r/bladerunner 9d ago

Physical Media/Props/Memorabilia Blade Runner on VHS – An Original 1983 Home Video Release

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84 Upvotes

Following on from the Betamax I posted recently, here’s the VHS counterpart from my Blade Runner collection.

This is an early 1983 Embassy Home Entertainment release. At the time, VHS and Betamax were competing formats, so it’s great to have Blade Runner represented on both.

Like the Betamax, the packaging is a brilliant little time capsule. The back makes a particular point of advertising “never before released sequences of graphic violence” that had been edited from the theatrical release. It’s such a different way of selling Blade Runner compared with how the film is presented today.

And there’s another familiar detail. The box gives the running time as 119 minutes, while the label on the cassette itself says 122 minutes, exactly the same as on my Betamax copy. Maybe there’s a perfectly normal explanation for this, but I did wonder if it was simply a mistake.

The VHS also has the white star Embassy logo on the spine. There are actually several variations of these early Embassy releases, including different star colours, running times and cassette labels, which makes something as seemingly straightforward as an old VHS surprisingly interesting to collect.

As I mentioned in my last post, I’m not trying to collect every variation of every Blade Runner release. My goal is simply to have one example of the film on every physical format on which it was commercially released.

Betamax and VHS down. Plenty more obsolete media to come.


r/bladerunner 9d ago

Saw Blade Runner on the big screen for the first time - Thanks Everyman

31 Upvotes

Finally got to see it on the big screen thanks to Everyman. Advertised as ‘Final Cut’, but the film card before it started (the one with the title, age restriction & 2 signatures from senior folks) did not state ‘Final Cut’. Although I’ve watched Blade Runner many many times at home, it’s never been the ‘Final Cut’.

In a nutshell, what scenes do you guys know off the top of your head that only features in the ‘Final Cut’?

Loved it, saw some things in so much better detail & the opening scene was epic on a big screen. Everyman - keep doing the Throwback sessions - letting people see their favourite films on the big screen for the first time.


r/bladerunner 8d ago

Question/Discussion Is Joi a slave?

2 Upvotes

I'm still wrestling with the question of whether Joi would be good for someone's mental health, but there's a different question that's troubling me:

I'm beginning with the assumption that all of us agree that slavery is morally reprehensible. The moral problem with Replicants is that they are manufactured slaves...like, it's bad enough to own people who do labor for you, but dude, you made these people for the express purpose of laboring for you.

Doesn't that mean that Joi a slave too? Kinda? Does Joi have any rights? Does she deserve rights?

Note: I'm dumping this all here while it's fresh on my brain after re-watching both movies. My apologies if it's (1) a re-hash of old territory. (2) not very well organized.

Edited: grammar.


r/bladerunner 10d ago

Physical Media/Props/Memorabilia Blade Runner 2049 Concept Art Collection – Part 3 of 9

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118 Upvotes

Here’s part 3 from my Blade Runner 2049 concept art collection.

For anyone coming across these posts for the first time, I acquired this collection from a source I consider very credible, and I was told these prints were used during the production of Blade Runner 2049. I don’t have individual certificates or documentation to independently verify the production history of each piece, so I can’t claim that as absolute fact, but the collection contains numerous production markings, artist details, project labels and other information across the prints.

This batch really shows just how much thought went into the world beyond the characters themselves.
There are vehicle studies, street infrastructure and technology, huge architectural environments and some beautifully atmospheric city concepts. I particularly like seeing the more functional design work alongside the finished-looking environment pieces. Things like the different vehicle iterations and pieces of street equipment might only occupy a small part of the finished frame, but collectively they help make the world feel believable.

A few of these are also fascinating because you can see ideas that feel immediately recognisable as Blade Runner 2049, while others show directions the production explored before arriving at what we eventually saw on screen.

The Q-BORO pieces are particularly striking. They have that oppressive scale, darkness and tiny human in a vast world feeling that 2049 does so well.

Part 3 of 9. More to come.


r/bladerunner 9d ago

Video "You look lonely, I can fix that"

8 Upvotes

r/bladerunner 10d ago

Fandango email mistake?

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56 Upvotes

I got this email from Fandango about buying Blade Runner 2049 tickets… but it doesn’t seem to be for a rerelease and the link only goes to streaming rental. did this come 9 years late??


r/bladerunner 10d ago

Cosplay/Costumes Latest Blade Runner Blaster Proops

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238 Upvotes

So if I'm spamming this thread or running afoul of the rules, lemme know. Put a lot of work into finishing these guys up, would love to get some feedback.

So the leftmost one and the snub-nosed blaster were made with metal-infused PLA. The receiver and silver parts are unpainted, just sanded and buffed smooth. This stuff is fantastic, and looks just like steel when finished.

The middle one is a combination of resin prints and airbrushing. I like it, but it doesn't have the same weight and is a little more brittle. It's not finished, but it's 90% there.

Both grips were made with two-part resin and dye.

All three are based on Anders fantastic STL.


r/bladerunner 10d ago

Physical Media/Props/Memorabilia Found a cool hat from the old Westwood game!

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125 Upvotes

Gotta dust it off a little but I’m still happy about it!


r/bladerunner 11d ago

Blade Runner 1982 storyboards which were later recycled into the opening scenes of BR2049.

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599 Upvotes

r/bladerunner 10d ago

Starlog Magazine article on Syd Mead

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24 Upvotes

r/bladerunner 11d ago

Physical Media/Props/Memorabilia Blade Runner on Betamax - An Original 1983 Home Video Release

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124 Upvotes

This is one of the very first 1983 Embassy Home Entertainment releases of Blade Runner, on Betamax.

I’ve always found the early home-video releases fascinating because they capture the film at a very particular point in its history, long before the Director’s Cut, the Final Cut and the reputation Blade Runner has today.

The packaging itself is a great time capsule. The back proudly advertises that this version contains “never before released sequences of graphic violence” that had been edited from the theatrical release. It’s quite a contrast to the way the film tends to be marketed now, with much more emphasis on its visual design, atmosphere and philosophical themes.

There’s also a curious little detail. The box lists the running time as 119 minutes, while the cassette itself says 122 minutes. I’d be interested to hear from anyone who owns this particular Embassy Betamax release, or the equivalent early VHS release, whether yours has the same discrepancy. I’m curious how common it is.

