Alien Saga Blog
“Serve In Heaven Or Reign In Hell?”
An Update On Blade Runner: Black Lotus - The Anime - Coming July 2020
A still from Blade Runner: Blackout - 2022
It’s been over two years since Alcon announced a partnership with Crunchyroll on a Blade Runner series. Tweets to Crunchyroll have gone unanswered. All of that will change in a few weeks time as Crunchyroll is set to give updates on a few of their projects that remain in-development.
Check out this link for more information!
If You’re A Fan of Blade Runner- This November 2019 Event Is Not To Be Missed
From the guys behind Shoulder of Orion: The Blade Runner Podcast comes an event that no fan of Blade Runner will want to miss. Located in the heart of downtown Los Angeles in the historic Pacific Stock Exchange building, this exclusive event will feature:
Joanna Cassidy, Golden Globe award-winning actor who portrayed Zhora in Blade Runner. Paul M. Sammon, film historian, journalist and author of Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner. Charles de Lauzirika, award-winning director/producer, and restoration producer of Blade Runner: The Final Cut.
Joanna Cassidy as Zhora in Blade Runner(1982)
An event like this only happens once in a life time. Steps from the Bradbury Building, an iconic location used in the filming of Ridley Scott’s seminal science fiction film, Los Angeles, November 2019: An Event promises to bring those in attendance closer to the 1982 film than ever before.
“How could we not throw an event? That’s the question we asked ourselves.
“We knew it would be tough. We’re a small but healthy podcast that covers all things Blade Runner. We felt collectively that we had to plan an event that would bring all fans of Blade Runner together. This will only happen one time IN history. What better way to celebrate a film that has had such a powerful impact on our lives?”
-Jaime Prater founder and cohost
Tickets are still on sale, but they’re going quickly. Click here for tickets:
Event Details:
SHOULDER OF ORION: The Blade Runner Podcast
Invites you to an exclusive event at Exchange LA, a venue located inside the historic Pacific Stock Exchange Building, built in 1931.
The venue is only blocks away from the famous Bradbury Building and other filming locations.
Special guests:
Joanna Cassidy, Golden Globe award-winning actor who portrayed Zhora in Blade Runner
Paul M. Sammon, film historian, journalist and author of Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner
Charles de Lauzirika, award-winning director/producer, and restoration producer of Blade Runner: The Final Cut.
EVENT SCHEDULE:
• 11am: Doors open
• 12pm-2pm: Panel discussion on the film with our special guests
• 2pm-3pm: Audience Q & A
• 3pm-4pm: BREAK
• 4pm-end: Private screening
For more information visit www.bladerunnerpodcast.com
or contact us at bladerunnerpodcast@gmail.com
One Day Only Blade Runner Inspired Event Comes to Downtown Los Angeles November 2019
If you’re a fan of science fiction films, particularly the Blade Runner universe, you’ll understand how big a deal the year 2019 is. The question on everyone’s mind is, what’s happening in November? Shoulder of Orion: The Blade Runner Podcast wants to answer that question.
LOS ANGELES, NOVEMBER 2019: AN EVENT
Exchange LA 618 S Spring Street, Los Angeles
Located in the heart of downtown Los Angeles at the historic Pacific Stock Exchange building, just steps from the Bradbury Building (an iconic shooting location from Ridley Scott’s 1982 sci-fi masterpiece) comes an event sure to win the hearts of Blade Runner fans the world over.
Featuring a two-hour panel with headlining guests, an hour Q&A and a private screening.
Charles de Lauzirika, producer of Blade Runner: The Final Cut and director of the storied Dangerous Days Blade Runner documentary.
Paul M. Sammon, film historian and author of Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner.
Joanna Cassidy, Golden Globe award-winning actor and Zhora in Blade Runner, also seen in Six Feet Under, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and The Package.
Tickets start at $40 for general admission and go up to $68 for premium tickets.
LOS ANGELES, NOVEMBER 2019: AN EVENT
618 South Spring Street
Los Angeles, California
November 13th, 12pm-7pm
Prices $40-$68
For more details check out the official website for the event
For tickets
REPLICANTS UNDERGROUND: EXPANDING THE BLADE RUNNER UNIVERSE
Blade Runner 2049 was the long-awaited and highly anticipated sequel to Ridley Scott’s seminal film Blade Runner, released in 1982. When Blade Runner 2049 left theaters, the fate of the franchise seemed uncertain.
