Of Androids And Sacred Cows

Thirty Years After The Events Of The First Movie, A New Blade Runner Is About To Unearth A Long-Buried Secret With The Help Of The Original, Rick Deckard. Starburst Pops Some Vangelis On The Hi-Fi, Dons A Trench Coat And Looks Ahead To The Return Of A True Sf Enigma...

- Michael Coldwell

If you’d told us ten years ago that Blade Runner would return in 2017 as a direct sequel, written by the same writer and featuring Harrison Ford as Deckard, we’d have given you a squinty look and gestured at security to move you on. By force, if necessary. But this is the age of the quality revival, where every sacred cow from Star Wars to Twin Peaks is roaming authentically among us again, with very few bovine patties left in their wake to slip on. But still and all: a sequel?

Blade Runner seems to exist in a permanently tangled web of its own creation. Just as the original film has metamorphosed into multiple versions over the years (the most recent being 2007’s The Final Cut), the sequel’s journey to the screen is a many headed beast. For many years, the possibility seemed remote, such was the rancorous aftertaste the original theatrical version (complete with cheesy voiceover and tackedon happy ending) left in its wake. Despite Ridley Scott tantalising himself with ideas for a new story for nearly three decades, the opportunity to actually produce one did not present itself until 2011 when the legal minefield of rights issues was finally cleared. But something even more important still needed to happen to seal this return in a way that would be credible to the legions of acolytes, academics, and origami practitioners who hold the original dear, and that came the moment Harrison Ford finished reading the new script and called Scott to declare it ‘a masterpiece!’ To be fair, this would have been around the time Ford was doing The Expendables 3, so his judgement may have been impaired. But all cynicism aside, it was a watershed moment: Ridley Scott and Harrison Ford were back on the unicorn and that, more than anything, is why Rick Deckard lives.