The official BLADE RUNNER SE thread. (Check out page 8 and #790.) - Page 84

Re: The official BLADE RUNNER SE thread. (Check out page 8 and #790.)

Correction, I just got an e-mail from amazon saying it shipped.

Re: The official BLADE RUNNER SE thread. (Check out page 8 and #790.)

Well I purchased the Ultimate briefcase set today at Best Buy, snatched it right off the cart before they could put it on the shelves.

I'm really happy with the briefcase overall (# 56929). It has a nice plastic slipcover, although it's labeled with a DVD logo which sucks if I want to have the whole package and pick up a Hi-def version some day and just put it in there instead of the DVD. Another gripe is that the space between the handle and the case is small and my fingers get squished between it, my hand is not big either. But it's a scaled down version of the case, and I doubt I'll carry it around, so no big deal.

The toys are a bit cheap and seem somewhat fragile. The Unicorn is exactly what you expect. The Spinner has more of a weight to it than I expected, like a modification of a metal toy car. The lenticular photo is cool and cheap at the same time. It's one of the best and smoothest looking ones and has longer than average action, but the segment used seems arbitrary and the quality of the images used seems poor but that's probably just inherit in lenticular art. I would've prefered a film cell(s).

The concept and storyboard photos are nice and come in a black Blade Runner labeled file folder (featuring more art as the interior), which is inserted in a flap in the case. Each piece of art shows, on the back, how the concept was executed in the film with a little description.

As for the video content well it's fantastic. I've watched All Our Variant Futures, and most of the Enhancement Archives disc (including the Deleted and Alternate scenes), now I'm onto Dangerous Days (about half through). So far the All Our Variant Futures is my favorite piece. It's just amazing how long this DVD was in production and how much work and effort was put into it. It's awesome to see how they fixed the Zhora and lip-synch problems. They show side by side comparions and it is flawless work (there's a beautiful reaction from Joanna Cassidy when she sees the fruits of her labours). Seeing Ben Ford's face match up nearly perfectly with his father's is crazy too. And him mouthing his father's lines is surreal because the voice matches him too well, even though he doesn't normally sound like Harrison.

My other favorite piece is the Deck-a-Rep featurette. It's basically everyone they could possibly ask about the most controversial question in the film. Ridley jokingly calls those who don't get Deckard's a replicant morons. It then cuts to Darabont saying Deckard being a replicant is aburd and undermining, while Guillermo Del Toro says it doesn't matter. It's truly a great exploration of the topic, and very fun.

They didn't call this the ultimate set for nothing because it's not only the ultimate set for Blade Runner but the ultimate DVD release of the year, and maybe the decade. Atleast when it comes to a single film, but I'd have no arguement with someone listing it as the best set of all time. The 58 bucks (tax included) I spent on it was completely worth it.

Re: The official BLADE RUNNER SE thread. (Check out page 8 and #790.)

Matthew:

Thanks for the interesting write-up!

Re: The official BLADE RUNNER SE thread. (Check out page 8 and #790.)

I thought there was a 5 DVD package without the briefcase that had the work print.
I can only find the 4 DVD set without the extras.

Re: The official BLADE RUNNER SE thread. (Check out page 8 and #790.)

Man I can't wait to get my hands on this!!!!

Re: The official BLADE RUNNER SE thread. (Check out page 8 and #790.)

Thanks Matthew - This string is finally getting it's just due after so much time. Really Fun!

Re: The official BLADE RUNNER SE thread. (Check out page 8 and #790.)

It does exist, only on HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. Standard DVD owners have to get the briefcase set if they want the 5th disc.

The # on my briefcase was 43,837/103,000.

Re: The official BLADE RUNNER SE thread. (Check out page 8 and #790.)

I wonder who will luck out and get the briefcases numbered 1982 and 2019.

Re: The official BLADE RUNNER SE thread. (Check out page 8 and #790.)

My Blu-ray now says shipping soon, from Amazon. Like others have said it is also showing out of stock. I guess a July 31st pre-order doesnt really mean much. I hope they really have one to send me, and are not going to keep me hanging for days!

