Alien Anthology Blu-ray features list

[Jeyl]

As bad as Star Wars. I think this will be my 5th incarnation of Alien that I've shelled out money for.

At least the Alien releases were all different in all aspects including quality of the films and their extra content. Star Wars has been released numerous times on DVD and nothing is really different.

 

[ghostryder]

More:

ALIEN

The Alien Saga (Documentary) [109:00 Min.]
Alien “Display Graphics” [5:36 Min.]
Alien “Display Graphics” [4:05 Min.]
Alien: Sigourney Weaver Screen Test: Cockpit Scene, Take 1 [2:48 Min.]
Alien: Sigourney Weaver Screen Test: Planning Scene, Take 2 [1:50 Min.]

ALIENS

Aliens “Colonial Marines Helmet-Cams" [5:08 Min.]
Aliens “Deleted Scenes” [4:05 Min.]
Aliens “Family Guy Clip” [0:27 Min.]
Aliens “I Can’t Breazhe” [0:38 Min.]
Aliens “Main Title Explorations” [2:59 Min.]
Aliens “Weyland -Yutani Inquest: Nostromo Dossiers” [3:45 Min.]
Spaceballs Clip [1:45 Min.]
Aliens: Ride at the Speed of Fright (Sim. Ride Video/Pre-Show Video) [10:20 Min.]

ALIEN RESURRECTION

HBO Special - Behind the Scenes [25:42 Min.]

 

[Riskbreaker]

I'm sorry, I missed where it's bad that Fox is putting out one of their most beloved series on a format that never existed before in a resolution that we've never seen before with an audio transfer we've never heard before that contains tons of new content.

 

[ghostryder]

Alien Anthology Blu-ray experience at Comic-Con

Exclusive: Alien Anthology Confirmed - Blu-ray Preview at IGN

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/...d=news_view&newsId=20100715005363&newsLang=en

You've heard the rumblings and rumors, but now we can officially confirm it: The Alien Anthology is coming to Blu-ray domestically on Oct. 26. The U.K. will get it one day earlier on Oct. 25 and Australia on Nov. 3. Read on for more about the all-new bonus material and Fox's special plans for Comic-Con.

Pretty much since the launch of the Blu-ray format, fans have been wondering when Fox might bring the kickass Alien Quadrilogy box set to high definition. It has consistently made lists of most wanted Blu-rays, including IGN's own. But now the wait for the announcement is over, and the real waiting begins.

According to Fox, the four Alien films have been "reinvigorated for an intense Blu-ray high-definition viewing experience." It will take advantage of Blu-ray technology by incorporating the MU-TH-UR Mode, an interactive feature that lets you access the special features on all six discs and provides an index of all available content. And what does that content include? About 60 hours of special features and over 12,000 images, including material from the legendary early '90s LaserDisc release, the "Legacy" release and, of course, the Quadrilogy.

There will also be new, previously unreleased content, such as original screen tests of Sigourney Weaver prior to filming the original Alien, unseen deleted scenes, the previously unseen original cut of "Wreckage and Rage: The Making of Alien3" and more.

The Alien Anthology will be available for a suggested retail price of $139.99 U.S.

As for the studio's Comic-Con plans, Fox Home Entertainment will have a display in their booth featuring a life-size replica of the Nostromo's hibernation chamber as seen in Alien. Fans will actually be able to get inside the pods and have their picture taken (underwear-clad Sigourney Weaver not included). Fox provided this mock-up to give us an idea of what the display will look like (although there will only be four pods in the final version). If you can't make it to Comic-Con in person, check back with IGN after next Wednesday night (July 21), when we'll have a chance to see it ourselves and post our impressions.

Continue on to page two for a breakdown of the special features, disc by disc, as well as a look at the awesome box art and special limited-edition packaging.

Before we get into the massive amounts of bonus material, check out the packaging for this set (and try not to drool all over your keyboard).

