Review of "The Alien Quadrilogy" DVD

To help celebrate the big-screen re-release of Alien (a special director's cut), Fox home video has unleashed an unprecedented "Quadrilogy" set of all four Alien films, spanning the years 1979 - 1997). Just in time for the Holidays, too.

If you are from another planet and haven't seen Ridley Scott's Alien (1979) yet, here's the gist: the Nostromo crew lands on a far-flung planet in deep space to investigate a mysterious transmission emanating from its bowels. While on the alien planet, one of the crewmembers is attacked by a spider-like creature that adheres itself to his face. He is taken back to the Nostromo, where it is learned -- too late -- that the creepy critter has laid an egg into his body. Like all incubating eggs, it waits only to hatch... and it turns out to be anything but over-easy as it stalks the crew, picked them off one-by-one in the hollow, dark, shadowy and cyberpunky floating vacuum of the Nostromo. Where no one's screams are heard. That is, until the sequels were made.

1986's Aliens is the first sequel. Some fans prefer it to the first installment of the space massacre. James Cameron (Mr. Titanic, aka King of the World, also the director of a little movie called Terminator 2) added more action, gave Ripley more dialogue, and made her a mother figure to a little girl... but the mother of all aliens is no less scary in Aliens. This is the first time Aliens has been released on DVD.

Alien 3, released in 1992, was directed by David Fincher (of Seven, Fight Club and The Game fame). This "Prerelease Version" runs 30 minutes longer than the original, but it doesn't add much to the already slow plot. There are some trés cool visuals, though (Fincher's finessing, no doubt).

Jean-Pierre Jeunet, the director of the French and Stateside hit, Amélie, has the dubious distinction of having directed the most-hated Alien ever, 1997's Alien Resurrection. Winona Ryder less than steals the show, and the ending is so bad you just might toss your popcorn.

Each film is presented in both their original theatrical release cuts and new, expanded editions, in THX-certified anamorphic widescreen. All eight versions of the four films are in Dolby Digital 5.1, with a surround option, and they sound awesome. (However, Alien 3 does have damaged or missing audio elements; some sequences have almost inaudible dialogue, but optional subtitles are automatically activated when watching the extended cut.)

As you anxiously await 2004's Alien Vs. Predator, you can pore over the astounding amount of additonal release material in the Alien Quadrilogy DVD set. That is, if you have about 50 hours to kill (no, I'm not kidding... that's more than two straight days' worth of watching).

Discs 1-2: Alien (1979)

*     Theatrical version (117 min.)

*     Extended cut (137 min.)

*      Commentary by Sigourney Weaver, Ridley Scott, screenwriter Dan O'Bannon, executive producer Ronald Shusett, editor Terry Rawlings, and actors Tom Skerritt, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton and John Hurt. This a strange sort of commentary, as it's not entirely specific to what's going on onscreen. Sounds like it was cobbled together from various interviews.

*     1.85 anamorphic, English 5.1 DTS, English 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 2.0 Surround, THX Certified.

*      Preproduction: Star Beast (developing the story), First Draft of Screenplay by Dan O'Bannon, The Visualists (direction and design), Ridleygrams (original thumbnails & his notes), storyboard archive, Art of Alien (Cobb, Foss, Giger, Moebius), Truckers in Space (casting... here, we learn that Yaphet Kotto isn't the world's biggest Sigourney Weaver fan), Weaver's screen test with optional commentary by Ridley Scott, cast portrait gallery.

*      Production: Fear of the Unknown (Shepperton Studios, 1978), production gallery, The Darkest Reaches (Nostromo and alien planet), The Sets of Alien, The Eighth Passenger (creature design), The Chestburster (creature design).

*     Post-Production: Future Tense (music and editing), 8 deleted scenes, visual effects gallery (photo archive), A Nightmare Fulfilled (reaction to the film), poster explorations (very interesting), special shoot, red carpet premiere footage.

Discs 3-4: Aliens (1986)

*     Theatrical version (137 min.)

*     Extended version (154 min.)

*      Commentary by James Cameron (always superb in his commentaries), Producer Gale Anne Hurd, creature maker Stan Winston, visual effects supervisors Robert and Dennis Skotak, miniature effects supervisor Pat McClung, and actors Michael Biehn, Bill Paxton, Lance Henriksen Jenette Goldstein, and Carrie and Christopher Henn.

*     2.35 anamorphic, English 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 2.0 Surround, THX Certified.

*     Pre-Production: 57 Years Later (continuing the story), Original Treatment: by James Cameron, Building Better Worlds (from concept to construction), The Art of Aliens (conceptual art portfolio), Pre-Visual Anamatics.

