Early in the 21st Century, THE TYRELL CORPORATION advanced Robot evolution into the NEXUS phase -- a being virtually identical to a human -- known as a replicant। The NEXUS 6 Replicants were superior in strength and agility, and at least equal in intelligence, to the genetic engineers who created them. Replicants were used Off-world as slave labor, in the hazardous exploration and colonization of other planets. After a bloody mutiny by a NEXUS 6 combat team in an Off-world colony, Replicants were declared illegal on earth -- under penalty of death. Special police squads -- BLADE RUNNER UNITS -- had orders to shoot to kill, upon detection, any trespassing Replicants.

This was not called execution. It was called retirement.

LOS ANGELES
NOVEMBER, 2019
OK!! the other day I got into a discussion with a friend, lets call him Alex about the new release of Blade Runner he was under the impression that a version had just been released. We have had a running discussion about BR over the last 4 years. I'm a big fan and he doesn't understand what more there is to see, say or know about BR. I should mention that Alex actually owns a copy of "Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner" by Paul M. Sammon as well as has a recorded from TV version of "On the Edge of 'Blade Runner' ". Both of which he loaned to me awhile back. Alex doth protest too much, methinks.

Anyhoo!! I thought I'd create the definitive list of the visual & soundtrack versions of the film that exists. I have steered clear of the content of Blade Runner for now. Allthough the following timeline is in chronological order I have indented the timeline where it was reto fitted.

1927 - German expressionist Fritz Lang creates Metropolis which feeds Ridley Scotts vision
1942 - Edward Hopper paints Nighthawks again this feeds Scotts bleek vision. Building on the dark atmosphere created by the death of Scott's just before the making of Blade Runner
1968 - Philip K. Dick writes "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?". This forms the backbone of Blade Runner. Martin Scorsese and Jay Cocks were both interested but they don't option it.
1973 - Herb Jaffe options
1973 - Robert Jaffe does a screenplay
1975 or 76 - Dan O'Bannon and Moebius give us the conceptual visual stylings from their "The Long Tomorrow" graphic novel.
1975-77 - Hampton Fancher gets involved. Failing to option William Burroughs’ Naked Lunch. Brian Kelly & Hampton Fancher finalise a deal.
1979 - Alan E. Nourse gives us the title Blade Runner from one of his books about smugglers of medical supplies.
1979 - William S. Burroughs writes "Blade Runner, a movie" loosely based on Nourse's story. Only the title was kept for the film.
1979 - Hampton Fancher completes his screenplay for Blade Runner called "Android" later changed to "Dangerous Days".
1980 - David Peoples rewrites it
March 9, 1981 - Photography starts
June 25, 1982 - Blade Runner is released

Thank you http://scribble.com for the following detail of each print.

1982 - US Denver/Dallas Sneak Preview/Workprint
1982 - US San Diego Sneak Preview
1982 - US Theatrical Release
1982 - European Theatrical and Laserdisc Release
1992 - Blade Runner The Director's Cut
2006 - Restored and remastered DVD version of the 1992 Director’s Cut
2007 - Blade Runner: The Final Cut
Cable TV Version
Video Version

US Denver/Dallas Sneak Preview/Workprint--70mm (113 min):
- Webster's 2012 definition of a replicant used in lieu of opening crawl
- voiceovers deleted except at Batty's death
- Bryant says TWO replicants were fried running through an electric field
- conversation between snake-maker and Deckard is different and matches their lips
- includes shot of nearly nude dancers in hockey masks outside Taffey's bar
- Batty says, "I want more life, father."
- Pris lifts Deckard up by his nostrils when she beats him up
- different voiceover used after Batty's death
- ends with the elevator doors closing
- shorter than other versions

This version was shown at the Fairfax Theater in 1990 and UCLA's Los Angeles Perspectives multimedia festival in 1991. This was also the print shown at a London sneak preview in March of 1982. A 35mm reduction of this version was later shown at the Nuart and Castro Theaters in 1991. There were rumours that THIS version was the original director's cut, but the official 1992 Director's Cut is not the same.

US San Diego Sneak Preview (115 min):
- shows Batty making a telephone call to see if Chew is there
- shows Deckard reloading his weapon after firing at Batty
- Deckard and Rachael ride into the sunset

[Source: Video Watchdog no. 20, November-December 1993.]

European Theatrical Release/Criterion Laserdisc/Videocassette (117 min):
- Batty sticks his thumbs in Tyrell's eyes, which bleed copiously.
- Pris lifts Deckard up by his nostrils when she beats him up.
- Deckard shoots Pris a third time.
- more of Pris kicking and screaming when she is shot by Deckard.
- shows Roy actually pushing the nail through his hand
- Deckard and Rachael ride into the sunset

The added violence makes this version about 15 seconds longer than the US theatrical release. The 10th Anniversary video edition is the same as this release.

The Director's Cut (BRDC) (117 min):
- voice-overs completely eliminated
- added dialog from blimp to cover missing voice-over while Deckard waits for a seat at the noodle bar.
- 12-second unicorn scene added when Deckard plays the piano
- happy ending deleted (movie ends with elevator doors closing)
- extra violence seen on videocassette deleted
- digital soundtrack was remixed for BRDC.

Cable TV [? min]:
When BR first appeared on American cable TV, there was an additional line of dialog when Bryant gives Deckard the description, names, and addresses of Tyrell and Sebastian over the radio. In the cable TV version, Bryant adds "...and check 'em out" after he says "I want you to go down there."

