Run!! The Aliens Are Coming!! Run!!

[David Meek]

Hot Off The Presses!



Bill Hunt, in his Digital Bits column (and confirmed on Fox's web store site) announced today that The Alien Quadrilogy box set will hit the streets on December 2nd. Woohoo!
:T
This Region 1 DVD compendium contains 2-disc special editions of all 4 Alien movies, plus a 9th (yes, 9th) disc full of even more bonus materials. With an MSRP of $100.00 US, it isn't cheap - I hope the PQ and SQ justify the price.

More details to come. . . .




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[Gordon Moore]

Any chance they're selling those separately?

I'd only ever want Alien and Aliens....everything else after that was cannon fodder (IMO).

They took my money once for Alien3 and Alien4....they can't have it again.




"A RONSTER!"

[Burke Strickland]

In addition, "Alien: The Director's Cut" is on the big screen at a commerical theater near you for a limited time. (That's the first one; we already saw the "director's cut" of "Aliens" in its first DVD release.)

Burke

[David Meek]

Gordon, I haven't seen any mention of singles on this. Sorry. 1 and 2 were definitely the cream of the crop here. 3 was flat atrocious and 4 was okay for a popcorn thriller.




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[Gordon Moore]

Some good news...

according to dvdfile.com:

Whether or not you want to wait for the stand-alone discs, due in January, depends on how much you like (or dislike) ALIEN 3 and ALIEN Resurrection.

That's great news...I'm gonna save my money. I will probably go for the anniversary edition of Alien and the Theatrical cut of Aliens and poo-poo the rest




"A RONSTER!"

[Brandon B]

Well bought the Q set (got it for $42 at Costco after a mfr rebate, so got the useless 3rd and 4th movies for free, neener neener) a few weeks ago.

I've now watched the first 2, and I have to say, the job done on Alien is stunning! The video quality looks as good as I could hope for from a movie this old. Sure hope GL does this well with SW.

However, watched Aliens last night, and the video on this is, by contrast, pretty mediocre. Kind of a bummer, given that I'd read it was good, but not as good as the first movie's PQ. I'd give it at best a 2.5 out of 5. And the other thing I find odd, of the 4, only this film is 1.85:1 (others are all 2.35).

Anyone remember the OAR of Aliens?

Anyway, expect to be knocked out by the PQ of Alien, but not Aliens. I'll report back some day on the other 2 for the odd person who might watch them. Sound is good on both. HAven't gotten to any of he extra, but there is a whole weekends woth of them.

BB

[David Meek]

Aliens is the only one of the four directed by James Cameron, and was always a 1:85:1 ratio film. Here's some specs from IMDB.

Film negative format (mm/video inches):
35 mm (Kodak 5294, Kodak 5295)

Cinematographic process:
Spherical

Printed film format:
35 mm
70 mm (blow-up)

Aspect ratio:
1.85 : 1




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[aud19]

I too have been waiting a long time for these but like Gord said they're only getting my money once for 3 & 4 and they already got it

Jason




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[Gordon Moore]

Well I have both Alien and Aliens but I have yet to give them a spin Things just keep coming up, that get in the way (such is life ).

For the record, both cuts are on each disc. So you get Theatricals and SE's in one box. The second disc in the box is for special feature stuff.

I thought that they were going to milk you with 2 separate purchases / movie...I'm glad I was wrong!

I've only had a look the the Aliens features and there's some interesting behind the scenes stuff. One thing that people seem to really drive home was that James Cameron was/is a bit of an SOB to work for (which I've heard before) and there was a heck of a lot of tension between the Brits and the American + 1 Canadian crew, mostly due to work practices and habits. The relaxed pace of the Brits didn't sit well with the raceway pace of the North Americans. Many interviewees added that the British calibre of workmanship was second to none and hence why pinewood studios was so critical to the success of the movie.

Its really interesting stuff for fans. I hope to spin the movies soon. I hear Alien got most of the attention in it's transfer and I'm disappointed to hear that Aliens is NOT a new transfer but it was re-encoded and has benefited from the new technology. The encoding process has added some definition but it wasn't the degree of care taken with the Alien SE. Bummer

These are 2 great movies that I seem to be able to watch at the drop of a hat...highly repeatable with 2 very different and contrasting styles.




"A RONSTER!"

[aud19]

Well we watched Alien from the "Q" pack last night, picture and sound have been well taken care of for a 25 year old movie, looked and sounded great :T

Can't wait to watch Aliens, if I remember correctly it was the scarier and more carnage filled of the two with Alien having more of an edge in the actual story...but it's been a while so I could be wrong there.

Jason

[David Meek]

Jason, your memory is just fine.

I will say that the extended version of Aliens is a better movie than the theatrical release. It delves into Ripley's life and better explains her devotion to Newt. Also there are some extended fight scenes that are rather cool! :T

[Danbry39]

Yeah, I was of the mind that Alien was the superior film, but after watching Aliens again after all these years, and thinkng about it some, I think that Aliens might be the better of the two. Alien was there pretty much just to scare that **** out of you. Aliens adds the element of developing Ripley's character much better. I still think that the opening scene where they go exploring on the planet in Alien is a classic though.

[Brandon B]

Merits of the two films aside, unfortunately in this set, the picture on the Aliens disk is the same crap from the last release. Nowehere near the beauty that is the new Alien transfer.

BB

[George Bellefontaine]

Alien is my favorite horror sci-fi flick and Aliens is my favorite action sci-fi flick.

[aud19]

Well watched Aliens last night and while the sound picture didn't seem quite as nice as Alien, it was still pretty good. It was definitely the more carnage filled of the two but wasn't as scary as I remember it from when I was a young child :lol: My only real complaint was the mixing of the vocals, for most of the movie they were way too quiet compared to the music/sound effects and Jazz kept asking me to turn it up and down. (I hate that :evil: )

Jason

[NMyTree]

I received this Box Set (Q) for Christmas. I already had the other box set. The little women claims she found it for an unbelievable price and couldn't resist; knowing how much I love the Aliens. :B

Alien 3 is an extended Special Edition, and it does add something to the overall presentation of the movie. At least in my opinion it does. I believe there's an added 20-30 minutes. I enjoyed this version....a lot. Certainly not anywhere near the first two, but better. But I'll tell you, this movie looks fantastic, in this box set.

Alien 4 sucks barbwire! Plain and Simple. While there are some very cool scenes in this movie and some of the ideas I liked; they completely bit the big one in the overall concept and execution of the movie.

I really felt bad for H.R. Giger and his artistic vision, when I first saw this mess in the Theaters.

[Brandon B]

I'm in Tokyo for a week and a half. Anyone super hot for me to look for this?

Runs about $300+ (if I can still find it for sale). Remember its R2.

BB

[Brandon B]

Found out you can order it yourself from Amazon Japan.

BB

[David Meek]

Tony, it's funny how people perceive things differently. I'm just the opposite. I thought #3 was a bust and liked #4 somewhat. Neither even comes close to #1 and #2, which are two of my all-time favorite movies.

[Azeke]

My favorite was Aliens, and then the first Alien.

Game over man, game over.

Azeke