It’s possible that Godard also intended the umbrella as a reference to the surrealists, who were fond of using them as symbols of the mystique and evocative power of everyday objects. In a recording he made to accompany Une femme est une femme, Godard says, “A red umbrella: Aragon,” referencing Louis Aragon and perhaps the motto that he and his fellow surrealists borrowed from the writings of the Comte de Lautréamont, who once described a young boy as “as beautiful as the chance meeting on a dissecting table of a sewing machine and an umbrella”. The transparent umbrella carried by Charlotte in Lost in Translation (2003) is part of Sofia Coppola’s ongoing campaign to elevate the flimsy, disposable accoutrements of girldom to the poetic realm, but it also represents her protagonist’s particular emotional condition. As her marriage unravels, Charlotte is enclosed, yet exposed; observing the world at a remove; oddly protected by her pain. This type of umbrella is also particularly cheap and popular in Japan, and so serves to emphasise Charlotte’s cultural displacement – itself a metaphor for the mingled misery and liberation of finding oneself unloved. You’ve got a little boy. He shows you his butterfly collection plus the killing jar. What do you do? What does the future actually look like? Chances are what you see in your mind when presented with that question is heavily influence by Syd Mead. He is an industrial designer, but his body of work — which includes some of the most iconic Sci-Fi movies ever filmed — built a much more interesting job title for him: Visual Futurist. Meanwhile later models become more and more docile and subservient, first with David serving his maker Peter Weyland better than Roy served Eldon Tyrell, and then with Ash perfectly obeying his corporate masters but with a sadistic streak in Alien. Finally, Bishop in Aliens (1986) is a benign and dutiful synthetic, albeit he was never programmed to betray his crewmates. For humans, Bishop (Lance Henriksen) is the preferred robot to keep around, but that is because he is the least like us and the least likely to follow the beat of his own drum.

The Voight-Kampff Machine, or VK, from Blade Runner is an extremely advanced form of lie detector that functions on blush response, pupil dilation, respiration, heart rate, and other physiological factors in response to emotionally charged questions to determine if the interrogation subject does or does not dream of electric sheep. It’s also an awesome prop, making it a great subject for our Sci-Fi contest. Morrison, Rachela. 1990. Casablanca meets Star Wars: The Blakean dialectics of Blade Runner. Literature Film Quarterly 18 (1): 2–10. There are many in the fan communities for both series’ original films— Alien (1979) and Blade Runner (1982)—who swear by this theory. And we certainly think, to a point, that it has merit. Granted, if we are being completely honest, the likelihood of ever getting a firm commitment or denial from filmmakers seems unlikely since ambiguity breeds interest. Meanwhile as each franchise is owned by different studios with 20th Century Fox having been the distributor and financial powerhouse behind every xenomorph adventure since the ‘70s, and Warner Bros. buying the rights to Blade Runner in 2011, it is almost impossible to imagine any sort of crossover ever occurring. Like Roy before him, Weyland wishes to entreat his maker for more life, and also like Roy he is disappointed. Another similarity is the disappointment the human characters (and perhaps the audiences too) feel in the Engineers being mortal aliens and not deities… those that are also quite destructible, just as Tyrell’s skull was in Roy Batty’s hands. Just Ask Ridley Erv’ Plecter] replaced the central support rod for the umbrella with a clear polycarbonate tube. An optic cable snakes through the hollow tube, illuminated by a Luxeon LED in the handle. The custom PCB and 900 mAh battery are both housed there as well. Take a look at (and listen to) the demo after the break. We’ll need to add this to our future projects list right after that Lightsaber movie replica build.The machine itself is an odd mix of 70’s and 80’s electronics with older technology. Three mini CRT displays, a sensor arm, and a bellows are some of the machine’s best-known features. [Tom] is starting with the sensor arm, an odd mix of belts and telescoping rods. He’s already got a manually operated prototype built. Add a motor, and one part of the machine is ready for action. While speaking on one of many Blade Runner DVD director’s commentaries, Scott said this about their similarities:

But for whatever is in the actual movies, those in charge of marketing and fan-baiting at 20th Century Fox have been stoking this theory for years. Look no further than the 20th anniversary Alien DVD from 1999, which hid deep in its extras this fascinating easter egg: apparently Tom Skeritt’s Capt. Arthur Dallas freelanced a stint for the Tyrell Corporation of Blade Runner. The LayerOne conference takes place in greater Los Angeles and this year it adopted a Blade Runner theme in honor of that landmark film. My favorite part of the theme was the conference badge modeled after a Voight-Kampff machine. These were used in the film to distinguish replicants from humans, and that’s exactly what this badge does too. In the movies, replicants are tested by asking questions and monitoring their eyes for a reaction — this badge has an optional eye-recognition camera to deliver this effect. Let’s take a look!

Often imitated but never fully replicated is Vangelis’ Golden Globe nominated synth score. Recorded on an Yamaha’s CS-80 synthesizer, these ambient textures were as vital to creating the universe of the film as the set design (which drew inspiration from Edward Hopper paintings and Fritz Lang’s Metropolis), costume, lighting and Orwellian ‘Cityspeak’ language invented for the film. Salamoff, Paul J. 2018. Why the theatrical cut is the truest version of Blade Runner. In The Cyberpunk Nexus: Exploring the Blade Runner universe, ed. L. Tambone and J. Bongiorno, 100–110. Edwardsville: Sequart. Blade Runner showed us a dystopian megatropolis vision of Los Angeles in the far-off future. What was a distant dream for the 1982 theater-goes (2019) is now our everyday. We know Los Angeles is not perpetually overcast, flying cars are not cruising those skies, and replicants are not hiding among the population. Or… are they? What am I to you? In Blade Runner 2049: A philosophical exploration, ed. T. Shanahan and P. Smart, 228–247. London: Routledge. Livingston, Paisley. 2006. Theses on cinema as philosophy. Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 64 (1): 11–18.