And now, here's what's included on each disc:

Disc One: Alien
1979 Theatrical Version
2003 Director's Cut with Ridley Scott Introduction
Audio Commentary by Director Ridley Scott, Writer Dan O'Bannon, Executive Producer Ronald Shusett, Editor Terry Rawlings, Actors Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton and John Hurt
Audio Commentary (for Theatrical Cut only) by Ridley Scott
Final Theatrical Isolated Score by Jerry Goldsmith
Composer's Original Isolated Score by Jerry Goldsmith
Deleted and Extended Scenes
MU-TH-UR Mode Interactive Experience with Weyland-Yutani Datastream

Disc Two: Aliens
1986 Theatrical Version
1991 Special Edition with James Cameron Introduction
Audio Commentary by Director James Cameron, Producer Gale Anne Hurd, Alien Effects Creator Stan Winston, Visual Effects Supervisors Robert Skotak and Dennis Skotak, Miniature Effects Supervisor Pat McClung, Actors Michael Biehn, Bill Paxton, Lance Henriksen, Jenette Goldstein, Carrie Henn and Christopher Henn
Final Theatrical Isolated Score by James Horner
Composer's Original Isolated Score by James Horner
Deleted and Extended Scenes
MU-TH-UR Mode Interactive Experience with Weyland-Yutani Datastream

Disc Three: Alien3
1992 Theatrical Version
2003 Special Edition (Restored Workprint Version)
Audio Commentary by Cinematographer Alex Thomson, B.S.C., Editor Terry Rawlings, Alien Effects Designers Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff, Jr., Visual Effects Producer Richard Edlund, A.S.C., Actors Paul McGann and Lance Henriksen
Final Theatrical Isolated Score by Elliot Goldenthal
Deleted and Extended Scenes
MU-TH-UR Mode Interactive Experience with Weyland-Yutani Datastream

Disc Four: Alien Resurrection
1997 Theatrical Version
2003 Special Edition with Jean-Pierre Jeunet Introduction
Audio Commentary by Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Editor Herve Schneid, A.C.E., Alien Effects Creators Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff, Jr., Visual Effects Supervisor Pitof, Conceptual Artist Sylvain Despretz, Actors Ron Perlman, Dominique Pinon and Leland Orser
Final Theatrical Isolated Score by John Frizzell
Deleted and Extended Scenes
MU-TH-UR Mode Interactive Experience with Weyland-Yutani Datastream

There's even more on Discs Five ("Making the Anthology") and Six ("The Anthology Archives").

Disc Five: Making The Anthology

In addition to over 12 hours of candid, in-depth documentaries, you now have the ability to go even deeper into Alien Anthology history with nearly five hours of additional video Enhancement Pods created exclusively for this collection, presenting behind-the-scenes footage, raw dailies and interview outtakes from all four films. At topical points in the documentaries, you may access these pods to enhance your experience, or watch them on their own from the separate Enhancement Pod index.

The Beast Within: Making Alien
Star Beast: Developing the Story
The Visualists: Direction and Design
Truckers in Space: Casting
Fear of the Unknown: Shepperton Studios, 1978
The Darkest Reaches: Nostromo and Alien Planet
The Eighth Passenger: Creature Design
Future Tense: Editing and Music
Outward Bound: Visual Effects
A Nightmare Fulfilled: Reaction to the Film
Enhancement Pods

Superior Firepower: Making Aliens
57 Years Later: Continuing the Story
Building Better Worlds: From Concept to Construction
Preparing for Battle: Casting and Characterization
This Time It's War: Pinewood Studios, 1985
The Risk Always Lives: Weapons and Action
Bug Hunt: Creature Design
Beauty and the *****: Power Loader vs. Queen Alien
Two Orphans: Sigourney Weaver and Carrie Henn
The Final Countdown: Music, Editing and Sound
The Power of Real Tech: Visual Effects
Aliens Unleashed: Reaction to the Film
Enhancement Pods

Wreckage and Rage: Making Alien3
Development Hell: Concluding the Story
Tales of the Wooden Planet: Vincent Ward's Vision
Stasis Interrupted: David Fincher's Vision
Xeno-Erotic: H.R. Giger's Redesign
The Color of Blood: Pinewood Studios, 1991
Adaptive Organism: Creature Design
The Downward Spiral: Creative Differences
Where the Sun Burns Cold: Fox Studios, L.A. 1992
Optical Fury: Visual Effects
Requiem for a Scream: Music, Editing and Sound
Post-Mortem: Reaction to the Film
Enhancement Pods

