Blade Runner Series Wrap Up and Filling in the Blanks

Title: Blade Runner Series Wrap Up and Filling in the Blanks

Description: Today we are joined by our frequent guest, Erik Fogg of the Reconsidered Podcast to wrap up this series on the Blade Runner series of films. We look at how the messages and the themes of Blade Runner carry through each of the films. We also take a deeper look into the Blade Runner universe through a series of shorts that were released prior to the opening of Blade Runner 2049.

Learn More About our Guest:
Erik Fogg of the Reconsider Podcast
www.reconsidermedia.org

Blade Runner Shorts:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrZk9sSgRyQ (Black Out 2022 Anime Short)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgsS3nhRRzQ&t=1s (2036: Nexus Dawn Short)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZ9Os8cP_gg (2048: Nowhere to Run Short)

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Music Provided by:
“Crossing the Chasm” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Image Credits:
https://letterboxd.com/film/blade-runner-2049/

Begin Transcript:

, [00:00:00] this is beyond the big screen podcast with your host, Steve Guerra. Thanks again for joining us today. Today, we are going to wrap up our series on blade runner and blade runner 2049. And the past three episodes we’ve discussed these two movies and the really powerful themes they uncovered and discuss.
Today, we’re going to discuss how the two movies fit together and explore a few more issues that came up and just try and tie these two movies together. I’m very happy to be joined the gun by Eric of the reconsider podcast. And as we well know, since you’ve listened to the three previous episodes, we know that reconsider as a political and current events podcast, Eric, and as partners and or help you contextualize current politics and [00:01:00] history and broader forces and political theory reconsider helps you rise above the one-liners the 140 character politics and the tribal narrative and their motto is we don’t do the thinking for you.
Thank you so much for coming on for a fourth time, Eric. Yeah, my pleasure. I mean, obviously I love your show. And one of the things I really love about talking about movies, like this is it lets us look at. Um, and by like this, I mean, I mean really good movies that do a great job, exploring society, exploring humanity.
They let us, as people really look into. Humanity and looking to society today through, in another place where it’s sort of safe, right. Where we can say, or we can say, Hey, what, what does this tell us about humans as a whole about society, about government, about how we get along with each other as a whole, um, where we’re not as emotionally tied up in it.
Right? Cause this, this isn’t our [00:02:00] world. It’s, it’s just a story, but we can learn a lot from it. And so it gives us this opportunity to ask some questions about ourselves that aren’t as threatening. Whereas, you know, as, as I’m sure you’re aware from the. Political climate. If someone from your not from your political tribe asks these kinds of questions in a way that’s not comfortable for you, you can get very defensive.
And so movies can be a great place to be able to have some of those tough questions. And when they’re, well-built, they’re they’re questions that are open to everyone. I think blade runner does a great job of that, and I’m always happy to keep talking about it and other, you know, other great movies like that with you, just a great movie as a sandbox to see how a lot of different ideas can be played out.
Yeah, exactly. And the, I think the true brilliance of blade runner as a Saifai and something that is, I think the. The what’s it, the gold standard of scifi is it doesn’t just get us asking, oh, what happens when like this technology [00:03:00] comes around? That’s interesting, right? That is an interesting question.
But when we, when we see humans whose nature is, you know, somewhat constant acting in a world where the technological and sort of societal and resource forces are incredibly differently and we ask, why are they acting this way? This is different from the way that we act today, what is it about our nature that.
Roughly is reflected in that behavior that is true today that we should really pay attention to that’s when you’ve hit the gold standard and blade runner. Does that, uh, yeah, absolutely. Before we dig in, I heard through the grapevine, one of the greatest podcasting stories that actually has to do with your podcast, that your partner Zander was standing in line to get a book signed and actually overheard something.
