# Blader Runner : Explain to me why this is so good **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 6, 2018, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blader-runner-explain-to-me-why-this-is-so-good/810093 "2018-03-06T02:17:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [March 7, 2018, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blader-runner-explain-to-me-why-this-is-so-good/810093/41 "2018-03-07T23:59:38Z")
But I think we can all agree that making them shoot you when you ask them about their mothers was an inadvisable decision. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2018, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blader-runner-explain-to-me-why-this-is-so-good/810093/42 "2018-03-08T02:00:05Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > The premise of the original Blade Runner is that the Earth has been wrecked. The climate is ruined, it’s polluted, it’s a disaster. Everyone who can is moving offworld. That’s why Sebastian lives alone in a deserted ruined apartment building by himself. The population on Earth is crashing. > > But they’ve also made it illegal to have replicants on Earth, for some reason. Replicants are restricted to the offworld colonies. Any replicants on Earth get killed, because the public hates and fears replicants. From the opening title crawl: “After a bloody mutiny by a NEXUS 6 combat team in an Off-world colony, Replicants were declared illegal on Earth - under penalty of death.” There were apparently a number of revolts between the movies as well (leading to the bankruptcy of the Tyrell Corporation). Not to mention Roy Batty crushing his creator’s skull with his bare hands. So short answer is “replicants can be dangerous”. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2018, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blader-runner-explain-to-me-why-this-is-so-good/810093/43 "2018-03-08T13:18:25Z")
> [@The\_Tooth](#): > > Pause either movie at almost any point and you’ll be looking at a beautiful picture. Denis Villeneuve is brilliant, I can’t wait for _Dune_. Most of the credit here would go to Roger Deakins, the Director of Photography. Who just won the Oscar® for his efforts on this film. Credit where credit is due. 🙂 Cartooniverse, 37 years a working cinematographer. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2018, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blader-runner-explain-to-me-why-this-is-so-good/810093/44 "2018-03-08T13:20:10Z")
Fair enough. I hope he’s the DP on _Dune_ as well. ---
**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:** [March 8, 2018, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blader-runner-explain-to-me-why-this-is-so-good/810093/45 "2018-03-08T15:03:52Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > The premise of the original Blade Runner is that the Earth has been wrecked. The climate is ruined, it’s polluted, it’s a disaster. Everyone who can is moving offworld. That’s why Sebastian lives alone in a deserted ruined apartment building by himself. The population on Earth is crashing. I have to disagree. The street outside Taffy Lewis’ club was packed. While Sebastian’s part of town is empty, other parts must still be pretty populated. I would say, it’s not that the population is crashing, so much as all the “good” people left, and only the losers and dregs remain. People who have some fault such that they are not allowed to emigrate. (technically, Sebastian lived in an office building. The Bradbury building is one of the coolest buildings in LA, and has been used extensively as a set for many movies and TV.) ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2018, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blader-runner-explain-to-me-why-this-is-so-good/810093/46 "2018-03-08T16:09:36Z")
Though in Blade Runner 2049, it is shown that outside of a mega-sprawl LA (yes, far more than current), there isn’t much out there. So I guess that is a way to bolster an idea that the BR population is crashing - everyone just goes to the cities while the other parts are irradiated/left for dead. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2018, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blader-runner-explain-to-me-why-this-is-so-good/810093/47 "2018-03-08T17:19:42Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > It might help to realize that replicants aren’t robots. You can’t check the hash of their files on a chip, because they don’t have files or chips. They’re biological constructs, engineered humans modified to be suited for their tasks. Would Pris then flopping around in the hallway after being mortally wounded by Deckard be a blooper, then? Certainly seems like a nonhuman, mechanical response to me. ---
