I just finished watching BLADE RUNNER for the 100th time today, and even after this years of repeated viewing, I can still be in awe of this gem from 1982, and the power that it has. Without BLADE RUNNER, the world of sci-fi would be much worse off. I personally cite it has my favorite film (but, I've seen ALIENS more), and a game-charger for my own sci-fi imagination back when I first saw in 1990. For most of us, BLADE RUNNER is the Citizen Kane of science fiction cinema, and something unique that will never be touched or improved upon.
I end this blogpost with the best speech ever uttered in a science fiction:
I've seen things you people wouldn't believe...
Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion.
I watched c-beam glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate.
All of those moments will be lost in time...like...tears in rain.
Time to Die.
I watched the original theatrical release of Blade Runner recently with my family- everyone wants me to extend our thanks to you for telling us where to find it. :-) Thanks, William!!
ReplyDeleteBlade Runner is indeed one of the best SF films ever made, and the dark future world shown remains one of the most visually fantastic ever seen on film, and the story is moving and tragic.
That single speech the dying Replicant utters at the end of the film conveys quite a few interesting visions for a SF artist to interpret. I believe there is a Feng Zhou teaching video entitled "Tanhauser Gate", it must be related to Blade Runner. I wonder what c-beam is, sounds like a directed energy beam weapon of sort.
I'm glad to help...Blade Runner is one of those things that I nothing just too much about. It amazing me that BR was even made, especially in 1982. I've known people, my wife included, that believe BR is depressing, but to me, it is slowly becoming true...just not the off-world colonies. Some BR experts believe that the colonies mentioned were intra-solar system worlds, like the Moon, Mars, and Io. This is bared out by the newspaper lining Leon's drawers at the hotel. Yeah...someone scanned it. That idea is an interesting one, and would make some sense.
ReplyDeleteI'll share something with you...when I first watched BR in 1990, there was little or nothing on it...pre-internet. Some of it, I made up in my mind, and since I was relaying on my ear, I heard Roy saying "Sea-Bees' and Tanhauser Gate has some sort of actually tent or defensive wall. I thought sea-bees were an alien insect that lived in or on water, and was bio-luminescent. Some think that c-beam are a piece of construction. and Tanhauser Gate could some sort of FTL system, like in the Forever War.
Being a huge fan of BR, I've written two short-stories (one appearing on this blog) and a full-length book, called 'life Span' about the combat off-world, and the life of the soldiers and Reps. There even is another book planned, called Tanhauser Gate, about the revolt. All Ridley needs to do is pay me, and he can have both!
BTW...Rutger Hauer is one smart dude, but did not completely pull those beautiful words out of his ass, he modified the script, and his spoken words are much better than the script.
I suspected that the space colonies mentioned were based on the other planets and moons in our solar system, not extrasolar systems, while watching BR. The only evidence that might seem to go against that was the reference to "attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion", which suggests some sort of space battle taking place near Betelgeuse or Bellatrix. Possibly, however, the attack ships were dying IN THE LINE of sight of one of Orion's shoulders from Roy's position during an interplanetary battle. We never saw any spaceships, spaceports, or space colonies in BR, so we may never know for sure. This is one aspect of the world of BR that was never made clear. Certainly, it is far more exciting to imagine Roy had seen space battles around Bellatrix and lived on extrasolar planets.
ReplyDeleteTanhauser Gate could be interpreted as a wormhole or other FTL "stargate", or maybe it is a megastructure of some sort that we built on another planet or moon in the solar system for some other purpose. At first, I thought of the colonies in BR as being unpleasant settlements based in unlivable places controlled by companies who do not care, but Roy's speech suggests that wonders unimaginable to those living on Earth await space travelers- whatever Tanhauser Gate is, it sounds cool.
The "Sea-Bees" and defensive wall are actually a pretty neat idea!! I guess BR is unique for stimulating its viewers' imaginations even as it feasts our eyes on a dark future Los Angeles filled with Syd Mead's fantastic designs. Another interpretation for C-beam could be that they are part of some power-beaming system for supplying energy to a star-gate. I still like the interpretation of C-beams as some sort of weapon, though...
The real meaning of Roy's speech, of course, was that he had seen and felt as much as any natural human, despite the company viewing him as nothing more than a biological machine, and that he recognizes that with his death, all he felt and remembers will vanish. It shows he is as human, if not more, than those who built him. He is self-aware, and understands the value of life- which his creators do not. He is human in every way that counts, those with Tyrell Corporation and the Bladerunners are not. What Deckard had always felt- that he was killing other people, not machines that were just someone's runaway property- is true, and he and those he works for are the empty, soulless ones, not the Replicants. At its deepest, Blade Runner asks, "What is it that makes us human?"
You should find a way to work the sea-bees into your BR stories- they deserve a spot in the mythology. :-) Have you seen Grosnez's work on DeviantArt? His SF environments are really cool!! I like this one of a space soldier encountering an alien jellyfish creature- http://grosnez.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d49zjdf Your Sea-Bees remind me of his work.
This is his DA page: http://grosnez.deviantart.com/
Blade Runner's the best. Because of the slow pacing and jazzy atmosphere, I find it really soothing. If I ever had trouble sleeping, I would just play Blade Runner every night before bed.
ReplyDeleteBlade Runner is one of the most unique and hard-edged sci-fi movies, it possesses me and haunts me, like a dark twisted lover. I've been in love with this movie for close to 25 years. The music is really amazing, and this day, I still say "have a better one."
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting and reading!