Great story, Robert, although oddly in Paul Sammon's book FUTURE NOIR, the discovery of the workprint is attributed to a "stereo-film preservationist" named Michael Arick and the whole story (or his version of the story) is told in some detail in chapter XVI. I did notice that Mr. Arick, who figures prominently in FUTURE NOIR, is nowhere to be seen in any of the BLADE RUNNER supplements. Was Mr. Arick taking credit for your discovery back then?
CRAP...I had the 5-disc Blu-Ray set in my hands at Best Buy today ($35) and put it down because I hadn't seen any reviews for it yet. Suffice to say that I have never seen this film and have been looking forward to doing so for some time now, but was waiting for a final or "definitive" version. I guess it has arrived!
Okay I need to change my shorts. Just finished watching The Final Cut. Perfect. Absolutely perfect. Met Charlie D. quite a few years ago (along with Bill Hunt) at a So-Cal HTF event at David Tolsky's house and he was excited about this project way back then. That was more than five years ago [I want to say it was around 2001 but I could be off].
The wait has finally paid off. Our patience has been rewarded.
The BD makes the old DVD of Blade Runner look like really bad VHS. I am astounded at what they've been able to do. This is why high-def exists.
A brilliant set. Charles, Sir Ridley and anyone else associated with this set, I thank you for giving me my birthday gift nine days early: an all-encompassing edition of one of my all-time favorites.
I watched disc 1 (The Final Cut) of my HD DVD set last night and it looks absolutely stunning. Without a doubt, miles ahead of any other version of the film that I have seen before on video.
I ordered the BD briefcase back in September from Amazon... still hasn't shipped :frowning: What kind of numbers are you all getting on the certificate? I wonder how many BD and HD cases were produced.
Lot of stuff on these discs! The disc 2 documentary is worth the price of the set right there.
And yes, all five cuts are in HD, though the Final Cut looks the best of the five by far. The work print by its nature looks the least, but what are you going to do about a unique source print?
Well I've spent several hours in the world of Blade Runner now and I've just come up for air. I must say that I saw this film in 82 when I was 16. This presentation really reminded me what an amazing film this is. I'm seeing details that I had forgotten about, and in some cases I had never seen before.
Dangerous Days is probably one of the best documentaries about the making of a film that I've seen.
Damn, I'm not exaggerating, Robert, when I say that Mr. Arick flat out claims to have found the 70mm dupe of the workprint in the edition of FUTURE NOIR that I have. He literally takes all the credit and your name is not mentioned even once.
As great as the hi-definition release looks, it says something about the very high quality DVD has achieved that the new DVD release of Blade Runner is very close to the HD version. I compared the 2006 DVD to the HD-DVD and was blown away by the superior contrast, blacks and colours in hi-definition, though comparing it with the new DVD of the Final Cut that superiority is nothing like as marked. So those who have not yet taken the plunge into hi-definition and bought the new DVD shouldn't feel too upset about the video quality of one of the best films of the 20th Century.