Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Blade Runner Voted Best Sci-Fi film

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Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 08-26-2004, 08:19 PM:

I'd definately have to agree on this one. I can thank God that they didn't vote in any of the last Star Wars crappers.

Mark

The Link: http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/Movies/08/26/people.runner.ap/index.html

LONDON, England (AP) -- A British newspaper survey of top scientists has chosen "Blade Runner" as the world's best sci-fi film.

Sixty scientists were questioned, including evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins and Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker, The Guardian newspaper said Wednesday.

In the 1982 film, a retired policeman played by Harrison Ford hunts down renegade human replicates in a dark futuristic vision of Los Angeles.

"It was so far ahead of its time and the whole premise of the story -- what is it to be human and who are we, where we come from. It's the age-old questions," said Stephen Minger, a stem cell biologist at King's College, London.

Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey" came in a close second, followed by George Lucas' "Star Wars" and "Star Wars Episode V -- The Empire Strikes Back."

The list also includes "Alien," the original "Solaris" (1972), "The Terminator," "Terminator 2: Judgment Day," "The Day the Earth Stood Still," "War of the Worlds," "The Matrix" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind."

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 08-26-2004, 08:41 PM:

Still waiting for a decent version of it on DVD....

Current one: non-anamorphic, 2.0 audio. Shit.
Um, 70mm Dolby mag in original release. Hello?
Are the fellas at Warner Home Video retards or what?

Posted by Mitchell Dvoskin (Member # 751) on 08-26-2004, 09:06 PM:

>Current one: non-anamorphic, 2.0 audio. Shit.

The DVD I have is certainly 16x9 anamorphic. Dolby Digital would be nice, but hey, the film's original 35mm prints were only Dolby A.

I still like the original theatrical version better than the so called "directors cut". The film does not work right without the voice-overs, the unicorn was out of place and broke up a very nice piece of music, and I liked the semi-happy ending in the car.

The original version is much more ambiguous as to whether or not Decker is a replicant, and as such, makes a more powerful statement about what it is to be human.

/Mitchell

Posted by Adam Wilbert (Member # 1184) on 08-26-2004, 09:57 PM:

no way, the director's cut rules. You can't play Pink Floyd's Meddle over the top of the theatrical version. It just doesn't sync correctly. [Big Grin]

Posted by Jeffry L. Johnson (Member # 453) on 08-27-2004, 09:47 AM:

The original 35-mm prints were dual inventory, Mono and SVA Dolby A.

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 08-27-2004, 11:07 AM:

Blade Runner is one of those films that I've come to appreciate much more on seeing it after its original release. It's truly a masterpiece (flawed, but a masterpiece). I saw the Director's Cut version a few years ago on an anniversary re-release and the print, although in as-new condition, didn't look all that great: more than a little washed out and grainy.

Original cut, not the Director's Cut please. [Razz]

Posted by Mitchell Dvoskin (Member # 751) on 08-27-2004, 11:38 AM:

The big problem with the director's cut is that when they removed the voice-over narriation, they did not re-cut the scenes. This left the film with many sections with people standing around doing nothing for long periods of time. In the original theatrical cut, Harrison Ford's voice overs are giving you background information, much the way old 1940's film noir film did.

Posted by Mike Heenan (Member # 392) on 08-27-2004, 05:12 PM:

Apparently there's a hold up on this, because the producer or someone won't license them the "workprint" version from the 70mm print or something like that. So I believe now they are going to release it only the theatrical and directors cut, not the 3 version one they were planning on originally.