative, the more it's being perpetuated and sort of.
And you do think, yeah, I wonder if.
Because we don't know our wife.
Like, we're sat here now with what your.
Your laptop's linked to the Internet.
My phone.
Our phones are linked to the Internet.
This iPad's linked to the Internet.
What's that WI fi doing to our brains?
Darren:And we're all unhappy and we're all unhappy.
Marc:Yeah.
Paul:But then you look back to the 80s and 90s, before we had WI Fi and everything, and we all seemed a bit more.
Marc:It was less complicated and there was less.
Paul:Yeah, well, I keep.
I keep seeing clips on TikTok of Here's some people at the mall, or here's some people in a supermarket.
And everyone just seems chilled out.
Like, oh, yeah, just get my shopping.
Marc:Oh, from the 90s.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Paul:Oh, yeah.
Just doing this.
And then you go into a supermarket.
Now it's like something out of the Walking Dead.
Marc:Yeah.
Everyone's like a show or a gig, enjoying every minute.
Because you're not on your phone.
Darren:Yeah.
Marc:You're not using your phone.
Paul:Yeah, this is it.
Like.
Oh, they're doing the key song.
We must film this.
Have to film it, send it out.
Marc:The comparison of, like, everyone's in the 90s or whenever it is just their hands in the air.
Oh, I know.
But all in.
In the updated version, they've got the.
Kept the hands in the same place.
Just replaced it.
Put the phones in all the hands.
Yeah, I know.
Sad.
Anyway, so we digress it.
Darren:So it kind of breaks my heart that they kill Tyrell, even though he is at fault.
It's very much the Jurassic park line of, you.
You know.
What's the line?
Paul:The Richard Hammond thing.
Oh, the bit where you.
You didn't think about whether you should.
Darren:Yeah, Just because.
Marc:Just because you can doesn't mean you should.
Darren:Yeah.
Paul:Then you build it.
Boom.
Darren:And then you put it on lunchboat.
Boom.
Paul:Sorry, I just wanted to Jeff Goldblum and bang the desk.
Darren:No, but there's an element of the robe.
Then they kill JF Sebastian, which is really annoying because he had a condition where he grows old.
Marc:This is.
Darren:Yeah.
Marc:I may know this because it becomes a dual narrative then because he's like, his life expectancy is going down because his aging is reduced and their life expectancy is.
Or is just limited.
Darren:Yeah.
Marc:And they're trying to get him for them to live longer, when really that's what he needs.
Darren:And he's incredibly lonely, sad.
And he's built toys to talk to.
Deckard is incredibly lonely.
No one's.
No one's connecting to other human beings, so they're creating, like, toys to do it.
And the replicants, you know, at least they've got their mini kind of family.
But there's a sense of impending doom as well.
Paul: they've got wrong is the year:Yeah, just up that bit.
They might have been blah Blah, blah.
Darren:So then.
And so, you know, these.
These replicants are very intelligent, but they don't have wisdom and they don't have experiences that could.
They can build on and.
And you know.
Yeah.
So other than that, they did the same with.
What is his name?
His name was Chu.
James Hong as Chu.
Paul:Yeah.
Darren:And who.
He's a great actor.
Yeah.
He pops up in so much stuff.
But then they kill him as well.
They take his eyes, I think.
And it's like.
It feels like bullying.
And there feels like there's this thing about eyes all the way.
And it kind of mimics computer games, doesn't it?
Because whenever they do, it's not just computer games, but also if they do like CGI actors on screen, it's always the eyes that they don't get quite right.
And as though the eyes are the hardest part or the eyes are the eyes.
Right.
Marc:Yeah.
Darren:So it's interesting to me that it's the eyes that there's like a focus on them.
And taking someone's eyes is taking their humanity.
Paul:And there's even that shot at the very start, isn't there, where the giant eye fills the screen.
Marc:It's weird that mentioned that because that's what I've made notes on.
The eyes are like repeatedly.
Highlight highlighted throughout the film from the opening ey shot.
And then there's the.
Is it Void.
Void camp.
They all use it all the way characters.
It's almost like the film's blush response or something.
It's like the film's making us question what we're looking at.
Darren:Even the owls, like the fake owl's eyes.
And that's another stage.
It's like, you know, animals aren't real and they're faked.
So it's like I don't know where to go.
Marc:I don't know if it was a metaphor for something in the film.
Like someone's always watching and you're being watched or.
Darren:Yeah, the owls are symbol of wisdom as well.
So you're kind of in almost like.
Marc:The all seeing eye.
Darren:Yeah.
And like Terrell being in like Athena's tower.
He's like the wise one or the intelligent one maybe.
Or maybe it is saying that he's got wisdom.
Marc:The other thing that's prominent for the film is photographs.
They're very important in this because the replicants hold on to them because it's.
It's part of their.
Their, well, their supposed identity.
They're not simply just for deaf or decoration.
They sort of connected to memories, identity.
And the question that Whether memory has to be genuinely experienced to feel real.
Darren:There's a line as well, which I'm sure I don't know if it's Mandela effect.
At one point, Roy says to Tyrell, I want more life, father.
And every other version, every other time I've seen that film, I am sure he says, I want more life, fucker.
I'm sure he does.
Marc:If I imagine so right, Google the father seems right.
Because that's what he sees him as.
He's his creator.
See me, his father.
Why would he.
Because when he initially goes there because he's angry, but not initially.
Initially, he goes there with hope.
They found him.
He's.
This is the guy that created us.
He's going to give us more life.
It's only when he denies that request that it becomes hate.
