The Alien Anthology does what I didn't think was possible; it actually tops 2003's Alien Quadrilogy DVD set not only because of the obvious visual and audio quality upgrade that comes with the Blu-ray media, but also in terms of the sheer number of special features for each of the series' movies. This collection doesn't just provide a nice selection of extras to make Alien fans happy, but near as I can tell, contains every single tidbit that has been created concerning the making of the films.
While the massive number of special features is both awesome and awe-inspiring, what really matters is how these four films turn out in HD.
While Alien sets its mood with dark lighting, claustrophobic corridors and deep shadows, the crisp visuals don't hinder the film's mood in any way. This was actually a bit of concern for me before popping in the disc, but instead the shadows get deeper and the overall feel of the confined Nostromo become much more apparent - especially given the top notch surround sound.
Alien follows seven "outer-space truck drivers" (as the various making-of featurettes refer to it) who are awakened only halfway to their destination because their ship's computer, MU-TH-UR (pronounced "Mother") has detected an alien distress message, and it is the cargo-ship's responsibility to investigate any such signals. At least, that's the party line from their parent company.
When the crew lands on the desolate planet, they discover a downed ship full of deceased creatures, as well as a ton of eggs. When one of the eggs opens and attaches itself to the face of one of the crew, Kane (John Hurt), the trouble really begins. Kane is the first of the crew to die when the thing from the egg impregnates him with a smaller version of the creature that has caused many-a-nightmare. Kane's death comes when the creature bursts out of his chest, and more deaths soon follow as the monster grows to its full height and killing abilities.
The Nostromo's other crew members include Sigourney Weaver as Ripley, the series' heroine, Veronica Cartwright as Lambert, Ian Holm as the ship's Science Officer, Ash, Yaphet Kotto as Parker, the Chief Engineer, his teammate Brett (played by Harry Dean Stanton) and the ship's captain, Dallas (Tom Skerritt).
When the crew of the Nostromo is all but eradicated, Ripley finds herself all alone and going into hibernation for the last few weeks of her trip back to Earth.When her shuttle misses the mark and keeps traveling, she isn't found until 57 years later when Aliens starts up. Ripley tries to start her new life, but for some reason the company she worked for, The Weyland-Yutani Corporation, seems to be keeping tabs on her with a suit by the name of Carter Burke (Paul Reiser). It seems their desire to keep in touch is made clear when her story leads to an investigation on the planet her shipmates stumbled upon leaves the whole colony unresponsive to all forms of communication.
Now Ripley joins up with the original Space Marines, Hicks (Michael Biehn), Hudson (Bill Paxton), Vasquez (Janette Goldstein), Gorman (William Hope), Al Apone (Al Matthews) and an android named Bishop (Lance Henricksen). There are some interesting relationships that play out in this team. Sgt. Apone is a very direct character who knows what he wants out of his men, while the squad's commanding officer, Gorman, is fresh out of officer school and having trouble dealing with the responsibility. Meanwhile, the grunts like Hudson, Vasquez and Hicks seem to have some trouble believing in the new leader, not to mention the fact that none of them even know Ripley or why she is on this mission.
When they arrive at the colony, they find that it is overrun by Alien creatures who have used the colony's population to multiply in an out-of-control manner. While poking around the facility, they find a young girl, Newt (Carrie Henn), hiding in the bases' ventilation system, and Ripley takes the child under her care and promises to get her off of the planet.
Where the first movie was all about suspense and hinting at the creature's true form, Aliens goes the action route with tons of guns and futuristic weapons, not to mention the hordes of enemies the marines will have to face.
Much like the first film, the characters start getting picked off one by one until Ripley faces a whole new kind of Alien, the Queen. What results is an iconic battle between the large Alien monster and Ripley's bright-yellow Load Lifter, and while she isn't alone when she goes to sleep this time, her fellow survivors don't survive to see the third film.