Re: The official BLADE RUNNER SE thread. (Check out page 8 and #790.)

walmart just shipped mine. ETA is 12/27!

ah well. i'm in no hurry =P.

Re: The official BLADE RUNNER SE thread. (Check out page 8 and #790.)

I'll be getting the 4 Disc version at Best Buy. I'm so excited! The doc will be the first thing I'm going to watch. Ican't watch anything else because I'm busy around Christmas [I sound like Santa Claus hehehehehe]. Work is the reason. Sunday I hope to watch the Final Final Final Final Cut. The one on disc 1. LOL.

Re: The official BLADE RUNNER SE thread. (Check out page 8 and #790.)

I ordered an SD briefcase from Amazon on Veterans Day [November 11 for those outside the U.S.] with two-day shipping, even though I was afraid that there would be a delay. This happened with the Stanley Kubrick box -- I got an e-mail from Amazon on the release date stating that there would be a delay [until approximately NOW -- no fooling], cancelled the order, went out to Best Buy and successfully purchased a copy on the same day. I figured I could do the same thing in case Amazon [or, to be fair, Warner Brothers, who just can't seem to get it together with this stuff] crapped out again. I was especially nervous when I began seeing television commercials -- LOTS of them -- and print ads for the impending release. I don't ever recall seeing such an enormous media blitz for a movie that's over two decades old. Maybe "Star Wars". Demand seemed bound to be high indeed.

Well, lo and behold, on Sunday I got an e-mail stating that my order had shipped, and would arrive on Wednesday. And it came TODAY. #17784 [why out of 103,000? Could the number have some hidden significance?]. I'm digging it now.

I don't know why some people are getting theirs right away while others are being given the go-by. I would think that especially people who ordered before me should have their orders taken care of first. Perhaps location is a factor: when I was tracking the delivery from UPS, I noticed that it originated here in the Los Angeles area, so it didn't have far to go. Just a thought.

By the way... on the release date of "Blade Runner", it's raining in Los Angeles. Sometimes there's poetry.

Re: The official BLADE RUNNER SE thread. (Check out page 8 and #790.)

From what I'm hearing everywhere, Amazon still seems on-target about shipping the 5-disc briefcase (mine was pre-ordered back in August), and the 5-discer is now becoming VERY scarce at both brick-and-mortar and online retailers, going by postings on various message boards.

The SD briefcase is now going for upwards of $200-300 on eBay, as of this evening. The Blu-Ray and HD-DVD versions will probably end up in the same situation.

Hard to believe that we're now finally approaching the payoff-point of a thread that was started back in early '02, with many low points of sheer despair, and a lust for most of us that goes back even further still.

Re: The official BLADE RUNNER SE thread. (Check out page 8 and #790.)

Canada seems to have got its own separate print run. Mine (purchased at Future Shop) is 03267/10000.

Re: The official BLADE RUNNER SE thread. (Check out page 8 and #790.)

No doubt reserved, and either snaffled by some bigwig, given away to some other bigwig as a corporate gift, or might be auctioned off later for charity?

Re: The official BLADE RUNNER SE thread. (Check out page 8 and #790.)

Just finished watching "Dangerous Days."

VERY impressed with the depth and breadth of this documentary.

Re: The official BLADE RUNNER SE thread. (Check out page 8 and #790.)

I dunno, I'd say it's a given that the numbers that are obviously significant (like #1 for example) are reserved for important people but when it comes to numbered items it's not unheard of for numbers that are a little more subtly-significant to make it out there.

For all we know those two numbers could even reach someone who never knows the significance.

I'm actually not super-familiar with "Blade Runner", I've watched the initial "director's cut" DVD and that's about it, I never wanted to re-watch it due to the poor presentation alone. I'm sure there are probably other "Blade Runner"-related numbers that might be desirable.

Re: The official BLADE RUNNER SE thread. (Check out page 8 and #790.)

Just a quick thanks to Charles D for all his hard work.

