So Blade Runner 2049 is amazing and we think the original is the best thing Ridley Scott
has ever done and yes we see you Alien fans in the back getting all fired up at that statement.
So how about we meet halfway and discuss whether both of these franchises exist in the same
universe.
Of Course we would love it if you shared our universe by hitting that subscribe button
and dinging that little notification bell as well.
American and Japanese Corporate Mergers In Blade runner there is the theme of capitalist
excess permeating through the whole film.
I mean it's a film about the nature of life presented through the eyes of a potential
android hunting down disposable slaves who build our stuff, fight our wars, and have
sex with us for money.
But this is not about those androids.
This is about the corporations behind everything.
In Blade Runner the advertising is everywhere for things like Atari, and Coke.
But there are also a ton of billboards and neon signs for Japanese corporations.
Even the advertising blimp splits time between the off world colonies and a Japanese advert.
So what we're saying is that there is a lot of culture sharing going on.
LA is more like a Neo-Tokyo as opposed to what LA is right now and with that being said
it is important to mention that In Alien the corporation that the crew of the Nostromo
works for is Weyland-Yutani an American and Japanese joint venture which while not guaranteed
to be a connection leaves us scratching our heads as to why Ridley would do this if not
insinuating that both of these movies live in the same world.
Of course it can be just a reference to how technologically advanced Japan's and the US
were in the late 70s/ early 80s but we would like to think that this is a small confirmation
that the companies of Earth in Blade Runner and the ones in Alien share the same world.
Parental References This is a bit more loose than the other connections
in the list because of its implied and hard to prove nature.
But in Blade Runner the replicants refer to Tyrell as father and are looking for the father
to save them and provide them with more Life.
Roy Batty's whole scene with Tyrell comes to mind or the scene with the Toymaker suffering
from Methuselah syndrome.
But in the film Alien the compute who runs the ship and takes care of the workers on
the Nostromo is called Mother and oddly enough in both cases the parental figure seems to
not care much for their “children” in the case of Blade Runner Tyrell seems to care
not at all about the lifespan of the replicants although he does have a moment with Roy suggesting
that a the short life allows for him to value it twice as much.
But in the case of Alien Mother is actively trying to work against the crew of the Nostromo
to preserve the the xenomorph specimen for the corporation.
Ridley Scott has been nothing if not a deliberate film maker and in one film to have the AI
system be named Mother and the in the other film have the creator of the replicants be
their father seems a little to close to be a coincidence.
Synthetic Life Let's talk synthetic life for a second.
Both franchises feature their own version of synthetic life.
In Blade Runner it is the slave labor replicants and in the Alien franchise it is the Hyperdyne
systems synthetics. 2 very different approaches to the synthetic life form game but both having
some serious connections to one another.
In both films the synthetic life forms muse about what it means to be alive.
Most famously in Blade Runner from Roy Batty and the Tears in Rain monolog and in Alien
in the form of Ash musing about life and perfection.
Ridley Scott is intent on making sure that we know that the synthetic life forms are
obsessed with real life and in the case of the replicants want to keep being alive where
as in the case of Ash from Alien it is more of a moral quandary to see life choose its
evolutionary successor.
That’s The Spirit Like a lot of these similarities they are
small notes which could be treated as one off homages.
But there are a lot of them that happen.
Could they just be signature flourishes by Ridley Scott and nothing more sure.
But where's the fun in that.
In Blade Runner after Deckard has killed most of the Nexus 6 gang not counting when Rachel
saved his bacon.
But after the other replicants have been retired Deckard and Roy Batty have a final rain filled
showdown.
During that showdown Deckard blasts Roy in the head with a lead pipe to which Roy responds
“That's the spirit” in a mocking and maniacal tone which is frankly a really cool moment
and secures Roy as a true badass and freighting “villain” air quotes on the villain part.
But in Alien Covenant there is a very similar scene involving Michael Fassbender's David
and Katherine Waterston's Daniels.
