Alien Quadrilogy : Alien / Aliens / Alien 3 / Alien Resurrection [Blu-ray]

I own the 'Alien Quadrilogy' and hesitated to upgrade for a long time. I hate nothing like a greedy studio that tosses out another edition of the same movie every two or three years. The 'Quadrilogy' is more than enough for any but the most hardcore Alien fans, and if you don't care about Blu-ray one way or the other, seek out a copy of that. You will be happy. There is a major visual upgrade, the sound seems 'better', though it was difficult to reach the perfect balance. If I was happy with it in a dialogue scene, as soon as things started blowing up/aliens started screeching/guns started blasting, etc, I'd have to turn it WAY down. I am not enough of an audiophile to pronounce judgement on whether this was my soundbar's fault (it's a nice soundbar,though) or something about the Blu-ray mastering ( I do not recall having the same problem with the Quadrilogy). There are many extras that were not present on the Quadrilogy, but unless you're super hardcore, not enough new stuff to make it alone worth the buy. It's mostly the same as 'Quadrilogy'. I was VERY curious to see what the upgrade from DVD resolution to Blu-Ray would do for the films, and here is where your money's worth is over the DVDs. It's a MAJOR AND SERIOUS upgrade. There were actually several instances where I thought it actually was a negative, where some of the 'scare' is lessened because you can see the alien coming three miles away, where before it just pounced suddenly out of the shadows. That's 'tomayto/tomahto' though, because my fiance, who had not seen anything but the original, was plenty creeped out. I may just prefer my aliens lunging out of the dark because that's how I've always seen them. But other than that one small personal minus, it's seriously cool- you can every little detail on every piece of the ship, where I couldn't before, even on the 'Quadrilogy'. One can see the truly enormous amount of craftsmanship and attention to detail that went into the set, costumes, and of course the aliens. Given that they had no idea their work would ever be put to such a test as 1080p, it's a true testimonial to the quality of their work. I had a lot of trepidation because quite a few of these reviews mention the set will not work properly on a sizable number of Blu-ray players, and I've had so much trouble with mine already I was reluctant to risk it. (It is a newish player, was top-of-the line last year when I bought it and way more expensive than it needed to be for the amount of grief it's given me). THEN, though, I started noticing reviewers saying that the region-free version does not have these glitches. Amazon US does not officially sell the region-free version, but check out the "new and used from..." section and you will eventually find someone offering the region-free version. I have also heard of people just going to Amazon UK and purchasing it. I've read several reviews noting the Region 1 version is packaged in the 'hardcover book' type cardboard style...the UK version is packed like a tradtitional set, in the familiar 'Blu-ray blue' plastic with plastic 'leaves' inside that each disc snaps in/out of, then the whole thing is slipcased as you see in the product description. I prefer this style. I got mine from a guy selling his region-free set through Amazon and paid a very reasonable price. I haven't worked through the whole set yet...have not started the bonus features and probably will not for awhile as I'd already watched it all on DVD. So far, though, I've had no problems and the set is AMAZING. It was, all things considered, well worth the upgrade from DVD.

