Having spent most of another week continuing to explore Blade Runner Future Noir, an utterly fantastic and immersive build by Hera (zee9), I’m busily scribbling while flagging down drinks at Taffey Lewis’s place.
After landing at the entry point, which is really nicely done up to look like you’ve appeared in an upper floor of some skyscraper, the ever present rain dripping down the plate glass windows, you should tip the bear and then click on the teleport sign. That will drop you in the tube station under the several city blocks that make up the heart of the build.
When you walk out of the underground, it feels like you’ve stepped right into a street scene from the 1982 movie. The level of detail and the density of the build is incredible.
You’ll find a number of familiar locations right at street level. A sushi bar, the Bradbury building, the Yukon hotel, along with the Tyrell Corporation pyramid and LAPD tower. Taffey’s bar is here, of course, as well as many other street locations. But that’s by no means all. Quite a number of familiar interiors are also to be found here.
Deckard’s flat, Tyrell’s office and bedchamber, the hotel room where Roy, Leon, Zora, and Pris stayed, Sebastian’s highly eclectic place in the Bradbury building are all here in amazing detail. There are a couple of locations from 2049 as well. K’s flat (it’s really so Spartan that I’ve taken to calling it his existence pod), and one of Niander’s pads?
Finding all these interiors isn’t easy and getting lost is! Check behind every door and ride every elevator!
Talking of interiors, one of my fave places here to lounge, away from the hubbub of the streets, is Deckard’s flat. (It’s 97 floors up, so it’s quiet.) Again, the attention to detail is just super. So much of the look and feel of the set from the original film lives and breaths in this build. It’s just as claustrophobic with its dark lighting and corbelled ceiling as it was shown in the movie. A bit surprising I love this spot so much since it’s one of the most masculine decors to be found in the region. Even the houseplants look like they wandered in by mistake and couldn’t find their way back out.
In fact, while considering this space, it occurred to me that the set decoration in the original movie was one of the most Y-chromosome dominated design jobs ever. I’m afraid Rachel, Pris, and Zora never managed to be in any one placer long enough to put their imprint on it.
One way that Deckard’s flat scores over many other spots, there’s no problem finding something to drink. Above you can see half a dozen places where alcohol has been left out, available for quick service. And that’s not even counting the bottles in the refrigerator in the kitchen.
2007 vintage Johnny Walker seems to be a fave tipple of our best known blade runner. Given that it’s just one guy who lives here and there enough bottles to cater an open bar at a society wedding, it’s just possible Deckard has a problem.
Another interior set that has been reproduced with unbelievable accuracy is Tyrell’s sweet in the Tyrell Corporation pyramid. You’ll have to pass through a number of other sets to get there, but it’s definitely worth the trip. The only deficiency is that there’s apparently not a drop in the house. Eldon was a teetotaler it seems. Didn’t do him much good in the end, did it?
I’ll leave you with one last street scene, the street entrance of the shop where you can, presumably, have eyes genetically designed to order. It looks just like it did in the theater 40 years ago. (I’m told. I certainly could not have seen this when it came out? Or could I have.)
This is all just a taste. There’s so much in this build to explore. Or, you can just inhabit the space for a while, even role play it a bit. Whatever, do go see it. And do tip the bear!
Thinking Outside the Plywood Box 