Spinner (Blade Runner)
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Spinner is the generic term for a flying car in Blade Runner that can drive as a ground car, take off vertically, hover and cruise using jet propulsion much like Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) aircraft today. They are used extensively by the police to survey the population, and it's clear that despite restrictions wealthy people can acquire spinner licenses. It was designed by Syd Mead and has been replicated in films such as The Fifth Element and Star Wars prequel trilogy.
Designer Mead has described the spinner as an aerodyne – a vehicle which directs air downward to create lift, though press kits for the film stated that the spinner was propelled by three engines: "conventional internal combustion, jet and anti-gravity".
[edit] Appearances
- Blade Runner (1982) - Spinners are seen prominently in Blade Runner. Deckard and Gaff are seen riding in police spinners, and other various spinners driven by the general public are seen flying through the city.
- Soldier (1998) - A spinner can be seen in a pile of wrecked vehicles in one scene.
[edit] Out-of-universe appearances
- The film Back to the Future II paid homage to the Spinner from Blade Runner in that a garishly repainted spinner can be seen, parked in a driveway.
- Another tribute to the Blade Runner spinner can be seen at various points in the Star Wars films: The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. The homage was made in part because of the similarities between 2019 Los Angeles, as seen in Blade Runner, and the landscape of the planet Coruscant, as seen in the Star Wars films. [1]
[edit] External links
- BladeZone interview with Gene Winfield, builder of the full-sized spinners
- BRmovie.com – Spinner collectibles
- TheForce.net – 3D Spinner model
- MattWalsh.com – Spinner blueprint
| The Blade Runner series | |
|---|---|
| Films | Blade Runner | Soldier |
| Novels | Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? | The Edge of Human | Replicant Night | Eye and Talon |
| Games and comics | The Blade Runner Videogame | A Marvel Comics Super Special: Blade Runner |
| Characters | Rick Deckard | Eldon Tyrell | Gaff | Rachael | Roy Batty | Leon Kowalski | Pris | Zhora | J.F. Sebastian |
| Locations | Tyrell Corporation | Bradbury Building | Tannhauser Gate |
| Cast | Harrison Ford | Rutger Hauer | Sean Young | Edward James Olmos | Daryl Hannah |
| Crew | Ridley Scott | Hampton Fancher | Michael Deeley | David Peoples |
| Other topics | Philip K. Dick | Vangelis | Soundtrack | Themes | Replicants | Voight-Kampff machine | Spinner |
| Related articles | Postmodernism | Cyberpunk | Cult film |
