Blade Runner turns 25: an appreciation by Mythbuster Adam Savage

Many readers of The Smart Patrol are also fans of the TV show Mythbusters (check local listings). It turns out that one of the hosts of Mythbusters is a bit of a geek for a movie that many of us hold dear.

Blade Runner turns 25: an appreciation by Mythbuster Adam Savage: "Xeni Jardin:

Snip:

Twenty-five years ago, the Ridley Scott film Blade Runner became an instant science fiction classic. Set in a sodden, squalid Los Angeles of 2019, the neo-noir masterpiece influenced a generation of filmmakers and video-game designers. Long before I teamed up with Jamie Hyneman to form the MythBusters, I was a special-effects modelmaker, and Scott's cyberpunk gem almost instantly became the most important film in the canon of movies I love.

I'm still such a big Blade Runner fan that I watch it at least once every 18 months. I also own pretty convincing replicas of the 'blade runner blaster' wielded by Harrison Ford's world-weary former cop Rick Deckard. The source material was a Steyr Mannlicher .222 target rifle magazine cover, with a Bulldog .44 carriage underneath. I can't get enough of this prop. Now, I want a working one.

Link to 'Blade Runner at 25: Why the Sci-Fi F/X Are Still Unsurpassed,' at Popular Mechanics, by Adam Savage

Link to the Blade Runner Director's Cut DVD on Amazon, here's a big fat fansite, here's the Wikipedia entry, here's IMDB. (thanks, Matt Sullivan)

Reader comment: Mike says,

To go along with your Blade Runner 25th anniversary story, a replica of Deckard's firearm is currently for sale on ebay with about 1 day left: Link.

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(Via Boing Boing.)

If you got this far (thanks) I have to add that the film is flawed but nevertheless is a fascinating watch. The upcoming supercool DVD box set promises to be a geeky treat.

thePrisoner (not a skin job, probably)