Well what's there to say about this latest Alien box set that hasn't already been said. I got it shortly after I told myself I wasn't going to get it thanks to an Amazon one day sale that made it cheaper than what I had originally paid for Alien Quadrilogy (Alien/ Aliens /Alien 3 /Alien Resurrection) and it seemed quite worth it at that point. I was a bit disappointed after my viewing of the second film, not with the film it's self but with the quality of the transfer. Aliens was really buggy and had lots of flicker and grain, I don't really mind the grain and I can't figure out if the flickering is a problem with my display set up or with the actual transfer I'm guessing it's the former since I haven't seen any other complaints about it but honestly I was expecting a little bit better treatment for arguably the biggest film in the franchise. The DVD version on the Quadrilogy set didn't have any of this flickering in the darker scenes and holds up just about as well under scrutiny. Like I said, I don't mind grain in a film that's better than 20 years old but I've yet to find a reason for this weird flickering it does. Since I'm more fond of the theatrical version of Aliens as opposed to the extended version I was thinking maybe they were lazy and just used an old transfer for the theatrical and remastered the extended for Blu-Ray but upon viewing that version all the same problems are present. I've adjusted every possible setting and I can't get rid of this flicker, it's not a huge deal it's just kinda distracting. James Cameron mentions in the commentary some technical aspects of the film stock used for this film that was far to technical and involved for me to understand without a degree from film school but what little I could glean from the director mentioned something to the fact that the film used was very prone to grain and other problems, so I think that explains away some of the problems with this transfer. There's only so much the remastering process can do, I guess. The sound on this film has always been one of the standout parts of the movie and it gets a really nice treatment in the HD 5.1, there's lots of subtle sound effects that are mixed to perfection and simplified enough so that even if you don't have a big whopper of a sound system it still sounds great on your regular TV output. This is usually something I'm concerned with since I watch movies mostly late at night and don't wanna keep the neighbors up listening to Alien Queens screeching. This is one of the all time great sci-fi films and it's James Cameron at his best, in my humble opinion I just wish Fox would have spent a little money restoring it for this particular release. I'd also like to mention that it has one of the most entertaining commentary tracks I've ever heard and if I'm not mistaken it won some kind of DVD award back in '03 Ok the evaluation of the Aliens disc is over so I'm sure 75% people stopped reading that's why I went ahead and started with the second movie instead of the first. Alien, is a fantastic looking transfer it looks totally new. If Sigourney Weaver weren't running around looking like a doe-eyed teenager through the whole film I'd think it came out this year. I mean someone put some serious work into this, although this transfer is not exclusive to this disc, it's the same one used from the Quadrilogy set. If you remember the film was released back into theaters shortly before or after the Quad set came out, I can't remember exactly but I know the film was restored from the ground up for this anniversary event this Blu-Ray just features the highest possible quality of that particular transfer/remaster. The sound is as good as I've ever heard for this particular film, I've noticed a lot of little sound effects and even been able to discern some words out of the muttering a lot of the characters did in the film without having to crank my sound system up to 40 (it only goes to 30) just to make out what they're saying. I guess that has something to do with the HD audio as opposed to the now standard 5.1 mix. I've watched both versions although I'm more fond of the theatrical version again. Alien 3, is a sharp looking film, seeing it in high def brings a new appreciation to the beautiful sets and art direction, at least it did for me and I've seen this movie a million times... Alien 3? You know the one with the Alien eating all the baddie baldies that no one cares about and holy cow Ripley has also become a baddie baldy and oh no there's a Alien in her too what should we too, how about we all commit suicide by alien just because we hate the company that much. I admit it's not the greatest film in the world but it does have some shining moments here and there. I like it, I still think it was a solid sci-fi flick if only for the mood it created and taking the established Alien series staple of a "used future" to the most extreme of extremes. David Fincher is one of my favorite directors because he seems to pay extra attention to the atmosphere subtle background noise can create and in the HD 5.1 mix it really comes out. Also concerning the sound, people who've already bought the Alien Quadrilogy will be happy to know that all the audio in the "Workprint" version has been fixed and it plays just like a normal movie instead of something Fox stole back from the internet and slapped on a DVD. The picture on this film is quite crisp and sharp looking I don't have any complaints about the visual or sound on this disc. It may in fact be the best looking film in the whole set if you can stand the unbelievable crap of the story of the film, it's a pleasure to look at though and exceptionally sound designed. The forth and final