If anyone ever finds Blade Runner in HD, commercial-free, please PM me. I had it saved on my hard drive, but lost it before EHD was enabled.
Obsolete.
Ridley Scott has been trying to release his Special Edition for about 10 years, and has been blocked by a legal rights owner (sometimes when a film goes over budget, they go to special lenders for the extra money, and those guys often get some legal rights... in this case, that person did not like Blade Runner, and so for years has refused to allow any new versions).
Recently, the situation changed (I did not hear what happened), and the Special Edition will finally be released.
Basically, it is cleaned up using digital technology that did not exist when the film was made. In some places, wires can be seen, in other places, the face of a mannikin used for a scene can be seen to not be the actor's face, and so forth - all have been fixed - just as it would have been done in post-production - had the technology been available at the time.
It also includes one word of dialogue change - the original script had a mathematical error, caused by the author working too late
- but the error caused many people to assume a plot twist that was never intended - so it has now been overdubbed digitally.
Also included are three scenes that were cut from the US releaess, but were part of the International releases.
And, an important scene is restored which was originally not included because it was lost (and was later found and restored).
I have talked several times with the guy in charge of the Special Edition, and he has very high standards, so it should be top notch.
It's going to be released theatrically in November, and to HD-DVD, Blu-Ray and DVD on December 18th (the packages will include all earlier editions, plus a couple of documentaries).
Here's a little more info:
Blade Runner: The Final Cut – and a Sequel? « The Official Star Wars Blog
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