Blade Runner 4K UHD (1982)

[Blu Cider]

Are we turning on this disc already? I watched it again tonight in a darkened room with a couple of new improved settings on my setup and I was still blown away by the picture quality. Sure, there's like one small issue with frozen grain for a few seconds and Deckard's face looks slightly miscoloured in the scene where he's sitting at the noodle bar and having his meal disturbed by Gaff. But these are nitpicks- I think it's a terrific presentation.

Also, a controversial opinion: I kinda dig the new sound mix. I find it slightly more engaging and the score sounds better now, especially "Blade Runner Blues."
I have absolutely no issues with too loud rears or the like. (Listening in 5.1 Dolby TrueHD, bitstreamed from the Panasonic player, down mixed by my receiver.)

[Laserdisk]

Originally Posted by Blu Cider

Are we turning on this disc already? I watched it again tonight in a darkened room with a couple of new improved settings on my setup and I was still blown away by the picture quality. Sure, there's like one small issue with frozen grain for a few seconds and Deckard's face looks slightly miscoloured in the scene where he's sitting at the noodle bar and having his meal disturbed by Gaff. But these are nitpicks- I think it's a terrific presentation.

Also, a controversial opinion: I kinda dig the new sound mix. I find it slightly more engaging and the score sounds better now, especially "Blade Runner Blues."
I have absolutely no issues with too loud rears or the like. (Listening in 5.1 Dolby TrueHD, bitstreamed from the Panasonic player, down mixed by my receiver.)

It's far from controversial to say you like this disc

[Geoff D]

Opinions, yeah!

[Laserdisk]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Opinions, yeah!

[Blu Cider]

Slightly off-topic but does anyone know what the workprint was sourced from? And what causes the horizontal lines of miscolouring visible throughout?

[MEB]

Originally Posted by MEB

So, some people received the 4K Blade Runner package with:

1. 4K Blade Runner Final Cut disc
2. Standard Blu-ray Blade Runner Final Cut disc
3. DVD version of Dangers Days: Making of Blade Runner
4. DVD version of Blade Runner Enhancement Archive

Other people received:

1. 4K Blade Runner Final Cut disc
2. Standard Blu-ray Blade Runner Final Cut disc
3. DVD version of Dangers Days: Making of Blade Runner
4. Standard Blu-ray of alternate versions of Blade Runner

What an idiotic mess! And there are complaints about the image quality of the Final Cut on the standard Blu-ray.

Mark

Well, I just purchased Blade Runner at Best Buy and I got the first group of discs in my package. One 4K, one Blu-ray and 2 DVDs.

Have we figured out yet what is SUPPOSED to be in the package?

Mark

[Colson]

Originally Posted by MEB

Well, I just purchased Blade Runner at Best Buy and I got the first group of discs in my package. One 4K, one Blu-ray and 2 DVDs.

Have we figured out yet what is SUPPOSED to be in the package?

Mark

You got the correct set. I got the BD with alternate versions. I contacted WB support, who is sending me the correct DVD, no charge.

[Laserdisk]

Originally Posted by Blu Cider

Slightly off-topic but does anyone know what the workprint was sourced from? And what causes the horizontal lines of miscolouring visible throughout?

The actual Workprint, 35mm dupe I think it was.

[Geoff D]

Dang, so it's not even the 70mm version but a 35mm reduction of the 70mm blowup of the 35mm original? Dang. Still, that we've even got it is a ****ing miracle. I LOVE the Condensed Cut though, it'd be great to have that in HD someday rather than jittery old SD.

