At first i wasnt thrilled about the price of this set....

the more i read, the more i want this boxset

I hope they release the movies separately, because I am only really interested in the first Alien movie.

I can say with 100% certainty that the insert regarding a 2003 release came with X-Men 1.5 since I just checked out my copy 5 seconds ago. Maybe there was also an insert with one of the Buffy sets.


If they had individual releases, I might opt to just pick up the first two. However, chances are the bonus disc will be exclusive to the boxed set, so I suppose on the end, it will come down to special features vs. price. However, since the Alien documentary from AMC is an individual release, that can make up for the lack of the bonus disc.

This may have been mentioned before, but I was noting in Entertainment Weekly, that "Alien - Director's Cut" (with never before scene footage reinstated into the film) is receiving a Fall Theatrical release. Is this cut of the film going to be on the ultra-box edition (I hope so!)?

I would imagine so. Here's hopin!

The BBFC have a few more featurettes listed for approval now:

ALIEN - BOB BURNS ALIEN COLLECTION (16m 52s)
ALIEN - RIDLEY SCOTT Q & A (15m 38s)

ALIENS - JAMES CAMERON INTERVIEW/FILM FOOTAGE (3m 13s)
ALIENS - INTERVIEW WITH JAMES CAMERON (9m 29s)
ALIENS - JAMES CAMERON INTRODUCTION TO EXTENDED VERSION (0m 31s)

ALIEN 3 - ALIEN 3 ADVANCE FEATURETTE (2m 47s)

Hi All,

The following passage is an extract from an article on the Alien franchise from the UK's Total Film magazine. (October 2003 cover date)

"The franchise turns 25 this year, and Alien rights-holders 20th Century Fox are out to get the faithful excited again with not one but two commemorative releases. Initiating festivities is a theatrical re-release of Ridley Scott's original classic in a new Director's Cut. Remarkably, Sir Rid was persuaded to return to Alien and alter a film that many regard as a genre classic.

Edited by Dody Dorn, who shaped Scott's current release Matchstick Men, the 2003 edition of the 1979 chiller is a curious monument. Fixes and additions include the notorious Cocoon Scene included on the deleted material of the last DVD release, in which Ripley discovers her trapped, egg-laden crewmates. Yet it's not a fully expanded restoration of the film.

Alien: The Director's Cut was originally intended to feature all deleted scenes, providing the audience with an example of Scott's film before the director had shaped the picture's pace and tone. But Scott considered the cut to be too long and has subsequently removed both original and new footage. The result is a hybrid of the two prints that may end up confounding the purists and confusing newer fans.

Alien is not the only movie form the series to undergo surgery. Both the third and fourth chapters of the franchise receive makeovers in the eagerly awaited DVD Quadrilogy box set due for release this winter. Supervised by Ridley Scott's personal DVD producer Charles de Lauzirika, highlights include new director commentaries, new special effects work commissioned to complete deleted scenes for Alien, Aliens and Resurrection, and an extra features disc for each title. Featuring both original and Director's cuts, the Alien disc also boasts a three-hour doc, while Aliens includes both commercially released versions of the film and, for the first time, Cameron chips in with a commentary.

Additional CG work has also been applied to Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Alien Resurrection. There will be a surreal new opening (a victim of mis-budgeting), while the alternative finale features an apocalyptic Earth ravaged by Alien warriors.

Arguably though, the box set's most attractive feature is a new cut of David Fincher's much maligned Alien 3. The Director's original working print has been completed, extending its running time to two-and-a-half hours, and includes a CG "Bambi Burster" scene in which an alien bursts out of a deer. Fincher, whose hatred of his debut feature knows no bounds, has refused to record a yak-track for the new print.

Desperate to buy tickets and discs? Alien hits cinemas on 7 November, while the DVD set goes on sale on 15 December."


So, lots of good stuff to look forwards to here but also a few disappointments too!......... Looks like I'll have another Alien box set on my shelf this christmas. Worth remembering that the dates quoted are for the UK & may differ from the US.

I've made this post in both "significant" Alien Quadrilogy threads in order to ensure that these details are seen by as many interested members as possible. I hope that this is ok.

Best Regards,
KBDVD.

just in time for christmas.
question, do the new scene's for alien3 look older and such (where newbies to the flick could tell easily where new footage was), or did they do some restoration on those scenes

I forgive Fincher for NOT recording a commentary considering he's been working on an extensive Panic Room SE

Wait. I am confused now - so Alien is going to re-released in the theaters without the extra footage - just a cleaned up print.

