***Official ALIEN Director's Cut Discussion and Review Thread*** (1 Viewer)

[Chuck Stephens]

Matthew-
Sorry but it's gonna be difficult enough for me to get one because we only received 2 of these as well. There was a note in the tube saying that these were limited to this print run of 5000 and that you couldn't even replace them if they were damaged without first sending back the damaged originals. I sure hope they offer them for sale at some point because they are quite amazing looking. I also applaud them for sticking to the original poster design and not going photoshop crazy.

 

[Kristoffer]

Found this at avsforum.com:
So this re-release of the beautiful digital print ALIEN The Directors Cut, is this theatrical re-release a fall out of “THE EXORCIST” or is it something you wanted to do for 20 years?

Ridley: No, it’s Fox [20th Century], it’s a Fox thing. They wanted to do it, I mean they came in with the idea of re-release. I think they just look back at certain kinds of films like THE EXORCIST as only being seen once properly when you think about it. It's all about the quality of the film.

Have you gone back and added scenes?

Ridley: Yeah, there are some scenes that we took out earlier because the dynamics were correct, at the end of the movie the thing is really flying and we put this scene in but it kept coming to a halt. But it was a pretty good scene?

Can you elaborate a little bit about the scene?

Ridley: It’s a scene lovingly called “THE NEST.” Which is what happens when the bodies… Brett [Harry Dean Stanton], Dallas [Tom Skerritt] was taken, there in…and she [Sigourney Weaver] finds them, so there’s that, and its pretty ugh!! It’s pretty bad. And one of them is still alive.
As I said before I think this will ruin the pacing of the end...
Hopefully the dvd will contain both version in Restored widescreen!!! and restored sound.

 

[Angelo.M]

This scene, or a portion of it at least, was shown as part of a documentary that accompanied AMC's presentation of Alien 4 a few nights ago. That may not be news, but I hadn't seen it before.

At any rate, it was cut for good reason. As far as A4, well, that was just wrong...

 

[Brett G]

Was reading The Digital Bits and they mention that Alien: 2003 Director's Cut will be released in theaters next month? I haven't heard about this. Can someone enlighten me? Are they talking about the original Alien?

-Brett

 

[Michael Reuben]

It's the original film, but Ridley Scott has done some minor editing. Very small tweaks, apparently, but there's no way to know for sure until it shows up in theaters.

M.

 

[Michael Reuben]

It occurs to me that there's a certain post that's inevitable in this thread. So let's just get it out of the way:

STOP THE MADNESS! Something must be done about these filmmakers who go back and change their works. Don't they know they're violating a sacred trust with the audience? Don't they realize their creative freedom as artists ceased on the day they released the film to the world? Is there no respect for film history? Où sont les neiges d'antan?

OK, now it's been said.

M.

 

[Chris Atkins]

Great post, Michael!

I think--although I am not 100% positive--that the new Alien boxset will include both versions of the film, so problem solved for 99.9% of us.

 

[Will K]

I saw the trailer last weekend at a Jeepers Creepers 2 showing. It looks fabulous; really beautiful prints are in store for audiences. Footage has definitely been added back in; there is a quick shot of the "cocoon" sequence.

Edit: trailer is up...

http://filmforce.ign.com/articles/436/436969p1.html

 

[Scott Strang]

I sure would like to see this, but I'm betting that the Tinseltown here in West Monroe, LA will not carry the film.

After all, it just isn't "cool" like Freddy vs Jason, Spy Kids, etc.

 

[David Ely]

I saw the new edit at the Toronto Film Festival this past Saturday. I'll use spoiler tags to explain the changes.

About 5min of trimming was done by shortening some scene transitions and shortening some shots of the ship. One scene has been added which shows the crew members who've been captured by the alien in cocoons.

 

[Tino]

Someone correct me if I am wrong, but isn't it FOX that has added scenes to ALIEN? I recall reading a statment from Ridley in the other ALIEN thread that he doesn't like the addition of the "coccoon" sequence as it destroys the pacing of the films final scenes.

I'll be there regardless. Man..to see this one on the big screen again.....awesome!

 

[David Ely]

Tino,

Ridley Scott was at the screening I attended. He had full control over this new edition of the film. He feels that the scene does belong. I do agree that it hurts the pacing a bit at the end.

 

[Sergio Z.]

Thanks to Will K for the trailer link! It rocks..nice touch at the end! Can't wait! Saw this once on the big screen a few years ago at a midnite show but the print was crap. Just got the LD collector's edition a last month, have been through all of the extras and am so hyped to see it clean on the big screen!!

 

[MichaelBryant]

I don't mind that particular scene being added back in but why shorten some of the existing ones? If the 5 plus minutes of cuts are true then the new version is probably a minute or two shorter than the original version.

 

[David Ely]

Actually, the new cut is only ~20sec shorter than the original. Ridley Scott said he made the cuts because he felt some shots lasted too long on screen.

 

[MichaelBryant]

That really bothers me. As long as the original 100% UNCUT version is available on the new DVD package I'm fine with this. If the "theatrical version" that will be offered on the new DVD is the new trimmed version minus the additional scene I'll be disappointed. Now I'm getting nervous.

 

[David Ely]

While it wasn't specifically mentioned if the original version will be included on the DVD, I got the impression that only the new cut would be released.

 

[MichaelBryant]

Greeeeat.... If these directors want to screw with their movies 20 years later thats fine, but they could at least let the original films remain available for those of us who don't like the "retooled" versions.

 

[Sam Davatchi]

 

[Tino]

Are those direct comments from Ridley Kristoffer?

How about a link?