Paul: In Blade Runner: In Blade Runner:Original trailer.
Sorry.
In the original theatrical and international cuts.
want more life, father in the: Marc:That makes more sense for him to say that.
So at that point, that's what he was seeing him as.
Paul:So, what did you.
Which version did you watch?
Darren:I ended up watching the director's cut because it's the only one I could get hold of.
Paul:The director's cut.
The final cut.
Oh, it must be the final cut.
Darren:Okay.
Paul: The:So.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that makes sense because that's where it's changed.
Darren:There's only two differences.
And I've seen all the versions, I think.
Marc:Yeah.
Darren:But.
Yeah, I'm just curious.
Just a.
It's an interesting line to change.
Marc:Yeah.
There'll be usually the usual reasons for changing a swear word is for ratings and stuff.
Darren:Yeah.
Marc:It's a 15.
Darren:Yeah.
Paul:So, I mean, the final cut is Ridley's preferred version of the film, as he says.
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Paul:And he says, this is my preferred.
Darren:The only other thing I've got that you might have missed is that Gaff, who's played by Edward James Olmos, who you're seeing tons of stuff now.
So he was the guy who's the other detective who recruits Deckard.
So he comes up and he's speaking,.
Paul:I don't know what, street language or something.
Darren:Yeah.
Is that okay?
And Deckard.
I'm sure Deckard must speak it because he's a good cop, but he's.
I know what he's saying.
Tell him.
Tell him I'm freaking eating.
Paul:Whatever, tell him I'm eating.
Darren:And then they meet again and the same thing happens.
And then at the end they meet again and that fucker speaks English.
Marc:I didn't pick up on that.
That's good.
Darren:He's like, too bad she won't live.
Then again, who does?
I'd be like, what the fuck?
Marc:Yeah.
Darren:So.
And then the whole argument is, is, is Deckard a replicant?
And the argument is that because he picks, he leaves him a unicorn.
It means he knows what Deckard is dreaming about.
And he had a dream about a unicorn, but he was dropping animals all over the place throughout the film.
That could just be random.
But Ridley Scott has said in an interview, I think it was with Mark Commode in a documentary.
Ridley Scott has said he is a replicant.
And I think one argument is that he has the childlike kind of acting style that Roy does.
And if he is just four years old, then the nuance with him not understanding consent would be more understandable.
Marc:True, that's very true.
Darren:Yeah, but then would he break?
Surely he'd be programmed to just do his fucking job and not steal property or rape other people.
Marc:But also, if he's a replicant, how come he's been doing.
He's been alive for years?
Because apparently he's been doing.
He's been killing replicants for years, so therefore he's not.
Darren:Yeah, but they've just told him that.
Are they telling the truth who told him that?
Or is that just his memories?
Marc:True.
Darren:But then they didn't have memories until Rachel.
Marc:True.
Paul:And Harrison played it as if he was human, I think.
And it wasn't until later.
Marc:I never even said.
I never even questioned whether Deckard was replicating that.
Paul:But that's one of them things that they push a bit more in the other cuts.
Marc:Okay.
Paul:Kind of other.
Like there's a unicorn dream sequence.
Marc:I like that layer to it.
That's a good layer.
The last thing I ever wrote was the owl.
I thought there was.
It seemed like just a throwaway scene.
But I'm assuming that was when he asked why did he ask if it was real?
And my only thinking was that if that turns out not to be real, then this technology has come down to like anything.
They can make anything.
Darren:Yeah, it's because all the animals have died because we fucked up the planet, basically.
So they're.
They're probably high end, kind of if it's.
If it's alive, if it's real, it'll be priceless.
Marc:But it's Also, artificial intelligence, artificial life has become so convincing that any, even.
Even something as seemingly as simple as an animal can no longer be assumed to be real.
Darren:Yeah.
Marc:So that could just confuse us.
Everything.
Darren:Anything else, I think that is.
That is everything.
Marc:Yeah.
Paul:So I'll just say that if you want.
I'll give you some facts, obviously in a minute.
But there's a proper full on, if you like the behind the scenes of making it and stuff.
There's a full on documentary called Dangerous Days.
I think it's called the Making of Blade Runner.
Marc:Yeah.
Paul:And it's probably available online somewhere, but it's on like all the DVD sets with the final cut especially.
It's this really feature length.
Goes into real details about, you know, how they got the writing and how Harrison and Ridley didn't get along and all kinds of stuff behind the scenes of the making of it.
Marc:Interesting stuff.
Paul:But there's a lot of like, if you want to go down a rabbit hole with this film, there's a lot to go down there with this.
Darren:Also, at one point Tyrell, I think he says to Deckard, he calls the replicants emotionally inexperienced, which is what they are.
Marc:Yes.
Darren:So childlike, all of them.
Marc:Yeah.
Well, the only thing I wrote down, which I haven't.
I was gonna ask you guys, is that those Voigt Kampf tests.
Yeah.
They're not really about facts.
They're more.
Are they suggesting that empathy is a sign of someone's.
Of a human?
Darren:Yeah, totally.
Marc:It's the unique to being human.
Right.
Okay.
So that's what they were looking for.
Darren:It's not true.
Marc:Is that why?
And why is that why?
Why they were focused on the eyes.
Darren:Yeah.
They're looking for pupil dilation.
Paul:Pupil dilation and certain.
Yeah.
Marc:Reaction to certain things.
Yeah.
That's interesting.
Paul:That's why they ask the weird questions around.
There's a turtle.
What's a turtle?
It's like, there's a tortoise on his back.