One Step Beyond: Making Alien Resurrection
From the Ashes: Reviving the Story
French Twist: Direction and Design
Under the Skin: Casting and Characterization
Death from Below: Fox Studios, Los Angeles, 1996
In the Zone: The Basketball Scene
Unnatural Mutation: Creature Design
Genetic Composition: Music
Virtual Aliens: Computer Generated Imagery
A Matter of Scale: Miniature Photography
Critical Juncture: Reaction to the Film
Enhancement Pods
MU-TH-UR Mode Interactive Experience to Access and Control Enhancement Pods

Disc Six: The Anthology Archives
Alien
Pre-Production
First Draft Screenplay by Dan O'Bannon
Ridleygrams: Original Thumbnails and Notes
Storyboard Archive
The Art of Alien: Conceptual Art Portfolio
Sigourney Weaver Screen Tests with Select Director Commentary
Cast Portrait Gallery
Production
The Chestbuster: Multi-Angle Sequence with Commentary
Video Graphics Gallery
Production Image Galleries
Continuity Polaroids
The Sets of Alien
H.R. Giger's Workshop Gallery
Post-Production and Aftermath
Additional Deleted Scenes
Image & Poster Galleries
Experience in Terror
Special Collector's Edition LaserDisc Archive
The Alien Legacy
American Cinematheque: Ridley Scott Q&A
Trailers & TV Spots

Aliens
Pre-Production
Original Treatment by James Cameron
Pre-Visualizations: Multi-Angle Videomatics with Commentary
Storyboard Archive
The Art of Aliens: Image Galleries
Cast Portrait Gallery
Production
Production Image Galleries
Continuity Polaroids
Weapons and Vehicles
Stan Winston's Workshop
Colonial Marine Helmet Cameras
Video Graphics Gallery
Weyland-Yutani Inquest: Nostromo Dossiers
Post-Production and Aftermath
Deleted Scene: Burke Cocooned
Deleted Scene Montage
Image Galleries
Special Collector's Edition LaserDisc Archive
Main Title Exploration
Aliens: Ride at the Speed of Fright
Trailers & TV Spots

Alien3
Pre-Production
Storyboard Archive
The Art of Arceon
The Art of Fiorina
Production
Furnace Construction: Time-Lapse Sequence
EEV Bioscan: Multi-Angle Vignette with Commentary
Production Image Galleries
A.D.I.'s Workshop
Post-Production and Aftermath
Visual Effects Gallery
Special Shoot: Promotional Photo Archive
Alien3 Advance Featurette
The Making of Alien3 Promotional Featurette
Trailers & TV Spots

Alien Resurrection
Pre-Production
First Draft Screenplay by Joss Whedon
Test Footage: A.D.I. Creature Shop with Commentary
Test Footage: Costumes, Hair and Makeup
Pre-Visualizations: Multi-Angle Rehearsals
Storyboard Archive
The Marc Caro Portfolio: Character Designs
The Art of Resurrection: Image Galleries
Production
Production Image Galleries
A.D.I.'s Workshop
Post-Production and Aftermath
Visual Effects Gallery
Special Shoot: Promotional Photo Archive
HBO First Look: The Making of Alien Resurrection
Alien Resurrection Promotional Featurette
Trailers & TV Spots

Anthology
Two Versions of Alien Evolution
The Alien Saga
Patches and Logos Gallery
Aliens 3D Attraction Scripts and Gallery
Aliens in the Basement: The Bob Burns Collection
Parodies
Dark Horse Cover Gallery
Patches and Logos Gallery
MU-TH-UR Mode Interactive Experience

Whew. You might as well just tell your friends that you'll be unavailable for the entire week after this one comes out.

 

[Jeyl]

- the previously unseen original cut of "Wreckage and Rage: The Making of Alien3" and more.

