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

'Alien' (average user rating: 4.6). If you haven't seen this classic film, then you must be living under a rock. The collection includes the original theatrical version (which I prefer) and the "Director's Cut", notable for its inclusion of the controversial captain-cacooned by alien scene (controversial because from the Alien mythology developed in later films, we know that only the massive queen can lay eggs). I prefer the original (which is actually 1 minute longer), and interestingly enough, it appears that Ridley Scott prefers the original as well. The making of featurettes are extensive and reveal Giger's extensive participation and how what was originally expected to receive a b-moive budget became one of the very few examples where Fox studios followed the vision with a classic.

'Aliens' (average user rating: 4.7). This is the only sequel I know of that is rated higher than the original. This time, the "Special Edition" version (also on the previous 'Alien Legacy' box set) is a superior experience and exactly is how upstart director James Cameron (who had written the script prior to the release of 'The Terminator') wanted to release the film, but was constrained entirely by time limits. The result is additional scenes featuring the colonists and Ripley's family lost to the time she spent in hypersleep. As with the first installment, the featurettes are interesting and thorough, although the Viet Nam War metaphor is not as thoroughly explored with Cameron as has been in other releases.

'Alien 3' (average user rating: 3.2). As a fan of the franchise, this was perhaps the most anticipated part of this new box set. The "working print" of the film (the longest of all the versions here, and complete with subtitles for missed sound editing), adds a depth to the film that was not in the original. That is, the arrival of Ripley and the characters are covered much more thoroughly, the alien creature is begotten by an oxen with a much more original look, there is an additional plot twist arising from the nature of the inhabitants (criminally delusional), and there is no riduculously-timed chest-burster scene at the end. Still, the film is a flawed masterpiece. The film is better appreciated in light of the bad situation first-time director David Fincher had been placed in - not the least of which is an incomplete script during production and a set that had already been constructed for the ill-conceived "wooden planet/monestary" vision of the previously assigned director. In this sense, the three production featurettes come across as almost an apology/tribute to Fincher. (NOTE: Fincher is the only director who is not interviewed on the box set.)

'Alien Resurrection' (average user rating: 3.0). What happens when you put the French director of 'Amelie' (Jean-Pierre Jeaunet) in charge of an alien movie? Well, foreign/art movies were all the craze in the last 1990s, so . . . Fox studios thought, "Why not?" In the end, many fans of the franchise did not appreciate the obviously satirical slant on this final installment. The opening scene and ending scenes (the only additions of substance) on the extended version make the film even more tongue-in-cheek. Despite the French director and crew's obvious regard for the original 'Alien' (as documented in the featurettes), armed with the return of Sigourney Weaver and the addition of superstar Winona Ryder, the director ultimately made a quirky, campy action film. But in the end, it was the last quarter of the script that makes this the weakest of all the installments by far. Postscript to Fox studios: if you had given Fincher this much creative freedom, you would have have a third masterpiece.


It should be called the Tetralogy, but get it anyway   May 7, 2006
Adam Dukovich (Roseville, CA United States)
38 out of 43 found this review helpful

The Alien series never broke out the way that Star Trek and Star Wars did--you don't see the presence of an Alien-worshipping subculture, the way you do with Roddenberry's and Lucas's franchises. However, the series has been far more inventive and varied than those two franchises. Explore the Alien movies (minus the abomination known as Alien vs. Predator) on this 9-disc set. Even though they are very different films which have little commonality, aside from the presence of those vicious monsters and the lovely Sigourney Weaver, they complement each other well, and collectors would be wise to pick up this boxed set instead of buying the movies piecemeal. Far from being simple horror films, the Alien movies are attempts to put into film the anxieties of the modern age, from the biological to the corporate, and the series is at its best when it exploits these anxieties.