VIDEOTAPE (117 min):
All video tapes before January 1993 are the "Not Rated" version and contain the extra violence in the Euro-release that's not seen in the 117 minute American theatrical release.

Restored and remastered DVD version of the 1992 Director’s Cut:
Restored and remastered DVD version of the 1992 Director’s Cutwill debut in September in the U.S. and October in the UK for a special four-month limited release, after which it will be placed on moratorium by WHV.

Blade Runner: The Final Cut:
Later in 2007, to celebrate the film’s 25th anniversary, the studio will unveil Blade Runner: The Final Cut, Scott’s definitive new version of his science-fiction masterpiece. The film will be released theatrically in select major U.S. cities, followed by a multi-disc Special Edition DVD release which will also contain three alternate versions of Blade Runner: the Original U.S. Theatrical Cut, the Expanded International Theatrical Cut and the 1992 Director’s Cut. Ample, ground-breaking bonus features will also be included.

I need one of these. Damn!! not available on ebay UK yet. The "Kronik Hill Karver" looks like it's the top electric skateboard out there. The Karver in the vid below is the "Grass Kutter".



You can be sure that I'll be picking one of these babies up real soon. That is, if I dont find a better one.

A time to meet new friends, catch up with old friends and wish Nikki happy birthday.

The Oratory is is one of the Brinkleys owned & operated restaurants. In summer with the large double doors open this place must be quite amazing. Our waiter guy was a tall drink of American and was beyond reproach. He was just the right balance of formal service and casual personality. His pesonality added to the evening makin sure it was memorable.

The ladies looked fine and the gentlemen were well groomed for the evening particulary Mark who was kilted out. A jolly laugh was had by all. The champagne flowed freely (thanks Mark), the grilled bruschetta
with goats cheese and a red pepper and red onion compote was divine, my main roast chicken breast stuffed with goats cheese, sun-dried tomatoes & mash was a little dry but delicios nevertherless.

The décor was a bit eclectic but interesting. The ceiling ornaments reminded me of Renaissance's Sebastians café Cape Town. Kind of gilded baroque.

Remember, remember the 5th of November (unless you are busy & have to do it on the 6th)

I may have missed Guy Fawkes but I had a fall back position Every year
one of my neighbours puts on a bit of a display. It's not Battersea
Park, which I do rate for it's fireworks to music display. But its
convenient and spectacular as the sparkles rain down over the river.

Thus far, all fireworks pale in comarison to Cape Town's "Symphony of Fire".

We needed to pick up some household stuff - so on Saturday rather than use public transport I decided to hire one of the electric cars our block rents out. This is done as part of an effort to keep London clean & green.

The G-Wiz from Reva is a tiny electricity powered vehicle. Think
of a silver wind up kids toy. It performed quite well given the fact that I had no experience of electric cars and had decided to completely ignore the instructions till we returned. OK as you probably guessed I didn't see them in the door compartment until the
car was parked again.

The G is small, slow and also not damaging the world health. The controls seem to be very similar to regular car. Brake, accelerate and
clutch. However there are some differences :
- the rather go cart'ish hand brake
- the gears are shifted by the turning of a dial similar to the dial
on a washing machine or oven. Yes I have on occasion used both these
pieces of equipment.

The gear settings are R,N,E and F. With a little fiddling we cracked the code:
R = Reverse
N = Neutral (you're getting the hang of it, now)
E = seemed to be go forward, we assumed Economy or Ejector seat. This
was later validated to be economy.
F = we were undecided on this - Full, Full lights, Faster, Forward,
Fun (if it was fun it was a temporary setting), Fly (no, no wings transformed out the side). It was in fact F for faster.

When this was discovered I began to suspect that the G was either made in a North Korean
sweatshop or the kinder chocolate factory.

Low point - discovering that the power doesn't really last for 8 hours.

Lower point - discovering this less than half way to our intended
destination. At this point we worked out that we had about 60% power
(including reserve power) and had 70% of our outward journey to
complete (not including detours and the inevitable getting lost
because of poor road signage*). And yes we still had the return leg of the journey to complete. . Naturally we decided to put our feet down and go for it relying on St. Michael Knight (patron saint of driving) to sort it out. An added concern was that we had tickets to see the Shaolin monks finale performance of the wheel of life and any delay would mean disappointment. Did I mention we were expecting Guy Fawkes Bonfire night traffic too?

High point - The incredible spectacle of plugging & unplugging the car into a wall socket to power up. For real you can plug the car into a regular power point to charge like a mobile or camera. Incredible!!


*On a related topic I have been told that the Uk road signage is crap because: during the WWII all road signs were either removed or hidden. So that any invading Germans could not find there way around. Ok the wars over. Let it go. It's just annoying. Put them back please .

Found this diagram today.

It shows a map of comments made in 2005 quoting "x is the new". Its pretty cool. looking forward to the 2006 version. I'm keen to see how different it looks.
Click here to view.

Looking north west (Millennium eye -Big Ben)

I also had a chance to poke around the Jam Factory one of the locations I had scouted for the Bat cave. JB has a top floor terrace with a 360 degree of London's skyline. Breathtaking!! What you lose on the straights you make up on the corners. The view was awesome and made me fall in love with London all over again. Especially with all the pre Halloween & Guy Fawkes fireworks on display.

Looking north west (Millenium eye -Big Ben), originally uploaded by Craig Grobler.