In the history of sci-fi movies. few are as beloved or, in some ways, controversial as Blade Runner. But that’s What We’re Watching this week.
When the film debuted in 1982 it found limited commercial and minimal critical praise. In the years sense, appreciation for the film has grown immensely with audiences around the world now embracing it as a sci-fi/noir classic. It’s so popular, in fact, it spawned a sequel thirty years later: 2017’s Blade Runner: 2049.
It’s also had, to date, seven different versions over the years as well. Crazy, right? We prefer the Director’s Cut, by the way.
It’s hard to remember exactly how many times we’ve watched the tale of Rick Deckard, Blade Runner, as he hurts humanoid replicants, led by Rutger Hauer’s Roy Batty, in dystopian Los Angeles of 2019. Yes, the movie takes place in the “future” year 2019.
Remember, the film originally came out in 1982, so 2019 seemed far into the future when they were making it. So much so it imagined a time when we’d have flying cars, endless rain, replicants to do our bidding and a rewarding trip to the off world colonies to look forward to.
Even though the film didn’t get a lot about the future correct, at least not yet, it still manages to entertain and provide a spectacular look at what life in the “future” might be like. Plus, it’s technically innovative, beautifully scored and boasts a great cast doing some of their finest work. And, it just looks cool.
Here’s the original trailer for Blade Runner, as well as the one for the sequel, Blade Runner: 2049. The original Blade Runner stars Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, Daryl Hannah, Brion James, Edward James Olmos and the great M. Emmet Walsh. It’s written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples and directed by Ridley Scott.
Have you seen Blade Runner? Do you love it as much as we do? Let us know in the comments or hit us up on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook. Happy Watching!
This week’s episode is another Deep Dive where we go, well, deep into the body of work and life of a particular creator. This week’s subject is Director and Producer Ridley Scott. whose career has been quite interesting, to say the least.
His somewhat eclectic roster of films including Alien, Blade Runner, Legend, Back Hawk Down, Thelma and Louise, Gladiator and The Martian demonstrate his keen sense of style and storytelling prowess. His films have been lauded as groundbreaking and stylistically influential to a generation of filmmakers that followed. He’s also won numbers awards, including the Academy Award for Best Picture for Gladiator. In short, he’s pretty badass.
As with our previous Deep Dive, this episode was recorded and released first for our Patrons, but now we want all of you to hear it too. It’s just that good.
If we’re being totally honest (which we try to be), we weren’t going to release this episode this week, but due to unforeseen circumstances, here it is. It’s better this way, really, the actual episode we were going to do for this week would probably have been shit. So, consider yourselves lucky.
Thanks for listening!
WARNING: This episode may contain discussions about COVID-19, mental health and quarantine. We understand not everyone is in a place to talk about or hear discussions surrounding these issues. Please do what’s best for you. Stay safe everyone.
As always, if you have comments, questions, critiques, offers of sponsorship or whatever, feel free to hit us up in the comments, on Twitter, Instagram or, yes, even Facebook. Or shoot us an email. We don’t mind.
That’s right, it’s time for a brand new episode of The Flickcast. It’s a new years gift just for you!
On this week’s episode Chris and Joe finally discuss everything Rogue One. They also discuss new trailers for Alien: Covenant and Blade Runner 2049. Plus, the usual more.
Beer selections this week include Mosaic IPA from Community Brewing Co. for Chris and Steel Bridge Porterfrom Widmer Brothers Brewing for Joe. Picks this week include Chris’ pick of the FujiFilm Instax camera and Joe’s pick of latest Raspberry Pi device.
As always, if you have comments, questions, critiques, offers of sponsorship, or whatever, feel free to hit us up in the comments, on Twitter, at Facebook, Google+ or shoot us an email.
Another week has passed and we’ve got a brand new episode of The Flickcast for you. Truth be told, it’s a good one. It’s also somewhat serious given the recent tragic loss of icon Leonard Nimoy. But we also manage to have some fun too, don’t worry.
On this week’s show, Chris and Joe talk about a whole bunch of stuff including the singing talents of James Marsters, the recently announced sequels to Alien and Blade Runner, the awesome Power Rangers short that’s taken the Interwebs by storm, the power and influence of Star Trek and, of course, the boys relate their favorite Star Trek and Leonard Nimoy stories in an attempt to pay fitting tribute the man himself. There’s also the ever-present more.
Picks this week include Chris’ pick of the movie The Wrath of Khan and Joe’s pick of the Star Trek: The Next Generation classic two-part episode Unification.
As always, if you have comments, questions, critiques, offers of sponsorship, or whatever, feel free to hit us up in the comments, on Twitter, at Facebook, Google+ or via email.
Kamala Films has acquired film rights to the big screen adaptation of Lone Wolf and Cub. Kazuo Koike’s 1970s Japanese manga comic has been adapted into six films, four plays, a television series, and is widely recognized as an important and influential work.
The original, set during the feudal Edo period, chronicles the story of Ogami Itto, the Shogun’s elite executioner. In an attempt to take his position, a rival clan falsely accuses Itto of a crime and murders his wife. Disgraced, Itto is forced to wander Japan with his three-year-old son Daigoro as an assassin for hire, earning the title “Lone Wolf and Cub.” Ultimately, Itto and Daigoro seek revenge on the clan that murdered his wife.
