Blade Runner

Bernie Newnham

Has anyone else yet seen the new Blade Runner who also saw the original?  Two days on, I’m still trying to decide whether I liked the new one or not.  I think that means that it’s art.

[trailer no longer available]

     (Click on the picture below to see larger version:
     use your Browser’s BACK button to return to this page)

Peter Cook

Did they still use the Dick Morrissey (Jim Mullen) music?

Bernie Newnham

Vangelis wrote the music for first one, and Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch wrote the new one, with just a tiny sniff of the original at the end  I don’t think its as good, but it’s not bad.

Peter Cook

Agreed, music composed by Vangelis, performed on this disc by Morrissey Mullen (see autographed sleeve) Apologies for the low res images from my webcam. I could always charge my compact I suppose! Dick is sadly no longer with us but was a brilliant saxophonist and I enjoyed many evenings listening to the band play, mostly in pubs.

     (Click on the pictures below to see larger versions:
     use your Browser’s BACK button to return to this page)

Bernie Newnham

Ah – I see (or hear) what you mean. Here is a snippet: the duff edit in the middle is due to me.

The only piece that gets a repeat is this one  – “Tears in the Rain” – just for a moment, in the snow.  All the rest is similar but different.

I had this one till someone stole it from work –

     (Click on the picture below to see larger version:
     use your Browser’s BACK button to return to this page)

Roger Bunce

O.K. “Blade Runner” – nice music – stunning visuals – classic neo-noir atmosphere – BUT…

Your job Mr. Blade Runner, is to kill these four Replicants.

O.K. Done it – I’ve killed three and the other one died anyway, ‘cos he only had a 4 year lifespan.

The End.

Call that a Plot? I don’t! And even this lack-of-a-plot is full of plot-holes.

None of it hangs together. We grow these Replicants from DNA, that’s why, if something goes wrong, we get a virus. But, hang on, if you grow a human being from DNA, at the end of their 4 year lifespan, they’ll be 4 years old (minus 9 months) – Toddlers! They won’t even have started school yet.

The replicant snake has a serial number on every scale. Why don’t they do something similar with the human replicants? Why rely on some convoluted psychological test, which can be interpreted any way the examiner chooses? – There is only one possible explanation.

Then there’s all this fanzine discussion about – Is Deckard a Replicant?

Of Course Not! – Pay attention – Only one scenario fits all the facts – THERE ARE NO REPLICANTS!

The Tyrell Corporation are Slave Traders! They are rounding up all the unwanted, unloved dregs of humanity – erasing their memories – pumping them full of drugs, to give them extra strength and immunity to pain, while also shortening their lives – then sending them to off-world colonies for use as slave labour. No wonder they don’t want them returning to Earth. They might start remembering stuff. Send out the Blade-Runners to murder them, before they discover the truth!

Slavery and murder are still illegal in 2019 (not long to go now), but the Tyrell Corp get around this by saying, “These aren’t real human beings. They are just Replicants!” – In the same way that the greedy corporations of 2017 get round the minimum wage by saying, “These aren’t real employees. They are just self-employed individuals, on zero-hours contracts”.

Even if the Replicants are artificial, they are still clearly self-aware, sentient and as intelligent as any humans, so it should still be illegal to murder or enslave them. But these arguments are ignored, because they are an inconvenience in the world of big business and profit making. Let’s hope, by the time they make “Blade Runner IX: The Final Insult”, all this will be revealed, and Replicants will win equal rights. Maybe we’ll even be allowed to see ‘The Replicants’ Cut’.

Bernie Newnham

The plot is probably no more holey than any “Dr Who”, especially recent ones.  Still art.

35 year old spoiler alert. Tears in the Rain:

Anyone watching “The Expanse” on Netflix?  Excellent stuff, though also holey – orbital mechanics don’t quite figure. The series is based on “The Expanse” series of novels by James S A Corey (actually two chaps).  Netflix is still on book 1, and I’m now on book 3 with two more waiting here. I don’t normally do that – buying piles of books – but I seem to be hooked.

Star Trek

Bernie Newnham

Anyone else seen the first of the new series? Good stuff, though the theme music is rubbish.

Philip Tyler

I watched the first 2 on Netflix, brilliant stuff. Superb production, looked just like a J J Abrams movie. Puts our offerings to shame.