Enhance
June 21, 2016 12:20 AM Subscribe
After studying Alien in intimate detail, it’s time to look at the typography and design of Ridley Scott’s other classic sci-fi movie, Blade Runner.
Let me tell you about my eye color...
posted by Artw at 1:34 AM on June 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Artw at 1:34 AM on June 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
Click on the iconography images; they're hilarious. I especially like the ones for "AREA SHIELDED FROM RADIATION" and "RADIATION HAZARD".
posted by Joe in Australia at 1:50 AM on June 21, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by Joe in Australia at 1:50 AM on June 21, 2016 [5 favorites]
The Roy Batty inception date thing came up not long ago, and the date formatting was spotted then too. Some great detective work in there, particularly this part:
If I didn’t know better, I’d suggest that someone in the Blade Runner production department had a used sheet of Letraset hanging around, and didn’t want the leftovers going to waste.
And he'd have gotten away with it too if it weren't for you meddling geeks!
posted by Acey at 3:43 AM on June 21, 2016 [10 favorites]
If I didn’t know better, I’d suggest that someone in the Blade Runner production department had a used sheet of Letraset hanging around, and didn’t want the leftovers going to waste.
And he'd have gotten away with it too if it weren't for you meddling geeks!
posted by Acey at 3:43 AM on June 21, 2016 [10 favorites]
Thirdly, and most importantly, the date section of Leon’s serial number is just plain wrong. He’s listed with a serial number date section of 41717, and yet he was incepted on 41017:
Honestly, folks: these are the kinds of details that make or break a movie.
Yeah, that just ruined the whole film for me.
posted by octothorpe at 5:20 AM on June 21, 2016 [7 favorites]
Honestly, folks: these are the kinds of details that make or break a movie.
Yeah, that just ruined the whole film for me.
posted by octothorpe at 5:20 AM on June 21, 2016 [7 favorites]
Blade Runner is such a wonderful mish-mash of signage and typography. It's part of the appeal for me.
I'm kind of surprised that, in talking about the Spinner, he highlights the use of Eurostile Bold Extended, but never once discusses the really odd choice of typeface for the words "Police 995."
posted by Thorzdad at 5:29 AM on June 21, 2016 [6 favorites]
I'm kind of surprised that, in talking about the Spinner, he highlights the use of Eurostile Bold Extended, but never once discusses the really odd choice of typeface for the words "Police 995."
posted by Thorzdad at 5:29 AM on June 21, 2016 [6 favorites]
The Spinner logo itself looks like it was lifted directly from the sign of a 1980's theme park flat ride.
posted by clorox at 5:35 AM on June 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by clorox at 5:35 AM on June 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
I never understood what a Blade is or what Running one is supposed to mean, if anything. It's almost as if they just needed a shorter title.
posted by thelonius at 6:20 AM on June 21, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by thelonius at 6:20 AM on June 21, 2016 [4 favorites]
squeeeee I've been hoping they'd do this since the Alien one.
posted by aspersioncast at 6:26 AM on June 21, 2016
posted by aspersioncast at 6:26 AM on June 21, 2016
"It's almost as if they just needed a shorter title."
It's more interesting than that (second answer is the more canonical), although I'm sure that was a factor.
posted by aspersioncast at 6:29 AM on June 21, 2016 [4 favorites]
It's more interesting than that (second answer is the more canonical), although I'm sure that was a factor.
posted by aspersioncast at 6:29 AM on June 21, 2016 [4 favorites]
I never understood what a Blade is or what Running one is supposed to mean, if anything. It's almost as if they just needed a shorter title.
