Christopher Webster [Celluloid 06.04.09] news scifi webseries



Director Ridley Scott has announced that his commercials company, RSA Films, has launched a new division to make Purefold, a web-series set in the Blade Runner universe. According to the NY Times (via: io9), Ridley, along brother Tony and son Luke, are teaming up with an independent studio, Ag8, to produce the ambitious series.

Prefold will take place in 2011 which is pre-Blade Runner's 2019 time frame, and will probably not feature any of the characters we all love. Still it could be cool.


Okay, but wait, here's the rub: It's all going to be very web 2.0 in its approach. See the five to 10 minute episodes will use the social aggregator site FriendFeed to cull viewer desires and help fans drive the story. Blah blah blah, whatever. I'd be stupid to deny the impact of the web 2,0 revolution on how we all use the web to share information and communicate, but I have yet to be convinced that writing by committee has yielded any truly entertaining fruits. In my mind, its a quick and dirty way to get a large community fast and sell ad inventory. But hey, prove me wrong Scotts, prove me wrong.

So, what do you guys think? Do we want/need a Blade Runner web-series?

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Anonymous (12 years ago) Reply

"...prove me wrong Scotts, prove me wrong." - I love that. More Blade Runner yes... committee driven Blade Runner... please no... How bout we just skip straight to the main course... Ridley directing another movie that takes place in the Blade Runner universe... please... please... please...

projectcyclops (12 years ago) Reply

God in heaven please don't do it Scotts... Leave it be, it's great on it's own, we don't need anything else but the amazing film you made. Any kind of follow-up will be both lame and sad... George Lucas... The internet is not a free ticket to substance but quite the opposite, seriously. Done.

JackCrow (12 years ago) Reply

Comic book ok, this not.

Jeffrey Wilson (12 years ago) Reply

Come on guys, don't you see the potential? This could seriously change the way films/tv/games are made. I'm a 3D artist and I recently switched to a free OSS software called Blender. It has all the features of some of the big ones biut I don't have to shell out $10,000 for each copy.

Already I am ruminating an idea for a web-based game using the purefold content.

zenseeker (12 years ago) Reply

I am betting that this will have a much more contemporary feel to it, something akin to Caprica. I wouldn't expect to see sprawling Metropoli, Spinners or any hints at Off-world colonies. I imagine that it will be linked by theme, but not visuals.

soundandfury (12 years ago) Reply

First off, I have great respect for Ridley Scott. He's a visionary director, no doubt about that. Second, I love BR. I have seen it a few dozen times and every time it's over I can't help but think, "I wish there was more..." But this idea... I think we need this as much as we need all the "reboots" of classic (or not so classic) franchises that pollute movie theaters these days. Does it have potential? Sure. Potential for a horrible creative disaster. NEVER let fans dictate the direction the work should take. There's only one thing worse than design by committee, and that's design by committee of fanboys.

Like agentorange, I'd love to be wrong on this one, but my expectations are not high.

Anonymous (12 years ago) Reply

"soundandfury" nailed it on the head.

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