It has finally been confirmed by none other than director Ridley Scott (Alien, Gladiator): Blade Runner will have a sequel. Or a prequel... Until 2014, which is when it will be released, we have plenty of time to speculate about either possibility and will surely come up with more. Well, after all, we are human, not replicants, and that's what we do.

However, producers Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove, from Alcon Entertainment, which has partnered with the director to work on this new project, seem to have very clear in their minds that by no means this will be a remake of the original film:

"This is a once in a lifetime project for us."

"Everything Ridley does as a filmmaker is fresh. I believe he sees an opportunity to create something that's wholly original from the first Blade Runner."

"This is a total reinvention, and in my mind that means doing everything fresh, including casting."__Andrew Kosove

A veil of secrecy still surrounds the plot of Scott’s sci-fi thriller 'Prometheus' which the director currently is filming with Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Noomi Rapace , Patrick Wilson, Idris Elba and Guy Pearce.

And, to top on "cinematic intrigue", Duncan Jones (Moon, Source Code) is also planning for a futurist film paying homage to 'Blade Runner'. Whether that’d be ‘Mute’, the project that got stalled to give way to 'Source Code' or it’s a totally different project, we don’t know, so there's more speculation to sink our teeth on.

In the meantime, let's remember (oh yes, it's all about memories...) the symbol to outstanding and uncommon winning combination of plot-cast-effects-soundtrack that has served as a reference to, basically, any professional film director who's had the intention to work on any sci-fi/futuristic project for the past 30 years.

It all starts in Los Angeles, sometime in November of 2019, when retired police officer Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) is detained at a noodle bar by officer Gaff (Edward James Olmos). Gaff takes Deckard to see his former supervisor, Bryant (M. Emmet Walsh). Deckard's former job, as a "Blade Runner", was to track down replicants (bioengineered robots) and "retire" them, which is the politically correct term for "elimination".

Bryant wants Deckard back in the job, in order to retire six replicants, among which are Leon (Brion James), Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer), Zhora (Joanna Cassidy) and Pris (Daryl Hannah).

Deckard, teamed with Gaff, is sent to the Tyrell Corporation to ensure that the Voight-Kampff test (which helps to distinguish humans from replicants based on their empathic response to questions) works on Nexus-6 models.

While at the Tyrell Corporation, Deckard discovers that Tyrell's (Joe Turkel) assistant Rachael (Sean Young) is an experimental replicant who believes to be human; Rachael's mind has been enhanced with extra memories, to provide an "emotional cushion".

This encounter provides the plot with yet another layer of emotion, as both Rachel and Deckard discover much about each other and about themselves whilst embarked in this exciting journey embedded in dark ambience, tinted with neon lights and wrapped in wire and plastic.

Vangelis is behind the sublime soundtrack that envelopes this futurist tale, forever tattoed in our own retinas, unlike "tears in the rain".

Superstars like Harrison Ford, Sean Young, Rutger Hauer and Daryl Hanna owe their accompanying "cult status" to this rare black pearl.

Selecting the cast was not an easy task, particularly for the lead role of Deckard. Names like Robert Mitchum, Dustin Hoffman, Gene Hackman, Sean Connery, Jack Nicholson, Paul Newman, Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Al Pacino, and Burt Reynolds were considered. It was the fact that Ford had already worked in sci-fi, in two of the successful Star Wars movies, and his avid interest in the story of 'Blade Runner', along with his praise by Steven Spielberg, that let him land the role.

It's well known in the industry, though, that Ford and Scott had a hard time working together, especially when it came to the subject of the voiceovers to the narration of the film, something that Ford found to be unneccesary to the effectiveness of the plot.

A "good movie", as Scott describes it, that has been nominated and won numerous awards, including Academy Awards, Bafta and Golden Globes, from the year it was released, 1982, to 2008, this last time on the occasion of its DVD Special Edition Release.

It wasn't a box-office hit at the time of its first run on the big screen, though, for it had to share the spotlight with other major productions such as 'The Thing', 'Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan', and, most significantly,'E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial', which dominated ticket sales that summer.

But, all in all, it certainly comes as the winner in the delicatessen plateau served to critics who sport cinematography knowledge coupled with a refined taste. And with regards to its stunning, non-digitalised, special effects, it should also be said that the film was named in 2007 'the 2nd most visually influential film of all time' by the Visual Effects Society.

It is for this and a hundred of other reasons, and despite the excitement we feel about the latest news with regards to the new project, that in our hearts will resonate, now and forever, the following fact: there's only one BLADE RUNNER.