Blade Runner continues! Courtney gets a hat! Carolyn gets a wig! Lisa drinks Champagne! Pitr drinks Zima! Paulo pets a cat!
Episodes 74-76 of Film Reroll. Based on the 1982 science-fiction film.
In the far off future of... The New '10s, four offworld fugitives — Roy, Leon, Zhora and Pris — who don't have much time left on this or any planet, land in Los Angeles to find their "father" and search for a cure for their conditions, all without being caught in the act.
Meanwhile, Rachel — a high-ranking employee at the Tyrrel Corporation MegaCorp — is visited by a strange man who has shown a particular interest in her, and decides to investigate what his deal is.
The first episode was released on November 22 2019, only a few days after the opening of the film is set, and possibly within its' timespan.
Starring Paulo Quiros as Roy, Courtney Alana Ward (First Appearance) as Rachel, Kara Straitnote as Leon, Lisa Kopitsky as Zhora, Carolyn Faye Kramer as Prisnote , and Jocelyn "Joz" Vammer as the Dungeon Master.
Followed by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
Tropes:
- Adaptational Badass: Zhora puts up more of a fight against Deckard before he kills her, whereas in the film, she simply ran away while he shot her in the back.
- Adaptational Heroism: Deckard is now helpful and supportive towards Rachel from the beginning, whereas in the film, he first had to overcome some of his own bigotry and general douchiness.
- Adaptational Intelligence: Downplayed, but in the film, Leon had traits of a Dumb Muscle. Here, Kara plays him as a man of average intelligence, while drawing attention to his skills as a mechanic.
- Adapted Out: J.F. Sebastian never appears, as the replicants find other means of reaching Tyrell. Presumably, he's also Spared by the Adaptation.
- Ambiguously Bi: When Leon winds up fixing the car of an employee of the Tyrrel Corporation, Joz mentions that his mind is blown seeing Leon work, prompting Kara to joke that they then have sex. Shortly thereafter, she decides to roll on the Kinsey Scale to see if Leon's gay, only for the roll to state he's straight. But then later on, when Leon unintentionally hits on the mannote , he remarks "Maybe I am gay...", prompting Paulo to add his two cents:Paulo: [K-Kara] rolls for every episode for Kinsey, and then if it's "Straight", [she] rejects the result!
- All Part of the Show:
- When Rachel is put under the Voight-Kampff test, the players suggest that maybe they're actually testing Courtney to see if she is a replicant!
- In-Universe, the club audience thinks the brawl between Pris and the actual performer is a scripted part of the act.
- Amateur Sleuth: Rachel, who tries to learn more about Deckard and why he seems so fascinated by her.
- Ambiguously Human: Invoked with Deckard. The old lady knows that there's something special about him, but she can't tell whether or not he's a replicant.
- Another Side, Another Story: Much like John Wick, the campaign is told from the point of view of the antagonists of the original film. Of course, whether or not it's actually a case of Villain Protagonists versus a Hero Antagonist is far less certain here.
- Apologetic Attacker: Deckard says "I'm sorry" to both Zhora and Pris before executing them.
- Bavarian Fire Drill: Zhora manages to walk right up to a random rich guy — nicknamed "Mr. Deep Pockets" by the players — and do such a good acting roll that he becomes convinced that they have already been sleeping together. She also manages to have some success strutting through the strip club like she owns the place, immediately landing a star position.
- Bound and Gagged: Rachel leaves a guard like this in the bathroom after seducing him and stealing his keys.
- Bittersweet Ending: Roy and his crew are all dead and so is Tyrell. Meanwhile, Decard and Rachel have the closest thing to a Happily Ever After ending the setting allows for.
- But Now I Must Go: Just like how she abruptly entered the campaign, once Pris dies in Part 3, Carolyn leaves the apartment.
- Calling the Old Man Out: Roy and Leon both call out Tyrell for selling them into slavery and supposedly reducing their lifespans. Tyrell, for his part, calmly claims that they were actually stolen from him, and that he was simply unable to make them live longer.
- Contrived Coincidence:
- The nightclub dancer Pris unwittingly impersonated just happens to also be a replicant. She uses this to her advantage by exposing it and then running away in the ensuing chaos.
- Unbeknownst to both the players and the characters, Roy has spent the night in the same building where Deckard has his apartment. They only realize this when the two characters run into each other on the stairway.
- Convenient Replacement Character: After Zhora dies, Lisa instead gets to play Dr. Meredith Sprince, one of Tyrell's scientists.
- Costume Porn: At Carolyn's insistance, Joz describes all of the (quite skimpy) outfits worn by the girls in the line to the club toilet.
- Crazy Cat Lady: Subverted. Roy spends the night in an apartment belonging to a seemingly senile woman who owns "an approximation of a cat," then it turns out that she's not nearly as crazy after all...
- Death Seeker: Played for Laughs. Kara assumes that while her friends may want to extend their lives, her character probably just wants to die, so she decides to find work as a mechanic.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: Leon now manages to avoid Deckard and instead die of his Rapid Aging in Tyrell's office, along with Roy. (Zhora and Pris also die under slightly different circumstances, but still during face-offs with the eponymous Blade Runner.)
- Earth All Along: Weirdly Inverted. Joz mentions briefly in the first episode that the story is only supposedly set on Earth. This is never mentioned again.
- Face Death with Dignity: Tyrell offers his dying creations a glass of champagne, encouraging them to appreciate their lives regardless of how lengthy or brief they end up being. When Roy then kills him he seems surprised, but ultimately accepting of his fate. Roy and Leon succumb to their Clone Degeneration shortly thereafter, passing away quietly.
