Most helpful customer reviews
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1.0 out of 5 stars
This "Famous" Screenplay is Terrible, May 19 2004
By A Customer
The only reason to read this slog of a screenplay is to finally shut up the people who keep talking about how great it is. An awful episodic treatment of several of the weakest stories tied together with a plodding framing device, this script is truly a creative disaster.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
'Bomb' like Blade Runner?, April 30 2004
Perhaps 'Blade' didn't recieve the immediate box office success it was due when first released (not that it mattered to me, as I was enthralled from the first viewing in it's initial theatrical run), but it has ceratinly proved its worth over the years as a catalog property. It was one of the few post-1970s films included as part of Warner Bros. touring anniversary film festival in 1998 or therabouts, and has been recut several times for re-release to satisfy fans' appetites for more. It certainly got me interested in the works of Philip K. Dick (author of the original novel, 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep') as a youngster, and led to his posthumous success in film adaptations ('Total Recall,' 'Minority Report,' et. al.).That being said, Harlan's script is a great read, and is far better than the upcoming Will Smith film, which lifts from Otto Binder's short story 'I, Robot' as much as from the Asimov collection. Without the intelligence.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
The most infamous unproduced science fiction screenplay, Oct 1 2000
Many, many years ago I happened to hear an audio tape of Harlan Ellison reading the first part of his "I, Robot" script for a Science-Fiction convention, so I was very happy to see that what may well be the most infamous unproduced script in Hollywood history is available in print. The artwork in this illustrated screenplay is by Mark Zug, and consists of both color paintings and black & white character sketches that help to flesh out your mental images. Ellison takes several of Isaac Asimov's classic Robot short stories and weaves them into the life story of Susan Calvin, told in flashbacks to a reporter at the funeral for Stephen Byerley, First President of the Galactic Federation. Consequently, Ellison avoids the traditional pitfall of omnibus movies, such as "Tales from the Crypt," "The Twilight Zone" or "Creepshow," where whatever is used to link the segments together is of no importance to the overall film. Ellison's introductory essay is certainly not as vitriolic as his story about what happened to his Star Trek script "The City on the Edge of Forever," but it does recount the bizzaro world of movie making. Both the essay and the script are testaments to Ellison's affection for Asimov. A special treat is Ellison's revelation as to the casting he had in mind when he wrote the script: Joanne Woodward as Susan Calvin, George C. Scott as Reverend Soldah, Martin Sheen as Robert Bratenahl, and Keenan Wynn and Ernest Borgnine as Donovan and Powell. You may come to this book as a fan of Ellison or of Asimov or of both. Regardless of your point of origin I think it is important that you have read the original Asimov Robot stories before you read the script. The stories are Asimov's but the adaptation is Ellison's, and you have to know the original tales to appreciate the inspired organization of this script.
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