Picked up the HD set. Got through the Final Cut and making of last night.

Its been a long wait but finally the release we've always wanted.

Besides the ridiculous HD PQ one thing that really stuck out was the soundtrack. I remember the first time I saw Akira in DTS. Having only heard the 2.0 track since 89 it was a completely different experience with the new audio available on the Pioneer disc. Same here.

Overjoyed with this release!

Re: The official BLADE RUNNER SE thread. (Check out page 8 and #790.)

I got lucky....and the BR Blu-ray set too.
But really, I was paranoid yesterday of FutureShop selling out the Ultimate in BD. So I took advantage of a feature on their website where you can purchase it and they will put it aside for you to pick up a the closest store. I picked it up and when I went to grab Kissology Vol 3 (yay Unplugged) and the Tool Vicarious DVD single I overheard a guy pissed that the BD is out of stock and that he heard the last one was put aside for some a**hole to pick up.
This led me to find the rest of the DVDs with my Ultimate Edition in a white semi-transparent plastic bag behind my back.
Small print #s for Canada. Mine was ####/2500 (can't remember, at work)

Re: The official BLADE RUNNER SE thread. (Check out page 8 and #790.)

I went to Best Buy around 8:30 last night looking for the SD briefcase set. I was a little nervous that they'd be sold out after reading about shortages here. They had a number of the 2- and 4-disc sets available, but I didn't see the briefcase anywhere, so I asked a sales rep, who looked it up on the computer and indeed found one for me in the back. I happened to notice on the computer screen as he was looking it up that they had 18 of the briefcases on hand.

Are they really selling for hundreds on eBay? I'm extremely tempted to return to the store this afternoon and pick up a couple more of them.

Re: The official BLADE RUNNER SE thread. (Check out page 8 and #790.)

Thanks for all the great work again Charles! Looking good too. I hardly recognized you in 'Variant Futures'. Keep up the good work.

Re: The official BLADE RUNNER SE thread. (Check out page 8 and #790.)

Mine entered the "shipping soon" status late last night so I'm good, finally. I guess it was delayed a bit because I had free shipping, although my orders with free shipping usually do not take any extra time.

Re: The official BLADE RUNNER SE thread. (Check out page 8 and #790.)

I made it a point to get to the local Best Buy around opening time (Bay & Bloor in Toronto). They had one DVD briefcase on the shelves and no BD or HD-DVD ones to be found. I actually had to ask a blue shirt to check the back....He came back with one BD briefcase which I promptly took to the cashier.

I also checked the Future Shop a block away.....they had 5 BD copies at that time.

Very surprised how few of these briefcases were actually on the shelves....glad I grabbed mine early.

Re: The official BLADE RUNNER SE thread. (Check out page 8 and #790.)

So I ordered my briefcase from Amazon in August, selected one-day shipping, was thrilled that it shipped out Monday, but annoyed to see that it had a scheduled delivery date of Wednesday. Against perhaps my better judgment, I stopped at Newbury Comics on the way home from work yesterday and just bought a briefcase, figuring I could return the other one to Amazon.

It was absolutely, completely worth it. Watched the workprint version last night, All Our Variant Futures featurette, and the deleted/alternate scenes, and finally a little of the Paul Sammon commentary on the workprint before I finally had to concede that my body required sleep. This is without a doubt the release of the year, from what little I've been able to watch of this so far. My deepest appreciation and congratulations go to Charlie and everyone else who worked on this set, from the people who researched and restored elements all the way to the people in legal who had to clear everything; they all had their work cut out for them, and delivered big-time. It's really something when you can be reading about a DVD release for months before it comes out, know exactly what's on it, and still be blown away. This isn't just a home run; it's a grand slam.

