Alien Quadrilogy

[Onibubba]

A long time in coming, the ultimate edition of the Aliens series is finally upon us. Man, there is going to be some very cool shit in these films. I consider the first 2 masterpieces, the 3rd a very cool dark horror film, and the 4th, well, Sig looks great, Winonna looks great, Ron Perlman looks great, and the director is Jeunet, so I can forgive a lot. And best of all, all 4 will have commentaries and more bonus features then you can shake a Lord of the Rings Extended Edition DVD at. Observe:

"The chest-bursters are back. In an announcement that surprised no one, Fox Home Entertainment has officially unveiled the full specs for The ALIEN Quadrilogy, a nine-disc box set that promises to be one of the most extensive in history. While this past week's theatrical re-release of the original ALIEN (oops, make that "The Director's Cut") didn't light the box office on fire, it is all about this box set anyway, isn't it? So, what will this long-awaited mega-set, which streets on December 2nd, contain?

The seminal classic ALIEN brings you:
The original 1979 theatrical version and the 2003 Director's cut
An introduction by Director Ridley Scott, Dan O'Bannon, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt and more
Brand new commentary by Ridley Scott and the technical crew
Nine brand new documentaries: "Star Beast," "The Visualists," "Truckers In Space," "Fear Of The Unknown," "The Darkest Reaches," "The Eight Passenger," "Future Tense," "Outward Bound" and "A Nightmare Fulfilled"
A Multi-Angle Scene Study on the Chestburster sequence with optional commentary
Sigourney Weaver's original screen test with optional commentary
Seven deleted scenes with index
The first draft of the screenplay by O'Bannon
Ridleygrams - Original thumbnails and sketches
Storyboard Archives
"Art of Alien" including a cast portrait gallery, production gallery,
the sets of Alien, H.R. Giger's Workshop, continuity polaroids and VFX gallery
Original theatrical posters and stills from the premiere

The first sequel ALIENS:
The original theatrical version - available for the first time ever on DVD
- and the special edition
An introduction by Director James Cameron
Brand new commentary by Cameron, Michael Biehn, Jenette Goldstein, Carrie Henn, Terry Henn, Lance Henriksen, Gale Anne Hurd, Pat McClung, Bill Paxton, Dennis Skotak, Robert Skotak and Stan Winston
James Cameron original treatment
Nine brand new featurettes: "57 Years Later," "Building Better Worlds," "Preparing For Battle," "This Time It's War," "The Risk Always Lives," "Bug Hunt," "Beauty And The Bitch," "Two Orphans" and "Aliens Unleashed"
The Art of Aliens including conceptual art portfolio, cast portraits,
production gallery, continuity polaroids, Stan Winston's workshop, VFX gallery and premiere stills
Deleted footage marker and deleted scene index
Multi-angle videomatics with optional commentary
An Easter Egg

The much-maligned ALIEN 3:
The original theatrical version and a restored pre-release version with
more than 30 minutes of never-before-seen footage
Brand new commentary by cinematographer Alex Thompson, Editor Terry Rawlings, VFX designers Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff Jr., effects producer Richard Edlund, and actors Paul McGann and Lance Henriksen
11 new featurettes: "Development," "Tales Of The Wooden Planet," "Pre-Production III," "Xeno-Erotic," "Production: Part One, Part Two, and Part Three," "Adaptive Organism," "Optical Fury," "Music, Editing And Sound" and "Post-Mortem"
E.E.V. Bio-Scan - A multi-angle vignette with optional commentary by Gillis
The Art of Alien 3 including conceptual art portfolio, production gallery, and visual effects
Furnace construction time lapse
Storyboard archives

ALIEN Resurrection, starring a pre-bust Winona Ryder:
The original theatrical version and an extended cut with alternate opening and ending sequences
An introduction by director Jean Pierre Jeunet
Brand new commentary by Jeunet, Herve Schneid, Alec Gillis, Tom Woodruff Jr., Pitof, Sylvain Despretz, Ron Perlman, Dominique Pinon and Leland Orser
First draft of the screenplay by Joss Whedon
11 new featurettes: "From The Ashes," "French Twist," "Under The Skin," "Death From Below," "In The Zone," "Unnatural Mutation," "Genetic Mutation," "Genetic Composition," "Virtual Alien," "A Matter Of Scale" and "Critical Junction"
Multi-angel rehearsal footage
A Mike Carro photo gallery, a conceptual art gallery, VFX gallery, a
promotional photo archive and continuity polaroids
Storyboard archives
An Easter Egg

And the Bonus Disc:

A brand new Q&A with Ridley Scott
"Experience in Terror" - A promotional featurette from 1979
"Alien Evolution" - Channel 4 U.K. exclusive documentary on Alien
A complete laser disc archive of Alien and Aliens
Original theatrical trailers and TV spots from all four films
"Aliens In The Basement" - Inside the Bob Burns ALIEN Collection
Dark Horse cover gallery - Anthology of 11 issues of the ALIEN comics
DVD-ROM feature - Script to screen comparisons
How much will this behemoth cost you? Only $99.95."

[Sir Diddimus]

Sounds promising....

Better start saving now.

[Lost Traveler]

eeek 99.95 but lots of cool stuff, them in order that I like them
1,4,3,2.

[Onibubba]

It is a pricey box set, but worth it I think for 4 good films. Besides, if you do an advance order from places like Amazon or DeepdiscountDVD.com, you can usually knock about 35% off plus no tax or shipping. I'm expecting to pay no more than 70.00 once available for preorder from DeepdiscountDVD.

[Onibubba]

Preoder total from Deepdiscountdvd.com = 73.19. No tax, no shipping. Not too shabby

[Onibubba]

And Fox Home Entertainment has announced the full specs for the individual special edition versions of the ALIEN Quadrilogy, which will be made available separately on January 6th. Each of the four films - ALIEN, ALIENS, ALIEN 3 and ALIEN Resurrection - will, as expected, be two-disc sets with the exact same extras and material as in the box set, only sans the bonus ninth disc.

[Lost Traveler]

might make them a little easier to collect but the box set would be nice.