Questions tagged [blade-runner]

For the 1982 film directed by Ridley Scott, based on a novel by Philip K. Dick. To be used in conjunction with the [blade-runner-series] tag. For the 2017 sequel, use the [blade-runner-2049] tag. Use with the [do-androids-dream-of-electric-sheep] tag if your question is about both the movie and the novel it's based on.

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Did Philip K. Dick watch "Blade Runner" before his death?

Was Philip K. Dick able to watch a complete version of Blade Runner before his death or just unedited material? The Blade Runner release date according to Wikipedia and IMDb was 25 June, 1982. Philip ...
JuanZe's user avatar
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76 votes
1 answer
75k views

Why did they name the movie "Blade Runner"?

I just finished reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and I found it interesting that Deckard was always described as a bounty hunter never as a blade runner or anything similar. What exactly ...
Goran Jovic's user avatar
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60 votes
11 answers
139k views

Significance of the origami Deckard found in Blade Runner

What was the significance of the origami figure Deckard found at the end of Blade Runner? What could it have symbolized?
Brenton Taylor's user avatar
51 votes
4 answers
25k views

Why (in universe) are blade runners called blade runners?

We all know that a blade runner is a detective who hunts down replicants. There is an interesting out-of-universe story of how that name arose during production of the movie.1 However, is there any ...
N. Virgo's user avatar
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50 votes
9 answers
92k views

Why does Roy Batty save Deckard from falling?

At the end of Blade Runner, why does Roy Batty catch Deckard as he is about to fall? I have always assumed that it was perhaps the realization of his own imminent demise that caused his actions. I ...
bazz's user avatar
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43 votes
1 answer
34k views

In Blade Runner, what was the Geisha advertising?

There is an omnipresent blimp drifting lazily above the city...an advertisement with a Geisha plays over and over. What is the advertisement? She appears to be popping a pill at one point.
Chris B. Behrens's user avatar
38 votes
5 answers
10k views

How are the off-world colonies reached in Blade Runner?

From references only from the 1982 Blade Runner movie and Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? is there any indication how the science works to reach the "off-world colonies"? Especially for colonies ...
Rob's user avatar
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33 votes
4 answers
27k views

Why is the future LA full of Chinese people in Blade Runner?

In the movie Blade Runner, the future Los Angeles(2019) is depicted as having lots of chinese people and chinese influence. Why is that the case?
chitti's user avatar
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33 votes
2 answers
56k views

What are all the known questions that have been asked as part of a Voigt-Kampff test?

For the past few weeks, I have been looking for a list of all the known the questions (or statements) to have been asked as part of a Voigt-Kampff test (or Voight-Kampff as they say in the first ...
Clockwork's user avatar
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31 votes
7 answers
14k views

Why do replicants have a short lifespan?

In Blade Runner the replicants have a limited lifespan, which is of course a key part of the film. When Deckard and Bryant are talking, Bryant states the short lifespan was deliberately built in to ...
John Rennie's user avatar
29 votes
1 answer
5k views

How did the Millennium Falcon appear in Blade Runner?

What is the story behind that the fact that the Millennium Falcon actually is in the set of Blade Runner? The producers must've known that the audience would recognize and debate it, and such a thing ...
Niklas Rosencrantz's user avatar
26 votes
2 answers
10k views

Are the off-world colonies really a "golden land of opportunity"?

In Blade Runner, there seems to be quite a marketing campaign for emigration to the off-world colonies, e.g., "A new life awaits you in the off-world colonies, a chance to begin again in a ...
Eric Smith's user avatar
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25 votes
8 answers
47k views

Why does Roy Batty kill Tyrell and J.F. Sebastian?

In Blade Runner, the replicant Roy Batty spends the majority of the movie trying to reach Tyrell, his creator. However, once he meets him and Tyrell tells him that he cannot help him, Batty kills ...
JPow3's user avatar
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25 votes
2 answers
5k views

Why hunt replicants?

There’s been at least 4 or 5 years since I saw the movie so it may be there and I don’t remember. I don’t understand the whole purpose of hunting Replicants. For the most part they seem to be hiding ...
Jorge Córdoba's user avatar
22 votes
4 answers
3k views

How "hard" is the science behind the genetics mentioned in Blade Runner?

How accurately does the science in Blade Runner reflect the current understanding of genetics?
blueberryfields's user avatar
22 votes
3 answers
3k views

Are Replicants actually more empathetic?

I know the explanation for the Voight-Kampff test: Replicants lack empathy, which can be detected by their involuntary physiological responses to certain questions/prompts. But in the movie, it ...
Flambino's user avatar
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21 votes
1 answer
921 views

Which 2019 technologies were correctly predicted by Blade Runner?

