Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #30969 in DVD
• Released on: 2000-05-15
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Number of discs: 5
• Formats: Box set, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 528 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
This deluxe five-disc package shows off not only the merits of the films on offer but the wide possibilities of the DVD medium. Even if you're among the many that only rate two or three of the Alien films, this is still an essential purchase. (The jury is still out on the interesting-but-muddy Alien 3, directed by David Fincher--who went on to make Seven and Fight Club--while Alien: Resurrection by Jean-Pierre Jeunet of Delicatessen fame is the nearest the series has come to an ordinary movie.)

Although more than 20 years old, Ridley Scott's Alien (1979) has hardly dated. It's a film of suspense and terror rather than action and excitement, as disturbing (if illogical) as ever, thanks to Swiss-artist HR Giger's visionary monster design, rooted by a clutch of interesting Anglo-American actors (Sigourney Weaver, Yaphet Kotto, Ian Holm, John Hurt, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, Tom Skerritt). Weaver, making her career breakthrough here, slowly emerges from the pack as the survivor, but the sequel, Aliens (1986), really puts her acting skills (for which she was Oscar-nominated) centre-screen, as the maternal warrior-woman whose compassion makes her fitter to survive than the gung-ho space marines. Titanic director James Cameron's action chops are demonstrated best in the series' duel between Ripley and the "bad mother" alien queen. Watched back-to-back, even the less-satisfying later films work as developments of Weaver's Ripley character, as she becomes a tired martyr in Alien 3 (1992) and is reborn as a part-alien clone in Alien: Resurrection (1997).

In this box set, all four films are presented in widescreen aspect ratios derived from pristine prints allowing you to discern more in the shadows than you get in even the best video editions. The imaginatively designed interactive menus flash the logos and computer codes of Weyland-Yutani (the evil corporation in the films) helping you to "access transmission". The digital English soundtrack can be augmented with optional subtitles in English, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Portuguese, Hebrew, Polish, Czech, Hungarian and Icelandic (impress your friends by reeling off the Hebrew for "Get away from her, you bitch"). Alien has an informative audio commentary by Ridley Scott (whose obsession with detail, see for example his recent Gladiator, suits him perfectly to the task of talking you through his typically hyper-designed films). Also included are deleted scenes and outtakes (such as the until-now-legendary sequence showing the ship's captain in a cocoon, plus a few clearer looks at the original beastie), several trailers, tons of production paintings and stills, the storyboard, an alternate music track and the original score in isolation.

The sequels all have trailers, but the extras diminish with each disc. The "Director's Cut" included on Aliens (17 crucial minutes longer than the original theatrical release, which means you find out Ripley's first name is Ellen) has an interview with Cameron and some backstage footage. Alien 3 contains a "making of" documentary that actually covers all three films, while Alien: Resurrection only has a brief making-of "featurette" (oddly, neither Alien 3's director Fincher nor Resurrection's Jean-Pierre Jeunet are interviewed, and Jeunet isn't even mentioned). An extra fifth disc, free with the set, contains "The Alien Legacy", an hour-long documentary on the making of the first film, concentrating on the script, design, effects, production and direction. --Kim Newman

Special Features
Wide Screen
English
Region 2
Alien Legacy Featurette
Original Trailers
Interviews
Behind The Scenes
Photo Galleries
Original Storyboards
Isolated Original Scores
Alternate Music Track
Deleted Scenes
Extra Footage

Synopsis
Boxset of all 4 features in the ALIEN quadrilogy. The ultimate sci-fi/horror series, ALIEN: Director Ridley Scott's breakthrough film, an immensely successful blend of horror and science fiction. Starring Sigourney Weaver as warrant officer Ellen Ripley, the crew of the space cargo ship Nostromo land on a moribund planet in response to a faint SOS. Inside a crashed ship, the crew members come upon strange pods...ALIENS: Ripley, the sole survivor from the first film, is awakened after 57 years of drifting through space, her stories disbelieved by Company executives who tell her that the alien's planet is now inhabited and colonized. ALIEN 3: David Fincher's debut as a director, ALIEN 3, picks up almost directly after the events in ALIENS, finding Ripley frozen in suspended animation as her ship crashes on Fiorina 161, a prison planet. Trapped on a barren planet with convicts and no weapons of any kind, Ripley soon realizes that an alien was also on the ship and has survived. ALIEN RESURRECTION: The fourth installment of the wildly popular series, a drop of Ellen Ripley's blood spawns a part human, part alien Ripley clone. Now that Ripley is dead, the clone has fallen into the hands of government scientists who want to harness the Ripley clone's breeding powers.

