Blade Runner: Director's Cut and Final Cut SEs

[flyonthewall2983]

As much of a shock it was to see Harrison contribute to it, I was as much surprised by Tony Scott's involvement as well. His comments about finally seeing the first cut, and how he related it to his and Ridley's childhood was rather moving.

[Doug Cummings]

Can anyone comment on the Workprint version further? I only have the four disc (only?) so I'd like a better idea of what I'm missing (and how far out of my way I should go to see it.)

As far as I'm concerned, the Workprint (simply the kind of rough cut all movies have) lost considerable interest in light of the fully polished Final Cut, and will largely recede from memory as well as public discourse; I think it was more important in concept than content. Personally, I wished they had used that disc for more extras (art/storboards/scripts/designs).

[Steven H]

Doug, I was actually just about to post about this since I finally got a chance to see the disc. I agree that the Workprint probably won't be too important in the longrun, especally compared to the Final Cut, but it definitely has some interesting bits and pieces (you get to see what he orders at the noodle shop! okay maybe it's not all eye-opening). At the very least, who knows how the film would still be presented today if the Workprint hadn't gotten out there?

The DVD itself I *loved* and consider it a crying shame that it's not included in the normal set. Paul Simmon's commentary is interesting, informed, and does a great job of explaining the differences between the Workprint and the others. As it's more from a fan's point of view, you get to hear about some details that are ignored on the rest of the set, like the "I want more life, father" business. Is Simmon's book on Blade Runner worth checking out?

Also, the documentary about the Scott supervised upgrade the film got (with the CG of Harrison Ford's son's mouth superimposed on his father taking the cake) is a must see for fans of the Final Cut.

[John Cope]

Is Sammon's book on Blade Runner worth checking out?

God yes.

[exte]

Is Simmon's book on Blade Runner worth checking out?

How could someone with so many posts ask a question like that? And don't you trust amazon.com reviews? Paul M. Sammon's book is THE book on Blade Runner... and thank God they got him for the documentary/commentary/dvd set.

[Steven H]

Is Simmon's book on Blade Runner worth checking out?

How could someone with so many posts ask a question like that? And don't you trust amazon.com reviews? Paul M. Sammon's book is THE book on Blade Runner... and thank God they got him for the documentary/commentary/dvd set.

I guess I was too busy constantly posting to read the amazon.com reviews. Thanks for the recommendation.

[Doug Cummings]

Sammon's book is definitely the most comprehensive book on the history of the production, and was clearly the major reference for Lauzirika's supervision of the Final Cut as well as the documentary. Sammon was covering the film for one of those '80s Sci-Fi mags (Cinefantasique) so he has been a production insider since its inception. A new edition of his book is currently being published in the UK, so if you're interested, I'd definitely order it from there rather than a US seller.

[Steven H]

A new edition of his book is currently being published in the UK, so if you're interested, I'd definitely order it from there rather than a US seller.

Excellent. I just canceled my order for the earlier one and will get the UK 07 edition. Thanks Doug.

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

I'm a little late here, but I finally bought the four-disc version. I still have a soft spot for the 1992 version so I watched that first. I'll get to the 2007 version soon. I just wanted to add praise to those supplements. I loved Dangerous Days, but I was really touched by how far they went to explain Dick and also by the lovely tribute to Cronenweth. I never knew that Dick was in the Library of America. The book that Lethem edited looks good and it's got some of Dick's work that I've wanted to read. Can anyone recommend anything else Dick wrote?

[Belmondo]

I just wanted to add praise to those supplements. I loved Dangerous Days, but I was really touched by how far they went to explain Dick and also by the lovely tribute to Cronenweth. I never knew that Dick was in the Library of America. The book that Lethem edited looks good and it's got some of Dick's work that I've wanted to read. Can anyone recommend anything else Dick wrote.

I thought "The Man in the High Castle" was excellent - an alternate view of America after the Axis powers win the war.

[solaris72]

I never knew that Dick was in the Library of America. The book that Lethem edited looks good and it's got some of Dick's work that I've wanted to read. Can anyone recommend anything else Dick wrote?

A Scanner Darkly and Flow My Tears the Policeman Said are both brilliant (and companion pieces of sorts; Flow My Tears is basically Scanner turned on its head). There's a second Philip K. Dick volume coming from the Library of America on July 31st which includes both of those novels plus Dr. Bloodmoney, Martian Timeslip, and Now Wait for Last Year.

[tryavna]

I thought "The Man in the High Castle" was excellent - an alternate view of America after the Axis powers win the war.

Man in the High Castle is absolutely essential. It's probably the supreme example of its specific sub-genre (i.e., alternative-history stories), and it's the novel that, more than any other, made Dick's reputation. It's also probably the only one of his early novels that he took sufficient time to craft properly. (My main problem with Dick is that, since he ground out so much of his work simply to pay the bills, he didn't invest a lot of time in revising, which I think would have greatly improved some of his characterizations, for example.) But virtually everything from Do Androids onwards is worth a look.

