Friday, April 6, 2012

Journey Planet - The Blade Runner Issue

Journey Planet is a science fiction online fanzine from James Bacon and Chris Garcia. They published their first issue in 2008. In 2010, they won the Nova Award for Best Fanzine.

To mark the 30th anniversary of the release of the movie Blade Runner, they assembled a Blade Runner edition. And this issue is sure to delight any Blade Runner enthusiast.  



Among some of the highlights of this issue is the article "Acme Instant Fanzine". Editor, James Bacon, asks a couple authors and friends questions about Blade Runner. For example;

  • "How do the different editions of the movie compare for you, what do you like and dislike?" 
  • "How disappointed would you have been if the Director’s Cuts were never released?"
  • "How does the movie compare to the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? for you, and what  parts of the book do you feel should have been included in the movie?"
  • "Can you explain what it is about Deckard that makes you identify him as human or Replicant?"
  • "Which characters appeared the most human to you, and what made them feel this way?"

In the article, titled "An Introduction to Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?"Graham Sleight starts his article;

  "It’s a commonplace to say that the works of Philip K. Dick are centrally concerned with the question of   what is real. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968) looks at a particular branch of that question: what is a fake? And, if you can make a fake seem authentic enough, does it matter? The book’s adaptation into Ridley Scott’s film Blade Runner (1982) changes a great deal, but keeps this idea at its heart."

In the article, "Building to it: Training for Blade Runner", by Christopher J. Garcia, he wrote;

  "You don’t just jump in and start watching a movie like Blade Runner. I know, I know. It’s just a movie, why would you need to train?, you’re thinking. Well, if you just jump in, you’ll likely find yourself blinded by
the magnificence and not the impact. And the best way to train for Blade Runner is to go and warm up with various other films that inform the viewer of where Blade Runner came from--cinematically."

In another article by Garcia, titled "Another 52 Weeks to Blade Runner Film Literacy", he wrote;


  "The entire message of  Blade Runner boils down to one question: What’s the goddamned point? I t doesn't try to answer this question, it doesn't have to, but it asks it and in not answering it, it makes an even bigger point."


There's also an article that writer/director Mark Hevingham wrote about his fan-production movie, Bladder Run, titled "Bladder Run or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Android."

And the there's a terrific fanfiction too, titled "Android Tears", by Robert Francis.

The article, "Late to the Blade Runner Party", by James Mason, is one that I can personally relate to. He writes;

  "Having only seen Blade Runner on a 20-something inch TV on VHS, I feel that there’s some mitigating
circumstances as to me not seeing the worth of Ridley Scott’s second science fiction movie. | So when the Dublin Film Festival had [Blade Runner] as part of their programme, I was going to most definitely see what all the fuss was about."

And there is more! 


  • Editorials 
  • Acme Instant Fanzine Edited 
  • A Timeline for Blade Runner 
  • Are You a Replicant? 
  • Stopping the Artificial Heart 
  • Electric Frogs 
  • Planet Los Angeles, 2019: Philip K. Dick’s Accidental Afterlife
  • The Tannhauser Gate -- What is it about Roy Batty’s last words, and where are those places?

It's all HERE!


Recommended before reading: Be sure you have at least 117-minutes of time after you read this issue of Journey Planet. Have your copy of the movie Blade Runner already set-up so that all you have to do is turn on the television. (Because, after you read this issue, you'll want to watch Blade Runner.)

Recommended while reading: Before reading Journey Planet's Blade Runner Edition, be sure and have the Blade Runner soundtrack, (or any Blade Runner-influenced music), playing in the back ground. Be sure that you won't be distracted, (tell family, friends, and neighbors that you mustn't be disturbed. Lock the doors and pull down the shades), by any external forces. Get comfortable, (pay attention to your posture), relax, and enjoy!


Have a better one!

~ Kipple

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