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 the Star Wars prequel trilogy. These films have the popular vision of flying cars, and people use spinners like traditional cars; in Blade Runner, the flying cars substitute for helicopters and very light jets.
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".
A Spinner is currently on permanent exhibit at the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame in Seattle, WA. [2]
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[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, Very Important Person 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 redesigned Batmobile depicted in the Christopher Nolan directed films Batman Begins and The Dark Knight are influenced by the Spinner's design of two independent front wheels with no axle between them.
- 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 on a street. [3]
- Another tribute to the Blade Runner spinner can be seen at various points in the Star Wars films: they are seen in 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]
- The video game Snatcher (itself influenced by Blade Runner)[citation needed] has 'flying cars' that are extremely similar to Spinners.
- The THQ published video game Stuntman: Ignition developed by Paradigm Entertainment has an unlockable vehicle heavily influenced by the Spinner's design.
- A spinner appears at the beginning of the videoclip made for the Earth Wind and Fire song Magnetic (1983).
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame Blade Runner Flying Spinner Car on permanent exhibit.
- BladeZone interview with Gene Winfield, builder of the full-sized spinners
- BRmovie.com – Spinner collectibles
- TheForce.net – 3D Spinner model
- MattWalsh.com – Spinner blueprint
- RoadableTimes.com – History of flying cars
- PropSummit — An online community featuring discussion of the props from Blade Runner
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