Yesterday on our Facebook and Twitter sites we asked all our fantastic friends and followers to choose one dystopia as their new permanent universe of residence. We know asking you to choose between future worlds in which everything is pretty much a major bummer was a little unfair, but one of our hidden goals all week was to discover if their was some kind of silver lining to living in a dystopia.
Overwhelmingly, in a contest between 1984, The Hunger Games, Blade Runner, and Zardoz, the Philip K. Dick inspired world of Blade Runner came out the very clear and obvious winner. Beyond the sheer popularity of this great film(and novel which inspired it), we think this had something to do with the fact that Blade Runner still resembles our world in a way that is slightly more similar than the other dystopias in the poll. But here’s what you said.
Hiss_driver tweeted “Oh, Blade Runner. Aside from the replicants, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of street crime. Plus: light-up umbrellas.” We love the light umbrellas here too! Elizabeth Bear also came out for Blade Runner tweeting “Androids don’t get carpal tunnel.” Then Jemma Prophet brought it all home when she tweeted this support of Blade Runner: “I can buy a 20-something Rutger Hauer as easily as a toaster. Win. It mostly sucks for robots.”
There were some cries of support for Tor.com favorite Zardoz. Simon McCaffery tweeted, “Tough choice—gonna say ZARDOZ though I’m not going to look nearly as good as Sir Sean in the red outfit.” Simon, we think you’d do fine, and thank your for saying Sir Sean looked good. Louis Farizee also chose Zardoz saying, “
I’d totally put up with thigh-high boots and red diapers
” When we confronted him as to why he felt like he’d be “putting up” with these wonderful things, he replied, “I’d imagine it gets cold. Also, nowhere to keep your iPad.”
And there you have it folks. The true failing of Zardoz is lack of adequate storage with clothing. Maybe this is how Blade Runner won. If you’re into numbers, the Facebook poll breakdown went like this:
- 1984: 3 votes
- The Hunger Games: 7 votes
- Blade Runner: 83 votes
- Zardoz: 7 votes
We’ll see you all in the replicant future!
Stubby the Rocket is the voice and mascot of Tor.com. Stubby promises not to remove any of your basic freedoms unless it’s totally necessary. Rockets are your saviors. Vote Stubby. Comply.
