The Blade Runner Thread

According to my quick perusal of Amazon just now, there are a lot of different versions coming out in regular DVD. Basically, there is a two disc version, a four disc version, and the five disc version with the suitcase. The four disc version seems to be the most reasonable of the lot, but it doesn't come with the workprint.

I'm taking the simple approach -- ask for the five DVD set for Xmas. (Since, conveniently, it is released right before Xmas.)

My friends don't like me THAT much.

(I'm talking family in my case.)

Ned - do you have a link for info about the forthcoming soundtrack?

My family doesn't like me THAT much.

Yeah, come on, Ned -- give up the 411 on this "definitive edition" of which you brag...

From a couple months back:

Hi Everyone,

Just finish "BLADE RUNNER" Version 2 project with VANGELIS .....
Three months of works including restoring tape process and new mixes with the last Euphonix Serie 5 desk.

Something's up.

Similar post, found elsewhere:

June 27th 2007 - Blog of Vangelis' collaborator, Frederick Rousseau:
here is a snip from the blog of Vangelis' collaborator, Frederick Rousseau: "Hi Everyone, Just finish the "BLADE RUNNER" Version 2 project with VANGELIS ..... Three months of works including restoring tape process and new mixes with the last Euphonix Serie 5 desk. This Project brings back a lot of memories to Vangelis from that laps of time. During the last weeks we found a lot of unreleased cues and musics composed for the film and never used in it.... ( Interesting moment of discovery ... ) Blade Runner released date: October 2007".

man as much as i love this record i am recently way more into the escape from new york soundtrack

also, if anyone has the new american orchestra version for ysi i would be much olbiged

I highly recommend listening to this while driving around Los Angeles at night!

bonus points if this is your ride:

http://dc-mrg.english.ucsb.edu/WarnerTeach/E192/Images/BR.Spinners.jpg

The suitcase comes out the day after my birthday. And I find the Amazon US preorder price to be in fact kinda reasonable.

I don't know which bootleg version of the soundtrack I have on my iPod (it has all the synth music, plus two old 78-sounding love songs and the audio from the movie's trailer) but it's fucking great. I downloaded it after listening to Arve Henriksen's Strjon, because one track from that album was very reminiscent of the BR opening music.

Esper Edition tracklisting:

1. Prologue And Main Titles - 3:53
2. Leon's Voight Kampff Test - Sushi Bar - 1:37
3. Damask Rose - 2:00
4. Spinner Ascent (Los Angeles November 2019) - 1:31
5. Blush Response - 5:45
6. Wait For Me - 5:18
7. Deckard Meets Rachel - Rachel's Voight Kampff Test - 1:36
8. Rachel's Song - 4:20
9. Tales Of The Future (On The Trail Of Nexus 6) - 4:53
10. Bicycle Riders (Harps Of The Ancient Temples) - 2:11
11. Chew's Eye Lab - 1:17
12. Memories Of Green - 5:31
13. Blade Runner Blues (Extended version) - 10:07
14. Pris Meets J.F. Sebastian - 1:41
15. One More Kiss, Dear - 3:57
16. Deckard's Dream - 1:11
17. Thinking Of Rachel (Love Theme Different Take) - 1:17
18. Esper Analysis - Animoid Row Part 1 - 3:59
19. Animoid Row Part 2 - 1:10
20. Taffey Lewis' Night Club - 2:01
21. Salome's Dance - 1:23
22. Zhora's Retirement - 1:42
23. I Am The Business - 1:29
24. Love Theme (Extended Version) - 5:56
25. I Dreamt Music (Alternative Love Theme) - 4:22
26. Morning At The Bradbury - 3:34
27. The Prodigal Son Brings Death - 3:41
28. Deckard Enters The Bradbury - 3:01
29. Dangerous Days - 0:57
30. Wounded Animals - 10:55
31. Tears In Rain - 2:54
32. Rachel Sleeps - 2:01
33. End Titles (Extended Version) - 7:22

I am "on" it. Haven't ever really listened to this without watching the movie, but it's probably as lovely on its own.

I like it. It goes very well with bright blue LED lights.

I downloaded it after listening to Arve Henriksen's Strjon, because one track from that album was very reminiscent of the BR opening music.

Which cut? I'm intrigued...

I want the work print, but I do not want the trinkets and briefcase. You can get the five-disc edition without the crap in HD or Bluray, but not on regular DVD. Bah.

It comes out two days before my birthday! Go figure that.

It should be noted here that SEVERAL themes from this are catchy as all hell.

My current fave: Mary Hopkin's wordless cooing on "Rachel's Song."

> Which cut? I'm intrigued...

Can't remember now, and it could be that there was no actual melodic similarity, just one of those instances where a piece of music psychically triggers the need to hear another piece by someone else.

http://media.bladezone.com/esper.php

i used to put the movie on and just go sit on the doorstep smoking a cigarette and listening to the soundtrack.

theres no other movie I would even consider doing that with.

then the soundtrack came out and the ritual was lost.

off topic but Bladerunner is the one reason Im considering a HDTV this year.

p.s. dont touch the orchestral vinyl soundtrack. it sells on ebay occaisionally for good money and was a blatant cash in.

