Phillip K. Dick questions

[SpeedRacer]

Hello everyone. Recently I viewed the director's cut of Blade Runner, and began to reflect upon the original theatrical version. It was my first exposure to the story and I recall that I really loved it. Perhaps I'm a heretic when I say that in many cases I actually liked the theatrical version a tad better. The director's cut is so silent. I loved the voice over version, which has a noirish quality that I miss in the new version.

Don't get me wrong, I like the new version as well, just for different reasons.

I also recently saw Impostor and I'm hoping that some knowledgable person here will be able to answer my questions.

It's been quite some time since I read "Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep" but I honestly don't recall anything that implied that Deckard was a replicant. I'm not sure where that idea came from. Perhaps I'm just unobservant, as I really didn't see much to imply the same in the movie either. Does somebody know where this idea came from? Does anybody know if the original theatrical release is available on DVD or will be? I think Ridley Scott is a genius, but even geniuses can be wrong at times, and I would most certainly love to have both options. Oh, and it would please me greatly to lose the stupid "snapper" case while we're at it.

My next question involves Imposter.

***SPOILER***







I have a question about the ending of Imposter , as well. I wonder why it took so long for Gary to explode. It appeared that the target was the charachter played by Vincent D'onofrio ( I can't recall the charachter's name at the moment), yet it wasn't until the end that Gary took the 'ol dirtnap at Vinnie's expense. If appeared that Vincent was the target at that point. The only thing I can think of is that his wife was the primary assasin, and once she died he was activated. It just seemed odd to me. Of course, it could also be that she failed in her mission to kill the "Big Boss", which activated him. These are just ideas and poorly expressed, but I'm wondering if anyone out there has a definitive answer to this question.






***END OF SPOILER***

Thank you in advance, I really appreciate any help anyone her can give me.

Please be gentle, this is my first post.

[JakeLipson]

Originally posted by SpeedRacer
Please be gentle, this is my first post.

Welcome to the forum! Stay a while, we're glad to have you as a member.

Unfortunately, I can't give you much help, as the only experience I have with Dick is the movie version of Minority Report. Sorry.

A tip, though: If you want to hide your spoiler text in a black box, it's easy. The code is [*spoiler*]This is a spoiler[/*spoiler*]. Just remove the astricks and it works like a charm. Look:

Spoiler (Highlight or Triple Click to Read):

This is a spoiler.

[feldon23]

An interesting thing to note is that the version of Blade Runner commonly referred to as the "Director's Cut" was not created or approved by Ridley Scott.

In actuality, Ridley Scott had mentioned off-hand in interviews that he did not like the narration, he did not like the happy ending, and he wanted the dream sequence put in (if I remmeber right). So someone in the studio made these changes and put it out as a 'director's cut'.

Ridley is finally sitting down to do a real Director's Cut in the near future for a DVD release.


Also you mention Philip K. Dick. He also wrote Total Recall.

[Porkchop]

Originally posted by SpeedRacer
I honestly don't recall anything that implied that Deckard was a replicant. I'm not sure where that idea came from. Perhaps I'm just unobservant, as I really didn't see much to imply the same in the movie either.

I read the book so long ago that I don't remember if it was implied in there or not, but in the movie the implication comes from the unicorn. Deckard dreams of a unicorn while he's playing the piano, and then later Edward James Olmos (sorry, can't remember the character's name) leaves an origami unicorn outside his door. The implication is that Olmos knows Deckard's dreams, and how else could he do that unless Deckard is a replicant, and his memories are on file.

[Shifty]

I read the book last summer and I recall reading one sentence that pretty much stated "He was an android." I must have read that passage over and over thinking "WTF?!" But it wasn't used at all in the rest of the book so it may have been that I wasn't reading carefully. The character obviously has a great sense of empathy for the animals and the whole point of taking the assignment is to get money to buy one. But then agan, the title is "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" and he had one.

Anyway, so if he is a replicant in the movie, how the heck was he a retired Blade Runner? He would have had to taken all those tests and he would have had to have held his position for years instead of just a replicant showing up from an off-world colony.

[Nyarlathotep]

I've read the book several times, and never got the impression that P.K.D. intended Deckard to be a replicant. Doesn't he use an empathy box? Aren't replicants incapable of empathy?

I prefer the theatrical cut of Blade Runner as well, and it's very annoying that only the "Director's Cut" is available. I even tried to find the theatrical cut on VHS (before DVD was released, in my area at least), but it's been out of print for a long time.

