I own Alien and I was wondering how good Aliens is (not the story). I was very happy w/the video quality of Alien but the audio could have used a little help, not that it was bad. Since Aliens is about 7 or 8 years younger (right?) than Alien, is the quality much better? Thanks!

I think the audio and the video are much better....but as you stated...Alien is a much older movie!!!
I like Aliens the most....never cared to see the movies past this point!!!!

I believe Alien is exactly 7 years older....released in 1979 and Aliens was released in 1986!!!!

[This message has been edited by djones6746 (edited August 06, 2000).]

Well, Alien does have a great DVD for the age of the film, but Aliens has much better audio and video. However, their isn't a commentary (there are some pretty cool extra features though.)

Its a must have

Having seen both movies on DVD, I have to say I found Alien's video transfer to be slightly better, at least in terms of having considerably less grain than Aliens, But the latter's video is also great for a 15 year old film. However, in the audio department Aliens IS better. Where Alien wins clearly is in the extras, but in the end, Aliens is a movie one must own on DVD.

There are only two things missing from the Aliens DVD that would have made it the "perfect" DVD. First adding in dynamic branching so you could watch either the theatrical release or all the extra footage. Although since a large portion of it is in one chapter you can just skip that http://talk.dvdtalk.com/ubb/wink.gif An audio commentary would have been nice too.

If you're a fan of the series, both Alien and Aliens are must haves. The audio on Aliens is much better, I found the video quality to be basically the same, but then again I haven't been able to watch Aliens on the same TV as Alien yet (problems with the disc, I'm working on getting a replacement from Fox). Aliens is really a no-brainer here. If you enjoyed the first one you'll like this one.

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"All arts can and must wait. They may even wait to live until after the artist is dead. Only the ridiculous costs of cinematography force it to instant success, so it is satisfied with being mere entertainment."
-Jean Cocteau

I like the picture and sound better on Aliens.

Coincidentally I watched Alien Sunday and Aliens last night. I found it very difficult to understand dialog in the 5.1 mix for Alien and ended up listening to it in 2.0 http://talk.dvdtalk.com/ubb/eek.gif Aliens had a much, much cleaner sound mix and is about a hundred times better a movie than the first one even though I did like the first one. Lots of nice extras in both although I understand the extras dry up after #2. http://talk.dvdtalk.com/ubb/frown.gif

aliens!! aliens indeed. much better. GAME OVER MAN!

"Get away from her, you B*TCH!"

Alien is more a traditional "suspense-thriller" movie while Aliens is action oriented.


Oh yea... Aliens baby!

Gotta love Hudson:

"Well that's great, that's just f$$kin' great man, now what the f!@k are we supposed to do? We're in some real pretty **** now man... That's it man, game over man, game over, man! Game over! What the f$#k are we gonna do now? What are we gonna do?"

GAME OVER MAN!! ALIENS ALL THE WAY!!

I think Aliens is a better movie, because it has a better cast and better action scenes IMO. Alien definately has the advantage of being the most original, which always helps.
Aliens 3&4 sucked sour frog ass.

I might as well add my .02 cents worth. I watched Alien on Tuesday and Aliens yesterday. I found the video transfer to be better and more pleasing to the eye on Alien than Aliens. I think it is amazing what Fox was able to do with the video on a 21 year old movie. No grain, black level is excellent, flesh tones are dead on. Aliens, has some spots of grain, flesh tones are sometimes not as natural as you would want, but black level is very nice. Overall, I would definitely have to gve the video qualtiy award to Alien.

Now audio is a different story. I listened to DD 5.1 on both and found the soundstage to just be a little to contricted on the Alien master. Low end was almost non existent, don't get me wrong, your sub will kick in on occasion but when it is really needed it just doesn't have the low end extension that you are accustomed to with newer releases. I did like how they used the surround sound, as it did add to the atmosphere but overall I was underimpressed with the DD 5.1 track on Alien. Now Aliens on the other hand is really good. Soundstage is nice and wide, surround is used more prolifically and effectively, ad the .1 LFE channel will really work out your sub. I know that there are a couple of scenes that rumbles in the low to mid 20's (Hz). Namely the "ship drop" sequence. So the clear winner in the DD 5.1 audio portion is Aliens, hands down.

