# Blade Runner: question about Roy Batty's soliloquy **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 4, 2011, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-question-about-roy-battys-soliloquy/573437 "2011-03-04T01:54:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2025, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-question-about-roy-battys-soliloquy/573437/182 "2025-08-30T02:17:54Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Tannhäuser Gate That’s Tannhäuser Gate_s_. The latest CEO of Microsoft. ---
**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:** [August 30, 2025, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-question-about-roy-battys-soliloquy/573437/183 "2025-08-30T02:22:52Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > > > For that matter, why wouldn’t Tyrell put some kind of taggant in replicant blood so they could be detected by a simple blood test? > > Because he wanted them to be indistinguishable. “More human than human”. I know that’s the slogan, but it would be enough, I think, for them just to _look_ human. Especially as they’re illegal on Earth, you’d think the government (UN, US or other) would insist on a means to more easily identify them. ---
**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:** [August 30, 2025, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-question-about-roy-battys-soliloquy/573437/184 "2025-08-30T11:46:45Z")
It’s not just a slogan, it’s Tyrell’s driving motivation. And governments insist on what rich people want them to insist on. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2025, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-question-about-roy-battys-soliloquy/573437/185 "2025-08-30T20:38:58Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > There’s nowhere in the Solar System where that could be the case Why? There’s no reason a Martian or outer solar system colony couldn’t be doing well. ---
**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:** [August 30, 2025, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-question-about-roy-battys-soliloquy/573437/186 "2025-08-30T22:32:09Z")
Not as well as Earth, though. Any colony you can build on Mars, you can build better on Earth. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2025, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-question-about-roy-battys-soliloquy/573437/187 "2025-08-31T02:27:53Z")
Despite FTL travel being probably more unbelievable than a large leap in conventional space travel engines, ships etc, extra-solar colonies are easier (once you get there) because you start with a “class M” 🙂 planet. It has metals that can be mined, water, wood, building materials, places to grow crops, and most importantly, a breathable atmosphere. No matter what mining and power generation you can get on your Mars/Titan/Pluto colony, the first thing you have to do is build a dome-thing to live in. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2025, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-question-about-roy-battys-soliloquy/573437/188 "2025-08-31T07:21:07Z")
Unless Earth is sooo degraded (by pollution and radiation) and Mars is already successfully terraformed. Which seemed to be the kind of thing they were going for. Yes, not realistic, but that was the kind of thing SF of the day seemed to love. Probably Cold War malaise. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2025, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-question-about-roy-battys-soliloquy/573437/189 "2025-08-31T09:50:08Z")
I think the following hasn’t been mentioned yet in this thread. If it has, excuse me. The Roy Batty speech was written by David Peoples and by Rutger Hauer. Someday I’ve got to get around to reading my copy of _All Those Moments_, a memoir by Hauer: > **[Tears in rain monologue](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tears_in_rain_monologue)** > > "Tears in rain" is a 42-word monologue, consisting of the last words of main antagonist Roy Batty (portrayed by Dutch actor Rutger Hauer) in the 1982 Ridley Scott film Blade Runner, as he deactivates during a thunderstorm. Written by David Peoples and altered by Hauer, the monologue is frequently quoted. Critic Mark Rowlands described it as "perhaps the most moving death soliloquy in cinematic history", and it is commonly viewed as the defining moment of Hauer's acting career.\[6 The monologue ... ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2025, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-question-about-roy-battys-soliloquy/573437/190 "2025-08-31T18:51:19Z")
> [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > Well, he did anticipate he would have doubters… I laughed. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2025, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-question-about-roy-battys-soliloquy/573437/191 "2025-08-31T19:13:01Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Oh, and Roy’s being poetic. That ship might have only had a minor fire, and C-beams might not glitter much… Right, and if the ship was in outer space, the only fire it could be on is probably only kept alive by the onboard air supply. And if c-beams were glittering, Roy was probably seeing them through an atmosphere, which suggests that he was planetside when he saw them. ---
**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:** [September 1, 2025, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-question-about-roy-battys-soliloquy/573437/192 "2025-09-01T01:29:34Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Right, and if the ship was in outer space, the only fire it could be on is probably only kept alive by the onboard air supply. Or the onboard fuel supply. A rocket is supposed to have flames going out the back end. When things go wrong, sometimes the flames come out other places instead. Usually followed fairly quickly by rapid unscheduled disassembly. More advanced spacecraft might not be rockets, but that just makes it worse, because they’re probably carrying something even more energetic than rocket fuel, and whatever that is, it can probably also have a rapid unscheduled release of whatever that energy is. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blade-runner-question-about-roy-battys-soliloquy/573437.md?page=9)