ALIEN QUADRILOGY discussion thread (including all the glitches) (1 Viewer)

[Sam Davatchi]

They better include the original version of Aliens or I will not get it. I’m just so bothered by the special edition that it will automatically stop me from buying AGAIN the complete movies if we get only the Aliens SE.

 

[Bryan Tuck]

Well, I have all 4 films on VHS, but finally got the first one on DVD. I held off on the others, because I thought something like this might happen. So I'm all for it. I'm not really a big fan of the fourth film, but if there were some worthwhile extras, I'd go for the boxed set.

Since any possible longer cut of Alien 3, would not be technically Fincher's cut, I'd hope that the theatrical version would be included as well (even though it's not his cut either).

With #3, the differences might be too substantial, but I would think both versions of Aliens could easily be included on the same disc with seamless branching.

At any rate, I imagine they'll do a good job. Looking forward to it.

 

[Geoff_D]

Just FYI, Alien3 was supposed to have been the fabled 'Earth War', and it's original director was B-movie god Renny Harlin, a Finnish Paul Anderson if ever there was one. But Harlin asked to be released from his contract when he read the script and it was (to him at least) utter garbage, and the 'Earth War' concept was killed stone dead. Then Vincent Ward picked up the reigns (some good stuff about this on the Mark Kermode documentary, BTW) and we all know what happened to his idea...

 

[JonZ]

"But,losing the original film score would be a big hurdle"


WHAT?!?!?!?

NO SALE if they change any of the soundtracks.

Im really dying to see what will be on these discs - the previous releases were very good IMHO - what else can they possibly do to them? (I was thinking,as most were that the film will be on 1 disc and the extras on disc 2)

 

[Kristoffer]

I hope they keep the same menues for Alien and Aliens
But they probaly won't.

 

[TonyD]

go to this website for lots of info on the scenes cut from alien 3. also what was and what wasnt filmed.

http://www.planetavp.com/amr/html/cuts/a3cuts.html

 

[Steve Christou]

I would wager that we'll loose the "Original Film Score" and "alternate audio and production sound" track from ALIEN.

Thats it, ain't no one touching my 'Alien Special Edition' with the multi-choice soundtracks, its going in the house safe. I love switching thru the audio channels while Alien is playing, have spent entire nights fiddling with this film.

And I agree that the original theatrical version of Aliens should be on the discs too, while I like some of the additions on the SE, the pacing of the film is completely off now, I too hated the superfluous scenes of the colony at the beginning of Aliens, I usually hit the next chapter.

 

[Jeff Krispow]

This might be a bit OT, but here goes; Does anyone remember a documentary/promo piece narrated by Giger about the designs for the first film? I'm pretty sure it was made around the same time "Alien" was released.
I have it on tape, and it's both informative and wild to watch. Giger narrates with a dry tone (my copy has Japanese subtitles) as he goes through each design (face-hugger, the pilot, etc). It has seventies synth music in the background, which is quite effective.
I was wondering if anyone knows more about it, or if it might be included.

Gary, I, for one, certainly don't think this is off-topic... and I really hope that Fox will include this in their upcoming Alien Quadrilogy DVD set. (I had high hopes for its inclusion on the previous Alien Legacyset, but obviously that did not occur. The DVD did contain a few short clips of Giger at work that were taken from this documentary, but the majority if it was missing.)

For those of you who are confused as to what Gary was referring to, he is talking about is an excellent, behind-the-scenes documentary short featuring the work of H.R. Giger on the first Alien movie, aptly entitled Giger's Alien. Giger's Alien was produced in 1979 and release as a promotional piece for the movie. As far as I know, the only "official" release it ever received was in Japan on laserdisc and VHS. It runs about 34m in length.

I actually have this in my own collection... I picked up the Japanese laserdisc when it was originally released, and even then it was remarkably difficult to find. To be honest, I haven't looked at this in years, and Gary's question prompted me to pull it and take a new look at it. Thankfully, the years have been kind to Giger's Alien, both as a laserdisc and as a documentary. I was happy to see that my LD was still in complete mint condition, and the image had absolutely no degredation (Whew!). Thank god for excellent Japanese LD pressings... and blessed be my Pioneer CLD-99, which does an amazing job of eliminating the analog noise problems inherent in most laserdiscs.

As for the content... well, it is still fascinating after all these years. But rather than try to write up a new review of it, I'll instead crib from myself, and reprint my own review published waaay back from the July 1990 issue of Pond Scum* (Issue #12), an old laserdisc magazine I used to publish that had worldwide newsstand distribution. [*Yes, strange name, long story, don't ask... but it worked!] Anywhoo, since this is my own personal review from my own magazine, there shouldn't be any problems with my reprinting it here, right Ron? ("I hereby give myself full permission to reprint my own review wherever and whenever I see fit. In perpetuity. Amen.")