Quite frankly, this may be the greatest special edition ever produced. I don't mean to say that as a fanboy (which I probably am anyway), but just objectively looking at all of the content on it, it's hard to think of any single release that matches it, especially when one considers the interesting and problematic history of this film. Even the best sets that I can think of have something or other that make them not as good as this set. Think of the Extended versions of Lord Of The Rings: amazing sets, but they lack the theatrical versions of the films as well as the special features from the theatrical DVDs. The Ultimate set of Superman that came out last year was also amazing, but lacked the extended television cuts of the first two films, as well as a commentary for Superman Returns, a workprint version of Superman IV, etc. Or the Fantasia set, one of my all-time favorites, that unfortunately lacks the original Deems Taylor narration from the original film, as well as the shorter version that had been known to audiences for years and probably should have been included anyhow. That's not to knock any of those sets, which are fantastic and among the best of the best. Rather, that's to point out just how good this new Blade Runner set is. Every version of the film. A huge documentary. Deleted scenes assembled as a watchable, stand-alone quasi-feature in its own right. Commentaries. All sorts of featurettes. Unbelievable what they were able to put together. And that doesn't even include "The Final Cut" itself, which wasn't originally getting a theatrical run and was just being made for this DVD. With all of the bonus material here, it's easy to forget how awesome it is that there is a final cut version in and of itself. PLUS all of the other versions out there, so there truly isn't any revisionism here, no attempt to replace the earlier versions of the film or to wipe them from our memories. If you prefer either of the 1982 original theatrical releases, they're there, and better looking than they've ever been on any home video format. (I noticed that the four disc set was only $25 at Newbury Comics, which is an amazing price to get the final cut, the older director's cut, and the original theatricals with the narration, so you can't even complain that you're being forced to spend an arm and a leg if the 1982 version is your preferred cut. Classy all the way.)

Incidentally, I've just gotten a notification from the UPS website that my delivery from Amazon that was scheduled for today will not happen because of some shipping error or some other bullshit. So I definitely don't regret buying one at Newbury Comics now, as I wouldn't have had it tonight anyway.

Hands down, this is the release of the year, and absolutely worth all of the years of waiting and hoping.

Re: The official BLADE RUNNER SE thread. (Check out page 8 and #790.)

I have no intention of contributing to any blacklash, this is indeed an amazing release, but surely this is overstatement? I'm still going through my set, but I'm beginning to sorely miss any critical insights into the film--every feature and extra seems comprised of fans, crewmembers, (somewhat random) film professionals, or promotional material. Don't get me wrong, it's all wonderful, but I have to wonder why something like the lenticular photo of Deckard is included while there isn't any literature at all other than a pamphlet containing the chapter rundown. Given BR's extensive critical/academic history, I would've appreciated a critical essay or two, or a commentary by someone outside the production. (Sammon doesn't count--he's a chronicler/biographer, not a critic. Kenneth Turan makes a few brief appearances, but he's hardly an expert on the film.) And given the fact that they apparently ran out of disc space and had to drop a few promised items (like an art gallery, which I really miss, though I know a lot of art is including briefly in the featurettes), a nice booklet would've seemed to be an especially good idea.

In short, the set is clearly geared towards fanboys more than film buffs (not that there isn't crossover). It's amazing for what it is, but I would hardly call it the "greatest special edition ever produced." That's quite a claim! (But then , if you're only thinking of movies like LOTR and Superman, you may be right.)

Re: The official BLADE RUNNER SE thread. (Check out page 8 and #790.)

Thanks for that Josh. Ah, Newbury Comics ... brings back fond memories of my college days in Beantown.

Hmmm, on the surface of things, looks like the Standard Release Briefcase has 113,000 copies for U.S. and Canada combined. This supposedly does not count the HD/BR copies briefcase copies available.

That's nothing for a new release title at a first week price at 12 - 15 dollars ... that's a BIG number for a catalog title/new release hybrid giftset at 56 dollars (first week price).

Wal-mart is not participating in the briefcase edition and they sell around 35 percent of all DVDs in the U.S. market. Don't know if they are selling the 5 disc set (brick) at their stores or whether it is a dot.com sale only. Anybody know?

Doesn't appear that CC and Target are selling the briefcase. CC is offering the five disc case sans briefcase on-line, don't know about the stores. Either way at 65 dollars, this can't be a big seller.