So I still can't find hide nor hair about an official 25th anniversary release of the soundtrack...

You'll have to steal it.

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20056516,00.html

...in a cute supporting role alongside Tom Selleck in the CBS movie-of-the-week Jesse Stone: Sea Change.

This combination is all the more sad when you think about the two of them in the screen test for Raiders of the Lost Ark that's on the extra DVD with the box set.

But WHOA on that James Woods bit:

Some bitterness dies hard. In a 1992 EW cover story on Young, Woods sounded a note of contrition when he said that ''I love and admire Sean,'' and elsewhere he has been quoted as saying ''Maybe she'll say it's time to bury the hatchet. I can only be a gentleman and say I hope for the best.'' But when approached again for this piece, he struck back at the actress in four angry and raw e-mails sent to EW over the course of 12 hours, cc'd to his lawyer and publicist. He wrote, among other things, that the actress perpetrated a ''jihad of terror'' against him and his now ex-wife, that this all ''was certainly not about spurned advances, as they were most assuredly not spurned,'' and that ''I am sure it is fashionable to bash the guy (yawn) and pity the poor woman.'' (He also stressed that a highly publicized urban legend, wherein Young superglued his penis to his leg, was entirely false and if the magazine suggested otherwise he'd take EW to court. The actress also denies the incident.) His lawyer quickly followed up Woods' eruption with an e-mail saying the messages had been accidentally sent, and insisted EW only quote his client using the following statement: ''These incidents took place over 20 years ago, and I have moved on and would suggest Ms. Young do the same.''

oh man

watching the final cut in the theater really makes the official version of this score seem like an insult

Yup.

When the end credits started I could barely move.

otoh listening to "blade runner blues" from the lame old OST makes me feel like the loneliest man alive*.

* which I might be.

haha Ned when I saw it (twice) it was the opening credits that made me feel like a tiny bastard for having a bladder!

Hahah wow. But I hear you. Talk about how a few sounds just nail you to the wall (or rather the chair).

Rather than spend $80 on the set, ask for a Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD player for the holidays (available in certain sales for $98), then rent the HD Bladerunner from Netflix. Best way to truly enjoy the enhanced picture/sound (if you have a good screen and soundsystem).

http://www.elsew.com/data/latest.htm

Wow, it looks like it's happening, woohoo!

I saw it bigscreen as a kid. Then the first Director's cut big screen at a Bijou in the early 90s. It was nice to see it a third time with higher resolution everything.

Always enjoyed this cd soundtrack... but I couldn't necessarily rate it higher than a lot of similar Wendy Carlos stuff.

so the trilogy isn't coming out domestically in the US, then? the buyers where i work (amoeba music) haven't been solicited for it at all, so they brought in the import (at a $32 pricetag). anyone have any other news about this?

It's an Amazon.com exclusive in the US. Costs about as much as a standard double CD, $21 or $22 or something like that.

I'm glad to see the 1994 release is still part of this- I know a lot of people hate it, but I grew up with that album and it wouldn't feel right without all the (extremely well-chosen) dialog.

This is all wonderful, wonderful news.

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/48336-blade-runner-trilogy-25th-anniversary

While I agree the second disc is solid, I surely didn't need a Vangelis album "inspired" by the movie! So I downloaded one of the major bootlegs and all is well.

Exaclty.

Given the much-discussed nature of Blade Runner, it's a little confusing that Vangelis tacked on a whole disc of new compositions and didn't just release the entire score. The works on the third disc are certainly fine on their own, a nice return by Vangelis to the synthesized new age that he doesn't compose much anymore. The work on this disc sounds dated at times, and sort-of purposelessly includes muffled spoken-word performances from the likes of Ridley Scott, Oliver Stone, and Roman Polanski. Is it really necessary to include, as Vangelis does on "No Expectation Boulevard", actual dialogue of Ridley Scott discussing the Final Cut project?

o_O

Finally snagged the set last weekend up in Seattle. The third disc is a bit curious but sonically it's a nice enough follow-on and the spoken word snippets make it a sequel to the 1994 soundtrack that works in its own way.

I still find it interesting that the actual opening music for the initial credits/expository crawl isn't on here but then again all I really have to do is just put on the movie to get that...

playing of the Blade Runner soundtrack at Massive Attacks Meltdown festival 2008.

tickets available friday.

As in they just set up the CD or what? A live Vangelis performance would be interesting.

its a massive attack version, i think.

"VANGELIS' BLADE RUNNER SOUNDTRACK
performed live by the Heritage Orchestra, mixed by Massive Attack
17 June" (off the webternet.)

Nice.

Well, that certainly puts my half-hearted attempt at a Blade Runner-themed playlist from a few years back to shame!

I think I went at it from a different angle and had a few Kuedo tracks that were indebted to Vangelis’ original end credits and a fair amount of Dream Catalogue material

Two mentions of Dream Catalogue as related to Blade Runner, never heard of it/them, so will have to investigate.

I think the key for me for this mix was thinking of music that seemed like it could come from the world of Blade Runner, not necessarily music that was especially influenced by 'Blade Runner'. Probably a high degree of overlap in truth, but allowed me to escape the shadow of Vangelis somewhat, while still honoring what he created.