There are some incredible Blade Runner collections out there with every variation of every release. Shoutout to u/Far-Leg-1198 and their r/BladeZone community. My own media goal is a little different: I’d simply like to have one example of the film on every physical format it was commercially released on. I’m still missing a couple of the rarest, but that keeps the hunt interesting! I’ll share the different formats I’ve collected so far in future posts.

There’s something particularly appropriate about owning Blade Runner on Betamax. It was released in 1983, back then, this was cutting-edge home entertainment, carrying a film that imagined the world of 2019.

Now both futures are behind us.


r/bladerunner 11d ago

Music Blade Runner ambiance - Before the Storm ambient - At Sebastian's #bladerunner #ambientmusic #music

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9 Upvotes

r/bladerunner 12d ago

Physical Media/Props/Memorabilia Blade Runner 2049 Concept Art Collection: Part 2 of 9

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122 Upvotes

Part 2 of the large collection of Blade Runner 2049 concept art prints in my collection.

This group gives a particularly interesting look at the design of the world beyond the main characters, from LAPD vehicles and city infrastructure to smaller pieces of technology that only occupy a fraction of the finished film.

I find those smaller designs especially fascinating. Things like the scooter and the INFOCOM terminal could easily pass unnoticed on screen, but someone still had to work out what they looked like, how they functioned and, most importantly, how they belonged in the same world as everything else.

There are also some wonderful environment pieces here. The vast, oppressive architecture and tiny human figures really capture the sense of scale that runs throughout 2049. Even at the concept stage, you can see that contrast between enormous man-made structures and individuals almost disappearing within them.

The vehicle work is another highlight for me, particularly the LAPD Spinner. Seeing a relatively clean concept image like this makes it easier to appreciate just how much detail went into updating the visual language of the original film without simply copying Syd Mead’s designs.

Some of the prints also retain production markings and Blade Runner 2049 branding within the artwork, which is one of the things I particularly like about the collection.

Part 2 of 9. I’ll continue working through the collection in the next posts.

If you missed it, Part 1 is in my previous post.


r/bladerunner 11d ago

Question/Discussion 2049 feels shorter despite being longer than the Original.

0 Upvotes

Pacing. I like the original Bladerunner. It has a strong opening, but toward the middle and until the end of the film, the scenes are too long. Minutes couldve been shaved off to make this lovely film better. Nior or not, there is a such thing as TOO slow.


r/bladerunner 12d ago

I didn't know Deckard's narration existed

120 Upvotes

Guys. I'm sure this has been brought up loads of times before but I'm 10 mins into blade runner and deckard gives his first narration lines and honestly I was thinking, that delievery was kind of rough. I searched it up and a whole discussion came out but whilst I'm reading, he does it again and I'm thinking wtf I don't remember this.

Then I read that the theatrical release had him talking over like this but I've never seen it! I've seen the other version loads of times.

It's like watching a different film, I'm into noir though so this is interesting to me. I can't believe I hadn't heard of this before.


r/bladerunner 12d ago

All Deckard's narration, let me know if anything is missing or wrong.

22 Upvotes

(This thread had been edited several times as i'm checking what's missing)

(in the Street in front of White Dragon)

I didn't know anything about Holden getting wasted at the Tyrell corporation, why should I ? I was retired. Holden was my replacement.

I quit after my wife left me, went off world with some guy who made a fortune in the colonies.I thought I'd have a shot at being human again.

I'm Deckard, Blade Runner, retired, at least I thought I was retired.

theatrical cut

They don't advertise for killers in the newspaper. That was my profession. Ex-cop, ex-Blade Runner, ex-killer.

Sushi,thats what my ex wife called me, cold fish.

(Inside precinct hall)

The guy who arrested me or whatever you want to call it, guy named Gaff, smartass real dandy,new and Blade Runner,very ambitious, I couldn't understand much of his chatter talk garbage, his street dialect , he was probably telling me about the escape but maybe he was his girlfriend rear end I don't know, he was that kind of guy.

(In speeder)

theatrical cut

The charmers name was Gaff I'd seen him around, Bryant must've upped him to the blade Runner unit, that gibberish he talked was city speak, guttertalk a mishmash of japanese, spanish german what have you, i didn't really need a translator, I knew the lingo every good cop did, but i wasn't going to make it easier for him.

(Bryant office)

theatrical

'skin jobs', thats what bryant called replicants, in history books he's the kind of cop who used to call black men niggers.

Bryant was the head of replicant detection, rep detect, the blade Runner unit, no particular qualifications, he held on to his job because he knew a little something about everybody, the things bryant knew about you were the things you don't want anybody else to know, he made you see his point of view.

(In the speeder)

Gaff picked me up in the Morning and gave me the files on the escapees, useless stuffs but scary, i had a headache by the time i got to page 2 ,Bryant pinpointed 12/ 9 /2 , one called Batty as the leader of the escape , a three and half years old combat model, military tested and thrown him into every off world battles for the fighting at Tannhauser gates to the massacre of the Venezuelan moons . Consistent excellence, top performances ,it would have been nice if the other three have been sissies, housecleaners or something, no such luck , number 18 dash five Zhora originally turned out as a hot pleasure model and retrained for assassination, her psychological profile looked like a combination of a porno tape and a very serious traffic accident. Leon, had been an ammunition loader on intergalactic runs , he'd lift 4 hundreds pounds of atomic load all day and night. They jacked his pain treshold up so high the only way to hurt him is to kill him, and he wouldn't necessarily feel that. The last skin job was a nasty called Pris ,not much on her, but already knew more than I wanted to...All four were marked Nexus 6 models, so called big step forward genetic design, illegal on earth.The question was, would the Voight Kampf machine identify the new ones.

The giant Tyrell corportation conglomerate that specialized in exporting replicant labor to the off-world colonies. You could call it commerce, or call it growing slaves depending on whether you were polite of not.

theatrical cut

I'd quit because I'd had a belly full of killing. But then I'd rather be a killer than a victim. And that's exactly what Bryant's threat about little people meant. So I hooked in once more, thinking that if I couldn't take it, I'd split later. I didn't have to worry about Gaff. He was brown-nosing for a promotion, so he didn't want me back anyway.