When the 2017 film left theaters, it did so quietly. On a budget of 125 million, and a lot of hope, the film failed to perform well enough to green light a sequel, continuing the legacy of its very highbrow successor, which had also underperformed. What 2049 did do, is energize and reinvigorate a hardcore fan base, particularly the only Blade Runner podcast: Shoulder of Orion.
“I loved 2049” says Jaime Prater, founder and co-hosts of the Podcast. “2049 is a masterpiece, a miracle of a film that has continued to move me intellectually, psychologically and emotionally unlike any film in the past five years. As a writer it was inspiring me to put my own stamp within the universe but in a very different way.”
Prater’s ideas were flowing and he decided to write an hour-long audio drama set within the world of the original Blade Runner film and its prestigious sequel, 2049.
“I wrote 2020: Gethsemane in four days, and then I spent the next year with one of my co-hosts Daniele Ferlito honing the story and the world we were creating.”I called it Gethsemane as a reference to the the garden where Christ is handed his fate. The current socio-economic and political climate is rockier than it has ever been and I wanted to write a story that felt deeply personal, specific to Blade Runner while also speaking to everyone from every walk of life.”
Synopsis:
2020: Gethsemane follows the lives of three Nexus 8 Replicants in hiding as they are confronted with a choice: do they risk their lives for something bigger than themselves, or do they remain safe?
“Such a treat to get new material that is so carefully crafted and ‘in world’ yet very much its own story”
-David B.
Gethsemane is set in San Francisco in the year 2020, just after the events of Ridley Scott’s film Blade Runner. It features an original score written for the drama by Patrick Greene.
“I listened to this fully last night. Let me just say, I found it astounding. This was a terrific job that captured the heart and soul of Blade Runner. I felt like I was within the Blade Runner universe as well. And the production, acting, writing, music, was so good. Like the first film, it wasn't an overly complicated story, but I won't forget its central character. And the hour transported me.”
- Paul W.
Gethsemane was released on June 24th via the official podcast website www.bladerunnerpodcast.com/gethsemane and is available for streaming on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify and iTunes.
Tunes: bit.ly/shoulderoforionitunes // Google Play: bit.ly/shoulderoforiongoogleplay
First Color Image of New Blade Runner ‘2019' Comic Drops
Releasing November 19, 2019, Blade Runner, 2019. Titan has just released the fully realized version of the new Blade Runner, Ash. For more info, check out this link.
NEW BLADE RUNNER COMIC: FIRST LOOK IMAGE
From Entertainment weekly comes our first look at characters from the new Blade Runner comic.
More info to be found here.
Stay tuned for more information.
RISE: IS SENTIENCE THE KEY TO BEING HUMAN?
RISE is a concept short film starring the late and brilliant Anton Yelchin, Rufus Sewell, produced and directed by David Karlak. Lifting basic elements of the story from Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, RISE chronicles the plight of sentient robots and their will to live and exist in society among their human makers. This concept film is/was part of a larger campaign to get the film made. I hadn’t heard about it until today.
There’s a sequence in the film that’s almost a direct homage or recreation from a scene in the Animatrix. While the fate of Rise is up in the air, upon first look, this short film is not to be missed.
-Jaime for Shoulder of Orion: The Blade Runner Podcast
@SoundGoAsunder
Jaimeprater@gmail.com
Is It Real? Creating the World of Blade Runner 2049
Chris Menges of Weta Workshop. Tomas LeMarquis. Loren Peta as Rachael 2.0.
Shoulder of Orion: The Blade Runner Podcast was granted exclusive access to major players in Denis Villenueve’s masterpiece, Blade Runner 2049. The information discussed in these interviews is not available anywhere else. Weta Workshop’s miniature team, featuring Steven Saunders, Joaquin Loyzaga, and Chris Menges (pictured above), along with Rachael 2.0 star Loren Peta, and Tomas LeMarquis who performed Wallace Corp’s File Clerk opposite Ryan Gosling’s Officer K. Each interview provides unfettered access to the top secret behind the scenes process that would bring Blade Runner 2049 to life.
Shoulder of Orion: The Blade Runner Podcast is the only Blade Runner podcast of its kind, offering heady discussion on the themes, characters and processes of both Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049. For access to our repertoire of episodes and discussions check out our main site or find our episodes through iTunes, Spotify, Podbean, TuneIn or Google Play.
Shoulder of Orion: The Blade Runner Podcast was formed in August of 2017. After not finding an outlet of discussion for the Blade Runner films, podcast founder Jaime Prater decided to answer the void with an official fan podcast covering all things Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049.