We’re finally in 2019, the year in which Blade Runner — Ridley Scott’s iconic 1982 science fiction film — is set. Which technologies that exist in 2019 (at least as prototypes) were ...
Praxis's user avatar
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19 votes
5 answers
15k views

Why doesn't Deckard just identify replicants by their glowing eyes?

In the film Blade Runner (1982), Rick Deckard hunts realistic androids called replicants. According to Jordan Cronenweth, Blade Runner's (genius) director of photography, One of the identifying ...
MicroMachine's user avatar
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19 votes
5 answers
3k views

Why aren't replicants created with some distinctive feature in Blade Runner?

In Blade Runner, they have enough knowledge of genetics to be able to create replicants, life forms nearly identical to humans. They then have trouble identifying them among humans. Why can't (or don'...
user2638180's user avatar
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18 votes
5 answers
3k views

Why is it so hard to detect Replicants?

In Blade Runner (1982), Deckard used the Voight-Kampff test to detect Replicants. This complicated test verified if their emotional response was appropriate. But they also displayed superhuman ...
DavRob60's user avatar
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16 votes
4 answers
9k views

What is the drink Deckard has in the bar (Blade Runner)?

In the movie, Deckard is shown to have a drink in a bar. The drink seemed to have worms under the glass. Is there a sci-fi explanation for that drink?
chitti's user avatar
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15 votes
3 answers
5k views

What version of Blade Runner should I watch first?

I have the Blade Runner Five-Disc Blu-Ray and it comes with a variety of different versions of the film. I'm not sure which version would be appropriate for my first viewing of the film - Theatrical ...
JMoy's user avatar
  • 253
15 votes
1 answer
4k views

How many questions do Blade Runners usually ask during a Voight-Kampff test?

In the original Blade Runner Deckard asks Rachel over a hundred questions before he confirms she's a replicant. However, Rachel is implied to be a special case. When administering the Voight-Kampff ...
Nu'Daq's user avatar
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15 votes
1 answer
2k views

Difference between science fiction/fantasy and futurism according to Philip K. Dick

In this letter from Philip K. Dick to The Ladd Company, he references a Harrison Ford interview where he says that that Blade Runner is not fantasy nor science fiction, but futurism. What's did he ...
BenLanc's user avatar
  • 253
14 votes
2 answers
1k views

In 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?', why does Deckard need to apply the Voight-Kampff test at all?

I've seen Blade Runner many times but I'm currently reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? for the first time and I find myself wondering something I've never considered before: Why does Deckard ...
Joe's user avatar
  • 141
14 votes
3 answers
3k views

Are the owls in Futurama a backwards reference to Blade Runner and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Owls in Futurama are so numerous and plentiful that they are considered a pest. Conversely, the electric owl in Blade Runner represents something beautiful that no longer exists. And in a larger sense,...
DampeS8N's user avatar
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14 votes
8 answers
5k views

Why would Niander Wallace or Eldon Tyrell want Replicants to do this?

This is from the movie, Blade Runner 2049. Why would Niander Wallace want replicants to reproduce? As a businessman, his goal is to make money by selling replicants. If replicants can reproduce, then ...
RichS's user avatar
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14 votes
1 answer
1k views

Is being a Blade Runner a full time job?

In the opening text of Blade Runner 2049, we are told that Blade Runners are those who hunt down rogue replicants. Many older model replicants - Nexus 8s with open-ended lifespans - survived. They ...
Thunderforge's user avatar
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12 votes
3 answers
5k views

If this character from Blade Runner is a replicant, why does he feel pain?

I remember the scene where Sebastian asks the replicants to demonstrate something, and then Pris puts her hand into a boiling water to take an egg without feeling pain and at another point Batty ...
LordWater's user avatar
  • 231
12 votes
2 answers
817 views

Does it matter which version of the original Blade Runner I've watched if I want to watch Blade Runner 2049?

I recently watched the original Blade Runner movie as I wanted to be up-to-date when the Blade Runner 2049 movie came out. However, after watching, I've since learned that there are multiple versions ...
Möoz's user avatar
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11 votes
3 answers
633 views

What made Deckard a good Blade Runner?

Bryant made it clear: he specifically wanted Deckard to work on the case. Bryant: [Holden is] not good enough, not good as you. I need you, Deck. This is a bad one, the worst yet. I need the old ...
Clockwork's user avatar
  • 7,318
11 votes
2 answers
2k views

How did Roy Batty know Deckard's name?

In the 1982 film Blade Runner, a group of six humanoid androids (referred to as "replicants") have violently rebelled against their masters and escaped to Earth in search of a means of prolonging ...
Spar10 Leonidas's user avatar
11 votes
2 answers
5k views

What exactly does an ESPER machine do?

Has there ever been anything (technobabble or otherwise) expanding the fiction of Blade Runner's ESPER machines? Otherwise it just appears to be a magical future 3D photo exploring device.
Kitt Basch's user avatar
11 votes
1 answer
2k views

What is a "Plutition Camp"?