film, so far, Ridley Scott has a forward written onto this box set that mentions a prequel film, I've been hearing about one of those since Alien 3 so I'm not going to get my hopes up too high. This movie looks only slightly better on Blu-Ray then the DVD for a film this new I would have expected it to be a little more sharp in HD. Darius Khandji's photography comes out really nicely though. The sharp contrasts and deep dark blacks show up really nicely although mostly this film just seems brown, everything is brown in this movie, even the Aliens are brown! I can't tell if this version is any better than the DVD because honestly I don't know how many different ways there are to convey the color brown regardless of it's encoding. The space shots, the underwater scene all look pretty good though and like I said where there is a contrast between brown and another color it looks really nice. I won't even begin to get into how crap this movie is, but I will say this, it's probably got the most spins in my PS3 since I bought this set mainly because it's the easiest movie of the lot to pick up since there's not much of a story and it's not a very long film. This film is a shining example as to why your director should speak the same language as the cast. Jean-Pierre Jeunet has made some fantastic French films this is his only "bad" film and not really a bad film but directing actors through an interpreter had to be quite a hindrance. I can barely give directions to the nearest gas station when someone interprets into Spanish for me so I don't even want to imagine what getting a performance out of an actor was like for him. Not the greatest film ever but I think it's watchable and at it's lowest points nowhere near as bad as either AvP film. I was really wanting to type up a short review before I left for work tonight, but apparently I've gotten a bit verbose I apologize to anyone still reading I really am trying to be as concise as possible. This is basically a Blu-Ray version of the previous Quadrilogy set with a few added features, mainly short videos and images here and there, as far as the BRD exclusives are concerned. All of the commentaries and virtually everything is from 2003 so basically Fox just double-dipped the material into a more expensive package. The biggest bonus is that it's not such a hassle to open and get a disc out, everything is contained in a simple little book that holds each disc in it's own page. All the special features from the Quad are contained on one disc while every other stitch of Alien related media is on the final disc. A bit about the Blu-Ray exclusives; "Disc-Unbound" is a pretty cool idea, a six disc set that also features "Muther-Mode" where you can select a list of related features throughout the course of a film and then after the film pop in the related disc and play those selections. Kinda a cool idea it's just a shame this is all stuff I have seen a dozen times watching the Quad set. Also all the different audio tracks, subtitled commentaries so if you want to watch the movie with it's audio playing and just read the commentary, which is what I usually do is pretty neat. Isolated scores and on some films totally alternate isolated film scores are also neat in a fanboy way. I gave this set 5 stars for being the perfected version of the old Quadrilogy set which was a 4 star set at best. But in the long run you're not getting much more than the Quad in sleek new packaging with some neat new little gimmicks. I'd like to mention a bit about the packaging, I've never seen anything so sleek and well thought out with the fans in mind. Where with most box sets they just slap a bunch of discs in a generic box and ship it out and sell it to the public. This has got to be one of the most unique designs I've ever seen, it features a book like layout and each disc fits into it's own page with a double wide splash page between each disc. It's a dream compared to all the unfolding and dropping that came with the folding cardboard nine disc layout in the old Quad set. In closing I'd like to mention that if you're looking for the most bang for your buck the old Quad set costs about what this one does and has just about everything this set has to offer minus some minor bonuses, I recommend it if you've got the cash but at the same time the frugal person in me would have probably just bought the Quadrilogy instead. I'm sure they'll release the movies in individual form sooner or later so if you really don't want the third and fourth films I'd just wait for that.

I recently purchased a PS3 for the bonus of using it as a Blu-ray player, so I set out to purchase the Blu-ray versions of many of my favorite, classic Sci-Fi films. As the title of my review suggests, I already own the Alien Anthology DVD Edition, so I wanted to compare between the two for quality, which is why I gave it 5 stars. At the time I have posted this review, the Blu-Ray version is also incredibly cheap already for such a new release (2013) while the DVD version was released in (2010) - far cheaper than when I originally purchased the DVD Edition a few years ago. However, both are about the same price point now depending on sales. The extra money IS worth it for the Blu-Ray version if you have the means to play them. My review also contains below my thoughts on each film as well if you prefer an opinion if these films are even worth watching (if you are a first time viewer). And also, if one is deciding whether or not to watch the "theatrical" release or "director's cut" first of each film. IMAGE QUALITY: - Outstanding While the DVD version is already pretty decent, the Blu-Ray version of each of these films are definitely high-quality. A lot sharper detail on everything. There are definitely areas of scenes that were far more clearer, especially for background area, compared to the older VHS, and then transition to DVD. SOUND QUALITY: - Excellent Again here, my opinion is that the sound has improved slightly from the DVD version. This Blu-Ray version specifically has cleaned up audio on some of the films such as the Alien 3 Director's Cut DVD. The original Alien 3 Director's Cut DVD had input alternate or new scenes, but the audio that was spliced in was extremely quiet - it was so queit they put text on the TV so you could actually hear what they are saying for specific extra scenes. On the Blu-Ray version its not a problem at all, you can hear them perfectly and they removed the automatic subtitling from those scenes. OVERALL PACKAGE: - VERY good Plenty of extra's, all of the director's cut and theatrical releases are available in high quality, you can also watch them with commentary on or off, and there is also another disc that delves into the Alien Universe. THE FILMS: My first recommendation is to watch all of these in order, to really get a sense of the beginning of the film that definitely defined true Horror combined with Science Fiction. No doubt, these films gave me nightmares when I was child. Alien (Must See) - Where it all started and while it is old, it has stood up to the test of time with a sense of 'believability' despite the old technology used to make the film. You'll feel like you are watching real people on a space ship that are exploring planets. ------ *Should I watch the Theatrical or Director's Cut first? I recommend watching the Director's Cut -- The extra scenes do 'add' to the film's original plot, rather than becoming distractions. But do definitely watch the Theatrical release to see the difference and decide for yourself. Aliens (Excellent) - The nightmare is back for Ripley and this time its payback. The character is a strong-willed survivor that really shows that Female Heroines are needed in more films and stories. You might be thinking, well Ripley has backup this time, so maybe nothing too bad will happen, right, RIGHT? But most people already do know if they haven't seen it already ;). I think the premise of these films is more believable in confronting an unknown horror, while not invincible, the Aliens (or "xenomorphs") of this fictional universe are deadly efficient and do not give up. ------ *Should I watch the Theatrical or Director's Cut first? DEFINITELY watch the Director's Cut first - again, the extra scenes do add to the overall arcing story rather than significantly altering anything. Watch the Theatrical Release to see the difference. Alien 3 (Very Good) - Controversial for many fans, as many film goers or avid book readers are used to the Hero or Heroine and their friends having a perfect ending, which is a common "trope" of stories. This film takes that idea and turns it upside down, because this is the Alien Universe after all. Not everything turns out perfect in our world or a fictional world, and certainly not a fictional universe with aliens such as Xenomorphs. As I said with "Aliens" - Xenomorphs are relentless, emotional, nightmarish creatures that will do anything to propagate its species like an overgrown parasite. For those that have seen it, they will know exactly what I am referring to, but I do not want to spoil it for those that have not seen it. For what's it worth, I think the setting is perfect and conducive to the dark, creepy settings of the first two films and the ending is also good, with a sense of relief for the main character (The Nightmare feels like it is finally over). ------ *Should I watch the Theatrical or Director's Cut first? For this one, I have to say that the Theatrical release SHOULD be watched first. The Director's Cut is essentially an ALTERNATE movie with different events taking place, while its 'ok' in its own right, the Theatrical release feels more appropriate to the continuity of watching each film in succession. DO watch the Director's cut after to see the difference. Alien 4 or "Alien Resurrection" (Fair/Good) - I have always had mixed feelings about this film, as is common for many other fans of the series. The setting is great, but the writer (Joss Whedon) often input satirical components into the Alien Universe, which felt out of place. There is a joke, for instance, in the film (SPOILER?) where the always "up to no good" corporation "Weyland Yutani" (which any reader should or viewer of all of the 3 previous films should know by now) is "bought up by Wal-Mart." Its one of those moments where you kind of just have to laugh at the absurdity of placing such a comment in a film like this. The film itself still captures the horrifying feeling from the first 3 films and the specific effects are definitely great for both the new "CGI" Xenomorphs and the newest suits they used for the Xenomorphs. However, the story itself takes out any of the mystery and "unknown" from the first films. All in all - the film itself feels like a mess, and Ripley is deduced to a campy action hero, BUT the ACTING is plenty good for what it is. ------ *Should I watch the Theatrical or Director's Cut first? I would have to say the Director's Cut in this instance, the original theatrical release (according to the director Jeunet who was already at odds with the writer Joss Whedon), was in essence the "actual" director's cut. The extra scenes in the Director's scene do lend to try and connect Ripley to the former films. So there you have it folks. Its fairly cheap at the time I bought it and definitely a great addition for any movie collector, avid film watcher, or Sci-Fi Junkie.

How many movie franchises can stake claim at having achieved such strong cultural significance and a redefinition of their respective genres that even seeing their weakest films can stimulate the imagination? Most franchises don't have that quality, but some of them do - the "Star Wars", "Back to the Future", "Indiana Jones", "the Lord of the Rings", "Harry Potter", even "the Matrix" sagas - all of them whose best movies have emotionally and intellectually resonated with the moviegoers and whose worst movies at least offer sporadic moments of brilliance - say what you want to about "Star Wars Episode I", which is admittedly awful, but you can't deny that pod racing sequence was a dazzler. And the car chase in the bloated "Matrix Reloaded"? Awesome! These movies, no matter their flaws and weaknesses, have become indelible monuments in popular culture - parodied, imitated, paid tribute to, certainly ridiculed but definitely not ignored and certainly never forgotten. Joining that list of illustrious and indelible landmarks of pop culture is the "Alien" saga. Ever since Ridley Scott ripped John Hurt's heart out of his chest with the ferociously scary original, this saga continues to cause reverberations in the world of movies. Much like "Star Wars", which was a giant influence on the series, its impact on the public, in terms of storytelling, genre conventions and especially visuals, cannot be underestimated - not just movies, but comic-books, graphic novels, horror shows, video games, even paintings and architecture. if anything, the "Alien" saga seem tailor made for Blu-Ray. The details, the tiny nuances, the art direction, the subtle but expressive sound effects and the ruggedness of the human face, which was barely hinted in DVD, could finally be expressed on Blu-Ray and rightly so due to how much the "Alien" movies were visceral experiences visually and aurally. That's why the "Alien Anthology" was so eagerly anticipated when it came out back in 2009 and expectations were high as to rather the "Alien" movies could showcase what Blu-Ray could do in ways that DVD could not. Now the question remains: is this set we've been waiting for? The answer is a resounding yes. "Alien" in particular looks absolutely stunning. The first time I saw it on a big screen, I couldn't believe how much detail I've discovered that I did not in the Quadrilogy DVD set. Just watch the opening sequence where the Nostromo computer awakens in this set and then compare it to the DVD version and the difference in quality and quantity are staggering; you'll discover tiny tidbits that you didn't notice in the DVD set. The blackness lurking within the corridors of the Nostromo no longer look overwhelming dark; there's various shades and shadow detail that make it feel like a retro tug boat, a compressed environment that is appropriate for a group of blue-collar workers to function in. The red blood that pops out of Kane's chest, the orange fire from the flamethrower, the white blood from Ash's carcass and the blue laser light that skims through the fog as Kane discovers the eggs are so strikingly vivid that they immediately stand out, which is what Scott intended. I can't imagine "Alien" looking better than it does now on Blu-Ray. The picture quality in the three sequels are also excellent, albeit not as pristine as "Alien". When James Cameron revealed that he was going to de-grain and color correct "Aliens", several fans were understandably at arms as they felt this would distort the original look of the films. If there were any such negative changes, I didn't notice and thankfully "Aliens" looks exceptionally good and has very, very little of the ruinous plastic waxy look that we all feared it would have (anybody who watches the first Blu-Ray version of "Patton" will know what I mean). The fine detail, the balanced black levels, the strong colors and even moments of graininess are still prevalent and I didn't sense any blurriness often associated with DNR. I could pretty much the say the same for "Alien 3" and "Resurrection", although both are marginally less impressive. Because both of them are generally disdained by fans, critics and even the studio executives who financed them, it's no surprise these two films doesn't score exceptionally high grades in the picture department. "Resurrection" definitely looks the best of the two, only because of Jean-Pierre Jeunet, who is a master at delivering stunning visuals and rich color palette, directed it. Still, the picture qualities for these films are overall very good and definitely a huge improvement over their DVD counterparts. If "Aliens" and the other sequels don't offer an impeccable visual presentation like "Alien", they are still leaps and bounds over the DVD versions. Although all four movies differ in picture quality, they all sound equally sublime on audio. You haven't experienced the "Alien" saga until you've listened to them on the lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround tracks. Holy Cow, was I was blown away? "Alien" has an eerie, unsettling sound design that was merely hinted in the DVD, but is stunningly rendered on Blu-Ray. Notice the contrast between the nearly deadening silence in space and the working mechanics operating in the Nostromo. The clanking of chains, the indelible drops of water in the ducts, the operative electronics in the computer system, even the alien's horrific screaming as Ripley tries to kill it in her pod, are pushed to the forefront, giving "Alien" an overwhelmingly frightening experience that has most likely never been felt since it was first released in theater. "Aliens" (and to a lesser extent, "Alien: Resurrection") takes a direct opposite: if "Alien" was as subtle as feather, then "Aliens" is as blunt as a sledgehammer. Pulsating gunfire, ear-shattering explosions, rampant footsteps and the alien's recognizable shrieking ignite the speakers at maximum volume, giving the impression of a horrific roller-coaster ride that you can't get off of. "Alien 3" sounds just as good, but best of all, it fixes many of the audio problems that bogged down the previous DVD copy. I think it's safe to say that "Alien" fans can finally retire their DVD copies for this new and improved Blu-Ray set. But we're not done yet! I haven't even gotten started on the supplements. If you thought the "Alien Quadrilogy" on DVD was a monster, wait until you buy "Alien Anthology". It would literally take a week just to salvage through these bonus features, ranging from deleted scenes, storyboards, concept sketches to documentaries, production stills, trailer and TV spots, even parodies. As a bonus note, not only are all the DVD supplements from the previous set present, but the "Wreckage and Rage" documentary on "Alien 3" has been restored to its original length, which shows sections of director David Fincher having conflicts with studio meddling, something that didn't happen in the Quadrilogy set. I can't think of any Alien fan who would be displeased with what this set has to offer. The "Alien Anthology" is not only worth the wait, but worth buying a Blu-Ray player for. If you don't have the set already, what the heck are you waiting for? Stop reading this review and go buy it. If you thought you've fully experienced this saga before, wait till you purchase this set. In space, no one can hear you scream. But in your house, they will certainly hear you jump in joy as you've experienced the "Alien" movies like none other.

>>> This a review for the Alien Anthology BD collection, ASIN: B003AQBYUG. Please be aware of this. The other version is ASIN: B001AQO3QA, so I can make no anticipations as to whether or not these are, for what ever reason, the same items. Box sleeves appear to be identical. >>> Right off the bat, Amazon has this much more inexpensive that it deserves. I'm not gonna play the Price is Right, but it is significant. I will however say I am glad I help out on getting these movies on BD instead of buying the hit-or-missed collections that have swamped the markets. Now, I think we can all say that everyone knows most everything everything about these films, at least the basics behind them. >>> Spoiler Alert Ahead; Please move along>>> ~ ~ ~ ~ Long story short... The main protagonist in the film, Ripley is a genre staple. She goes from being a very skilled officer on a very expensive team to an expert exterminator of this highly aggressive Alien species. This all begins with a mission to land on a waste of a rock to investigate "something". The team is caught by one Alien, and Ripley is the only survivor. She gets picked up while adrift in space and gets reamed by the government and ends up line line to work a flight deck. Later, she gets called in to escort a group of Marines thinking it 'might' be one of the Aliens. The Marines land and get sliced apart, Ripley finds a survivor, and there are very few survivors including one bad @$$ Ripley (who has apparently turned into an unbelievable merger of She-Ra/Jack Bauer/Sydney Bristo/Wonder Woman). She and the others crash land on a prison planet and one Alien rips apart the personnel and Ripley saves the day again. The final film is, for the most part, ignored by the fans of the movie series. There. Up to speed in one paragraph. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ >>>End Spoilers>>> The best, non-spoiler description I can manage is this: The first Alien was a thriller; Aliens is a hard-core action flick; Alien 3 is a drama, and Alien Resurrection should have been an abortion. YMMV. Throughout the intervening years, the name Ripley, has become the epitome of strong and capable sci-fi hero. Every film is amazing, even if it only in the deleted scenes. Since 1979, we've watched and cheered for her. All four films come in two versions - the original or the final director's cut. Both are enhanced amazingly with the digital restorations; one of the best scenes in my opinion is in the fourth film when we see the aliens swimming underwater. Now, we have some great special features for our viewing pleasure. As if the Director's cuts were not enough. We have isolated music scores for the theatrical versions. Audio commentary is included with several tracks. But there is a "MU.TH.ER" mode which throughout each film can change settings such as audio and visual during the film without the need to restart the film or go back for a few minutes teetering around the menus. Another feature is the trivia track, perfect for first time viewers. There is also a lumbering giant of "Never Before Seen" footage that cannot be found on any other collection of the DVDs or BDs. On top of that, we have two extra discs that have been collected over the years so that we - our inner film geeks - have it all collected right here. All films are given the standard 5.1/DTS tracks. I think this series needed the 7.1 treatment, seriously. There's a great handful of subtitles, which as some of the readers here should be used to my strong reactions to the small things like subtitles, good sound tracks and the like. To sum things up, if you are a fan you should already have this in your collections. If you've been waiting, pick it up, but be careful: Amazon has two sets for BD and the other doesn't have near the added material. Plus, it's more pricey. This is the one you want: B003AQBYUG (which has a total of 552 hours of bonus everything). This is one of those film sets that everyone in marketing should watch and emulate. These films are classics. And in my eyes, they have finally gotten the quality release they've deserved.

