In news that will simultaneously please and outrage the movie's fanbase, Ridley Scott has announced he's filming a new installment in the Blade Runner series.
Released in 1982, Blade Runner is a movie with something of a troubled history. The initial theatrical release was poorly received by a public expecting to see Harrison Ford - best known to the public as Han Solo in the Star Wars trilogy - in yet another sci-fi action flick and studio executives imposed a number of changes to the movie in post-production in an attempt to make it more ''audience friendly,'' including a ''happier'' ending and a Sam Spade-style voice-over by Ford, who - so the story goes - hated the idea so much that he put in the most awkward, unusable performance possible (which the studio went ahead and used anyway.)
Scott was never happy with the theatrical version and it's been re-edited and re-released multiple times until Scott's definitive vision was finally released in 2007, 25 years after the original release. During this time the movie had earned a new appreciation among the home video audience, thanks to its intelligent storytelling and stunning visuals.
Now - according to Deadline - Scott is planning to revisit the world of Blade Runner. This comes as no surprise, given Scott's current project - Prometheus - is allegedly a new entry in the Alien canon. What form this Blade Runner movie will take - prequel, remake or sequel - is unknown but we'll be bringing you more when we have it.
Blade Runner is one of my all time favorite sci-fi movies and probably the best dystopia films of all time. i know i'm in the minority on this but i actually liked the theatrical version more then the director's cut. it'll be interesting to see how they redo this one. in terms of the set designs and visual concept goes they should pretty much stick to the original but the new script should definitely be paced a little better then the original. a little more action would have made the original more "audience friendly".
ReplyDeleteI'm a fan of intelligent/ponderous sci-fi so I didn't really ever have a problem with Blade Runner's pacing.
ReplyDeleteIt'll certainly be interesting to see just what they've planned for this new ''installment'' though...
speaking of revamped stuff i just watched Thundercats #4 on Youtube. the only good thing about this episode was how it ended with Panthro's appearance. the rest of it played out like a Disney movie. so far this new Thundercats series is suffering from the same problem the original had. the basic concept is solid but when it comes to the writing it's just too dumbed down and made to appeal to pre-schoolers. Young Justice and Gargoyles are good examples of cartoons made for a more adult audience as well as the younger crowd. i'll give the 5th episode a look only on the strength of how this one ended. but if it sucks too i'm probably done with the series. it's really too bad cause i really like the concept of the Thundercats but in the entire history of the franchise the writers have never been able to take the show in the right direction consistently.
ReplyDeleteSee, I enjoyed the episode - silly-looking flower-people aside - and thought it was a pretty neat plot.
ReplyDeleteyeah i know. when it comes to you and i i'm not sure if it's a case of different tastes or different standards. i'll be the first one to lavish praise over the next G.I.Joe film if it's a major improvement from the first one. but if it's more of the same i'm already cringing about what i'm expecting you to say about it my friend. as you saw from my Tranformers 3 Youtube review i pull no punches when i smell crap. child hood nostalgia will only go so far with me.
ReplyDeleteThe weird thing is, I was in my late teens when I watched Thundercats and up until about a year ago, I wasn't a GI Joe fan (although to be fair, the first GI Joe was pretty crappy - some nice figures, though...) And you'll find no argument from me about the Transformers, though - I'm nog a fan of the toys, cartoons or movies.
ReplyDeleteoh yeah i know how your no TF fan but like G.I.Joe i am going all the way back to when they first hit the scene in the early 80s. and although i was really pleased with the first TF movie i hated the sequels with a passion. it's just like Star Wars i love the originals. i remember when i first saw the Phantom Menace. i was visiting my mother in Florida so i just went to the theater to see it by myself. but even though i was by myself it was ok cause there were all these other locals around in costumes in shit there to see it i made some small talk with. when i left the theater i was almost in a daze. i wanted to like it but i just had to come to terms right away that it was a steaming pile of crap. later i found out about a friend of mine who was also a SW fan that got into a fight with his girlfriend cause he got so irritated with how she liked it. he was also really disappointed with the movie like me but her thinking that jar jar was funny and that the young anakin was "so cute" pretty much sent him over the edge.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if you're a fan of the comedy show Spaced, but there's a line in that about how bad Jar-Jar Binks was and Daisy - the non-fan - talks about how RotJ had Ewoks. Tim (the Star Wars fan) replies how Jar-Jar Binks makes the Ewoks look like ****ing Shaft!
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