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

[joshEH]

That, and the unexpurgated Alien 3 documentaries from the Quadrilogy box that got something like 30 minutes cut from them after the studio panicked over their too "frank" nature (per Bill Hunt at The Digital Bits).

...But that's probably never gonna happen, sadly.

 

[Nelson Au]

Okay, I've completed re-watching Alien (new cut) and Aliens on the new TV. I have to agree with WillG, the original cut I think is better. When Ripley finds Dallas and Brent
it felt out of place as it interrupted the flow's pace.

 

[TravisR]

That's exactly why I couldn't see a three hour version working.

 

[joshEH]

Yup...it's one of the few added scenes from the 2003 edition that should've stayed in the "Deleted Scenes" section -- it totally slows down Ripley's mad, headlong, panicked rush to the Narcissus when she takes a leisurely two-minute detour belowdecks to kibitz with Dallas and company. Get the hell off the fucking ship, stupid.

That sequence notwithstanding, I actually quite liked the bulk of the added scenes in the '03 cut, and feel that they contributed significantly to the flavor of the story. Though I still lament Ridley's deletion of the "What Are My Chances?/Does Not Compute" scene that originally appeared in the 1979 theatrical cut, which added immeasurable shadings of impending doom to the film.

 

[WillG]

Yup...it's one of the few added scenes from the 2003 edition that should've stayed in the "Deleted Scenes" section -- it totally slows down Ripley's mad, headlong, panicked rush to the Narcissus when she takes a leisurely two-minute detour belowdecks to kibitz with Dallas and company. Get the hell off the fucking ship, stupid

I think it could have been an ok scene if only they had placed it before Ripley sets the self destruct sequence as, yes, it does not make much sense for her to waste time after the sequence has been set off. Making even less sense is her descending to a lower deck when the enterance to the Naccissus is on the main deck. IIRC in the DC she does not even carrying Jones when she goes below to find Dallas, which now makes her descending a deck unjustifyable even as a detour of some kind. It would even have made more sense to have Ripley discover Dallas after the Alien blocks her route and she goes below to use another path to the shuttle. Also, it doesn't make much sense that Ripley would burn Dallas to death when the ship is just minutes from detonating anyway resulting in a much less painful and horrifying death.

It might have worked, but unfortunately, the scene was placed at a very illogical point

 

[Geoff_D]

I watched the DVHS version of Alien a few days ago, and I was blown away. I've watched this tape previously but on a smaller display, and on my current set it looked even better than before. If that is part of what the HD future holds for the Alien films (well, the first three anyway ) then count me in.

The tape contains the 'DC' version only, but Ridley Scott's expertise is such that even a truncated form, Alien is as compelling as ever.

And Charlie, bravo once again for doing such a great job on the Quad set.

 

[Dave Simkiss]

Mr. Lauzirika, many thanks for answering all these questions.

I wonder if you would mind clearing something up for me, Im currently reading a version of the Alien 3 script that to my knowledge has never made it's way onto the internet, in this version Golic - after freeing the alien - goes on to murder a bunch of convicts that are hiding out in the abattoir, before being later captured and cocooned by the alien (yes this version has a major cocoon sequence)

Now I don't expect any of the cocoon sequences were ever filmed, but would you know if they ever filmed any scenes of Golic murdering other prisoners in the abattoir?

I always found it odd that in the assembly cut and bootleg workprint Golics body is nowhere to be seen when Dillon and the others investigate the toxic waste dump.

The workprint does have Golic scream when the alien drops infront of him, perhaps to clarify his death, whereas the assembly cut just jumps to black, both versions do seem rather ambiguous and I was wondering if maybe that was then to lead on to these abattoir scenes?

Any info on this or any other unseen alien 3 footage would be greatly, greatly appreciated.

 

[Jonathan_Clarke]

I just watched Alien Resurrection last night. It had been the first time since getting into Joss Whedon's work so I was really watching the script. I didn't see much of his humor but I did see a lot of Firefly in the characters (especially the crew of the Betty).

 

[Travis Brashear]

I'm surprised, with all the talk about why the Dallas cocooned sequence doesn't work, that no one has addressed the fact that it doesn't work because it isn't remotely consistent with the aliens' life-cycles, as shown in ALIENS. Alien queens lay the eggs; "worker" aliens don't somehow convert humans into eggs. Sure, the argument could be made that ALIEN came before ALIENS, but this scene never saw the narrative light-of-day (i.e. cut back into the film) until after ALIENS, so that sequel has rendered this old footage apocryphal.

