Product Description

Disc 1: Alien Collector?s Edition Disc 2: Aliens Collector?s Edition Disc 3: Alien 3 Collector?s Edition Disc 4: Alien Resurrection Collector?s Edition Disc 5: Bonus Disc

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1580 in DVD
• Brand: ALIEN QUADRILOGY
• Released on: 2003-12-02
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: DTS Surround Sound, Anamorphic, Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Widescreen, Dolby, NTSC
• Original language: English, Spanish
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 9
• Running time: 145 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
The Alien Quadrilogy is a nine-disc boxed set devoted to the four Alien films. Although previously available on DVD as the Alien Legacy, here they have been repackaged with vastly more extras and with upgraded sound and picture. For anyone who hasn't 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 and "special edition" form.

Alien (1979) was so perfect it didn't need fixing, and Ridley Scott's 2003 director's cut is fiddling for the sake of fiddling. Watch it once, then return to the majestic, perfectly paced original. Conversely, the special edition of James Cameron's Aliens (1986) is the definitive version, though it's nice to finally have the theatrical cut on DVD for comparison. Most interesting is the alternative Alien 3 (1992). This isn't a "director's 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, and has now been restored, remastered, and finished off with (unfortunately) cheap new CGI. Still, it's truly fascinating, offering a different insight into a flawed masterpiece. The expanded opening is visually breathtaking, the central firestorm is much longer, and a subplot involving Paul McGann's character adds considerable depth to story. The ending is also subtly but significantly different. Alien: Resurrection (1997) always was a mess with a handful of brilliant scenes, and the special edition just makes it eight minutes longer.

The Alien Quadrilogy offers the first and fourth films with DTS soundtracks, the others 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, and the prints and transfers are superlative. Every film offers a commentary track that lends insight into the creative process--though the Scott-only commentary and isolated music score from the first Alien DVD release are missing here.

Each movie is complemented by a separate disc packed with hours of seriously detailed documentaries (all presented in full-screen with clips letterboxed), thousands of photos, production stills, and 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 an hourlong documentary and even all the extras from the old Alien laserdisc. "Exhaustive" hardly beings to describe the Alien Quadrilogy, a set that establishes the new DVD benchmark for retrospective releases and looks unlikely to be surpassed for some time. --Gary S. Dalkin

Customer Reviews

Great Set
Great movies, especially the first 3...the 4 th one is a little over the top, but still very enjoyable. The boxed set itself is very sweet. It contains both the theatrical releases and the special editions.

Worst Quality Ever !!!
I refuse to watch the movies on these discs anymore, for example, the Aliens disc has two films on it, with a maximum bit rate of 4 Mbps, even the Fox title runs 8 Mbps, the quality of the actual film is on a par with a video recording taken from analogue TV, it really is that bad.

It's a disgrace to have this done to the greatest Sci-Fi film of all time, shame on you Fox, lets hope you do these films justice with the Blu Ray release, if it ever comes out.........

Everything you ever wanted to know about Aliens-It's all here.
This is another of my retro reviews for a product that has been around for quite awhile but I have never turned my attention to,until now.
First off I cannot believe the price drop that has occured since its' initial release;a drop of about $60-70.00....amazing.
This is a set NO Alien fan should be without.This is the WHOLE enchillada,and then some.What you get here are all four Alien movies,presented in their original widescreen formats and in two forms;in their original theatrical presentation AND in new director cuts.The most material added was in Aliens by director James Cameron and the least in the last,Alien Ressurection.I have viewed all movies in both versions and after viewing the directors' editions I have never watched anything else.The bonus footage is definitely a plus.
I have owned this set almost since its' inital release and I cannot tell you how many times I have watched and rewatched this series and it always keeps me coming back for more.Each film has been transferred wonderfully and everything,picture and sound wise,is as it should be.There is included here an extra disc with a multitude of fascinating extras and all in all the back slip cover tells us there are nearly 50 hours total worth of extras throughout the entire series discs.Just phenomenal.
Opening the set itself can be a bit unwieldy at first and takes time to get used to.It is folded into two large sections and when you take them out of the protective large cover/box it is in you lay them down and they fold out into two main parts.Each in turn folds out about three times in opposite directions so if you want to open the entire set you need ALOT of space underneath it.I would only recommend opening one section at a time.I found it a bit of a bugboo intially but the more you play with it the more you get the hang of it.
"Alien" was a groundbreaking picture in its' day and the rest of the movies have kept that tradition alive and well and each new director/movie has expanded on that idea(with their own sense of vision) while keeping faithful to the Alien dictum.
20th Century Fox did a superb job on this set in its' release year of 2003 and did the franchise proud in doing so;easily standing the test of time.That is why it is so unfortunate to see the franchise being dragged down by Foxs' AVP series,especially the latest offering "Requiem".Whether Fox has the where withall to stop this slide is problematic.
However we do have this set to remind us(and Fox) what exactly the Alien franchise is all about/should be all about;good actors,good acting,good scipts,good direction,good special effects and an unerring sense of the essence and spirit of the Alien universe.These films in this set are the foundations of the series and are a must see/have for all Alien and Sci-Fi fans everywhere.At this price there is no time like right now to get your set.