The Terminator-Blade Runner-Terminator Connection!

[Thom Young]

I watched Blade Runner: The Final Cut over the holiday. It was the first time I had watched Blade Runner in about 15 years or so--and it was the first time I recall watching any version other than the original that came out in 1982.

I liked the lack of the tacked-on happy ending of Deckard and Rachel flying off over green fields to live a pastoral life. I made my own cut of the film back in the 80s by videotaping the film on HBO, turning off the recorder after Edward James Olmos (Gaff) says, "Too bad she won't live, but then . . . who does?" and then starting to record again as the credits rolled.

I understand that the Directors Cut that came out a few years ago implied that Deckard might also be a replicant. I'm sort of glad I didn't see that version if that was the case. This Final Cut version doesn't make any such implication.

It adds some special effects shots that wouldn't have been available 26 years ago--cityscape shots that were undoubtedly (but not obviously) done through computer generation. Some shots seemed to be extended beyond what I recalled from the original cut of the film.

For instance, in the scene in Sebastian's apartment where Deckard and Pris are fighting . . . after Pris does back flips and lands on Deckard's shoulders, she then twists him around (essentially forcing his face into her crotch) and then she proceeds to beat on his head with her fist.

In the original, I recall him squirming free and she then setting up for another round of back flips--with Deckard shooting her in mid-flip where she goes into spasms and then dies.

In this version those shots seem to have been extended because I don't recall as many shots of Pris's face as she beats on Deckard's head--essentially showing her in some sort of Berserker rage. Then, instead of Deckard squirming free, Pris shoves two of her fingers up his nostrils and seems to be ready to peel his nose back from his face.

Instead, she lets him go and runs across the room so she can do more backflips--at which point Deckard shoots her. However, instead of briefly spasming against the wall and then dying, Pris continues to spasm and Deckard has to fire several more shots into her--with blood and ball bearings scattering everywhere until her body finally comes to rest (and I've always wondered whether the ball bearings were something that had been fired from Deckard's gun or were they supposed to be part of Pris's internal workings.

I've always hoped it was the former because the replicant's are supposed to be synthetic humans made from tissue grown from cloned and genetically engineered cells in laboratory conditions--not mechanical in any means.

The one thing that I understand the Director's Cut lacked and this version also lacks is the voice over narration--which the studio forced Ridley Scott to add to the original version along with the sappy ending after Scott had screened the film for execs before it's initial release.

While I've never liked that tacked-on ending, I have always liked the voice over narration because it gave the original cut a hardboiled detective element that the film lacks without it. Scott has essentially turned Philip K. Dick's novel into a futuristic film noir detective story, so the hardboiled narration seemed appropriate--and I always liked Deckard's speculative narration after Batty died regarding why Batty saved his life and didn't kill him before he expired on the rooftop--with all his memories, his moments in time, vanishing like tears in the rain.

I can see Scott's purpose of not providing exposition through the narration, but I miss it nonetheless.

However, here's what really struck me as I watched the film this time--the connections between Blade Runner and The Terminator franchise.

I have known for 15 years or so that Sebastian's apartment was in the Bradbury Building in downtown Los Angeles--304 South Broadway (corner of Third and Broadway).

When I first watched the film in the 1980s, I didn't know about the real Bradbury Building. Instead, I assumed it was a fictional building for the film in which Ridley Scott was alluding to science fiction author Ray Bradbury.

The actual Bradbury Building is named for Lewis Bradbury--a 19th century millionaire who made his fortune in mining (like George Hearst) and who commissioned the construction of the building in the 1890s. The building was designed by architect George Wyman, who was the grandfather of Forrest J. Ackerman (of science fiction fandom and publishing fame) who is a friend of Ray Bradbury (I am not aware of any familial connection between Lewis Bradbury and Ray Bradbury).

Anyway, I learned about 15 years ago or so that The Bradbury is an actual building in Los Angeles. While Scott may have chosen it in part as a slight allusion to Ray Bradbury, it's also an allusion to several other Hollywood works as it has been used in many films and TV shows over the years.