* * * * *
The following is reprinted from Pond Scum, July 1990, Issue #12
(with a few minor updates/changes). ©1990-2003 Jeff Krispow. All rights reserved.


GIGER'S ALIEN
Written & Directed by H.R. Giger
1979 — color — NR — 34 mninutes
CLV — mono
Sony Video Software — #78LS13 — ¥7,800
Japanese Import

"Many people are content just to watch a film, enjoy (or hate) it, and then go on their merry way. However, there are quite a few of us who want to go behind-the-scenes and take a closer look at the making of a motion picture.

Giger's Alien is a somewhat biased looked at the making of the 1979 movie Alien, in that it focuses ONLY on the contributions of H.R. Giger, one of the film's designers. However, this is an appropriate bias, as Giger's Alien is made and presented by Giger, Mia Bonzanigo and J.J. Wittmer. Giger is a talented designer who specializes in weird, fascinating "biomechanical" designs in his paintings and works. This "home-movie" shows us the various steps Giger took towards bringing his visions to life on the screen — from concept art, to designing, to modeling, finished creation. Among the segments shown are the building of the derelict ship and the space jockey, designing and filming the egg chamber, designing and filming the face hugger, and, of course, designing and building a full-scale alien. Also included are a few behind-the-scenes shots taken during actual filming, as well as an interview with director Ridley Scott.

The disc is one-sided, in CLV, and comes in a gorgeously-designed jacket. Both sides of the jacket features a full-cover Giger airbrushed piece. And that's not all, because included inside the jacket is a four-page foldout brochure/poster featuring two more paintings (the outside is a full two-page foldout spread illustration of the Alien's life cycle!) and a behind-the-scenes photo of the space jockey. Thankfully, all the artwork featured on the jacket and the brochure features a minimum of text overlays, so they can be viewed without any undue distractions (the back cover has some very tiny text at the very bottom, while the brochure artwork features no text at all). One interior page of the brochure contains a short summary about the disc (entirely in Japanese), as well as a listing, in English, of all the chapters (the disc is encoded with fourteen of them). The pressing is in good shape, and while the picture quality obviously isn't super-glossy due to limitations in the original source materials (Super-8?, 16mm?), it is quite watchable. The soundtrack is CX-encoded analog-only and is in excellent condition, consisting mainly of narration provided by Giger himself over a weird musical score by V.D.B. Joel. While all the dialogue is in English, the disc does contain Japanese subtitles at the bottom of the frame.

Yes, the disc is short at 34 minutes, but it is a fascinating look at both Giger's work on the film and the film itself. I like it, and if you like Alien you'll probably like this disc as well."

* * * * *

Just as an FYI, the Obi (the side paper strip present on every Japanese LD) advertises another Giger laserdisc from Sony Video Software entitled Necronomicon, which is apparently a video documentary on the making of the book/paintings. (color — 42min — #78LS14 — ¥7,800). I was never able to find a copy of this, but thought I'd mention it should anyone be interested in knowing of its existence.

Well, that just about sums up the entire thing. If anyone has any further questions regarding this, please feel free to ask. As I mentioned earlier, I was overjoyed when I was informed that Fox was producing the original Alien Legacy DVD set, and simply assumed that Giger's Alien would be included (then again, it wasn't included in the original Alien SE LD set either). I was extremely disappointed when I discovered it wasn't included. Even worse, it seems that this little documentary has been all but forgotten about over the years, since all the interest in the film was mostly with the deleted footage.

In any event, I'm hoping that Fox will go this distance with the upcoming DVD set and include Giger's Alien for everyone to enjoy — it would be a travesty NOT to include this. Let's cross our fingers! But in conclusion, and as an added incentive to Fox (just so they can't say it's "unavailable") I happily make the following offer:

[c]MY OFFER TO FOX HOME VIDEO RE: GIGER'S ALIEN[/c]
Giger's Alien is an important documentary that has remained mostly unseen since it was produced nearly 24 years ago. It would be a valuable addition to your upcoming Alien Quadrilogy DVD set, and I ask that you please consider its inclusion. However, unforeseen difficulties might arise that would potentially hinder its inclusion, such as being unable to locate the original source materials, damaged source materials, or various other reasons. In this regard, I offer my laserdisc edition to Fox for use as a mastering source should it be required. My laserdisc copy remains in excellent condition with no noticeable defects. However, as I mentioned above, it does feature a mild layer of analog noise that is present is nearly all laserdiscs. The analog noise can easily be removed/corrected, and the underlying picture enhanced via DVNR or similar means at your disposal. Again, the laserdisc does feature Japanese subtitles, but these are present on every "legal" version of the documentary — if the original footage no longer exists, then Japanese subtitles should not stand in the way of presenting this rare material. As I live in the Los Angeles area, I can easily make it available for use at a moment's notice. Please contact me via email or through Ron (who should be able to access my personal contact info) if I can be of assistance. Thank you.

