Tortoises

I just wanted to comment–In the “Root Out the Unfinished Men” challenge, the title is, “Do you make up these questions? Or do they write them down for you?” and the text is, “With the grudging agreement of the Constables, you interview a series of Clay Men, asking them ever more intimate and revealing questions about their ‘lives’, their work, their intentions, their emotions. Tortoises. That sort of thing.”

Both the title and the “Tortoises” bit refers to the Voight-Kampff questions in “Blade Runner.” Intended to root out Replicants, the questions measure emotional responses to various scenarios; one of them involves a tortoise turned on its back:

Leon: Do you make up these questions, Mr. Holden? Or do they write 'em down for you?
Holden: The tortoise lays on its back, its belly baking in the hot sun, beating its legs trying to turn itself over, but it can’t. Not without your help. But you’re not helping.

The small in-joke amused me. :)

Great! I love Blade Runner, so it’s a bit vexing that I didn’t realize this… :)

somebody on TVTropes noticed this> I’ve never seen that movie myself so…

Great movie! For another film with marvellous aesthetics and morally ambiguous characters - anyone a fan of The Prestige?

You should never hurt tortoises; you never know when they might turn out to be gods. :)

ding ding We have a winner!

Oh yes I saw the tortoise thing on tvtropes, it actually caused me to go watch Blade Runner (It’d been something I missed in life), thoroughly a good decision on my part…

Yeah Fallen London has a few good ones in them… I can’t recall any off my head now, but it also does a lot of internal referencing to events you may or may not of taken part of, it’s really humorous some of the inside jokes.

Thankfully, Fallen London is still Star Wars reference free! I was led to believe Alexis has a zero tolerance policy for that sort of rubbish.

Come to think of it, I have never asked myself these questions. And one of the constables did leave me a Cathay unicorn I’d been dreaming about…
edited by Nigel Overstreet on 8/28/2012

I think I know the Special Constable you mean - well-dressed fellow; keeps making enigmatic references to having “done a man’s work” and the question of who really lives?

Nigel, I don’t wish to alarm you but I believe that means you may be a clay man.

It’s worse than you think Lily Fox. The juxtaposition of the the gift of the unicorn and the fact that the gift was made in Cathay indicates that not only is he a clay man, but a rubbery one as well.

A little more Blade Runner:


Paper cranes/swans, same same but different.