Blade Runner Deleted Scenes

The new collector's edition includes about 30 minutes or so of footage that was shot but dropped from the final film for various reasons. Other than the infamous "Holden and the Hospital" scene, none of this new cutting room floor footage has ever been seen by anybody, at least not to my knowledge.

Much of these new scenes are awesome, too, although many of them include more bad Harrison Ford voiceover work. Here is a list of some of my favorites, and some that stand out for one reason or another.


--Holden and the Hospital. This scene, where Deckard visits a fellow Blade Runner (Holden) who is being kept alive in an iron lung (he was critically injured at the beginning of the film by one of the fugitive replicants), has actually been floating around the Internet for years now, and I'm sure any hardcore BR fan has seen it myriad times. It essentially consists of Holden yelling at Deckard, and exists merely to move the plot along, so I can see why it was cut, though the design is, naturally, very well done. You can see the whole thing here.

--1187 Hunterwasser. When I saw this listed amongst the deleted scenes, I freaked out. I had read interviews with Brion James (he plays Leon, a bad replicant) in which the actor revealed that an alternate take had been planned for the scene in which Deckard and Gaff inspect Leon's apartment (where Deckard finds the snake scale). In this deleted take, it reveals, after Deckard and Gaff leave the apartment, that Leon had been hanging from the ceiling in the bathtub the entire time that the two Blade Runners were there. The concept sounded awesome, but apparently it hadn't been shot.

Wrong. It was shot and it's included here. It also has a completely different reveal of Gaff's little origami boner man that works way better, at least artistically. As Gaff and Deckard are getting ready to leave, you can see Gaff playing around with something in his hands. As the two leave, he sets it down, but we never see exactly what it is. Then Leon comes down from the bathtub and notices the little item Gaff left, which is revealed to be the little stick figure that represents Deckard's apparent, um, overexcitement with his work. It's a great scene.

--ESPER. The "ESPER" scene is slightly different, and starts out with Deckard ruminating over a photo of his estranged wife, who has apparently left him to go live off-world with some rich snob. It's the only mention anywhere of Deckard having a wife, and sort of builds on the idea that all the well-off people left Earth to live lives of luxury on colonies on other planets.

--Deckard Washes Up. This is only notable because it made me want to throw up. During the scene after Rachel saves Deckard, as Deckard is washing his face in the sink, we get a closeup of him pulling a big, bloody chunk of crap out of his nose, something I think we can all agree was thankfully left out of any prints of the film.

--Deckard/Rachel Love Scene. This scene is way more erotic than what we see in the movie, and Sean Young goes topless in a couple of shots. For you voyeurs, you can find it here.

--Metaphysics. A great scene in which Deckard is again in the hospital talking to Holden, but unbeknownst to both of them, they are being watched on a monitor by Gaff and Bryant. You can see it here. "I spit on metaphysics, Sir."

--Tyrell's Fate. My personal favorite, it shows Roy Batty and J.F. Sebastian as they are ascending the Tyrell building in an elevator, and getting past Tyrell's security protocol. After Batty kills Tyrell and Sebastian, he returns to the elevator, clutching Sebastian's coat. When the elevator stops again for a security check, a (creepy) female voice comes on and requests a clearance. Upon hearing the voice, Batty shouts, "Mom?", illustrating his deterioration into child-like status upon the killing of his "father" Tyrell. Rutger Hauer's performance in this scene is typically brilliant, and it's one I wish they had included in the final print.

Other deleted scenes flesh out the narrative a little more, give some background to the four replicants (including references to Batty's fighting near the Tanhauser Gate), and reveal that Batty and Leon killed Chew by sticking him in a freezer with no clothes on. A different version of the VK test on Rachel reveals that Deckard ran more questions than necessary on her simply to humor Tyrell, only to find out that she was, indeed, a replicant. There are also two versions of the "upbeat" ending, including one where Rachel tells Deckard she thinks they were "made for each other." Ho ho.

All in all, it's a pretty amazing collection of footage, and it's by far my favorite part of the new disc set.