BLADE RUNNER Frequently Asked Questions - Part 2 Taken from the Net Compiled by Murray Chapman (muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au), from sources too numerous to mention. Thank-you one and all. @~Continued from issue 56 ------------------------------------------------------------------ 7. WHAT DIFFERENT VERSIONS OF BLADE RUNNER ARE THERE? - US sneak preview, (1982, very limited release in 1991) - US theatrical release (1982) - European/LD/10th Anniversary cut (more violence) - Director's Cut (BRDC) (1992) Ridley Scott re-released the sneak preview at select movie festivals in 1991. There were rumours that THIS version was the director's cut, but that did not appear until 1992. Hampton Fancher did eight drafts of the screenplay. These drafts concluded with Deckard taking Rachael out of the city, letting her see nature for the first time, and then, because she has only a few days to live, shooting her in the snow. David Peoples was brought in to polish the script, and Ridley Scott asked him to make the plot include more clues. Peoples worked on the humanity of Deckard's adversaries, and in fact his daughter mentioned the biological term "replicate", which led to "replicant". Peoples also told Scott that the screenplay was virtually perfect before he worked on it. [Source: Los Angeles Times Magazine, September 13, 1992 (p. 20).] Theatrical vs Sneak preview: ---------------------------- - Webster's 2012 definition of a replicant replaced with preamble - voiceovers added - voiceover after Roy's death lengthened - removed eulogy and appreciation for replicants - added philosophical musings LD vs Theatrical: ----------------- - added footage - Batty sticks his thumbs in Tyrell's eyes, which bleed copiously. - Pris lifts Deckard up by his nostrils when she beats him up. - Deckard shoots Pris an extra time. - More of Pris kicking and screaming when she is shot by Deckard. - More of Roy putting the nail through his hand, in particular the hand with the nail popping through and then flexing. - Total added footage is about 15 seconds. The 10th Anniversary Video edition is identical to the LD release. ---------------------------------- BRDC vs Theatrical: ------------------- - Dubbed footage - Bryant tells Deckard that there are "five skin jobs walking the street", not six. - Added footage - Added dialog from blimp to cover missing voice-over while Deckard waits for a seat at the noodle bar. - Unicorn scene when Deckard plays piano and falls asleep (about 12 seconds) - Removed footage - No happy ending, movie ends with closing elevator door - no extra violence. Soundtrack completely redone digitally for BRDC and is more prominent. Cable TV -------- When BR first appeared on American cable TV, there was an additional line of dialog when Bryant gives Deckard the description, names, and addresses of Tyrell and Sebastian over the radio. In the cable TV version, Bryant adds "...and check 'em out" after he says "I want you to go down there." [ANYBODY WHO'S SEEN THIS, PLEASE PLEASE CONTACT ME!] VIDEOTAPES: ----------- All video tapes as of 1 January 1993 are the Not Rated version with the extra violence that was removed from the 117 minute American theatrical release. [Different versions anyone?] LASERDISCS: ----------- In the NTSC markets (M/NTSC 3.58 525/60: US and Japan), there have been up to four versions of Blade Runner continuously available on laserdisc for the last several years. Ignoring the Japanese edition(s), we have: * Criterion Collection CC1120L, $90, CAV, 2.2:1 letterboxed, 4 sides, digital stereo, CX/analog stereo, 3M pressing, extensive still-frame supplements. * Criterion Collection CC1169L, $50, CLV, 2.2:1 letterboxed, 2 sides, digital stereo, CX/analog stereo, Pioneer pressing, (no supplements). * Embassy (Nelson Ent.) 13806, $35, CLV, 1.3:1 panned&scanned, 2 sides, CX/analog stereo, Pioneer pressing, (no digital sound, no supplements) The Embassy LD is also available as an identical VHS release, and both are inferior to the Criterion discs. The Criterion and Japanese laserdiscs correspond to this version of the film. All other laserdiscs (Embassy & Nelson), regardless of what the jacket claims, are identical to the American theatrical release. BRDC ---- Warner: WideScreen VHS HiFi: Suggested Retail Price $US39.98, Released: May 19, 1993. CX Widescreen CAV LD: Suggested Retail Price $US49.98, Released: unknown. US residents contact Ted Swanson (tswanson@bpa.arizona.edu) for mail-order information. A Japanese Warner Home Video import of BRDC arrived in the US in early March. It is a single CLV disk with widescreen picture format and jacket art similar to the pan-and-scan edition from Nelson Entertainment. A wrapper on the jacket shows four different BR LDs available in Japan: 1) a pan-and-scan CLV of the original 2) a widescreen CLV that appears to be the same as the Criterion CLV 3) a widescreen CLV Director's Cut 4) the full-feature CAV widescreen that corresponds to the Criterion edition. A slip-sheet included with the album contains some stills of the actors on one side and B&W photos of Syd Mead's gallery on the other. PUBLICATIONS: ------------- SCRIPTS: Script City 8033 Sunset Blvd. PO Box 1500 Hollywood, CA 90046 U.S.A. US Phone: 213-871-0707 (inquiries) 1-800-676-2522 (orders only) - Blade Runner script early draft--7/24/80. $24.95 plus $4.50 for First Class shipping. - Blade Runner script early draft--12/22/80. $24.95 plus $4.50 for First Class shipping. - Blade Runner final script--5/10/81. $17.00 plus $4.50 for First Class shipping. Note that date on the cover is 23 February 1981 but it contains numerous changes dated as late as 16 June 1981. This is considered the final shooting script. - Blade Runner Storyboards. $16.95 plus $4.50 for First Class shipping. Note this is only the storyboards for the first half of the film, the set is not complete. If you order three or all four items, the total postage is $10.50. Cinema City P.O. Box 1012 Muskegon, MI 49443 US Phone: 616-722-7760 - Blade Runner script ($55.00 + postage) The Blade Runner Sketchbook - early monochrome production drawings, conceptual sketches of items to be found in LA in 2019. - Parking meters - Stop light trees - Door keys - Magazine racks - Blade Runner pistol - VK machine - sketches of Tyrell's "coffin", a cryogenic unit holding his body in suspended animation until future technology can revitalize him. His casket looked similar to cryo units onboard Discovery in Stanley Kubrik's _2001: A Space Odyssey_ - A Virtual Reality mask. Worn over your face, a person used software disks to enjoy various moods of pleasure. Supposedly erotic stuff. - A stage where the dancers performed. (Like a small amphitheater) - out of print, a collector's item. Retrofitting Blade Runner: Issues in Ridley Scott's _Blade Runner_ and Philip K. Dick's _Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?_ Judith B. Kerman, editor, 1991, 291 pages Bowling Green State University Press, Bowling Green, Ohio 43403 - detailed, scene-by-scene analysis. The Illustrated Blade Runner Blue Dolphin Enterprises, Inc., 1982, ISBN #0-943128-01-3. Prepared late in post-production. "The Blade Cuts", Starburst (UK) no. 51, November 1982. Phil Edwards. "Back To The Future", Empire (UK) issue 42 (December 1992). "L'homme est-il bon?", from the "Wonders of the Universe" comic book series. Illustrated by Moebius (Jean Giraud). France. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8. MEMORABLE QUOTES. RACHAEL: "Is this testing whether I'm a replicant, or a lesbian, Mr Deckard?" DECKARD: "I've had people walk out on me before, but not when I was being so charming." "Shakes? Me too. I get them bad, it goes with the business" RACHAEL: "I'm not in the business... I am the business." CHEW: "I design your eyes" ROY BATTY: "Chew, if only you could see what I've seen with your eyes!" "It's not an easy thing to meet your maker." "I want more life, father!" (some versions sound like: "I want more life, f*cker!") "I've done . . . questionable things . . . but nothing that the God of biomechanics wouldn't let you into heaven for." "Six, seven! Go to hell or go to heaven!" "You'd better get it up, or I'm gonna have to kill you!" "That was irrational of you. Not to mention unsportsmanlike." "I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die." TYRELL: "Milk and cookies kept you awake?" "The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long... ...and you have burned so very, very brightly, Roy." LEON: "My mother... let me tell you about my mother!" "Nothing's worse than having an itch you can never scratch!" "Wake up! Time to die!" SEBASTIAN: "I MAKE friends." PRIS: "Then we're stupid, and we'll die!" GAFF: "You've done a man's job, sir!" "It's too bad she won't