*     Preparing for Battle (casting & characterization), Cast Portait (still gallery)

*      Production: This Time It's War (Pinewood Studios, 1985).

*      Production Gallery (photo archive), Continuity Polaroids, The Risk Always Lives (weapons and action), Weapons and Vehicles (photo archive), Bug Hunt (creature design), Beauty and the Bitch (Power Loader Vs. Queen Alien), Stan Winston's Workshop (photo archive), Two Orphans (Sigourney Weaver and little girl Carrie Henn, behind the scenes).

*     Post-Production: The Final Countdown (music, editing and sound), The Power of Real Tech (visual effects), Visual Effects Gallery (photo archive), Aliens Unleashed (reaction to the film), Film Finish & Release, Easter egg (A Boy and His Power Loader).

Discs 5-6: Alien 3 (1992)

*     Theatrical version (114 min.)

*     Restored work print version (155 min.)

*     No commentary from director David Fincher, who not only did not oversee or participate in the new cut of his film, but is nowhere to be found on any of the additional release material. However, there is eye-opening, brutally honest commentary from cinematographer Alex Thomson, editor Terry Rawlings, effects designers Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff, Jr., visual effects producer Richard Edlund, and actor Paul McGann.

*     2.35 anamorphic, English 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 2.0 Surround, THX Certified

*     Pre-Production: Development (concluding the story... featuring footage with Renny Harlin, who was one of the studio's first choices for Alien 3's director), Tales of the Wooden Planet (Vincent Ward's vision), The Art of Aceron (conceptual art portfolio), pre-production part III featurette, storyboards, Art of Fiorina, Xeno-Erotic (H.R. Giger's redesign featurette).

*      Production: Production part I featurette, Production Gallery (photo archive), Furnace Construction (time-lapse sequence), Adaptive Organism (creature design), ADI Workshop, E.E.V. Scan Multi-Angle Vignette, Production part II (read between the line about Weaver's affair with Fincher! No wonder he didn't participate in this DVD release).

*     Post-Production: Post-Production part I, Optical Fury (visual effects), Music, Editing and Sound, Visual Effects (photo archive), Post-Mortem (reaction to the film... very honest, very negative...), Special Shoot.

Discs 7-8: Alien Resurrection (1997)

*     Theatrical version (109 min.)

*     Extended cut (119 min.)

*      Commentary by director Jean Pierre Jeunet, editor Herve Schneid, effects supervisors Gillis and Woodruff, visual effects supervisor Pitot, concept artist and storyboard artist Sylvain Despretz, and actors Ron Perlman, Dominique Pinon and Leland Orser.

*     Intro (extended cut only).

*     2.35 anamorphic, English 5.1 DTS, English 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 2.0 Surround, THX Certified.

*     Pre-Production: From the Ashes (reviving the story, and resurrecting certain characters), First Draft Screenplay by Joss Whedon (Of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" fame), French Twist (direction and design), Under the Skin (casting and characterization), Test Footage #1 (hair/makeup), ADI Effects, Mark Carro Photo Gallery, The Art of Resurrection (conceptual art gallery), storyboards, Pre-Visualizations (multi-angle rehearsals).

*      Production: Death from Below (underwater photography), In the Zone (the hated basketball scene), production gallery (photo archive), Unnatural Mutation (creature design), ADI Workshop, ADI Test Footage.

*     Post-Production: Genetic Composition (music), Virtual Aliens (computer generated imagery), A Matter of Scale (miniature photography), Visual Effects Gallery (photo archive), Critical Juncture (reaction to the film, including comments from Jeunet and Weaver), Special Shoot (promotional photo archive, with a ... huh?! ... Sigourney Weaver-as-Lita Ford photo shoot), Easter egg (Alien extra).

Disc 9: Bonus disc

For Alien:

*     Aliens in the Basement (a collector's odyssey), Alien Legacy, Alien Evolution, Experience in Terror (promotional featurette from 1979), Ridley Scott Q&A (filmed at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood in 2003).

*     Alien Laser Disc Archive: Part I (pre-production), Part II (production), Part III (post-production), theatrical trailer A, theatrical trailer B, TV spot (Egg), TV spot (Now Playing).

For Aliens:

*     Aliens Laser Disc Archive: Part I (pre-production), Part II (production), Part III (post-production), theatrical trailer A, teaser trailer, domestic trailer, international trailer, TV spot (Now Playing).

For Alien 3:

*     6 trailers, 7 TV spots.

For Alien Resurrection:

*     Theatrical teaser, 2 theatrical trailers, 4 TV spots,

*     Dark Horse Still Gallery.

DVD-ROM (script to screen comparison for all four movies)