It was often used as a locale in hardboiled noir films--such as Double Indemnity, D.O.A., Chinatown, and the 1951 American version of M (not the original Fritz Lang version, obviously).

Thus, as a hardboiled noir film, Blade Runner is also paying homage to those earlier hardboiled noir films--but wait, there's more!

Nearly the entire Outer Limits episode "Demon with a Glass Hand" was filmed in the Bradbury Building. Of course, that episode was written by Harlan Ellison, and it was plagiarized by James Cameron for half of The Terminator concept (the other half was plagiarized by Cameron from a different Harlan Ellison Outer Limits script, "Soldier").

In "Demon with a Glass Hand," the building isn't called by its actual name (The Bradbury Building). Instead, it's called The Dixon Building, but as soon as you watch the episode it's very clear that it was filmed inside the Bradbury.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lImaly19Yps

One thing that is also clear is that the make-up that Pris applies to her face while she's staying in Sebastian's apartment is intended to resemble the faces of the Kyben soldiers who are pursuing Trent in "Demon with a Glass Hand."

Also, while it's not intended to be the same alley, Trent hides among some garbage (albeit very clean-looking garbage) as he lies in wait for the Kyben soldiers who are pursuing him, which is similar to Pris hiding in an alley among some garbage as she lies in wait for Sebastian to arrive at The Bradbury in Blade Runner.

I've even wondered if Batty breaking two of Deckard's fingers is intended as an allusion to "Demon with a Glass Hand" (as Trent is in pursuit of finding the three fingers his hand is missing)--as well as whether Batty pushing a nail through his hand to keep it from cramping up as his body starts to shut down is an allusion to Trent pushing the button located in the center of the palm of his glass hand (of course, Batty's nail through the palm is also a Messianic allusion as well).

Finally, Trent and the Kyben pursue each other through the Bradbury Building (with Trent carrying his gun most of the time) just as Deckard and Batty pursue each other through the Bradbury Building (with Deckard carrying his gun most of the time). Naturally, there are several places (notably on the stairs and in the elevator) where Trent and Deckard are essentially standing in the same place.

It would have been perfect if Sebastian's apartment (which is entered by going through double doors) would have clearly been one of the offices that Trent entered in "Demon with a Glass Hand"--but that doesn't appear to be the case. Still, it became clear to me as I was watching Blade Runner this weekend that Ridley Scott threw in numerous allusions and homages to "Demon with a Glass Hand."

However, I also noticed another connection to The Terminator franchise--but this one isn't a case of Ridley Scott alluding to Ellison's story. It's a case of The Sarah Connor Chronicles alluding to Ridley Scott's film.

At the beginning of Blade Runner, Voight-Kampff tests are being given to employees of the Tyrell Corporation in order to see if one of the four replicants on the loose may have tried to infiltrate the company by becoming employed there (oh, and by the way, Dr. Eldon Tyrell looks a bit like Harlan Ellison). You'll probably recall this exchange between the blade runner known as Holden and the replicant known as Leon:

Holden: You're in a desert, walking along in the sand, when all of a sudden you look down. . . .

Leon: What one?

Holden: What?

Leon: What desert?

Holden: It doesn't make any difference what desert, it's completely hypothetical.

Leon: But, how come I'd be there?

Holden: Maybe you're fed up. Maybe you want to be by yourself. Who knows? You look down and see a tortoise, Leon. It's crawling toward you.

Leon: Tortoise? What's that?

Holden: You know what a turtle is?

Leon: Of course!

Holden: Same thing.

Leon: I've never seen a turtle . . . but I understand what you mean.

Holden: You reach down and you flip the tortoise over on its back, Leon.

Leon: Do you make up these questions, Mr. Holden? Or do they write 'em down for you?

Holden: The tortoise lays on its back, its belly baking in the hot sun, beating its legs trying to turn itself over, but it can't. Not without your help. But you're not helping.

Leon: What do you mean, I'm not helping?

Holden: I mean you're not helping! Why is that, Leon?