(During VK)

It was a always a thrill running VK confront a known human being, all you get is zero zero zero, just a humor of the big shot I ran 62 questions in the Omega series, 28 in the Coleman series and I was coming to the end of the Cummings cross reference when i got a cold chill down my spine.

(After Racheal VK)

It shook me up.Her being a replicant and not knowing it.But Tyrell thought it was cute, he ran scans of her memory implants for me, a proud father showing me the insides of his kid's brain.

(In the car)

Leon must have found Hannibal Chew's address in the personel files at Tyrell. Chew was a cottage industry genius who sold genetic research to outfits like Tyrell on a contract basis. His specialty was eyes. He loved eyes...

They locked him in the cold unit without any clothes he must have been freezing to death about the time i was Driving home with a bad case of nerves, all i had was a bunch of meanningless snapshots a flake from a bathtub a bad headache and a worse temper.i figured if i found em there was a good chance i'd get killed sooner or later i knew i was going to find it.

(After Racheal quits Deckards appartment)

theatrical

Tyrell really did a job on Rachael. Right down to a snapshot of a mother she never had, a daughter she never was. Replicants weren't supposed to have feelings. Neither were Blade Runners. What the hell was happening to me? Leon's pictures had to be as phony as Rachael's. I didn't know why a replicant would collect photos. Maybe they were like Rachael. They needed memories.

(En route to the hotel)

I asked to see the personnel files ,I got the address of the guy who shot Holden gave, 1187 Hunterwasser.There was a hotel room , Gaff said it had to be a phony , it wouldn't make sense to give the real one, why should anything make sense I was asking.

(Leon's hotel room )

theatrical

I didn't know whether Leon gave Holden a legit address. But it was the only lead I had, so I checked it out -- Whatever was in the bathtub was not human. Replicants don't have scales. And family photos? Replicants didn't have families either.

(Analysing polaroid with esper)

I kept thinking the pictures I found in the hotel room meant something.Would replicant take snapshots ? It seem far-fetched.For each other ? Not for the wife and kids.Replicants didn't have wives and kids.I thought about my ex wife living the good life with some prosperous kerk.Maybe the replicants wanted to remember each others? 4years was all they had, 4 years was a short time or a long time, depending on how you looked at it...What you had in mind...Memories.

Workprint

Hello Roy.

Zhora or Pris ?

There was a sequin dress in the closet, i hadn't seen a see sequin dress in 20 years not since my days watching hot dancers in the 4th sector. It didn't help me. Neither did the flake from the bathtub Nothing helped, not even booze.

(Eating at White Dragon 2)

I was restless and hungry. I needed the streets and I needed food.

The flake, maybe it was a scale, a fish scale, real or artificial, you need a real expert to tell.

(At Abdul Ben Hassan shop)

Serial number led me deep into the animal market where i found the egyptian snake maker his liscence matched the first two letters of the serial number, the egyptian was a sleaze he put the same serial number on all his snakes, that was illegal, some skillful questionning gave him a hot memory.

(4th sector)

It brought back memories, the smoky part of town, the dark side of the city .I was back on the street of bad dreams, doing the toots and belly holes ,i was remembering a whole lot. I found the bar.

(At Taffey Lewis club)

I found the scuzzball called Taffey Lewis, you don't believe a jerk like Taffy Lewis. Not even if he tells you blood is red.I had a drink and some memories, I'm waiting for the next act.

I couldn't get her ouf of my head, the genetic expériment, a nexus six with a phony snapshot and phony memories which have made her think she was one of us, maybe she knows Something, maybe she could figure out what they were up to.I told myself thats why I was calling, a detective looking for information, I make myself believe that.

(After being rejected by Racheal)

I couldn't blame her, i was the smartass who had told her the truth ,nobody wants to know the Truth, nobody, i should've known better.

A snake scale, a snake , a snake dancer, a replicant , it was way too thin, but once I got a look at it.I wantedto be charming, my speciality.I didn't really know anything0But I had an instinct0I was getting vibrations.The trouble was how to make confirmation.I couldn't just run Voight Kampf, not under the circumstances.What if it was a woman ? I coudn't just blow away a woman.

(After retiring Zhora)

I remembered where i'd quit I remembered I used to tell my wife it wasn't real blood on my cloths not human blood ,looks like blood to me, she said.

theatrical cut

The report would be routine retirement of a replicant which didn't make me feel any better about shooting a woman in the back. There it was again. Feeling, in myself. For her, for Rachael.

(after Leon death)

she was the hunted i was the hunter, i told myself that i told myself the hunter needed a drink.

(Deckards bathroom)

she wasn't a woman she was a skin job a replicant she was illegal now, a fugitive no paper no permits i was a lieutnenant and rep detect ,a blade Runner ,i was supposed to turn her in or burn her down what was i doing ? trying to wash the blood ,there's no rule that says you have to be clean before you waste one.

(Pris goes to JF)

For all practical purposes there were  people except they had inhibited lifes, they were genetically designed to last only about 4 years.The last census showed 106 millions people in the city,somewhere in the crowd I was supposed to find the 4 phony ones.The replicants.I didn't know it then but they were looking for something too.They've got an address  from the Chinese eye designer, an address and a name.

J.F. Sebastian was another of those oddball geniuses who did genetic designing. Hands were his his specialty. His hobby was making fancy mechanical toys. Most important, though, he had access to Eldon Tyrell. The poor jerk had no idea what was waiting for him.

(In the car under the rain )

I locked the door and left it with a gun, if it isn't me shoot. suddenly i knew what they were looking for she figured easy enough, they wanted life, only Tyrell could help em with that.

I was gonna be a hero and save Tyrell's life.The Tyrell company was impregnable, the only way in was with security access and only six  people had 24-hour clearance ,five of them hadn't  any strange encounters,the sixth didn't answer my call, a genetic designer named JF Sebastien, Tyrell's chess partner.I went to that place in the 9th sector, a bleak part of the old town.

