Alien Quadrilogy

Mr. Fancypants

Official Region 1 Announcement (Region 2 should be identical)

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=5976

Sounds amazing and is only about €55 or so from www.dvdsoon.com (although i ordered it for €45 a while back!)

For those too lazy to click on the link :
Fox Home Entertainment have officially announced the Region 1 DVD release of the Alien Quadrilogy box set for 2nd December 2003 with a retail price of $99.98. Featuring 45 hours of never-before-seen footage, the Alien Quadrilogy includes the original theatrical releases of each of the four films in the franchise plus alternate versions of each film and out-of-this-world bonus features including new director commentaries, original screen tests and production footage. A ground-breaking initiative from Fox Home Entertainment, the significant under-taking marks the first time a studio's home entertainment division has finished a theatrical film (Alien3). Working closely with Directors Ridley Scott, James Cameron, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, original film editors, and teams from Fox Restoration, Fox Sound, Visual Effects houses, TCFHE and the DVD producer coordinated the restoration of original footage, reconstruction of original audio, new visual effects and foley work, and much more to allow fans to experience the Alien franchise as never before.

All films will be presented in English 5.1 Dolby Digital (except for Alien and Alien Resurrection, which are also presented in English 5.1 DTS), French Dolby Surround (Canada only) and Spanish Dolby Surround (U.S. only) sound. All films are anamorphic widescreen with their original 2.35:1 aspect ratios (except for Aliens, which is presented in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio) and THX certified.

Following the 2nd December box set release are individual two-disc sets of each film on 6th January 2004 with a retail price of $26.98 each. Features will be identical to those found in the box set, though the ninth 'bonus' disc is exclusive to the Alien Quadrilogy.

ALIEN

The original 1979 theatrical version of Alien and the 2003 Director’s cut

An introduction by Director Ridley Scott

Brand new commentary by Director Ridley Scott, Editor Terry Rawlings, Writer Dan O'Bannon, Executive Producer Ronald Shusett, Actors Sigourney Weaver, John Hurt, Tom Skerritt, Veronica Cartwright, and Harry Dean Stanton

Nine brand new documentaries: “Star Beast” On developing the Alien story; “The Visualists” the direction and design of the film; “Truckers In Space” Casting the movie; “Fear Of The Unknown” Behind the scenes at Shepperton Studios in 1978; “The Darkest Reaches” Developing the Nostromo and Alien planet; “The Eight Passenger” Creating the Alien; “Future Tense” Focusing on the music and editing of Alien; “Outward Bound” Peering into the film’s visual effects; “A Nightmare Fulfilled” Reaction to the film’s opening

A Multi-Angle Scene Study on the Chestburster sequence with optional commentary by Ridley Scott and the production team

Sigourney Weaver’s original screen test with optional commentary by Ridley Scott

Seven deleted scenes with a deleted footage marker and deleted scene index

The first draft of the screenplay by Dan O’Bannon

Ridleygrams Original thumbnails and sketches by Ridley Scott

Storyboard Archives

The Art of Alien including a cast portrait gallery, production gallery, the sets of Alien, H.R. Giger’s Workshop, continuity polaroids and VFX gallery

The original theatrical posters and stills from the premiere

ALIENS

The original theatrical version - available for the first time ever on DVD - and James Cameron’s special edition version of Aliens

An introduction by Director James Cameron

Brand new commentary by James Cameron, Michael Biehn, Jenette Goldstein, Carrie Henn, Terry Henn, Lance Henriksen, Gale Anne Hurd, Pat McClung, Bill Paxton,Dennis Skotak, Robert Skotak and Stan Winston

James Cameron original treatment

Nine brand new featurettes: “57 Years Later” - Continuing the saga; “Building Better Worlds” - From concept to construction; “Preparing For Battle” - Casting and characterization; “This Time It’s War” A look back at Pinewood Studios, 1985; “The Risk Always Lives” - Weapons and action; “Bug Hunt” Creature design; “Beauty And The Bitch” Power Loader vs. Queen Alien; “Two Orphans” Revisiting Sigourney Weaver And Carrie Henn; and “Aliens Unleashed” Reaction to the film

The Art of Aliens including conceptual art portfolio, cast portraits, production gallery, continuity polaroids, Stan Winston’s workshop, VFX gallery and premiere stills

Deleted footage marker and deleted scene index

Multi-angle videomatics with optional commentary by Miniature Effect Supervisor, Pat McClung

An Easter Egg

ALIEN 3

The original theatrical version and a restored pre-release version with more than 30 minutes of never-before-seen footage

