# Blade Runner Hypothetical (Tyrell Murder) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 8, 2012, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-hypothetical-tyrell-murder/612185 "2012-02-08T14:06:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2012, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-hypothetical-tyrell-murder/612185/21 "2012-02-12T04:26:53Z")
> [@ricksummon](#): > > Surely Tyrell would have pushed some kind of silent alarm button if he really thought Roy was going to kill him? Of course, this is the same building into which Leon brought a gun, shot a Blade Runner, then left without any sort of security response whatsoever. One wonders why Tyrell lived as long as he did. :smack: If I were Tyrell, I’d have a personal squad of hot, scantily-clad kick-death pleasure models guarding me at all times. > [@](#): > > Did he really? I’m not sure. It seems to me that Tyrell did not actually expect Roy to kill him, but, instead, thought he could talk Roy into accepting the fact of his limited lifespan. Could be, but his “twice as bright” candle analogy was desperate and lame, it seemed to me. I like the OP’s idea that Roy’s “I’ve done questionable things” comment was intended as a test of Tyrell’s morality against Roy’s own young but rapidly developing morality. His “god” flunked, I’d say. 🙂 In case any of you don’t already know, Rutger Hauer has some video responses up on Youtube about his work on Bladerunner, his own interpretations of the character, certain scenes, etc. Hauer is kind of a trippy guy, but cool. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2012, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-hypothetical-tyrell-murder/612185/22 "2012-02-12T04:34:20Z")
I got the sense from the film that Tyrell knew something was up the second Sebastian called him from the elevator, I think he suspected the replicants were using Sebastian at that point but he still removed the lock on the elevator and did not contact security. I wonder if it was just plain arrogance or if on some level Tyrell didn’t care about being killed. ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2012, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-hypothetical-tyrell-murder/612185/23 "2012-02-12T12:25:15Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > I am a “Deckard is a replicant” person. So I think the reason Roy rescued Deckard is because Roy realized that he was one of them. I think that would undermine a central theme of the movie, that of Roy becoming human, if he simply saves Deckard because he thinks he’s another replicant. The point is, there is no real difference between replicants and humans. ---
**Author:** ![ricksummon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ricksummon/32/3333_2.png) [@ricksummon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricksummon)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2012, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-hypothetical-tyrell-murder/612185/24 "2012-02-12T17:42:18Z")
Why the heck didn’t Sebastian run for his life when he saw Roy kill Tyrell? All he did was _wince,_ for heaven’s sake! While it’s true that Sebastian didn’t have that much longer to live anyway due to his rapid aging, I somehow doubt he’d want to go out with his eyes being squished like grapes. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2012, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-hypothetical-tyrell-murder/612185/25 "2012-02-12T17:44:02Z")
Because he didn’t believe Roy was going to kill him? ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2012, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-hypothetical-tyrell-murder/612185/26 "2012-02-12T18:31:34Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > Could be, but his “twice as bright” candle analogy was desperate and lame, it seemed to me. I always thought it was apathetic arrogance, and he actually expected Roy to buy it. Instead, it sealed his fate. . ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2012, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-hypothetical-tyrell-murder/612185/27 "2012-02-12T18:35:07Z")
> [@Alka\_Seltzer](#): > > I think that would undermine a central theme of the movie, that of Roy becoming human, if he simply saves Deckard because he thinks he’s another replicant. The point is, there is no real difference between replicants and humans. The Tyrell Corporation Motto: “More human than human”. That wasn’t thrown in just to kill time. It was to make a point. The replicants are humans, if anything, too human. The opposite side of uncanny valley. Roy was teaching his fellow replicant how to be a real human. (His makers-Chew, Tyrell, Sebastian, are inhuman bastards and deserve to die.) ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2012, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-hypothetical-tyrell-murder/612185/28 "2012-02-12T20:49:40Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > The Tyrell Corporation Motto: “More human than human”. That wasn’t thrown in just to kill time. It was to make a point. > > The replicants are humans, if anything, too human. The opposite side of uncanny valley. Roy was teaching his fellow replicant how to be a real human. (His makers-Chew, Tyrell, Sebastian, are inhuman bastards and deserve to die.) Exactly. Whether or not Roy knew Deckard was a replicant, I think he spared Deckard to demonstrate that he (Roy) was a bigger, better man than the humans he’d encountered. Not only “More human than human” – “More _humane_ than a human.” . ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2012, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-hypothetical-tyrell-murder/612185/29 "2012-02-12T21:43:20Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > If I were Tyrell, I’d have a personal squad of hot, scantily-clad kick-death pleasure models guarding me at all times… …What? Huh? Sorry. I got distracted there for a second. > [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > I always thought it was apathetic arrogance, and he actually expected Roy to buy it. Instead, it sealed his fate. Agreed. His failure to set in place more elaborate security measures, even after Leon’s earlier near-murder of an LAPD blade runner on the premises, is of a piece with that. > [@ftg](#): > > …Roy was teaching his fellow replicant how to be a real human. (His makers-Chew, Tyrell, Sebastian, are inhuman bastards and deserve to die.) Is that your own view, or are you trying to reflect what Roy was thinking? I don’t see either Chew or Sebastian as being in the same league of moral culpability as Tyrell. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2012, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-hypothetical-tyrell-murder/612185/30 "2012-02-12T22:01:28Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > If I were Tyrell, I’d have a personal squad of hot, scantily-clad kick-death pleasure models guarding me at all times. You can have them, but they all look like Brion James. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2012, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-hypothetical-tyrell-murder/612185/31 "2012-02-12T22:47:13Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > You can have them, but they all look like Brion James. Oh. Well, I guess we’ll just have to dress them up then. Something [like this](http://movieactors.com/freeseframes-1026/FifthElement139.jpeg) wouldn’t be so bad. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2012, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-hypothetical-tyrell-murder/612185/32 "2012-02-13T01:35:40Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > Oh. Well, I guess we’ll just have to dress them up then. Something [like this](http://movieactors.com/freeseframes-1026/FifthElement139.jpeg) wouldn’t be so bad. Nope. [Zardoz,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Zardoz_zed.jpg) all the way. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2012, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-hypothetical-tyrell-murder/612185/33 "2012-02-13T17:53:16Z")
If Deckard was a replicant, it brings a couple questions to mind: 1. Deckard has the skills and emotional maturity to be able to gauge the “proper” reactions to a VK test. Is this likely with Deckard being a replicant? Rachel is presented as a leading edge prototype in memory implants in replicants, but there were gaps or flaws in her emotional makeup that Deckard could identify. Why would Rachel be _less_ advanced than Deckard? 1. Wouldn’t Tyrell be familiar with all of the advanced Replicant models? Wouldn’t he have recognised Deckard as being “Hardbitten Gumshoe Mk-VI”, or whatever? Would his interactions with Deckard be different based on whether or not he [Tyrell] believed Deckard to be a replicant? 2. Why didn’t Tyrell have a body double/decoy replicant? He has an elevator which he locks/unlocks from the penthouse. Why not a 24 hour guard/combat model in the foyer? ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2012, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-hypothetical-tyrell-murder/612185/34 "2012-02-13T20:15:40Z")
> [@mlees](#): > > 1. Deckard has the skills and emotional maturity to be able to gauge the “proper” reactions to a VK test. Is this likely with Deckard being a replicant? The VK test consists of the Blade Runner reading cue cards and using equipment to check for involuntary eye movements caused by emotional stress. It doesn’t seem to me that it would require a great deal of expertise to perform it. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2012, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-hypothetical-tyrell-murder/612185/35 "2012-02-13T20:30:15Z")
> [@Alka\_Seltzer](#): > > The VK test consists of the Blade Runner reading cue cards and using equipment to check for involuntary eye movements caused by emotional stress. It doesn’t seem to me that it would require a great deal of expertise to perform it. I think the actual verbalised responces (or lack of them), also count. But that is just a hunch. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2012, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-hypothetical-tyrell-murder/612185/36 "2012-02-13T21:06:35Z")
> [@](#): > > 1. Why didn’t Tyrell have a body double/decoy replicant? He has an elevator which he locks/unlocks from the penthouse. Why not a 24 hour guard/combat model in the foyer? Qui custodes ipso custodis? If you’re worried about resentful replicants trying to murder you, the last thing you want is to keep a replicant inside your primary security full-time. ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2012, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-hypothetical-tyrell-murder/612185/37 "2012-02-13T21:26:57Z")
> [@mlees](#): > > I think the actual verbalised responces (or lack of them), also count. But that is just a hunch. Thinking about it, when Deckard is responding to Tyrell’s question about how many questions it takes to spot a replicant, he says something like “20 to 30, **cross-referenced** ”. So that does suggest there is more to it than simply following a script. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2012, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-hypothetical-tyrell-murder/612185/38 "2012-02-13T21:43:10Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Qui custodes ipso custodis? If you’re worried about resentful replicants trying to murder you, the last thing you want is to keep a replicant inside your primary security full-time. I think they mentioned that the replicants begin to develope their own personality around five or so, which is why it’s decided to build in their death date for that time frame. (Right?) So, you use a combat model for three years max, then assign it to other duties, sell it, or kill it. Of course, it may be that Tyrell was never threatened much. And not really in much danger for most of his life. Of course, Roy was combat, strategy, and tacics. But one of the others was the assassin. (Pris?) So why wasn’t Pris the one in the penthouse? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-hypothetical-tyrell-murder/612185/39 "2012-02-14T00:41:38Z")
Pris was described by Bryant as “your basic pleasure model,” but she was clearly able to beat the hell out of Deckard. If she hadn’t (stupidly) backed up for that running jump, giving him the chance to get his gun, she probably would’ve killed him. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-hypothetical-tyrell-murder/612185/40 "2012-02-14T02:01:34Z")
Saying Deckard is a replicant is like saying that Greedo shot first. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-hypothetical-tyrell-murder/612185.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-hypothetical-tyrell-murder/612185.md?page=3)