Blade Runner Collector’s Edition – Geeky Goodies
It’s my first time writing a Geeky Goodies article and I’m a bit at a loss for words. I couldn’t think of anything I’d like to own so I’m writing about something I have that you may lust after yourself! It’s without a doubt one of my favourite possessions.
I’m talking about Blade Runner‘s Collector Edition DVD. It comes in the fancy briefcase you see below:
I tried making photos of my own but for some reason WordPress won’t let me upload them. It’s a bit annoying but it looks the same, except the text on the plastic sleeve that goes over the briefcase is written in Spanish. Still, with Blade Runner 2049 coming out in just a few short months, writing about this feels appropriate.
Why would you need a briefcase for a movie?!
Well, I consider Blade Runner to be the best film ever. Or at least it’s my favourite film of all time, you know, with opinions being subjective and all that malarkey. So when they announced this DVD edition, I knew I had to get it and my parents bought it for me as a Christmas present.
This edition was released around the time of Blade Runner‘s 25th anniversary in 2007, which was the year when Ridley Scott managed to release his own version of the film after restoring and cleaning the negative up, the so-called Final Cut. Blade Runner was hell behind the scenes and Ridley Scott didn’t get full creative control, which explains all the different versions of the film there are. Sure, there was a Director’s Cut already but he wasn’t as involved as he was with this one.
The packaging is cool, it’s supposed to simulate the briefcase holding the Voight-Kampff machine, but the inside is the important thing. And there’s a lot of stuff in it.
What does this DVD have then?
Well, all of this here.
It has a toy replica of a spinner, the infamous origami unicorn, a folder with several prints of concept art that Syd Mead made for the film, a hologram of a scene from the film, and a letter from Ridley Scott where he talks about how The Final Cut is the ultimate version of the film.
And the film? This is a five disc edition so expect a lot of things! For starters, it has five different cuts of the film. The Final Cut, Theatrical Cut, International Cut, Director’s Cut and the workprint. All these films have introductions by Ridley Scott where he discusses the differences between versions (like there are some short sequences missing in the Theatrical Cut that the International Cut has, all the stuff the Final Cut fixed and so on) and each version has a commentary to it.
The film itself takes three of the five DVDs, and the rest is additional material and documentaries. In fact, the second DVD has a documentary called Dangerous Days as well. It’s three and a half hours long! It has everyone involved with the film discussing it and what went down with studio interference, the atmosphere on-set and so on. There are also documentaries on Philip K. Dick, some deleted scenes and a featurette explaining how the Final Cut came to be.
This edition is 10 years old, so finding it could be difficult, and/or expensive. But there’s a 30th anniversary edition that seems to have all the content (versions of the film, documentaries and other extras) with a book and the replica of the spinner on three blu-ray discs.
And now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to rewatch the film to prepare for Blade Runner 2049.
Angry Spaniard, adoptive Irishman. Writer, reader, tea drinker and video game player/designer.