David and Janet Peoples have been brought on to write the script. Fast Five‘s Justin Lin whas already been attached to direct. The scribes have a long and successful body of work including Blade Runner, Unforgiven and Twelve Monkeys. Lin is currently working on the sixth installment of Universal’s The Fast and the Furious.
What is it with Ridley Scott? He doesn’t seem to be able to leave well enough alone. First he decides that what the world needs is an Alien prequel/sequel/spin-off with his upcoming Prometheus, in 3D no less.
Now he’s apparently come to the conclusion that what the world needs is a sequel/prequel to to his classic 1982 sci-fi masterpiece Blade Runner. Yes, you read that right. Mr. Scott will reportedly be directing a new installment of Blade Runner.
As it was when news of Prometheus first broke, it’s not clear if this new film will be a sequel or a prequel to the 1982 film that was loosely based on Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (answer: they do) Also not clear at the moment is if the new film will, in any way, feature Harrison Ford. My guess is it probably will, if only in a cameo.
Truth be told I find the idea of a Blade Runner sequel/prequel far less appetizing than a sequel/prequel to Alien. After all, James Cameron did a pretty great job with Aliens, which showed the franchise had some life in it. Plus, they ended up making a few more sequels which were less appealing. Still, they made them.
Blade Runner, on the other hand, has stood the test of time on its own. It’s evolved from a rather unsuccessful commercial debut into one of the most revered sci-fi classics of all time. Plus, it has never had a sequel, which also serves to add to its power and mystique.
Once again proving that Hollywood has indeed run out of original ideas and instead is looking to the past to try and generate something at least half-way decent, the production company behind such films as The Blind Side and The Book of Eli has now set its sights on a prequel and sequel to Ridley Scott’s classic 1982 sci-fi film Blade Runner.
The announcement came today from Alcon Entertainment, who are currently negotiating to secure the rights to the Blade Runner franchise from producer-director Bud Yorkin, who currently holds them. If Alcon is successful (and they probably will be) their franchise rights would be all-inclusive, but exclude rights to remake the original. Well, at least that’s something, right? Dodged that bullet.
The company’s co-founders and co-Chief Executive Officers Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove are, as you may expect, pretty excited about the prospect of getting their hands on Blade Runner.
“We are honored and excited to be in business with Bud Yorkin. This is a major acquisition for our company, and a personal favorite film for both of us. We recognize the responsibility we have to do justice to the memory of the original with any prequel or sequel we produce. We have long-term goals for the franchise, and are exploring multi-platform concepts, not just limiting ourselves to one medium only.”
Okay, they seem to talk the talk at least. But, of course, this is Hollywood and that could just be fan-service. Which, let’s face it, it probably is. All I can say after hearing about this is thank goodness they can’t do a remake of the original film. At least we will always have that.
Click through if you want to read the full press release.
You have to love the Internets. Things tend to come out or people are more likely to release things these days because they know they will probably end up with a pretty decent sized audience. Recently, we had video of a young Eric Stoltz as the first Marty McFly in Back to the Future and now actress Sean Young brings us video she shot while making David Lynch’s epic, yet flawed, masterpiece Dune.
Shot during 1983 while Young was in production on the film in Mexico, the video shows much of the cast and crew (including co-stars Sting and Kyle MacLachlan) hard at work attempting to realize director Lynch’s vision. If only we could hear what they were saying instead of just seeing them. Oh well, still love the Super 8 camera.
It’s always interesting to watch videos like this and be able to go back and see how things used to be. Plus, insights into a film so many have mixed feelings about are always appreciated. For me, the film was somewhat confusing and a bit of a mess when I first experienced it. But as time has gone on I’ve started to have more of an appreciation for it but haven’t seen it in some time.
This video only serves to spark my interest again. Maybe it’s time for a re-watch? Check out the video after the break.
Welcome to this week’s On the Radar where we delve into all corners of the entertainment, tech and geek Internets for news, views and whatnot that may have escaped our regular coverage this week. Let is know if we missed something interesting. Otherwise, on to the links!
You might have noticed that we’re big fans of Battelstar Galactica here at The Flickcast, so we were thrilled at the chance to sit down and discuss the reimagined world that he has brought to life with fellow producer, Ron Moore. At a roundtable at this year’s Comic-Con, Eick discussed the future of Caprica over a bottle of Don Julio and when fans can expect another season to be announced and ready to go.
“I think we just finished what we’re calling Season 1.5. You will hear about the next season by August 15 or before. We’re still working out contracts, among other things.”
Since there are wildly divergent opinions between fans of Eick’s last creation, Battlestar Galactica, and fans of his current endeavor Caprica, we were curious to get his take on this on-going schism and if there was a way to keep both camps happy, or if it was something that they were even worried about.
“We knew to expect a greater mix with this, because we knew we were not going to develop it or market it as a spin off of Battlestar. We knew those fans might have expected it would be much more intensely easter eggy in terms of well, here’s how Laura Roslin got her name and all that kind of stuff, but we just knew we weren’t going to do a show like that. We very consciously tried not to market it or complicate it like that. We just believed that the audience would discover the show, let the show find its way, finds its legs, tighten its focus and get better, which it does.
“By the way, Battlestar was initially just as divided but for completely different reasons. So, I think we had this whole contingency of fans of the original show who are boycotting it, so it doesn’t feel any different to me. The very first Comic-Con for Battlestar was like George W. Bush going up at an ACLU rally. We felt like pariahs the first time.”