We have to share this story. Okay. Yeah, this, this is a great story. Zander Zander shared it with me and sort of, as soon as he was done, [00:04:00] um, he couldn’t help, but get me on the phone. And of course he’s in the west coast and it was an ed thing. So for me on the east coast, it was really late. I was like, oh my God, what does he want?
And he tells me that she’s standing in line to get a book signed by Mike Duncan. So Mike Duncan, as the history of Rome podcaster and the revolutions podcaster, and obviously a huge work, huge fans, and he’s a big inspiration to us. And we, of course both got his book, the storm before the storm, uh, which is about the decline and fall of the Roman Republic.
Actually the, the, the fence immediately before the decline and fall of the Roman Republic. Also something I really like, because just like with fiction history is a great place for us to start asking some of these questions about ourselves. And so. And of course everyone in line, it’s a big line, Mike, Duncan’s a big deal if you’ve not heard of him.
And of course all everyone else in line, it’s like a big history and podcast nerd as well. And so they’re talking about, of course, you know, the United States and [00:05:00] the late Roman Republic, because what else is on your mind when you’re just hanging around thinking about the decline and fall of the Roman and the Roman Republic.
And one guy says they start talking about voting, right? They start saying like, oh, what are alternative ways for us to vote or ways to create a more stable, uh, functional representative Congress? I’m like, I guess, you know, I was listening to this podcast recently and they actually talked about this. They had a whole bunch of different ways to, to vote, uh, You know, they explained it theoretically and then explained it with a bunch of other countries.
And I really liked to their Ireland example. And Xander’s that years per cup. He’s like we talked about Ireland recently and this guy goes on to explain pretty well apparently how, um, Ireland’s election system worked and it’s one that I’m a fan of. And, uh, and people go like, oh, that’s really interesting.
I’m gonna listen to it. What’s this podcast called. And he goes, oh, it’s called reconsider. And I really like it because, uh, what’s their motto. It’s, it’s something like, uh, we don’t, we don’t think for you or we let you think for yourself [00:06:00] and Zander puts on his radio voice and he goes, we don’t do the thinking for you.
And this guy’s like, oh yeah, you listened to it too. So the effect was like slightly lost. He goes, well, I do, but I also make it I’m I’m Zander one of the co-hosts and like everyone’s heads explode a little bit. Um, and so all of a sudden, Sandra has this, this crowd around him because, you know, Of course, it was just this magical moment where someone is gushing, about how much they love a podcast and there’s the co-host right there.
Uh, so they had a great time together and of course he just gave out a bunch of business cards and hopefully got a bunch of new fans. And then he got to see Mike Dunkin, which was actually the highlight of the night because Mike is so cool. Um, and you know, that’s, uh, that was, uh, that was a real treat for me to hear because of course, you know, as, as, you know, as a fellow podcast or we put so much work into this and it doesn’t pay a freaking dime.
And so, you know, what do you really get out of it? And sometimes we like hearing ourselves talk, um, but just to get some independent. [00:07:00] Uh, some independent validation from someone who doesn’t know that you’re there, that you’re doing a good job, that, you know, you’ve helped people learn some stuff and they really care about what you’re talking about.
That just, it, it, you know, it brightens your day. That’s just the best story, the best podcasting story ever. Now let’s dig into these movies, uh, and wrap them up. We have blade runner from 1982 blade runner 2049, which came out in 2017, then release shortly before the blade runner 20 49, 3 shorts were released that were meant to bridge the 1982 blade runner movie, which has sat in 2019 to bridge to the blade runner 2049.
And we’ll work on a kind of base the episode around those shorts and then expand on them a little. Maybe we can just talk really briefly about what were some of the plot points that crossed over [00:08:00] between blade runner and blade runner 2049, some of those themes that carried over across the two films?
Yeah, definitely the way I like to think of the, or the way I like to name the three shorts in order to keep them right in my head is with their dates, not date of release, obviously, but the dates that they’re involved. So this blade, you know, the first one is blade runner also known as blade runner 2019, which was when it was set.
And then the three shorts are set in 2022. 20 36, 20,