Alien Quadrilogy (Alien/ Aliens /Alien 3 /Alien Resurrection)

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The Alien Quadrilogy is a nine-disc boxed set devoted to the four Alien films. Although previously available on DVD as the Alien Legacy, here they have been repackaged with vastly more extras and with upgraded sound and picture. For anyone who hasn't been in hypersleep for the last 25 years, this series needs no introduction, though for the first time each film now comes in both original and "special edition" form.

Alien (1979) was so perfect it didn't need fixing, and Ridley Scott's 2003 director's cut is fiddling for the sake of fiddling. Watch it once, then return to the majestic, perfectly paced original. Conversely, the special edition of James Cameron's Aliens (1986) is the definitive version, though it's nice to finally have the theatrical cut on DVD for comparison. Most interesting is the alternative Alien 3 (1992). This isn't a "director's cut"--David Fincher refused to have any involvement with this release--but a 1991 work-print that runs 29 minutes longer than the theatrical version, and has now been restored, remastered, and finished off with (unfortunately) cheap new CGI. Still, it's truly fascinating, offering a different insight into a flawed masterpiece. The expanded opening is visually breathtaking, the central firestorm is much longer, and a subplot involving Paul McGann's character adds considerable depth to story. The ending is also subtly but significantly different. Alien: Resurrection (1997) always was a mess with a handful of brilliant scenes, and the special edition just makes it eight minutes longer.

The Alien Quadrilogy offers the first and fourth films with DTS soundtracks, the others having still fine Dolby Digital 5.1 presentation. All four films sound fantastic, with much low-level detail revealed for the first time. Each is anamorphically enhanced at the correct original aspect ratio, and the prints and transfers are superlative. Every film offers a commentary track that lends insight into the creative process--though the Scott-only commentary and isolated music score from the first Alien DVD release are missing here.

Each movie is complemented by a separate disc packed with hours of seriously detailed documentaries (all presented in full-screen with clips letterboxed), thousands of photos, production stills, and storyboards, giving a level of inside information for the dedicated buff only surpassed by the Lord of the Rings extended DVD sets. A ninth DVD compiles miscellaneous material, including an hourlong documentary and even all the extras from the old Alien laserdisc. "Exhaustive" hardly beings to describe the Alien Quadrilogy, a set that establishes the new DVD benchmark for retrospective releases and looks unlikely to be surpassed for some time. --Gary S. Dalkin

Description

Disc 1: Alien Collector?s Edition Disc 2: Aliens Collector?s Edition Disc 3: Alien 3 Collector?s Edition Disc 4: Alien Resurrection Collector?s Edition Disc 5: Bonus Disc

Customer Reviews:

Worth it just for the first 2.......2007-08-27

Alien and Aliens is science fiction at it's pure best. Actually, I like Aliens even better than the first. Best sequel to a film, ever. As for the other 2...well, Alien 3 was OK I guess. It had it's moments. Resurrection, I'm just gonna pretend it doesn't exist. Though I admit, I have seen it more than once. Its just too poorly written. However, I love the character of Ripley, she is one of my fave characters in film anywhere. For die-hard fans, this set is for you.

Flaw in Resurrection Disc.......2007-07-27

I just wanted to reiterate what another recent reveiwer had said about the "Alien Resurrection" (film #4 in the series, disc #7 in this set) being a defective disc. This has also been the case in my collection. The disc stalls after selecting play on either the special edition or theatrical release editions and shuts down after spinning hopelessly in your disc player for several minutes. This incident was not isolated to one player, but all of them I tried (DVD Theater system, PC DVD-rom drive, PS3, etc). You can access the film via the "scenes" menu, but the film indeed will not play all the way through. When you get to the scene where Ripley tears out the aliens "tongue" and hands it to Call, the disc will fast forward to the end of the movie. This is the location in the disc where it "transitions" (that slight pause you get in all dvd's). If you already have a copy of this film from a previous Legacy DVD release, be sure to hang onto it. Naturally, this voids out the whole idea of having a special edition of Resurrection, but alas, you will not be able to watch it. HUGE flaw on Fox's part, should have been a recall on this one. This is not the first title manufactured by FOX that has had issues. Two Simpsons box sets I had ordered in the past also arrived damaged or with missing discs. I will not purchase any more box sets from FOX unless it is at physical store where I can return it immediately if the need arises.

Chest Bursting Goodness .......2007-06-27

Quality...If you are a fan of the Alien movies look no further... This is a really cool collection of these movies and I am glad waited to buy this collection... Lots of cool extras and tons of new scenes to watch if you select the directors cuts of each film.

Nice!

It's all here!.......2007-06-27

For die-hard fans of Alien, like me, this set is a godsend. The bonus minutes on each disk really add to the story. I was never a huge fan of Alien Resurrection but even the bonus features for this installment of the Alien legacy were awesome.
The minutes added to the first movie, Alien, shows what actually happened to Dallas and Brett. The additional footage on Aliens shows Newt and her parents prior to the Alien invasion. Alien 3 bonus footage adds more to the plot and suspense. As for Alien Resurrection, like I said, wasn't one of the better Alien movies but any set wouldn't be complete without it.

A Must Have For Any Alien Fan.......2007-05-23

I have been a fan of the Alien movies since I was a kid. I never got to see any in theaters except for Alien Resurection. This is a great set and each movie has extended or deleted scenes added to the films. The first two, Alien and Aliens are great classic movies and the extended scenes make the classics that much better. The final two, Alien 3 and Alien Resurection are the mos underated in my opinion. Alien 3 was a great movie but has alot more cursing than the other three but it fits considering it is set in a prison. There was a bunch deleted from this film and it really adds alot to it as several key scenes are completly different and make more sense IMO. The only issue is that the added scenes have degraded over time and some of the dialouge was unusable so at times the audio is hard to hear, but it is still very interesting to watch. Alien Resurection was the most underated of the four and while it's not the best it is still a good movie. The added scenes really make it that much better. The special features on all of these movies are imense and this is one set that is a must buy for Alien fans and science fiction lovers.

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