Rutger Hauer's Blade Runner speech on tears in rain - great sci-fi moments number three

THIS may very well be the greatest sci-fi moment of all.

The film itself is a massively influential masterwork, but these few moments are just breathtaking as after raging so hard against the dying of the light, Roy Batty accepts his fate but decides to save another's life, if he cannot save his own.



Hauer always brings a deceptive stillness to his best work and that is never more evident than in the measured delivery of his lines to Harrison Ford.

The best thing about the scene is the now-famous story about Ridley Scott struggling to end it, and Hauer coming up with the dialogue in his trailer in a few minutes.

Is it true? I don't care, and I have no idea what attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion look like, or C-Beams glittering in the dark at the Tannhauser gate, yet coming from Hauer's noble killing machine, they sound epic, dramatic, awe-inspiring.

The last line, about those moments being lost like tears in rain, still makes me shed a few myself every time I watch it. It is poetry - pure and simple.

He has had a fine career outside of Blade Runner - even if he did drop off the radar for a while - but it is for this Rutger Hauer will be remembered and rightly so.

Doctor Who: from Planet of the Dead to War of the Masters?

LAST night's Doctor Who was good enough to whet everyone's appetite for what is to come, if a bit unremarkable in its own right. (I likes Lee Evans though)

By far the most interesting thing happened in the last few minutes of the episode. First you had the psychic lady on the bus repeating the 'Your Song is ending' line and saying something is coming out of the darkness for the Doctor.

She also said he would knock four times (twice on the pipes, if the answer is no), which screams the Master - sound of drums and all that - as did the cloister bell sounding in the trailer for the next special.

In the trailer, the title of the next special was revealed, along with some suitably creepy footage that reminded me of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. And here was where anagram fans went into overload.

I've never been one for Countdown myself, so needed IO9 to spell it out for me that The Waters of Mars - the title of the special - is actually an anagram of War of the Masters. (Or the Master of Wars and so on)

Now, RTD has form for this kind of thing and it may be a double bluff, but there have been enough rumours floating around about the Master's (and maybe John Simm's) possible return to give this credence.

I also wonder if the constant mysterious flashes of light on Donna Noble's oversize ring during series four will come into play, given RTD penchant for bringing back characters after seemingly writing them off forever.

"She can never remember ... unless we need her to, in which case we'll explain this complete about face in a few lines of mumbo jumbo."

Going back further, it was a woman's hand that picked up the master's ring at the end of series three and as I have blogged on before, Donna's name means time lord.

At this point I could disappear up my own arse or into a quantum singularity, pondering about the possible meaning of every little thing. I won't do that.

I will also acknowledge the possibility that sometimes, The Waters Of Mars will just mean a story about evil water on the Red Planet, and all this master stuff is a colossal red herring. It also looks great in its own right - creepy, as the best Who stories are.



However, as always with Doctor Who, half of the fun for people like me is analysing this type of fan wank until our heads explode, and from now until the special is broadcast, I will probably drive myself mad doing it all over again.

Any thoughts anyone?

Feeling excited about the next big thing yet?

I RECEIVED a comment to my last blog post that has made me think - dangerous stuff I know!

Robin Brown, who writes the always excellent Liverpool Culture blog (among loads more) responded to a post that mentioned the return of Red Dwarf, Star Trek and Doctor Who with a comment that included the line 'I've come to dread new long-awaited sci-fi stuff'.

That resonated with me, and ever since I have been thinking about my own position regarding the upcoming next big thing, whatever that may be.

As a sci-fi geek, I think my default setting is giddy as a schoolgirl whenever anyone mentions the upcoming space-based blockbuster film, novel or tv show, but I know what Robin means.

All too often we have been suckered in by the hype industry and a slick marketing campaign that lasts for weeks into believing something is better than it is - resulting in disappointment and probably boredom when we actually see the piece of work in question.

Who out there hasn't thought 'I know every critic has said Generic Film Name is a pile of shit, but that trailer looks ace - I think I'll give it a go.'?

But why is this? Why are we so willing to believe that Watchmen will will live up to the graphic novel, that new Star Wars will be as good as old, that the Matrix 2 and 3 weren't ghastly abberations that pissed all over the first film, but were bold experiments in philosophial expressionism?

Because we want to, just like Billie Piper (note to self, have worked in obligatory Doctor Who reference).

In fact, speaking for myself I am so desperate for a new sci-fi film to be good, great even, that I will wilfully avoid negative reviews (except in the case of Battlefield Earth, even I drew the line there).

When I watch them, I can feel myself overlooking some of the negative points to try and focus on the positive - giving an honest film maker who isn't taking the mickey the benefit of the doubt wherever possible.

(Note to everyone, it wasn't possible with midichlorians, whole episodes of Heroes, any character who loses their memory, the remake of Planet of the Apes - in fact anything starring Mark Wahlberg - or anything starring a) aliens or b) predators.)

Maybe I want to recapture the excited feeling I had when I was a kid, maybe I want a reward from the genre I have invested so much time in, or proof that I was right to do so. Maybe I'm just funny that way.

Sometimes that hope can lead to feelings of dread about whether a film will live up to what I want it to be.

And yes, that leaves me open to some massive disappointments from time to time, but when something works, when it sings, it recharges my batteries to carry me through any lean times.

For that reason, fuelled by BSG, and repeated viewings of Iron Man, Firefly and Doctor Who, and even though I have no basis or evidence for saying it other than clever marketing and well made trailers, I think Red Dwarf will be great, so will Saturday's Who, so will new Star Trek.

Now bring on the sci-fi - and please don't be shit!

Journeys in time with Watchmen, Doctor Who, Battlestar Galactica and Star Trek

IT has been a month since I last posted, but seems like just a few days such have been the demands on my time - my wibbly wobbly, timey-wimey stuff has never been wibblier.

One month ago I publish a post on the Mercury Men, whose work I still await with interest.

In three weeks' time, I finish watching the Battlestar Galactica episodes I have stored on the Sky+, bringing to an end a remarkable exercise in television writing and production that I have enjoyed from minute one, and that raised the bar across every genre.

One week ago I finish watching the Watchmen, in an empty cinema, and wondering what to make of it all, two weeks after most of my friends and workmates did the same. Wondering at how it looked so great, but felt so empty compared to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons's work of genius. At how good the Comedian and Rorschach were, but how wan the Silk Spectre and Dr Manhatten seemed by comparison. And why the ending was completely changed, rendering Manhatten's final words worthless.

One week from now I laugh along with everyone else at Red Dwarf's return and thrill to the second Doctor Who special. David Tennant is so right for the role, so perfect, that Matt Smith has some giant shoes to fill.

One year ago I listen as my friend Alison suggests I should write a blog about science fiction. I laugh, but decide to give it a go and start writing. I still haven't stopped.

Now as then, I don't claim to reach to the heart of the genre with piercing insights, but just to jot down my thoughts on things that have caught my attention for whatever reason. It has been fun and I'll keep jotting for a while yet.

One month into the future as I wait for the opening scene of the new Star Trek film, I think of the funny line that will end this post - it makes me laugh.

Ha, ha, ha.

With apologies and kudos to Mssrs Moore, Gibbons and Manhatten