A replicant is a bioengineered or biorobotic being created in the film Blade Runner. The Nexus series — genetically designed by the Tyrell Corporation — are virtually identical to an adult human, but have superior strength, agility, and variable intelligence depending on the model. Because of their physical similarity to humans, a replicant must be detected by its lack of emotional responses and empathy to questions posed in a Voight-Kampff test. A derogatory term for a replicant is "skin-job." Replicant DVD cover Replicant is a 2001 film starring Michael Rooker and Jean-Claude Van Damme and directed by Ringo Lam. ... For other uses, see Biomechanical. ... This article is about the 1982 film. ... The Tyrell Corporation is a fictional corporation from the 1982 Ridley Scott film Blade Runner. ... Voight-Kampff Originating as a fictional tool in Philip K Dicks novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, the Voight-Kampff machine or device (spelled Voigt-Kampff in the book) also appeared in the books screen adaptation, the 1982 science fiction film Blade Runner. ...

Origin

Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? which inspired Blade Runner used the term android (andy), but director Ridley Scott wanted a new term that did not have preconceptions. As David Peoples was rewriting the screenplay he consulted his daughter who was involved in microbiology and biochemistry. She suggested the term "replicating" which is the process of duplicating cells for cloning. From that Peoples came up with "replicant" and inserted it into Hampton Fancher's screenplay. Philip Kindred Dick (December 16, 1928 – March 2, 1982) was an American writer, mostly known for his works of science fiction. ... Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is a 1968 science fiction novel by Philip K. Dick. ... This article is about the 1982 film. ... “Mechanoid” redirects here. ... Sir Ridley Scott (born November 30, 1937 in South Shields, South Tyneside) is a British film director and producer. ... David Webb Peoples (born c. ... Hampton Fancher (born July 18, 1938 in Los Angeles, California, USA) was an actor who transitioned into being a producer and screenwriter in the late 1970s. ...

As for the Tyrell Corporation, it's probably homage to the 1974 fictional television series Kolchak: The Night Stalker, where the "Mr R.I.N.G." episode features a violent genetic-mechanical hybrid android that develops a survival instinct. To avoid deactivation, the android escapes and collects artifacts and possessions, attempting to become more "human". The manufacturer of the android is the "Tyrell Institute." Darren McGavin as Kolchak in The Night Stalker (1972) Kolchak: The Night Stalker is a television series that aired on ABC in 1974, about a newpaper reporter -- Carl Kolchak, played by Darren McGavin -- who investigates crimes with mysterious and unlikely causes that the proper authorities wont accept. ... “Mechanoid” redirects here. ...

Replicants in the film

Rachael, a replicant.

Replicants are illegal on Earth after a bloody mutiny by Nexus-6s off-world. The Tyrell Corp. discovered that the longer a Nexus-6 lived the more life-experience it gained. With these memories they often developed their own emotional reflexes, and unstable personalities so Tyrell added a "fail-safe device" to Nexus-6 models: a built-in four-year lifespan to prevent them from developing their own "emotional responses." This was especially necessary for Mental-A models whose intellectual capacity at least matched their genetic designers. This is a screenshot of a copyrighted movie or television program. ... This is a screenshot of a copyrighted movie or television program. ...

Special police units (Blade Runners) are sent to investigate, test and ultimately "retire" (kill) replicants found on Earth. Because the escaped replicants are the latest Nexus-6 generation Deckard had no experience with them, and wasn't even sure if the Voight-Kampff test would work given Holden was surprised by a Nexus-6. Voight-Kampff Originating as a fictional tool in Philip K Dicks novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, the Voight-Kampff machine or device (spelled Voigt-Kampff in the book) also appeared in the books screen adaptation, the 1982 science fiction film Blade Runner. ...

Escaped replicants (all Nexus-6 Physical-A models):

• Roy Batty (played by Rutger Hauer) is a self-sufficient combat model for the colonization defence program. (Mental-A)
• Pris (played by Darryl Hannah) is a prostitute referred to as a "basic pleasure" model for military personnel. (Mental-B)
• Zhora (played by Joanna Cassidy) was retrained for political homicide, operating in a "kick murder squad." (Mental-B)
• Leon (played by Brion James) is a combat model or loader for nuclear fission. (Mental-C)
• Hodge was killed in an electrical field at the Tyrell Corporation.
• Mary, the 6th replicant was cut from the script creating a plot hole and speculation among fans as to whether Deckard was the 6th replicant with new memories.