Brand new commentary by Cinematographer Alex Thompson, Editor Terry Rawlings, VFX Designers Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff Jr., Visual Effects Producer Richard Edlund, and actor Paul McGann

11 new featurettes: “Development” Concluding the story; “Tales Of The Wooden Planet” Vincent Ward’s vision; “Pre-Production III” The making of Alien 3; “Xeno-Erotic” H.R. Giger’s redesign of the Alien creature; “Production: Part One, Part Two, and Part Three” Behind-the-scenes on the production of the movie; “Adaptive Organism” Creature design; “Optical Fury” Visual effects; “Music, Editing And Sound”; and “Post-Mortem” A reaction to the film

E.E.V. Bio-Scan A multi-angle vignette with optional commentary by Alex Gillis

The Art of Alien 3 including conceptual art portfolio, production gallery, and visual effects

Furnace construction time lapse

Storyboard archives

ALIEN RESURRECTION

The original theatrical version and an extended cut with alternate opening and ending sequences

An introduction by Director Jean Pierre Jeunet

Brand new commentary by Director Jean Pierre Jeunet, Herve Schneid, Alec Gillis, Tom Woodruff Jr., Pitof, Sylvain Despretz, Ron Perlman, Dominique Pinon and Leland Orser

First draft of the screenplay by Joss Whedon

11 new featurettes: “From The Ashes” Reviving the story; “French Twist” Direction and design; “Under The Skin” Casting and characters; “Death From Below” Underwater photography; “In The Zone” Basketball scene; “Unnatural Mutation” Creature design, “Genetic Mutation” Creature design; “Genetic Composition” A listen to the music; “Virtual Alien” Computer generated imagery; “A Matter Of Scale” Miniature photography; and “Critical Junction” A reaction to the film

Multi-angel rehearsal footage

A Mike Carro photo gallery, a conceptual art gallery, VFX gallery, a promotional photo archive and continuity polaroids

Storyboard archives

An Easter Egg

BONUS DISC

A brand new Q&A with Ridley Scott

“Experience in Terror” A promotional featurette from 1979

“Alien Evolution” Channel 4 U.K. exclusive documentary on Alien

A complete laser disc archive of Alien and Aliens

Original theatrical trailers and TV spots from all four films

“Aliens In The Basement” Inside the Bob Burns ALIEN Collection

Dark Horse cover gallery Anthology of 11 issues of the ALIEN comics

DVD-ROM feature Script to screen comparisons

dangerman

is that to fund the fifth outing?

http://www.avp-movie.com/

Goodshape

Fincher is the only director not to do a commentary?

Pity really.. would have liked to hear what he had to say (apparently he had a terrible time making it and swore never to do a 'studio film' again).

Don't think I'll be getting this anyway. Nice as it is, I already bought Alien 1-3 the last time they had an 'Amazing Definitive Best Version EV0R!!!' release. And Resurrection blows goats.

Pepe LeFrits

Already own the two worth owning, so...

Goodshape

...you're going to get the other one that's worth owning?

Alien3 isn't a bad film. It just wasn't the blast of excitement you expected after Aliens, which was more the exception than the rule when you think about it..

Alien - psychological horror
Aliens - WAR!
Alien3 - psychological horror

Makaveli

Ordered it from dvdsoon a couple of months ago.
I've held out along time on buying the Aliens films, and this is my reward.
Glad I didn't buy Legacy now.

Bannor

I bought the R1 Alien boxset when it first came out in 1999/2000. Since then there has been the R2 boxset which had a disc with extra features and now there's an uber boxset. Won't bother with this one because no doubt there'll be another boxset in a couple of years with Alien5 and Alien vs Predator.

ixoy

Alien3 is a little... bland. It's lacking something. I don't blame Fincher - he was drafted in, IIRC, about 2 weeks before shooting began. He had never directed a movie before and was basically very "green". His previous background was in advertisements and music videos (FWIW, he did Aerosmith's "Janie's Got A Gun" [notice the dark lightining and visuals that dominate his stle] and some of Madonna's work, including "Vogue").

However, it's a damn bit better than the risible Alien: Resurrection which is a great big turd. And to think Joss Whedon penned it?!

patch

Has anybody already seen the directors cut of alien 3?

I think it's been doing the rounds a while now.

I'm personally very fond of 3. Like everybody else, I was a bit peeved there were no guns, but really liked the new style.

ixoy

It's not technically a director's cut of 'Alien 3' as Fincher didn't want to get involved with the Quadrilogy project as he despised working on 'Alien 3'. It's more an approximation of what he would've wanted...