What's a turtle?
You know, I thought to try and trigger a reaction.
Darren:Yeah.
At one point I wondered if he was coded as neurodivergent because of that, but I don't think he is.
Paul:I think it's them just doing the test, isn't it?
Marc:Yeah.
Yeah.
Darren:But again, that's another example of the barriers we put up to connecting with someone.
You know, it's.
It's like it's someone slightly different.
We're like, oh, well, they can't feel empathy, so we can't be friends with them.
It's like, well, there's humans that can't feel empathy or they're.
Oh, they're a little bit different to us, so we can't be friends.
It's like, what's.
What's that neurodivergency?
Like different religions, different sexualities.
Like human.
The entire human race is incredibly varied.
It's kind of why we're great.
In fact, it is the reason we thrive and we kind of dominate the planet is we are exceptionally good at adaptation, which is what you need in.
Marc:Order to survive and evolution and.
Darren:Yeah, absolutely.
Marc:Well, I was gonna say about Roy.
Is it Roy Batty, Is it me or does he.
Because he start.
He's like the lead replicant.
He's like the leader of them all, isn't he?
But towards the end, it almost seems like he actually becomes more human.
Darren:Yeah.
Marc:And then where he.
His.
Because he's very aggressive at first and he's like.
Almost like bloodthirsty for life.
But then at the end he kind of switches and he just becomes.
He's kind of.
He's at peace with his situation.
Which was why he saved Deckard.
Yeah, he just goes.
He's kind of.
He's had like some sort of revelation while he's been doing all this and he almost seems human, like.
And he was like, well, I don't know why he saved me, but there you go.
Darren:Well, do you think that's because he evolved?
Because they said you need to stop him?
Because they're evolving emotions.
Paul:Yes.
Darren:That's why they needed that.
They needed to kind of shut down.
Marc:So rather than getting life, he's just.
Darren:Gotten like knowledge or just wisdom and Wisdom, empathy.
Marc:But he's got to a point where he's realized, you know what?
Well, he obviously, Ethan's life is precious.
Yeah.
Darren:So Descartes doesn't know that life is precious because he's freaking killing it.
Although you could argue that he is a bit messed up by it.
Marc:Yes.
Yeah.
Darren:And we as human race have not learned that life is precious based on looking anywhere around the globe or any country ever.
Marc:Bullshit that's going around the world.
Paul:Are we ever going to learn from history?
Darren:No.
Paul:We never do feel like we're literally.
Darren:Making the same mistakes as a human race that we made over and over again.
Marc:Yeah.
So it makes the very end, makes the relationship between hunter and hunted become much less straightforward.
It's a complex.
That's one of the main arcs of this, isn't it?
Darren:Yes.
Other than that, it is just like Kill Bill.
It's like you have the guy Hunting them.
And then each chapter is a new character.
So it's like, oh, start with Leon.
Okay, now you've got Zora.
Marc:Yeah.
Darren:Now you've got Pris.
Marc:And now does it introduce them?
Yeah, yeah.
Not quite as many as a Harley Quinn movie.
Darren:Yeah, sure.
Marc:That was far too many.
Okay, thank you, gentlemen.
Let's head on over down to Paul's Facts of the Day.
Paul:Oh, so many Blade Runner facts.
Let's pull some out.
It's fascinating to actually look at the differences between the cuts and how they sort of make it different.
The voiceover is the main one.
So basically what happened in the.
I think it was about 92.
They brought out what they called the director's cut on dvd but it wasn't actually supervised by Ridley Scott.
So they made some of the changes that he wanted.
Like they took off the voiceover because that was kind of put on after which Ridley said fine too.
Darren:But he had really bad test screenings and Ridley was like, okay, I'm open to anything.
Paul:Yes.
Darren:The rumor is that Harrison Ford didn't like it.
So he kind of phoned in the.
The voiceover.
Marc:He doesn't have the most animated voice anyway.
He's got quite a monotone, dull voice.
Paul:Which kind of works for the broken down detective, I suppose.
Marc:Reminds me of when Stephen King tried to voice over his first book.
Paul:Not good.
Marc:No.
God, no.
Get an actor in.
Come on, let's give it some pizzazz.
Darren:Reddy Scott also really liked the voiceover in Apocalypse now, so.
Which is Martin Sheen.
And that really, really works to see it through their viewpoint.
So it's worth a bash.
Paul:So like I said, it's a while since I watched the version with the voiceover.
But, yeah, they took that off.
They put in a unicorn vision.
They did some bits, but then when they did the final cut.
And this is kind of all documented on behind the Scenes as well, did a bit of George Lucas in Of like the scene where Zora goes through the glass and things.
The original scene was stunt person in a wig and it didn't look that greatly thought.
So they reshot her doing it years, like.
Like however many years later, 20 years later to go through the glass and get a better shot of that.
So it actually looked like Joanna Cassidy, who played Zora, doing it.
And then there's a bit.
There's like little touches.
Stuff like when the dove flies off in the original cut.
Like a bright blue sky almost.
So if you watch the final cut, it's all a bit more industrial and rainy.
When the dove flies off.
So it's like little tweaks like that.
And then the other big difference is the ending, which, because you want to, you'll have seen the original cut.
So on the original cut, the ending is the kind of drive off.
And all that footage you see of the mountains and things is actually not deleted scenes, just off footage shots.
Shining.
Yeah.
Marc:Okay.
Right.
Paul:And they kind of put it.
It wasn't used in the Shining, but they put it in Blade Runner to create kind of the more happy ending.