live! But then again, who does?" ------------------------------------------------------------------ 9. WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE UNICORN? When Deckard leaves his apartment with Rachael at the end of the film, she knocks over an origami unicorn, probably left there by Gaff. The voiceover speculates that the unicorn was simply a message to Deckard to say "I know you've got Rachael, but I'll let her live." The unicorn is the last of a series of origami figures that Gaff uses to taunt Deckard. In Bryant's office when Deckard insists he's retired, Gaff folds a chicken: "You're afraid to do it". Later he makes a man with an erection: "You've got the hots for her". And finally, the unicorn: "You're dreaming, you can run away with her, but she won't live" (he says basically the same thing to Deckard on the rooftop). A unicorn has long been the symbol of virginity and purity (being white), which ties in with Rachel's status. Legend states that only a virgin could capture a unicorn. Unicorns are extinct, and Gaff may think the same of Rachael, as she definitely has a limited lifespan. A unicorn was used in Tennessee Williams' "The Glass Menagerie" to symbolize that the girl was "different to other horses". The horn on this unicorn represented her physical handicap, which prevented her from meeting people. When she finally did meet a man, they danced and knocked over the unicorn, breaking its horn off. "It's just like all the other horses now.", she said, which symbolizes that she has overcome her shyness/lost her virginity. The unicorn may symbolize one of the following: - Rachael is (and always will be) a replicant among humans, and will be different, like a unicorn among horses, because of her termination date. (In the tacked-on ending, Deckard says that she doesn't have a termination date) - Rachael leaving and knocking over the unicorn symbolizes her escape from the Tyrell corporation, which only looked at her as a replicant. Deckard fell in love with her as a human, and by doing so, she became human. BRDC includes a scene not in the original release. It is a dream sequence, showing Deckard's dream of a white unicorn. Given this, one can argue that Gaff left the unicorn outside Deckard's apartment because he knew that Deckard dreamt of a unicorn. If Gaff knew what Deckard was dreaming, then we can assume that Deckard was a replicant himself, and Gaff knew he would be dreaming of a unicorn. Quoted without permission from "The Blade Cuts", Starburst (UK) no. 51, Nov 82. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Scott: ...did you see the version [of the script] with the unicorn? McKenzie: No... S: I think the idea of the unicorn was a terrific idea... M: The obvious inference is that Deckard is a replicant himself. S: Sure. To me it's entirely logical, particularly when you are doing a film noire, you may as well go right through with that theme, and the central character could in fact be what he is chasing... M: Did you actually shoot the sequence in the glade with the unicorn? S: Absolutely. It was cut into the picture, and I think it worked wonderfully. Deckard was sitting, playing the piano rather badly because he was drunk, and there's a moment where he gets absorbed and goes off a little at a tangent and we went into the shot of the unicorn plunging out of the forest. It's not subliminal, but it's a brief shot. Cut back to Deckard and there's absolutely no reaction to that, and he just carries on with the scene. That's where the whole idea of the character of Gaff with his origami figures -- the chicken and the little stick-figure man, so the origami figure of the unicorn tells you that Gaff has been there. One of the layers of the film has been talking about private thoughts and memories, so how would Gaff have known that a private thought of Deckard was of a unicorn? That's why Deckard shook his head like that [referring to Deckard nodding his head after picking up the paper unicorn]." Scott goes on to talk about how he decided to make the photograph of the little girl with her mother come alive for a second, then later in the interview we have: M: Are you disappointed that the references to Deckard being a replicant are no longer there? S: The innuendo is still there. The French get it immediately! I think it's interesting that he could be. @~To be continued in Issue 58 - o -