This here is a pretty big deal. Charles De Lauzirika literally wanted to do a project on ALIEN3 to see how everything went on David Fincher's first film. When Fox OK'd it, they wanted him to do all four films as well, which he did. Once everything was set and the studio's gave the ok for the material, one studio exec came across the "Wreckage and Rage" and thought the documentary showed too much of the hard ships that David Fincher had to endure thanks to the studio, so he decided that the documentary needed less "FOX screwed up" and more "It was a tough production, but we won!" feel. Unfortunately this meant cutting real genuine footage of David Fincher on the set and how he responded to the challenges of making the film. After the studio OK'd this cut, Charles De Lauzirika took his name off the credits. Here is a quote from the digital bits review for the documentary:

This is the featurette where the cuts made by Fox are the most unfortunate and damaging to the whole. For example, in the final version of this piece on the disc, there's a shot where you see Fincher sitting in the director's chair in a blue shirt and wearing an Alien III hat, obviously looking very frustrated. He looks at the camera for a moment... then we cut to something else. In the original edit, Fincher then reached up for a boom mic above his head, and said something to the effect that it's hard to believe Fox is the number one studio because they're all a bunch of morons. It's the really, brutally honest and frank moments like this one that have been cut from this disc unfortunately. Again, everyone else gets to say what they think in interviews except Fincher himself, and everyone makes an obvious attempt to justify their opinion or position at the time. Since Fincher declined to do new interviews, the plan was to let him speak for himself using vintage material. But you won't find much of that now. I can only assume that Fox didn't want Fincher to come off looking badly. But as a result of the changes Fox made to this documentary, lots of former Fox execs and producers now get the final word on Alien³, while Fincher gets no word. And fans of Fincher in particular aren't going to like that much.

Kind of funny how this stuff works. Charles makes a brilliant set featuring some of the most revealing and informative pieces of behind the scenes material ever gathered, yet the one he solely wanted to get out there was the one that the studios wouldn't let him, even when they gave it the OK before. I'm glad we'll finally be able to see it in it's complete and original form.

 

[ghostryder]

Well said, Jeyl.

 

[Jeyl]

Well said, Jeyl.

Thank you Willie!

I'm a huge DVD buff and a big thedigitalbits.com follower. A lot of this information regarding the ALIEN QUADRILOGY set was covered quite extensively in the book that the digitalbits.com released a couple of years ago. Half the book is pretty much an entire interview with Charles and how this set came to be. If you have the means, I highly recommend giving it a look just for those parts.

The book has pictures taken of the actors and crew during their commentary sessions. Like for ALIEN we have Tom Skerrit, Nancy Cartwright and Harry Dean Stanton in a room together, for ALIENS we have Gale Ann Hurd and the late Stan Winston with big smiles on their faces as they watch the film. There's even a cute shot of Michael Biehn and Ridley Scott in the same frame together. Probably the best picture in the whole book are the boxes containing all the filmed footage from ALIEN3. It's freaking HUGE!

Charles also covers the whole title issue with each alternate edition of the Alien films. The reason for the alternate cut of ALIEN being titled "Director's Cut" was because Ridley Scott pretty much is the father of the term since he first used it for the Director's Cut of Blade Runner, so they used that as a marketing gimmick. Even Ridley Scott says this in the booklet introduction stating that the Theatrical Cut is still his preferred version. Which brings us to ALIENS. Don't you find it a little ironic that the alternate cut of ALIENS, the version that James Cameron himself prefers is titled the "Special Edition" and not "Director's Cut"? Because all the subsequent movies are titled Special Edition, because when they asked each of the director's studio about the new cuts for ALIEN3 and Alien Resurrection, it all boiled down to "Do whatever you want, but don't call it a Director's Cut". So awkward.

Another very interesting bit of info is how Charles tried so hard to get David Fincher himself to participate in this release, but was too nervous to do so. He even encountered him in a restaurant and phoned in one of his friends asking if he should ask David right there in the restaurant if he wanted to participate. But by the time he worked up the courage to do so, David was already gone. Sometime later, another DVD producer who was working with David Fincher at the time got hold of what Charles was doing, and actually tried to get David to contact Charles about this release. In probably the biggest missed opportunity of them all, the day that David called Charles at his office was the day Charles wasn't there. David did leave a message, but Charles could tell right off the bat that David was not interested. He started out ok, but the more David started talking about ALIEN3, the more uncomfortable he got in discussing it. Charles saved the message and joked about including it as an easter egg on the DVD set as a cute little "The Director speaks!", but getting David to sign off on it would have proved problematic. Would have been a lot better than those stupid "written introductions" that the Wachowski Brothers made for their ubër Matrix Set (Seriously, that was their only contribution).