 

[Jonathan_Clarke]

There are cocooned people in Aliens and Alien Resurrection.

 

[WillG]

Well, for the record, not even taking "Aliens" into consideration, the ability to turn a human into an egg never really rang true for me. When we consider that the scene was added to the film after "Aliens" "canonized" the alien life cycle, it appears to be an inconsistency. However, there have been other inconsistencies about the life cycle and the aliens itself in these films that have eventually given way to generally accepted theories about them. For example, in Alien 3, why was the one facehugger able to impregnate twice. It has been a generally accepted theory that a facehugger that carries the embryo of a queen also carries an additional warrior embryo to, perhaps, provide protection for the queen. (The special edition hints at a superfacehugger although, I don't believe you ever get a good enough look at it to make that determination)

So maybe, a lone warrior alien does have certain abilities to transform other life forms into eggs if there is no queen. Much like how Jurassic Park intoduced using frog DNA to fill sequence gaps that resulted in the dinos being able to breed because some African frogs can change their sex in a single sex environment. After all, Ash does make several comments that suggest how adaptable the Alien is to chaging environments

 

[Charles de Lauzirika]

Dave,

As with most any feature film, there are hundreds of boxes of unused picture and sound elements after a project is delivered. ALIEN 3 was no exception. However, I never saw footage of Golic that took place after his release of the Alien from the toxic waste dump, nor did I see any call sheets or still photography to suggest any abattoir slaughter was filmed.

As for the Super-Facehugger, there is a closer shot of it in the documentary, but again, because that was not the shot used in the Assembly Cut we found, we chose not to swap out the existing wide shot. Believe me, it was tempting.

Thanks to everyone for the always-appreciated feedback.

 

[TravisR]

Thank you for the amazingly in depth set.

 

[Dave Simkiss]

Many thanks for the reply
And many thanks for all the tremendous hard work you put into the Quad set, it is by far my most treasured DVD set and easily the most comprehensive set I own. If only all DVD's were threated with as much passion and respect.

 

[Vincent_P]

Seeing the incredible job Charlie did on putting together the ALIEN 3 assembly edit, I wish Universal had hired him to reconstruct the 4-plus hour DUNE workprint for that film's "extended edition" DVD release, as opposed to including the butchered TV edit (and barring Lynch himself putting together a new edit).

Vincent

 

[David_Blackwell]

Vincent, I think Lynch decided not to make a new edit of the film. Universal was trying to get him to one hence the original delay of the Dune DVD set.

 

[Travis Brashear]

This is certainly all a viable postulation, but I'll just stick with the theory that the theatrical version is the "real" one and the so-called "Director's Cut" was just good for a single curiosity viewing!

 

[joshEH]

Yep...take out the fabricated "Mohiam-going-to-Caladan" sequence, all the various reused-ad-nauseum "Guild shuttle-approach" shots, reinstate the "Heart-Sucking" and "Spittle-on-the-Face" bits (and restore Paul's planting of the thumper after the 'thopter crash), and you'd have a great cut. (The so-called "KTVU edit" from back in 1992 did all these things.) Not that I don't enjoy the extended version on its own terms, all those things notwithstanding, but Harry Tapelman -- the Universal/MCA exec who was responsible for the most egregious editing decisions on that one -- shall one day learn to fear the steak bitchslap.

Reinstating the ending bits involving Thufir Hawat's death would give some closure on that character (which wasn't paid off in either version), though to truly justify showing the "Irulan-betrothal" scene, you'd have to keep Virginia Madsen as narrator, which...probably isn't feasible for many of the scenes in the existing extended cut.

 

[Vincent_P]

I was actually told that Lynch was willing to do a new edit, but wanted to be paid for his services and Universal wasn't willing to, so he bowed out and Universal went ahead without him and remastered the TV edit instead. A missed opurtunity if ever there was one IMO.

Oh, and Josh, I put together a composite of the theatrical/TV edits of DUNE that retains the Madsen voice-over and nearly all of the "legitimate" added footage from the TV version intercut into the theatrical version (so it "flows" like the theatrical cut, if you will). The only bit I couldn't get to work was the landing of the Atredies ship on Arakis bit from the TV edit with the Fremen watching from the distance, but I digress since this is off-topic...

Vincent

 

[Lord Dalek]

Hate to bring this back up but does anybody know if the DTS glitch on Alien was ever fixed in a later reissue? I can't return my set since I've had it four years but was wondering if those steelbook releases have it corrected or not.