Quantom X

15th Sep 2013

Blade Runner (1982)

Question: When Roy confronts Tyrell, he says something that I'm having difficulty figuring out. The captions read that he is saying "I want more life... father!" But to me, and I've listened to that part over and over trying to figure it out, it sounds like he is saying "I want more life... fucker!" So is he saying Father, or Fucker?

Quantom X

Chosen answer: It's a more complicated question than you might think. Two versions of the scene were filmed, the main one, where Roy says "fucker" and an alternate, originally intended for use on television, where he says "father." Different versions of the movie use different takes. Of the three best known variants, the original theatrical release and the inaccurately-named Director's Cut both use the "fucker" line, whereas the Final Cut, the only one that Ridley Scott had full control over, uses the "father" line. What he's saying will depend on which version of the movie you were watching. Only you can answer that one.

Tailkinker

14th Sep 2013

Blade Runner (1982)

Question: What exactly prompts Zhora to attack Deckard when he's posing as an abuse agent? I guess there is something that makes her realize he's lying and or that he's a Blade Runner. But what tips her off? (00:55:08)

Quantom X

Chosen answer: She's paranoid, in hiding, and an expert killer. Either Deckard tipped her off or she decided it wasn't worth taking the chance that he wasn't legit.

10th Sep 2013

Blade Runner (1982)

Question: When Roy and Leon are trying to get answers out of Chew, why does Leon start rubbing eyeballs on Chew's neck and head? (00:30:45)

Quantom X

Chosen answer: To scare him. Leon's a psychopath.

CCARNI

Answer: Eyes are a major theme in the film and Chew created artificial eyes, one of which is placed on his shoulder as a strange and threatening token of his handiwork.

10th Sep 2013

Blade Runner (1982)

Question: When Roy and Leon enter Chew's lab, Chew is muttering to himself in his native language. What language is he speaking exactly, and what is the translation of what he is saying? (00:28:05)

Quantom X

Chosen answer: The language is Chinese Cantonese, and is saying something like "... Now we can more time.", and when the replicants came inside the lab he says "... What a f*** doing here..."

10th Sep 2013

Blade Runner (1982)

Question: On the VK test, there is a bar light above the screen that shows the subject's eye. The bar lights up across from green to red. What does this bar indicate?

Quantom X

Chosen answer: The bar is meant to represent how far the eye monitor had zoomed in. One way this can be noticed is when Rick starts to question Rachael, the monitor zooms in and the bar goes down. The lights on the VK test load, then each light turns off one by one depending on how much the monitor had zoomed out.

Casual Person

10th Sep 2013

Blade Runner (1982)

Question: As Deckard is giving Rachel the VK test, her eyes have the golden glow to them when he asks the second question about the boy with the butterfly jars. Why does he not catch right then that she's a replicant just by seeing her eyes glow?

Quantom X

Answer: The glowing eyes phenomenon was actually an effect added by Scott, who probably thought it would look cool. Obviously he didn't think it through because it would make detecting replicants very easy indeed, and would make the VK test redundant. I believe he has said in interviews that it is intended as a cinematic effect, and is not intended to be a characteristic of the actual characters. This is one of several mistakes that the director made in the film, and which have subsequently passed into the folklore of Blade Runner.

Chosen answer: Deckard already knew that Rachel was a replicant before starting the VK test (Tyrell told him); Rachel was a new model of replicant who could supposedly beat the VK test. Deckard just wanted to see if this was true.

zendaddy621

10th Sep 2013

Blade Runner (1982)

Chosen answer: File this under 'Who shot first' and 'Is Childs a Thing'. There are a bazillion arguments for and against. Draw your own conclusion.

Grumpy Scot

10th Sep 2013

Blade Runner (1982)

Question: When Bryant and Deckard are watching the tape of Leon's VK test, the screen displays the letters V.K. But below that it shows 96/W/9-3H. What does that mean?

Quantom X

Chosen answer: The tape was possibly numbered so the police know which tape is which. 96/W/9-3H is probably the number of Leon's VK test.

Casual Person

10th Sep 2013

Blade Runner (1982)

Question: After the cop comes to take Deckard to see Captain Bryant, they get in a police car and the screen says Purge, as mentioned in a trivia entry, just before taking off. Why does it say purge before lifting off the ground?

Quantom X

Chosen answer: "Purge" is another word for "liftoff". It also means "to purge", as in to expel something, in this case the engine fuel necessary to raise the cop car into the air.

CCARNI

6th Aug 2013

Blade Runner (1982)

Chosen answer: It's simply a term used for the police detectives who specialise in tracking down and "retiring" replicants. The origin of the phrase is not given in the movie. In reality, Hampton Fancher, who wrote the first draft of the script, encountered the term as the title of a movie that was never made, that centred around a supplier of illegal medical equipment. He and Ridley Scott liked the phrase so much that they acquired the rights to use it for their movie.

Tailkinker

6th Aug 2013

Blade Runner (1982)

Chosen answer: He dislocated them. You see Rick try to relocate the fingers later on.

Casual Person

6th Aug 2013

Blade Runner (1982)

Question: What effect did they use to get the actors' eyes to glow, revealing they are replicants?

Quantom X

Chosen answer: A two-way mirror at a 45 degree angle in front of the camera with the camera pointing at the see-through side. A light was shone at the reflective side and reflected into the actor's eyes on the optical axis of the lens.

Sierra1

6th Aug 2013

Blade Runner (1982)

Question: Why did Roy kiss his his maker just before killing him? Same-sex kisses on screen were far more unusual at the time the film was made, so the filmmakers presumably did it for a reason. What is that reason? And why, in the context of the plot, did Roy kiss him then kill him?

Quantom X

Chosen answer: He's kissing his father, thanking him for what life he has, before punishing him for making it so short.

Captain Defenestrator

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