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The "Erotic Machine" that Got Cut From Bladerunner's Script watch!

tv.boingboing.net — Today on Boing Boing tv, Boing Boing Gadgets editor Joel Johnson visits the studio of artist and futurist Syd Mead, who designed the film's dystopian look and feel. We learn about the "erotic machine" he dreamed for the replicant Zhora, a breast-shaped dreampod was cut from the script when director Ridley Scott ran out of dough.

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  • u8muhrice, on 07/23/2008, -3/+10that would definitely be an interesting "deleted scenes" from the DVD.
  • ltdraper, on 07/23/2008, -17/+34Think of what that movie could have looked like with today's technology.
    • MrSkills, on 07/24/2008, -6/+49Nothing would ruin it quicker than the "hyper-real" (i.e. obviously not real) CGI that pervades movies these days.
      • wazzledoozle2, on 07/24/2008, -9/+3It would look better than a lot of the ***** special effects in the original blade runner. Especially the cityscape shots.
    • wedges, on 07/24/2008, -0/+35wait... are you secretly George Lucas?
    • oderdigg, on 07/24/2008, -4/+21It's called Star Wars 1, 2 and 3 and they SUCKED.

      I ***** hate George Lucas.
      • Tomchei, on 07/24/2008, -2/+3Because he took some great villains and turned them into kids?
    • denizen42, on 07/24/2008, -0/+6It would be nice, as long as it avoided today's brainless imbecile mass-market crap scenario adaptations.
    • RobotBuddha, on 07/24/2008, -0/+10They'd never be able to make it as good as it is now. The beauty of bladerunner is how much of it wasn't effects. The sets were some of the most elaborate ever made, coming right before the CG prevalence began.
    • Draculecom, on 07/24/2008, -0/+10Buried for retarded, you Lucas Fanboy.

      Point is, what they accomplished back then is admirable on so many levels. The last of the great live-action model sets, L.A. and the sets are organic, something you can't recreate in CGI - as impressive as it is. BR was dirty and better for it.
    • milkmage, on 07/24/2008, -1/+4yeah. look what happened to star wars with todays technology. go away ltdraper

      agreed RobotBuddah/Draculecom - the way they did the special effects was the key. multiple camera passes with colored filters and good ol' scale models.

    • krisscofield, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1that would mean also imagining the Burger King endorsements, MTV Specials and Myspace layouts that would milk the movie for all it was worth and kill the franchise for the current generation. /vomit
    • Ferago, on 07/25/2008, -1/+2Won't have to worry for long, I'm sure there's a ***** remake or sequel/prequel in the works.
  • nbabasketball, on 07/23/2008, -9/+1This film has such a cult following I'm sure someone will re-make it in the next decade or so. A breast shaped dreampod will surely make it into the re-make. I think Woody Allen had something similar in "Sleeper".
    • milkmage, on 07/24/2008, -0/+3the orgasmatron was the thing from Sleeper.

      Blade Runner does not need to be remade. period.

  • leahpee, on 07/24/2008, -10/+2Deleted scenes = OM NOM NOM NOM
  • krypton70, on 07/24/2008, -1/+50dugg for the genius that is Blade Runner
  • Battlecry, on 07/24/2008, -5/+12"The 1982 cyberpunk cinema classic Blade Runner remains one of the most influential science fiction movies of all time, and tops many a nerd's favorite films list."

    Blade Runner is cyberpunk? I've never really thought of it that way before.
    • gn0stik, on 07/24/2008, -3/+15And you'd be correct. There is nothing Cyberpunk about Blade Runner. It's sci-fi. Good sci-fi. Great sci-fi, in fact, that needs no en-vogue genre titles attached to it, to make it any better.
    • CptBuck, on 07/24/2008, -0/+16I think they called it cyberpunk just because a lot of cyberpunk novels borrow so much from noir, like neuromancer. The aesthetic of cyberpunk though, that vision of the future, i think is one that shares a lot from Bladerunner. The influence of Asian culture on Snow Crash, for instance. The lack of computers or anything like that in Bladerunner puts it squarely in Sci-Fi Noir though.
      • mikesbaker, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1uh I totally disagree that Neuromancer was influenced by film noir. Cheeba city was described as lots and lots of lights. kind of the opposite of a grim urban setting with lots of dark over tones. neuromancer started cyberpunk and william gibson coined the term cyberspace.
    • CrucialMatt, on 07/24/2008, -0/+9From the Oxford-American dictionary

      cyberpunk: "genre of science fiction set in a lawless subculture of an oppressive society dominated by computer technology."

      so maybe not.
    • Jack9, on 07/24/2008, -0/+10As per another comment,

      "genre of science fiction set in a lawless subculture of an oppressive society dominated by computer technology"

