A spider and her egg… a unicorn running through a forest… C-beams glittering in the dark. From its opening scene, where a manufactured Replicant betrays himself (itself) because he (it) lacks memories of a mother, Blade Runner explores the futuristic realms of evolving and fabricated memory, in the story of a detective charged with hunting down and “retiring” four Replicants who illegally return to Earth. During his pursuit, he must re-examine his notions of what defines a person, when he finds himself drawn to a fifth, newer breed of product; one for whom memory has dealt a terrible deception. Blade Runner introduces the concept of using artificial memory as a tool for control; questions the trust that can be placed upon memory; and suggests memory is the ultimate legacy, one so important that the hunter becomes custodian to his prey’s most precious remembrances.
—John Drew