Alien 3 has the survivors' life boat crashing on a prison planet that is close to being shut down and only 25 inmates are left to man the place before it is shut down for good. When Ripley wakes, she not only learns of the all-male prison colony, but also that Weyland-Yutani has been contacted about her presence and is sending a rescue ship to pick her up. Plans change though when a series of deaths leads Ripley to believe an Alien made it onto the ship and has started doing what it does best, killing. This time, a human isn't the creature's host. We get to see the adaptive capabilities of the creature when it bursts out of a ... well, in the theatrical release, it was a dog, in the 2003 Special Edition, it became an ox. Either way, the four-legged creature is fast and likes to stalk even more than the first film's version.
What's a shame is that this Alien 3 uses CG for the first time in the series to portray the enemy creature, and in high definition, it is very noticeable. While there are still quite a lot of practicals used in the film, especially for the creature's close-ups, it just doesn't have the same feel and weight as the creatures of the previous two movies. This particular issue seems to be cleaned up quite a bit though in the fourth and final film, Alien Resurrection.
When Ripley's battle with the creature on the prison planet leads to her own death, the series seems to come to an end, but in the last film's opening, we not only jump ahead another 200 years, but we learn that Ripley is being cloned, and quite frankly, not very well. You see, she died in the last movie to keep an Alien Queen implanted within her from being born (something we see in the theatrical release, but not the special edition). Now, in Resurrection, we no longer have the company to deal with; instead, the military has decided to bring Ripley back in order to extract the Queen chest-burster and use it as the same weapon the company tried to do so many years before.
Not only have they been able to extract the creature, but it seems that neither it nor Ripley are solely who they were before. Ripley seems to have some new-found strength, fighting abilities, and yes, even the acidic blood that makes the creatures as hard to kill as they are. At least she doesn't have a second mouth on her tongue like the creatures do.
When a band of mercenaries deliver some cargo to the research vessel, they end up trapped on the ship as another breakout of Aliens occur. This group is lead by Frank (Michael Wincott), and has crew members like Sabra (Kim Flowers), Chrisitie (Gary Dourdan), Johner (Ron Perlman), the handicapped Vriess (Dominique Pinon) and Winona Ryder as Annalee Call. Call is the first to recognize Ripley, and when she tries to kill the woman, everyone realizes that Call is an anti-war "terrorist" trying to stop whatever is going on at the research lab.
The series has its high and low points. Personally, the first two movies tie for first in my opinion since they really approach the situation from two different angles, while the latter two just don't quite match up. All that being said, any low points that the lesser movies might bring to the table is more than made up for by the special features.
Not only does each film's disc come with both versions of each film, commentary, isolated scores and deleted/extended scenes, but there are two more Blu-ray discs of special features that were either included in the Quadrilogy collection, or on the LaserDisc release or never before seen.
The collection's fifth disc, is crammed with new featurettes for each of the films. I was especially interested in each film's origin featurettes that talk about the troubles that went into simply getting the films started. There are also featurettes concerning the creature designs as well as more standard, behind-the-scenes spots about particular scenes in the film. As for the creature designs, I found these very interesting as they not only interview H.R. Giger several times, but also Stan Winston and several other effects creators who contributed to the series. There are also, of course, discussions with various directors from the series, namely, Ridley Scott, James Cameron and Jean-Pierre Jeunet.
The last disc covers all of the special features found in the aforementioned Quadrilogy set. This includes pre-production features like storyboards, concept art and screen tests as well as production features concerning everything from visual effects to Giger's work and image galleries. There is also a post-production section for each film that typically contains deleted scenes and even more images (the packaging claims over 12,000 still in this Blu-ray boxed set).
The Alien Anthology also features a system called MU-TH-UR Mode that acts similarly to ABC's Season Play feature. Here, you can use this mode to jump from special feature to special feature without having to wait through many of the disc's warning and loading screens. Basically, when you set this mode up and tell it what you want to watch, it tells you when to switch discs and just eject one, pop in the next, and continue on with little to no interruption.
Needless to say, there is a lot in this boxed set, and it far surpasses the previous big set's extras. While the price is a bit steep, it does contain pretty much everything Alien, well, without crossing into the Alien vs. Predator and Predator series. I highly recommend this collection as a purchase to any major Alien fan, but if nothing else, pick it up for a rental - seeing all four films together in high definition is a great experience.
