Alien Anthology Blu-ray features list
- Thread starter ghostryder
- Start date
barbatus
Well-Known Member
So far it really looks like they treated Alien and Aliens right. But as much as I want to see these two in HD, I'll be waiting for an individual release of the movies or an offer around 30€ for the box (this way 3 and 4 would appear as an unwanted but at least free bonus to me :rolleyes).
clancampbell
Sr Member
Totally agree wi that big man! Alien 3 has an atmosphereGot it on preorder for under £40
Sooo much hate for Alien3 tho
It's severely underrated.
unlike any other movie.
I've got mine preordered as well....can't wait!
Rich
A great character in a great story that also had a great atmosphere are a great mix, something 3 did not have at all. Sure, 3 has a lot of good things going for it, it's just an abomination as a follow up to ALIENS that I do not count as a true continuation. More like a 'what if'.
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SSgt Burton
Sr Member
Well at least you didn't say A3 was a hypersleep-induced dream sequence. :rolleyes
The special edition of A3 is superior to the theatrical release. And if you make the effort to watch the extras- it's actually a miracle this film was ever released considering all the obstacles the film makers had to overcome.
You guys are just miffed about Hicks being killed off. :rolleyes
A3 was actually the last movie I ever watched that actually had me "scared" as to what was going to happen next... just like a good horror film should.
I'm as hardcore USCM as they come- but even "I" can accept the death of a character (even one as supercool as Hicks) to move on for a new story.
Kevin
The special edition of A3 is superior to the theatrical release. And if you make the effort to watch the extras- it's actually a miracle this film was ever released considering all the obstacles the film makers had to overcome.
You guys are just miffed about Hicks being killed off. :rolleyes
A3 was actually the last movie I ever watched that actually had me "scared" as to what was going to happen next... just like a good horror film should.
I'm as hardcore USCM as they come- but even "I" can accept the death of a character (even one as supercool as Hicks) to move on for a new story.
Kevin
No, it's mortifying that Ripley's daring attempt to rescue Newt at the end of Aliens is now the cause of why they're all dead. Taking a heroic act and than turning it into a reason why everyone will be killed is the stupidest idea, because now I can't watch her heroically going after Newt without thinking to myself "Ripley just killed everyone". That's bad because that was NOT THE FREAKING POINT!. To change it after the fact and retcon so many elements to satisfy the conditions in which there just happens to be an egg on the Sulaco shows that you're less interested in the characters and more interested in just having another sequel.
I bet Alien 3's director David Fincher doesn't count this movie as a true follow-up, because he doesn't count it at all!
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Soundwave
Sr Member
Same for me, the worst thing I hate is the sheer battle that they have to endure through Aliens just to live is completely negated with Alien 3, within a flashback...it just makes the whole struggle to survive totally pointless....I just feel cheated.
I know the focus is pretty much on Ripley. But come on, there's so many different ways they could've gone with it.
I just thought it was really cheap. It's like painting a moustache on the Mona Lisa.
I know the focus is pretty much on Ripley. But come on, there's so many different ways they could've gone with it.
I just thought it was really cheap. It's like painting a moustache on the Mona Lisa.
SSgt Burton
Sr Member
Now I know how Mic feels sometimes. :lol
The reason Hicks is dead is that a support pylon (or what have you) impaled him in his cryotube during the crash. Newt drowned.
So it was Ripley's fault huh? Why stop there? You could say that the real reason they are all dead is that Burke sent the Jorden family to check out the co-ordinates of the Derelict.
OR you could even say it WAS Ripley's fault for providing the co-ordinates of the Derelict in her debreifing report to Weyland-Yutani.
Trust me I hated the fact that they were killed off so unceremoniously- I've come to accept that it's a sequel. That's all.
I've also gone over the "what if they lived" scenarios... None of them would have been more than a cheap rehash of "Aliens". More Hicks kicking butt (that's what we would have wanted right?)... More Newt getting captured and Ripley saving the day.
