Sat 15 Dec 2007
Things you discover upon repeat viewings of Blade Runner (now out on a stunning - STUNNING! - new DVD transfer in the Final Cut DVD set): the screen inside the spinner, the flying police car in 2019 Los Angeles has the same graphic design as the screen inside the Nostromo in Alien. Both directed by Ridley Scott.
See for yourself:
The top image was captured at the 15 minute mark on the Alien Director’s Cut (found on Alien Quadrilogy (Alien/ Aliens /Alien 3 /Alien Resurrection)
The bottom image was captured at the 9 minute mark on the Blade Runner (Five-Disc Ultimate Collector’s Edition)
What do we make of this? Option 1: Scott is (or was) a consummate visionary, and in his head Blade Runner and Alien take place in the same universe, albeit at different corners of it, and that perhaps the Nostromo and the Spinner were made by the same corporation.
Option 2: Scott needed footage for the screen design and ripped-off his own movie.
December 15th, 2007 at 5:18 am
If you would have put the two options up for a poll I would vote for the second option.
December 15th, 2007 at 12:18 pm
“Blade Runner and Alien take place in the same universe, albeit at different corners of it”
Alien, it would seem, takes place four seconds after Blade Runner.
December 24th, 2007 at 6:19 pm
Both films were shot with the same overall feel and look. I think it’s safe to say that they likely re-used the graphic in both films for the sake of expedience and cost. However, there’s no real reason that the two films could not be from the same universe. An interesting rivalry opens up, then between Wayland/Yutani and the Tyrel Corporation when it comes to “Artificial Persons”.
January 11th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
For years, it’s been documented that there are other clues in both movies to indicate they are occuring about the same time frame.
There are lines in Blade Runner about going ‘off-world’ and working for the ‘company’, mining for ores, etc.