The main character, Vic (played by Don Johnson in the film), is an 18-year-old boy (15-years-old in the novella) born in the ruins of Phoenix, Arizona. In the novella and the film, Vic concentrates on stealing food and fulfilling his sexual desires. He is quite blasé, because he lost both of his parents in the nuclear war, has no formal education and does not understand ethics or morality. Satisfying his carnal desires remains Vic's main motivation throughout the story. He is accompanied by a well-read and wise-cracking telepathic dog named Blood, an "experienced female provider" by his advanced senses of smell and hearing. Blood's main motivation is food, notably popcorn (his favorite) which Vic is able to provide by theft or by purchasing from various vendors in the wastelands. Blood needs Vic because, as a side-effect of the genetic engineering which gave him telepathic abilities, Blood does not have the instincts to forage for food. Vic and Blood scavenge the deserts of the Southwestern United States, stealing for a living and evading bands of marauders, berserk androids and mutants. Vic looks up to Blood as a teacher and a father figure, while Blood views Vic with equal fondness as a protégé, even though at times Blood is frustrated by Vic's rebellious nature and unwillingness to learn. Although they argue over trivial matters and threaten each other, nothing ever comes of it, and in the end both agree (reluctantly) that they need each other to survive. They have also been together since Vic was born and Blood a puppy. In addition to locating women for Vic to rape, Blood has the unenviable task of trying to educate Vic and keep him safe from harm. Blood is the result of genetic experimentation, which resulted in an intelligent canine mutation with telepathic abilities. The only human Blood can communicate with is Vic, whom Blood calls "Albert" as a "term of endearment." In the later graphic novel Vic and Blood, Blood explains: "I get such a kick out of calling him Albert — after Albert Payson Terhune, who wrote all those stupid dog books in which we noble creatures were pets, always being saved by some sappy human - it is my best gambit to make him scream." It is said in the novella that Albert is Vic's real name but Vic does not like it. In the novella, Blood is a mixed-breed dog, half German Shepherd and half Puli, genetically altered with enhanced dolphin spinal fluid injected in him. In the film, this was not mentioned, except for a brief bit of dialogue explaining that Blood was the "result of an experiment". In the film, Blood was portrayed by Tiger, also a mongrel, but who was a cross between a Bearded Collie and West Highland White Terrier. Blood is a misanthrope - perhaps because he may be the most intelligent and learned being left in the world. Blood has a positive outlook on life in general and believes in a place untouched by nuclear radiation that he heard about from a police dog. Blood refers to this place at various times as "Over the Hill" and the "Promised Land", where "deer and the antelope play and it's warm and clean and we can relax and have fun and grow food right out of the ground." Blood wants to look for "Over the Hill" with Vic, but Vic states that this is as good as it gets and there is no "Over the Hill."
The film begins with Vic sneaking through foothills in search of a bunker. An unseen voice is heard advising Vic, which is soon revealed to be his telepathic dog, Blood. When he reaches the bunker, he finds his quarry, a woman, severely mutilated and raped. He is angry and disappointed, because he is unwilling to have sex with a dead body that is so disheveled. In his sexual frustration, Blood and Vic get into several arguments, and the quirks of their relationship are revealed. Blood and Vic continue their travels and stumble upon slavers excavating into another bunker, and Vic steals several cans from them. With their newfound wealth, Blood and Vic travel to a makeshift settlement with a working movie projector and permanent residents - a rarity in the wasteland. While there, Blood claims to smell a woman, which excites Vic. The pair track her to a large underground warehouse. The girl turns out to be Quilla June Holmes (portrayed by Susanne Benton in the film) the scheming and seductive daughter of the head of a large underground vault. Her father, Lou Craddock (portrayed by Jason Robards in the film), had sent her to the surface to bait Vic into much needed "service", Blood takes an immediate disliking to Quilla, sensing something wrong. He warns Vic, who ignores him. After saving Quilla's life from a band of raiders and then some mutants called "screamers," Vic spends an amorous night with her. In the morning she knocks Vic unconscious and flees. She had told Vic about where she lives and also deliberately left an access card to the vault door so that he could follow her. Vic, taken by the idea of women and sex, leaves Blood despite his pleading and pursues the young lady into "downunder".
Downunder has artificial sunlight, hydroponic bays, biospheres (with similarities to the Eden Project) and forests. One underground city, named 'Topeka' after the ruins of the city it lies beneath, is fashioned in a mockery of 1950s rural innocence and brave-new-worldian madness, with all the inhabitants wearing dungarees and mime makeup. Topeka meets its need for exogamous reproduction by electroejaculation (forcibly extracting sperm from men with machines) and artificial insemination, yet the city with its limited population needs donors. Anybody who refuses to comply or otherwise defies the committee is sent off to "the farm" and never seen again. "Heart attacks" and "farming accidents" are given as reasons for disappearances. Vic soon learns the reality of the authoritarian committee and of its need for his semen. He is initially elated at the prospect of being used for procreative services, because he assumes that the process will involve him having sex with numerous women, but this initial enthusiasm turns to horror when he is strapped to a table and a machine is used to extract his semen. Vic is told that when his sperm has impregnated 35 women, he will be sent to "the farm." In the novella, the boy character (Vic) is indeed expected to impregnate the female population of the underground community in the normal way, not through artificial insemination. Vic uses the fact that Quilla June's father secretly desires sex with her as a distraction; instead of impregnating her, Vic lets Ira Holmes in to see Quilla lying naked from the waist down, legs akimbo; thus stunned at seeing his "secret desire", Vic is able to incapacitate or kill the father to enable the start of Vic's and Quilla's escape attempt.
Quilla June, along with a few other rebellious teenagers, have other plans for Vic. They free him and beg him to kill the committee members and their android enforcer Michael (performed by former Californian boxing champion Hal Baylor in the film), thus leaving Quilla June in power. Vic has no interest in politics or in remaining underground. Nevertheless, before Vic can shoot Lou Craddock, the other rebellious teenagers are captured by Michael and have their skulls crushed by Michael's bare hands. Vic manages to disable Michael after shooting him many times. Knowing that her plan is foiled, her co-conspirators dead and after overhearing her father order her death, Quilla decides Vic is her only chance and decides to escape to the surface with him. She tells Vic that she loves him. (She was also apparently romantically involved with one of her late co-conspirators, although this, too, may have been self-serving.) Once on the surface, Vic and Quilla discover that Blood is starving and near death. Knowing he will never survive without Blood's guidance, Vic faces a difficult situation, and in a twist ending, it is implied he kills his new love and cooks her to save Blood.
The novella ends with Vic remembering her question as Blood eats: "Do you know what love is?" and he concludes, "Sure I know. A boy loves his dog." In the film, the following dialog suggests her fate: Blood states "Well, I'd certainly say she had marvelous judgment, Albert, if not particularly good taste." And then they both start laughing at the intended pun.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Boy_and_His_Dog
They are most welcome to it.
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