Blade Runner's 25th Anniversary
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"Nothing the God of bio-mechanics wouldn't let you into heaven for."
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One of my favorite films of all time, based on a short story 1968 science fiction novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by one of my favorite Sci-Fi authors, is having an anniversary.
Blade Runner was released 25 years ago this week (June 25, 1982).
The film's story is great; the cast, terrific. The Vangelis soundtrack is to this day still gorgeous. But It was the look and feel of the film that stayed with me for all these years.
There's a nice discussion (here) on that exact point by Adam Savage; he worked on Star Wars Episodes I and II, on the Matrix films, on
AI and Terminator 3 Despite his works on those later CGI films -- or perhaps because of it -- he finds the effects on Blade Runner to be STILL superior.
There are a number of fan sites that are worth checkingout: brmovie.com has becomes the unofficial Bladerunner site; also worth reviewing is Total Dickhead -- its a blog described as “News, Analysis, and Philip K Dick-Related Info Kipple Chronicled by a PKD Scholar”
There is a circa 2000 Limited Edition Collector's Set still available -- but I am holding out til the Blade Runner Special Edition DVD gets set free (later this year?) . . .
Blade Runner Final Cut trailer
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Hat tip: boing boing
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Source:
Blade Runner at 25: Why the Sci-Fi F/X Are Still Unsurpassed
Adam Savage
Reporting by Thomas Hayden
Popular Mechanics, July 2007
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/industry/4218376.html?series=6
Wednesday, June 27, 2007 | 07:00 PM | Permalink
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» Blade Runner Final Cut in Theaters Fall 2007 from The Big Picture
Over the years, I have mentioned my love of Blade Runner, as well as my fondness for author Phillip K. Dick, too many times to count. Last week, I noted the 25th Anniversary, and was pleased and pleasantly surprised to see how many of you share my enth... [Read More]
Tracked on Jul 11, 2007 5:00:59 PM
Comments
BR,
Another thing we have in common!
But unless you saw it in 70mm when it first opened I got ya beat!
Also check out a new SF fiction book called
"The Androids Dream" It's a fun read and the referance is intentional.
alexd
PS. Where is my flying car!
Posted by: alexd | Jun 27, 2007 8:03:40 PM
I was four years old when Blade Runner came out. I didn't really see it until I was a college art student. The first ten minutes or so are like nothing I've ever seen before or since.
Five hundred years from now, when art students study the 20th century, it will be Ridley Scott, Stanley Kubric, Fritz Lang, Martin Scorsese, the Coen brothers, Roman Polanski, and others on their syllabus instead of all the arrogant abstract painters we think of as the important artists of the 20th century. Great art should reflect and inspire a culture not baffle it and then mock it for not being smart enough to appreciate it.
Blade Runner represents the power of film. It shows us a vast world of imagination that can be captured in no other known media.
-A. Lang
Posted by: Art Lang | Jun 27, 2007 8:17:38 PM
All the PKD movies:
Blade Runner (1982)
Based on "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?"
Total Recall (1990)
Based on "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale"
Confessions d'un Barjo (French, 1992)
Based on "Confessions of a Crap Artist"
Screamers (1995)
Based on "Second Variety"
Impostor (2001)
Based on "Impostor."
Minority Report (2002)
Based on "The Minority Report."
Paycheck (December 25, 2003)
Based on "Paycheck."
A Scanner Darkly (July 7, 2006)
Based on "A Scanner Darkly"
Next (April 27, 2007)
Based on "The Golden Man"
Posted by: Eventhorizon | Jun 27, 2007 8:30:05 PM
Since when was Do Androids... considered a short story?
Why you would wait for the DVD is beyond me. This is worth springing for an HD-DVD addon to my 360.
Posted by: toni | Jun 27, 2007 9:04:21 PM
toni
The DVD transfer of the earlier version is medicore -- Io am waiting for the full upgrade (whenever it comes out)
Yes, I have the original theatrical VHS, as well as the director'; cut of the DVD.
(I must have been misremembering "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale"
Posted by: Barry Ritholtz | Jun 27, 2007 9:13:40 PM
The novel "Do Androids..." was based on PKDs own original short story. And yes, 70mm and a fresh print. Mmmm.
Posted by: Rob Dawg | Jun 27, 2007 10:24:39 PM
Best movie ever made. Only DVD I own.