      It can be said the replicants are the ones in the lawless subculture. So yes, cyberpunk. Heck, the Roy Batty character has a typical cyberpunk haircut and eccentric mannerisms.
    • mikesbaker, on 07/25/2008, -0/+2its not cyberpunk - cyberpunk started in 1984 with neuromancer
    • Xviper78, on 07/25/2008, -3/+0This is as much of a cyberpunk movie as it is a comedy.
    • bizkit00, on 07/25/2008, -1/+1You all need to watch the Cyberpunk Educator. Look it up.
  • bluepill2, on 07/24/2008, -1/+82Hey, great interview and stuff, but there was nothing about the dreampod erotic machine! Did I miss it? did it end up in the editing room floor for -this- interview too?
    • otbeverly, on 07/24/2008, -0/+13You're not the only one. I was even listening to it again while browsing these comments, but I might as well stop as it's obviously not in there.

      Still a cool interview ... especially the part about the people watching the same channel in the housing pyramids.
    • ZeNiTH456, on 07/24/2008, -0/+19I feel cheated.
    • Mizzike, on 07/24/2008, -0/+8Yeah, I stopped at 6:41 after I kept switching back and forth between the video and the comments, before finally burying this bitch as inaccurate. Thanks for nothing, MakiMaki. :-)
      • gandhii, on 07/25/2008, -0/+2Yea.. I'm stuck with a hard choice. I enjoyed watching the video.. but the submission is entirely inaccurate.
    • ayeroxor, on 07/24/2008, -3/+5I think it might have been edited out of the video after this was submitted! Check out the description below!

      "Today on Boing Boing tv, Boing Boing Gadgets editor Joel Johnson visits the studio of artist and futurist Syd Mead, who designed the film's dystopian look and feel. We learn about the "erotic machine" he dreamed for the replicant Zhora (this breast-shaped dreampod was cut from the script when director Ridley Scott ran out of dough),"

      What gives, boingy?
  • gn0stik, on 07/24/2008, -0/+7Wasn't Zhora an Opera singer in the book?

    I have to say, although I was pretty disappointed in Ridley Scott's choice to abandon much of the plot of the book, it is one of the only movies that I can say is probably better for it.

    I would have liked to have seen some more of the Mercerism subplot though, it added a lot of motivation to the characters in the book, and gave more weight to the moral conflict of the Decker character.
    • SpectralSounds, on 07/24/2008, -0/+4This "Erotic Machine" they are talking about is probably based off of the Penfield Mood Organ from the book.
    • The_Red_Monkey, on 07/24/2008, -0/+2Yup, she was an opera singer. The movie has little to do with the book really. There is a huge religious undertone in the book.
      • Diggnabbit, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1I'm not saying that you're wrong about the relation to the book, but there's a huge religious undertone to the movie, too.
    • RobotBuddha, on 07/24/2008, -0/+3Same here on all counts. I'm glad it wasn't 'electric sheep: the movie". But I also really think that a bit with mercerism would have made it felt more like a philip k dick novel.
      • MrBester, on 07/24/2008, -0/+2Lest we forget, Phil Dick heartily approved of Ridley Scott's take on the book. It was just a shame he died before he could even see the theatrical trailer. However, I'll bet that he knew Ridley intended Deckard to be the missing replicant from the start while the rest of us argued and fretted for twenty years.
      • mardraum, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1MrBester: not to be a prick but he was never intended to be the missing replicant, saying six instead of five was just a mistake (which they fixed in the final cut). he's pretty unambiguously a replicant, though.
  • shadowspawn, on 07/24/2008, -1/+11Bad, boingboing, bad. Either inside joke or advertisement zing to suck us bladrunner fans.
  • rz8472, on 07/24/2008, -2/+2I've seen things...
  • ThePerkins, on 07/24/2008, -10/+10That was as erotic as seeing my great grandparents felch eachother in the shower.
  • UserNull, on 07/24/2008, -4/+10Like tears in the rain...
  • Draculecom, on 07/24/2008, -2/+2Where you asked to do anything that's lude or unsavory or otherwise repulsive to your person, uh?
  • Justice101, on 07/24/2008, -5/+2Wasn't this on the front page a few hours ago?
    • Radica1Faith, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1Stories that hit the front page stay there for more than a few hours.
  • koft, on 07/24/2008, -1/+9I always though that big pyramid building was the corporate headquarters of that genetics company. Never realized it was a giant apartment complex.
    • MrBester, on 07/24/2008, -0/+4It was both.
      Think of it like the blocks in the Mega-Cities (2000AD: Judge Dredd, et al). Everything you need is contained in one massive building; shops, apartments, offices, etc. all without the need to step into the constant L.A. rain with all those undesirables like Taffy Lewis. Hence the "if you're rich enough to live there" bit. If you weren't you found a convenient Bradbury building like all the other "little people" or went to a slightly less glitzy block or to the offworld colonies. A chance to begin again in a golden age of excitement and adventure. Etc. Very Raj.
      Tyrell Corp. had their headquarters in the most expensive building in the city. Of course.
  • thegrantman, on 07/24/2008, -0/+18Nothing about the "erotic machine". I wonder what the movie would have been like had Stanley Kubrick made it.
  • forevernomad, on 07/24/2008, -4/+3Great story, but an advert within 5 mins are you serious? I hope the dreampod thing was cool but I stopped watching at 4.40 when they popped that ad right in there. Ads on loading - fine, ads in little menu bars at the bottom of screen - fine, ads like on TV in an online vid - DO NOT WANT!
    /rant

