May 30th, 2006 John Campea
Post submitted by: Darren Seeley You can submit a post here
Great, great news! From the looks of this, it appears that fans of Blade Runner (Sealer included) have finannly gotten a wish come true: via Reuters/Hollywood Reporter :
“Ridley Scott’s sci-fi classic “Blade Runner,” one of the first movies to appear on DVD in 1997, is being restored and remastered for a brief reissue in September. The DVD, featuring the 1992 “director’s cut,” will be deleted after four months, and replaced by a 25th anniversary “final cut,” which Warner Home Video is billing as Scott’s “definitive new version” of the film. After a limited theatrical release, the newly spruced-up “Runner” will be released in a multidisc special edition DVD that also will include the original theatrical cut, the expanded international theatrical cut and the 1992 director’s cut.”
Now, I feel this is terrific news, because this DVD reissue had been on and off again in the past several years. Glad to see it’s finally on the way. While Warner’s hasn’t given specifics, here’s what I hope is on there:
1) Audio Commentary by Ridley Scott and/or David Peoples [cowriter];
2) Any/all deleted or alternate scenes some of which appeared the “workprints” - including the legend behind the ‘missing’ replicant, fellow Blade Runner Holden in the hospital, and the hockey masked go-go dancers in the cylinder cages.
3) All of Syd Mead’s designs.
4) A *special* section dedicated to model building and production design. Despite being made in the early 80’s, there was no CGI used in this film and all of the effects in model and art direction hold up well to this day. I would even argue that some of BR is BETTER than CGI.
Runner’s FX and look was highly influential, but the difference in this film was there was varied scenes where the audience could appriciate the work that went into the design. Having the Vangelis music didn’t hurt either.
However, as for the DVD itself, I’m not exactly sure why there would be a need for the original domestic cut -after all, when the film caught on video and became a cult phenom, we were practically RAISED on the international cut.
The main difference between the Original domestic and the original int’l is extra seconds of nail piercing, eye gouging, one more gunshot to the back of an unarmed woman and Daryl Hannah sticking her slender fingers up Harrison’s Ford’s nose. The DC generally sans the voiceover and the happy yet ambigious ending.