Marc:Wow.
Paul:In the final cut in the directors.
Marc:Make it more idyllic.
Paul:Yeah.
But in the final cut, the director's cut, it ends on a bit more of a thing of the.
The elevator doors close and then the music kicks in.
Darren:Yeah.
Paul:And it's like, you know, too bad you won't live.
They're gonna get away.
So.
So it's interesting just how little bits sort of change.
Like you said, Darren, it's not massive things, but it is an interesting comparison when they tweak things about.
Marc:Anyway.
Paul:Okay, so that's the different cuts.
Joanna Cassidy Zora was at ease with the snake around her neck because it was actually her pet, which is a Burmese python.
Burmese python named Darling.
Darren:There is a weird kind of sexual moment where she's getting changed and she grabs a snake and just kind of looks at it for a second.
And I was just like, yeah, I'm projecting.
I'm leaning onto this.
Paul:Anyway, moving on.
But, yeah, I know you mean.
But apparently it was her snake.
So there you go.
After Philip K. Dick saw Harrison Ford as Rick Deckard on set, Dick declared he has been more Deckard than.
Than I had imagined.
It's been incredible.
Deckard exists.
So Philip K. Dick, I think, died going through the facts just before the film came out.
But.
Marc:Oh, wow.
Paul:He saw bits of it being filmed and he saw.
Marc:They got his approval so far.
Darren:Yeah.
Paul:And they saw like the first 20 minutes or something.
And he was like, wow, that's really.
So they kind of got it to prove it.
I think there's an initial bit of fighting with the script I read somewhere as well.
So he wasn't quite sure.
And then someone was brought in to work on the script and then he.
Marc:Like.
Paul:Like later drafts, and then it sounds like he was.
Marc:And he gave his approval.
Paul:He gave his approval.
But then.
Yeah, I think he died before the film actually was released.
The final scene was shot hours before the producers were due to take creative control away from Sir Ridley Scott.
Darren:Okay, that's so weird that they would take.
Try and take it away from him.
Marc:When things he's already managed to do so far.
Darren:Yeah.
And Aliens got the same pacing.
Paul:Yeah, that's true.
Darren:It's like.
Paul:But so Ridley Scott, sir.
Ridley Scott, we discussed this the other day.
Darren:Salute you, sir.
Paul:He regards this as probably his most personal and complete movie and also regards it as his personal favorite.
He also noted that it set the pace for many things, even though initially was a flop.
Darren:How would you.
How would you market it though?
You know, it's in the 80s.
You kidding me?
Marc:It can't be boiled down to a simple premise, can it?
Darren:No, not at all.
Paul:So a female gymnast was hired as a stunt double for Daryl or Hannah in the scene where Pris attacks Rick Dickard.
But the director really, Scott rehearsed the scene so many times that when they ready to shoot the scene, she was too exhausted to do anything.
And the scene was filmed with a male gymnast that had been able.
That they've been able to track down during the lunch break.
Darren:Wow.
Marc:Yeah, that is interesting.
Paul:Hey ho.
Marc:Good one.
Paul:This was Rutger Howard's favorite of his own movies as well.
And the movie suffered at the box office because it opened at the same time as E.T.
The extraterrestrial and the Thing.
Darren:Yep.
Which also flopped because of E.T.
Marc:John Carpenter.
Paul:E.T.
Kind of just ruled the box office that year.
Marc:Spielberg.
Paul:Although it was praised for the visual style, word of mouth for this movie, slow pace and bleak themes quickly caused a decrease in attendance ratings.
Both movies later reached cult status and received critical praise.
So it just goes to show that, you know, film can kind of be.
Darren:Ahead of its time.
Paul:Yeah.
And this feels very much like it was when author William Gibson went to see this movie.
He was preparing to begin his first novel, new romancer.
However, 20 minutes into this movie, he got up and walked out of the the because he was so shocked by the similarities between this movie and his as yet unwritten novel.
Darren:Is New Romance are coming out as a series soon?
Paul:Oh, I don't know.
Is it?
Darren:I'm sure I've heard that word before and I'm sure it's a series that's coming out.
Paul:Maybe because there's a series coming.
Blade Runner isn't there?
Darren:Yeah.
Paul:With Michelle.
Yo.
Marc:Yep.
Paul:I saw the trailer for that the other day.
I was first skeptical that I was skeptical, but trailer does look on point.
Harrison Ford cites this movie as one of the most frustrating movies he's ever made.
Partially because the shoot was so grueling and the changes in post production that were meant to help the movie chances at the box office didn't the shoot was cruel, grueling.
Darren:You had to sit in the chair and ask some questions and then sit in your car and just look at a screen.
Must have been exhausting.
Paul:No sympathy for Harrison there.
He also famously didn't get along with.
Darren:It's not Indiana Jones.
Paul:He also famously didn't get along with director Ridley Scott.
And according to the producer, Alan.
Alan Ladd Jr.
In the book Future noir the Making of Blade Runner, at one point, Ford and Scott wouldn't speak to each other.
And by the end of the shoot, Ford was ready to kill Ridley Scott.
And he really would have taken him on if he hadn't been talked out of it.
Yeah, they didn't get on by the end.
Darren:Yeah.
He also needs to sit down like, you're coming off of Han Solo and Indiana Jones.
Maybe.
Maybe.
Is he?
Paul:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Darren:So he's.
He's got new fame, spotlight.
Like, I know what I'm doing.
It's like, dude, you've been Han Solo, Indiana Jones and Deckard.
Like, you've got the holy trinity of characters and movies to be in.
