What are you reading?

[Local Trouble]

You should read Trylogia Księżycowa by Jerzy Żuławski.

[Wweyland]

Second time reading Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep. So many sub-plots not in the movie.

Do you prefer one or the other? I found I liked the book a lot more.

The book is much more thoughtful and explores different ideas.
The animal subplot is especially interesting.
Mercerism, Buster Friendly, the fake police station, all missing from the movie.

My only criticism of the book is that the movie made the androids more likable and capable.
The final battle with Roy Baty in the book is something like this:
Roy prepares a trap, but it has no effect.
Roy shoots Decard twice, missing both times.
Decard shoots Roy, killing him.

The "Tears in rain" scene is of course iconic, but the epilogue with Decard finding a robotic frog in the wasteland is awesome as well (reminded me of some scenes from Blade Runner 2049).

[SiL]

I felt like the movie sort of missed the point that the androids are psychopathic, and it's literally the only way to distinguish them from humans. Having them care for each other to the level they do in the movie undermines that what makes us human is our ability to be compassionate.

The animal stuff is so crucial to the book and it feels so weird having it missing in the film. The Voigt Kampff test in the movie just feels like vague sci fi bullshit, but the novel makes it very clear what they're actually looking for and why the specific questions are asked.

[Ingwar]

You should read Trylogia Księżycowa by Jerzy Żuławski.

Are you trying to tell me something? First volume of The Lunar Trilogy is called ... On the Silver Globe

I felt like the movie sort of missed the point that the androids are psychopathic, and it's literally the only way to distinguish them from humans. Having them care for each other to the level they do in the movie undermines that what makes us human is our ability to be compassionate.

The animal stuff is so crucial to the book and it feels so weird having it missing in the film. The Voigt Kampff test in the movie just feels like vague sci fi bullshit, but the novel makes it very clear what they're actually looking for and why the specific questions are asked.

Because Blade Runner is not an adaptation in 1:1 ratio. It mostly focuses on an idea that Dick was obsessed with: what it means to be human (other one was: what's reality). It's an empathy test for the audience.

[SiL]

Because Blade Runner is not an adaptation in 1:1 ratio.

No adaptation is, but the argument the book makes is human empathy cannot be synthesised, only imitated. I prefer this to the film's vague wishy-washiness. The Voigt Kampff test doesn't make any real sense in the movie, it's sort of just hand waved as a test that can catch them but the clarity of the novel is gone.

I think that's what I like about the book. It's weird, but it makes sense, whereas the movie relies too much on vibes.

[Ingwar]

I've read the book ages ago so cannot comment on that, however I just look at Blade Runner as a masterpiece of cinema. I don't focus too much on the difference in details between the source material and the adaptation.

[SiL]

I've read the book ages ago so cannot comment on that, however I just look at Blade Runner as a masterpiece of cinema. I don't focus too much on the difference in details between the source material and the adaptation.

That's fair! I just found the novel basically addressed all of my problems with the film in terms of the story.

[Ingwar]

I will read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? again. It's waiting in the queue. 

[SM]

I felt like the movie sort of missed the point that the androids are psychopathic, and it's literally the only way to distinguish them from humans. Having them care for each other to the level they do in the movie undermines that what makes us human is our ability to be compassionate.

The animal stuff is so crucial to the book and it feels so weird having it missing in the film. The Voigt Kampff test in the movie just feels like vague sci fi bullshit, but the novel makes it very clear what they're actually looking for and why the specific questions are asked.

I found the setting of Electric Sheep utterly different from the film. Dry, dusty, largely abandoned rather than wet and crowded.

[SiL]

I found the setting of Electric Sheep utterly different from the film. Dry, dusty, largely abandoned rather than wet and crowded.

There was also that. Electric Sheep is desolated, Blade Runner is a mosh pit.

[Wweyland]

I will be reading the semi-official Blade Runner sequel novels next, starting with The Edge of Human.

[BlueMarsalis79]

I much much prefer Blade Runner to the novel, one particular scene's score aside.

[Darwinsgirl]

"ALIEN Vault" by Ian Nathan

a second printing of the 2011 edition published in 2014

Enjoying this. I recognize many things from the various documentaries I've watched.

I've learned some new things. I didn't know at one point Ridley wanted to kill off all of the crew. The studio talked him out of it.

I'm also revisting the reviews of this on here.

P.S.

Love all the goodies included Blueprints Ridleygrams Posters etc. Fun stuff

[Stitch]

If audiobooks count, then Alien: Colony War, for my sins.

In my defence, it was free on audible. In its defence... nothing, so far.

[Ingwar]

Recently finished:

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa

Just started dystopian The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa.