148
votes
Accepted
Which version of Blade Runner is Blade Runner 2049 a sequel of?
The director of Blade Runner 2049, Denis Villeneuve was asked this very question and his answer can be found at DenofGeek.com
So when Blade Runner 2049 director Denis Vileneuve met with reporters at ...
37
votes
Accepted
Is it necessary to watch the Blade Runner short films before Blade Runner 2049 to understand the story?
No, it is not necessary, but will ultimately enhance your understanding and experience
In order of importance, story-wise, I would say the short films are ranked as follows:
Blade Runner: Black Out ...
30
votes
Accepted
What caused the "blackout" in Blade Runner 2049?
This is described in the anime "Blade Runner Black Out 2022", which serves as one of three prequels to Blade Runner 2049.
With the introduction of the Nexus8 line of replicants, humans became more ...
19
votes
Accepted
Why are they called Blade Runners? What does it mean?
What does Blade Runner mean?
The world of the Blade Runner films is based on the Philip K. Dick novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968).
However, the name 'Blade Runner' was taken from a ...
16
votes
Which version of Blade Runner is Blade Runner 2049 a sequel of?
While Paulie_D already gives a very good answer right from the director himself, after having seen the film we can take a closer look at its story1, be it only to pretty much confirm what Villeneuve ...
15
votes
Accepted
Do I need to watch Blade Runner before watching Blade Runner 2049?
The director says it's not necessary to see Blade Runner first
Director Denis Villeneuve said that he intended for it to be accessible to first time viewers.
"That was one of the challenges ... ...
15
votes
What caused the "blackout" in Blade Runner 2049?
In Blade Runner Black Out 2022, one of the three short films release prior to 2049, it is shown that in an attempt to wipe replicants out of databases in Los Angeles, they detonated a nuclear device ...
14
votes
Why the mixed reverence for creatures in Blade Runner?
The Voight-Kampff test as it appears in the book and the movies comprises a series of questions designed to elicit an emotional response intended to measure empathy. The 'machine' is just intended to ...
13
votes
Accepted
What exactly is a Replicant?
According to the first movie's press kit, they were "A genetically engineered creature composed entirely of organic substance."
If you think about it - they are so physically indistinguishable from a ...
13
votes
Why does Roy Batty die in 2019?
It appears as though the leading cause of death in replicants is a form of cellular death, akin to 'old age' in humans.
Remember that in the first movie, Tyrell admits that the short lifespan was not ...
12
votes
Accepted
Why don't replicants have emotions?
Replicants certainly do have emotions - Roy Batty exhibits anger and ultimately sadness; several of them exhibit fear at being discovered and retired.
However, they are relatively underdeveloped, ...
11
votes
Accepted
Is there anyone who we can be sure is human in Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049?
Anybody without an eye code who can pass the Voigt-Kampff test is human (but unfortunately we don't see this in either film)
There are two ways to detect a replicant that we see in the films: the ...
10
votes
Why the mixed reverence for creatures in Blade Runner?
There are a couple of premises I'd dispute there.
In the book, the reverence for living things is because they are so rare and don't exist any more. There is a longing for contact with real life, so ...
10
votes
Accepted
What specifically happened when Holden was killed in Blade Runner?
Step by Step.
Leon shoots Holden from under the table but through the table
The blast penetrates through a vacuum flask containing either coffee or tea (not oil) before hitting Holden.
Holden is ...
8
votes
Accepted
Why were so many questions required in the Voight-Kampff test?
From the Blade Runner Wikia, the machine:
...measures contractions of the iris muscle and the presence of invisible airborne particles emitted from the body... [The test] is used primarily by Blade ...
8
votes
Why do both Batty and Kowalski talk about 'living in fear' and 'time to die' when fighting Deckard?
Replicants in the Blade Runner world are generally slaves. Especially the four who are on the run trying to just live.
With that said, Batty, the ring leader, likes to talk heady. Kowalski is ...
7
votes
Accepted
Why are both Blade Runner films largely shot in darkness?
I'm not going to suggest that mine is the best answer, but I will attempt to flesh my comments out...
the first film, Blade Runner, is based on the novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by the ...
7
votes
Do I need to watch Blade Runner before watching Blade Runner 2049?
After watching the movie I have to say that to get the full experience from the movie you absolutely have to watch the original (I watched the Final Cut) and the three short films that were released ...
7
votes
Why does Roy Batty die in 2019?
As the text card at the very beginning of the film clearly states, the events in the movie take place starting in November 2019.
So one can assume that a replicant “born” on January 8, 2016 would ...
6
votes
Why make replicants so hard to detect?
As pointed out in the comments. The human aesthetic was mandatory to Tyrell's vision of "More human than human" and his God/Creator complex. Creating anything else wouldn't be human enough.
Depending ...
6
votes
Accepted
How much did Blade Runner influence the Reimagined Battlestar Galactica?
Both Blade Runner and Battlestar Galactica are influenced by earlier work. In fact, the very first story to talk about robots actually used the term to refer to artificial humans. You can find a list ...
6
votes
What makes Blade Runner so iconic?
Another way to think of the film as iconic is in its relationship to cyber-punk.
You cannot say, for example, that BR is the first film to be rooted in cyber-punk because it is not really possible ...
5
votes
What exactly is a Replicant?
TYRELL
The facts of life. I'll be blunt. To make an alteration in the evolvement of an organic life system, at least by men, makers or not, is fatal. A coding sequence can't be revised once it's ...
5
votes
Accepted
Are glowing eyes of Replicants only meant for audience?
Stealing @Möoz answer
It's a fourth-wall reference for the audience.
Given that we only ever see the 'glowing eyes' effect when the in-universe characters have not acknowledged it, it tells us that ...
5
votes
Accepted
Why does Gaff seem to not speak English at the beginning of Blade Runner, but is fluent at the end?
Gaff can speak English, but he chooses not to.
Indeed, as the OP mentioned, it is quite impossible that Gaff would learn English in a matter of a few days. Moreover, in the original book, Gaff has a ...
5
votes
Accepted
Are Nexus 6 models nearly impervious to the Voight-Kampff test, or very easy to spot?
It's harder but not impossible to catch them using the VK test
As you state in the question, its clearly seen that Deckard correctly detects Rachael is a replicant, but it is significantly harder than ...
4
votes
Accepted
Blade Runner Photos Significance and photo from Rachael
Nexus 6 Replicants don't have implants, they are aware of their condition as artificial beings and the only memories they have are the ones they make in their short lives. So they become obsessed with ...
4
votes
Why does Gaff spare Rachael's life?
Depends on which movie you are talking about. If you are talking about the original theatrical release, perhaps Gaff was more interested in getting rid of Deckard (since Deckard had indicated that ...
4
votes
Were the "friends" of Sebastian essentially small replicants or were they something else?
You can't use the book as reference for anything in the movie(s). They're very dissimilar. JF Sebastian isn't even in the book.
There is no reference anywhere to precisely how the toys were made.
They ...
4
votes
Accepted
What is Prosser & Ankovich in Blade Runner (1982)?
The 1981 version of the script contains a little more dialogue that doesn't seem to have made it to the final cut.
[Tyrell is lying in a huge bed muttering into a computer device.]
TYRELL: Note to ...
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