Pris and Zhora's descriptions were mixed up (perhaps on purpose) in the film: Zhora acts as a "basic pleasure model", attempting to pass off as a stripper, while Pris (which is dressed like a prostitute) is capable of acrobatic combat moves which nearly kill Deckard. Rutger Oelsen Hauer (IPA: [rʏtxɛr ulsɛn hʌuɛr]) (born in Breukelen, January 23, 1944) is a Dutch film actor. ... Daryl Christine Hannah (born December 3, 1960) is a popular American actress. ... A brothel, also known as a bordello or whorehouse, is an establishment specifically dedicated to prostitution, providing the prostitutes a place to meet and to have sex with the clients. ... Joanna Cassidy (b. ... Brion James (February 20, 1945 – August 7, 1999), was an American character actor. ... Prostitution is the sale of sexual services (typically manual stimulation, oral sex, sexual intercourse, or anal sex) for cash or other kind of return, generally indiscriminately with many persons. ...

Other replicants:

• Rachael (played by Sean Young) is a prototype Nexus-6 (possibly a more advanced model, i.e. Nexus-7) with implanted memories from Eldon Tyrell's niece.

Tyrell developed Rachael as an experimental replicant with false memory implants, so she would think she was human. Tyrell said that these memories would act as a "pillow" to cushion her developing emotions. As a result, Rachael behaved far more "human" than any previous replicant. Normal replicants aren't very empathetic or "human" in character, and are emotionally unstable, because over 4 years, they develop the same experiences humans develop over decades. Thus, Leon who is only two years old is somewhat immature; while four year old Roy Batty who is feeling the effects of his impending death shows a range of emotions. Roy appears capable of love, guilt, sorrow, and empathy (although these emotions confuse him to a degree). In the end, Roy is something of a Blake-type character in the film, and almost a hero. He even saves Deckard's life, even though Deckard was sent to kill him. Mary Sean Young (born in Louisville, Kentucky on November 20, 1959) is an American actress. ... Gareth Thomas as Blake Roj Blake is a fictional character from the British science fiction television series Blakes 7, played by Gareth Thomas. ...

The theatrical cut's voiceover ending said that as an experimental replicant Rachael didn't have the pre-determined four-year lifespan, but the Director's Cut left that ambiguous.

In Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? the Rosen Corporation simply did not know how to manufacture an android capable of living longer than four years. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is a 1968 science fiction novel by Philip K. Dick. ...

Was Deckard a replicant?

Main article: Themes in Blade Runner

Blade Runner's dark paranoid atmosphere – and multiple versions of the film – adds fuel to the speculation and debate over this issue. Despite the initial appearance of an action film, Blade Runner operates on an unusually rich number of dramatic levels. ...

In the book, Rick Deckard (the main character) is at one point tricked into following an andy, who believes himself to be a police officer, to a faked police station. Deckard then escapes and "retires" some andys there before returning to his own police station. However, Deckard takes the Voigt-Kampff (different spelling) test and it fails to indicate that he is an android. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968) is a science fiction novel by Philip K. Dick. ...

Harrison Ford, who played Deckard in the film, has said that he did not think Deckard was a replicant, and also states he and the director had discussions that ended in the agreement that the character was human. However, director Ridley Scott has said that Deckard is a replicant. He collects photographs, seen crowding over his piano, yet has no obvious family, beyond a reference to his ex-wife (who called him cold fish). Furthermore in the Director's Cut police officer Gaff (played by Edward James Olmos) leaves Rick Deckard an origami Unicorn a day after Rick dreamed of one. Just before Deckard finds the unicorn, Gaff says to him in passing, "It's too bad she [Rachael] won't live...then again, who does?" For the silent film actor, see Harrison Ford (silent film actor). ... Edward James Olmos (born February 24, 1947) is an Emmy-winning and Oscar-nominated American actor, of Mexican descent. ...

Paul Sammon, author of Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner, has suggested in interviews that Deckard may be a Nexus-7, a next-generation replicant who possesses no superhuman strength or intelligence, but brain implants that complete the human illusion. Sammon also suggests that Nexus-7 replicants may not have a preset lifespan (i.e., they could be immortal).^[1]

According to director Ridley Scott, Dekard is indeed a replicant.^[2]

Man or Machine?