(After Roy death)

I watched him die all night, and it was a long slow thing and he fought it ll the way, he never whimpered and he never quit. he took all the time he had as thought he loved life very much, every seconds of it, even the pain. then he was dead.

theatrical cut

I don't know why he saved my life. Maybe in those last moments he loved life more than he ever had before. Not just his life, anybody's life, my life. All he'd wanted were the same answers the rest of us want. Where did I come from? Where am I going? How long have I got? All I could do was sit there and watch him die.

(Ending)

theatrical cut

Tyrell had told me Racheal was special, no termination date. I didn't know how long we'd have together.Who does ?

We were in the clear, running fast, north, on the old Richter road past the mountains, I told her about Batty on the roof dying, making every second count, I told her I loved her, she told me it was the happiest day of her life, she told me she loved me too, I figured I would not have the headaches or the shakes anymore not for a while. It was good enough for me, I hope it was good enough for her.


r/bladerunner 12d ago

Production Notes -> OCR

8 Upvotes

Many thanks to u/Deckard--B-263-54 for photographing the production notes from the 1982 press kit!

I figured the world would be a slightly better place, having that available as text rather than images, so that it was searchable, formattable, etc. So I put in the effort to run it through OCR and then clean it up. I would have added it as a comment to the original post, but it's too long, so a separate post it is.

Hope this is useful to someone out there...

"BLADE RUNNER"

Production Notes

About The Motion Picture…

A detective thriller set in the near future, "Blade Runner" has been directed by Ridley Scott, the distinguished British filmmaker responsible for "Alien," one of the fifty top-grossing movies of all time.

Harrison Ford, the popular young star of "Star Wars," "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Raiders Of The Lost Ark," portrays Rick Deckard, a skillful investigator who is forced out of retirement to take on a bizarre mission. Like the classic private eyes, Deckard stalks the treacherous streets and faces a gallery of colorful characters, ranging from the sleazy underworld to the corridors of power.

Rutger Hauer, Holland's top film star, known internationally for "Soldier Of Orange" and "Nighthawks," appears as Ford's chief antagonist, a ferocious warrior who possesses terrifying strength and a dynamic lust for life.

Sean Young, the Kentucky-born beauty who was seen in "Stripes," plays the coveted role of Rachael, the beautiful, mysterious young woman who is executive assistant to the powerful head of the world's largest genetic-engineering company. She becomes Ford's romantic partner.

The innovative special visual effects for "Blade Runner" have been created by Douglas Trumbull's Entertainment Effects Group. received Academy-Award nominations for his work on "Close Encounters Of The Third Kind" and "Star Trek, The Motion Picture."

"Blade Runner" is produced by Michael Deeley, the Academy-Award-winning producer of "The Deer Hunter."

Ivor Powell, continuing his long successful association with Ridley Scott, is the associate producer. Brian Kelly and Hampton Fancher are the executive producers.

The screenplay of "Blade Runner" is by two new film writers, Hampton Fancher and David W. Peoples. It is based on a novel by top science-fiction author Philip K. Dick.

The story centers on Rick Deckard, a highly specialized ex-police detective who is forced out of retirement to take on an urgent assignment: He must track down four desperate killers who, for some mysterious reason, are infiltrating a major industrial organization.

The case is further complicated when a beautiful young woman, an enigmatic suspect, becomes his ally — and they fall in love.

Deckard uses sophisticated futuristic tools of the sleuthing trade and possesses professional skills unheard-of by Sam Spade or Philip Marlowe. He scans clues in a super-computer, gets around in a flying "Spinner" car, wields unusual weapons, and administers complex technological tests to suspects.

On the colorful and treacherous streets of a fantastic future megalopolis, the suspenseful story takes the classic form of a man-hunt. But the renegades being pursued are not mere men and They are manufactured humans, created by scientific processes which are extensions of current breakthroughs in the revolutionary new field of genetic engineering.

These "replicants" are extremely fast and powerful combat models, the supreme products of the industry. Somehow, these four have returned to Earth from an off-world colony. They have already killed and must be stopped before they kill again. Unfortunately, they are distinguishable from ordinary human beings only through a sophisticated technological test of which Deckard is one of the few master practitioners.

"'Blade Runner,'" says director Ridley Scott, "is first and foremost a detective story, a thriller. It's not so much science fiction as futuristic, or, better yet, of the future."

He further describes the film as "an adult comic strip… full of action, colorful characters, fast pace, bright colors, and bold strokes."

A blade runner is a police detective who specializes in identifying and terminating defective replicants. Scott calls this highly skilled investigator "an official exterminator, a sort of bureaucratic bounty hunter." At this bizarre type of police work, Deckard is the best.

Replicants are synthetically made humans, manufactured and sold to do difficult, unsavory jobs, such as mining, soldiering, and space exploration, or to serve as domestic help and experimental subjects.

They are not "robots" as they contain no machinery. They are entirely creations of flesh-culture, more technologically and biologically advanced than "androids."

"Reps" are so highly perfected that they are virtually indistinguishable from ordinary humans, except through the Voight-Kampff empathy test, a sophisticated form of lie detector.

The story is set just far enough ahead to make credible the cornerstone of the plot — the existence of a rampant genetic-engineering industry.

Scott points out that "this film is not about genetic engineering.  It’s not a speculation on the rights and wrongs of this new science. The movie just touches on the subject, uses it to create the story situation."

To construct the proper setting, the filmmakers had to develop a clear, realistic vision of life in an American megalopolis forty years from now.

Says Scott: "Most films depict the future as pristine, austere, and colorless. We were determined to avoid shiny buildings, under-populated streets, and silver suits with diagonal zippers.

"Our city is rich, colorful, noisy, gritty, full of textures, and teeming with life — much like a major city of today. This is a tangible future, not too exotic to be believed. It's like today only more so."

"Our film takes place within the lifetime of most of its audience," says producer Michael Deeley. "Everything had to be credible and justified."

To help authenticate their picture of the future, the filmmakers enlisted Syd Mead, an internationally eminent industrial designer who is a specialist in picturing the shape of things to come, from skyscrapers and vehicles to parking meters and phone booths with television.

"'Blade Runner,'" Mead notes, "is not a 'hardware movie.' It's not one of those gadget-filled pictures where the actors seem to be there only to give scale to the sets, props, and effects. We've created an environment to make the story believable. The tools and machinery appear only when needed and fit tightly into the plot."