Yeah, hke has said that the BR soundtrack played a part in the creation of DC. “Why doesn’t anyone make music like this anymore” or something to that effect

Amazing, thank you

Kuedo's Severance was I think entirely indebted to blending footwork with Bladerunner and one of my favorite records of this soon to be ending decade.

Dream Catalogue I'm familiar with only from 2814, but it appears to be one of the only remaining vaporwave labels with any consistency and credibility. They basically churn out "Bladerunner" style vaporwave music!

DC is not the only “consistent, credible” v wave label around. There’s Geometric Lullaby, My pet Flamingo, pure life, global pattern, virtual dream plaza, BLCR, the Infiniti pool, DMT Tapes FL, just to name a few

BTW, looks like a lossless version based on a hypercomplete 'Esper' edition of recent years is here, though with selections of its own. Assuming the quality's any good -- I'm downloading it now -- this could be it:

http://download-soundtracks.com/movie_soundtracks/blade-runner-soundtrack-complete-by-vangelis/

thanks ned

Thanks, Ned! Lots of cues I've never heard compiled til now.

My gosh, Ned, that version is even more "complete" than the thirty-something track version on the 'Esper Edition' bootleg from a few years back. Thanks!

Yeah, it's remarkable. At this point I'm assuming we'll never quite get it better than this.

so…the 2007 25th anniversary set is flawed? I have the 1994 set via Picture disk, but there's so much else I recall that's not on there, and I think the 1994 set is what's on the streamers? Somebody tell me if I should or shouldn't get the 2007 version… I have the scarface release from a few years ago, it has everything —including not only foreboding Moroder stuff, but the dance pop/Debbie Harry/"She's on Fire"/Latin shit— and that approach is what I would want from Blade Runner.

Well, I'm glad I have that 2007 set -- I view a lot of the bonus/'new' stuff on the third disc as just interesting elaborations/interpretations, why not -- but if the link I posted back in 2019 above still works, I'd snag that for sure.

well, define "flawed"

it's good

flawed in the sense that the 2007 set doesn't include every recording vangelis made for the film, when it would seem that a release that does include every recording vangelis made for the film, since his score is universally regarded as among the best film scores ever made, would be warranted…

wouldn’t that be an audio release and not a blu-ray? I get that bundling the score/soundtrack would be nice but that’s an outlier on video releases

OK yeah, in that sense (being incomplete) it is flawed. what you want is called the esper MR3 edition of the soundtrack, which is a two-CD bootleg available online that is as complete a collection of what was actually recorded for the movie as exists. that is also included as the first two discs of the esper retirement edition... do not pay money for these, they're not too difficult to find online.

Right, and I'll share this again! It's the link I just mentioned!

https://download-soundtracks.com/movie_soundtracks/blade-runner-soundtrack-complete-by-vangelis/

(that said, I always end up returning to the 1994 CD version because it's what I grew up listening to and unlike the purists, I love the integration of dialog and SFX from the movie into the soundtrack and don't care that some of the stuff on the CD isn't from the movie at all... fans of Popol Vuh soundtracks laugh at the idea this is even to be expected)

Yeah I like that they kept that as the first disc on the 2007 set. It's a nice reimagining, and was definitely better than the original weird version.

I think I have about six reimaginings of the soundtrack that I downloaded eons ago. It was a thing people did in the early 00s

Literally found out only a few weeks ago, thanks to this video, that there are some lingering shots of the photos on the piano which are missing from every other cut except the '82 theatrical.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK8gSbIaNhM

I was delighted to find about about the 'deckard is gaff' theory last week: https://steemit.com/cinema/@starlight8888/blade-runner-deckard-is-gaff

I like it.

The part of fandom that comes up with little plot speculations you can tease out that are neither true nor false in the presented fiction is so much more fun than the people arguing that something is specifically true or false when the art left it intentionally vague

Ha! I'm imagining Edward James Olmos reading it and nodding his head then pointing at his ipad going "this guy gets it!"

that's a fantastic theory, i love it

Wonder if that plot strand made its way through by stealth from an earlier draft of the script?

edward james olmos put an astounding amount of work into developing the character of gaff on his own - he even devised the polyglot 'cityspeak' that gaff uses himself! - so i think a lot of the stuff like gaff's limp came directly from him rather than being a planned script element

reminding me I never finished Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner Revised & Updated Edition

that book was a bible to me as a teen

holy moly @ Gaff theory

I do like the idea of EJO himself planting the clues unbeknownst to Scott, Ford, Fancher as part of some ego-driven ethos that every role should be played as if it was the most important character in the movie.

I don't think 2049 has anything that would explicitly break the theory. Other than Gaff using newspeak and Deckard speaking in standard English. Almost adds an additional wink in that they go to Gaff on their journey to find Deckard.

https://i.imgur.com/5PtJ4ke.jpeg

Thanks for the rec, this book looks great

It's very good. That's the earlier edition IIRC; there's a later one with a blue color scheme for the cover and more info.

Revised & Updated Edition