This is the danger of re-releasing movies. Scott said he was really happy with how Alien was released the first time around, to go back in and change things 20 years later is dangerous (Star Wars anybody). Sounds like he got cold feet about the thing and ripped up most of what was put back in.

One thing is for certain - I AM NOT selling my old Alien and Aliens discs to make room for this release. I don't care if it is seamless branching on Aliens, this article makes it sound like they did some stuff with the FX in both the theaterical and directors cut of Aliens. I have already sold Alien 3 and 4 because I am not a fan. I may pick up the set, watch 3 and 4 once to see the new stuff and sell those 2 as well.

Hi chanster,

Well it sounds like some new stuff will remain but at the expense of some of the existing footage.

Controversial eh?

Best Regards,
KBDVD.

Same here. I'm not too crazy of the current transfer and especially audio.

I will bet anything that this boxed set is in a slip sleeve and it unfolds (a la LOTR: Extended Edition, only much much bigger) plus that's a UK release is it not? Which means who knows when we'll get it here in the States! I'm still not convinced of a 2003 release, I'm hoping though

I wouldn't mind betting that your release date will be either the same as or before the UK's!

There have been very few examples where major releases have appeared in the UK on Region 2 ahead of your Region 1 release and the original Alien box appeared as a Region 1 release first.

This having been said, both the "Taken" & "Dark Angel" box sets were released over here ahead of yours.

I'm confident we'll all have it for Christmas though!

Best Regards,
KBDVD.

So Parts 1 and 2 include both versions? And 3 + 4 just the extended cuts? Thanks for the info.

I can't comprehend how that's possible. The other three films are part of the Alien mythos, you can't dismiss them. For me it's equivalent of season sets of TV shows. Would you want a best-of disc with random episodes, or would you rather have the complete season? Everything that has to do with Alien is just so interesting.

What? You can totally disregard whatever movie you want - it sure seems like the producers, directors of 3 and 4 totally dismissed the established alien continuity when they put out the garbage of 3 and 4.

Alien and Aliens are not random episodes - they are the first 2 movies in the series. If you like Alien 3 and 4, thats great, a lot of people don't like them at all.

What's disappointing about that?

Hi AdamComic2,

1. The fact that some treasured original footage from Alien will be missing.

2. The fact that "all" of the additional footage has not made it back into Alien.

3. The fact that David Fincher declined to contribute a Director's Commentary for Alien 3. (Would sure have been a spicy one!)

4. The fact that (as far as can be discerned) Alien 3 & Resurrection won't also be presented in their original theatrical versions.

5. The fact that we have to wait till December to buy it!

Best Regards,
KBDVD.

will we see the original alien in the way it was originally shown in theaters/.

trailer for the rerelease here:

http://filmforce.ign.com/articles/436/436969p1.html

has anyone seen this article in digitalbits? Looks like the Alien Legacy wont be a part of the set... here's the article:

Hi everyone! I just wanted to jump in here with a word on Fox's upcoming Alien Quadrilogy nine-disc set. There's obviously not yet been an official announcement for various reasons, and we suspect there will not be one until after the new Alien: 2003 Director's Cut appears in theaters next month. The set IS still coming and with any luck it will be out before the end of 2003. As all of you know, we've closely followed this production for many months now for our upcoming book (it features more than 30 pages dedicated to a look at the making of the set). Because there hasn't been an official announcement, we're unfortunately not allowed to say anything here on The Bits in terms of specs and other details. We can tell you that all of that information - a complete disc by disc laundry list of the contents and extras - is included in the book (which streets the last week of this month or the first week of October). So that's likely to be the closest to an official announcement we get in the near term. The reason I wanted to jump in here, is because there's been some details leaked recently from the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC). I can tell you that some of it isn't completely accurate, so take it all with a grain of salt. I wish I could tell you more, but the one thing I can tell you for sure is that The Alien Legacy documentary is NOT on the new set for space reasons. So just be aware of that. The moment we're allowed to post anything more about this set and its contents, we will. 'Nuff said.

What was teh "Alien Legacy" feature? Was that the disk you had to mail out for on the original boxset release, or was that the special they ran on tv a few months ago?