Re: Alien Anthology - Oct. 26th
 

Yeah, I saw a 70 blow-up of Aliens in its initial release. Being that it was 25 years ago (and that I was pretty wrapped up in the story, itself), I don't recall the details of the print's look with any reliability.

Re: Alien Anthology - Oct. 26th
 

I saw it in 70mm at film school. It definitely looked very grainy and the sound was absolutely killer. Especially when the aliens screech.

Re: Alien Anthology - Oct. 26th
 

Ugh, this and BTTF on the same day?

$$$$

Re: Alien Anthology - Oct. 26th
 

It's not really "cleaning up the film". It's more like using Photoshop's Blur tool and smoothing out lines on somebody's face. Now, I have to ask you. If you saw a close-up of an actor's face...would you want to see the real face with all the wrinkles or a smoothed-over look, and not seeing the wrinkles. Now imagine the entire screen having this effect, where leaves don't show all their veins, buildings don't show their definition, etc.

What a lot of people don't realize, is that even with grain in a high-def film, it will still look much much better than the MPEG-2 DVD version. No DNR is ever necessary, but movie labels such as 20th Century Fox don't give a flying fuck and are simply dumbing-down their releases for the masses. It's a real shame. High-Def wasn't supposed to be dumbed-down. You might as well buy the DVD version.

Re: Alien Anthology - Oct. 26th
 

Does it matter? You know this date well in advance. It's not like changing the release a few weeks will change anything. Just plan ahead...

Re: Alien Anthology - Oct. 26th
 

I have an admittedly complex but straightforward question, which I haven't found the answer for, here or elsewhere:

Aside from the movies being transferred to blu ray, and having improved audio, and new commentaries, what is actually new to this set versus the quadrilogy box? Is 90 percent of the extra material just ported over from the quad? Are there any new versions of any of the films on this set (again, versus the quad)? Are there any real "killer" additions, aside from the (supposed) original version of the Alien 3 doc?

Re: Alien Anthology - Oct. 26th
 

Hopefully this helps answer that question:

"IGN has the scoop on the release date and details for the Alien Anthology, which will come out in the US on October 26. This six-disc set contains about 60 hours of special features and over 12,000 images, including material from the legendary early 1990s LaserDisc release, the "Legacy" release and the Quadrilogy DVDs. 20th Century Fox claims that the four Alien films have been "reinvigorated for an intense Blu-ray high-definition viewing experience."

New, previously unreleased content includes original screen tests of Sigourney Weaver prior to filming the original Alien, unseen deleted scenes, and the previously unseen original cut of "Wreckage and Rage: The Making of Alien3" (so far only available in truncated form).

This edition will incorporate the "MU-TH-UR Mode," an interactive feature that lets you access the special features on all six discs and provides an index of all available content.

The Anthology offers nearly five hours of additional video Enhancement Pods created exclusively for this collection, presenting behind-the-scenes footage, raw dailies and interview outtakes from all four films. At relevant points in the documentaries, you may access these pods to enhance your experience – or watch them on their own from the separate Enhancement Pod index.

As previously reported (see blu-ray.com, April 6), the Anthology will initially be available in a limited edition with alien-egg packaging."

Re: Alien Anthology - Oct. 26th
 

Thanks Mzuperman! I was a little skeptical about what they could possibly add to the quad release. The unedited Alien 3 doc is indeed a great addition, but I think I'm going to wait some time for the price on this set to drop before I buy.

Re: Alien Anthology - Oct. 26th
 

And both studios will look at sales for that week and may give up releasing big catalog titles because of lack of sales. They need to space these big releases out, especially two of the biggest ones in 2010.

Re: Alien Anthology - Oct. 26th
 

That article failed to mention the new audio mix done for the restored workprint version of Alien 3...this, I think, will be a big selling point as some of the audio and dialogue was a bit hard to hear originally, but it has been reported that they got the original actors in to re-dub their lines!

Re: Alien Anthology - Oct. 26th
 

IIRC (sorry, it's been some time since I watched the workprint) there were also some rough FX in the workprint. I hope that they were able to fix this as well.

Re: Alien Anthology - Oct. 26th
 

Don't forget that these titles are coming out very close to Christmas. They may not sell like hotcakes on street date, but I could see a lot requesting the titles for gifts especially due to their (high) SRP.

Re: Alien Anthology - Oct. 26th
 

Do the spec lists include the Weaver commentaries she said she recorded?

EDIT: Doesn't look like it. Maybe her commentary is in the "info pods".

Re: Alien Anthology - Oct. 26th
 

I asked earlier in this thread. Someone told me Digital Bits mentioned she couldn't fit them in her schedule. I thought she said she had already recorded them, too....disappointing.

Re: Alien Anthology - Oct. 26th
 

Dont look at fox home video as whole in regards to this,But look at the specific people whom have worked on this bluray set for these specific movies, and look at the other titles that they have worked on, for bluray in the past. perhaps that will put you at ease a bit in terms of fears of a repeat of Predator.

Plus they are doing a big thing for this as part of comic con this week,I imagine they will be showing off some of the new bluray footage from the films as part of that, so I am sure that will help to alieviate fears as well.

Re: Alien Anthology - Oct. 26th
 

Inside packaging -- From the looks of it, the packaging is book-style.

http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/7867/aliensmall.jpg

Re: Alien Anthology - Oct. 26th
 

It was bad, but at the same time really cool whenever you showed it to someone and the look on their face of how the unfolding never ended.

Re: Alien Anthology - Oct. 26th
 

Too bad I also hate book packaging. Ugh. Ah well, at least Blu-rays are pretty much impermeable to damage from that.

Re: Alien Anthology - Oct. 26th
 

SOOOOO tempted to get this... but I must resist...

Re: Alien Anthology - Oct. 26th
 

only 6 discs? and that's including 2 special features only discs? wouldn't that mean that each movie disc would have to hold a) high def version of the movie AND the supplemental disc?

I thought I read somewhere that it had 9 discs.

Or is the picture not showing everything?

Re: Alien Anthology - Oct. 26th
 

The documentaries from the Quadrilogy set have been moved to the fifth disc, so it's now one giant making-of. Disc six houses the rest of the material from the Quadrilogy set (ie, script drafts, photo galleries, trailers, all of the ninth bonus disc).

EDIT: Here's a link to the complete disc-by-disc breakdown.

Re: Alien Anthology - Oct. 26th
 

it was a bitch to get to Alien on that thing.

Re: Alien Anthology - Oct. 26th
 

Extended trailer for the set on BoobyTube.

<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/kU264oRLRcU&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/kU264oRLRcU&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>

Re: Alien Anthology - Oct. 26th
 

Blah. They always just slide the discs in-between cardboard which gets them scratched up.

Re: Alien Anthology - Oct. 26th
 

oooh...are you serious? That's what it is. I thought it was something else when I saw the pics. well...fuck.