Classic Scfi-Fi Film Review: Blade Runner

Director:  Ridley Scott

Cast of Note:  Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, Edward James Olmos,

Release Date: 25 June 1982

Gross Revenue (year): US$27,580,111 (1982)

Adjusted Gross Revenue:  n/a

Genre:  Drama, Sci-Fi, thriller

IMDb Reference (8.3/10): http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083658/

Rotten Tomatoes Review (92%): http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/blade_runner/

What the Jacket Says:  Deckard, a blade runner, has to track down and terminate 4 replicants who hijacked a ship in space and have returned to earth seeking their maker.

What the Critics Said:

"Blade Runner" is as intricately detailed as anything a science-fiction film has yet envisioned. Janet Maslin, NYT Movie Critic, 1982

A great movie to look at but a hard movie to care about ... predictable, clichéd (Roger Ebert, 1982) Roger Ebert's Review of Blade Runner

The original 1982 review (skip to 2:00 for review)

Analysis:  Amazingly, this movie got middling reviews (polarized on either end of the spectrum) from the critics, earning an equally middling amount at the box office; adjusted, the movie would only have grossed about US$85 million, which is paltry compared to current blockbuster revenues of 200+ million.  The issue seemed to be a negative reaction to the relatively predictable plot and character developments, which isn’t to say they were necessarily wrong, compared to a stunning series of visuals.  Pitting the film against other sci-fi movies, like E.T. and Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan, certainly did little to help.  When released for rental, it seemed to take on a life of its own as a cult classic.  Earning a retrospective upgrade on critic’s lists, it is one of the movies that solidified my love for science fiction.

This movie was a great influence on me for two reasons.  I saw the movie first, that is to say all versions of Blade Runner.  The visuals were stunning, all the more so when you see the featurette explaining how they made the cityscapes and special effects.  In the day of computer-generated effects, this movie’s ability to transport the viewer into a gritty futuristic world truly is a remarkable achievement.  Pacing of the movie is relatively measured; there are no dramatic action sequences until the end.

Things are mostly dialogue driven as Deckard (Harrison Ford) is ostensibly brought out of retirement to handle a band of replicants returned to Earth.  Blade Runners are detectives specifically tasked to destroying replicants (termed as retirement), slave androids used in colonization that look and act like humans but are banned from Earth.  The story follows his detective work to track them down and destroy them, as well as the relationship between Deckard and one of the film’s replicants.  Harrison Ford plays the cynical detective, Sean Young the replicant love interest, Rutger Hauer leading the rogue band of replicants with a mission. 

The film examines the question of humanity.  Oddly, Deckard is relatively detached from everyone, yet uses an empathy test to spot replicants.  His emotions seem solely drawn out by the replicant Rachael, juxtaposed to the rogue band of replicants shows a surprising amount of compassion for the others, but total disregard for other humans.  This seems to reinforce the whole argument that Deckard is himself, a replicant.  The ambiguity to this just lends weight to the intellectual aspects of the screenplay, which also examine some environmentalism, corporate and police big brother issues.

The other issue to discuss is the soundtrack, scored by Vangelis.  There are few other movies I can think of that marry so beautifully the music to the visuals.  The jazzy, ambient qualities to the music add a scope to the film that just blows me away each time I watch it.  It just exudes character into the movie.

Years later, it intrigued me that this movie was based off a book: ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep’ by Philip K Dick.  I warily purchased the e-book, hoping my love for the film would not be altered; the success between film adaptation and literary sources is not a grand success story.  I was more than surprisingly impressed at how misplaced my trepidation was.  The book and film are very loosely related, with certain scenes from the book obviously used in the film but otherwise they are almost two different stories sharing a few commonalities.  The book was an absolute joy to read, examining the differences between machines and people in a different way to the film.  It too read at a different pace than most current sci-fi books, but kept pulling me along with a smile on my face.

Summary:  An unabashed lover of film, Blade Runner hit all the right marks for me.  The visuals, the acting, the soundtrack, it all drew me in and didn’t let go until the credits.  A major influence on me, both in how I rate/grade movies overall, it also keeps me trying to capture the film’s ability to transport my potential readers into another realm.  Ridley Scott did a fantastic job interpreting Hampton Fancher and David Webb Peoples’ screenplay.