You've done other good movies, but just those three characters alone peak.
Marc:Yeah.
Darren:Not many actors can say that.
Paul:When Deckard stops Rachel from leaving his.
Darren:Apartment before the sexual assault.
Yeah, okay.
Paul:Yeah.
He pushes her away from him.
The expression of pain and shock on her face was real.
Shawn Young said that Harrison Ford had difficulties playing the scene with her and had pushed her too hard.
However, when he saw how angry she was with him, he affectionately mooned her to break the ice.
Darren's face is wonderful.
I hope.
Marc:Perplexed.
Paul:Perplexed.
Yeah.
Okay, a couple more.
Because, like I say, with Blade Runner and things like this, she could go on forever.
But I highly recommend if you want to go to the Rabbit Hole to watch.
Marc:Yeah.
Paul:The Dangerous Days documentary.
It's pretty long, but it's cool.
Daryl Hannah's makeup was inspired by the title character in Nostra Faru.
Marc:Nosferatu.
Paul:Thank you.
I said that wrong.
The vampire.
Yeah.
Touches of that in there.
And just prior to this movie's release, Philip K. Dick turned down a $400,000 offer to write the novelization of this movie instead, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep was released under the name of Blade Runner and with the movie poster as the COVID So, actually, yeah, they just put it, I was Blade Runner.
But in fact, it was still his original thing.
Sorry, one final one.
The scene with James Hong was actually shot in a freezer, and it was ice cold.
So that's why they were all Shivering because.
Marc:Very realistic.
Paul:Yeah, let's freeze them.
Marc:Nice.
Paul:Harrison wasn't even in that shot.
So don't always complain about.
Marc:Thank you very much, Paul.
Okay, let's head on over to Hate it or Write It.
So it was Mr. Horn's choice, so we're going to begin with him.
Paul:Sweet.
Darren:It's a masterpiece.
It just is.
And the fact that it is.
How long is it?
It's like an hour.
Paul:Just under two hours.
Darren:Yeah, just under two hours.
It feels longer because there's.
It's just so much world building and it's still like to really.
Scott used to have an advert company with his brother Tony Scott.
So by this point, I think they'd made something like 3,000 adverts.
And he did some that you can go down a rabbit hole checking out these adverts.
He does some really cutting edge adverts.
And I'm sure he did a really modern one for something like Apple or something like that.
That was just so out then.
It was.
It was like a vibe rather than a product.
And it was just.
I vaguely remember teaching something.
Marc:As we've already established, though, when he.
When he recalls his work, he always puts the Hovis advert above every movie he's ever done.
Yeah, we've established that last time.
Paul:His greatest work of all time.
Marc:Yes, absolutely.
Cites it all the time.
Darren:It's cool.
So he's done 3,000.
So he knows how to create almost like music video esthetics and smoke and vibes.
And this world building is just insane.
I don't remember seeing anything like it in.
Outside of animation or like Akira or whatever back then.
Like, it's just so well done.
The music by Evangelis is fucking haunting.
Paul:I'm sorry, we should have mentioned that before now, shouldn't we?
It's such a massive part of that world building and setting and everything.
Darren:Absolutely.
I did.
Like I've known back in the past of the types of instrument it isn't and stuff, but it's just haunting and it's.
This movie is devastating because it's almost like the human dream has died and we hadn't achieved anything.
The technological path, the kind of.
The tangent or the timeline that we went down just collapsed.
We haven't learned anything about what it means.
And also, who cares if something's human or not?
Like we.
We should take care of animals and they're not human.
If something feels sentient to us, then go with it.
Paul:So we put that out to our AI friends who are listening.
Marc:Yeah, I suppose it's because they see them as a potential threat.
Darren:Yeah.
But they were going to die anyway.
Marc:Just.
Darren:Jesus.
It's so.
Yeah, I think it is.
I.
Like, I hadn't realized how problematic Deckard was as a character, but that's okay.
I can watch movies with characters that are flawed.
I've got to give it a really high grade.
Even the.
The original version with the voiceover, which isn't awful.
Marc:So do the other versions not have the voiceover?
Paul:No.
Darren:Yeah.
Marc:Okay.
Paul:No, it's not there at all.
Darren:And the tacky ending added on.
You know, I just pretend that doesn't exist because I just think it's.
Paul:You're at the other version.
Darren:It feels like I've sat on the remote and switched channels.
It's so glaringly not in the same world.
Paul:The fact that it's from a different film, it's brilliant.
Marc:Like.
Paul:Yeah.
Darren:So I think there's two shots that I thought were a bit clunky, but the fact.
Or the edit was.
But I was like.
The fact that this is world building at that scale and those special effects, it's just.
For now, it's just freaking phenomenal.
It's art.
The fact they did it in 82.
They did it that well.
That polished with themes like this, with that cast, with those characters, it's.
It's almost.
It's almost a masterpiece.
But we're focusing on the theatrical cut, so it's not quite a masterpiece.
Paul:Oh, okay.
Darren:So I think it'll be an 8.3.
Paul:Just out of interest, what would you have given the other cut then?
Darren:I think it'd probably be a nine.
Paul:Okay.
Marc:Over humans today.
Darren:Because it's hard to enjoy this film.
Like I said at the beginning, it's a movie you want on the biggest screen you can find.
Kind of why you're doing something else.
It's not a date movie.
It's not a hang out with your friends movie.
Yeah.
Paul:Okay.
Darren:So it's a broody movie.
You want to drink whiskey.
And of course, I used to have these Blade Runner glasses, by the way.
