Rating: Summary: The Best Sci-Fi Series Of All Time!!! Review: I couldn't wait for the DVD Edition of the Alien Series to be released and finally here it is! These movies are my all time favorite and with the additional 17 minutes of footage added to "Aliens" it was a real treasure to have them delivered to my front door. These movies are a must have for any sci-fi fan, without these four all the rest of your collection would just be little round silver disks sitting on your shelf! I can't wait to have a "Alien" viewing of all four movies in one setting with the lights turned down and the sound system turned up! The only other thing to say is "It's about time they were released"!!!!
Rating: Summary: Fabulous Review: I previously had the Laserdisc versions of the first two movies. The DVD knocks these out of the water visually and audibly. The extras are also great. My only criticism is that I live the UK and am therefore ineligible for receiving the fifth disc as there is no option for mailing to England even though I would gladly pay the extra cost.
Rating: Summary: An uneven effort - appears rushed to the market Review: I am assuming that you have seen all four Alien films, so I will skip the review on the contents of the films and focus on this special DVD edition instead. Unlike the VHS edition, the DVD box does not come with the behind the scenes special/making of Alien Legacy which was included in the VHS edition. Instead, you get a coupon which you can use (with the usual hoops of original receipt & S&H fees to jump through) to redeem the 5th disc, which is available "while supplies last". The 20th Anniversary edtion of Alien on DVD is a very impressive disc - the deleted scenes, including the unfilmed ones, were included in the disc, complete with written/director commentary. The deleted scenes demonstrate director Ridley Scott's ability to recognize the fact that the unseen can generate more fear than excessive gore. The Aliens DVD was clearly the best of the bunch. It is basically the reissue of the Aliens Special Edition Laser Disc box that went out of print for years, and you sure get the most bang for the buck with this DVD, now priced at about a quarter of the LD box's price with enhanced sound and picture from digital remastering. The animated menu is also very cool, clearly the most impressive of the four. All the supplement materials from the LD box was meticulously transferred to the DVD edition. The only shortcoming was that the disc was incomplete in the trailers department. There were a lot of TV spots made for Aliens, most of which are still available in QuickTime format downloadable from the Web (please do not e-mail me for the URL, since I don't have it). However, the disc offers only 1 theatrical trailer from each of the Alien films instead. Alien 3, on the other hand, suffers a lack of features (with a behind the scenes/making of that probably aired on HBO when the film was released) and the bad DVD authoring has resulted in a "pause" in the movie at approximately 58 minutes and some 20-odd seconds into the movie, which sticks out like a sore thumb and really ruined the movie for me. I haven't sat through the other 3 movies yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if the same problem exists on the other discs as well. The fact that Fox lets this kind of glitch slip by while charging more for their DVDs compared to their competitors says something about their attitude to consumers, IMHO. I was also disappointed the legendary "director's cut" featuring substantially different dialog and plot lines was not presented with this edition. Alien Resurrection has similar problems with Alien 3 in the (lack of) feature department. With a behind the scenes/making of featurette that already aired on HBO (IIRC), there really isn't much else to offer. A director/cast/crew's commentary track is sorely missing. This special 4 disc boxset also comes with nine collector's cards - they are about baseball trading card size and were tucked in between the pages of the insert booklet of Alien Resurrection. Due to the substantial mass of the 9-card package, the insert booklet suffered deformity as a result of the unsecured pack of cards being shuffled around during shipping. Looks like the folks at Fox did not do their homework. In conclusion, if you missed out on the Aliens special edition LD boxset, go for the Aliens DVD itself. But if you are a diehard Alien fan and are not picky about lack of features or technical glitches, this is a good addition to your DVD library. This boxset appears to be rushed to the market in order to meet the deadline for the 20th anniversay of Alien, because nothing new was presented with all but the first film. Let's hope Fox fixes the pause glitches and issue a more comprehensive edition in the near future.
Rating: Summary: The best set I have ever bought Review: I have to hand it to fox. They take all the Alien movies and make them seem even better. The menus on all the discs are superb. The quality of the transfer was execellent and the logo on the box is stunning. With this set nothing i can say can make it seem any better.....
Rating: Summary: Quite a Jump from the Older Versions! Review: I personally have been waiting quite a long time for a full Alien set to come to DVD. But now that it has, I would do nothing more than recommend the set to everyone. Not only was the digital transfer done extraordinarily well, but I was ESEPCIALLY impressed with the new & uncut missing scenes from Aliens. It really helps tell the story more to those who may not have seen it before. Being a die hard Aliens fan, I will have to give it 5 stars. This set really allows the full experience of some of the greatest sci-fi movies ever made, with the full power and brilliance of today's DVD technology.
Rating: Summary: the be all- end all of dvd box sets! Review: i just wish there was room in the box for the inevitable fifth chapter of this incredible series! fox definitely took their time an did it right from the excellent animated interactive menus to the thx and 5.1 digital sound on all four of the films. the first two films alone, along with all of the extras are worth the price. not to mention that ordering from amazon is cheaper than what the video retailers pay to the wholesalers!
Rating: Summary: A Masterpiece of Film Review: This series is without a doubt one of the best and most powerful film series' to date. ALIEN was a great film-more gripping than entertaining. ALIENS was an action Tour De Force, with great acting and a human core. ALIEN3 was imaginative, profound and intriuging the last scene, in which the camera moves through the wrekege of Ripleys escape vehicle and a voice over from ALIEN plays is alone worth the price of the film. ALIEN RESSURECTION is interesting because it creates more of an inner conflict in Ripley, making us somehow care more about whats going on in her head. A GREAT BUY!
Rating: Summary: Legacy of Great Sci-Fi Review: The Alien series rules. Sci-Fi for adults, what a concept. Anyway the order of movies from BEST TO LEAST BEST is Aliens, Alien Resurrection, Alien3, and Alien. NO DOUBT ABOUT IT.
Rating: Summary: Excellent...but missing something in Ressurection Review: I just finished watching my new Alien Legacy set and I am amazed. The quality of the transfers are amazing, the sound is perfect, and everything definitly does justice to the "Alien" experience. It pains me to give them 4 stars for this set because I am a die-hard Alien fan and have been since I first saw the movie. The thing I'm really peeved about ( and the entire reason I gave them 4 stars instead of 5 ) is that Fox re-cut Alien: Ressurection before making this DVD. The version that I saw in the theatres had the longer initial credits, Pre-operation dialog, the post operation "breaking of the arm" scene, and a few more scenes like the Large human-like alien battering at the top of the "silo" after Ripley gets out of the nest. I can't verify this but my gut feeling says that they also shortened some of the other scenes in the movie as well. Overall it has definitly lost something in this DVD version. Luckily it's the only one of the set that did. Obviously, my personal opinion is that they should have left Ressurection as it was. As a final note, This version is so good that now I have a reason to ditch my Special Edition laserdiscs :)
Rating: Summary: I STILL SCARE MYSELF EVERYTIME I SEE IT!!!!! Review: Alien is as scary as it was 20 years ago. The whole "they're comin' out the walls, man" is one of the best horror tricks ever. You never know when they'll strike. James Cameron use of the sceenery to incorperate the aliens was perfect. I recommend this series to all horror/sci-fi fans.
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