Blade Runner: Replicants

leading from

Blade Runner

a) The word Replicant
Ridley Scott didn't want to have to do Blade Runner at first because he had just done Alien which also featured an android. He couldn't stand the word any more. 

 

It was David People's daughter who came up with the word "replicant". She was studying genetics at the UCLA, and it was a word that they used.

1. Starburst: Did you feel a link between the two films while you were making Blade Runner?
   
   Ridley Scott: Oh sure. We made obvious comparisons. In fact that was one of the reasons why I didn't want to do Blade Runner to start with, was because I'd just done a film with an android in it and that was another reasons why we changed the word 'android', I couldn't stand that word any morel It was David People's daughter who came up with the word "replicant". She's actually studying genetics at UCLA, so it is a word that they use. (Starburst_Magazine #51 (November 1982-11)
   

 

 

b) Replicants in Blade Runner
A replicant is essentially a total human being, an all-flesh culture, that is very advanced and highly perfected. That’s the odd dichotomy of the whole story. 

1. Ridley Scott: A replicant is essentially a total human being, an all-flesh culture, that is very advanced and highly perfected. That’s the odd dichotomy of the whole story. .(Blade Runner Souvenir Magazine, 1982)

 

 

c) Deckard as a replicant
Ridley also considered Deckard to be another replicant. This detective’s job is to be a kind of policeman but also an exterminator, if necessary. His job is to hunt replicants who happen to find their way into the city, but Deckard would be left unaware of the fact that he was one as well, so that he would be interacting with human society with the understanding that he too was a human.

See also :Rick Deckard: human or replicant?

 

1. The police have received an emergency report—four Nexus 6 replicants haver returned to Earth after taking over a space shuttle by killing its crew. The police captain sends for the one man best able to find them; Rick Deckard (Blade Runner Souvenir Magazine, 1982)
2. Replicants are outlawed on Earth but some manage to return and try to pass as human. That's when the police call in the Blade Runners, special detectives who use an elaborate type of lie detector (called the Voight-Kampff) to tell the difference between humans and replicants. It is the Blade Runner's job to track down the replicants and eliminate them. (Blade Runner Souvenir Magazine, 1982)

 

d) Off-world use
They have no right to be there because the replicants were originally developed for offworld situations, military industrial, mining.

They are kind of a second-class generation developed for inhospitable environments and dangerous or boring work.

There may come a time when, if mankind sends astronaut off into deep space and know he'll never come back, they may want to send a replicant instead.

Ridley would tell Rutger and Brion about how the replicants were originally designed, and what duties they would have performed.

It was almost like giving them a plotted history of how science had developed up this particular point and what uses had been found for what had essentially become a second class generation

They were able to key in on that and argue about it. Ridley then knew that he was getting somewhere with them.

 

1. Ridley Scott: I spent time explaining to Rutger and Brion how the replicants were originally designed and what duties they would have performed. Almost like giving them a plotted history of how science had developed up this particular point and what uses had been found for what had essentially become a second-class generation. They started to key in on that and argue about it. As soon as you get an actor arguing about something, then you know you’re getting somewhere.  (Blade Runner Souvenir Magazine, 1982)
   
2. Genetic engineering has become one of Earth's biggest industries. When most of the world's animals became extinct, the genetic boom hit big by creating a line of artificial animals for use as pets. The industry was soon supplying genetically engineered humans, called replicants, to the Earths colonies as slave labor and to the military for use in deep space.
   
   Tyrell Corporation, the top replicant.manufacturer, recently introduced the Nexus 6 model— the "ultimate'’ replicant with super-human strength. These replicants. however, are virtually identical to real humans, causing a major problem. (Blade Runner Souvenir Magazine, 1982)
3. Ridley Scott: A replicant is essentially a total human being, an all-flesh culture, that is very advanced and highly perfected. That’s the odd dichotomy of the whole story. The detective’s job is to be a kind of policeman but also an exterminator, if necessary. His job is to hunt replicants who happen to find their way into the city. They have no right to be there because the replicants were originaly developed for offworld situations, military industrial, mining. They are kind of a second-class generation developed for inhospitable environments and dangerous or boring work. There may come a time when, if we’re sending an astronaut off into deep space and know he'll never come back, we may want to send a replicant instead. (Blade Runner Souvenir Magazine, 1982)
   
    
    

 

 

e) Replicants of Tyrell

 

e.i) Tyrell has dying of a disease and was entombed in a pyramid

 

Ridley decided that Eldon Tyrell faintly looked like Tutenkhamun, and thought about the character actually having been dead and kept in a cryogenic chamber hidden away for a number of years as science awaited the discovery of a cure for whatever disease he has died of.  

