811: Have You Considered More Voiceovers?

About this episode

The episode discusses the challenges of narrating visually dense films like 'Blade Runner' for mainstream audiences in the 1980s.

These movie producers really did a job on “Blade Runner.” They don’t advertise for narrations in the newspaper, every good writer knows that. But when you’re trying to sell a narratively dense piece of visual art to 1982 audiences who just want to see a Harrison Ford movie, that’s the sort of compromise you make. All we could do is sit there and watch it play....

People in this episode

Host: Jason Snell

Topics covered

• voiceovers
• Blade Runner
• narrative
• film production
• 1980s cinema

Keywords

• voiceovers
• Blade Runner
• Harrison Ford
• narration
• film
• 1982
• cinema

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Blade Runner

More episodes of The Incomparable Mothership

• 821: Historic Parking Garage · June 12, 2026 · 1h 28m
• 820: I Can Read It! · June 5, 2026 · 1h 10m
• 819: All the Babus Frik · May 29, 2026 · 1h 20m
• 818: Ferris is Magic · May 22, 2026 · 1h 20m
• 817: A Found Family of Monsters · May 15, 2026 · 1h 15m
• 816: Fascism for Algernon · May 8, 2026 · 1h 27m