Best Buy IS selling the briefcase and has around 330 stores. If each was given and sold 30 copies of the SR briefcases in the first week ... that would be about 10,000 units.

Smaller B&M, club channel and Internet participation?

Amazon may keep the price where it is past Saturday to appease unhappy consumers but most B&M will not.

That puts the possibility of a bunch of high priced giftsets to sell PAST Christmas. That would be a producer's / marketer's nightmare.

However,

Just because the briefcase set says 103,000 and 10,000 (for Canada) doesn't make it so. They may list that total because that is the original game plan when they started making the print materials for the kits up ... but when they found that Wal-mart and others weren't participating they may have had to scrap that plan (hopefully before making all those kits up). Even better was they reduced the number of 5 disc sets (period) when they saw less than desirable B&M participation.

I'm hoping that's what they did ... because a DVD sells about 50 percent of its new release sales in that FIRST week. The first week (obviously) all critical because of retailers using it as a loss-leader. So that means about 50,000 units of giftsets IF they didn't reduce the total. Assuming all Internet sales equals a somewhat optimistic number that BB does ... that puts 20,000 sold with it unclear where the other 30,000 would come from. Add in any supply chain pipeline product delays ... sorry, enough gloom and doom.

So on the positive side, here's hoping that this set gets and deserves a LOT of mentions as best DVD of the year, because positive press and positive word of mouth would be invaluable.

Re: The official BLADE RUNNER SE thread. (Check out page 8 and #790.)

I really couldn't care less about critical takes on films included on the DVD. They're nice but irrelevant in a way. You can find that stuff anywhere, behind the scene features are much harder to come by, especially as even-handed as this. Everyone seems pretty damn honest.

Besides it's not like this set doesn't explore the Replicant issue, seeing all sides of the issue. It may not be critics talking, but it is filmmakers who's opinions are much more relevant considering they're producing films so we can actually see Blade Runner's influence in practice. Which is what really matters.

Ultimately, it's a set like this that will allow for even more critical articles to be written. There's just a wealth of information.

Re: The official BLADE RUNNER SE thread. (Check out page 8 and #790.)

Well, to be fair, I did say that it "may be", not that it was... it's far too early to say, I generally like to have things sit on my shelf for a few months before I try to say for sure, and I also did say that I hadn't been able to finish looking through it all. I think more than anything it depends on what you consider important in a special edition; some people look for and expect different things than others, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

I'm curious -- and I say this as a fellow film fan, not to be antagonizing in any way -- what would you consider to be the greatest special edition out there?

Personally, I don't believe a set needs to include critical analysis to be considered great; I often think that that sort of discussion belongs in a separate volume, and certainly there's been plenty written on Blade Runner before this release, and I'm sure plenty yet to be written, providing the type of critical analysis that you were looking for. That's not to say that I don't appreciate that material; I definitely do, but for me, that's not the kind of thing that needs to be in the set for it to be a success.

Also, I'm not really big on art galleries on DVDs (just a preference), or booklets included, etc. I would go so far as to say that the briefcase packaging, while nice and pretty, has absolutely no effect on my feelings about the release. If I could have purchased a five disc set without the briefcase, I would have happily done so; but I couldn't, and it wasn't really worth complaining about.

Also, and this probably is its own conversation right here, I think Blade Runner is too new of a film for it to be necessary to include a critical commentary or scholarly report as part of the package. The Final Cut in and of itself is a new thing, and being that Ridley Scott feels its finally the film as he wanted it, I think it's worth letting it sit around for a few years before writing about it extensively in an academic sense, to allow it to have some context. Don't get me wrong, I do love academic and scholarly commentaries when done well (one of my favorites is Roger Ebert's on "Citizen Kane"), but I'm not sure this film requires something like that just yet.

