"It's too bad she won't live." This line uttered at the end of Ridley Scott's Blade Runner could very well have come from the lips of a fan who has paid any attention at all to the efforts being made to break the gridlock holding back the release of a special three-DVD edition of this science fiction cult classic.

Blade Runner, based on the Philip K. Dick novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" and starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer and Sean Young, is the story of Rick Deckard (Ford), a Blade Runner who has to track down and retire several human-looking Replicants who've hijacked a ship in space and returned to find their maker.

Ridley Scott's film, originally released on June 25, 1982, paints a picture of Los Angeles in the distant future of the year 2019, a city filled with darkness and perpetual rain, a place where food, fashion and language are a melting-pot of cultures. Crowded buildings reach high into the sky, and electronic billboards advertise vacation getaways to other worlds, while the characters stuck in the city struggle in their own ways to determine what it means to be human, to be alive.

The original theatrical release had voice-over narration by Ford and a seemingly tacked on happy ending, neither of which director Ridley Scott liked. So, 10 years later he released the director's cut, which eliminated the narration and changed the ending. The notoriously hard-to-please director didn't like that version either, but rushed to get it done, and now it's the only version available for sale. When several boxes of original footage from the film were discovered in a Burbank, Calif., storage facility, Scott was quick to jump on putting together the version of the film that he had envisioned all along.

The new version of the film is said to be digitally remastered and remixed from the original negatives, greatly improving the quality of a film now more than 20 years old. There is also much speculation among hardcore fans about never-before-seen footage being added as well as some of the major technical gaffes being cleaned up, including the removal of crew members' shadows on the walls and the appearance of wires attached to Spinners (cars that fly). The new version could also have tons of bonus features, including a BBC documentary, director's commentary and bonus footage.

When Scott was interviewed in 2002 by DVD Vision, a French DVD magazine, he was asked about the new version of Blade Runner. He confirmed that one was done and also went on to say that the movie would be released as a special three-DVD set, including the original theatrical release, the 1992 director's cut and the new version containing extra footage. But due to legal issues, the Blade Runner: Special Edition has never seen the light of day.

When the film was being made, Bud Yorkin, a veteran television producer and director, and Jerry Perenchio signed on to be bond-completion guarantors. This basically meant that they were insuring the film would be made on budget and that if it went over, they would take the hit financially. Unfortunately, the two were not exactly on friendly terms with Scott. According to Paul Sammon, who wrote "Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner," Yorkin and Perenchio hated the film and fought bitterly with Scott over it. So when the film ultimately went over budget, they were more than happy to take legal ownership of the movie.

Now the three-DVD set sits rotting on a shelf somewhere and Jerry Perenchio, now CEO of Univision, has not given any indication that he will allow it to be released. The New York Times, in a 2003 article, quoted Perenchio, through his assistant, as having no comment. Meanwhile, Warner Brothers sits on a goldmine that fans of the movie would do anything to get their hands on. Fans of the science fiction classic have set up an online petition (www.petitiononline.com/B26354/petition.html) for the release of the movie, with over 3,000 signatures to date. Perhaps Jerry will have a change of heart and we'll see the special edition by 2007 when Blade Runner celebrates its 25th anniversary.