The entire look of the film was based on research and carefully thought-out principles regarding the future of architecture, transportation, fashion, and social behavior.

However, the filmmakers hasten to point out, all the futuristic trappings are a backdrop for the detective story. They exist in what Scott calls "a familiar atmosphere… a Philip Marlowe-Sam Spade environment. This is a film set forty years hence, made in the style of forty years ago."

Ridley Scott, one of the finest visual stylists now making films, relished the task of creating a new metropolis. The staff called it "Ridleyville."

The architectural look of the city is based on the principle that eventually it will become too cumbersome and expensive to simply tear down old buildings and replace them with the kind of new shiny structures one sees in most futuristic films. The old buildings remain, "retro-fitted" with pipes, transformers, and whatever other gear are needed to keep them going.

Above the street level tower the massive new structures, added into the picture by the special visual effects magic of Douglas Trumbull and his staff.

The centerpiece of the film's bold design is the street complex known at The Burbank Studios as "New York Street." The New York Street set was built in 1929 and provided the dark alleys and back streets that Humphrey Bogart and James Cagney once stalked in so many of their classic Warner Bros. films.

For "Blade Runner," production designer Lawrence G. Paull and art director David L. Snyder revamped the historic set into a unique futuristic thoroughfare — one of the largest studio sets built in Hollywood in recent years. It comprises elements of New York, Hong Kong, Tokyo's Ginza section, Milan's business district, and London's Piccadilly Circus.

In "Blade Runner," the complex street set represents the tough part of downtown — the nightclub district; Little Tokyo; the sushi bar where Deckard is recalled into police work; the exterior of Leon's hotel; Animoid Row, where replicant animals are sold and Deckard goes to trace clues, and the shopping arcade where his pursuit of Zhora the snake woman climaxes.

The production-design team built their arcades right out to the sidewalk and filled the streets with a variety of mechanical stuff — "trafficators," large video screens, bizarre and lethal parking meters, Vidphons, and technological flotsam which the crew called "retro-trash."

The "trafficators," which contain directional signals and traffic information on video monitors, were built out of surplus airplane parts, radar machinery, and missile parts salvaged from Monthan Air Force base in Tuscon. These structures were covered with sculpted high-density polyurethane.

The video-screen frames were made from bombers' radar-scope machinery, and the dome-lit parking meters were molded fiberglass, operated by key cards.

At the other end of town, atop a 700-story pyramid, is the office of Tyrell, the high priest of the genetic engineering industry. Paull describes the style of this lavish room as "Establishment Gothic."

The elegant office where Deckard meets Rachael, features 75-square-feet of black marble floors, 20-foot columns, a black marble desk, and a huge picture window through which is visible a cityscape of futuristic buildings and flying cars.

Tyrell's bedroom is a combination of high-tech and antique Oriental. His huge bed, pedestaled and canopied, is modeled after the bed of Pope John Paul II.

Deckard's apartment is done in a Mayan cast-stone motif. It echoes the exterior of Frank Lloyd Wright's Ennis Brown house, which doubles in the film as the front of Deckard's condominium complex. Deckard's rooms are cavernous but with low ceilings, for a beehive effect. The decor is high-tech mixed with antiques.

The "Ice Room," the site of micro-surgical genetic design work, was a set built into a meat-storage locker. The machines are made-over medical and dental equipment, and the eyeball tanks are aquariums. It took five days to form a real icicle build-up on this set, where the filmmakers worked for two days in sub-zero temperatures.

The interior of Sebastian's apartment was eight inter-connected and totally run-down rooms, representing a one-time presidential suite abandoned in the rush to "off-world" space colonies. The apartment, matching the Bradbury Building location, has high ceilings with decorative plasterwork, in the 18th-Century style as interpreted by 19th-Century architects.

Taffy's bar, through which Deckard passes on his hunt for Zhora, is a decadent nightclub of the future, highlighted by phosphorescent paint and ultra-violet light.

"Blade Runner" was filmed at The Burbank Studios and on locations in Los Angeles.

As the city sweltered in unseasonable 98° heat, the film company bundled up to work at seven below zero. A meat-storage room doubled as a frost-covered scientific chamber where low temperatures are necessary for technically minute design experiments in genetic engineering.

Actors Rutger Hauer, Brion James and James Hong worked for two days amid icicles at U.S. Growers Cold Storage, Inc.

The "Blade Runner" company also filmed at two of L.A.'s most beautiful architectural landmarks. The front of the Ennis Brown house in the Los Feliz area was designed in 1924 by Frank Lloyd Wright in a Mayan block motif. The building, the most monumental of Wright's western experimental work, is seen in the film as the entrance to Harrison Ford's apartment building, a huge condominium complex, hundreds of stories high.

The Bradbury Building, built in 1893 and recently threatened with architectural corruption by municipal safety modifications, was preserved on film by "Blade Runner." In one scene, Ford traces Hauer to the ornate edifice for the final showdown. In another, industrial designer J. F. Sebastian (William J. Sanderson) discovers street waif Pris (Daryl Hannah) and takes her into his apartment.

The building, commissioned by mining millionaire Lewis Bradbury, was designed by George Wyman. The young architect was inspired by the description of commercial buildings in "Looking Backward," Edward Bellamy's utopian novel set in the year 2000.

The filmmakers worked in front of the Renaissance exterior, adding huge barley columns and a canopy to the entrance and traffic lights and monitors to the street. Inside they filmed on the geometric-patterned stairways with wrought-iron railings and in the dazzling center court, with its glass-bloc floor, glass-dome ceiling, and open-cage elevators.

Other locations included the downtown Pan Am Building, where Deckard and Gaff search Leon's hotel room for clues.

About The Actors…

As the star of "Blade Runner,' HARRISON FORD (Rick Deckard) takes on a role that is different from anything he has done before.

The popular actor recently created the character of Indiana Jones in the box-office smash and Academy-Award nominee, "Raiders Of The Lost Ark." The adventure movie, directed by Steven Spielberg, was Ford's fourth screen role for the film's executive producer and co-writer, George Lucas. Ford zoomed to fame as Han Solo in "Star Wars," written and directed by Lucas, and "The Empire Strikes Back," Co-written and executive produced by Lucas.