Although the press kit released to the media for the film, explicitly defined a replicant as, "A genetically engineered creature composed entirely of organic substance" ^[3], a question commonly posed is the physical make-up of the replicants themselves. In the opening crawl of the film, replicants are said to be the result of "advanced robot evolution." The crawl also states that they were created by "genetic engineers." Characters mention that they have eyes and brains like humans, and they bleed when injured in a manner exactly the same as a human (although they are far stronger than any human they encounter). This page is a candidate to be moved to Wiktionary. ... Kenyans examining insect-resistant transgenic Bt corn. ... Organic may refer to: Look up organic in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... This article is about evolution in biology. ...

The original novel makes mention of the biological components of the androids, but also alludes to the mechanical aspects commonly found in other material relating to robots. This article is about the literary concept. ...

Due to the film's ambiguous stance to the question, it's been suggested by fans that Ridley Scott chose to keep the question unanswered in an attempt to preserve the film and novel's core theme: what is human?

Čapek's robots

The Robots from Karel Čapek's play R.U.R., where the word robot was first used, were not made of metal like those we associate the word with nowadays, but were artificial biological beings similar to the replicants in Blade Runner. Karel ÄŒapek (pronounced ; IPA: ) (January 9, 1890 - December 25, 1938) was one of the most important Czech writers of the 20th century. ... R.U.R. (Rossums Universal Robots) is a science fiction play by Karel ÄŒapek. ...

Replicants in popular culture

• The genetically engineered troops in the later film Soldier are Nexus-series replicants. Both films are set in the same fictional universe.
• One of the most prominent examples of Replicant-like robots in modern culture are the humanoid Cylons on the Sci-Fi Channel series Battlestar Galactica. Blade Runner was acknowledged as an influence on the series. Actor Edward James Olmos, who stars in the series, also co-starred in Blade Runner. Further, Tricia Helfer, who plays the main humanoid-Cylon character "Number Six" on the series, was having trouble determining how to play a humanoid robot when production began, so co-star Olmos advised her to watch Blade Runner: Helfer has stated that it greatly informed how she approached the role. The human resistance on Cylon-occupied Caprica even referred to the bio-mechanical humanoid Cylons as "skin jobs", the prejudicial slang term for Replicants from Blade Runner, in the late season 2 episode "Downloaded". This was met with popular reception by fans, and many characters in season 3 now regularly refer to the humanoid Cylons as "skin jobs".
• In the TV Show Stargate SG-1, a race of technological nano-machine based robots known as the Replicators eventually made humanoid Replicator androids.
• The Replicants was also the name of a Demo crew involved in the Atari ST demoscene.
• In the anime series Bubblegum Crisis, the character Priss Asagiri is named after the replicant Pris and leads a band called The Replicants. Furthermore the series' Boomers fill the role of Replicants thematically and the entire series serves as an extended homage to Blade Runner.
• In the TV show Earth: Final Conflict, the Jaridian race employ shapeshifting machines to scout and attack Earth. These machines were called replicants.
• In the dystopian video-game Flashback, some android enemies are referred to as CY-BORG 2.1 or replicants.
• In the sci-fi video game Snatcher, the storyline centers around a police detective searching for robots who masqerade as humans, much like replicants.
• In Deep Space Nine episode "Whispers" replicants were mentioned.
• The comedy series Red Dwarf includes violent humanform androids called "simulants", which is probably intended as a play on "replicants".
• The Realians in the Xenosaga trilogy of video games are bio-engineered humanoids similar to Replicants. Two of the playable characters in the game are in fact Realians. Although the main plot is not explicitly centered on them, several plot points throughout the trilogy involve issues related to their humanity (or lack thereof).
• The concept of Bioroids used in many cyberpunk books, games, comics, and anime seems to be very close to that of Replicants, sometimes being virtually the same thing.
• German Power Metal band Blind Guardian's song Time, What is Time is loosely based on the film and speak about replicants (The things she remembered / Had never been her own / Replicant or human).
• Lory in Total Recall (Sharon Stone) is loosely based on the film and speak about replicants (The film's success relaunched Sharon Stone's career).
• The Megaman X games feature Reploids (Repliroids in the Japanese version), an obvious nod to replicants. Rogue reploids (also known as Mavericks) are hunted by Maverick Hunters, who describe the act as "retiring".
• In the Doctor Who story Resurrection of the Daleks, the Daleks use replicants of specific individuals to infiltrate Earth's government and capture the Doctor (with the originals then being killed). They also plan to use replicants of the Doctor and his companions to assassinate the Time Lord High Council. These replicants appear to be fully or predominantly organic, with the 'mind' of the individual downloaded into the replicant's brain. However, the replicants prove unstable and their true nature tends to reassert itself and break the Dalek mind control. It is not clear if the use of the term 'replicant' was influenced by Blade Runner.
• In the PC game F.E.A.R., the enemies most commonly encountered are human clones that serve as perfectly obedient soldiers. They are controlled by a genetically engineered psychic commander, who is the game's antagonist. These cloned soldiers are called Replicas.