Jaime Prater
@SoundGoAsunder
JaimePrater@gmail.com
Musings of a Luvstruck Mind
by Iain Souter
I find Luv a truly tragic character. While I grieve for Joe, at the movie’s end, my heart breaks for Luv. She is Ariel and Caliban, both, to Wallace’s perversion of Prospero. A truly tortured being, a demigod child raised by a parent who is emotionally abusive to the Nth degree, fracturing her psyche and creating a monster. The glimpses of her vulnerability and inner torment - the eye twitch and the lone tear - are utterly convincing. In a thirty year career, I specialised as a detective in cases involving physical and sexual abuse, and of children, in particular. I always think of a seven year old boy, who had been raped by another boy - a teenager - who spoke quietly to me, in a monotone, which didn’t alter in pitch or intensity once, as he described exactly what was done to him. His face was frozen as his voice, emotionless and still, except for the tears, which fell constantly from his eyes, for over thirty minutes. He was entirely unaware of the fact that he was even crying, his emotional trauma was so great.
That is why I find her such a terribly sad character. When Joe kills her at the end, it’s an act of mercy, of release. The way he gently strokes her cheek, after releasing her throat, tells me that he knew this also.
It also resonates with me that Wallace calls her the best of all his “angels”. I had a very Catholic upbringing. Catechism, mass, communion, confession and more catechism, on a daily basis, even before the school began (the school was affixed to the church, and more than half our teachers were jesuits and nuns). It was always instilled in me that biblically speaking, angels are not the fluffy guardians who shield us from all harm, if we have the right colour crystals and our chakras are in harmony with their “true names”. They were the messengers of God, and as such, they were truly terrible, both in aspect and character. When these swords of god were sent, plagues swept the land, or else nations fell, firstborns died, cities were blasted to ashes and even the faithful were turned to salt for disobeying a single command. They swept the world of life, for their God, bringing the rains. They are said to be the ones who shall unleash the end of all things, breaking the seals that unleash the Beast. They are not merciful beings. They have no souls - that gift was given to Man, and Man alone. This is from a Biblical point of view, of course, not a personal one.
So when Wallace speaks of his angels, and of Luv being the best of them all, and when she is clearly such a destructive and tremendously damaged character, wreaking death in the very heart of the police station, not once but twice? Yes, I’d agree with Wallace. HIS creations ARE meant to be angels. Swords of God, perfect in every way that he wishes them to be. Soulless, devoid of conscience, bred to obey him utterly and to bring him the stars and all the worlds beyond - and, I believe, somewhere along the way, help fulfil his yearning for godhood and possibly even immortality, through them.
Luv is all that, and more; the distillation of the same savagery, which drove Batty in a killing spree through the the colonies, across the galaxy, and back to his flawed manipulative creator. While Joe represents the light side of Batty, which evolved from his feelings - his love - for Pris and his fellows, Luv is that darker side. While she echoes Rachael in appearance and playfully silken tones, she is Wallace’s sword, through and through, striking down any and all who get in the way of the quest to unlock the puzzle that maddens her creator and holds him back. He might as well be the hand striking Coco, or wielding the blade that ends Joshi and, ultimately, Joe. She is his creature, more effectively collared than any dog - regardless of how her childish ego has to demean and diminish this male competitor to her title. This is why she lets him live, in Vegas, I believe. Because he has been brought to heel by someone fit to be his mistress - a better, matchless perfect servant of their Creator. “Still the best”. She forgets him, almost as soon as she turns from his unconscious body. While her intention might, conceivably have been to let him die slowly, I believe the contrary. This is a creature who has developed a taste for killing up close, in an intensely personal way. Stabbing someone to death is an almost sexual act, providing a leave of gratification which simply cannot be felt by killing from afar. While she clearly uses the drone to relieve her ennui, and thereby assist the hound they have loosed upon the trail of Rachael’s child, her face comes alive only when she strikes up close - the perfect, beautiful mask dropping, then, to reveal the savage lurking beneath the surface. Caliban unleashed.
Her childlike rage, the screeching, gurgling tantrum, when she realises, finally, that she has been bested by this same hound, is truly awful to watch. It’s as mesmerising, as it is repulsive and tragic, all at once. Euthanising a savage beautiful creature, which never stood a chance and never chose to be the way she has been moulded.
She breaks my heart, every single time.
It’s an incredible performance, by Sylvia Hoeks. For me, it’s unquestionably the standout of the movie.