[Doug Cummings]

I second Man in the High Castle and A Scanner Darkly; fwiw, I've heard the Paul Giamatti audio version of the latter is excellent, too.

[flyonthewall2983]

I read that Paul is in talks to portray Dick in an upcoming bio-pic. I can't imagine more perfect casting.

[frostyak]

I was amazed at how great the documentary was. It had been well over 10 years since I'd seen the movie, so the film itself was practically new to me. Given the length of the documentary, I was sort expecting it to be a chore to watch it all, but it really wasn't. This movie now rests in my list of favorites.

[Antoine Doinel]

Nice article on the casting of Deckard.

[Mesh]

I blogged about Blade Runner. Enjoy.

[flyonthewall2983]

Details on the new Blu-ray 30th Anniversary set, also mentions a more modestly priced set. Kind of pissed they took the old one out of print, since I bought the 4-disc DVD. Really want to see what was on that 5th disc, which is included here. I hate the artwork.

[Roger Ryan]

Details on the new Blu-ray 30th Anniversary set, also mentions a more modestly priced set. Kind of pissed they took the old one out of print, since I bought the 4-disc DVD. Really want to see what was on that 5th disc, which is included here. I hate the artwork.

The unicorn image is too on-the-nose, that's for sure!

The "work print" cut is not particularly memorable (it was of greater value decades ago when it was the only version to contain Deckard's unicorn dream) and it's nowhere near as interesting as the "alternate version" composed of outtakes and deleted scenes found on the fourth disc. What is worth searching out is the documentary contained on Disc 5, "All Our Variant Futures", which runs nearly 30 minutes and details the differences between all of the edits and how green-screen effects were employed to "fix" problem moments in "The Final Cut". Surprisingly, this additional doc offers fresh insight even after you've sat through the seemingly exhaustive "Dangerous Days" documentary.

[eerik]

The 5 disc Blu-ray release was 3xBD25 + 2xDVD9. If they just ported over everything from that set it would fit to 2 double layer discs, but since they are using three discs there might be some double dip worthy upgrades. New, high bitrate encodes? Dangerous Days in HD?

[mfunk9786]

From flyonthewall's link:

Further technical specifications are unknown, though the Blu-ray does contain a number of bonus supplements, such as:

All ten-plus hours of the existing extra content from the Ultimate Collector's Edition
Photo gallery with 1,000+ new images
Feature-length Dangerous Days documentary
Over six behind-the-scenes featurettes

[andyli]

From The Digital Bits (this is rather old news back in May, things might have changed since):

A lot of you have been asking if there's anything new on this set. According to the Amazon listing, it's going to include "All new bonus content disc featuring the existing EC from the UCE plus Photo Gallery with 1,000+ images", the Dangerous Days documentary and more. That's kind of confusing, but the one thing we CAN TELL YOU FOR SURE TODAY is that this "Photo Gallery with 1000+ images" is something that was created for the previous Ultimate Edition briefcase set but couldn't be included for lack of disc space. So that is definitely all new, previously-unreleased material. Personally, I'm REALLY hoping that the Dangerous Days documentary is finally included in full high-definition because that's how it was originally produced (it was only in the previous BD set as a DVD disc). That would be a very nice upgrade indeed. There was at least one other extra feature produced for the briefcase - a featurette on the Spinner - that went unused back in 2007 for space reasons, and while it's a long shot we're hoping it's in this new set as well. Rest assured, I'm already working to find out and will let you know more as soon as I'm able. For the record, the set will apparently offer new swag, including an "all new concept Spinner car" replica and another "action Lenticular" hologram. More as we get it. [Editor's Note: We've been communicating back and forth with WHV over the last couple hours. Here's the official update: The new gallery will be included on the set in full HD. It appears that Dangerous Days will still be SD only. It goes without saying that I'm STRONGLY encouraging WHV to reconsider. The new gallery and swag is just not reason enough for fans to buy this film again. However, adding the unseen Spinner featurette and upgrading Dangerous Days to full HD would be a different story. Again, further details as they come in. If you'd care to POLITELY weigh in with the studio on this issue, please do so on their Blade Runner Facebook page while there's still time to convince them.]

[flyonthewall2983]

I'm just wondering how this will all break down from 3 Blus and 2 DVDs to 3 Blus encompassing it all. I'm guessing that the Final Cut version and the commentary tracks will take up disc 1, the Dangerous Days doc and all the special features from disc four (and possibly the aforementioned "All Our Variant Futures" piece) taking up the 2nd, and the other versions of the film rounding out the 3rd disc.

[andyli]

There is plenty of room on a BD25 for content of 2 DVDs combined. So Disc 2 will still have space for that HD gallery. If they care to use a BD50, I couldn't see why all the SD special features cannot be upgraded to HD.

[flyonthewall2983]

The specs on Blu-ray.com says it's BD50.