The 2021 Chevy Blazer wasn’t out back when classic sci-fi movies were making waves throughout the 1980s, 1990s, and early aughts. Because of this, many of these classic films now have the creators lamenting about not having access to the newest Blazer to feature in said films. Especially since its sleek design and angular lines would have made it perfect for depicting a wow-worthy futuristic vehicle in those classic films.
The Terminator
Fighting killer robots in a post-nuclear apocalypse would have been a heck of a lot easier with the Blazer rolling around. Yes, of course, there is continuity to consider given that in the world of James Cameron’s The Terminator, life ends for most people in 1997. So there would likely be a stark shortage of GM engineers to make a 2021 Chevy Blazer available in a world set in 2029, but the creators are now regretting that today’s Blazer wasn’t created back then.
It would have looked like a real futuristic blast from the present in 1981 when the film was originally released. One producer noted, “It’s a real shame that the 2021 Chevy Blazer wasn’t available while we were filming because the future scenes would have looked a lot more futuristic with it driving around.”
It’s true!
The 2021 model year Blazer has the sort of futuristic warrior appeal to it. You could easily see resistance fighters hanging out the sides or the back hatch to fire at the robotic killing machines, while the Blazer’s all-wheel drive configuration––paired with 18-inch alloy wheels––allow it to perform some zigging and zagging with its tight maneuverability. This would have been great for dodging blasts from those phased plasma rifles in the 40-watt range mounted to the T-800s.
I’m sure the war against the machines would have turned out a lot differently, or at least would have been depicted much differently, had the creators had access to a sturdy-looking crossover like the 2021 Blazer. A missed opportunity, for sure, but Skynet is probably glad it didn’t have to contend with humans zipping away from their HKs throughout the post-apocalyptic wasteland in the crossover SUV.
Total Recall
Paul Verhoeven’s 1990 live-action adaptation of the Philip K. Dick novel is a classic. It’s set in 2084, where flying cars still aren’t common, and that means people still get around using classic axle-based motor vehicles. But you know what would have made it even better? A 2021 Chevy Blazer. Instead of those polygonal vehicles that were used in the film, which now look quite dated, they should have had something sleeker. More to the point, the producers lamented not having the sci-fi adjacent design of the Blazer in the film.
Production staff noted that there was more complexity, style, and angular creativity in the Blazer’s C and D-pillars than all of the JohnnyCab combined. However, this could have posed a problem for the second and third acts of the film, since staff revealed that… “Arnold likely would have been too captivated by the comfort and infotainment features found in the 2021 Chevy Blazer, with the inclusion of leather upholstery, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto support, and multiple LCD touchscreen monitors. He probably never would have wanted to leave the driver’s seat!”
It would be a shame if Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Douglas Quaid never made his way to Mars to fulfill his destiny because he was too busy being enthralled with the smooth ride and litany of features offered up by the Blazer back on Earth. Still, the Chevy SUV’s innovative design and forward-looking abilities would have fit in quite nicely in the crowded streets of the iconic sci-fi action film. Maybe we’ll see it in another remake?
Children Of Men
Some of the other classic sci-fi films are set far in the future, but not Children of Men. Alfonso Cuarón’s 2006 outing about a dystopian society suffering from infertility in 2027 is ripe with impressive, long-take action sequences and a gritty, grounded documentary-style depiction of its world. But how much more convincing would the fictional future have looked had the 2021 Chevy Blazer made an appearance?
Within the fictional universe, it’s only seven years removed from the current model year outing of the Blazer, and surely even if people are suffering from a fertility crisis and the existential realization that humanity is doomed, I’m sure some poor souls out there would still value the comfort, speed, and accessibility of Chevy’s crossover SUV.
Perhaps things could have turned out quite differently during the intense chase sequence in the middle of the film, where the main characters were attacked on the road. In fact, this was a concern posed by a producer, who acquiesced that one of the most memorable moments of Children of Men may have turned out quite differently had the Blazer been on the road, saying “A compact having difficulty trying to outrun a bunch of angry people and gun-toting bikers is completely believable, but the scene would have turned out quite differently with a Blazer LT or RS trim, where the SUV manages up to 308 horsepower and 270 lb-ft of torque. There’s no way that any of those angry villagers could have caught up with them, and then the entire story would have changed because they would have very easily managed to get to safety in a 2021 Blazer.”
The Blazer does, in fact, come with a couple of different powertrain options, including a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder. However, they could have attempted to make some concessions to make the chase more believable by using the 2.5-liter Blazer that sports 193 horsepower and then found faster motorcycles. That surely would have made it much more palatable for audiences to believe that events could have turned out the way they did in the film.
Pacific Rim
There wasn’t much of a reason to feature on-the-ground vehicles in Pacific Rim because the majority of the action took place hundreds of feet above the ground between giant monsters named Kaiju and giant robots called Jaegers. However, the movie does feature some grounded segments involving characters investigating the extraterrestrial invaders, which could have been a key moment to feature the Blazer.
The writers, like other films mentioned in this article, lamented this missed opportunity, saying, “The 2021 Blazer looks like it comes from the future and our film looks like it’s set in the future, and it could have been awesome to see a futuristic-looking SUV in a movie set in the future that was actually filmed in the past.”
It’s true; the 2013 film takes place in a fictional 2020, where a 2021 model year of the Blazer could have been on display front and center.
Producers even had a role for the Blazer in the film had it been included as part of a hi-tech convoy to transport pieces of the dead Kaiju back to the base.
Of course, there is a bit of a problem with having a Blazer being present and making its way through a film about robots fighting aliens, and it’s that showcasing a Chevy being able to withstand and survive through the onslaught of the Kaiju in a much better way than the Jaegers would look really bad for the Jaegers. Producers made this apparent when they explained, “A Blazer being a lot more durable than a giant 75-meter tall robot is a bad look for the robots.”