 

[Alex Spindler]

Thanks for the link Tony. Given what is listed there, there should be a complete pre-release version that would best represent a director's cut if there was one. And that it had previously been assembled means that it may have survived.

There are some things in there that just sound perfect to me. I would love for that to be available in this set.

 

[GaryEA]

Mr. Krispow,

Thank you for filling in the blanks about Giger's Alien. After asking about it yesterday, I pulled out my VHS copy and watched it again.

It's still a wonderful and hypnotic look into Giger's design process, and would be of tremendous value to the Alien set. Some footage of it was used on the Alien Legacy disc, and there's much more to it.

My hope is that Fox will include Giger's Alien on either the Alien or supplemental discs, as my copy is noticably degrading fast, and I'd hate to lose what I think is a fantastic, and somewhat forgotten, documentary.

Again, thanks Jeff.

Gary

 

[Kristoffer]

I see it this way; Alien, brillant film!! A classic
Aliens a good sequel
Alien 3, A very interesting film that goes back to the basic of film one. The deleted scenes sounds cool! I would love to see these.
But Alien resurection really bugged me. Mostly because the design of the Alien monster had changed alot. The Aliens in this looks ugly and brown. No details. All this because fox couldn't be asked to pay Giger to get involed. All the feminine grace and details of the Alien is gone !!
And now they roah SP? instead of a hiss!!
That a the baby alien at the end ruined this film for me!!
number 3 was a good ending to the series and they should have ended there!!

 

[Mark_Wilson]

Mostly because the design of the Alien monster had changed alot. The Aliens in this looks ugly and brown. No details. All this because fox couldn't be asked to pay Giger to get involed.

 

[Rex Bachmann]

Geoff_D wrote (post #83):

in one way or another ever since Kane became "imbued" in the original Alien picture (1979). The producers have always played fast and loose as to the extent of the affects on their evolution of being hosted by humans. The alien of Alien 3, if you will remember, at first had doglike qualities since a canine was its host.

 

[BrettB]

Well I just went through the last 3 pages of this thread and it looked as if there is still speculation as to what would make up the 9 discs & I didn't see this referenced, so, from thedigitalbits (yesterday);

 

[Seth_S]

It sounds like I'm alone here, but this new set is going to be a hard sell for me. I have zero interest in Alien 3 & 4, no matter how impressive the special features are. I really don't want to plunk down 100+ just for Alien and Aliens, especially since I'm quite happy with the original Alien SE DVD. Hopefully these new version will be available separately, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[CraigF]

Yes, I'm only truly interested in Alien and Aliens too...maybe they'll release the SE's of them separately some day, then I'll possibly upgrade.

 

[Rob T]

I didn't get the first set so I'll be getting this one if I can afford it.

 

[Will_B]

Seth, don't fret, there's plenty of Alien3 fans who only want Alien3 (that is, if it has a reconstruction of the Fincher version).

So if these films are not made available seperately, go ahead and get the set and drop me an email. I'll take Alien3 off your hands for 1/4 of the set's cost.

You may have much harder time finding a way to unload Alien Resurrection though!

 

[LennyP]

You may have much harder time finding a way to unload Alien Resurrection though!

Not really

But I want all the others too.

 

[John H Ross]

I would wager that we'll loose the "Original Film Score" and "alternate audio and production sound" track from ALIEN.

If this happens then I'll be VERY cross. I already have the Legacy Boxed Set so, if the worst happens, I'll simply hold onto that in addition to the new set. But this 9-disc set will have a hard time calling itself "Ultimate" if this terrific feature is removed.

Sadly there's more to this than simply dropping the isolated score in favour of a DTS track. Studios are becomming VERY nervous about the isolated score feature due to the subsequent flooding of bootleg CDs onto the market. Some thoughtful(!!) record producers, such as Ford A. Thaxton, have convinced the studios that isolated scores are damaging and should be dropped. This is why THE MUMMY lost the separate score track upon its re-issue.

What's special about ALIEN is that much of Goldsmith's original score (as isolated) wasn't used in the final print. Many cues were moved around or re-written and others were taken from FREUD (1966). This disc is/was a GREAT opportunity to hear the score as Goldsmith originally intended (at least until somebody gets round to an official CD release of the original film tracks).

John