A Few Words About A few words about...™ Alien Anthology -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[goteam007]

I just flipped through the Alien 3 commentary. There are comments exclusive to both theatrical and extended cuts. I think that is the only one.

 

[RickardL]

Originally Posted by Robert Harris
That's when hardware problems struck. My favored Blu-ray player, an Oppo 83 came up with bad responses when
I attempted to run the long version of Alien and then with Aliens. While the introductions ran properly, scaling was
off the boards, with about a 500-600% zoom. The zoom could only be dealt with by finding workarounds.

The latest firmware , February 2011, for the Oppo BDP-83 fixes the zoom issue!
I tried "Alien 2003 Special Edition" and "Aliens 1990 Special Edition" and they both play correctly sized.
http://www.oppodigital.com/blu-ray-bdp-83/bdp-83-firmware-54-0130b.aspx

 

[Sam Favate]

Finished watching Resurrection this weekend. I had never seen the 2003 version (my previous DVD was the 1999 set). I haven't seen it since either '99 or maybe even '97 in the theater (I can't remember). While it's certainly better than Alien 3, which I rewatched recently (again, seeing the director's cut for the first time), Resurrection isn't a good movie. The violence and gore is so excessive it takes you out of the movie. I kept thinking "they're just trying to get a reaction from the audience - there is no reason to make it this grosteque." Also, much as I might respect Joss Whedon, this is a bad script. The characters are all one-dimensional, and most of them spout the same tough-guy movie cliches we've heard over and over. The 1979 film had 7 truckers in space who didn't exist as cartoon caricatures, why couldn't this one? Winona Ryder is completely miscast. And Sigourney Weaver's Ripley clone lacks the humanity that made us care about her. The bottom line is I think Alien 3 took the series in such a disasterous direction that there was no coming back.

None of which affects my respect for the Anthology box set, which is a true marvel of the blu-ray age, and the new standard to which film series should aspire.

 

[cafink]

The 2003 version of Alien Resurrection is not a "director's cut." Jeunet says this explicitly in his introduction, at least on the Quadrilogy DVD set.

I don't remember the movie being particularly violent, at least not significantly more so than any of the other films in the series. Maybe that was added to the 2003 version, which I haven't seen, or maybe I'm just misremembering. Either way, I've always thought Resurrection was a lot better than people give it credit for. It's not a great movie, but I think it's perfectly serviceable as a science-fiction action movie. Honestly, I like it a lot more than Alien, which is okay and has a few really interesting elements, but which is pretty highly over-rated, in my opinion.

 

[TravisR]

Originally Posted by Sam Favate
Also, much as I might respect Joss Whedon, this is a bad script.

I've read interviews with Whedon where he said that his script was ruined by Jeunet.

 

[Brisby]

Question...I just ordered the UK version of the Anthology for a steal ($33 shipped! ), and have read conflicting reports about whether or not the extra features have that PAL speedup. Can anyone confirm?

 

[Johnny Angell]

Originally Posted by cafink
The 2003 version of Alien Resurrection is not a "director's cut." Jeunet says this explicitly in his introduction, at least on the Quadrilogy DVD set.

I don't remember the movie being particularly violent, at least not significantly more so than any of the other films in the series. Maybe that was added to the 2003 version, which I haven't seen, or maybe I'm just misremembering. Either way, I've always thought Resurrection was a lot better than people give it credit for. It's not a great movie, but I think it's perfectly serviceable as a science-fiction action movie. Honestly, I like it a lot more than Alien, which is okay and has a few really interesting elements, but which is pretty highly over-rated, in my opinion.

I was right there with you until "I like it a lot more than Alien...". Alien and Aliens are 2 of the great sci/fi horror films, IMHO, while 3 is an abomination and 4 is ok. All of course, IMHO.

Perhaps Alien 4 took him out of the movie because it wasn't that hard to do. I watch 4, but I experience Alien and Aliens.

 

[TonyD]

Question...I just ordered the UK version of the Anthology for a steal ($33 shipped! ), and have read conflicting reports about whether or not the extra features have that PAL speedup. Can anyone confirm?

As far as I can tell, everything is exactly the same on both versions. Is there any such thing as pal speed up on a blu-ray?

 

[Christian Preischl]

Originally Posted by TonyD
As far as I can tell, everything is exactly the same on both versions. Is there any such thing as pal speed up on a blu-ray?

There can be such a thing as PAL speed up on Blu-ray (I've seen a 1080i/50Hz version of Zach and Miri make a Porno which runs 4% too fast, I think it was the UK version), however, as you said, the UK version of Alien Box set is not affected. The disc content is exactly the same as the US versions, right down to the audio tracks and subtitles etc.

 

[Ferdinand Hudson]

Originally Posted by Brisby
Question...I just ordered the UK version of the Anthology for a steal ($33 shipped! ), and have read conflicting reports about whether or not the extra features have that PAL speedup. Can anyone confirm?

There are no PAL content on the UK set. Any SD material on it is 480i or 480p, no 576i/50Hz material whatsoever.

 

[Brisby]

Excelent! Thanks for easing my mind, guys.

 

[Moe Dickstein]

$19.99 at Fry's right now

 

[Sam Posten]

Not sure if this was in the anthology or not, but damn neat:
https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/blog/aliens-chestburster-mechanism-behind-the-scenes

 

[Johnny Angell]

Yeah, that was interesting. The lesson I learned from that video is that if you have talent and know what you are doing, it ain't no big deal to create an Alien Chestburster.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Chestburster is also just a great name for the thing.

It would also make for a great name. Arthur Chestburster

Or a rock band: Johnny and the Chestbursters

 

[FoxyMulder]

Chestburster is also just a great name for the thing.

It would also make for a great name. Arthur Chestburster

Or a rock band: Johnny and the Chestbursters

The Scottish version is called Jimmy Chestburster Gies Ya The Heid.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Little known fact:

Full name of the 21st president of the United States: Chestburster Alan Arthur

Another little known fact. President Arthur is buried in Albany, NY.

 

[Jari K]

Alien "35AE" seems to be coming. Some PR art in Facebook.

 

[FoxyMulder]

Alien "35AE" seems to be coming. Some PR art in Facebook.

Probably the same transfer and extras, i can't see it being any better than the last release which was excellent.

 

[Oblivion138]

Pretty sure the "upgrade" will consist solely of the inclusion of a Digital HD copy.