Oh, I smashed one because I was drunk, but idiot.
Paul:Which reminds me, if you ever want to watch the greatest interview ever, watch the interview with Alison Hammond.
Marc:Harrison Ryan Gosling.
Paul:Yeah, I've seen that.
Marc:That is hilarious.
Paul:I can't know what comes on.
Marc:It's just so funny.
Paul:It's so full of joy.
And I've never seen Harrison laugh so much.
Marc:Yeah.
Paul:Before.
Marc:That's really good.
Paul:What do I think?
So first time I watched Blade Runner was part of a college thing.
Again.
Darren:Yeah.
Paul:And I think it was all about comparing different kinds of science fiction, which you're going to argue the other one isn't science fiction.
But it was kind of comparing Star wars to Blade Runner and seeing the different aesthetics of the two and everything.
So the first time I was watching, I was kind of studying it and obviously it's very slow and I think I'd seen the poster and imagined it to be, I don't know, full on action movie, Gordon shooting up or whatever.
So the first time I saw it just went right over my head.
I was like, it's kind of dull.
And I didn't enjoy that much.
I enjoyed the fact I was studying it because I was really into my media, like a nerd that I am.
And it was Harrison Ford.
Okay, it's cool.
But yeah, I didn't get it at all.
This is one of them films as the year's gone on.
Yeah, I agree with Darren.
It's a masterpiece of filmmaking.
It's held up.
It's referenced in so many other things.
Every time I watch it, I get something different from it.
And even if the story is quite basic, it's Kill Bill with androids.
You said in it the world building so good that you just get sucked into it.
And it is kind of this.
And I don't watch that many dark noir thriller things, but whereas with something like.
What was the serial killer one?
We watched Zodiac, where I rarely watch that because it just felt depressing because it's based on real world stuff and it just bums me out.
This I can kind of watch because it's in this other world or our world in a year's time.
So the aesthetic of it, the music.
I do love driving along with the soundtrack on At Night.
It's a vibe a bit evangelist driving through Deck out on the Radio, just talking through stuff.
So see, I was going to give it 10 and now you.
And now you've thrown me with the whole.
Darren:It's about how much you enjoy which.
Marc:Cut is it doesn't matter what we give it.
It's what it's all about.
Paul:You okay?
So I'm going to give it 10.
But I prefer probably it's a long time since I've watched the original cut.
So the voiceover and stuff, which I don't mind, it's fine.
But there's something more.
I can see why they took it off.
Darren:It's also the patience.
There's a point where they're introducing Pris as Darah and she's kind of walking semi towards the camera and she gets close enough so you can see it fully.
Okay, cool.
They've introduced a character, and then, like, we're gonna stick with her.
And then we just follow her walking away.
And it's a really.
And I just think, as actors, you must have loved that guy.
On your show, you get cool fashion.
You're totally given time to let a character do breathe and to think.
I wonder how much dialogue there is in this.
It doesn't feel like there's that much.
Paul:No.
It's probably less word heavy than others, but, yeah, just the shots, the style.
Like, I say, if you'd asked me when I first saw it, whatever, I'd have been like, I don't know, five.
It's kind of middle.
I. I appreciate it, but it's a bit dull.
I remember I had a drummer once, and he was just like, I hate Blade Runner.
And he did.
He just was like, it's dull and it's bored.
And I. I get that take on it, but when you kind of open yourself up to that world of it all, oh, it's great.
So I'm.
I'll.
I'll use this as kind of a meditation sometimes.
Like, you're saying it's.
What was that other film with Train Dreams?
Darren:Yeah.
Paul:I wasn't sure if I like that or not, but I feel like that's one of the films that one day I'll go back to, was a bit of a meditation film.
And this one, and suppose the sequel as well, are almost meditations because they've got that slow pace and.
Darren:And it's like an antidote if you're.
If you're kind of ill or maybe you've gone through a breakup or you've suffered a loss.
It's a nice movie just to kind of sit and watch and brood.
Paul:Yeah, it's good, brooding film.
And like you say, there's a lot of loneliness in there and.
Yeah, I'm going to give it 10.
Marc:10.
Darren:Oh, wow.
Paul:It's.
It's.
It's up there, isn't it?
With some of the greatest films, I can.
I can see someone easily watching this and going, it's dull as hell.
But for me, yeah, I seem to get the older I'm getting the more I get out of it.
And if that is just watching it as a film or just kind of this meditation of going into that world and thinking, our world's pretty shit, but it's not quite this level yet, but give it a year.
Mark, you've not seen this before?
Marc:No.
And I really enjoyed it.
Paul:Oh, good.
Marc:I think it's quite a dark movie.
It makes you think, which.
I love movies that make you think.
I did not enjoy the voiceover.
Paul:Oh, that's incredible.
Marc:The more that went on in the movie, I just felt it wasn't necessary.
I didn't need it.
And it just, like you said, subtitles.
I was.
I was reading what he was saying when I was listening to it, and I was like, I just want to enjoy the scene.
I don't need.
I don't need this extra.
Paul:Oh, you'd enjoyed the final cut and where probably all the directors where it takes that off.
Marc:Yeah.
So I felt like I didn't.
I didn't.
I don't know why.
Why they thought that that needed to be in for the original version.
But, yeah, it took away from me.
But the.
It's shot fantastically.
The.
The.
The vibe and the themes that it creates are just, like, otherworldly.
And it is still.
Even though it's 82 and I know it's set in the future, still felt futuristic even to now.
It's like, that's.
Which says a lot about it.