I had the good graces of meeting Charles at the Paul's Brain Trust Blade Runner event in California, who turned out to be 500x more entertaining and more interesting than Ridley Scott was in person. Seriously, while Ridley Scott was giving the tour, I actually walked towards him, shook his hand and said it was an honor to finally meet him. Here's a picture from the tour. You can see the disappointment oozing from my expression.

I asked him if he still had the message. He said that the message was lost when he was transitioning to a new office and he felt really heartbroken about it. Doh! Of course, he may have been deceiving me so that I wouldn't ask him if I could hear it somehow, because HOW THE HECK DO YOU NOT SAVE SOMETHING LIKE THAT in an alternate medium? But that didn't bother me in the slightest. He signed my badge and my Blade Runner tour board that was used to remind Ridley Scott where he was going (The whole tour was so unrehearsed. Ridley got lost!).

I also jokingly asked Charles if his studio had a good dental plan. Incase you don't get it, watch the featurette on the Blade Runner Ultimate Collection that covers the making of the Final Cut. EVERY SINGLE DVD crew member, including Charles is wearing some real high tech braces!

 

[dropshipbob]

That egg they have pictured would be a cool container for the discs, but they should take the alien off of it. It reminds me to much of the cookie jar they released a few years ago.

 

[Riskbreaker]

Awesome news. I'm stoked.

Thanks for keeping us updated Willie.

 

[Jeyl]

- Deleted Scene: Burke Cocooned

Ooo. Charles also talked about this in the book. They had the scene, they were ready to put it on the Aliens bonus disc as a special feature, but James Cameron said he didn't want it on the disc. Charles surprisingly agreed with this decision because the scene is just bad for three reasons.

- Like the cocoon sequence in the first ALIEN, it stops the tension of getting out of the complex flat on it's feet. This was supposed to take place after Ripley rescues Newt so the Queen is right on their trail. For her to stop and listen to Burke for a couple of seconds and give him a grenade as a means to end his own life just doesn't work.
- The scene wasn't good on it's own. The performance just wasn't there for any of the actors.
- It broke continuity. I'm actually proud of Cameron for using this as a reason for deleting it, because he's absolutely right. It's been only about 30 minutes since Burke's abduction, and during that time he somehow managed to go through the entire face hugging rape stage (a process which takes at least a whole day), remembers where he is and how he got there (Nice part about being orally raped by an alien is that you don't remember anything about it and what came before) and he FELT THE THING INSIDE OF HIM! Now, I know that one lady who was cocooned was somewhat aware of something bad happening, but that can be explained quite logically without eliminating the memory erase bit. Nice to honor the pre-established lore of these creatures. Paul W.S. Anderson, YOU FAIL A THOUSAND TIMES! Same goes to you Strause brothers.

I am so looking forward to seeing this sequence even if it is bad. I wonder if the shot of Ripley putting on her product placement sneakers will be in the deleted scene montage?

:angel

 

[Jeyl]

Most probably aren't aware of this, but in the Quadrilogy release, I counted no less than two instances in the ALIEN theatrical edition that had elements of the Director's Cut somehow leaked in.

1. During Ripley's attempt to contact Earth, we cut to an wide view exterior shot of the Nostromo. When we cut to a much closer shot of the Nostromo, there are stars surrounding it. In the theatrical cut, there are no stars. Ridley Scott added new star fields to the exterior shots in most of the space footage (best example is the Nostromo rolling 92º to port) including that shot, but they forgot to use the theatrical footage for the close up.

2. After assaulting Ash in Mother's chamber, Ripley tries to contact Parker and Lambert on the comms. In the theatrical edition, a simple click is heard. In the Director's Cut, static accompanies the clicks.

Hopefully if they play around with the masters a bit they'll nail both editions perfectly.

Another thing that I'm hoping for that this BluRay set will include is a newly remastered print for ALIENS. During the production of the 20th Anniversary DVD set released in 1999 (Has it been that long?), James Cameron supervised a brand new master for the DVD release and it was epic for the time. Since Cameron has total control on how his films look, he thought that the masters used for the 20th Anniversary release were good enough for reuse on this set. What we got as a result was a print that looked pretty outdated compared to the other movies that were remastered at the source for the new Quadrilogy release. Thankfully Cameron understood that video processing had improved greatly since the last set (again, back in the 1900's!) and said that Charles could do some extra dirt and artifact clean up and enhance the picture a little through a much better bit rate. My fingers are crossed that they were able to create a brand new master for this Anthology release!