Terminator

Originally posted by ixoy
However, it's a damn bit better than the risible Alien: Resurrection which is a great big turd. And to think Joss Whedon penned it?!

Joss Whedon totally screwed the Aliens Universe arseways and turned Ripley into a wise-cracking Buffy bimbo. He should stick to cheap and tacky tv - its where he belongs.

Mr. Fancypants

My copy shipped from DVDSoon today
Should have it by Monday/Tuesday.

hertz

Already own the two worth owning, so

Yeah ALien and ALiens, there the best two, well ahead of their time, to think alien(1979) is 24 years old!!! :eek: But on the alien DVD (released yr or two ago) there were alot of extras, including deleted scenes, these are being put into the mew directors cut, so the bonus is seeing alien with those scenes incorporated. And being on the big screen after 24 yrs.

Hertz

Makaveli

Originally posted by mbroaders
My copy shipped from DVDSoon today
Should have it by Monday/Tuesday.

As did mine.
It would be great to have it Monday or Tuesday.

Makaveli

Well got it today.
No time to watch any of it though because of work.
Looks very impressive and if you unfold the whole thing it's massive, about 5 and a half feet long.

Roller Toaster

Nice one Makaveli, I plan to get this at Christmas so I still have a bit of a wait yet.

Has anybody already seen the directors cut of alien 3?

I think it's been doing the rounds a while now.

It was called the Alien 3 Workprint and was an unofficial pirated version of Alien 3 that contained cut scenes that are back with this new Special Edition such as Gollick's obsession with the Alien as well as an extended version of the capture of the alien in the toxic waste repository. The problem with this workprint version is that it's hard to come by, features no music whatsoever as it was an early cut and had very poor image quality. If you want to see the deleted scenes then the best place to go is http://www.planetavp.com/al/ but be warned, the quality truely is awful.

I love Alien 3, from the symbolism to the rawness of the story and setting. I really can't wait to see the scenes reintroduced properly and apparently the dog hatching scene has been replaced with the original ox and super facehugger storyline and the scene with Clemens on the barren wastelands has been put back in which is alluded to both in the script and in the featurette on the original dvd. In the scene you see Clemens running along through a passage of light carrying Riply in his arms which presumably means the old scene involving all the prisoners finding Riply is gone. In regards to Fincher's absence on the special edition of 3 AL had this to say:

"So what else is the Alien Quadrilogy lacking? Apparently, the region 1 box design is very annoying to open, but what really pisses me off is how Fox edited out about 30 min of footage from the Alien3 documentary. Set producer Charles de Lauzirika even removed his name from the credits because of the studio's stupid cuts. As Bill Hunt of The Digital Bits reports, "Gone now is much of the honesty and truth about the hell director David Fincher went through on the production. Among the footage lost were actual moments with Fincher on the set, where you saw his frustration and anger. You saw his struggles with producers. You heard from Sigourney and the other cast and crew members talking about the problems, and what a raw deal Fincher got. You even heard from the film's producers and Fox executives talking about what went wrong. Simply put, this disc was about as good a behind-the-scenes look at the making of Alien³ as you could ever hope to get, short of Fincher returning to address the production himself (and he WAS asked to do so, but declined). Unfortunately, what you get now, while it still does contain some of the above (including material that you've never seen before), it sort of teases the stuff you really want to know, then glosses by it." Aliens and Alien3 also lack DTS 5.1 audio tracks since the discs didn't have enough space for them. The new version of Alien3 uses subtitles for a few scenes where the audio is so poor you can't hear the actors; they should have just done some new recording sessions, because those actors won't be around forever. Alien Resurrection's expanded cut doesn't really fix any of its problems, and supposedly, the new fx shots don't look very good."

So there you have it, the box set will be great but not entirely perfect. Alien 3 will be my main reason for getting the box set but I can't wait for the other stuff on the other 3 films especially the re-introduced Resurrection scenes as despite what AL says about it I feel the film has a certain amount of merit to it and I'm hoping the new scenes will be good.

patch

Good man Roller Toaster, that's about as concise an answer as I could have hoped for!
I too would have bought this mainly for the sake of 3, but discovered they'll be releasing the movies individually next year, so I'll wait.

Dunno though, if they put in subs where the actors can't be heard, and the sound isn't 5.1, I'm not sure I'll bother.
It just shows what dicks they are though....I'd imagine 3 is the one a lot of people had been waiting for, and so on it's own would be a decent seller.