“Excellent” is a perfect word to describe Fox’s Blu-ray treatment of the Alien Anthology as the studio that was initially chastised for the way it took the restoration of its classic films a bit too far, and continued to do so recently with the highly scrubbed Predator (Ultimate Edition), which I previewed here.
Fortunately, not one of the four films in the Alien quadrilogy suffers from any of the issues raised before with Fox releases. Additionally, if you were concerned over comments made by Aliens director James Cameron regarding the remaster of Aliens, have no fear. What may have sounded like dramatic scrubbing and a distortion of the original image is not what you get. I’ll give you Cameron’s quote just so you can read it again without any of the worry:
“It’s spectacular. We went in and completely de-noised it, de-grained it, up-rezzed, color-corrected every frame, and it looks amazing. It looks better that it looked in the theaters originally. Because it was shot on a high-speed negative that was a new negative that didn’t pan out too well and got replaced the following year. So it’s pretty grainy. We got rid of all the grain. It’s sharper and clearer and more beautiful than it’s ever looked.”
While he’s only talking about Aliens, I can tell you all four films look spectacular, and on top of that impressive image you also get a pulse-pounding, impressive DTS-HD master audio track on all four releases. Every puff of steam, creak of the ship and menacing tick of atmosphere from all four films is fully realized. This is the version of these films you’ve been waiting for.
I should, at this time, clarify where exactly I’m coming from. I do not own the previously released Alien: Quadrilogy DVD set. When that set came out my interest in Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection was not high enough for me to fork over the money. So I simply bought the two-disc Collector’s Editions of Alien and Aliens. That said, I won’t hesitate to recommend instantly picking up this set as having all four in this sleek and stylish package, loaded with special features is a must own for anyone with any passion for any of these films.
This is where my review may fail those looking for an exhaustive look into this set. While I watched all four films and explored the two bonus discs, there wasn’t nearly enough time from the time I received this set to explore all it has to offer. On top of all four theatrical releases and special edition/director’s cuts of all four films, this six-disc package contains over 60 hours of bonus material on top of over 12,000 images, meaning storyboards, production stills, concept art, etc. Having had the set for only three days before having to write this review there wasn’t close to enough time to watch the films and fully explore these features. However, I did have a look around.
First off, everything you got with the previous Alien Quadrilogy and/or Collector’s Edition single film releases you get in this package as well as everything from the 1991/1992 laserdisc releases and the 1999 “Legacy” release. So nothing is lost in the transfer from DVD to Blu-ray.
Additional features include screentests of Sigourney Weaver prior to filming the original Alien, unseen deleted scenes and much more, so much that it’s best I tell you to click here after reading the full review to examine the list of features in your spare time. It truly is the largest amount of supplemental content I can think of for a single box set I’ve ever seen.
The most notable of the newcomer features begins with what is called “MU-TH-UR Mode” which allows the user to activate a feature while watching each film that will prompt the viewer on scene and movie specific features found on discs five and six. At this point you can click on those you want to watch and the feature will save that information on your Blu-ray player so that once you insert discs five and six it will automatically prompt you on the features you’ve “tagged” to watch. Additionally this feature offers a selection of audio streams (commentary) and data streams (trivia) to watch and listen to throughout the film.
The other feature of note is referred to as “Disc Unbound,” which is similar to a feature I’ve seen on Blu-ray releases for television shows which allows you to eject one disc, insert another and immediately pick-up where you left off without having to worry about menu screens and FBI warnings. This is a similar feature. For example, if you eject Alien from your player instantly the Weyland-Yutani logo will appear on your screen, and once you put Aliens (or any of the other films from the set) into your player it will instantly kick to that film’s menu screen where you select which version of the film you want to watch and off you go with limited amount of waiting time. Basically it gives you additional incentive for an impromptu Alien marathon.
Finally, one of the best aspects of this set is the highly impressive and sleek packaging. Only slightly taller than a typical Blu-ray box and perhaps as wide as two of them, this is a sturdy, well packaged set that will keep your discs safe and look excellent on your shelf. Each disc is protected inside a thick cardboard sleeve inside the 22-page holder slathered with Alien artwork with the back cover holding a booklet with information on the contents of all six discs.
In an effort to give you a better look, I created the following short video of me flipping through the pages and giving you a look at the six discs.
If that looks impressive to you, I can tell you it’s even better once it’s in your hands.
I can’t find anything bad to say about this release. I don’t have a single complaint or concern. Fox has put together an impressive package that will not only stand out on your shelf, but simply shimmers on your screen. I would wager very few people will have the stamina to get through all of the bonus material in the first month of ownership, giving you plenty to come back for when you somehow manage to pull yourself away from the films themselves. I even found myself looking fondly upon Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection and saying to myself, “These films actually aren’t that bad.”
After all, Alien 3 gave us a canine alien and the iconic Alien and Ripley shot while Resurrection gives us a fantastic underwater sequence and lines from Joss Whedon’s script such as “This is the United States military, not some greedy corporation.” Those are four reasons right there to watch those two films as well as Alien and Aliens. And I will… again and again and again.
Pick this set up, it’s worth the money and I can’t tell you how happy I am to be able to say that.
