Blade Runner - Did I Shoot 6 Replicants or Only 5? In All This Excitement...
In an early scene Harrison Ford's boss tells him six replicants escaped from the off-world colony. But I only count Roy, Leon, Zora, Pris and the unnamed one that got "fried walking thru an electrical field". That's five, not six. And no, Rachel was not from off-world.
Two explanations: The first can be found the novelized sequel to Blade Runner which made a rather quirky story out of the fact that Deckard was and is the 6th replicant, implanted and controled by Bryant in order to find and air out the other five. Hard to swallow when you consider none of the other replicants from the original film recognized him.
Second explanation: And this one makes more sense. There was a 6th replicant in the screenplay, Mary, a typical housewife type. She was cast and appeared in a couple of shots before Ridley Scott decided to pull her scenes and rework the film around the remaining four replicants. She was the first replicant that we would see die in the film in what would have been a touching scene. Her four year life span would have been spent and she would have slowly faded away. Nice.
Check right after Decker finds Leon's photos, there is a tiny clip of someone's hand bunching up and then of Roy with someone's hand on his shoulder. This is aparently where the sixth Replicant might have bought the farm. Strangely though, after that one camera shot, you see him coming out of a phone booth....
The whole "Deckard is #6" story just doesn't make sense. Sure, it may be the official explanation, but it still doesn't make sense. If he was the sixth replicant, then why don't any of the others ever act like they know him, or try to get him to switch sides? Sure, he may be a replicant, but it's highly unlikely that he was the sixth replicant from the group he was chasing. That idea was probably an afterthought, concocted after they cut Mary's scenes from the movie.
In response to what Diceman writes about the theory that Deckard is a replicant does not make sense: just because he was a replicant does not mean the others would recognize him or even know who he was. For one, they were used off-world and Deckard is from Earth. It's likely they would have never even seen him. Also, look at Rachel. She doesn't even know that she herself is a replicant. If it's possible that replicants don't even know what they are, do you think they'd know if others are replicants?
Well, in the second Book ,'Replicant Night' The thought of Deckard Being one is dismissed. Besides, In the Film, just before he dies, Batty says to him "I've Seen things YOU people,,,,etc." Clearly Batty would have known that Deckard was a Rep. and would have also known if he was one of the Reps. That had escaped with him.
Anyone interested in the workings of the story should read the book that the movie is based on. "Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?" is far more complex than what Scott could have done in movie form.
Deckard gets his butt kicked by Zora. She could have killed him but ran off when all the girls came in. Leon would have killed him but Rachel shot him in the head. Pris got too fancy and could have easily killed him. Same thing with Roy. If Deckard was a Replicant, he would have fared much better. Bryant was right, Deckard was just lucky. I would rather believe Deckard was a replicant but didn't know it. Makes for a more interesting story. But alas, it just doesn't add up.
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