As for Impostor,

Spoiler (Highlight or Triple Click to Read):

I'm not sure why it took so long for Spence to explode. Perhaps Hathaway was the secondary target, and Spence was supposed to try to get the Chancellor first, and only take out Hathaway if he couldn't get to the Chancellor.

Or perhaps you are right.

[Wirehed]

It's been a long time since I have read "Do Andriods Sleep...", but I do not believe that explicitely explained, or even infered that Deckard is a replicant.

However, in the (so called) director's cut of the film it seems to me that he is certainly a replicant. I thought that he possibly could be in the theatrical version, but the director's cut seems to spell it out for us, plus the movie just seems to work better that way.

However #2, I do remember Scott saying that he had no intensions to make Deckard out as a replicant in the film. If anyone knows where this interview is, please post it.

[videoworx]

Impostor was originally a VERY short film (which is included as an extra on the DVD). It was to be included with 2 other short stories, but they were scrapped - forcing the writer/director to completely fabricate the entire middle act of the movie.

The short version makes far more sense, including the length of time it takes for Gary Sinise to make like a bomb.

As for Blade Runner - the film is a completely separate entity from the book. Ridley Scott took many liberties with the story, including the whole "Deckard is a replicant" angle.

In reality, Deckard could very well have been replicant, programmed with the same emotional abilities as the person he was based on. Rachel didn't know she was a replicant, so why not Deckard? He has memories of giving plenty of Voight-Kampf tests, but how many did he actually perform? As with any film, use your imagination - whether he was or was not is entirely up to you - no matter what the Director says 15 years after making the film.
BTW - If you are hard up for the original cut, Criterion put out a fantastic laserdisc in 1987 - with TONS and TONS of extras.

[mjb]

Originally posted by videoworx
BTW - If you are hard up for the original cut, Criterion put out a fantastic laserdisc in 1987 - with TONS and TONS of extras.

There were actually two versions of Criterion's Blade Runner release - a fairly minimal single-disc version CLV version (which I own) and a two-disc CAV version with additional material that VW is probably referring to.

[Eric]

First off, I'd just like to say that I hope the theatrical version gets on the eventual DVD release of the real director's cut. That's the version I've always preferred.

As for the suggestion that Deckard may be a replicant in the book, it's been probably about a decade since I read it, but if I remember correctly there was a part in which he encounters another cop (or "blade runner") and realizes that there is another police department, completely separate from his, operating in the same city. I think the idea occurred to Deckard in the book that this other department might be predominantly staffed by replicants, and he certainly believed it to be a false front for some reason, but it could be an implication of the opposite: that the department HE worked for was false, and that he was a replicant.

As I said, it's been a long time since I've read the book, so I may not be remembering everything perfectly, but that's the only implication I can remember. The explanation for the movie's implication has already been covered, but I always saw the dream/origami thing as being pretty thin.

[videoworx]

There were actually two versions of Criterion's Blade Runner release - a fairly minimal single-disc version CLV version (which I own) and a two-disc CAV version with additional material that VW is probably referring to.

Correct. The CAV version includes an essay that breaks down EVERY scene in the movie, and explains missing plot elements (Mary, the unmentioned 6th replicant, for instance). Plus, all of Syd Mead's awesome artwork - worth the price alone. There's also a fun trivia quiz, which is not as dumb as it sounds. Both the CLV/CAV version are the longer european theatrical cut that has extended violent scenes that were (unfortunately) cut out of the Director's release.

[Nyarlathotep]

Originally posted by Eric
As for the suggestion that Deckard may be a replicant in the book, it's been probably about a decade since I read it, but if I remember correctly there was a part in which he encounters another cop (or "blade runner") and realizes that there is another police department, completely separate from his, operating in the same city. I think the idea occurred to Deckard in the book that this other department might be predominantly staffed by replicants, and he certainly believed it to be a false front for some reason, but it could be an implication of the opposite: that the department HE worked for was false, and that he was a replicant.

I believe the possibility that Deckard's police station was the fake was actually raised in the book, and that it turned out that the second station was definitely the fake (I think Deckard saw somebody he knew to be an android in it, or the cop that was escorting him turned out to be one). And again, I am almost positive that androids can't use empathy boxes (they can't feel empathy, which is how the Voigt-Kampf test works), and Deckard definitely used one. That's how he found out about Mercer.

[Sid]

Deckard was never a replicant in the book DADOES. The idea to make him a replicant came from something Hampton Fancher or David Peobles said to Ridley Scott, and Ridley Scott took it the wrong way and made Deckard a replicant.

This past summer I read Future Noir, DADOES for the second time, Blade Runner 2 second time and Blade Runner 3 so I'm pretty up on the Blade Runner knowledge