Tannhauser Gate
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The Tannhauser Gate is a location originally referred to in dialogue in the 1982 film Blade Runner, and again in the 1998 film Soldier.
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[edit] Appearances
[edit] Blade Runner
In the 1982 film Blade Runner, the replicant Roy Batty (played by Rutger Hauer) refers to the gate while recounting his experiences as an off-world commando:
- I've... seen things you people wouldn't believe; attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion; I've watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate.
Fans of the film have suggested that the Tannhauser Gate may be a stargate or similar construct[citation needed], given the fact that Earth has off-world colonies in Blade Runner, and the typical functions of devices incorporating the word "gate" in science fiction. Some have speculated that as a stargate, it would provide faster-than-light travel between star systems[citation needed]. Also it has been speculated — given its name — that it would perhaps be located near or in orbit of a colony named Tannhauser[citation needed]. However, there is nothing else in the film that would suggest any of this. The location of the off-world colonies and whether or not Blade Runner has faster-than-light travel is not mentioned in the film.
The Tannhauser Gate, however, does not have its source in science fiction, but instead, in ancient German legend. The Tannhauser Gate is, in fact, a reference to the German tale of Tannhäuser, the knight that spent a year worshipping Venus in her impossibly well-hidden lair deep beneath the earth. The Tannhauser Gate, then, is symbolic of reaching the impossible through long struggle — something that Roy Batty believes he has done[citation needed], in spite of his not quite human status.
[edit] Soldier
In the 1998 film Soldier, the soldier character Sgt. Todd (played by Kurt Russell) is a veteran of the Battle at Tannhauser Gate. This fact is based on the text displayed momentarily on a computer screen near the beginning of the film. The screen displays a list of battles that the character has fought in, and the awards that he has earned in these battles. Tannhauser Gate is also tattooed on Todd's arm, along with the other battles that he is a veteran of. Later on in the film, when Sandra notices the names tattooed on his arm and mentions it to Mace, it is explained by Mace that "Tannhauser Gate was a battle."
The original script was to have the film actually depict the battle. However, this idea was eventually cut for budgetary concerns. The original script even gave a detailed description of the gate. It described it as "a huge wall of metal; an impregnable fortress bristling with futuristic weapons." Some of this scene was completed, and can be briefly viewed in the film's theatrical trailer.
[edit] Out-of-universe references
- Perhaps in a reference to Blade Runner, or through an independent resource, the Japanese animation series Gunbuster created by Gainax also makes several references to space travel through a Tannhauser Gate. The show offers an explanation of the Tannhauser Gate during one of the many "lesson" scenes.
- The Heavy Gear series of games and fiction also make use of the term to describe "a fault in the space-time continuum where two normally distant points of space touch one another." In the Heavy Gear universe, Tannhauser Gates can be "opened" by bombardment with a precisely modulated stream of anti-matter, and are indeed used as a method for achieving faster-than-light travel (between specific star systems). This is similar to the idea of congruency in the Heinlein juvenile, Starman Jones.
- In the computer game Homeworld, the player must save the Bentusi from enemy forces at a place called Tenhauser Gate.
- Tannhauser Gate is also the name of a Poland-based games design and development studio. [1]
- "Tannhauser Gate" is also the title of a song by The Electric Hellfire Club on the album Electronomicon.
- Tannhauser Gate is also the title of a Demoscene demo by the group Cubicle, which features a few Blade Runner inspired 3D scenes
- Tan-Hauser Gate is the name of an English electronic rock band.
- The anime Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny features two weapons known as "Tannhäuser" and "Lohengrin," which are used as the main guns of the Minerva and Archangel, respectively. One episode features a so-called "Lohengrin Gate," which is a Lohengrin modified for use as a land-based defense gun and used to defend a critical pass. As both weapons are practically identical in construction and purpose, this is most likely a hidden joke.
- Tannhauser Gate is a book that Antimony can be seen reading in the bonus page for chapter 10 of Gunnerkrigg Court.
[edit] See also
- Tannhäuser is the name of a mythical German knight, and the title of an opera by Richard Wagner.
| 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/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 |
