For my money, the worst thing about Blade Runner is how it created a franchise based on its own adaptation. The net negative outcome is we’re now categorically unlikely to ever see a cinematic portrayal of Rachael Rosen throwing a goat off a roof.

The best stuff in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is not in Blade Runner. The animal worship is tricky. It’s a source of dark humor that takes time to blend in with the rest of the world; while it lampoons the insanity of industrialized passions, it runs the risk of making the world goofy, and thus also the characters. I understand why Scott and company evaded it. It’s the chess that I love and miss.

There are multiple scenes in which opposing characters attempt to outmaneuver each other so subtly that the reader isn’t immediately aware it’s happening. The experience I loved so much was going back to reread the last few pages armed with the knowledge that these characters are actively trying to kill each other without letting on. I can’t think of anything else that gives me those particular tingles, and it’s a shame that the theme was unintentionally scraped out of the visual media franchise. I would love to see a different take on the source, but I also love the secret knowledge of this ultimate game of cat and mouse. Regardless, Electric Sheep remains an excellent example of a book with so much going on that thirty million dollars couldn’t capture it all.

On a barely related note, I’d love to see a feature film adaptation of Eye in the Sky.