 

Whatever the age and the time, there would always be some industrial disease that we haven't actually dealt with. 

 

This was the reason for the idea of the pyramid was because the true Tyrell dead inside a sarcophagus in the middle of the pyamid because he knew that he was dying.

 

e.ii)  A man with multiple copies

So Tyrell would have made several lookalikes of himself so he could be anywhere. Ridley had in mind six replicants, one in London, another in America, with another in Tokyo and so on. You wouldn't know where the real one was.

 

In the 21st Century, Ridley could imagine Vladmir Putin being such a person with six copies of himsef. and he would have replicants of himself.

 

So the Tyrell we are introduced to in the films was probably not the real Tyrell, but was a fundamentally replication of himself.

 

e.iii) Never got to film the dead Tyrell

 

They never got to do the scene where they go to the sarcophagus and see that he's dead. 

 

There was the idea that he died while in deep freeze in the sarcophagus 

 

He took that idea from a time when there was a massive breakdown of one powerhouse on the East Coast of America. It was a crazy situation with all three states switched off for 22 hours. 

 

e.iv) Too near to Walt Disney

This element was dropped because it was thought that the ideas was too complicated and also too near to the idea of Walt Disney who was know to have been put into cryogenic suspension on death, while his voice still addressed the boardroom meetings. There was the thought that it was too near his situation tto be legally viable

 

1. Ridley Scott:In fact there was a development in the story, where Tyrell was dead and kept in a cryogenic chamber awaiting discovery of whatever disease he has died of. He'd certainly make replicants of himself. In fact, if I were him. I'd make six! One in London, one in America, one in Tokyo and so on! That's why the pyramid occurred. I drew the pyramid and the approach to the Tyrell Corporation, because I always storyboard things. Then Doug Trumbull took that over and developed it to what it is. Trumbull instigated setting up his unit again for the film and brought in a really excellent guy named David Dryer who was the special effects director. (Starburst_Magazine #51 (November 1982))
2. Ridley Scott: There was a real irony in one of the screenplays which continued the idea of the film noir. The Tyrell character, who is faintly Egyptian in the sense that he looks like Tutenkhamun, had been cryogenically hidden away for a number of years because he had something which was incurable at the particular time. Even with his organisation and capability, he was not able to control his disease and therefore what we were dealing with in this story was a replicant of Tyrell.
   
   The Face: Echoes of Walt Disney?.
   
   Ridly:Yeah in fact that was the exact parallel .
   
   The Face (perhaps summarizing Ridley): The element was dropped because the powers that be thought the idea too complicated. Perhaps it was too near situations to be legally viable. Apparently, Walt Disney's voice still addresses the boardroom meetings (The Face no.30, October 1982, "From Hovis to Hobgoblins" p18-19)
3. Ridley Scott: The reason for the pyramid, the pyramid was, I think, the true Tyrell was dead inside a sarcophagus in the middle of the pyramid, because he knew he was dying. Whatever the age and the time, there would always be some industrial disease that we haven't actually dealt with. But he'd also, here's the trick, does Putin have six clones? So Tyrell had made several lookalikes of himself so he could be anywhere. You wouldn't know where the real one was. So the Tyrell we were talking to was probably not the real Tyrell, but was a fundamentally replication of himself. So that's how complex it gets. That's how we ended up with the pyramid. We never got to do the scene where they go to the sarcophagus and see he's dead. I think he died in the sarcophagus and then some, I took it from, there's a massive power breakdown on the East Coast of America. One powerhouse in one of the states. It was crazy. All the three states switched off for 22 hours. So I think I went from that idea, when it went down, Tyrell may have died in the dep freeze. (GQ magazine, January, 2025 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdpAX5rVLew)