[Pineapples101]

I apologise for asking what may already have been asked in this thread.
But, if I wanted the 3 Blu Ray set:
Disc 1: Final Cut
Disc 2: DC, International and US theatrical
Disc 3: Workprint, Dangerous Days, picture gallery in HD

Do any of the 4K sets include the above?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by Pineapples101

I apologise for asking what may already have been asked in this thread.
But, if I wanted the 3 Blu Ray set:
Disc 1: Final Cut
Disc 2: DC, International and US theatrical
Disc 3: Workprint, Dangerous Days, picture gallery in HD

Do any of the 4K sets include the above?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

UK 4-disc SE contains all of the above exactly as you describe it. It's basically the 3-disc 30th anniversary Blu-ray set (you even get the double-sided art book that came with that edition) with the 4K Final Cut on top.

[SwaGGInTheShadows]

Guys...just picked it up... and about to hit play... first time ever...����������

[dallywhitty]

Originally Posted by SwaGGInTheShadows

Guys...just picked it up... and about to hit play... first time ever...����������

Enjoy watching The Greatest Film in the History of the Known Universe™. ������

[eddievanhalen]

I have a Pioneer SC LX-76 receiver from 2012 (sold in the US under the Elite badge), it's a 7.1 receiver set for 5.1 as I have no place for two aditional speakers and I don't like how this mix downmixes to 5.1. This is not new for Dolby Atmos played on my receiver as 5.1 Dolby TrueHD but Blade Runner downmixed is the worst of the worst. Too bombastic at times, and I like bass and LFE effects, and sometimes overly loud and echoy surrounds. I tried setting my Sony UBP X-800 player to output PCM instead of bitstream and I don't know why sound is lower in lever and it chops off some bass, no matter if I set dinamic range on the player to Auto or off. This doesn't happen with DTS X but it does with Dolby Atmos and Dolby TrueHD.

[mzupeman]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

UK 4-disc SE contains all of the above exactly as you describe it. It's basically the 3-disc 30th anniversary Blu-ray set (you even get the double-sided art book that came with that edition) with the 4K Final Cut on top.

Are discs stacked in the UK set as well?

[Ebab]

Originally Posted by Laserdisk

The actual Workprint, 35mm dupe I think it was.

It was 70mm. The whole "Workprint" business started when that particular print was shown at a 70mm festival, so 35mm seems out of the question.

[EDIT:] I may have missed your point. Are you saying that the workprint version released on disk in 2007 was scanned from a 35mm dupe of the original 70mm workprint?

[Shopping Zombie]

The UK Special Edition just includes 3 of the 'old' Blu-ray Discs (except the one with the Final Cut), which were included in the European 30th Anniversary Edition plus the new UHD Disc, right?

[Ebab]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

But while this is a wonderful system in practice it's rare to find a TrueHD-enabled AVR setup that's less than 5.1 these days, and most TVs and cheaper soundbar options don't decode TrueHD at all so when the player gets the EDID back from the latter kinds of equipment it defaults to the 640Kb/s Dolby Digital 5.1 embed so you're at the mercy of a completely separate mix and not the TrueHD fold down.

I think I understand what you're saying technically, but in practice, is the embedded 5.1 (or 2.0) Dolby Digital stream usually really a "completely separate mix" or not just a rather straightforward fold-down of the "larger" mix? I wouldn't really see the point, and since it would create additional efforts, would be surprised if creating a different 5.1 mix for the DD stream was really an industry practice. But I don't have any knowledge in that regard, never having asked myself the question.

[Ebab]

Originally Posted by reanimator

I don't know this movie frame-by-frame like some people but let me weigh-in with a resounding... so what?

When you're talking about BLADE RUNNER: THE FINAL CUT you're talking about a movie that is a revision to a revision to a movie released 35 years ago. Continued tinkering would hardly be sacrilege at this point. And as someone who is less intimately familiar with this version, I can say from an aesthetic standpoint nothing seemed "wrong" in the audio presentation at all.

Blade Runner has this reputation of “the movie with all the versions and all the tinkering” – understandably in part, but if you really look at it, that has more to do with the increasingly scrutinizing interest that this movie has been regarded with.

There were preview versions – that’s nothing exceptional. Then there were two theatrical release versions, one for the U.S. (the Domestic Cut) and one for abroad with essentially slightly more violence (the International Cut) – again, nothing exceptional.