All in all, this special edition delivered everything I could have wanted for a 25 year old film with a sordid history: the original versions of the film looking better than ever, the director's cut that gave it new life, the workprint cut that led to the creation of the director's cut, and the newly tweaked final cut. It includes an extensive behind-the-scenes documentary that (from the half hour or so that I watched) is as good as I could have hoped for. It includes deleted scenes, not just carelessly thrown together, but assembled in a way that makes them watchable, that really allows a viewer to get a sense of what might have been, as well as being very entertaining on their own. It includes extra bonus material about the filmmakers and the writer that inspired the film. Multiple commentary tracks from the filmmakers, allowing you to hear from the director, the writers, and the technicians, as well as a commentary on the workprint that (so far--I've only heard the first half hour or so) has done a great job of pointing out what makes that version so unique. It includes the trailers from the different releases, giving historical perspective to how it was originally marketed to an audience. In short, it has everything that I'd want for this film. That's why I chose to say that I think it's one of the great special editions, and worth consideration as the greatest. This all with the caveat that I haven't fully explored the entire set: maybe I'll listen to the three commentaries on the first disc and think they suck, maybe I'll think the rest of Dangerous Days is boring, maybe I'll come to the conclusion that there's tons of quantity but not as much quality. I highly doubt it, but it's always possible.

(Truth be told, there probably is no one single special edition that is the single greatest ever; there have been too many quality releases of films of all genres, with bonus features of all kinds, so varied in nature that it wouldn't be really fair, or useful, to hail one as being better than all the rest. That was definitely a bit of hyperbole on my part, but what can I say other than that I feel like a kid in a candy shop?)

The real point I'm trying to make, and probably could have done a better job of doing, is that for me at least, this is *the* release of 2007, and one of the best special editions ever done. They opened up the vaults and gave us just about everything they could have. I might not be as impressed by that in and of itself for some other films, but considering all of the legal issues that have surrounded this film since the beginning, it's practically a miracle just to have anything, and I definitely take that into account in my opinion of the set. (I think the most recent James Bond releases had the potential to be among the great special editions, for instance, but that it ends up being an "almost, but not quite" affair ... had those features been provided for Blade Runner, I would have been ecstatic, but since James Bond hasn't had the sort of legal nightmare that Blade Runner has had, they had no excuse not to have done better.) Also, I like that with the briefcase set, Warner is essentially saying, "This has everything, and you won't need to hold on to your earlier edition of the film, or buy something else that's already been out, to have everything." If you want everything for LOTR, you have to buy what, three different versions now? That counts for a lot with me. I would have bought the Gold version of Twin Peaks to replace my Season 1 and 2 sets, but since the Gold box doesn't include everything and I'd still have to retain my other sets, to me it's not as definitive as it could have been and thus not deserving of the same praise I'm giving to Blade Runner (though it is still a very high quality set).

Like I said, it's all a matter of taste and preference, and for me, this Blade Runner briefcase set gives me everything I could have ever hoped for and much more. (OK, Vangelis chose not to be involved and the music is very important to the film, but is it fair for me to knock the set for that when it comes with so much? I don't think so. Frankly, it was stupid and shortsighted for Vangelis not to be interested in appearing on it, but I'm not going to hold that against Charlie or Warners or the set.)

Anyway... I'd say at the least, any set that has me writing about it for a couple hours instead of doing work must have some merits

Re: The official BLADE RUNNER SE thread. (Check out page 8 and #790.)

Ive always loved this movie,but dont have the knolwedge some others here do about its history and found it to be really informative. Almost to the point of being overdone - theres so much information here! And theres SO much footage Ive never seen before.

5 versions of the film(in HD), a 3 hour documentary,commentaries and another disc full of bonus material including another 50 minutes of deleted footage (restored).

Im loving it.

Re: The official BLADE RUNNER SE thread. (Check out page 8 and #790.)

And mine is in the 2nd day of shipping soon. Should have been here today. I will never pre-order from Amazon again. It doesnt mean anything! Like i had said too, this was the only time i paid for shipping, cause i wanted it quick! Hard to belive my free shipping stuff i ordered Sunday will be here tomorrow, but my pre-order from July, still has not shipped! [deep clensing breaths!]