Customer Reviews

worth every penny
This DVD set is an essential purchase for any Aliens / sci-fi fan. All four films are worth watching although they have very different styles having been directed by different people.
Alien, the original story, is full of menace and really manages to pump up the tension. The crew of Nostromo are woken to answer what they think is a distress call only to have crewman Kane (John Hurt) become an incubator for a previously unknown alien...what follows is cinematic history. Sigourney Weaver made her debut as Ripley, only survivor of the crew.
Aliens, the second film, is that rare beast, a follow up movie that is as good as the first. It is a much more 'gung ho' action film. Ripley very reluctantly agrees to return to the planet of her nightmares after contact has been lost with the colonists who are terraforming the world. Accompanying her is a motley bunch of marines as well as a company representative and, much to her disgust, an android. This time there is not just one alien to worry about.
At first glance Alien 3 doesn't seem as good as the previous two movies but certainly improves on a second viewing. Alien 3 is set on a penal colony world where Ripley's ship has crashed. She is the only female on a world full of the most dangerous, evil dregs of society. The only support she finds is from the colony's doctor (Charles Dance). When it becomes apparent that, yet again, the Alien has survived, Ripley has to convince, and then work with the prisoners in order to try and finally destroy her nemesis.
Alien Resurrection is set a couple of hundred years after the third film. Ripley has been cloned in order for the US military to try and extract knowledge of the Alien from her. Never ones to learn a lesson, they think they can use the Aliens as weapons. 'Resurrection' has plenty of tension and fear to offer but also explores a more emotional theme, exploring Ripley's relationship with the aliens. This is probably the weakest of the quadrilogy although for die-hard fans of Aliens and Ripley there is enough to keep the interest going.
The first two discs have a wealth of extras that add hours of fun. There are also some hidden extras. Discs 3 and 4 are very weak on their special features. All movies have the quality of sound and vision you would expect from this format.
All in all a very good set that is well owning.

Worth the money!
This box set is well worth the money! with Alien and Aliens being the outstanding films,Alien 3 gives atmosphere and fear and Alien Resurrection gives an all round good action film. The extras on Alien and Aliens are great and well worth a look if your an Alien fan, however the most impressive part of this DVD package has to be the sound quality! if you have a widescreen with speakers then you simply must get this for the superb, scary atmosphere which the Alien films gave at the cinema.

The ultimate in sci-fi horror.
This box set was such a must for me I actually bought it before I had a DVD player. I belive all 4 films are at least good. The bonus DVD in this set is very interesting as it shows how the first Alien film was concieved and developed. It also introduces you to Geiger, the makier of the Alien that is so famous. The films themselves are all fantastic. The first gives you tension and suprise on board the Nostromo. Good character development at the beginning of the film and the ever famous chest bursting scene make this film a favourite of many alien fans. The second film, and my personal favourite pits a group of elite marines agaist an army of aliens. The fight sequences are great and the way the marines fall apart show how formidable and powerful the aliens are. This film is the directors cut version and the bonus 20 minutes make the film a little more interesting to those of you that have only seen the orignal cut. The centry guns are especially good as they give you a better idea of how many aliens there actually are. The third goes to the other extreme, this time it is a group of religous inmates against the alien. Fincher brings in his own ideas making the alien slightly different and giving Riply a hair cut. The final part of the saga jumps forward 200 years with the aliens this time being grown on purpose for biological weapons. They escape and again it is a race against time to get off the ship and destroy the creatures. More new twists and possibly the worst looking "thing" I have every seen towards the end of the film make this film a reasonable worthy addition the Alien Saga. All have bonus material which is interesting, especially to the hardcore Alien fan like myself.