Of course, it's this very first question that causes Leon to be discovered to be a replicant--so he opens fire on the blade runner once Holden moves on from the tortoise question and asks Leon to describe everything he remembers about his mother.*

In the ninth episode of the second season of The Sarah Connor Chronicles, "Complications," John, Cameron, and Sarah are driving through the desert in northern Mexico--39 miles (or maybe kilometers) south of Tijuana. Suddenly Sarah becomes ill and John has to stop the jeep so that Sarah can vomit in the sand.

As they're getting ready to get back in the jeep, Sarah notices that they had overturned a tortoise when the car stopped. The poor creature is lying on its back; its belly baking in the hot sun, beating its legs trying to turn itself over, but it can't.

Fortunately for the tortoise, Sarah reaches over and helps it to its feet.

It's at about the 2:10 mark in this video: http://www.fox.com/fod/play.php?sh=tscc

Later in the episode, Cameron asks John about why Sarah would stop to help the tortoise.

Oh, and then John and Cameron pay a visit to Ellison (named after you-know-who), and Cameron beats him up.

* In the film, Nexus Six replicant models are supposed to be more difficult to catch with Voight-Kampff tests because they are able to develop emotions and can be given false memories from which they can make rational decisions related to their emotional responses. It took well over 100 questions for Deckard to determine that Rachel was a replicant, and Batty (as well as Pris and Zhora) are supposed to be so difficult to catch because they are all Nexus Six models.

However, the dossier information on Leon shows that he's a Nexus Six, too. Yet he was tripped up with the first Voight-Kampff question. I wonder if the dossier information was supposed to show that Leon was a lesser model--say a Nexus Three or Four model.

[Dave Wallace]

Interesting connections! I didn't know about those.

I'm kind of in two minds about the voiceover - whilst I agree that it adds a stronger hardboiled feel, I remember feeling as though it was unnecessary, and makes the film feel like it's dragging. I'm just as happy without it, to be honest.

And I actually disagree with you about the Director's Cut. I like the implication that Deckard is a Replicant - and I believe that Scott has gone on record to say that he thinks that Deckard is a replicant too. As such, I was a little disappointed that the Final Cut corrects the mistake from the previous cuts (in which the early exposition talks about there being five Replicants on the loose, rather than four). Leaving that mistake in the film added even more weight to the theory that Deckard is a Replicant. Now, they changed a line to say that two of them got fried in an electrial field rather than just one, which is a shame.

However, I still think that the Final Cut alludes to the possibility, since Scott has left the Unicorn sequence intact (which first appeared in the Director's Cut). I think that this heavily implies that Deckard is a Replicant.

Anyway, aside from the is-he-or-isn't he debates, I think that the changes made for the Final Cut are generally good ones. Like his DC of Alien, most of them seem to be either fairly minor alterations to the pacing, or a tidying-up of special effects shots which can now be made to look better and more seamless. I don't think that any of the changes really detracts from the story of the film.

It's the kind of route that I thought that Lucas was going to take when I first heard about the Star Wars "Special Editions". I'm glad that Scott exercised a bit more restraint.

[Thom Young]

Originally Posted by Dave Wallace

Interesting connections! I didn't know about those.

It's almost as if Ellison's "Demon with a Glass Hand," Scott's Blade Runner (but not Dick's novel), and The Terminator franchise are all parallel universe variations of the same story.

My next project is to watch Ellison's "Soldier" episode of The Outer Limits (which I've not seen before) to see if anything there is also alluded to in Blade Runner.

Oh, and I found the music in Blade Runner to be very Blade Runner-y.

[vark]

Also also, but not surprising or anything...

As you might expect, the Bradbury was again featured in Marshall Rogers' adaptation of Demon with a Glass Hand; too late to ask if he was using available photo reference or went and scouted the place, himself, unfortunately. Harlan would probably know, as would Dick Giordano, maybe.

In last week's Heroes, Hiro has a nodding contest with whatisthing's tortoise, which was pretty funny. First time I saw the tortoise a few episodes back the first thing I thought of was... well, actually, it was the Simpson's episode where Johnny Cash plays Homer's (Coyote) spirit guide, but then immediately thought about Blade Runner. Absolutely.

