All Versions of... Blade Runner

[00:00:00] This podcast is a production of Unfiltered Studios. If you would like to know more about joining Unfiltered Studios, please visit our website at unfpod.com for more information. I'm kind of nervous when I take tests. I've got four skin jobs walking straight.

[00:00:30] They're either a benefit or a hazard. They're a benefit, it's not my problem. I'm Rachel. Deckard. Have you ever retired a human by mistake? The old Blade Runner. This is a bad...

[00:01:00] Bad... How can it not know what it is? If only you could see what I've seen, what I've seen, what I've seen. More human than human is our motto. Disappear. Would you come after me? But somebody would.

[00:01:46] What seems to be the problem? An experiment. Nothing more. Nothing more. More human than human is our... We missed. We edited.

[00:02:12] Sometimes we get so deep into conversation that we have separate segments worthy of their own place in the sun. Here is a reshuffled mini episode. Mike, what would you say is your intro to all things futuristic? I saw Blade Runner in its initial release. Oh, when it was the infamous movie of the year.

[00:02:42] Yeah, 82. And then I believe I saw the 10-year anniversary when they added, what, 20 seconds of extra footage? It took out Ford's narration. Yeah, which one was the cut with the narration? I think it was the initial special edition. That was theatrical, yeah. That was definitely the first version I saw. How many? Five different versions. Yep. I don't know. Something like that. Six if you want to count the TV on.

[00:03:12] You know, but we're not counting that. This is the final cut, so I think it includes the European stuff and the no narration. Yeah, so technically five, but really free. I've got to say, I kind of like the narration and theatrical version. I didn't mind it growing up, but I can see why on initial doings. It's kind of like ADR. You don't really notice it unless you are listening for it. You know what I mean?

[00:03:41] You're not going to notice that someone's revoicing the character in the booth unless you just... It's kind of like when you're looking for a boom mic or, you know, a blooper. Well, I thought it added to the, you know, 30-ish sci-fi film or, you know... It is definitely what made me a fan of detective stuff, and that's the irony. It took a futuristic... But I read Blade Runner in high school.

[00:04:10] So we're talking about the 90s. Around the time that the 92 DHS edition comes out where they wipe out the narration and put in the unicorn. And so I was like, okay, I'm going to read the book. So I checked it out from my local library and read it in Albuquerque during Christmas. And I was like, whoa. And the book takes, like, 92. And I... Anyway. But it's funny. Philip K. Dick, it's like his relationship with Hollywood. In some ways, they took his core idea. Especially Minority Report. Minority Report is a much better movie. That's Tom Cruise, of course.

[00:04:40] You know. I got introduced to Blade Runner for the director's cut that came out in the 90s because it was Letterbots. And I've never heard of Letterbots before because in old days, all movies were just, like, pen scanned. They were always just, like, filled up your TV screen. So when I saw the VHS that says special Letterbots edition, Blade Runner, director's cut,

[00:05:04] I read the movie, put it in, and I've never seen a movie displayed with the, you know, black bars on the top and bottom of the screen. That shit was so annoying. And I was like, I... You know, I like it. It was so different to see a movie that way because I'm so used to seeing movies being framed to fit my whole TV. And I thought, why are there bars on the top and bottom of my TV? So I had to, like, research it and all movies were shot in a 2x3.5 and TV screens are 1x33.

[00:05:34] And it's the first time I've ever learned about Asper ratios and... Yes, it was illuminating. But I just became in love with Blade Runner. I didn't understand it because I watched it when I was, like, 13 years old. That'll do it, yeah. The visuals of it really captivated me. But you wanted to go back to it. It makes sense. I had to go and read the book the next year. So I read the book. And I know I've read the book a couple more times.

[00:06:00] And I like the fact that the book is very different from the movie. But still holds all the same core ideas to it. And, yeah. The character of Deckard is different. The people that he fights are different. There's a sequence in the book where he gets arrested. And he starts to question if he's a rebel kid or not. Because the people that arrested him are saying, no, you're a replicant. These things are... You're killing innocent people.

[00:06:28] And he starts to do a test on himself and all these other things. It's just bizarre. So in a way, I guess... He was picked up for 2049. Yes. That's true. Very true. He did take the plot. Good call. He did take the plot of that movie to add to 2049. Very good. I feel like some of those go into recall also a little bit. Just a little bit. Not all. But just that whole mistaken identity thing. Now, remind me... The book is way more ambiguous than... The android's dream of electric sheep. Very obvious what's happening.

[00:06:57] Sorry, Phil. It's very ambiguous. Yeah, you're asking. Sorry. Oh, he answered it for me. It's when... Do androids dream of electric sheep? Yeah. I didn't know if it was loosely based. Because I never read the book. It definitely... It feels like it's inspired by. I'm sure the filmmakers... Yeah, I always just assume when a book's adapted, it's just... Much like Altered Carbon. It's almost like... It's two different vehicles. Two different animals.

[00:07:25] They read the cliff notes of that book. And they were like, All right. Guys, fighting replicants. He's hunting replicants. Let's just focus on that. There are elements in the book. There's this religion called Mercer. Mercer, where people log into this machine. Yes. Where they can download their moves. It's their web browser, basically. And they can download their moves, what they want their moves to be. But then this religion, there's this guy called Mercer, and he's walking up this hill. I got uploaded in the future.

[00:07:55] And he keeps getting hit with rocks. And you dive into this machine. He's supposed to feel like he does. He didn't hit by these rocks and whatnot, but you're feeling the praise of other people. And it's supposed to connect you with all these individuals. It's supposed to feel like one in each other. And that element was taken out of the movie. Would have been too much, I guess. How do you look at the visual? Like, how do you even portray that? How do I storyboard that? Yeah.

[00:08:23] I would want to see someone try, but I have no idea how to do it. It started off with the whole VHS thing. People started talking about chasing tapes over. And then it started to get into more minute show-ins. And then somebody found the original, like, work print version of the movie. That's right. Yeah. And they released that. And Warner Brothers were like, hey, this is some traction here. Let's get a release got involved. And we'll call it the director's cut. Even though he did not have any say or what happens to that version. Oh, that's right.

[00:08:53] I forgot about that. So they released it as the director's cut, even though it wasn't the official director's cut. And it was probably one of the first DVDs to be put out to DVDs when that system came out. And it was cryptic, dude. I would see people just vaguely reference it after seeing it initially. I'm like, I better go back and re-watch it and see what they're referencing exactly. What scene, what line to dial. Like, you know, that's how cryptic it was for just one movie.

[00:09:20] And then based on that screening of the director's cuts, that got to be more and more people got to see it and talk about it. And then it was in 2007 when it finally got the final cut and Billy Scott was able to go in there. And he was able to get Joanna Cassidy to come back and redo her scenes because there's a big scene where Deckard is shooting at her character. And it's a stunt double.

[00:09:46] And they had to redo that sequence and put her face in there so it doesn't look all, it looks like actually her in that scene. So I thought that to be very cool. I don't think that's the only one I've ever seen. See, I've seen all five versions of the movie. I did not mind the narration. Kind of like the T2 3D cut. They looked at all the movie blooper sites and they're like, okay, we're doing away with that. That will no longer be an existing movie. I may be the only one that actually likes the narration in the theatrical cut. No, that was good. Gil?

[00:10:16] In narration, I've only heard clips and Harrison Ford seems so just phony. He hated it. He did not want to do it at all. I don't want to watch it because that's just funny. I don't blame them for doing it. It's just narration is often frowned upon. There's a more hates doing anything ever. Well, I know that. It's just... That's a priority. I'm going to validate you all. I mean, it's often...

[00:10:43] It's often frowned upon because it can be viewed as kind of a lazy writing device. But it's not... I get why they did that. They just felt they just had to do a little something. It was meant to just... That was an appeasement to the masses, right? I mean, that was... Yeah, I think so. Well, the studio wanted it in there. They were bummed to understand what was going on. We got to just force feed it to them. But no.

[00:11:07] I think they were trying to just enhance the film noir feel for it. It was like a regular Chandler type of thing. Yeah. I like that aspect of it. I just wish that dialogue was written a little bit better for their narration. So I like when the work print cut, there is not as much narration in the work print cut. But I have one bit of dialogue from Deckard at the end when Roy Batty gives his tears in the rain.

[00:11:37] Oh, that's right. There is a... I got that phone go, Bob. ...bit of dialogue that Deckard says at the end of that that she works great. Can you believe that was all improvised? Can you imagine what a different movie that would have been? He just beats him up and he just dies after sitting there. That would have been like... Okay. Funny. He would have felt a little anti-climatic. So what was the actual part of the script then?

[00:12:05] To my knowledge, he was just supposed to die after a fight. And the only stuff I have is Rutgerd Howard's autobiography, which was published years before he unfortunately left us. But I was just like, man, what a dedicated man. What a cool talent. So what is the ultimate cut? Is it the original or the final? Oh, dear. It's the final cut. I... It's the only one I've seen. But I still go back and forth because... I'll tell you this.

[00:12:34] I love variations of all. Because I've watched the video game because I can't afford to actually play the video game. But I've watched the video game. So... And I like watching the theatrical versions because it's got the narration. And so does the sequel. So if I want to watch the Blade Runner video game, I'll watch the theatrical version of Blade Runner because it gives me that mode of the narration.

[00:13:00] So the Blade Runner video game is a great sequel to the Blade Runner theatrical cuts. But if I'm watching Blade Runner 2049, I gotta watch Blade Runner The Final Cuts first. Or watch 2049. Because in that version of Deckard is a replicant. And I was thought in the theatrical version, he's not a replicant. And it is wild how Ridley Scott opened up the whole... I love about it. Ford says he's a replicant, or at least Scott. No, no, no.

[00:13:30] Ford doesn't think he's a replicant. He and screenwriter David Westpibbles were like... He's a human, you know, who has a robotic hand. And Scott... And so this is what's funny. Both of them are right because if you squint, you can see the, you know, red eye that Deckard has in the final scene. But at the same time... Well, everyone's right. No one's right because it's a big... Much like David Lynch, yeah. Well, he didn't explain... That's why we're all super right now.

[00:13:58] That's why everyone is so obsessed with this shit. I love it. Before we had clickbait articles, ruin out the movies for us. Make a coherent argument for each of every side. That's already... You're gonna say... I was just gonna say, he didn't display the strength of a replicant. That's for sure. I think other than his hand where he's, you know, on the cliff, that's not it. Deckard is a terrible shot sometimes, too. Yes, he did some shots good here. But other times, he does not know how to fight, you know, when... So he's like Data on Star Trek before he gets his emotion chip.

[00:14:28] Maybe so. He's like every other person on Westworld before they find out. Oh, I'm also an android. Whoops. We'll return after these messages. Hey, it's Brent Pope, the host of Breakfast with Brent Pope. You've seen me on some of your favorite TV shows saying things like, give it up, Jimmy. You gotta sink this put to win. On Breakfast with Brent Pope, I sit down with guests from the entertainment world and we do it all over breakfast. Or should I say Brent-fist?

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