ALIEN ANTHOLOGY Has Arrived!

[AndyDursin]

Can you say singular greatest Blu-Ray/DVD set of all-time?

Charlie de lauzirika is the expert when it comes to supplemental materials. Can't articulate how amazing this package is. Among some of the highlights (still going through it as my copy just came in this morning):

-Multiple isolated score tracks on ALIEN and ALIENS
-Burke's death scene from ALIENS shown for the first time
-Uncut ALIEN 3 documentary
-Brilliant transfers...ALIENS looks utterly fantastic!

Also, and I can't stress this enough, you really NEED to buy this box-set, because only this set has the 2 supplemental discs where 99% of all the extras are. Even if you don't like 3 and 4, or whatever, you won't get the documentaries and other materials for ALIEN and ALIENS unless you buy this release. The stand-alone discs will have the isolated score tracks and commentaries but not much else on them.

Amazon is selling it at $89 this weekend and while it seems steep, I remember forking over $100 a-piece for the ALIEN and ALIENS CAV laserdisc sets back in the day. This package is worth every penny and then some!

[mkaroly]

DAMN! Lol....I was hoping you'd say the transfers were bad. I don't want to spend the money....but I can't pass this up! AAAH!

[Eric W.]

Can't wait!

[AndyDursin]

Michael, join us...........join us...............lol.

Between this, BLADE RUNNER, the CE3K disc -- there's plenty in the BD format worth investing in. You won't regret it! (though your wallet might lol). If you want to wait until Black Friday, go ahead, because there might be some more deals on players/software at that time.

It's really great to see them restore Charlie's ALIEN 3 doc. It's even "meatier" now -- I also forgot to thrown in the 5 additional hours (!) of outtakes from those documentaries including a Goldsmith interview where he says he was "disgusted" by the ALIEN characters and was rooting for the monster to win! lol.

The BTTF set Universal released is decent but pales in comparison to the massive amounts of extras and superior transfers the ALIEN set has received.

[AndyDursin]

Review is going up shortly in this week's column...good thing I worked on the rest of it yesterday!

[John Johnson]

Alien: Sigourney Weaver Screen Test

http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=29268

[AndyDursin]

Yep, just saw that on the 6th disc.

As I said, die-hard fans really NEED to buy this anthology, because if they just do a standalone release of ALIEN in the future, you'll only get the commentary and isolated score. All the trailers, documentaries and everything else are on the supplemental discs.

Note those discs are only in 480p but I assume it was a space concern (much like the BLADE RUNNER supplemental discs). Other than the trailers it's not like there's anything there that needs to be in real HD anyway.

[Monterey Jack]

Also, and I can't stress this enough, you really NEED to buy this box-set, because only this set has the 2 supplemental discs where 99% of all the extras are. Even if you don't like 3 and 4, or whatever, you won't get the documentaries and other materials for ALIEN and ALIENS unless you buy this release. The stand-alone discs will have the isolated score tracks and commentaries but not much else on them.

[youtube]moHt_nQNoe0&feature=related[/youtube]

[mkaroly]

I just pre-ordered the set. I just cannot, in good conscience, pass this up. Now I have to get a BR player and a TV (not a huge TV), so this is going to be pricey I think. I don't want crap products but I don't need top of the line products either.

However, the ALIEN films (excepting Resurrection) are some of my all-time favorite films and I cannot get enough of them. Time to get on ebay and sell some film scores to pay for all this....lol....but to think of how great those movies are going to look....

[AndyDursin]

Michael we can help you out. Paul's looking to get a new TV too, maybe you guys can compare notes. (He's looking at a nice Panasonic plama, 42" for $560 shipped right now on Amazon).

The player is no big deal, you can nab one for $100 easy if not now than on Black Friday or between now and Christmas.

[Monterey Jack]

I just read in the Digital Dits review of the set that the discs slide into "book" sleeves.

Goddammit, this is THE worst way to package DVDs, as sleeves scratch the HELL out of them. Granted, Blu-Rays are a lot more difficult to scratch than DVDs, but still.

Can you provide some pics of the interior packaging, Andy?

[Eric W.]

^^I don't like that kind of packaging, either. More info would be appreciated.

[AndyDursin]

I really like the packaging on the US version. Yes they slide into the sleeves, but the form-factor of this set is quite appealing. It's kind of like a double-sized "Digibook" where you put the discs into the pages, but the pages are pretty thick (with full color artwork), and there's a pouch for liner notes in the back. It doesn't take up a whole lot of room.

Like you said MJ, Blu-Rays also have much less of a tendency to scratch than DVDs, so I really wouldn't worry about marking them up this way.

Now, there are other international versions I've seen that are bulkier and have plastic spindles, but I'm all about taking up less room on the shelf these days and that "gimmicky" kind of packaging doesn't do a whole lot for me. They also don't look as attractive either.

EDIT -- Took some pics for you guys

http://andyfilm.com/102310first.JPG

http://andyfilm.com/102310a.JPG

http://andyfilm.com/1023b.JPG

[AndyDursin]

Well guys if you want to save some $$, Amazon UK is the way to go

Looks like the same packaging as the US version, and even more...$30 less even with shipping! The discs themselves are apparently exactly the same and will play in any US player (as often is the case with international Blu-Rays from major studios that arent region locked), so I'd go with this.





Items: GBP 31.91
Postage & Packing: GBP 3.08

Total before VAT: GBP 34.99
VAT: GBP 0.00
Order Total: GBP 34.99

Payment Total: USD 56.97**

[scoremeister]

just recieved the alien blu ray set , which is excellent by the way. I am a bit confused of how to access the index of the isolated scores as it says in the notes you can select the various cues from the index however i can only find the isolated score on the audio menus and the muthr mode on the options , it shows what cue it is etc , but does not show you an index of the scenes with music i wanted to access the various scenes with music, and choose random play. In the booklet to the set it says you can do this , however i have spent over an hour trying to find how o do this , can anyone help on this one ?
many thanks