That bit with Hiro and the toroise was pretty funny.

[Thom Young]

Originally Posted by vark

In last week's Heroes, Hiro has a nodding contest with whatisthing's tortoise, which was pretty funny. First time I saw the tortoise a few episodes back the first thing I thought of was...

The second time I saw the tortoise on Heroes, the first thing I thought was, "How did Parkman get a tortoise from Africa through customs without having to have the animal quarantined for a month?"

Another strike against the show for failure in verisimilitude!

[vark]

Originally Posted by Thom Young

The second time I saw the tortoise on Heroes, the first thing I thought was, "How did Parkman get a tortoise from Africa through customs without having to have the animal quarantined for a month?

Another strike against the show for failure in verisimilitude!

Are tortoises known disease carriers or is it a species neutral policy? You ever watch Yes, Prime Minister? The puppy episode? "Do you think the (French) First Lady would present the Queen with a diseased puppy?" "I'm telling you he can't bring that bitch with him... the puppy!"

When did Parkman meet daphne, tortoise-wise? She'd be an excellent clandestine courier after she got over the whole "ick! I am NOT touching that!" thing.

[Dave Wallace]

Originally Posted by Thom Young

The second time I saw the tortoise on Heroes, the first thing I thought was, "How did Parkman get a tortoise from Africa through customs without having to have the animal quarantined for a month?

Another strike against the show for failure in verisimilitude!

"These aren't the tortoises you're looking for."

[Thom Young]

Originally Posted by vark

When did Parkman meet daphne, tortoise-wise? She'd be an excellent clandestine courier after she got over the whole "ick! I am NOT touching that!" thing.

Daphne met Parkman at the airport. He had already picked up his bags, and he was coming down the escalator with the tortoise in his hands.

As for the other part, you appear to be correct. I went to the US Department of Agriculture Web site and found this paragraph regarding the importing of animals in the US:

APHIS does not have animal health requirements for the importation of fish, reptiles, lions, tigers, bears, mink, rabbits, sugar gliders, foxes, monkeys, endangered species, guinea pigs, hamsters, gerbils, mice, rats, chinchillas, squirrels, mongoose, chimpmunks, ferrets, or other rodents provided they have not been inoculated with any pathogens for scientific purposes.

It seems pretty stupid to me that we don't have health requirements for any of those animals being imported into the country, but what do I know.

It is good to know, though, that I won't have any problems bringing lions and tigers and bears in from Oz!

Oh my!

[vark]

Originally Posted by Thom Young

Daphne met Parkman at the airport. He had already picked up his bags, and he was coming down the escalator with the tortoise in his hands.

Well, okay then. I seem to remember.

As for the other part, you appear to be correct. I went to the US Department of Agriculture Web site and found this paragraph regarding the importing of animals in the US:It seems pretty stupid to me that we don't have health requirements for any of those animals being imported into the country, but what do I know.

That's a pretty broad exclusion (or insclusion) list, alrighty. I know that individual states have their own restrictions, however. For instance I distinctly recall that gerbils are banned in California - for the obvious reasons. If a mating pair escaped, half the state would be knee-deep in gerbils faster than you can say "efficiently breeding rodents", then it's good-bye agriculture.

It is good to know, though, that I won't have any problems bringing lions and tigers and bears in from Oz!

Oh my!

It's nice to know you have the option.

[Thom Young]

I'm catching up on the backlog of Sarah Connor episodes that I haven't watched. I'm in the middle of the second season's 10th episode, "Strange Things Happen at the One Two Point."

Riley's foster father opened the door when John came calling, and he was wearing a Bauhaus t-shirt.

Wow!

I recall watching a music video by Chicago in the 80s in which Peter Cetera was wearing a Bauhaus t-shirt.

Additionally, I used to have a Bauhaus t-shirt on which David J was wearing an Erasherhead t-shirt. It was this one--though you can't see the Eraserhead shirt in this image: