My local electronics store already had the Alien Anthology bluray on the shelves this Tuesday (October 19). At first I thought the street date had been changed at the last minute (it wouldn't be the first time). But it appears that all the websites still list the release date for next Tuesday (Oct 26), so I guess my local store must have made a mistake (it wouldn't be the first time for that either).
In either case, I already got my hands on the Alien Anthology set, and I thought that Alien fans who are still trying to decide whether it's worth the upgrade before next week's proper street date might want to know the following:
(Note: This review assumes that most of you have already seen the films, and there may be some very mild spoilers.)
[UPDATE: I've added LOTS more detail about the extras, including the extended Alien 3 doc. Find this under PROS section (3). In PROS section (1) I've also answered some questions from another customer.]
[UPDATE 4: More specifics on why the 3rd and 4th films' picture quality won't wow you as much as the first 2 films'. Under Cons section (1)]
[UPDATE 6: I've found more new extras on disc 6, including new deleted scenes from Aliens. Details in PROS section (3).]
PROS:
1) All four films look very good on bluray, and much better than the earlier DVDs, with the first two films looking the best. Alien almost looks brand new. Aliens still looks its age (sometimes), but it enjoys the single biggest improvement in picture quality in the jump from DVD to bluray that I have ever seen for a classic film (or pretty much any film for that matter). While there are still plenty of shots that still look soft or a bit grainy by today's standards, the entire film looks sharper than ever and the grain is far less distracting. Some sequences, like the marines' initial investigation of the abandoned colony, almost look like they could have been shot this year. The color quality and detail visible on the panning shot from the planet to Ripley's orbital hospital room at the beginning of the film totally blew my mind. Detail and texture are excellent throughout and I saw no signs that DNR had been overused. After experiencing Aliens on bluray, I wonder how I was ever able to tolerate the picture quality on the DVD.
[UPDATE: The Theatrical and Director's cuts of Alien both look equally great. It's my understanding that Ridley Scott made some minor alterations to things like contrast, etc. in the Director's cut, but I frankly didn't notice any difference between the two. I haven't watched the Theatrical cut of Aliens in years, as I much prefer the Extended version, so I may not remember which all scenes were added for the latter. However, I did not notice any correlation between picture quality and whether a scene was in the Theatrical cut or added in later, so I assume that they all come from the same source and are of more-or-less equal quality. If I have a chance to look at it again soon and do notice any differences, I'll post another update.]
[UPDATE 2: I've watched the first 25 minutes of the Theatrical cut of Aliens and can confirm that the picture quality is identical to the Special Edition. In other words, it will cause longtime Aliens fans' jaws to drop off right before they become temporarily blinded by its awe-inspiring glory. This is truly the greatest film restoration I've ever seen prepared for the transition from DVD to bluray. Because of the film stock used, I didn't think it would ever be possible for the film to look this good.]
2) All four films also sound greatly improved compared to the DVD. This is especially true for Alien 3. Dialogue which was hard to make out on the DVD is now much clearer and easier to understand. I did notice some audio sync issues with some of the third film's dialogue, but I think these are misalignments which were already present on previous DVD releases, and may therefore be inherent to the original film.
3) The new extras are extensive and excellent. Within the first couple minutes of sampling the new enhancement pods on disc 5, I learned a couple of tidbits I had been unaware of before. These are a wonderful extension of the already superb making-of documentaries. The MU-TH-UR interactive mode is easy to use and will probably prove helpful to those who are only interested in seeing certain parts of the behind-the-scenes material, but I haven't used it much. I've only sampled a couple minutes of the trivia track portion of this feature (titled "Datastream"), but so far it appears as though it will mostly be a re-hash of material you can find in disc 5's documentaries. The set also includes ALL of the extras from EVERY previous release of these films, as promised (at least as far as I can tell), in addition to the extended Alien Evolution and Alien 3 documentaries.
[UPDATE: The extended Alien 3 documentary includes significantly more footage of Fincher directing on the set (lenghtier character discussions with the actors, etc.) and more detail on the schism between him and the studio that I don't remember seeing on the Quadrilogy DVD. At one point during filming you see Fincher get on a microphone and say, "I can't believe Fox is the number one studio because they're all such a bunch of morons." Interestingly, while some of the new footage does reflect poorly on the studio, I think it also makes it easier to understand why some people had trouble working with Fincher. I personally find this longer cut much more interesting, but it hardly feels like an entirely new, revelatory version. Still, if you love a good behind-the-scenes documentary, the extended cut of "Wreckage and Rage: The Making of Alien 3" may help justify the upgrade to bluray.
By my estimate, disc 5 contains around 17 hours of documentaries, including an hour to an hour-and-a-half of new enhancement pods for each individual film (these are mostly extended interviews and production footage). I couldn't even tell you how many hours of content are on disc 6. So it's understandable, due to space limitations, that some of this material still appears to be in standard def. Although it's in SD, most of it has been enhanced so your bluray player will upconvert it (sometimes beautifully so) to fill a widescreen TV. I find the text slides on the still galleries of concept art on disc 6 (which ARE in FULL HD) much easier to read now. In disc 5's docs, most film clips, production artwork and photos, and many interviews will now fill the screen, while other interview clips appear pillarboxed with new imagery to the right and left instead of black bars (similar to the "Disneyview" feature on the Snow White and Pinocchio blurays, though mostly much less distracting than those were). It all looks good enough that I don't think many people will be too disappointed that some of these extras are still in SD.
BOTTOM LINE: The extras, both new and old, are a substantial improvement over the Quadrilogy DVD set (at least IMHO, your mileage may vary). I doubt many people will feel shortchanged here.]
[UPDATE 6: I've found more new extras on disc 6. There are some deleted scenes from Aliens, at least one of which - featuring Burke in a cocoon - I don't think I've seen before. The Patch and Logos image gallery will be appreciated by folks who love all the costuming/set dressing details. There's a video reproduction of a ride called "Aliens: Ride At The Speed of Fright" which is notable for two things: it's REALLY cheesy, and it features a very young Jeffrey Combs (I think this part is new - I don't remember seeing it on the DVD). The Parodies section is just some Alien-related clips from Spaceballs and Family Guy. You'll also want to keep an eye out for Easter Eggs on this disc.]
4) The set has a couple of impressive surprises that weren't mentioned in any of the studio press releases I've seen. Disc Unbound is an automatic feature: when you eject any disc from this set, the Weyland-Yutani logo will pop up on screen. You can then insert any other disc from the set and you'll go straight to the main menu - it will skip over all the studio logos and FBI Warning screens, making an Alien marathon slightly faster and less annoying.
I was aware that this set would include isolated score tracks for all four films (as well as alternate score tracks for the first two), but was unaware that you can also access each piece of music in any order from an index which includes even more unused music. I'm not certain, but I think I may have even spotted a couple of Bonus alternate tracks for Aliens that weren't even on the Deluxe Edition soundtrack CD.
5) For those who are hard of hearing, all 4 films and even the extras on discs 5 and 6 include subtitles in around 15 languages, including English and Spanish. Even the audio commentaries have subtitles in multiple languages! Each film also has multiple language audio tracks, though it appears that only the English receives a lossless one.
6) The packaging is the most elegantly beautiful I've ever seen for a bluray set. Inside the slipcase is a hardcover book with each disc held securely within its own page. These pages include photos from each film, as well as some basic info like plot synopses and director's credits. There's also a booklet and insert tucked in the back which explain how MU-TH-UR mode and Disc Unbound work, and list the content on each disc. It also has a note from Ridley Scott filled with tantalizing hints about what to expect in his upcoming prequel. Everyone will be happy to know that the package is very compact and will fit perfectly next to your other blurays. It's the same size as the Close Encounters of the Third Kind bluray, except that the spine is a little thicker since it holds more discs