I hear they're gonna spell it out more in the remake they're working on with Wesley Snipes as the vampire hunter who doesn't know that he himself is a vampire called Blade: Runner.
posted by straight at 6:35 AM on June 21, 2016 [5 favorites]
I hear they're gonna spell it out more in the remake they're working on with Wesley Snipes as the vampire hunter who doesn't know that he himself is a vampire called Blade: Runner.
posted by straight at 6:35 AM on June 21, 2016 [5 favorites]
@GoranJovic The Wikipedia article answers why they named it, and if you follow the link where they discuss where the name came from it states who came up with it, why, and what it means. I would say that since two Wikipedia articles both entitled "Blade Runner" contain your answer, the question was poorly researched. –
You've still got it, StackExchange!
posted by thelonius at 6:38 AM on June 21, 2016 [11 favorites]
You've still got it, StackExchange!
posted by thelonius at 6:38 AM on June 21, 2016 [11 favorites]
Blade: Runner is, coincidentally, the long-awaited tie-in with the Maze Runner films.
posted by beerperson at 6:38 AM on June 21, 2016
posted by beerperson at 6:38 AM on June 21, 2016
When I was a teenager, I came up with what seemed to me the reason for the title. Per the cliche, many "walk the razor's edge." When shit gets real, you have to run along the blade. A "blade runner" was someone on the cusp of destruction and in an impossible situation. Very teenager, yes, but I still prefer it to the actual answer.
(Also considered as a solution in my youth: per a scene that ended on the cutting room floor, the replicants ran a shave-kit smuggling ring. Original film title was Foamy Gel Smugglers, changed per studio interference.)
posted by Harvey Jerkwater at 7:34 AM on June 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
(Also considered as a solution in my youth: per a scene that ended on the cutting room floor, the replicants ran a shave-kit smuggling ring. Original film title was Foamy Gel Smugglers, changed per studio interference.)
posted by Harvey Jerkwater at 7:34 AM on June 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
"They were called Blade Runners because they would peel the suspect apart and see what mechanics lay beneath the surface, whether the clockwork was human or replicant. Their 'blades' were their Voight-Kampff machines, sniffing out the biological responses inherent in every real human. And they would run that blade until somebody didn't flinch and that's when they knew they got their 'man'."
posted by I-baLL at 7:39 AM on June 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by I-baLL at 7:39 AM on June 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
(That is, to say, the answer can only come from within the fictional universe as it is that fictional universe's slang.)
posted by I-baLL at 7:41 AM on June 21, 2016
posted by I-baLL at 7:41 AM on June 21, 2016
Any discussion of the Blade Runner title is best informed by the existence of William S Burroughs' 1979 novelization of an unmade movie treatment of a novel. The book has nothing to do with Scott's movie, other than that the title rights were bought because someone thought it sounded cool.
posted by Nelson at 8:07 AM on June 21, 2016
posted by Nelson at 8:07 AM on June 21, 2016
I thought Blade Runner was the gritty prequel to the Homestar Runner universe.
posted by Strange Interlude at 8:08 AM on June 21, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by Strange Interlude at 8:08 AM on June 21, 2016 [4 favorites]
This article really bugged me because it seemed entirely disrespectful to the movie Blade Runner. My memory of the Alien and 2001 treatments the same author did were they were loving, giving real insight into why those two films both looked so awesome. Blade Runner also looks awesome, but instead the author mostly just snarks on it. As amusing as it is to spot a Letraset dry transfer scrap being reused, I was hoping to read more about what made Blade Runner look so good. Perhaps it had more to do with the cinematography and set design.
posted by Nelson at 8:10 AM on June 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Nelson at 8:10 AM on June 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
Yeah, I was annoyed by his snark. World building is hard and he seems to think that finding a few IMDB style goofs is worth getting snide about.
posted by octothorpe at 8:19 AM on June 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by octothorpe at 8:19 AM on June 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
This level of snark can only come from a place of deep love and caring.
posted by OverlappingElvis at 8:56 AM on June 21, 2016 [8 favorites]
posted by OverlappingElvis at 8:56 AM on June 21, 2016 [8 favorites]
Enjoy this while you can before Blade Runner is retroactively ruined.
posted by entropicamericana at 8:59 AM on June 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by entropicamericana at 8:59 AM on June 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
Psst: don't miss the post on Moon, in which the filmmakers stop by in the comments. Great stuff.
posted by Acey at 9:18 AM on June 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Acey at 9:18 AM on June 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
Enjoy this while you can before Blade Runner is retroactively ruined.