Extras: I found both movie to have a good supply of extras. I personally liked the extras on Alien better just because Alien was Mr. Ridley Scotts' and to hear him talk about his movie scene by scene is something truly special. If only Cameron would have recorded a commentary for Aliens. Anyway, you really can't go wrong with either disc in terms of extras. Like I said, I like Alien better but you can't go wrong with Aliens either.

But do yourself a favor. Don't pick one between the two, GET BOTH! Trust me and your fellow DVD Talkers, Alien and Aliens are well worth their price.

wrath

I agree with wrath 100%... http://talk.dvdtalk.com/ubb/smile.gif

I also find that the video transfer on Alien was better than Aliens. I thought Aliens was a little bit grainy, soft and drab in color.. but this may have been the intent of James Cameron.

However, the sound was better on Aliens than Alien. They both show their age and are not quite as polished and dynamic as present day action sci-fi flicks. I didn't notice much split surround activity from either film so they might have merely been Dolby Surround four channel "upconverted" to DD5.1... Aliens definately had more bass and Alien was compressed sounding.

As for the film it is a tough call.. They are both incredible movies. I would rank them both in my top ten..

--mike

ALIEN is superior.

Thanks for all the responses everyone. Like I said, I bought Alien (havent watched it yet) and I plan on buying Aliens very soon. I appreciate all of the replies!

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by wrath:
I might as well add my .02 cents worth. I watched Alien on Tuesday and Aliens yesterday. I found the video transfer to be better and more pleasing to the eye on Alien than Aliens. I think it is amazing what Fox was able to do with the video on a 21 year old movie. No grain, black level is excellent, flesh tones are dead on. Aliens, has some spots of grain, flesh tones are sometimes not as natural as you would want, but black level is very nice. Overall, I would definitely have to gve the video qualtiy award to Alien.

Now audio is a different story. I listened to DD 5.1 on both and found the soundstage to just be a little to contricted on the Alien master. Low end was almost non existent, don't get me wrong, your sub will kick in on occasion but when it is really needed it just doesn't have the low end extension that you are accustomed to with newer releases. I did like how they used the surround sound, as it did add to the atmosphere but overall I was underimpressed with the DD 5.1 track on Alien. Now Aliens on the other hand is really good. Soundstage is nice and wide, surround is used more prolifically and effectively, ad the .1 LFE channel will really work out your sub. I know that there are a couple of scenes that rumbles in the low to mid 20's (Hz). Namely the "ship drop" sequence. So the clear winner in the DD 5.1 audio portion is Aliens, hands down.

Extras: I found both movie to have a good supply of extras. I personally liked the extras on Alien better just because Alien was Mr. Ridley Scotts' and to hear him talk about his movie scene by scene is something truly special. If only Cameron would have recorded a commentary for Aliens. Anyway, you really can't go wrong with either disc in terms of extras. Like I said, I like Alien better but you can't go wrong with Aliens either.

But do yourself a favor. Don't pick one between the two, GET BOTH! Trust me and your fellow DVD Talkers, Alien and Aliens are well worth their price.

wrath<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I agree with you completely, both DVDs are must-buys. I did notice a few spots of grain here or there in the Alien disc, but it was very, very minor. And I love how you find that the DD5.1 mix was terrible, because all through the commentary, Ridley Scott keeps saying how incredible the mix is. I'm not saying you're wrong, but I find it funny.



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"All arts can and must wait. They may even wait to live until after the artist is dead. Only the ridiculous costs of cinematography force it to instant success, so it is satisfied with being mere entertainment."
-Jean Cocteau

Aliens' audio and video are slighty better, Alien is the better movie though.

FWIW: The First thing I noticed about Alien was the spots on the title matting as you pan across the starfield during the opening credits, probably better not to doctor this type of error but thought I'd throw that at the better video camp http://talk.dvdtalk.com/ubb/wink.gif

With that said, everyone do yourself a favor and stay the heck away from Alien 3 no plot, disapointing effects for a movie so recent and, oh yeah, no plot. The extras are trailers and a featurete I didnt watch and a game trailer. Thats it. http://talk.dvdtalk.com/ubb/frown.gif quite the disapointment after 1 & 2.

All i have to say is http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Vault/9547/badge2.jpg
LOCK AND LOAD!!!LETS ROCK!!