Alien Quadrilogy (2003) Special Edition [RE-UP]

The Alien saga spans four canonical movies from four talented directors, who each put their own spin on its core themes of sex, loss of identity, motherhood, and feminism. It's a respected quartet of films that have delighted scholars just as much as they've thrilled moviegoers and obsessed geeks, with design work that's influenced SF and horror cinema since first frightening audiences back in 1979.

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Alien Quadrilogy (2003) Special Edition [RE-UP]

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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

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Alien Quadrilogy (2003) Special Edition [RE-UP]

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… Italian Synopsis …
Alien: Dopo essere entrato in contatto con dei misteriosi bozzoli depositati su un pianeta disabitato, l'equipaggio di un cargo intergalattico è sterminato da una mostruosa creatura aliena. Il film ha avuto vari seguiti. (1979 - versione prima uscita )

Alien: Dopo essere entrato in contatto con dei misteriosi bozzoli depositati su un pianeta disabitato, l'equipaggio di un cargo intergalattico è sterminato da una mostruosa creatura aliena. Il film ha avuto vari seguiti. (1979 - director's cut )

Aliens, scontro finale: Risvegliatasi dall'ibernazione, Ripley scopre che il pianeta in cui viveva la specie aliena è stato colonizzato dagli umani. Nessuno dà retta ai suoi avvertimenti, finché i coloni interrompono improvvisamente i contatti. Seguito di "Alien" 1979. (1986 - versione prima uscita )

Aliens, scontro finale: Risvegliatasi dall'ibernazione, Ripley scopre che il pianeta in cui viveva la specie aliena è stato colonizzato dagli umani. Nessuno dà retta ai suoi avvertimenti, finché i coloni interrompono improvvisamente i contatti. Seguito di "Alien" 1979. (1986 - edizione speciale )

Alien 3: A causa di un ammaraggio su un pianeta, Ripley si trova in un carcere di massima sicurezza nel quale un mostro semina il terrore. Seguito di "Alien" 1979. (1992 - versione prima uscita )

Alien 3: A causa di un ammaraggio su un pianeta, Ripley si trova in un carcere di massima sicurezza nel quale un mostro semina il terrore. Seguito di "Alien" 1979. (1992 - edizione speciale )

Alien, la clonazione: Duecento anni dopo la propria morte, il capitano Ellen Ripley viene clonato da un gruppo di scienziati senza scrupoli. Seguito di "Alien" 1979. (1997 - versione prima uscita )

Alien, la clonazione: Duecento anni dopo la propria morte, il capitano Ellen Ripley viene clonato da un gruppo di scienziati senza scrupoli. Seguito di "Alien" 1979. (1997 - edizione speciale )

The terror begins when the crew of a spaceship investigates a transmission from a desolate planet, and discovers a life form that is perfectly evolved to annihilate mankind. One by one, each crew member is slain until only Ripley is left, leading to an explosive conclusion that sets the stage for its stunning sequel, "Aliens."

IMDB Rating: 8.5/10









Fifty-odd years after Ellen Ripley survived her disastrous ordeal, her escape vessel is recovered after drifting across the galaxy as she slept in cryogenic stasis. Back on earth, nobody believed her story about the "Aliens" on the planet LV-426. After the "Company" orders the colony on LV-426 to investigate, however, all communication with the colony is lost. The Company enlists Ripley to aid a team of tough, rugged space marines on a rescue mission to the now partially terraformed planet to find out if there are aliens or survivors. As the mission unfolds, Ripley will be forced to come to grips with her worst nightmare, but even as she does, she finds that the worst is yet to come.

IMDB Rating: 8.5/10









After escaping from the alien planet, the ship carrying Ellen Ripley crashes onto a remote and inhabited ore refinery. While living in the ore refinery until she is rescued by her employers, Ripley discovers the horrifying reason for her crash: An alien stowaway. As the alien matures and begins to kill off the inhabitants, Ripley is unaware that her true enemy is more than just the killer alien.

IMDB Rating: 6.4/10









200 years after the conclusion of Alien 3, the company is able to resurrect Ripley through the process of cloning and the scientists successfully take the Queen Alien out of her. But, Ripley's DNA gets mixed up with the Queen's and she begins to develop certain alien characteristics. The scientists begin breeding the aliens, but they later escape. Soon the Xeno-morphs are running amok on the ship, which is on course to earth. The Queen then gives birth to a deadly new breed of alien, which could spell disaster for the entire human race. It's up to Ripley and a band of space pirates to stop the ship before it reaches earth.

IMDB Rating: 6.2/10









The final disc of the 9-DVD "Alien: Quadrilogy" box set offers viewers additional bonus features that give a greater look at the making of each of the four films. Although things start off well with the "Alien" section, which offers a fair amount of information and the text archive from the laserdisc, there's very little else included here; the trailers and promo spots that fill up the sections for the last two films feel like they would be better off with the films themselves than filling space here.

The ninth disc is broken down into four sections, covering each of the films. The "Alien" area starts off with "Alien: Evolution", a documentary that is slightly over an hour in length and provides a good overview. We get to hear from director Ridley Scott, the film's co-writers, producers, creature designer HR Geiger, the film's editor and many of the actors.

The documentary takes the viewer through the process of getting the film together, going into some additional detail about the status of the screenplay and how it came to the attention of the film's producers. There's also more about the design and creation of both the ships and creatures. Yes, a lot of this was gone over elsewhere, but there's a little more detail given to each subject here.

Final Thoughts: The "Alien: Quadrilogy" box set packs an exhausting, amazing amount of information across the set's main eight discs. The bonus disc may be a little minor when up against the massive scope of the rest of the set, but it's a nice way to top off the set and does include some worthwhile information, including the hour-long documentary and LD archives. The set is easily one of the year's finest DVD efforts and is, once again, a must-see for any one who's remotely a fan of the series.

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