4. References to BR in other movies

 

It seems BR has inspired a lot of other films – in terms of architecture and set design – and so much so that every time a new SF movie is made, it is inevitably compared to BR. It would take too long to list every movie that (consciously or not) copied BR’s look, but sometimes other “parts” of BR turn up in other films. Here are a few notable examples…

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Back To The Future Part II

Some of the cars Marty encounters in the future version of his home town are repainted spinners from BR.

Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace

There were a lot of visual in-jokes in the 1999 Star Wars movie. During the outdoor scenes on the planet Coruscant there are a couple of BR spinners flying around amidst the heavy traffic. They’re hard to spot, though, even if you know where to look.

Star Wars: Episode II – The Clone Wars

Even more of the same references, but far more than that, a huge number of reviewers pointed out the similarity of Coruscant and a chase scene through it to the LA2019 and spinner flight in Blade Runner. Notably, even after 20 years of SFX development and a huge budget, the Star Wars city is no more impressive in effect than the 1982 Blade Runner cityscape.

Soldier

The “sidequel” to Blade Runner, also written by David Peoples who was one of the scriptwriters of BR. The old Soldier (Kurt Russell) faces up to a new breed of genetically developed supersoldiers in a future that may co-exist with a Blade Runner future. There are references to his fighting at Tannhauser Gate and also the Shoulder of Orion. And is that a BR spinner lying there in that pile of junk?

Trancers

The car seen in the opening scene is the very same vehicle Deckard drove in BR! (Cool, huh?)

Impostor

The alien-created androids being used to replace humans are clearly described as “replicants” – a word specifically invented for Blade Runner. As this film is also inspired by a PKD story, it is not surprising to see a few other similarities with BR.

Casualties

A TV movie of intrigue and murder. One particular residence is 1187 Hunterwasser – the same as Leon’s place (The Yukon Hotel).

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