This is what the first entry in the series, Alien, does best. Directed by Ridley Scott, whose other work includes Blade Runner and Gladiator, this 1979 film pits a group of commercial astronauts against a foe which cannot be killed and will not be placated. With a cast that includes Weaver, Tom Skeritt, Yaphet Kotto, John Hurt, Harry Dean Stanton and Ian Holm, this is probably the most impressively-acted of the bunch, and Scott has style to spare. Unlike most terror films, this movie derives its thrills not from continual pop-ups at the screen, but from building a sustained mood of dread--the alien could pop up at any moment. When it does come, it doesn't stay around for long. Perhaps the movie's greatest attribute is its allegorical simplicity--one is bound to reflect on what the alien represents? Perhaps it's a Rorshach Ink Blot to some extent, however, this movie is the perfect counterpoint to such movies as Independence Day--instead of taking off and kicking ass, in Alien, nothing we can do can protect us from the Alien. In our post-Iraq, post-9/11 nation, perhaps this film will have gained some resonance in its treatment of the subject matter.

Aliens might be decried by some as a pure action film, but it is a bit more than that. James Cameron logically extends the concepts in the first film, and while it lacks the atmosphere and creepy suspense of the first movie, it is an extremely exciting and emotionally satisfying film. In this film, Ellen Ripley returns to the beast's planet with a squad of marines, which includes such personalities as the humane Cpl. Hicks (Michael Biehn), the freaked-out Pvt. Hudson (Bill Paxton) and the macho Pvt. Vasquez (Janette Goldstein). Also in the mix are Paul Reiser as the personification of corporate malfeasance, and Lance Henriksen as a sinister-seeming android. Trivia note: Henriksen would be the only actor (aside from Weaver) to appear in more than one Alien film. Ultimately, this is a movie where the thrills come from stuff popping out at you, but if you are willing to suspend disbelief a little and come along for the ride, it is actually quite good for a genre picture, and became the benchmark against which the later pictures were compared.

Alien3 is a film which never got a fair chance. Consider: a script which underwent more than a few major revisions, several changes in directors which actually produced the perfect man for the job (future Fight Club auteur David Fincher), a meddling studio and fan expectations which could not possibly have been sated. It was, in retrospect, a recipe for disaster, so one should not complain about how flawed it is, but rather realize just how good it is. Fincher manages to create a wholly convincing atmosphere of dread in a prison planet populated by monk-like inmates. It takes up the allegorical mantle again, but rather than the open-ended allegory of the first, this installment has overt religious parallels that anyone even remotely familiar with Western Civilization should be able to pick up on (even though some of the imagery is subtle). This set notably includes the Assembly Cut, billed euphamistically here as a "Special Edition", which is far closer to the movie Fincher intended to make. While there are any number of legitimate complaints against the film--the most sympathetic character dies halfway through, many of the inmates never really stick out, the final action sequence is too disorienting, high on gore but low on scares, etc.--it is actually a rather compelling film in its unedited form. Not perfect, but in terms of the plotting, main characters, and its insight into the mindset of the religious isolationist mindset, it is more than adequate. In terms of visuals and mood, no installment of the Alien series has been better. In my book, it's a good film with flaws rather than a flawed film with some good parts. The beginning and ending are contentious--watch the film and you will see why--but both serve the story, and the ending in Fincher's version is a surprisingly powerful one, as opposed to the theatrical version, which might have some Biblical undertones (the story of Jacob, specifically) but it feels more hollow. Overall, with this restored version, hopefully the movie will see an end to the backlash that has been pervasive since its release in 1992.

Alien Resurrection is the final film in this group, and while it is less polarizing than Alien3 among fans, it is also less memorable. If the original film was about a post-Vietnam set of anxieties, then this film is about a post-Berlin Wall set of ironies, and it cannot be displaced from the culture from whence it came--a culture which prided itself on being so "over" everything. Yet another director, this time Jean-Pierre Jeaunet of Amelie, brings a different twist to the franchise. Armed with a screenplay by TV wunderkind Joss Whedon, and game performances from Weaver, Winona Ryder, Ron Perlman, et al. The fundamental problem is that the viewer never really connects with the characters, and thus isn't invested in their fates. This being the case, the movie then becomes a series of action setpieces which don't quite add up to anything. The visual style is surprisingly lacking here as well: I once heard Amelie described as a David Fincher take on a Meg Ryan film, so I expected memorable visuals. I instead discovered that Roger Ebert was right when he said there was not a single shot to inspire the imagination. While the production values are high, the grotesque violence, fast-paced editing, camerawork and lighting all come together to make one feel as though in a video game, and while that might work for fourteen year-old boys, it's a far cry from the film's heritage. On the other hand, the satirical aspects of the film are enjoyable, and it somehow was much more beloved in Europe--maybe I'm missing something. Ultimately, the film is either a standard-issue thriller or a savvy satirical deconstruction of a standard-issue thriller--I'm not entirely certain.