Soldier is a 1998 science fiction film directed by Paul W.S. Anderson. ... Old Cylon Centurion shown in a museum display in the 2003 Battlestar Galactica miniseries The Cylons are a cybernetic civilization at war with the Twelve Colonies of humanity in the Battlestar Galactica science fiction franchise, in the original 1978/1980 series and movie, as well as the 2003 reimagining. ... SCI FI (originally The Sci-Fi Channel, sometimes rendered SCI FI Channel when part of a longer phrase) is an American cable television channel, launched on September 24, 1992, specializing in science fiction, fantasy, horror, and paranormal programming. ... This article is about the 2004 television series. ... Edward James Olmos (born February 24, 1947) is an Emmy-winning and Oscar-nominated American actor, of Mexican descent. ... Tricia Helfer (born April 11, 1974), is a Canadian supermodel and actress best known as Number Six in Battlestar Galactica. ... Number Six is a fictional character portrayed by Canadian actress Tricia Helfer in the television re-imagining of Battlestar Galactica. ... Stargate SG-1 (often abbreviated as SG-1) is a science fiction television series, part of the Stargate franchise. ... In the science fiction series Stargate SG-1, the Replicators are a race of self-replicating machines, and arguably one of the most advanced races in the Stargate universe. ... The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was commercially popular from 1985 to the early 1990s. ... The demoscene is a computer art subculture that specializes itself on producing demos, non-interactive audio-visual presentations, which are run real-time on a computer. ... “Animé” redirects here. ... Bubblegum Crisis ) is a cyberpunk-style anime set in a future, post-disaster Tokyo, called Megatokyo. The series has a manga adaptation. ... Priscilla Priss S. Asagiri is a fictional character from the Japanese anime series Bubblegum Crisis and its spin offs. ... Earth: Final Conflict is a science fiction television series posthumously created by Gene Roddenberry. ... The Jaridians are a race in the science fiction television series, Earth Final Conflict // Physiology The Jaridians are large and muscular beings with a vaguely reptilian appearance. ... A dystopia (or alternatively cacotopia) is a fictional society, usually portrayed as existing in a future time, when the conditions of life are extremely bad due to deprivation, oppression, or terror. ... Computer and video games redirects here. ... Screenshot Flashback (Sega Genesis) Flashback: The Quest for Identity, often just called Flashback, is a computer platform game produced by Delphine Software, which has since went bankrupt and no longer exists. ... Computer and video games redirects here. ... Snatcher ) is a cyberpunk-themed adventure game written and directed by Hideo Kojima. ... In the Star Trek fictional universe, Deep Space Nine (or DS9) is a space station. ... Whispers is a second-season episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. ... For the type of star, see Red dwarf. ... Realians are a race of artificial humans. ... It has been suggested that List of Xenosaga cast members be merged into this article or section. ... For other uses, see Biomechanical. ... Power metal is a style of heavy metal music typically with the aim of evoking an epic feel, combining characteristics of traditional metal with thrash metal or speed metal, often within symphonic context. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... For other uses, see Total recall (disambiguation). ... Sharon Vonne Stone (born March 10, 1958) is an American actress, producer, and former fashion model. ... US Boxart for Mega Man X, for SNES. The Mega Man X series was the second Mega Man franchise which debuted in 1993 on the Super Famicom/Super NES. It is one of the spinoffs of the Mega Man series from Capcom. ... A Reploid, from the science-fiction video game series Mega Man X and Mega Man Zero, refers to a robot whose design was ultimately derived from the original Mega Man X design. ... It has been suggested that Maverick Virus be merged into this article or section. ... The Maverick Hunters is an organization from the science-fiction video game series Mega Man X created to hunt down and terminate Mavericks. ... This article is about the television series. ... Resurrection of the Daleks is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in two weekly parts from February 8 to February 15, 1984. ... For other uses, see Dalek (disambiguation). ... Companion, in the long-running BBC television science fiction programme Doctor Who and related works, is a term used to describe a character who travels with and shares the adventures of the Doctor. ... This article is about the Time Lords from Doctor Who. ... This article is about the computer game. ...

References

is the 190th day of the year (191st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 214th day of the year (215th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ...

External links

• BRmovie.com - The Blade Runner FAQ – What are Replicants?