They are having a human and synthetic confrontation in the climax of the film when daniels and
david are fighting.
Daniels stabs David through the chin with a nail to which he says That's the spirit
in a very similar scope and scale as Rutger Hauer in the original Blade Runner.
Now this may only be a spiritual connection between the films but we're counting it.
Same Tech Here is one of the more smoking gun connections
between Alien and Blade Runner living in the same universe.
In both films they use the same technology in their computer systems.
Now we’re not talking about the Mother AI system of the nostromo.
But the manual systems that the humans use in the films.
Case in point.
When ripley is firing up the systems in the narcissus escape ship.
When she is ready to start the engines she has to commence a purge of the system.
Which isn’t out of the ordinary.
Until you consider that the exact same purge engines screen is present in Gaff’s car
in Blade Runner.
They use the same tech!
Not similar the same!
Its the first real smoking gun that both movies live in the same universe now there are visual
similarities to Deckard's photo enhancing software and the profiles on the nostromo
but we can only really say that the propulsion computers in both Blade Runner and Alien are
the same so shared universe confirmed 10 outta 10
That Alien Easter Egg Now this one we can't confirm because it isn't
expressly in the film.
But it's a big enough connection that we would be remiss to not discuss it.
On the 20th anniversary dvd of alien there is an easter egg called the nostromo dossier
which details the crew members of the nostromo and lo and behold there is a neat connection
to Blade Runner in the dossier surrounding Captain Arthur Skritt.
You will see that Dallas used to work for the Tyrell Corporation transporting “cargo”
for the company to offworld colonies.
That cargo…
Replicants of course.
Now an easter egg buried in an old DVD can't be taken 100% on the nose as the real deal
connection.
But if Fox is going to allow something like that to fill out the backstory of a character
and have never actively denied it being canon then were gonna treat it as canon until we
are told otherwise.
That Prometheus Easter Egg Same disclaimer applies here as in the last
entry.
On the UK steelbook release of Prometheus there is another bit of text which connects
the universes of Blade Runner and Alien.
There is a transcribed musing from Peter Weyland.
Yes the Weyland in Weyland yutani.
In his message it is implied that Weylands mentor was none other than Eldon Tyrell.
None of this is directly said but the flavoring of the message most certainly implies that
Tyrell is who he is talking about.
Some highlights from the message include saying that his mentor thought he was god and that
he lorded over his creations like a deity sitting atop a pyramid.
That line is most certainly a clue that Tyrell is who he is talking about as we know the
Tyrell corporation's headquarters is a pyramid.
And again same rules apply here.
We can't confirm this as canon but until we are told otherwise this is a legit connection.
Replicants look like engineers Now this one is more of an easter egg as opposed
to a full on connection linking the films.
But in Blade Runner 2049 there are some shots of officer K as he is being escorted through
the Wallace corporation headquarters by fellow replicant Luv.
They walk by some giant glass containers which are holding protoform replicants.
Which wouldn't be out of the ordinary for the wallace corporation as they are the ones
who make replicants in 2049.
But the protoform replicants bare a striking resemblance to characters from the alien universe.
The Engineers also known as space jockeys.
Of course the engineers are the advanced alien race which created mankind and by the time
blade runner takes place they have been wiped out by the xenomorphs and david.
But this was a cool enough visual easter egg that we wanted to include it.
Ridleys comments We can theorize about this forever but why
not just take the creator of both films word on the matter.
On one of the many many many blade runner commentaries Ridley Scott is quoted as saying.
“So almost this world could easily be the city that supports the crew that go out in
Alien.
So, in other words, when the crew of Alien come back in, they might go into this place
and go into a bar off the street near where Deckard lives.
That’s how I thought about it.
So theres the final word.
If Ridley thinks that they can live in the same world then so do we.
And that’s the list.
Are there anymore connections hiding out there that we missed?
Let us know in the comments and make sure to subscribe to our channel and watch out
other videos.