Logged under Research
New Entry: Esper
Research
08.09.2019
Research Entry 034 / Esper
The Esper is a high-density computer with a very powerful three-dimensional resolution capacity and a cryogenic cooling system. The police cars and Deckard's apartment contain small models which can be channeled into the mainframe at police headquarters. Among many functions, the Esper can analyze and enhance photos, enabling investigators to search a room without being there.
Source: Blade Runner
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New Entry: Off-world
Research
08.04.2019
Research Entry 033 / Off-world
The Off-world colonies are corporate-owned space settlements on other planets, for which millions of people have abandoned their overpopulated and polluted homeworld, Earth.
As the airborne billboard ads say, “A new life awaits you in the Off-world colonies. The chance to begin again in a golden land of opportunity and adventure.”
Run by the Shimago-Domínguez Corporation, the colonies are largely built, maintained and secured by genetically engineered Replicant slave laborers and soldiers. Meanwhile, the Off-world is marketed to Earth's remaining human inhabitants as a safe and prosperous alternative to life on a dying planet, where upon arrival, the corporation will gift the new colonist a Replicant slave of their own, to use as they see fit.
Source: Blade Runner
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New Entry: Voight-Kampff
Research
07.28.2019
Research Entry 032 / Voight-Kampff
The Voight-Kampff test, also referred to as the V-K, was an interrogation procedure used by special police officers known as Blade Runners, to determine if a suspect was human or Replicant. The test involved the use of a V-K machine, which measured involuntary empathic responses in the test subject — specific changes in respiration, blush response, heart rate and eye movement — as the Blade Runner posed prescribed scenarios and questions.
Source: Blade Runner
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Updated Entry: Space
Research
07.10.2019
Research Entry 018 / Space
Thanks to a reader's email this week, I have new info and source material, with which I've revised the LEGO Space entry.
In my original entry, I had inaccurately attributed the design credit for the Space logo to LEGO designer Jens Nygaard Knudsen. In fact, it was another designer on his team that created the logo.
In an article that appeared in Brick Journal No.6, “The Truth About Space!,” Jens Nygaard Knudsen is quoted as saying, “The Space logo was made by Hjalmar Nielsen, his first version had a lot of stars around it too, and was beautiful, but this was considered too flashy so the stars were removed!”
That bit of info required an update to the credits, and the fact that there were originally stars around the logo merited a note in the Analysis: Design and Inspiration section as well. And since the Brick Journal article may not be easily discoverable online, I've added it as a PDF in the Downloads section of the entry's footer. It's really worth a full read to learn even more details about the Space theme's origins, and to see photos of some of the designs we almost got, that went back in the drawers at LEGO.
A big thanks to Francesco Spreafico for the help here!
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New Entry: Spinner
Research
07.10.2019
Research Entry 031 / Spinner
The Spinner is a two-seat wheeled vehicle that is not only capable of driving on streets, but also flying and hovering via vertical take-off and landing. Spinners are used extensively by the LAPD, taking over the separate present-day roles of police cars and helicopters.
Source: Blade Runner
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Updated Entry: Botco
Research
06.27.2019
Research Entry 006 / Botco
In one of my earlier research entries, from Total Recall (1990), the origins of the Botco logo had eluded me at the time of writing. With so little screen time, it wasn't one I spent much time on.
I learned that there was more to the story though, after reading the Typeset in the Future book recently. As it turns out, the logo and slogan had a previous life somewhere else.
Read the updated entry to learn more.
New Entry: The Euhumanists
Research
05.08.2018
The Euhumanists are a highly advanced utopian society of humans that have grown beyond the confines of Earth, living amongst the stars in a massive spacefaring habitat.
The vessel contains an artificial biosphere, with its population separated into civilians and crew sections such as engineering, medical and security. Aboard the E.V. Soleri, an emergency disabled many of the ship’s systems, triggering a collapse of their habitat, after which the crew descended into a primitive tribal state divided by civil war and cannibalism.
Source: Habitat by Simon Roy
Updated Entry: Pizza Hut
Research
04.11.2018
Additional Resources for the Pizza Hut entry have been updated with a link to this interview with Ed Eyth by The Design Sketchbook blog, that shares concept art for the 2015 Pizza Hut dehydrated pizza packaging.
New Entry: Adam 1
Research
04.09.2018
The Adam 1 Terran Resettlement Program was a failed attempt by Martian colonists to re-establish a human settlement on the planet Earth, after the homeworld's human inhabitants were wiped out.
Source: "Homeward Bound" by Simon Roy
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