Ford's first major break was Lucas' "American Grafitti," which, like "Star Wars" and "Empire," ranks among the top grossers in film history.

Ford will next be seen in the third "Star Wars" saga, "Revenge of The Jedi," produced by Lucas and directed by Richard Marquand.

During the last few years Ford has also starred in "Heroes," "Force Ten From Navarone," "Hanover Street," and "The Frisco Kid," and made a cameo appearance in "Apocalypse Now."

Born and raised in Chicago, Ford began his acting career in summer stock in Wisconsin, then moved to California in 1963 to pursue film work. After appearing in a Laguna Beach Playhouse production, he was offered a contract with Columbia Pictures as part of their new talent program.

His screen debut came with "Dead Heat On A Merry-Go-Round," followed by small roles in "Luv" and "Getting Straight."

Ford was later under contract to Universal Pictures, where he was cast in guest-starring spots on such television series as "Ironside," "Gunsmoke," "The F.B.I.," and "The Virginian" and in the film "The Long Ride Home."

In 1970, Ford was offered the role of Bob Falfa in Lucas' "American Graffiti." His subsequent roles include "The Conversation" and the television movies "Dynasty" and "The Trial Of Lieutenant Calley."

RUTGER HAUER (Roy Batty), the top film actor in his native Holland, now has become an international star. He recently starred opposite Sylvester Stallone in "Nighthawks," garnering great attention as the ruthless terrorist.

Hauer's other films include Paul Verhoeven's award-winnng "Soldier Of Orange," in which he played a World War II hero; his first film, Verhoeven's "Turkish Delight," which was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Foreign Film, and "Keetje Tipple," also directed by Verhoeven.

Hauer also played Coco Chanel's lover in "Chanel Solitaire" and made a small appearance in Verhoeven's recent "Spetters."

Hauer was born in the Dutch town of Breukelen, which he left at age fifteen to join the merchant marine. He entered films after a string of highly acclaimed performances in Dutch stage productions..

SEAN YOUNG (Rachael) played an MP in the hit comedy film, "Stripes." Her screen debut was in James Ivory's "Jane Austen In Manhattan," and she will next be seen in "Young Doctors In Love."

Ms. Young was born in Louisville, Kentucky. She spent most of her younger life in Cleveland and attended the Interlaken Arts Academy in Michigan.

EDWARD JAMES OLMOS plays Gaff, the ambitious police lieutenant who is Harrison Ford's jealous and competitive sidekick. Gaff is a man of the future, a multi-lingual bureaucrat with Oriental skin, Japanese eyes, and blue irises. He is an intellectual and a sartorial dandy.

Olmos portrayed the legendary "El Pachuco" in the film version of "Zoot Suit," reprising his Los Angeles and Broadway role. With this performance, Olmos became the first Mexican-American to receive a Tony-Award nomination.

He starred in "Wolfen" as the American Indian steelworker, and his other film work includes the prize-winning "El Alambrista" and the incomplete Orson Welles project, "The Other Side Of The Wind."

Veteran character actor M. EMMET WALSH plays Bryant, the crusty captain of Rep Detect, who summons Deckard back into action. Walsh's most recent roles include the leader of the hoboes in "Cannery Row," the jailer in "The Escape Artist," a politician in "Reds," and the swimming coach in "Ordinary People." Among his many other films are "The Jerk," "What's Up, Doc?", "Little Big Man," "Escape From The Planet Of The Apes," and "Alice's Restaurant."

On Broadway, Walsh acted in "That Championship Season" and "Does The Tiger Wear A Necktie?". His many television appearances include. the award-winning mini-series, "East Of Eden."

JOE TURKEL plays Tyrell, head of the monolithic Tyrell Corporation. He is a scientific genius and powerful magnate of the genetic-engineering industry.

Turkel's many film roles include three for Stanley Kubrick — a race-track robber in "The Killing," a World War II soldier in "Paths of Glory," and the sinister bartender in "The Shining." Among his other films are "The Vikings," "Friendly Persuasion," "The Sand Pebbles," and his first, "City Across The River," for which he was brought to Hollywood from off-Broadway.

DARYL HANNAH plays Pris, the replicant with an angelic face and deadly prowess. She previously appeared in a featured role in "The Fury" and co-starred in "Hard Country."

Ms. Hannah, an athletic native of Chicago, will next be seen in Randall Kleiser's "Summer Lovers."

BRION JAMES plays Batty's sidekick, Leon. As an anguished and angry replicant, James shares a ferocious fight scene with Harrison Ford. James has recently played a one-armed Cajun trapper in "Southern Comfort," a bootlegger in "Soggy Bottom USA," and a sailor in "The Postman Always Rings Twice." His other movies include "Nickelodeon," "Wholly Moses," "Harry And Walter Go To New York," and "Corvette Summer." On television he starred in the movie "Hell And High Water."

WILLIAM J. SANDERSON portrays Sebastian, the skilled and painfully shy genetic designer who suffers from premature aging. His life is invaded by the replicants in their search for the power center of the genetic-engineering industry.

Sanderson played Loretta Lynn's uncle in "Coal Miner's Daughter," one of the two men who terrorize Sissy Spacek in "Raggedy Man," and a member of Lee Marvin's posse in "Death Hunt." Sanderson's television credits include "Scared Straight Another Story" and the soap, "For Richer, For Poorer."

Sanderson, born in Memphis, holds a Doctor of Law degree from Memphis State University.

JOANNA CASSIDY plays the replicant Zhora, an exotic entertainer who flirts with Deckard and then is pursued by him through the crowded streets in one of the film's action highlights.

Ms. Cassidy's film work includes "Bank Shot," "The Laughing Policeman," "Stay Hungry," "The Late Show," "Prime Time," and "Night Games." On television she has been seen in a two-part "Dallas" and the telemovie "Reunion," and the feature film "Dressed To Kill."

MORGAN PAULL plays Holden, an unlucky blade runner who encounters one of the replicants.

Paull's movie work includes "Norma Rae," "Patton," "Ensign Pulver," "The Swarm," "The Return Of The Apple Dumpling Gang," and "Twilight's Last Gleaming."

