I'm new to the group so please forgive me if this has been covered. It   
        came up because I recently had a discussion with my nephew about BR at   
        a family gathering. He saw it for the first time at the theater   
        original release and has a problem accepting Deckard as a replicant. I   
        saw the director's cut the first viewing and Thought he clearly was. I   
        went home and started googling around to get some facts to back me up   
        for the next discussion.   
      
        My conception after the first viewing was this: 6 replicants had made   
        it to earth, 3 males and 3 females; 1 male and 1 female had been   
        zapped by the Tyrell Corporation sheilds, the other 4 had to be   
        retired; they reprogrammed the female that had been zapped with new   
        memories to make her believe she was a human to see if it would work;   
        when it did, they reprogrammed the male to believe he was a blade   
        runner and sent him after the other 4. When he realized that Rachael   
        was a replicant he began to suspect that he was too; when he found the   
        unicorn, he knew it was true and decided to leave with Rachael.   
      
        Okay, nothing new so far, BUT..... The original 6 came to earth   
        because they knew that their 4 years were almost up and they would die   
        soon. I assumed that Gaff let Deckard and Rachael go because he knew   
        that they would die soon anyway and now that they were reprogrammed   
        they were harmless. I have just googled around to many sites   
        and read many opinions on BR and I have not once seen anyone mention   
        that they are going to die shortly after Gaff let them go. Hasn't that   
        occured to anyone?   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)