Like, it's longevity and the story.
The cast is great.
It's really good.
Obviously, Take it from the book.
Really good story.
That scene with it when he crushes his skull, I was like, oh, my.
Paul:It's gruesome in places.
Marc:Yeah.
Like, until that point, I was like, it's a 15, but I don't really know why.
Now I know why.
And then there's a bit with the finger breaks and all that stuff.
Oh, and I like that.
That final scene where, like, he.
Then he saves Deckard and he's had.
He's had some things flipped in his side.
When you think there's.
There's moments where there's not.
There's no dialogue and you just.
They're, like, looking at each other and it's the focus on him.
Then it focuses on him and you're like.
You're trying to.
It's.
There's no voiceover.
Thank God.
There's no voiceover that's in there.
Darren:Yeah.
Marc:It's like you're thinking like, he's realized that he's not human.
He thinks he's not human.
And Deckard is.
And he's like, well, he values his life more than his own.
He's just like.
It's.
What does he say?
Is it time to say goodbye?
Darren:And he just goes, yeah, time to die.
Marc:I was like, well.
And it just.
It just lets you sit on that for A while.
And it's like it's rain.
When he says something about the tears.
Darren:Yeah.
All these moments lost in time, like tears.
Paul:I've seen things.
Marc:There's some.
There's some heavy dialogue in that.
Paul:Like, wow.
If you think about it though, in the cut, you've seen where Harrison Ford is the whole.
I don't know why he decided to save me.
Marc:And all that's like, why is it.
Why, why, why, why?
Paul:That's not in the other cut.
Marc:Yeah, it's taken out part of that where it just lets you sit and then obviously the.
The voiceover comes in.
But.
But it.
The voiceover all was almost thinking what we're thinking.
Like, I don't know why he did that.
It's kind of like.
But like, let me think that.
Don't tell me.
Don't put words in my head.
But yeah, I thought it was.
I thought it was really good.
I thought it was.
Well, I thought it was fantastic.
So I'm going to give it an 8.7.
Paul:Nice.
Darren:See, we can semi agree on feel.
Marc:Yeah, no, I'm going to give an 8.8.
Oh, I want to bump it at one.
I'm gonna give an 8.8.
Darren:It's crazy with like establishing worlds like this.
Terminator, Alien.
The fact that actually that's really Scott as well.
So he created the world of Alien and Blade Runner.
Paul:Yeah, it's pretty good CV in it.
Darren:Crossing over, aren't they?
According to Alien Earth.
Paul:Oh, it's all right.
Darren:Yeah, I think so.
But in fact, I'm sure that the Tyrell Corporation is in Alien Earth.
Paul:I kind of don't want them to do that.
Like, keep them in the separate movie worlds.
Let's not.
Let's not have an expanded universe with Alien and Blade Runner.
Darren:Because I'm Predator.
Paul:Oh, they're gonna get.
Of course.
Yeah.
That's already been put in there.
Darren:Now just add Batman and Judge Dredd.
Marc:Ah, Robocop.
Darren:Yeah.
Paul:You know what?
You've given me an idea of what my choice for next week is.
Darren:There's a funny bit as well.
I love where he's on the ground in his car and a cop comes past.
He's like, hey, what are you doing here?
And he's like, I can't remember what he says.
He says, I'm working.
What are you doing?
I'm arresting you.
That's what I'm doing.
Paul:See, I'm almost glad that they haven't franchised to death Blade Runner.
Yeah, that's why I was a bit twitchy about the series.
Marc:There's still time.
Paul:Well, they did the sequel.
Obviously I can't talk about it here because you'll tell me.
Darren:And the sequel's not, it's not pandering to an audience.
It's not like, oh, let's do an actiony version.
It's just as slow and just as many questions.
Paul:Yeah.
And that's its strength, I suppose, isn't it?
So I'm.
I was kind of glad with that, that they'd done that.
So then when they're like, oh, we're going to make a series, I'm like, oh no, is this it?
Now we started the spin off.
Darren:It's unbelievably topical, so I will give it a whirl.
Paul:But yeah, I just pray God they don't go down.
Franchise fatigue.
Let's squeeze it till it's dry.
Marc:Right.
27.1 Is the total and that puts it in.
In sixth place.
Darren:Nice.
Marc:Top 10 of now 9, 90 odd movies.
It's insane.
Paul:What's up company?
Good company.
Marc:I'm imagining just ahead of Back to the Future, which was 27 bang on and the Godfather, which was 27 bang on.
So it's 0.1 ahead of those.
It's just behind It's a Wonderful Life, which was on 27.2 and jaws, which is on 28.5.
Paul:We've been very predictable.
But these are top movies.
Yeah, yeah.
Marc:For a reason though, like.
Yeah, well, it's not often we agree on things though, so that's that.
That says it all.
Yeah.
Paul:Sometimes I feel like people want to hate the top movies cause they're so well, well regarded.
Like, it's not that film.
I've never seen.
Oh, you've said this before.
I'm.
Marc:You don't like.
Paul:Oh, I've never watched that.
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Paul:Just because it's popular and you're like, really?
Marc:So there we go.
Darren:It's also when you watch a good film, it's.
It's such a comfort to realize you're in the hands of a good director.
And you just think, I can trust you.
Let's just see where this goes.
Paul:And I love watching shit films, which I get enjoyment out of.
But when you watch one of these, you like, oh yeah, now we're in it.
Marc:So that's what we think.
We'd love to know what you think.
If you want to give you send us in your ratings, your reviews and we'll read them out on the show.