Okay, we're deep blue inside baseball here. In the original Blade Runner script, Batty's valedictory speech goes like this: “I’ve known adventures, seen places you people will never see, I’ve ...
Chris B. Behrens's user avatar
10 votes
1 answer
1k views

Why would Rachael be hunted?

It seems like Tyrell (and he is still alive when she talks to Deckard about fleeing) would easily be able to protect her. I don't think he would have allowed Deckard to administer the VK test if he ...
releseabe's user avatar
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10 votes
1 answer
2k views

Why are the new replicants in Blade Runner 2049 allowed to exist?

The opening scroll says that replicants were outlawed, but Wallace created a new line that always obeys, so they were allowed to exist again. But we see that they do NOT obey--both Luv and K ...
cond0148's user avatar
  • 101
10 votes
3 answers
2k views

If Deckard is not who he seems to be, how is it that he is hunting replicants?

How did it come to be that Deckard started hunting replicants?
EhevuTov's user avatar
  • 551
10 votes
1 answer
330 views

Is true mind reading possible in the Blade Runner stories?

Officer K asks Dr. Ana Stelline if a particular memory of his is real or implanted. Stelline: Now think about the memory you want me to see. Not even that hard. Just ...
RichS's user avatar
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8 votes
3 answers
6k views

Zhora asks Deckard: "Are you for real?" Was this meant to be significant?

Just saw a video which highlights this line: Was this meant to be significant? To clarify, I am in no way implying that Zhora meant anything other than, "Are you ...
releseabe's user avatar
  • 14.9k
8 votes
3 answers
3k views

Why did Deckard have to terminate the replicants?

I feel like I missed an important point at the beginning of the film. I remember Deckard initially denying the job but when he tries to walk out he says something to the effect of "No choice then, huh?...
Kapler's user avatar
  • 3,081
8 votes
2 answers
772 views

What keeps a replicant from realizing it has superhuman abilities?

Replicants, particularly combat models like Roy Batty, are advertised as having abilities that far surpass regular humans. On top of increased strength and reflexes, some replicants also either don't ...
GGMG-he-him's user avatar
  • 6,496
8 votes
2 answers
998 views

Did J.F. Sebastian work from home?

I know he stated that he "does genetic design work for the Tyrell Corporation", but he also has quite the hobbyist operation going on in his home laboratory. I wonder if he physically travels to the ...
Jeff Voss's user avatar
  • 183
7 votes
1 answer
3k views

Why was Philip K Dick so distressed at Ridley Scott's adaptation of 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep'? [duplicate]

I have heard this a couple of times now but I don't know the reasoning behind this. I know that the film adaptation of the novel was released shortly before the authors death. Also, if this is the ...
PrimalScientist's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
390 views

How does a Mood Organ work?

The opening passage to Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? reads: A merry little surge of electricity piped by automatic alarm from the mood organ beside his bed awakened Rick Deckard. From this ...
Viktor's user avatar
  • 73
7 votes
1 answer
816 views

After the Voight-Kampff, but before the Baseline test, is there any other way to detect Replicants in 2030s?

As replicants were improved, it's my understanding that the Voight-Kampff test ceased to be an effective tool. We see that by 2049 they are using the Baseline test. Any thoughts (or knowledge) on if ...
Rick Liebling's user avatar
6 votes
2 answers
2k views

What is the real age of Roy Batty in the film?

For example: his hair is grey but, what I get from the whole movie, is that he is actually much younger than he appears to be. Does he have the same sickness as J.F. Sebastian?
N. Deschain's user avatar
6 votes
3 answers
2k views

Why would Tyrell allow a dangerous replicant like Roy Batty to visit him?

In Blade Runner, Eldon Tyrell allows an employee to bring a dangerous soldier replicant to Tyrell's personal apartment. Why would he allow that? He knew Roy Batty was a super soldier replicant. Very ...
user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
528 views

How did Leon Kowalski escape the Tyrell corporation after his Voigt-Kampff Test?

In the original Blade Runner, a blade runner named Holden administers the Voigt-Kampff test, which is designed to distinguish replicants from humans based on their emotional response to questions. The ...
RichS's user avatar
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6 votes
0 answers
2k views

How functional is Deckard's apartment in "Blade Runner"? [closed]

After about a thousand viewings of "Blade Runner," combined with material like this, this, and this, I'm still struggling to make sense of some of the things I think I see in Deckard's apartment. ...
crmdgn's user avatar
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5 votes
3 answers
2k views

How does Deckard know whose memories were implanted, and what those memories were?

In the original Blade Runner, Deckard is surprised when he's told that Apparently, the idea of a replicant with memories is new to him. Yet just a short time later, he not only tells her that those ...
Martha's user avatar
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