The bonus features are interesting--commentaries on all the four films, featuring directors, cast members, and production staff. I guess that, given the amount of commentary tracks punctuated by uncomfortable silences, the folks over at Fox decided to cut to different conversations at different points during the films. There is a constant stream of information, some interesting and enlightening, other parts are funny (Bill Paxton's contributions especially), but the only one that is tough to sit through is Alien3's, which is unbalanced in favor of the technical side of the production and only has about 15 minutes of Henriksen and another actor. The documentaries go into great detail about all the films, essentially from the germination of the story all the way through to critical reception. Overall, it's a good collection of special features.

Overall, as far as franchises go, the Alien films are one of the better bets out there. As a receptacle for millenial anxieties, a proving ground for new and talented directors, and just plain scares, this is a series which should appeal to most and I highly recommend this set.


A masterwork   August 14, 2004
Moonskimmer
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

Nine discs, four movies, a full day's worth of viewing material, riveting interviews. If, in the future, the compilation of a DVD is remembered as a post-digital art form, than the Alien Quadrilogy (despite its absurd title) will rank alongside the Lord of the Rings Extended Editions as an early masterpiece, a deep burrow into the black heart of this great, horrifying, perplexing, confounding and at times downright odd series. From its pulpy origins to its rise to the level of art at the hands of its charismatic shapers (Ridley Scott, Sigourney Weaver, John Hurt, Ian Holm, the incomprable, though often copied, H R Giger), to its recasting into a durable franchise under the iron hand of ultimate technocrat James Cameron, to its partial undoing in David Finscher's bold, unsatisfying experiment, to its final destruction at the unwitting hands of Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Joss Whedon (two talents which, though individually great, arguably should never have been combined) the story is retold in frequently bitter flashback, very little of the sugar-coating one normally associates with this medium.

Beyond this of course, are the films themselves; each shown in both their original and recut versions.

ALIEN: (theatrical cut) The most nightmarish and genuinely frightening of the quartet, Alien takes full advantage of Giger's contributions, creating a world that straddles the boundary between the logical and the fantastic, a world in which space becomes eternal night, a darkness in which our deepest and most primal thoughts lie concealed. With a cast of genius actors, brilliant pace and hugely effective editing, this is a masterclass in horror filmmaking.

(director's cut) This is one cut too many on an already perfect gem. The now-legendary "pod scene" with Dallas notwithstanding, there is little added of any interest, and quite a lot taken away. Extra scenes are weighted toward the end, which skews the original's perfect pacing.

Aliens: (theatrical cut) Another flawless steel contraption by master technician James Cameron, this film, though radically different from its predecessor in tone, actually dovetails with it perfectly. Confident enough to not need Giger (Cameron himself designed this film's addition to the mythos, the Queen) this story shies away from Freudian sexual terror and focuses on maternal love, human and monstrous, while the relentless direction connects straght to our adrenal glands, leaving us too exited to fear.

(director's cut) As with all films by Cameron, any alteration made at the insistence of a studio is a detraction. The restored material enhances the the story's themes and provides Weaver with an emotional focus around which to weave her character.

Alien 3 (theatrical cut): As slow, cold and desolate as the wasteland it takes place on, this film has few friends, though perhaps unfairly. Much of the plot seems incomprehensible at first viewing, and the artistic decision to leave Ripley bereft and longing for death turned many away. But I would say that Alien 3 ultimately anchors the trilogy, and, in a strange way, defines it. Looking back, there could never have been a happy ending for Ripley; her fate is tied to that of the Aliens. Her purpose in life is to protect her kind from them. She made that choice when she blew up the Nostromo.

(workprint edition)With much of the plot restored and the characters enhanced, Alien 3 emerges in the workprint edition as a complete film. Whereas the original cut was disjointed and vague, the restored material restores crucial plot points and character development. This is far and away the better of the two, and the most significant recut of the set.