One thing I will agree with is that they (Fox Studios) WAS only interested in a sequel and didn't care about any secondary characters.
Kevin
The reason Hicks is dead is that a support pylon (or what have you) impaled him in his cryotube during the crash. Newt drowned.
So it was Ripley's fault huh? Why stop there? You could say that the real reason they are all dead is that Burke sent the Jorden family to check out the co-ordinates of the Derelict.
OR you could even say it WAS Ripley's fault for providing the co-ordinates of the Derelict in her debreifing report to Weyland-Yutani.
Trust me I hated the fact that they were killed off so unceremoniously- I've come to accept that it's a sequel. That's all.
I've also gone over the "what if they lived" scenarios... None of them would have been more than a cheap rehash of "Aliens". More Hicks kicking butt (that's what we would have wanted right?)... More Newt getting captured and Ripley saving the day.
One thing I will agree with is that they (Fox Studios) WAS only interested in a sequel and didn't care about any secondary characters.
Kevin
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At least that was in the context of the movie and not changed in the next movie four years after the fact. James Cameron did not want there to be an Alien on the Sulaco after the Queen Alien's defeat, that is why there wasn't any typical horror/suspense like ending where we see a face hugger crawling onto their tubes.
And putting aside the obvious design retcons made for Alien3 (Which ALIENS painstakingly recreated the shuttle from the first ALIEN), nothing about how the alien from ALIEN3 came to be made any sense. How could the Queen have gotten an egg on board when she:
A. Didn't have her entire egg sack.
B. Was trying to kill Ripley and Newt the entire time.
C. Clearly didn't carry an egg on board with her.
And it wasn't like after the Queen's death that everyone immediately went to hypersleep. Ripley and Newt obviously cleaned themselves up, took Hicks to the medical facility to get him patched up, changed cloths and than went to hypersleep. I think Ripley would have double checked everything at this point.
cayman shen
Master Member
If you want to get down to it, everybody dies, so no act of heroism ever has any point whatsoever, except to delay the inevitable. So was it too bad Hicks and Newt died? Yup. But they were going to anyway. If you're naturally of a nihilistic bent, Alien 3 will work for you, speak to you, in ways that it simply won't if you don't have that kind of personality. I'm not sure there's much to be done about that. Either you have a corresponding worldview, or you don't. Alien 3 is pretty friggin bleak and hopeless. I like that.
But yes, I will grant you that the whole "where did it come from?" is a stretch. But a lot of sequels have to stretch. It's not too outlandish.
But yes, I will grant you that the whole "where did it come from?" is a stretch. But a lot of sequels have to stretch. It's not too outlandish.
SSgt Burton
Sr Member
So why is there a soundbite of a facehugger scurrying across the floor as the end credits to "Aliens" fade to black?
Go check it out- just turn your volume up a bit.
Kevin
Wakeem
Sr Member
Even James Cameron in the commentary mentioned how Alien 3 ruined all the character work he did in Aliens. Alien 3 is just crap (so is part 4 whatever it's called). I've watched it a few times and just can't believe they made this after Alien and Aliens. The only story after Aliens should have been the Alien origin which they are finally doing with the correct director.
ghostryder
Legendary Member
The reason Alien 3 failed - at lease for me, has everything to do with studio politics, i.e. $, and nothing to do with creativity. Both Alien and Aliens in a sense are director-driven vehicles - one man, one vision, little studio interference. Of course Alien 3 was well directed, I think the film's rarely criticized for lacking style. But what the studio did to Fincher was almost criminal - I mean, they had a release date and no script - good times!
If Aliens had failed as a sequel, the series never would have become a franchise. Again, for me, Aliens opened up and expanded on this fantastic, working, functional, world created by Scott, O'Bannon, Shusset, and the others - hell, the ENDING of Aliens left audiences with one of the greatest cinematic lay-ups of all time. I mean talk about squandered opportunity for both the fans and the studio, can you imagine how much money the movie would have made if it had been embraced by mainstream audiences like the previous two?