Alien is just fine post Prometheus, TBH, so I think we are okay.
posted by Artw at 9:33 AM on June 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
Alien is just fine post Prometheus, TBH, so I think we are okay.
posted by Artw at 9:33 AM on June 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
Prometheus was not terrible, really, it was a beautiful and incoherent mess. Crystal Skull, on the other hand, was irredeemably awful. I only indorse Harrison Ford's revisiting classic movie roles insofar as he continues to kill himself off in each one.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 9:38 AM on June 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 9:38 AM on June 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
Enjoy this while you can before Blade Runner is retroactively ruined.
What ruins it is that Ryan Gosling is so good at acting like a detached, android-like entity in his films that we know the plot even before the sequel comes out.
posted by a lungful of dragon at 10:35 AM on June 21, 2016
What ruins it is that Ryan Gosling is so good at acting like a detached, android-like entity in his films that we know the plot even before the sequel comes out.
posted by a lungful of dragon at 10:35 AM on June 21, 2016
I never understood what a Blade is or what Running one is supposed to mean, if anything. It's almost as if they just needed a shorter title.
Blunner
posted by zippy at 10:45 AM on June 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
Blunner
posted by zippy at 10:45 AM on June 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
After a second read, I realize the author was joking, but here's some info on that red eye effect anyway.
posted by lagomorphius at 11:25 AM on June 21, 2016
posted by lagomorphius at 11:25 AM on June 21, 2016
I thought you guys were nitpicking, but yeah, the snark in this one is distracting and unnecessary.
posted by werkzeuger at 11:30 AM on June 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by werkzeuger at 11:30 AM on June 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
Blade Runner Reboot casting: Keanu Reeves, Jason Statham, Steven Seagal, Sylvester Stallone, and Andie MacDowell
posted by zippy at 11:58 AM on June 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by zippy at 11:58 AM on June 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
The snark didn't bother me, I thought it was all good natured. But the fact that the author completely ignored typography about halfway through was annoying. From the Shimano-Dominguez advertisement on down, there were many screen caps with lettering, but pretty much zero discussion about type faces. What is the ESPER font?? Unfortunately those details never made it into the article.
posted by slogger at 1:27 PM on June 21, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by slogger at 1:27 PM on June 21, 2016 [5 favorites]
Enjoy this while you can before Blade Runner is retroactively ruined.
It's already made the transition from "futuristic" to "retrofuture". I screened the Final Cut with some friends a couple weeks ago and enjoyed pointing out during the police station scene that some of the incept dates were already in the past.
posted by neckro23 at 2:47 PM on June 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
It's already made the transition from "futuristic" to "retrofuture". I screened the Final Cut with some friends a couple weeks ago and enjoyed pointing out during the police station scene that some of the incept dates were already in the past.
posted by neckro23 at 2:47 PM on June 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
(If any experts in microprocessor based electronics or color transparencies for backlite displays are reading this article, your insight would be gratefully appreciated.)
Sounds like Microfiche, though that has a lot more than 40 images per sheet.
posted by larrybob at 5:08 PM on June 21, 2016
Sounds like Microfiche, though that has a lot more than 40 images per sheet.
posted by larrybob at 5:08 PM on June 21, 2016
It's already made the transition from "futuristic" to "retrofuture".
I wonder how long it will be till people start considering it and Steampunk basically the same thing. Probably now, TBH.
posted by Artw at 6:21 PM on June 21, 2016
I wonder how long it will be till people start considering it and Steampunk basically the same thing. Probably now, TBH.
posted by Artw at 6:21 PM on June 21, 2016
I believe this has also been deconstructed.
Sir run run shaw
posted by locidot at 9:03 PM on June 21, 2016
Sir run run shaw
posted by locidot at 9:03 PM on June 21, 2016
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posted by clorox at 12:53 AM on June 21, 2016 [4 favorites]