Episode 189: Blade Runner with Bonnie Burton (Conan’s Birthday Stream)

“It’s too bad she won’t live! But then again, who does?”

We are kicking off Movie Night Automata in STYLE with one of the most enduring and beloved sci-fi movies of all time and certainly one of the forerunners (forebladerunners?) of cyberpunk. BLADE RUNNER!

Forrest, Conan Neutron, J. Andrew World & Kristina Oakes are joined by friend of the show Bonnnie Burton from the Night Shift, Former LucasFilm Social Media Strategist, who also seems to be our chief Harrison Ford correspondent as well. She’s in the new film: A Disturbance in the Force: How the Star Wars Holiday Special Happened alongside such luminaries as Seth Green, Kevin Smith and Weird Al. But of course she’s always nice enough to hang with us and her old pal Conan Neutron. Who is celebrating his birthday!

A legendary sci-fi movie, right? But which version? We discuss the differences between the Final Cut, Director’s Cut, workprint, etc. Does the narration add or detract from it, and was Harrison Ford HIGH when he did it, or just unenthused? There’s a lot of deviation from the Philip K. Dick book it is based on, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, but perhaps that is a good thing?

We discuss the surprising lack of enthusiasm towards what is a Gen-X all timer amongst some younger movies fans and why that might be. Why video stores were so important to the cult status of this movie, if this is indeed Ridley Scott’s greatest movie or merely in the top 3. Why it is Future Noir and why global domination of corporations, technology advancements in the name of capital and the shocking divide of the haves and have nots are all still unfortunately very relevant.

We also get into the central themes of not just this cornerstone movie, but the entire month. Artificial Intelligence. Sentience, all that.

“Commerce is our goal here at Tyrell, more human than human is our motto.”

Obviously, there is quite alot to say about Blade Runner. 

Stylistic, Timely, and Darkly Human. 

With profound moral questions about Human Vs. Artificial Intelligence that we still have time to avoid entirely. We are over here hoping for a Rachael, while somehow knowing we deserve a righteously indignant Roy Batty.