Minute 64 slows it all down for a nice, relaxing drink.
Minute 64: George Jetson’s Shot Glass
Published
The Blade Runner Minute Podcast
Two dorks talk about Blade Runner.
The Blade Runner Minute Podcast
Two dorks talk about Blade Runner.
Minute 64 slows it all down for a nice, relaxing drink.
The Blade Runner Minute Podcast 
Me again (virtually identical to a human). There seems to be a lot of confused discussion about Deckard’s motivation. In the movie Deckard is retired. Called back to the job under threat of (jail?) by his old boss. He doesn’t want to do it. He’s had enough of it. Bryant’s attitude is that Deckard is and always will be a Blade Runner, even that Deckard’s worth is defined by being that one man slaughter house. Deckard of course wants none of this anymore. In the true-version of the film, the theatrical release with the iconic voiceover, Deckard laments his feelings about shooting a woman in the back. The voiceover links that to his feelings for Rachel, and earlier when Rachel first comes to his apartment, he asks what is happening to him, gaining empathy for Replicants. Given he quit the job, perhaps he was developing feelings for Replicants before he met Rachel, that’s not borne out by the voiceover.
You keep saying he’s bad at his job. As a story point, he probably shouldn’t be able to easily defeat those that he hunts, otherwise there’s nothing at stake. Zhora is an assassin and probably should be able to get the better of him. Leon is much stronger than him, and Roy is smarter and probably stronger than him. It’s all about stakes to increase tension and make the viewer care for the hero.
As a Replicant himself, he could have superior capabilities, but without stakes, (in theory) there’s no interest.
To this point, even without the unicorn dream, as Ridley Scott pointed out, Deckard is portrayed with red retinas, like the other Replicants, even in the theatrical release. There’s just the right light and a glimpse of this in Deckard (the right reflection) just after Rachel says she IS the business (and when he says ‘but somebody else would’), but I thought Scott mentioned it during Rachel’s V-K test. Rachel gets those reflections more often because it’s obvious she’s a Replicant. Deckard is rare so as not to give it away too easily. The director’s cut unicorn dream and the origami at the end of the film hammer home the point, but Scott’s intention was there all along in the theatrical version, whether or not he got Ford to play it ambiguously.
Roy’s shaky hand – Ridley Scott mentioned in a commentary, I think, that he cheated Roys introduction – bruised and shaky hand/deteriorating appearance from footage at the end of the film, put it into the street scene with Leon outside the apartment. It’s a continuity problem, but serves to externalise Roy’s mental state at his introduction/early in the film. It is out of place and Roy talking with Leon just after those introductory shots, is nowhere near as decrepit.
love the show, thanks for doing it
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Thank you for your insight! We agree that a hero who effortlessly defeats their enemy is boring. Pete just finds it funny that Deckard appears to just barely escape death every time he encounters a replicant. But that’s what adds to the realism of the film. We love it. And thanks for your kind words.
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