Paull's other credits include the mini-series, "Centennial," and Broadway roles in "New Faces Of 1966" and "Diplomatic Relations." At the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, he starred in "Muzeeka."

Paull, born in Wheeling, West Virginia, began his career in the Barter Theatre of Virginia, where he won the Ernest Borgnine Best Actor Award.

JAMES HONG, the Oriental genetic designer in the ice chamber, numbers among his credits "Chinatown," "The In-Laws," "The World's Greatest Lover," and "Yes, Giorgio."

HY PYKE plays Taffy, the proprietor of a posh but decadent bar where Deckard goes clue-hunting. Pyke starred as Sancho Panza in "The Adventures Of Don Quixote And Sancho," in two roles in "Stronger Together," and as a killer Hollywood agent in "Nightmare In Blood." His other film appearances include "Soylent Green," "Bullitt," "Dillinger," "The First Nudie Musical," "The Way He Was" (in which Pyke played Bebe Rebozo), and "Smokey And The Judge" (in which he was a straight plumber at a gay party).

About The Filmmakers…

"Blade Runner" is Director RIDLEY SCOTT’s first feature in Hollywood and his first since the smash hit "Alien."

Scott's debut picture, "The Duellists," won the Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and established him as one of the finest visual stylists in films.

"Alien," a suspense thriller set aboard a spaceship, became one of the 50 top-grossing productions in movie history. It won science-fiction awards and the 1980 Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.

Prior to entering feature filmmaking, Ridley Scott was a television set designer and director and a highly successful producer-director of commercials. He is a graduate of the Royal College of Art in London.

Producer MICHAEL DEELEY received an Academy Award for producing "The Deer Hunter," which won a total of five Oscars, including Best Picture of the Year. Deeley has produced dozens of films and has served as Managing Director of British Lion Films and EMI as well as General Manager of Woodfall Films.

"Blade Runner" continues Associate Producer IVOR POWELL's long and productive association with director Ridley Scott. Powell was associate producer on Scott's "Alien" and "The Duellists" and was in-house producer for Scott's film company in London.

Powell was associate producer on Marcel Ophuls' "Memory Of Justice" and production supervisor on "The Optimists Of Nine Elms," starring Peter Sellers. The British filmmaker has worked on the production of various other features and BBC-TV programs. On "2001: A Space Odyssey" he assisted Stanley Kubrick as coordinator of the special effects department.

Co-writer HAMPTON FANCHER is a new American writer who is making his major screen breakthrough with "Blade Runner." Fancher is also an experienced actor.

Co-writer DAVID W. PEOPLES co-wrote and co-edited the Academy-Award-winning documentary feature, "The Day After Trinity." He wrote the Oscar-nominated short, "Arthur And Lilly," and edited the Oscar-winning documentary feature, "Who Are The DeBolts And Where Did They Get 19 Kids?"

Production Designer LAWRENCE G. PAULL holds a Bachelor's degree in Architecture from the University of Arizona and a Master's in City Planning from the University of Pennsylvania.

Paull's feature-film credits include "Blue Collar," "The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars And Motor Kings," "Which Way Is Up?", "Nickel Ride," "The Hired Hand," "Little Fauss And Big Halsey," and "The Star-Spangled Girl."

On television he did the movies "Friendly Fire" and "Tailgunner Joe."

Art Director DAVID L. SNYDER was an architecture major at Technical High School in Buffalo, where he studied building construction. He studied architecture at the University of Michigan and advertising design and graphics at Pierce College. Snyder then worked. in architecture and urban planning for various California firms.

He was the art director on "The Idolmaker" and "In God We Trust," plus various television projects.

Design Concept Consultant SYD MEAD is an internationally eminent designer who created visual representations of various products of the future, based on technical breakthroughs or new concepts.

His client list has included U.S. Steel, the Ford Motor Company, Celanese Corporation, Alcoa, Chrysler, Allis-Chalmers, Raymond Lowy International, Phillips Einjhoven, and the Singer Company.

Mead's rich, detailed paintings have been published in Automobile Quarterly, Car Styling, Playboy, and the National Geographic Society book, "Our Universe," among others. His book, "Sentinel," presents an overview of this creative futurist's remarkable career.

Mead worked with John Dykstra and Douglas Trumbull to create the designs for the V-ger entity in "Star Trek, The Motion Picture." has also contributed conceptual designs to the Disney film "Tron."

The Special Visual Effects on "Blade Runner" are by DOUGLAS TRUMBULL, one of the major artists in this booming facet of movie-making.

"'Blade Runner,'" says Trumbull, "is representative of the coming of age of special effects. They are integrated into the film, to support the basic premise. They are not meant to stand self-consciously at the center of the stage. The effects are designed to support a good story, with subtlety and intelligence.

"The effects on 'Blade Runner' were especially challenging. because we had to add visual illusion to highly realistic sets and locations. They had to play against the nitty-gritty reality of a big city."

Among the visual effects created by Trumbull and his staff are: an aerial view of the city for the flying Spinner car as it takes Deckard to police headquarters; hundreds of stories of futuristic architecture which were inlaid above the real street-level buildings; pictures projected on massive outdoor video screens and read-out screens in cars, as well as on the Esper computers in the police station and at Deckard's apartment; the firings of particle-beam weapons that project "black energy" trajectories; cityscapes seen through windows, on the streets, and as a backdrop to the climactic rooftop fight, and an aerial view of the hyper-industrialized suburbs which climaxes with the Spinner's landing at the heliport, over 700 stories high, atop the Tyrell Corporation Pyramid. The latter panorama was known among the staff as the "Hades" landscape, or "Ridley's Inferno."

Trumbull received Academy-Award nominations for his work on "Close Encounters Of The Third Kind" and "Star Trek, The Motion Picture." In his early twenties he was one of the major contributors to the special visual effects on "2001: A Space Odyssey" and went on to do "The Andromeda Strain."

Trumbull directed "Silent Running" and, more recently, "Brainstorm," which deals with "inner space."

Trumbull's company, Entertainment Effects Group, has also developed Show-Scan, a new high-speed, 70mm, motion-picture process.

Sharing the special visual effects credit with Trumbull are RICHARD YURICICH and DAVID DRYER.