I would have LOVED to have seen a film where the Sulaco returned to Earth - and the "logical" continuation of that storyline (with now both the military and the company invested in "what next?"). Some of the potential scripts touched on this, but of course we ended up with a patchwork of ideas from various drafts and several different writers. The first movie was about a small group against a single alien, the second, a slightly bigger group against 157 of 'em, and in the third, we went back to a single alien, and ultimately backwards, at least to me, into territory already covered in the first film.
(oh, and the facehugger sound effect in the home video release was added in YEARS later AFTER Alien 3 had been made.)
If Aliens had failed as a sequel, the series never would have become a franchise. Again, for me, Aliens opened up and expanded on this fantastic, working, functional, world created by Scott, O'Bannon, Shusset, and the others - hell, the ENDING of Aliens left audiences with one of the greatest cinematic lay-ups of all time. I mean talk about squandered opportunity for both the fans and the studio, can you imagine how much money the movie would have made if it had been embraced by mainstream audiences like the previous two?
I would have LOVED to have seen a film where the Sulaco returned to Earth - and the "logical" continuation of that storyline (with now both the military and the company invested in "what next?"). Some of the potential scripts touched on this, but of course we ended up with a patchwork of ideas from various drafts and several different writers. The first movie was about a small group against a single alien, the second, a slightly bigger group against 157 of 'em, and in the third, we went back to a single alien, and ultimately backwards, at least to me, into territory already covered in the first film.
(oh, and the facehugger sound effect in the home video release was added in YEARS later AFTER Alien 3 had been made.)
So why is there a soundbite of a facehugger scurrying across the floor as the end credits to "Aliens" fade to black?
Listen to his commentary, google his interviews or anything regarding his comments about alien 3. That sound of a face hugger was just put there for fun.
SSgt Burton
Sr Member
Some people saw A3 as a step backwards- I saw it as a return to the series roots.
One thing that Aliens did was reduce the "terror" level of these creatures. It also started the shift from the xenos being a blend of biological and mechanical, to something much more organic and simply insect like.
I also view the series as a trilogy ending with A3. For me, the aliens are almost like a plague or cancer. Ripley had been fighting them for (what seem to her to be) an eternity, and they finally "got her" in the end.
So she sacrifices herself (knowing that she's dead anyway) to prevent the xenos from falling into the greedy hands of Weyland-Yutani (who I have always consdered the "true" villain in this series).
I've always viewed these films as dystopian. Ripley lives... but everyone around her dies (maybe she was a bigger threat than the xenos :lol). Until finally she meets her end in A3. Goodbye Ripley.
That should have been the end... But Fox decided to go ahead and make another sequel. And Sigourney (despite going on record that she wanted to be killed off at the end of A3 because she was sick of making these films), was talked into the starring role again.
Guess money really does talk.
Even worse- after making (and not apologising for Alien Resurrection) Fox decided to merge their two monster franchises and churn out AvP and (that movie they made after AvP)- which sent this series down the same road as Frankenstein vs the Wolfman or Abbott and Costello meets Dracula and the Mummy.
I just don't hate A3. I actually like the story. And I completely agree with what Willie said about what the studio did to Fincher.
Kevin
One thing that Aliens did was reduce the "terror" level of these creatures. It also started the shift from the xenos being a blend of biological and mechanical, to something much more organic and simply insect like.
I also view the series as a trilogy ending with A3. For me, the aliens are almost like a plague or cancer. Ripley had been fighting them for (what seem to her to be) an eternity, and they finally "got her" in the end.
So she sacrifices herself (knowing that she's dead anyway) to prevent the xenos from falling into the greedy hands of Weyland-Yutani (who I have always consdered the "true" villain in this series).
I've always viewed these films as dystopian. Ripley lives... but everyone around her dies (maybe she was a bigger threat than the xenos :lol). Until finally she meets her end in A3. Goodbye Ripley.