Especially regarding Harrison Ford’s peaking status at the time, the movie was not a success. Critics especially objected to the overall darkness, an often-tedious voice-over, and a tacked-on happy ending. The movie did continue to live on in arthouse theaters though, gaining a followership.

The International Cut was marketed in the U.S. as “uncut” for home theater on VHS and laserdisc – nothing really new but a first addition to the “versions” myth.

In 1990, a L.A. movie theater requested permission to screen a print that they had learned existed, for their 70mm festival. The print turned out to include some minor additional footage but omitted the dreaded voice-over and “green pastures” ending – it was actually a preview version. It was a sensation and Warner permitted further screenings, together with the increased interest in the picture overall, to unprecedented success: Born was the famous Workprint, which is another addition to the “versions” myth, but not actually a new version.

Warner noted the success and pressed Ridley Scott to quickly re-release the picture in the Workprint version as a “Director’s Cut” (a clever and entirely new marketing device at the time!), to which he firmly objected, even though the voice-over and “green pastures” ending had been a last-minute addition in an attempt to fix perceived problems identified in the previews.

(Looking back at it, the Workprint as a “Director’s Cut” would never have worked – it has temp music all over the last reels. What were they thinking?)

But Ridley agreed to a new version to be promptly (rushed?) released as “Director’s Cut”, which deleted the voice-over and “green pastures” ending, and tried to re-construct a scene with a reverie of Deckard thinking of a unicorn – which, given he is finding a unicorn origami made by Gaff in the ending, makes his status as a human being more doubtful. This is actually a new version, though I still must laugh remembering some people’s opinions when they left the theater: the changes were definite but still surgical, and covered just a very small fraction of the picture. Critics’ opinions definitely changed at that time, but I think it was more due to the newly-perceived power of the original picture than to the (welcome but small) changes.

The “Final Cut”, now that was something definitely new, changing a lot – but curiously, not really the essence of the plot. It was about giving it the best possible presentation and addressing problems of continuity or visual flaws (more than 100 were addressed), notably the dove (Roy’s soul) flying through fitting architecture, using the newly-found original footage for the unicorn reverie, securing Harrison Ford’s son Ben to perform unmatching dialog, and especially, allowing actress Joanna Cassidy to give a dramatically satisfying demise to her character Zhora. It’s a blessing that the Final Cut had been delayed for so long, so that the technology was there.

So actually: We have preview, two regionally different theatrical, one rushed “Director’s”, and one really satisfying “Final” cut versions – actually not too many, right?

So tampering with the “Final Cut” is a big deal.

And guys: If you say the 2007 version on Blu-Ray is “sh—” or whatever, then screw you. 😉 I have a large collection of DVDs and Blu-Rays from before and after – the 2007 Blu-Ray may not have the full resolution that it might have had at the time, but it was unscrupulously reviewed for sound and vision, and it is a manifestation of an artistical statement that will stand the test of time.

[Pineapples101]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

UK 4-disc SE contains all of the above exactly as you describe it. It's basically the 3-disc 30th anniversary Blu-ray set (you even get the double-sided art book that came with that edition) with the 4K Final Cut on top.

Geoff - are we talking about this:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blade-Runner-4K-Special-Blu-ray/dp/B074SQ5559/ref=sr_1_3?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1506686951&sr=1-3&keywords=blade+runner
Because bluray.com lists this as: Four-disc set (1 BD-66, 2 BD-25, 1 DVD)
Whereas the UK 30th set is listed as: Three-disc set (3 BD-50)

So, putting aside the 4K disc, would the 3 BD-50 30th anniversary set not be the better option?

Also, has anyone confirmed that the 4K Four-disc set does indeed have 2 BD-25, 1 DVD? Would the BD-25's not be a downgrade from the previous BD-50's?

Once again - apologies if this has already been discussed, I honestly am lacking the time to go through the whole thread...