"The main difference between what Ridley views this all in terms of and what I view it all in terms of is as follows. To me, the replicants (or androids, if you will) are deplorable because [inaudible] they are cold, they are selfish, they are heartless, they are completely self-centered, they have no empathy, they don't care about what happens to other creatures, and to me this is essentially a less-than-human entit…
Good quote. For me what distinguishes the film and makes it better than the original story is exactly the elevation of the replicants into fully sentient beings. Batty started out as a grifter in the original and became the center of the story in Ridley Scott's film.
I was surprised that the question of sentience and what it means to be a human was actually less pronounced in the original story than in the film. I would have expected something more challenging (if that's the right word) from Dick.