So next, watch what in our back catalog.
What would be a good fit We've.
Darren:Mentioned loads in this episode.
Anyway.
Paul:Train dreams.
Darren:Yeah, train dreams.
For that we've done Alien, haven't we?
Paul:Alien.
Darren:That's worth a bash.
Marc:Minority Report.
Darren:Yeah.
Paul:Philip K. Dick as well.
Marc:Yeah.
I'm gonna say the Matrix, mainly because of the visual aspect, the sort of the.
The vibe kind of feel of it.
Paul:Akira.
Darren:Well, also the Matrix is.
There's.
You don't have to go down a rabbit hole of theory, but there's this book by this guy, Jean Baudrillard or someone called Simulacru.
Simulacrum.
And it's this whole idea about basically living in the simulation or things not being human and stuff.
And Neoplate on the site is one of those because it's like, you know, what does it mean to be human?
But Matrix is like, you know, what is reality?
Are we in a simulation?
So it's asking similar questions.
Marc:Yeah.
Cool.
Okay, head into our back catalog if any of those movie tickle your fancy.
Okay, that takes us on to part three, the inbox.
So we have had a message from your friend Pete Pimton.
Oh yeah, he put.
Hi guys, just listen to your episode on Practical Magic.
And just wanted to add that the actor who played Jimmy also played.
Which was Jimmy, which is the.
Darren:I think that was the cop, the guy she marries.
Paul:Yes, I think it is.
Marc:We must have mentioned where, like we didn't really know where he was from, but he said he also played Dr. Luca Kovac in ER for 185 episodes.
Paul:That's probably why we recognize his face then.
Darren:I've got a feeling it might be in.
In her shoes, but I might be wrong.
Cameron Diaz and.
Paul:Ah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Tony Collette.
Yeah.
Darren:Which is a. Richard A.
The director did LA Confidential.
Curtis Hansen, maybe.
Yes.
Okay.
Paul:That's the man.
Marc:Well done, well remembered.
He's put.
Also I agree with Paul about Sandra Bullock running towards the screen.
I'd do the same thing if I was there and just jump out in front of her.
Keep up the good work.
Darren:I'd be looking behind me like, who's she running to?
Can't possibly be me.
Marc:There we go.
So if you've got any questions or if you want to tell us any stories, anything like that, send them in and we'll read them out on the show.
Okay, here we go.
This takes us into next week's movie, which we have no idea.
We have not discussed this, Paul.
It's over to you.
What we got, what we doing?
Paul:I've just been through about 15 different options.
Marc:This is Blockbuster Month, remember yeah, yeah, yeah.
Paul:Twelve of them were available as they never are on streaming.
Like, ah, I want to throw Princess Bride in, but it's never available.
So I've decided off the back of.
I had about four choices still spinning in my head as we were doing this episode.
But then with Darren talking about the whole, yeah, yeah, yeah, throw.
Throw Batman in there and throw the Predator and throw Alien in, it's made me think, yeah, let's do this one, which is a Spielberg film called Ready Player One.
Marc:Ah, okay.
Yeah.
Paul:And it's all about.
And again, it's kind of a theme.
You know, you might want to change the theme the week after this, but leads on.
It leads on the theme from Blade Runner in the sense that it's about virtual reality and what's the real world?
Are we.
Are we spending too much life online?
Darren:Also corporate greed, which is.
We think Blade Runner is probably also about.
Paul:Yeah.
Because we get to meet the dick that is Nolan Sorrento, who's the bad guy.
And yeah, it's a whole thing.
So it's all about.
Marc:I didn't realize it was Spielberg.
And this, for once, is a movie I have seen.
Paul:Oh, yeah, Yeah.
I just feel like.
Marc:Was it lockdown time when it came out?
Paul:Because I remember before, I think it was about 20.
Marc:I think I watched it in lockdown.
Paul: he top of my head, it's about:But yeah, it's a Spielberg.
There's a few faces you might recognize in it and a few cast members you might not.
Olivia Cook's in it.
She's good.
In House of Their Own.
Marc:So where's it available?
Paul:It is on Netflix.
Marc:Excellent.
Paul:Or you can also buy it on physical media.
Marc:Of course, you could go to a charity shop and it'll probably be there somewhere.
Darren:Based on a book, which is very, very good.
Paul:Oh, we'll get the book.
Yeah.
And I've even listened to the audiobook read by Wil Wheaton.
Darren:I've just remembered Will Wheaton.
Marc:Wow.
Excellent.
Okay, we'll get more into that next week.
Darren:Okay.
Marc:So next week's movie is Ready Player One.
Thank you for listening.
We really appreciate the support.
If you do want to help us, the best thing you can do is share the show or give us a rating of you in whatever app you're listening.
We've got quite a few.
I think we've got 25 ratings on Spotify or so not quite as many on Apple podcast.
So if you try and add some more.
So if you listen to this, the best thing you could do is just log on there, give us a rating review.
It would really help us.
Thank you very much.
Okay, this episode is officially over.
This is Mark saying goodbye.
Darren:This is diamond saying goodbye.
For now.
Paul:All these moments will be lost in time?
Like tears in rain.
Time to die.
Darren:No clue what that accent was.
Paul:I had no idea.
Marc:It's like someone tried to do Latin.
Like, no one knows what it sounded like.
Paul:I feel like I need to be dramatic voice, but I've seen all those.
I might re record it.
Darren:You know, he's young.
He's like 4.
Marc:Yeah.
Darren:He's not like, 87.
Marc:It's time to die.
Paul:Ra.
