Alien Anthology (1979-1997)

[Ray_Rogers]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

Watched the first movie upscaled to 4k last night on my new TV and DAMN does it look amazing. So much detail. Eager to see Aliens the same way. These BDs hold up.

Hopefully ALIEN will get a UHD release on its 40th Anniversary. Or a more feature laden version. At least both ALIEN and ALIENS would be true UHD and not upscales. Even be with seamless branching. Would only want ALIEN Cubed to be remastered in 4K since I don't care much about ALIEN: Resurrection.

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by Ray_Rogers

Hopefully ALIEN will get a UHD release on its 40th Anniversary. Or a more feature laden version. At least both ALIEN and ALIENS would be true UHD and not upscales. Even be with seamless branching. Would only want ALIEN Cubed to be remastered in 4K since I don't care much about ALIEN: Resurrection.

I hope that would include the assembly cut.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

Watched the first movie upscaled to 4k last night on my new TV and DAMN does it look amazing. So much detail. Eager to see Aliens the same way. These BDs hold up.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Aliens isn't just good for what it is, it's a STUNNING looking Blu-ray, period. It's one of the crown jewels in my collection and I rewatch it every few months just to remind me how incredible it looks. Alien is great too, a touch more frozen grain than Aliens but overall it's also a magnificent effort.

I'd still buy both of those two on UHD in a heartbeat, mind you. And yes, if they're going to release Alien³ on UHD then it MUST be properly remastered for 4K because upscaling an old (if respectable) 2003 HD transfer just ain't gonna cut it. Might as well bring the extended cut up to scratch at the same time, but if they didn't I could live with just the theatrical cut in 4K. I don't give two shits about what they do with Resurrection though.

[Ray_Rogers]

Originally Posted by HD Goofnut

I hope that would include the assembly cut.

Yes. Of course the version from the BD obviously and not the DVD. Seamless branching for all main ALIEN films would be icing too.
FOX already did so for THE MARTIAN: Extended Edition UHD release, right? Regarding seamless branching. (I don't have anything to play UHD yet, just future proofing and only buying full 4K, not upscales on that format.)

[StingingVelvet]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

I'd still buy both of those two on UHD in a heartbeat, mind you. And yes, if they're going to release Alien³ on UHD then it MUST be properly remastered for 4K because upscaling an old (if respectable) 2003 HD transfer just ain't gonna cut it. Might as well bring the extended cut up to scratch at the same time, but if they didn't I could live with just the theatrical cut in 4K. I don't give two shits about what they do with Resurrection though.

I feel like the assembly cut is too big an improvement for me, I'd have to stick with the BD if a UHD set was the theatrical only. I think Fox know that though, I don't see them doing theatricals only on UHD for any of the movies.

And yes, f**k Resurrection. Though Red Letter Media had me wanting to give it another chance the other day.

[J.M.P.]

RIP John Hurt 1940 - 2017 You will be missed.

[oubukibun]

I just tried the "Search this Thread" option but it seems this hasn't been answered as of yet, which surprises me:

Where can I find the complete list of easter eggs in this Anthology?

I've just finished the entire set and all I have left is literally the hidden eggs! Could anyone point me in the right direction?

Thank you!

[J.M.P.]

Originally Posted by oubukibun

I just tried the "Search this Thread" option but it seems this hasn't been answered as of yet, which surprises me:

Where can I find the complete list of easter eggs in this Anthology?

I've just finished the entire set and all I have left is literally the hidden eggs! Could anyone point me in the right direction?

Thank you!

Hi oubukibun, They are 4 know. Please Google easter eggs Alien Anthology.

I hope it helps.

[oubukibun]

Yeah, I actually found them very late last night by Googling and stumbling onto this link: http://film.thedigitalfix.com/conten...-archives.html

He details them at the end of the review.

Also, in case it's not been mentioned before:

The Alien trailer within the Laserdisc Archives of Alien on Disc 6 is actually the second teaser and not one of the trailers included as a separate option on that very disc. It's the classic egg-hatching trailer minus the footage from the actual film. So glad Lauzirika was wise enough to have it in despite it only being accessible via the Laserdisc chapter related to Theatrical Release.