Alien Resurrection: A mess despite the talent that concocted it. Essentially a new beginning for the series, with a new character (the Ripley clone is now part Alien herself, and therefore her ties to her species are not as binding as her donor's), this film sits uneasily between superficial action flick and the profound implications of its antcedents. Jean-Pierre Jeunet injects his "nightmare circus" mentality into the Alien universe, and one can only wonder what would have followed had he had a better script to work from.

(director's cut) Actually worse than the theatrical, with a number of bad jokes restored, a perplexing and downbeat ending on what appears to be a post-apocalyptic Earth, and a strange and unneccessary beginning.


Actually 4 and a half stars   December 3, 2003
pattic (NY United States)
9 out of 11 found this review helpful

The Alien Quadrilogy set, is, by and large, the best, most feature-laden set you've ever seen. To keep it brief, if you are a casual fan of the Alien films, you are probably perfectly safe keeping your original Alien Legacy set. The overall quality of the picture and sound on the original set was basically the same as the Quadrilogy versions, with the exception of some added commentaries, new footage on films 1,3 and 4, and 2 new DTS soundtracks (Alien and Alien Res). The real reason to justify spending the simolians IMO is the incredible amount of documentary content. The length and quality of the documentaries is beyond belief. Far exceeding the length of the films they are about, the making of features exceed even the extended Lord Of The Rings sets for thoroughness. I realise I am probably not representative of most people here, but I personally love documentaries, good ones anyway, and I often watch certain DVD documentaries more often than I watch the movies themselves, so for me, it was more than worth the investment. If you are a commentary and documentary fan, this set is worth every penny. Only 2 complaints here, 1 small and on pretty darn big:

The minor niggle I have with this set is the stupid packaging. The set looks terriffic, with great art and the spindles hold the discs firmly. The problem is the box unfolds accordian style to over 5 feet in length. If you just want to see disc 9, it's a real operation and a pain in the neck. Whoever designed this thing never thought of mobile dvd watchers that's for sure. The 1 severe drawback, and to me inexcusable, is the transfer quality of the Aliens disc. While Alien 1,3 and 4 all have beautiful, razor-sharp video transfers, Aliens looks only slightly better than a VHS cassette. I watched the first 2 movies right in a row upon getting the set, and I couldn't believe how much worse Aliens looked than the first film...and it is 7 years newer!? Let's face it. The vast majority of fans are really only interested in the first two movies and it's really hard to believe that they couldn't find a better telecine master for arguably the most popular movie in the set. With that aside, this is an awsome set assured to keep you busy with the features for days, if not weeks, and should be the last time you will ever need to buy the Alien films...until the super-duper actually remastered version of Aliens comes out. And the set is redone in High defintion in a few years...and when they do the 30 th anniversery edition......


Forget requisite overview of all 4 and just focus on Alien3   December 26, 2003
David G. Cooper (Somewhere, USA)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

Sure, ALIEN is a masterpiece; it's what started this saga. ALIENS was always a childhood favorite of mine, even though that damn Queen gave me nightmares. ALIEN3, however, has slowly but surely become my favorite of all of them. The 'special edition' featured in this boxset alone is worth the price of admission. Forget ALIEN RESURRECTION; it should have ended with this movie. If you're like me and consider ALIEN3 a magnificent standalone movie as well as great ALIEN movie, then you'll love this fully realized workprint version. I have minor problems with it, ones I'd love to see fixed (re-release another DVD of just ALIEN3, Fox!):

1. Bring back the necessary actors to improve on the ADR that's kinda scratchy in some of the restored scenes.
2. Update the CGI; get WETA or somebody to redo the alien and Ripley's suicide plunge :)
3. Put back in the 30 minutes that was cut out of the 'Making of' featurette (for those of you who don't know, it was originally called "Wreckage and Rape: The Making of Alien 3"... go to digitalbits.com for more info)
4. And don't forget.... DTS SURROUND SOUND!!!

Yeah, that'll probably never be done... but hey, who knows? I'll keep my fingers crossed :) Otherwise, I'll just watch all the discs in this boxset over and over (except RESURRECTION). BUY IT TODAY!