Origins
It starts with Philip K. Dick, a science fiction author whose deeply philosophical ruminations on identity and human nature have made his work a wellspring of inspiration for countless media adaptations and homages. Blade Runner is a loose adaptation of his 1968 novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, with a screenplay by Hampton Fancher (returning for the sequel alongside co-writer Michael Green) and David Peoples. The title of the story has itself passed into our pop culture lexicon; if you ask Siri, she’ll tell you that she does dream of electric sheep, but only sometimes.Multiple
The film, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Harrison Ford at a time in his career when he was burning himself into the collective brains of all of us growing up in the 1970s and ’80s via characters like Han Solo and Indiana Jones, has since been released in no fewer than seven different versions! Fans have argued for decades about which is the definitive version, with some absolutely championing Ford’s legendarily lazy reading of the voiceover narration he disliked that distinguishes the original theatrical cut in particular, while others appreciate Scott’s later alterations on The Final Cut for the 25th anniversary.Setting
It’s the Los Angeles of the future – that far-flung year of 2019 (2049 in the sequel, obviously) – and the rain pours down on teeming throngs threading their way through the wet streets as we hear the stunning strains of the Vangelis musical score. Who are those people? Well…Characters
The titular Blade Runner is Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), jaded detective and Replicant retirer. He’s a bounty hunter for Replicants, hunting down fugitive faux humans and executing (or “retiring”) them at the behest of the police department. But Deckard wants something more out of life, which may be romance with a Replicant known as…Rachael (Sean Young), a unique creation that may or may not have an expiration date like all the other Replicants. She’s seeking something too – a life with meaning and memory, and perhaps joy with a lover like Deckard, but that was never part of the plan for her creator…
Dr. Eldon Tyrell (Joe Turkel), head of a corporation built on Replicant manufacturing. He’s the genius that made the Replicants possible, but he has a bit of a God complex that might come back to bite him when one of his favorite “sons” finds his way home, a platinum blond Replicant with a chip on his shoulder called…
Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer), one of a handful of Replicants that have escaped into LA determined to find answers about their limited existence and perhaps a way to live longer. Their quest will put Batty and his cohorts on a collision course with that aforementioned Deckard, or “cold fish” as his ex-wife called him.
Besides these folks, the movie also featured J.F. Sebastian (William Sanderson), a young man with a progressive disease that aged him beyond his years, Batty’s Replicant pals Pris (Daryl Hannah), Leon (Brion James), and Zhora (Joanna Cassidy), police Captain Bryant (M. Emmet Walsh), Replicant eye maker Hannibal Chew (prolific character actor James Hong), and to the possible delight of 21st century Battlestar Galactica fans, a much younger Adama, Edward James Olmos, as the enigmatic Gaff.