Signals Explained

To clarify, Signals from the Arc is an ambiguous reference to one of the story lines I started developing.  It refers to the ‘magical’ construct within a futuristic urban fantasy setting I’m researching and fleshing out.  The ‘Arc’ philosophy and relative abilities is how magic is explained and defined by those that have access to it.  What I started seeing was a potential link with all the other settings I had ‘conjured’ and put to paper (or keyboard, as it were).  With this in mind, it became a suitable metaphor to encapsulate all my writing endeavours, without singling one out.

What is an arc?  There are several answers: It supports great amounts of weight; it bridges gaps; it fulfills both a style and a function; it connects one element to another.  In this latter statement we find the crux of my intent.

The Arc is that place where the unknown finds its power, the source code of all things mystical, magical and unexplained.  I could just as easily state my story ideas are the result of some mystical connection, where my imagination comes to life and provides the bases for my plot lines.  This is certainly not a new concept in and of itself, but certainly one I am happy to embrace as I start gathering my thoughts and telling the stories I see, those fleeting images in my mind.

Embrace the Arc…. Listen for the signals, for they will set you free.

Signals Interrupted... Computer Woes

One of the first lessons I learned when starting to use computers for school projects and the like, was to back-up whatever you couldn’t stand to lose.  Well, start of a new year and already, my computer is aspiring to turn things negative for me.  Trying to get to the Internet to do some research, I found a Vista Anti-Virus (Un-Registered) telling me I have 30 malicious threats, and the only way to get anywhere seemed to register for the program.  From my previous computer science days, some of the threats listed are worms and other codes I know can draw info from the computer, including credit card information typed into an online software purchase.

Yeah….. I guess the research is on hold until I can scan the hard drive and determine what exactly I’m dealing with.  Add to this a trip to the local Big Box electronics shop for a newer, more up-to-date protection suite.

Update:  Yeah, malware with over 50 hooks into my computer’s registry.  Fun times, now that the bastard-thing is cleansed.

New Year, New Direction

The end of 2011 left a lot of things up in the air for me, not the least of which was my blog. Since my last post, things have gotten borderline idiotic; new baby arrived, dealing with a blown disc in my back, having surgery for the blown disc in my back, recovering from surgery (over Christmas break no less), Christmas, and now an infant who refuses to sleep her nights.

One of the odd benefits to the sleep deprivation (oh, there’s a lot of it too), is a seemingly teeming imagination coming to fruition; I’ve got story ideas flying onto the pages in outline form. One of the other benefits my convalescence provides is a six-week period of respite from work. This essentially forced me to go out and buy a number of books (physical and e-book format). The result is about five books read, including two spectacular anthologies that have really kick-started the drive to write, the drive to create.

With the first book under final editing before being sent out for agent review and the second well-outlined and partly written, I thought it apropos to start flexing my writing in other directions as well. Looking through the net at short story anthologies led me to really see the interest in this previously overlooked format. I never really sought to write short stories, mostly because the ideas for Ihr’Vessen and the Ochra Cycle were too epic, too complex to fit into 2,500 to 13,000 words. OF course when I looked back at my writing, it has mostly been short stories, whether completely original or RPG-based fan fiction – this was particularly true with the RIFTS RPG setting. Short stories were suddenly a place I wanted to revisit, the concept like a welcome reunion with an old friend.

Then the ideas started flowing, many of which were geared towards short stories that could either lead into longer, novel-potential projects, or support the plot lines already planned for the Ochra Cycle. I am now well and truly hooked, which is a joy unlike anything I can think of within the scope of my writing. This of course leads to an interesting quandary. I now have to switch the blog away from a strictly Ihr’Vessen focus to include my other projects. As such I’m re-launching the blog with an expanded scope, resolved on writing in general to allow me to cover all my projects.

Reading Outside Your Genre (and Century)

With a newborn in tow, one of the things I’ve discovered to help pass the time while trying to settle her to sleep was reading off my Kobo. As far as eReaders go, this thing is a gem. Since my second daughter’s birth in early October, I’ve read the last two George R.R. Martin novels, about 2100 pages.

One of the things I’ve found with my writing is the need to look outside the science fiction and fantasy genre. This affords me the chance to catch a glimpse on other styles, different prose and methods of presenting ideas. One of the things I endeavour is to do a throwback into previous centuries to the classical era, if not the classics. Reading Lord of the Rings certainly throws the currently accepted and expected prose for fantasy novels, which makes the reading experience that much more interesting (if not aggravating at times).

My current book is The Last of the Mohicans, by James Fenimore Cooper. This inspired one of my favourite movies, one I endlessly return to if I’m bored or in the hankering for some historical fiction. First published in 1826, the narrative syntax was an absolute shocker. Did people really write like this 'back in the day?' A little research finds that many, even Mark Twain, had criticisms of the style. I later found that JFC wrote Last of the Mohicans in a style meant to be read aloud. With this in mind, reading the text flows much better, and I find the style actually lends itself to the setting.


One thing I found to be a delightful surprise was the way JFC described certain scenes. At first, I was put off by the nearly 10-page description of Magua. That said, it played into further scenes in a way I found acceptable. Less than half-way through, I can’t possibly do justice to the way he sets a scene. In one scene, the party are trapped in a series of caves, facing off against Magua and a Huron war party. In what they discover to be the sounds of horses neighing in terror, JFC describes in a fashion that could compete with any modern horror story. The atmosphere and descriptions (particularly when imagined read aloud in a darkly lit room) made for a chilling scene and added heaps to the conflict facing the characters. Loved it.

Writing and Sleep (or the lack thereof...)

It has long since been my intention to continue blogging about my writing, as well as my efforts to get Days of Reckoning published. Long has it been since I’ve had the chance to provide any input to the blog, let alone do anything resembling writing. The reason for it is simple, yet not an excuse.

Upon returning from vacation in August, I found myself facing a few research related problems concerning the follow-up to Days of Reckoning. After a short trip to Chapters and the local library, I gathered two books to further in delve me into the samurai culture and how to adapt it to my fictional setting. Voila the two books I took to with veracity.






From both, I learned a great deal about Japanese culture, as well as certain pitfalls about this chosen slant to my epic fantasy. Names can get muddled around pretty quickly, and there was a litany of politics in the background. For the first, I’ve made painstaking efforts to address the proper and family names in a manner least confusing to the reader. Of course, when I look at George R.R. Martin’s epic ‘A Song of Ice and Fire,’ which uses a relatively Anglosaxon base for naming characters, even some of his books could get confusing.

The other issue I discovered was the immense and intense politics. This made me go back and pull the book from active agent seeking simply to re-work this aspect, which I know is lacking. An agent is surely to pick up the same thing. When I looked back, I was astounded to see several political arcs naturally formed through at least a half-dozen exchanges, each of which really should be addressed. Now the challenge is to get them in there without the word count ballooning.

The true reason for this hiatus is the birth of my second daughter. Cute as a button and the apple in her older sister’s eye, sleep deprivation makes thinking about writing fiction about as useless an exercise as trying to jump to the moon. For now, this all now frustratingly pauses all efforts for publication until I am comfortable in the final product, as well as spending the requisite family time. Oh yeah, and keeping my day job too.

Queries and Query Tracker [dot] Net

To be honest, things fell a little by the wayside for a while. I recently put in a big (huge) push to get my bloody self organized and get cracking on my agent listings. When I started updating things, I found out that perhaps about 20% of it was out of date; people moved on, closed for submissions, they changed the genres they were looking for. So of the near 30 agents listed, I had submitted less than a dozen, the others all requiring updating.

All this was embarrassingly compounded by a visit to Querytracker.net.

To be brutally honest, I had done a big push and then stalled, due to real life concerns. A second big push and Querytracker’s help netted me a total of 80 additional agents/agencies looking for fantasy/epic fantasy; this list does not include direct to publisher submission possibilities. Fantastic! Two days of concerted efforts and quick checks of blogs, submission guidelines and a run through over at the Absolute Write forums drew this back down to a 73 and a plan forward. I’ve identified the agents/agencies I thought best fit my manuscript and fired away seven.

I have the following series of queries to be prepared, with technical notes and details for each (email addresses, specific agents’s names, etc). Now I’ve given myself the following 3-4 weeks to research and target queries to each agent’s individual quirks and specifications.

Long story short: have a plan and stick to it.

Thanks to Querytracker, Google, Absolute Write and a host of agent and reader blogs, things don’t seem as daunting.