That should have been the end... But Fox decided to go ahead and make another sequel. And Sigourney (despite going on record that she wanted to be killed off at the end of A3 because she was sick of making these films), was talked into the starring role again.
Guess money really does talk.
Even worse- after making (and not apologising for Alien Resurrection) Fox decided to merge their two monster franchises and churn out AvP and (that movie they made after AvP)- which sent this series down the same road as Frankenstein vs the Wolfman or Abbott and Costello meets Dracula and the Mummy.
I just don't hate A3. I actually like the story. And I completely agree with what Willie said about what the studio did to Fincher.
Kevin
Reduce their terror? I don't know about you, but arriving at an outerspace colony and finding it not only abandoned, but downright dead is pretty terrifying, especially when it came from only one face hugger!
While ALIEN certainly delivers the terror of the creature with great effect, but there wasn't anything else to build on except that it just kills people. ALIENS on the other hand gave these creatures an agenda that certainly was horrifyng. They don't just want to kill you, they want to capture you and RAPE you for their own reproductive cycle. Men, women and children? There's no discrimination.
The alien in ALIEN3? It's just a one-dimensional monster that just kills people. Why? I have no earthly idea because it's got a Queen on the way. What better way to prepare for the Queen's arrival and potential breeding ground killing off all the hosts that the Queen can use for breeding purposes?
SSgt Burton
Sr Member
Sure the colony had a tension level of 100. I was refering to the creatures themselves. Not the setting. You must have gotten what I meant confused.
In "Alien" the xeno seemed unstoppable- we never saw any weapons used against it. The only thing that seemed to destroy it was a full blast from the Narcissus' engines. Even then the creature flew away still intact.
In "Aliens" the xenos pop like spiders in a wood fire from explosive tipped bullets. Okay- this was "superior firepower" but I still think it is like comparing a bullet round to the space shuttles engines or something. :lol
I single xeno in "Aliens" just isn't as frightening when you have a squad of Marines backing you up- this was my point.
You do know that was the intention in "Alien" as well yes? Brett and Dallas were cocooned as well (whereas in "Alien" Brett was morphing into an egg- bypassing the notion of a Queen altogether).
Not to mention it's the facehugger that does the "raping". Something that occured in the first film as well.
I see the point you are making- however I don't see any "urgency" in the Queen needing hosts. The Queen is born and just starts laying eggs. There is no indication of how long these eggs last (perhaps centuries).
Someone will eventually come along and find them.
Listen we could go on like this until the cows come home. :lol
You hated A3- I didn't. No big deal. I'll agree to disagree.
Kevin
In "Alien" the xeno seemed unstoppable- we never saw any weapons used against it. The only thing that seemed to destroy it was a full blast from the Narcissus' engines. Even then the creature flew away still intact.
In "Aliens" the xenos pop like spiders in a wood fire from explosive tipped bullets. Okay- this was "superior firepower" but I still think it is like comparing a bullet round to the space shuttles engines or something. :lol
I single xeno in "Aliens" just isn't as frightening when you have a squad of Marines backing you up- this was my point.
You do know that was the intention in "Alien" as well yes? Brett and Dallas were cocooned as well (whereas in "Alien" Brett was morphing into an egg- bypassing the notion of a Queen altogether).
Not to mention it's the facehugger that does the "raping". Something that occured in the first film as well.
I see the point you are making- however I don't see any "urgency" in the Queen needing hosts. The Queen is born and just starts laying eggs. There is no indication of how long these eggs last (perhaps centuries).
Someone will eventually come along and find them.
Listen we could go on like this until the cows come home. :lol
You hated A3- I didn't. No big deal. I'll agree to disagree.
Kevin
ghostryder
Legendary Member
There was a lengthy article called "The Lost Worlds of Alien³" by John Flynn which is a great primer on the development hell of the film. I wish I could find it for ya online.