- Good Angel, Bad Angel: Roy gets a pair of these while debating whether or not to steal a gun from a weapons store. He ends up listening to the devil, overestimating his own strength and failing to get it through the safety glass, forcing him to bluff his way through the rest of the purchase.
- Grey-and-Gray Morality: Very much in place. Most of our protagonists are relentless criminals, but they are, ultimately, escaped slaves desperately trying to stay alive. Meanwhile, Tyrell is the Big Bad responsible for the whole mess, but he shows signs of regret and claims that he never wanted any of it to happen. Then there's Deckard, who is a Professional Killer, but only because his superiors force him to, and serves as both the antagonist of the escapee plot and the love interest of Rachel, who is arguably the only truly innocent character in the campaign.
- Groin Attack: Before shooting her dead, Deckard manages to hit Pris with a bullet in the groin.
- Head-Tiltingly Kinky: Kara is apparently scared of ass-eating, feeling that it may be a slippery slope towards being turned on by murder.
- Human Shield: Roy runs into a crowd to avoid getting shot by Deckard.
- Janitor Impersonation Infiltration: Rachel disguises herself as first a worker and then a guard to sneak back into Tyrell's headquarters.
- Joke and Receive: A borderline horrifying example: When Pris tries to take the dress from one of the clubgoers, she states she feels like she’s about to puke, prompting Pris to immediately turn her towards a toilet. Courtney then jokingly claims Pris gets pooped on, causing Carolyn to yell at her... only for Joz to reveal she rolled for it, and that it is now canon.
- Jumping Off Of The Slippery Slope: When discussing how she's convinced that she'll eventually be into everything given enough time, Kara voices a concern that she'll wind up being into cannibalism if she were to befriend someone who was.
- Little Bit Beastly: Due to "high-tailing" becoming a mild Author Catchphrase for Joz, the Rerollers speculate that maybe the Replicants have animal tails... and proceed to question why the Blade Runners would then even bother with the elaborate empathy test.
- Master Actor: Racel has higher actings stats than the other replicants, due to being a more advanced model who can more easily pass as human.
- Mayfly–December Romance: This becomes the case every time Zhora or Pris flirts with a human. Averted with Rachel and Deckard, though. Not only are both of them replicants, but they're revealed in the end to not suffer from the Rapid Aging which affects most of their brethren.
- Mind Screw Driver: Unlike the film, the campaign ultimately foregoes any ambiguity and has Rachel finding documents confirming Deckard to be a replicant.
- Mistaken for Special Guest: Pris is mistaken for a stripper and pushed onstage, which becomes an issue when the real stripper shows up mid-show...
- Mr. Fixit: Subverted. Leon manages to fix an assembly line, but doesn't have much luck when his employers actually appoint him to fix other things.
- No OSHA Compliance: Pris and Deckard have a shoot-out on a fire escape which literally falls apart as it's hit by their stray bullets.
- Outside-Context Villain: The old lady Roy speaks to turns out to be some kind of ancient vampire, which is certainly a new addition to the world of Blade Runner. She ends up offering him some information in exchange for some blood.
- Running Gag: Kara reminding everyone that her character is a mechanic.
- Sixth Ranger: A meta example. Carolyn literally walks into the session early on in the second episode and takes up the role of Pris, who was previously a Non-Player Character, actually becoming the campaign's sixth player in the process.
- So Proud of You: Tyrell praises Roy and Leon for managing to find him, even though they're wanted criminals who have just broken into his suite.
- Take Off Your Clothes: Pris does this twice in the club, first to get a dress from some girl, (with, ahem... mixed results) and then to get shoes from a guy with tiny feet, (which goes better, and ends up giving him a newfound appreciation for dominant ladies.)
- Tap on the Head: Leon knocks out Dr. Meredith by driving her face into a wall before she has time to call security.
- Tempting Fate: When it finally comes time for Kara's turn in the first episode, she decides to bring up the fact that up until that point, no one had Crit Failed a roll. So naturally, things get slightly tense when Leon needs to roll for Street Wise.note
- Toilet Humor: Pris leads a girl into a club toilet with the intention of stealing her outfit, under the pretense of offering her drugs. However, said girl ends up having some stomach issues and poops all over Pris, while trying to throw up in the toilet. Pris leaves the stall immediately.
- Tuckerization: At the club Zhora gets employed at, there is — along with your standard sword swallovers — also somebody named Pitr unsuccessfully trying to swallow a whole couch, which is apparently just something their real namesake was attempting at that very moment. (Of course, this was later somewhat Subverted when said namesake eventually changed her name to Kara.)
- Vocal Dissonance: Lisa mentions that before actually joining the podcast, she pictured Kara Strait — who was still presenting as male at the time — with more of a twink look, something akin to an older Jack Frost from Rise of the Guardians. (Kara does admit to liking the design.) The other Rerollers bring up the fan comments that she apparently didn’t sound bald.
- This later became something of a Brick Joke where — while coming out as trans one and a half years later — Kara Strait revealed that she now sported a full head of hair, and that the listeners had — in a sense — been right all along.
- Zeerust:
- Discussed. The players point out how surreal it is that a film has a Video Phone, (which is very much real technology today) but depicts it as a stationary pay phone, as these have been all but phased out in favour of mobile devices. They conclude that science-fiction writers are often more capable and interested in predicting future techology than the society-changing applications of said technology.
- They also point out how strange it is that people use pieces of silver as currency in this futuristic society.