 

[Lord Boron]

I'm just hoping to god they don't DNR it to death and we end up with another fiasco like Predator. They used a very grainy stock for Aliens.

 

[Jeyl]

I'm just hoping to god they don't DNR it to death and we end up with another fiasco like Predator. They used a very grainy stock for Aliens.

James Cameron is in charge of how his films look and Charles is NOT a fan of of total DNR. Predator just went through the "Sequel coming out. Double Dip it." crew who probably used a non-high deffinition TV set to see the results of their recent remastered job and went with it.

Charles and his studio are a completely different ball game. They're not limited to one studio, and compared to the crew behind the recent Predator release, they're gona make the Predator video look like a middle school play next to the Broadway performance that is the Alien movies.

 

[Treadwell]

Since Cameron has total control on how his films look, he thought that the masters used for the 20th Anniversary release were good enough for reuse on this set. What we got as a result was a print that looked pretty outdated compared to the other movies that were remastered at the source for the new Quadrilogy release. Thankfully Cameron understood that video processing had improved greatly since the last set (again, back in the 1900's!) and said that Charles could do some extra dirt and artifact clean up and enhance the picture a little through a much better bit rate.

So they're reusing the years-old transfer? No, no, no, no!!!!
As a digitalbits fan, you should know why I say this. I'm sure you read the rant on there a few weeks ago about studios reusing transfers. And they're right.

On Home Theater Forum, Van Ling often remarks how hard it is to get 2 hours of Jim's time to sit down and approve a transfer. That's what this is really about, I suspect, Cameron not wanting to be bothered, thinking if he already approved one a few years ago, it'll do this time. But he'd be wrong, as film-to-HD transfer technology improves all the time. A missed opportunity to make this release as good as it can be.

 

[Riskbreaker]

I think you're reading that wrong, Treadwell. I think Jeyl was referencing the 2003 Quad release, not the new Blus. I would be shocked if there weren't brand new transfers done for all the films.

Perhaps Willie can shed some light.

 

[Treadwell]

I hope you're right.

 

[Jeyl]

So they're reusing the years-old transfer? No, no, no, no!!!!

Oh, no! That was for the Quadrilogy release, NOT this release. I don't know what they're using for this release which is why my fingers are crossed. I know Charles won't settle for a video master from over a decade ago. And for that matter, I don't think Cameron would either.

On Home Theater Forum, Van Ling often remarks how hard it is to get 2 hours of Jim's time to sit down and approve a transfer. That's what this is really about, I suspect, Cameron not wanting to be bothered, thinking if he already approved one a few years ago, it'll do this time. But he'd be wrong, as film-to-HD transfer technology improves all the time. A missed opportunity to make this release as good as it can be.

Cameron certainly is a different folk. If Harlen Ellison thinks he's got an ego, you know you should be prepared for a difficult ride. But to be fair, he did demand that no previews would be on his Avatar release, and that was awesome. I really don't think he'll just let ALIEN dwindle down the drain because he doesn't want to be bothered by it.

If he does, it will only be because of how the studio treated the franchise in the subsequent films, especially in ALIEN3. If you listen to his commentary track, he pretty much explains how hard it was to create the characters, get the audience to commit to them, and in the end hope they make it out alive. And how does the studio treat these characters for the next movie? By killing off 3/4 of them from the get go and all of them by the end of the film. I think that notion really tainted Aliens for him.

Personally, I always looked at ALIEN3 as a "what if?" story and end the entire series with ALIENS, so I want ALIENS to look the best it can possibly look. Heck, I would LOVE to tell James Cameron that I would burn the BluRay discs of ALIEN3 and Alien Resurrection to show that I support his movie as is and that the future for the characters is not known.

 

[ghostryder]

lol, I was fortunate enough to work with Charlie on this.

No DNR.

Awesome, incredible, transfer.

You guys saw Charlie's work on Blade Runner, right?

All is in good hands.

 

[Treadwell]

(whew) thanks, guys!

 

[ghostryder]

There's more technical info and discussion here:

Alien trilogy coming to blu-ray?!... - Home Theater Forum Community