Alien Quadrilogy

Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt Director: David Fincher, James Cameron, JeanPierre Jeunet, Ridley Scott Dvd Release: 8th December, 2003 Number Of Discs: 9 Format: Box set, PAL, Region 2 Encoding

Article Index: [Background Info] [DVD Extras] [DVD Review] [Biographies] [Articles/Resources] [Link To This Article] Looking To Buy? Buy This DVD Here

DVD Extras: Alien Quadrilogy offers all films except Alien3 with DTS soundtracks, the latter having still fine Dolby Digital 5.1 presentation. All four films sound fantastic, with much low-level detail revealed for the first time. Each is anamorphically enhanced at the correct original aspect ratio, & the prints & transfers are superlative. Every film offers a commentary that lends insight into the creative process--though the Scott-only commentary & isolated music score from the first Alien DVD release are missing here--and there are subtitles for hard of hearing both for the films & the commentaries.

Each movie is complemented by a separate disc packed with hours of seriously detailed documentaries , thousands of photos, production stills & storyboards, giving a level of inside information for the dedicated buff only surpassed by the Lord of the Rings extended DVD sets. A ninth DVD compiles miscellaneous material, including a Channel 4 hour-long documentary & even all the extras from the old Alien laserdisc. Exhaustive hardly beings to describe the Alien Quadrilogy, a set which establishes the new DVD benchmark for retrospective releases & which looks unlikely to be surpassed for some time.

The Alien Quadrilogy is a nine-disc box set devoted to the four Alien films. Although previously available on DVD as the Alien Legacy, here the films have been repackaged with vastly more extras & with upgraded sound & vision. For anyone who hasnt been in hypersleep for the last 25 years this series needs no introduction, though for the first time each film now comes in both original & Special Edition form.

Alien was so perfect it didnt need fixing, & Ridley Scotts 2003 Directors Cut is fiddling for the sake of it. Watch once then return to the majestic, perfectly paced original. Conversely the Special Edition of James Camerons Aliens is the definitive version, though its nice finally to have the theatrical cut on DVD for comparison. Most interesting is the alternative Alien3 . This isnt a directors cut, David Fincher refused to have any involvement with this release, but a 1991 work-print that runs 29 minutes longer than the theatrical version, & has now been restored, remastered & finished-off with cheap new CGI. Still, its truly fascinating, offering a different insight into a flawed masterpiece. The expanded opening is visually breathtaking, the central firestorm is much longer, & a subplot involving Paul McGanns character adds considerable depth to the story. The ending is also subtly but significantly different. Alien Resurrection was always a mess with a handful of brilliant scenes, & the Special Edition just makes it eight minutes longer.

Susan Alexandra Sigourney Weaver is an American actress perhaps best remembered for her portrayal of Ripley in Alien & its sequels. She began using the name Sigourney in 1963, after a character in F Scott Fitzgerald s The Great Gatsby. During the 1970s Weaver studied theater at Yale University, where she appeared in original plays by friend & classmate Christopher Durang. Resurrection. Many of her roles since have been in knowing reference to the tough character of Ripley. She is the daughter of NBC television executive Pat Weaver & niece of comedian & actor Doodles Weaver. She is married to theater director Jim Simpson & has one child, Charlotte. 1988. Gorillas in the Mist. The Story of Dian Fossey. Posters Of Alien Resurrection

Editors Choice: Imaginary Heroes, Holes, Heartbreakers, Alien Resurrection, Company Man, Galaxy Quest, A Map Of The World, Snow White, View DVDology

David Fincher is a film director. Born in Denver, Colorado, Fincher started as an animator at Industrial Light & Magic in 1980 & stayed until 1984. In 1986, he founded the video-production company Propaganda Films. He directed big-budget videos for artists such as Madonna, George Michael, Aerosmith & the Rolling Stones, as well as commercials. Like a number of other video directors, including Julien Temple, Russell Mulcahy & Spike Jonze, he then moved into film. His debut was Alien³, which was then the most expensive picture by a first-time director, but was a financial & critical disappointment. Despite this initial failure, Finchers career rebounded with his next film, the dark thriller Se7en. This film, along with the complex & controversial Fight Club has put Fincher in the forefront of his post-video director contemporaries. Even Finchers more conventional work, such as The Game & Panic Room contains his distinctive dark photography with innovative uses of computer graphics. Posters Of Panic Room

Editors Choice: Panic Room, Fight Club, Madonna, The Game, Seven, Alien 3, Alien, Alien Quadrilogy, View DVDology

James Cameron was a prominent British journalist, in whose memory the annual James Cameron Memorial Lecture is given. Cameron was born in Battersea, London of Scottish parentage. He began his career as an office dogsbody with the Weekly News in 1935. Having worked for Scottish newspapers & for the Daily Express in Fleet Street, he was rejected for military service in World War II. After the war, his experience reporting on the Bikini nuclear experiments turned him into a committed pacifist & a member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. He continued to work for the Express until 1950, briefly joined Picture Post & then spent eight years with the News Chronicle. In his last years, he wrote a regular column for the Guardian. With the advent of television, Cameron became well-known as a broadcaster, presenting several BBC series including Cameron Country. Posters Of Titanic

Editors Choice: Titanic, Ghosts Of The Abyss, Dark Angel, The Muse, True Lies, The Abyss, The Terminator, Aliens, View DVDology

Sir Ridley Scott in South Shields is a British film director & producer. Scott studied photography at the Royal College of Art & helped establish the film department there in the mid-1960s. After graduation he secured a traineeship with the BBC leading him to work on the popular television series Z Cars. Along with Alan Parker, Hugh Hudson & his younger brother Tony Scott they estalished an advertising company. Having cut his teeth on UK television commercials in the 1970s he graduated to Hollywood, where he produced & directed a number of top boxoffice films. His striking visual style, incorporating a detailed approach to production design & innovative, atmospheric lighting, has been tremendously influential to an entire subsequent generation of filmmakers — many of whom have simply imitated him outright. Scott is notable for his versatility. He rarely makes two films in the same genre & many of his films are popularly rated as some of the best examples of their genres. Posters Of Black Hawk Down

Editors Choice: Kingdom Of Heaven, Hannibal, Black Hawk Down, Matchstick Men, Gladiator, White Squall, Thelma And Louise, Black Rain, View DVDology

©2004-2008 DVDArk.co.uk