Future Noir: US Edition...

... don't hold your breath.

On page 476 of the 2007 edition Paul M. Sammon states:

Orion Books editor Simon Spanton [Gollancz is an imprint of the Orion Publishing Company]. Simon, grateful thanks for being the only one to step up to the Expanded Future Noir plate.

I received my copy of the new edition a few days ago and must admit to being a little disappointed.

As the author readily admits within the text the book has not been revised; instead a 4 page Appendix is given at the end of the book which corrects errors found in the first edition. On page 376 he says:

Unfortunately time-and-money contraints prevented me from doing a full revision of the first edition, while available word-count for this, FN's second edition, was somewhat limited.

The main new features of the 2007 edition is the chapter titled 'The Final Cut' (which, it has to be said, adds little or nothing not already covered in the DVD set) and an interview with Harrison Ford, plus a few additional short appendices.

On page 394 Sammon also mentions:

Since Future Noir's initial appearance, I have been asked by a number of parties whether there is any truth to the long-circulating rumor that the first edition of this book was shorn of approximately 300 manuscript pages shortly before appearing in print. The answer is "Yes." [...] Perhaps, someday, I will be able to restore those Lost Pages to my book.

So therefore those infamous 300 pages of manuscript have not been reinstated for this so called 'revised' edition, again probably due to Gollancz's word-count limit.

One last thing: I own the 1996 HarperPrism edition wherein the photograph reproductions are razor sharp. However, in this new Gollancz edition the self same photos are dark, grainy and blurred and thus bear out the review on the Amazon UK site: "... images that are dark and not even of the quality of newspaper print."

All in all - very unimpressed.

Erugh, this is conflictious! I really wanted to get this, but now, I just don't know...I was really hoping they could restore the cut material at this point.

Ah. Well, hey. Maybe when the 2019 edition super-DVDs come out.

About a month ago a lot of us were lamenting the fact that the publisher's were not able to release this book to coincide with that of the DVD and CD sets.

Now though, having read it, I strongly feel the main problem with this book is that it's been published too soon.

As we all know, Vangelis's CD set was announced at the eleventh hour and although Sammon mentions that he was aware of it, naturally he didn't have it and thus was unable to comment on it.

Actually, the same goes for the DVD set; indeed, he hadn't even seen The Final Cut at the time he put this book to bed. Bits of it, yes, but not all. So even here he's unable to fully comment on this particular version of the movie.

Also, he spends too much time in the new chapter listing what he thinks will be in the DVD set, all the while repeatedly stating that none of this is final yet and is subject to change and blah blah blah. Naturally Sammon knew his book was going to come out either at the same time as the DVD set or shortly after - so why waste so many valuable pages of space speculating on something he knew the fans were going to know for a fact when they bought the DVD set?! By doing this he renders the book out of date before it even hits the bookstores.

Most of the rest of the new chapter is dedicated to matters which have already been more thoroughly covered in the DVD set, i.e. Ben Ford and Joanna Cassidy doing their greenscreen work, tracking down the original negatives which were marked for disposal and cataloguing them, and so on.

Really, there's very little new here that we don't already know.

It would be best, then, to look on this as - hopefully - an 'intermediate' edition, and that for the 30th anniversary of the movie (or even 2019) Sammon can render a full, unexpurgated edition (including those 300 Lost Pages) wherein he will be able to comment on the final cut of the movie as well as Vangelis's trilogy CD set -

- and, hey, maybe we'll even get a '2019' Edition of the soundtrack!

Well the Final cut was an unexpected success in theaters and the DVD sets sold a lot more than expected, so maybe they will upgrade their marketing ideas, realizing a lot of money could be made if they only strike while the iron is hot, and actually print something new. A coffee table art book perhaps? Come ON BR Partnership and Warner Brothers, get your act together and finish what you started.

Well the Final cut was an unexpected success

???

Who exactly is saying they are surprised about the success of the (continuing) film run and DVD sets? The suits? Are they quoted in the media somewhere?

I find it hard to believe that anyone besides the corporate inbreds are surprised at how successful this has become. Look at the film run itself. Besides Legend, did BR really have much competition this holiday season? I recall Into the Wild, Fred Claus, and at the very end of the holiday run, Sweeney Todd.

Maybe it's just me but I wasn't surprised at all. But them, I'm biased, so...

I think what ridleynoir meant was that it did better than what Warners expected it to do.

It was only supposed to show in LA and NYC. But ended up one of the top (49 I believe) movies while only in those two theaters. Because of that they opened it up accross the country and is still showing with new dates being announced all the time. I would say that is at least a lack of prescience. Remember we are still considered a cult by most.

As disappointing as it is to hear that Sammon's wished-for extended version of Future Noir won't be released anytime soon, you have to think that Sammon can at least take an unbelievable amount of solace in being interviewed and represented so extensively throughout the BR Ultimate Collection DVD set, as the preeminent scholar on BR.

Let's face it, the BR Ultimate Collection 5-DVD set is and will forever be the finest single collection of BR archival material ever made available to the mass public; and that Sammon was contacted and involved so thoroughly in the making of the DVD set, and speaks his mind and offers his incredible insights throughout Dangerous Days, the various extra documentaries, does narration for the Workprint DVD, and that the set even offers up the incredible audio interviews by Sammon of Philip K. Dick (talk about being in the right place at the right time!!), you have to wonder (as truly amazing a piece of work as it is, and with an immense amount of respect for the work and love that went into it) if 'Future Noir' will be the project that Sammon is *second* most proud of being involved with in his lifetime. Or, maybe now it's a tie, and a very happy one at that

I think what ridleynoir meant was that it did better than what Warners expected it to do.

Ah, gotcha.

It was only supposed to show in LA and NYC. But ended up one of the top (49 I believe) movies while only in those two theaters. Because of that they opened it up accross the country and is still showing with new dates being announced all the time. I would say that is at least a lack of prescience. Remember we are still considered a cult by most.

Indeed, it certainly is enjoying a long run, and I've seen it in a theater four times now (and trying for a fifth!).

And it seems that these days, even "cult" followings get a little more credit than they used to. The recent Family Guy and Futurama revivals show what can happen when Culties use their voices and back it up with their $$.

I'm just not sure what this could mean for BR in the long-term...?

Page 399 cited Blade Zone as the best Blade Runner resources site.
Congratulations to all Blade Zone staff for this mention!

Oh... do you know my own site is ALSO in the same page? :D:D Yes, my My Blade Runner site appears just in the same page. Only seven BR related sites are included in the Paul M Sammon book. My feelings when seen my own name in Future Noir pages are... no words to express that!

Also, Los Angeles 2019, and the others sites mentioned (sorry, don't remember now all the names, but there is the BR FAQ site, etc.) I wanna share my happyness with all of them!

Future Noir, is, anyway, a great one-ok-a-kind man work about a one-of-a-kind another man work... no doubt!

About a month ago a lot of us were lamenting the fact that the publisher's were not able to release this book to coincide with that of the DVD and CD sets.

Now though, having read it, I strongly feel the main problem with this book is that it's been published too soon.[...]

All your observations are valid, and all the other's negative comments too (bad photographic reproductions, typos, no revision but on cover it say so, yadda, yadda). I still love the sheer existence of it.

And guess what, Paul M Sammon himself sees it the same way as you, me, everybody:

http://media.bladezone.com/contents/fil ... ndcut2.php



He's the man!

Have a better one,
Martin

Even with its problems, it's still worth buying cause it is an official hardcover. That alone made worth the purchase. It also has better cover-art!

And it does have 70,000 extra words.