No, it’s not the final surgical cut I’m thinking of. But Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1982), which came in the International Cut (same year) and Director’s Cut (ten years later), and now eventually the Final Cut (which Scott says is really the final one).
The theatre version was out two months ago — today is DVD version release day. Digital Bits has a detailed review of all the changes in this Absolutely Final Cut. Forget about the upcoming gloomy midwinter holiday and rejoice at the thought of the 5-disc Ultimate Director’s Edition which is said to be full of extra bonus material.
And why do I write about this DVD-event-of-the-year here on Biomedicine on Display? Well, simply because Ridley Scott was the first director whose imagination put the future of biotech, biomedicine, information technology, robotics and human enhancement (in other words converging technologies) right on the screen. His critical comment on what has later become known as transhumanism (note) hasn’t been surpassed since.
Wish we could stage an exhibition on human enhancement with crucial scenes from Blade Runner (e.g., where Roy meets his Maker) playing all over the background — it will probably cost us a fortune, though.
(Note: Some commentators (like George Dvorsky) naïvely believe that Scott simply endorses transhumanism — but Blade Runner is of course much more sophisticated than that.)
