Honored samurai, ruthless ronin, wayward vagabonds, shadowy ninja and helpless villagers... welcome.
Opening Volley
For the most part, I write this newsletter on the weekends for obvious reasons of time. This week however, I saved it until today to see if there are any differences to publishing on a weekday. Honestly, I don't think it's going to make too much difference in terms of reads, but who knows? Let me know in the comments section if you prefer weekend or weekday updates. For those of you with newsletters yourselves, do you see a difference in timing or number of times published week/month?
Main Event
Blade Runner is one of those films that has legs — for better or worse — the property has expanded to novels, comics, a sequel, short films, an anime spinoff, and more. Last year, I interviewed Mr. Kazuyuki Sakamoto, the Japanese fan behind the White Dragon Cut, a "restoration" of the February 1981 shooting script, including never before filmed scenes and dialogue that may be new to some (many?). At that time, Mr. Sakamoto, who is working alone and in his spare time, was hopeful WDC5 would be ready by November of this year (2023). That, unfortunately, did not come to be, so he continues to work. Here's his latest “trailer” — it's absolutely stunning. If this is the level one man can achieve in his spare time, I’m all for allowing him all the time he needs to finish. Follow his YouTube channel for more information.
Personally, I've always been in the Deckard is human camp. I know a lot of folks on the other side, but last week as I was watching Mr. Sakamoto's latest video, it hit me that there is one fact that doesn't line up with everything else with regards to Deckard being a replicant. Replicants are stabilized by their memories, and all circumstantial evidence points to Gaff knowing Deckard's memories of unicorns (via the unicorn origami), and the whole idea that Deckard is a "unicorn" (i.e. special as a replicant that can procreate). But that doesn't line up at all.
If Deckard is human, why the unicorn scene, and why the origami? One possible explanation may be the simplest and clearest: Scott was using film footage from other movies (why I don't exactly recall, but I'm sure it's probably documented in Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner, a book I need to revisit), but scenes from The Shining (the drive through the mountains at the end) and Legend (the unicorn sequence. Scott was also director on this film) are featured. Perhaps, just perhaps, Scott was looking for filler and boom!, hey!, there you go. Unicorns. Otherwise, it just seems a little too convenient for my taste.
But more compelling than that, is what the unicorn memory is not... and that is: a real memory. The unicorn memory is not a copy and paste memory of another human; it’s a fabrication (if indeed Deckard is a replicant, which he isn’t). Dreams are important to holding the replicant psyche and personality together, so giving a replicant fabricated memories would not hold Deckard together; he’d never be able to pass the Voight-Kampff test, let alone administer it. Moreover, Rachel's memories are real human memories; those of Tyrell's niece. If both Rachel and Deckard are unicorns, why does only Deckard have unicorn memories? Why are Rachel's memories those of a human? Answer? Because Deckard is human, and the unicorn sequences aren't memories at all, but his thoughts on Rachel — whom he is trying to understand in her existence as a replicant and his feelings for her.
In the end, Rachel is the unicorn; she’s the unique replicant, and Deckard comes to realize this, and it’s obvious that Gaff did, too, thus the origami.
To be honest, I think both sides of the is/isn’t a replicant debate are interesting and valid, and they are equally thought-provoking. So whichever your opinion, you’re correct.
We never meet without parting
Next issue... The dark machine fetish films of Matthias Von Braun.
Until then!
Made in DNA