Posted by: Tom B | Jun 27, 2007 10:44:16 PM
Yeah, Great movie. The SFX are very cool, theres something about the modern cgi that just hasn't got it.
Posted by: Si | Jun 27, 2007 11:21:36 PM
One of my favorite movies. I remember loving it with the voice over narration as a rebirth of film noir, and learning to love it again without the voice over narration. Perhaps Scott will release the movie with both some day. Each version has qualities to love.
Posted by: Trainwreck | Jun 27, 2007 11:33:44 PM
"Yeah, Great movie. The SFX are very cool, theres something about the modern cgi that just hasn't got it."
It makes me believe that there was a time when computer graphic animators where artists first amd programmers second.
Also from what I remember of the original Star Wars movies, during that period, glass pane artwork (forgot exactly what it was called) was used extensively. Thus perhaps honest brushstrokes were used and not some paint program.
Posted by: Trainwreck | Jun 27, 2007 11:39:40 PM
You astound me once again with your class Mr. Ritholtz...
Truly...Blade Runner (whether 70mm or less) is a classic to be cherished through generations...
I love to take a break (often, it seems), through this mirage of 'Fed biases', 'overliquidity', 'Greenspan post-mortem-ism', 'elliott wave theorem-ism', 'political harpooning', 'Cramerica and/or anti-Cramerica'...
And just get back to basic art...The kind that lasts through generations...Thank you for bringing it back into focus :-)
CV
Posted by: CV | Jun 28, 2007 12:43:23 AM
Yes, Barry, the book and movie were both great. PKD was prescient beyond all measure.
For sci-fi movie, I would take Serenity over any of the movies you mentioned, although I understand if you would put Blade Runner on top.
Another time, we could have the discussion about why the difference between the later (in making) Star Wars movies and Serenity shows what is wrong with our copyright laws.
BTW, I would want to add 5th Element to the collection too. 5th Element and Blade Runner give a nice balance of light and dark, heavy and playful, even though set in a pretty similar future.
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BR: I enjoyed Serenity even tho I didnt see the series) --
but 5th element is a fave of mine -- alot of fun on many levels. The entire scene from the cloning to the Cab chase is phenomenal . . .
Posted by: Kevin Rooney | Jun 28, 2007 1:06:18 AM
Trainwreck, yeah, glass panes and models were used for just about all the original Star Wars stuff and as you say it looked most excellent. Pity they don't do that kind of stuff heavily anymore, I'm sure with modern practices etc they could make it look even better. Sometimes whats considered progress just aint progress in my opinion.
Posted by: Si | Jun 28, 2007 2:11:02 AM
The amazing thing is that you're watching Indiana Jones walk past a bunch of tube based TVs in the street scenes and it still feels like the future.
Say what you will about I-Robot but I liked the fact that they didn't get too goofy with the clothes and architecture. Bricks, grime, and robots feel believable, maybe because of the industrial revolution.
Posted by: KirkH | Jun 28, 2007 4:04:09 AM
The russian movie
The Zone
and the orig. Solaris
In the zone they spent at least 5 bucks on sp. effects.
Posted by: alexd | Jun 28, 2007 8:43:48 AM
BR - you are such a geek :)
My favorite sci-fi on DVD has to be Fifth Element or Dune TV Series.
Posted by: ManhattanGuy | Jun 28, 2007 9:05:43 AM
Are there going to be special showing in theaters related to the Blade Runner anniversary? I'd like to see it on the big screen again.
Posted by: Aaron Byrnes | Jun 28, 2007 9:15:28 AM
Stalker (what commenter here is referring to as the Zone) is a great film, poor special effects or not.
Posted by: toni | Jun 28, 2007 9:32:01 AM
Yesterday I was walking down Broadway from Union Square, heading home, and I saw a fleet of six or so scooters pass by, each one dragging a large trailer with an advertisement . The same advertisement. I thought of Bladerunner.
This happens a lot lately.
Posted by: L'Emmerdeur | Jun 28, 2007 1:02:31 PM
If you go to youtube.com and search "blade runner final cut", you can watch the new 1 minute ad for the 25th anniversary version of BLADE RUNNER...it's supposed to come out in the fall of 2007.
Posted by: doc xavier | Jul 10, 2007 9:24:19 AM
