Blade Runner

Last night I was watching the film Blade Runner on DVD. It's a 1982 film, directed by Ridley Scott, and loosely based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick. The film is set in Los Angeles in the year 2019, by which time humanity has colonised other planets and robots are used as slaves. These robots, almost identical to humans, are known as "Replicants", and occasionally escape to Earth, where specialist police squads known as "Blade Runners" track them down and execute (or "retire" as they term it) the rogue replicants. Rick Deckard (played by Harrison Ford) is a retired Blade Runner who is brought back to track down four escaped Replicants. However these are the latest models, and as his investigation progresses Deckard finds it increasingly difficult to tell who is really human. Visually the film is spectacular, with it's nightmarish depiction of fututristic Los Angeles influencing countless science-ficiton films and TV shows. The version I saw was the "Final Cut" ediiton, which has numerous edits and special effects tweaks.

Today I went out to the shops and bought some DVDs in the sales. The ones I bought were A Clockwork Orange, Monty Python's Life of Brian, L.A. Confidential, Serenity and a box-set of Capote and the film of In Cold Blood. So I was quite pleased with that. It was a good haul and I didn't spend too much. It should be enough to keep me out of mischief for a few days (not that I ever get into any in the first place, of course).

I was watching Doctor Who this evening, and it was another good episode. This season is shaping up really well, I think, and I do think that Catherine Tate is turning out better than I had expected as the latest companion. It was good to see the Sontarans back again as well. I always thought they were a bit underrated.