    Though I am gonna go find BR online and enjoy watching it again.
  • crowmind, on 07/24/2008, -3/+1MMMMMMHMMMMM
  • OSXpert, on 07/24/2008, -0/+9Barbarella had an erotic machine:

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=ye5Jo1I4XXc
  • tylerlb, on 07/24/2008, -0/+6Didn't see a thing about the erotic machine mentioned in the title, rather a video about the art design of the movie.

    Buried and ... http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special% ...
  • TheRedeemer, on 07/24/2008, -14/+2Blade Runner sucks. I had to see it last week in my Science Fiction class...no wonder it bombed in the box office on its opening run. Oh yeah, ***** Vangelis, too.
  • neFariou5, on 07/24/2008, -0/+10Awesome interview, but ***** misleading, inaccurate article.
  • judicar, on 07/24/2008, -1/+3In the book Deker has a "mood organ" ... organ as in a piano, playing certain combinations would imbue a particular mood on a person, I've wondered if the piano he has in his apartment in the movie is a homage to this.
    • Langues, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1It wasn't really an instrument in the book fyi.
  • Tyrghast, on 07/25/2008, -0/+4Inaccurate, I am the Erotic Machine.
  • MendotaLee, on 07/25/2008, -0/+6Syd Mead is a god.
  • jedisushi, on 07/25/2008, -0/+4God, I love Blade Runner. Got the special edition of the Final Cut (came in a Voight-Kampff case). It's a cinematic treasure. I don't really know what else to say.
    • lemonkey, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1I agree and have the same special edition, but in some scenes it appears to be too clean, in that the special effects that were shot in 60mm (I think?) are way too clear and lose some of the atmospherics.
  • edud, on 07/25/2008, -7/+2Blade Runner is so overrated. The only good thing about it is the Production Design and the music by Vangelis. The acting is awful and the pacing is boring. The only moving scene is the dialogue in the end between the characters of Rutger Hauer and Harrison Ford on the rooftop.
    • Diggnabbit, on 07/25/2008, -0/+2The pacing is boring? Sorry it's not whiz-bang enough for you. Sometimes great movies are slow.
      • edud, on 07/25/2008, -1/+2I am curious. Can you give me some examples?
      • tribble222, on 07/25/2008, -0/+2The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly or 2001 A Space Odyssey, off the top of my head.
      • Diggnabbit, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1Most Hitchcock movies (Vertigo is REALLY slow and absolutely brilliant). And, as tribble222 points out, 2001 makes it clear that sci-fi need not be speedy/action-y.
    • lemonkey, on 07/25/2008, -0/+2It's such a rich world that I prefer it being slower paced so you have time to absorb it all.
  • mdcraig62, on 07/25/2008, -0/+5God, I still love this movie after all these years....
  • Firethorne, on 07/25/2008, -0/+4Buried as inaccurate. Great interview, but doesn't say anything about what this description says.
  • sandworm, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1still one of the best sci fi films ever made, even the butchered studio release version was so stylistically different and visually wicked it just stood out when I saw it in the theater at 14 yrs old. Loved seeing the Directors cut in the theater too, it just looks so cool on a 50' screen.
  • BOFH2, on 07/25/2008, -2/+2ditopian(?) nuarish(sp?) - douche
    • SYunker, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1its dystopian, and noir-ish. And yes, he was sort of a douche.
  • Dognutz, on 07/25/2008, -1/+0Yet again another Boingboing Video that has missing the content named in the title.
  • Enchorito, on 07/25/2008, -1/+2Buried again for yet another misleading title with no payoff. Granted it was an interesting video, but the cheap tactics are *****. Why are people still digging this???

  • vaxguru, on 07/25/2008, -0/+2I only saw Blade Runner for the first time about 2-3 months ago and after the first viewing I thought to myself, "that was pretty impressive but not as good as I was led to believe." A few weeks later I watched it two more times and then it started to sink in.
    The first thing to hit me was the music. I did notice it on the first viewing but the 2nd viewing made it really hit home. It was absolutely beautiful. I had never heard electronic music like it before. I now listen to a couple of tracks from it almost everyday.
    I could go on about the other things I truly loved about the film but this post would become quite long winded. All in all, a brilliant movie and one that I has become one of my all time favourites.




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