Image Credit: Blade Runner Partnership

The 25th anniversary version of Blade Runner, dubbed, “The Final Cut,” is being shown in select theaters this month in New York and Los Angeles, and will be released as a five disc set (Blu-ray and HD-DVD) in December. According to a New York Times article, this is the movie as director Ridley Scott originally intended for it to be seen. In creating this version, the film was painstakingly restored:

The special effects that produced this vision were amazing for their day. Created with miniature models, optics and double exposures, they seemed less artificial than many computer effects of a decade later. But like film stock, they faded with time.

For the new director’s cut, the special-effects footage was digitally scanned at 8,000 lines per frame, four times the resolution of most restorations, and then meticulously retouched. The results look almost 3-D.