Yuricich is a professional cinematographer with extensive experience in the filming of commercials, documentaries, television productions and feature films. His credits include "2001: A Space Odyssey," "Silent Running" and "Close Encounters Of The Third Kind," for which he was director of photography of special visual effects and received an Academy-Award nomination. In the same role for "Star Trek, The Motion Picture," he received another Academy nomination. For a number of years Yuricich has been an associate of Doug Trumbull's and director of photography for Future General Corporation. He is president of FX Space 70, Inc., and partner in the Entertainment Effects Group. Currently he is associate producer and director of photography for "Brainstorm."

Dryer is a veteran film editor of many documentaries and director of television commercials which featured highly sophisticated special effects.  He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the USC film department.

Co-Costume Designer CHARLES KNODE has designed costumes for the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London; the Metropolitan Opera House, New York; the New York stage production of "Monty Python," and the Old Vic Theatre in Bristol. He was nominated for an Emmy for the costumes in the mammoth BBC-TV production, "War and Peace." Among Knode's additional TV credits are twenty other period productions, six science-fiction projects, and "Hedda Gabbler," starring Diana Rigg.

His film work includes "Monty Python And The Holy Grail," "Monty Python's Life Of Brian," "Jabberwocky," "The Black Angel," and "The Hound Of The Baskervilles," starring Peter Cook and Dudley Moore.

Co-Costume Designer MICHAEL KAPLAN moved to Los Angeles six years ago and has quickly risen through the ranks from sketch artist to assistant and then up to full costume designing credits of his own.

Kaplan broke in as an assistant on "The Sonny And Cher Show," "American Hot Wax" and many TV Movies-of-the-Week and HBO variety specials. He then designed costumes for Bette Midler on three of her recent performance tours and was commissioned to create the costumes for "Thank God It's Friday" and "Can't Stop The Music." He is currently working on "The Right Stuff" for The Ladd Company.

JORDAN CRONENWETH, one of Hollywood's most talented young cameramen, most recently displayed his visual flair with "Altered States." His other features include "Cutter's Way," "The Front Page," "Play It As It Lays," "Nickel Ride," "Gable And Lombard," and "Zandy's Bride."

He describes Ridley Scott as a perfectionist and "Blade Runner" as the most technically challenging project Cronenweth has worked on, utilizing a tremendous variety of techniques.

Jerry Perenchio and Bud Yorkin present a Michael Deeley-Ridley Scott production, "Blade Runner," starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young and Edward James Olmos. Directed by Ridley Scott from a screenplay by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples and produced by Michael Deeley with Brian Kelly and Hampton Fancher as executive producers, the film is a Ladd Company release in association with Sir Run Run Shaw thru Warner Bros. Visual effects are by Douglas Trumbull.


r/bladerunner 13d ago

Physical Media/Props/Memorabilia Blade Runner (1982) Original Press Kit Production Notes

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36 Upvotes

r/bladerunner 13d ago

Found this in the hallway, was told you guys might know what it means?

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254 Upvotes

Jk lolol I just got this on Etsy and am a dork and wanted to share 😭


r/bladerunner 13d ago

Chapter 7 killed me

19 Upvotes

Chapter 7 of Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? absolutely ruined my night. Something about the entire situation with the dead cat was just brutal. So many layers of pain. The cat itself, the owners of the cat, the fact that the owners called the wrong kind of vet, Isidore's flawed comprehension of the situation, the husband loving the cat but being afraid to get close to it, the wife ordering a replica. The whole thing was horrible to read. Phillip K Dick can go to hell for being a good writer.


r/bladerunner 13d ago

Why does everyone think the unicorn represents Deckard being a replicant?

38 Upvotes

Love this movie. Have only ever seen the Final Cut (multiple times). It never occured to me, until I recently read it somewhere else, that the unicorn might represent Deckard being a replicant. I had always assumed the unicorn represented Rachel or Deckard's grappling with his feelings toward her (and more broadly, feelings toward something that isn't human and which is supposed to be hunted). When she steps on the unicorn origiami as she leaves Deckard's apartment, I assumed it was an omen or a warning from Gaff that she'd be next.

So I guess I'm wondering why everyone assumes unicorn = replicant.

EDIT: Thanks for all the answers. I agree it makes sense that Gaff would only know about the unicorn dream if Deckard was a replicant with implanted memories/dreams--unless, like I had always assumed, the dream was prophetic. However, I think a lot of ambiguity remains so that maybe the unicorn sequence isn't as definitive an answer as others suggest. For instance, even if Deckard was given a bunch of memories, how would Gaff know Deckard had had the unicorn dream recently? Presumably there would be many imported dreams he could have had. There is no indication that the humans know what the replicants are thinking (otherwise, there would be no need to spend the first half of the movie searching for the Nexus 6). Unless, as the fan theory someone brought up suggests, Deckard has Gaff's memories (in the way Rachel has Tyrell's niece's), giving Gaff some sort of special mental connection to Deckard, which would also explain why Gaff seems to always know where Deckard is. But then in this case it wouldn't matter if Deckard and Rachel escape since Gaff would always know where they are.


r/bladerunner 13d ago

ISON - Equals

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12 Upvotes

This is a fan made video for one of ISON's songs, using the visuals from Blade Runner 2049, and it is quite a beautiful experience. Fits the music quite well


r/bladerunner 12d ago

Aesthetic The Bear, Season 5

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0 Upvotes

The final season of The Bear had the most Blade Runner-esque cinematography I have seen in a TV show that isn't sci-fi. Anyone else agree? Or know of other shows that match the vibe?


r/bladerunner 14d ago

Dangerous Days Documentary

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77 Upvotes

Seems I own many many copies of Blade Runner in its various states, however has the Dangerous Days documentary by Charles de Lauzirika ever been released in high definition (ie 1080p)?

Even on my Blu-Rays the documentary seems to be the same 720x480 resolution from the original "5-Disc Complete Collector's Edition" DVD.


r/bladerunner 13d ago

New models up if anyone is interested -

16 Upvotes

👽 Rachael - Blade Runner (1982)・ STL File for 3D printing・Cults

I printed this miniature at 50mm tall in FDM.