I specifically ordered product ASIN: B001AQO3QA But I received the Ireland boxed library book set with the symbol of 18 on the front, with a code of X000RD7XMJ on the wrapper. On one hand, this might be valued by others as a nicer collection to sit on a shelf or in a box. Its the Blu-Ray case inside a sort of fancy cardboard book sleeve. On the other hand, in the "Live Extras" category it searches the internet for extras but states that they are not available for my region. Since viewing the material is the utility I actually purchased the Blu-Ray for, it upsets me that I can not utilize this feature in my 'region'. Perhaps just being denied something that is not there is an insult enough. But mostly I'm bothered that Amazon lumps all 30+ versions of these randomized movie sets into a single item, where it really becomes a crap shoot of what item the seller is actually selling. I read a lot of reviews that clearly stated they were reviewing specifically a certain set, nearly all of the reviews are for different sets, and I started to realize that if I was going to get this 6 disc set for thirty bucks that I was going to have to trust the amazon ordering system to somehow give me what I wished for. Obviously I did not get the item advertised in the picture. (No 18 in the pic.) After talking with my brother, I realized the reason the Irish version is being sent out is that Ireland has the least corporate tax of all the nations. On to the movies... severe spoilers if you haven't seen the movies ever. Alien: I just finished watching the 2003 director's cut of Alien, I watched it first, and although the picture quality is extremely superb, I also wish the set had the version with crappy film grain quality. With such perfect resolution, my teenagers saw the alien hiding instantly, where in the first version (being so grainy) it was still kind of hidden in the machinery and a shocker when you realize its starting to move. The one time the alien jump scares you, its laughable since you clearly see it poses in the same hysterical pose from all the movies and video games, which is not reaching at you, but actually a jester's pose or spirit fingers. The worst part is when Ash's head is removed and they clearly cut the film and replace the prop head with the actor's head, there is an actual gap in film footage. There was no moving a human across the scene to stop the disbelief. It was just "here's a movie prop", then black footage, "now here's the real actor's talking head". This seems out of character for the movie since so much work seemed to go into the face hugger's skin, coloring, and details and fleshy under mass, and Ash's face with his blood cleverly painted and splashed on, right down to the details of the alien's metal teeth. I would really like to see a version where it became grainy when an alien was in the scene, or even when the crew could not see well due to being in a space suit or being too dark. The movie was so clear that I am beginning to wonder if the original film grain was an aftereffect for the first movie. haha... It would be really neat if you could mark certain scenes to being grainy or not, then watch the complete movie as you have marked it. Anyway, I was hoping it would be a memorably scary movie for my teenagers, but seemed to be a laugh fest during. But at least after the movie, it was too scary to watch the second film for them. So... maybe it wasn't so horrible after all. I'll have to watch the theatrical version to see if the same mistakes are so horribly obvious.

Excellent purchase.

The "Alien Anthology" has been long-awaited in high definition goodness pretty much since the technology hit the market. This is one of the sets everyone wanted and was eager to see how the technology would make these films look and sound, with only "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones" perhaps being more anticipated. There was much pre-release speculation that this might be a letdown, especially after James Cameron (who was deeply involved with the restoration of "Alien" made some comments about "de-graining" it which had purists reeling with concern that it was a victim of the dreaded digital noise reduction , leaving it with a waxy, smeared look (much like the recent release of "Predator). I am happy to report this set not only meets all expectations, but exceeds them. Each film looks brilliant in 1080p high definition. The films have been restired frame by frame with the original directors supervising and even technical problems that plagued the prior releases have been corrected. I could go film by film but it would be an exercise in redundance as they all look fabulous, grain structures have been kept in tact. "Aliens" did have some DNR applied, but for good reason given how bad it looked before. The cameras that were used at the time were supposed to be state of the art, however, they were recalled the year after this was hot. The film grain remains in tact, but the scratchy noise which washed out the color scheeme is gone. These films have never looked better since they were each in the editing bays. The soundtracks for each is a bombastic DTS-HD MA 5.1, and it's everything you would hope for. "Alien" in particular ( made in 1978, released in '79) looks and sounds like it was shot yesterday. Your house will shake every time a ship passes the screen. Directional effects on all the films are awesome. I heard sound effects I have never heard before thanks to the lossless encode. "Aliens", the most action heavy, will blow you out of your seat and pulverize the listening area. Alien 3 looks spectacular with David Fincher perfecting the visual look that would follow his films up to the recent "The Social Network." "Alien Resurrection" probably fares the best of the bunch, as it was the most recently made, and the colors just pop off the screen and the gunshots and explosions are deafening. The special features are the most comprehensive, exhaustive set I have ever seen on any DVD release. There are too many to list here, but there are dozens of featurettes, documentaries, all films have audio commentaries, isolated scores, etc. Each film comes with an extended edition. This is a first-rate DVD set and it is everything we fans could have hoped for. This is the best these films will ver look and sound and with all the special features this makes this set a no-brainer. Even if some may find the price a bit steep, you are getting 4 films, each with the director's cut and theatrical editions mastered at the highest level of quality. Think of it as an investment and something you will enjoy over and over. The special features alone will take viewers a long time to get through. It is an experience and it is what blu-ray is all about and what makes the technology so exciting. Highest recommendation.