**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:** [March 8, 2018, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blader-runner-explain-to-me-why-this-is-so-good/810093/48 "2018-03-08T19:09:50Z")
I would expect the response of a person who’s just been mortally wounded by gunshot to look “nonhuman”. Most humans aren’t usually mortally wounded. ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2018, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blader-runner-explain-to-me-why-this-is-so-good/810093/49 "2018-03-08T19:21:19Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I would expect the response of a person who’s just been mortally wounded by gunshot to look “nonhuman”. Most humans aren’t usually mortally wounded. I have seen A LOT of videos online of people being mortally wounded by gunshot. Their responses are all very human. This is not a reaction one would expect to see from a human that’s just been shot, including the sounds that seem to be two separate set of noises: [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kz84smHMQeU&t=1m15s) > [@](#): > > **Physical composition** > Although the press kit for the film explicitly defines a replicant as “A genetically engineered creature composed entirely of organic substance”,[9] the physical make-up of the replicants themselves is not clear. In the films’s preamble, it is noted that replicants are said to be the result of “advanced robot evolution.” The preamble also states that replicants were created by “genetic engineers”. Characters mention that replicants have eyes and brains like humans, and they are seen to bleed when injured. The only way of telling a replicant from a human is to ask a series of questions and analyze emotional responses, suggesting they might be entirely, or almost entirely, organic. The film also shows that at least certain body parts of a replicant are separately engineered and assembled, as shown with Hannibal Chew, a genetic engineer who specifically made replicant eyes. In a deleted scene, J.F. Sebastian was stated to have made replicant hands along with his own personal robotic toys. > **[Replicant](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replicant)** > > A replicant is a fictional bioengineered humanoid featured in the 1982 film Blade Runner and the 2017 sequel Blade Runner 2049 which is physically indistinguishable from an adult human and often possesses superhuman strength and intelligence. A replicant can be detected by means of the fictional Voight-Kampff test in which emotional responses are provoked; a replicant's nonverbal responses differ from those of a human. Failing the test leads to execution, which is euphemistically referred to as... ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2018, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blader-runner-explain-to-me-why-this-is-so-good/810093/50 "2018-03-08T19:26:14Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Even if you can’t genetically engineer a marking onto them, just tattoo them before they leave the factory. Hell, why not just slap a decal on them? “Intel Inside.” ---
**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:** [March 8, 2018, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blader-runner-explain-to-me-why-this-is-so-good/810093/51 "2018-03-08T19:29:06Z")
That mostly looks weird just because of the strobe lighting. ---
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2018, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blader-runner-explain-to-me-why-this-is-so-good/810093/52 "2018-03-09T12:13:34Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Would Pris then flopping around in the hallway after being mortally wounded by Deckard be a blooper, then? Certainly seems like a nonhuman, mechanical response to me. She looks as though she’s having a very unusual reaction to being shot, something between a furious temper tantrum and an epileptic fit. She may have been unhinged because of her assigned role as a basic pleasure model, and having a man end her fightback against men was the last thing she wanted. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2018, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blader-runner-explain-to-me-why-this-is-so-good/810093/53 "2018-03-09T21:15:39Z")
Yeah…they don’t have much experience with life. So being furious at being killed doesn’t seem off for her. Just her way of saying “Awwww fuck you!!” ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blader-runner-explain-to-me-why-this-is-so-good/810093/54 "2018-03-22T13:31:32Z")
> [@JustinC](#): > > She looks as though she’s having a very unusual reaction to being shot, something between a furious temper tantrum and an epileptic fit. She may have been unhinged because of her assigned role as a basic pleasure model, and having a man end her fightback against men was the last thing she wanted. It always felt like a mistake to me. Were she to be shot in the skull, she likely wouldn’t have a seizure. Gunshots don’t work that way, or almost never do. And a body shot- which is what we are shown- wouldn’t result in a seizure. If Replicants are truly organically grown and are not skin over machine, then a bullet piercing her skin shouldn’t have resulted in such a violently “mechanical” failure of parts as she died. Looked good. Didn’t play right. ETA: [Here’s the scene where he encounters her and winds up shooting her.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9t5ikxjAQ4). Just over the top thrashing. Clearly a mechanical device gone awry. That’s way beyond a temper tantrum. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blader-runner-explain-to-me-why-this-is-so-good/810093.md?page=2)