10/10

4作品をまとめて通して見ることで、改めて作品ストーリの重みが、伝わって来ました。 最後は、すごい恐怖を超えて、なんだか笑ってしまいました。連続で見ると夢に出てくるので、DVDを一時停止して休みながら、1本ずつ日を変えて見ましょう。好きな人は、まとめて見てください。

Qué edicion extraordinaria. Son dvd pero remasterizados y se ven tan bien como un br. Son 8 dvd, 4 pelis y 4 de extras. Viene tipo libro, cada página 1 disco con lo que se manipulan perfectamente, puedes escoger idiomas, sonido envolvente, audio comentarios, versiones... Extraordinario. Antes se hacían las cosas mejor. No incluye las pelis de prometheus, que era lo que yo buscaba.

Contiene tutto il necessario. La qualità è superba. Il restauro dei primi due film è mozzafiato. Contenuti extra estesi.

La Alien Anthology de 6 blu-ray es casi perfecta y tiene un verdadero valor coleccionable debido a su alta calidad tanto en el material incluido en cada disco como por la excelente manufactura de esta edición. La caja está fabricada a manera de libro y carece por completo de plásticos ya que todo está hecho de un cartón grueso y de buena calidad. La impresión es perfecta y el arte está realmente bien cuidado poniendo varias de las escenas más icónicas de cada filme en las "hojas" correspondientes. Además de que la impresión de las pastas duras del libro como su "case" o funda de cartón están impresas con un acabado que parece cromo iridiscente, el cual le da un acabado muy premium. Y hablando de la funda, ésta trae adherida en la parte trasera una hoja con las especificaciones técnicas y de contenido de cada disco. Dicha hoja se puede retirar cuidadosamente para dejar al descubierto un huevo de xenomorfo que igualmente es icónico de la saga. Quizá el único punto negativo de todo el empaque sería que para sacar cada disco hay que ser muy cuidadoso para no maltratar el espacio que lo contiene. Sin embargo, lo realmente importante son los filmes. Las 4 películas vienen en un blu-ray cada una contando con dos versiones a elegir: la versión original que se proyectó en cines o la versión del director o una versión especial, según sea el caso. La calidad de la imagen es Full HD y cuentan tambien con salida de audio en 5.1. Incluso vienen dobladas al español latino por si prefieren verlas así en lugar de con el audio original, sin embargo algo que hay que tener en cuenta es que la versión extendida suele tener dos doblajes en la misma película, lo cual rompe la inmersión. Esto es debido a que utilizan el doblaje que se realizó originalmente y para las escenas que se agregaron posteriormente en la versión especial o del director, se usó un doblaje diferente. También es posible ver los filmes con los comentarios de los directores, productores, escritores y actores involucrados en cada película así como con dos opciones de banda sonora en caso de ser elegible. Además de los 4 discos de las películas, se incluyen 2 discos más con varias horas de material extra que son muy jugosos en cuanto a anécdotas y datos curiosos sobre cada filme, así como imágenes y documentales que muestra la evolución que ha tenido la franquicia. Sin lugar a dudas, esta es una edición que no debería de faltar en la colección de los fans del xenomorfo y que incluso puede llegar enamorar a quienes apenas comiencen a acercarse al universo de Alien.