The deleted scenes in this very archive are, by the way, DIFFERENT takes than the ones present as standalone options on the disc as well. With the exception of the Airlock Sequence Part 2 scene, where Lambert is just calling for Ripley and Ash and eventually tells Ash to take some oxygen to the lock and meet her there, there are some very noticeable differences in each version of the scene.

As if I needed ANY more reason to love this set: two sets of deleted scenes.

[Geoff D]

Yes, the take of Lambert slapping Ripley in the LD extras is nowhere near as good as the one that was included in the DC version of the film, the way that Veronica properly clatters Sigourney with that looping right hander is almost worth the price of admission alone.

[Blu-21]

Comparisons of the DTS LD (top) vs the BD (bottom)








The BD is an embarrassment. The LD smokes it.

Pics captured by laserdisc.ws on LDDB...

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by Blu-21

Comparisons of the DTS LD (top) vs the BD (bottom)

The BD is an embarrassment. The LD smokes it.

Pics captured by laserdisc.ws on LDDB...

If you mean which one is most washed out, then yes. LD smokes, as in carcinogenic vapors.

[Blu-21]

Originally Posted by PeterTHX

If you mean which one is most washed out, then yes. LD smokes, as in carcinogenic vapors.

The colour grading is more faithful/accurate on the LD than the awful magenta cast on the BD.

[kidglov3s]

Those caps are a little misleading as LD's resolution really falls apart on even 1080 displays. That's supposedly representing BD at a resolution of 640x272. Even without getting into the color situation that's not at all representative of what someone would see if they flipped A/B from those releases today. I watched a bit of Sudden Death LD today on my projector and it looked great in tiny postage stamp sized native but blown up to fill the screen you've really got a mess on your hands. I can watch an LD but at this point would never choose to do so over BD except in the most extreme of circumstances (though many digital audio LDs kick the ass of DVD/BD in the audio department).

And praising the authentic colors of a composite analog SD NTSC/PAL media such as LD is something that really ought to go out the window. We can't hold these things up like they're a direct representation of the film as sent to theaters. Just to get those caps there were necessarily several generations of mediation involved. LD/VHS can be a useful reference for detail (such as in Cinderella, one of those rare cases where I would watch an LD over a BD), but not for color.

[GasmaskAvenger]

Not to mention those are poorly compressed BD screencaps.

Try again with uncompressed BD screencaps.

[StingingVelvet]

Those color differences would matter a lot less once you watch that laserdisc on a 60" 4k screen.

[drush9999]

Also if you pretend Resurrection doesn't exist, it matters little in the grand scheme

[HD Goofnut]

Good thing we're talking about the one Alien film that I care nothing about.

[Blu-21]

Originally Posted by kidglov3s

Those caps are a little misleading as LD's resolution really falls apart on even 1080 displays. That's supposedly representing BD at a resolution of 640x272. Even without getting into the color situation that's not at all representative of what someone would see if they flipped A/B from those releases today. I watched a bit of Sudden Death LD today on my projector and it looked great in tiny postage stamp sized native but blown up to fill the screen you've really got a mess on your hands. I can watch an LD but at this point would never choose to do so over BD except in the most extreme of circumstances (though many digital audio LDs kick the ass of DVD/BD in the audio department).

And praising the authentic colors of a composite analog SD NTSC/PAL media such as LD is something that really ought to go out the window. We can't hold these things up like they're a direct representation of the film as sent to theaters. Just to get those caps there were necessarily several generations of mediation involved. LD/VHS can be a useful reference for detail (such as in Cinderella, one of those rare cases where I would watch an LD over a BD), but not for color.

'For ther most part I agree with you that LD being a composite analog SD NTSC/PAL format means that its inherenetly limited in what it can show, but in Alien Ressrection's case, the LD was transferred with the orignal ENR colour timing where as the DVD and Blu-Rays for whatever reason were not.

I prefer the colour and contrast of the LD, I'm not saying its spot on, but given its based on the ENR grading, and the BD has that infamous pink tint applied (which was a common practice with DVD era transfers from the early 2000's of which the BD is sourced from), I think its fair to say the BD is incorrect, and it looks ugly.

[Ray_Rogers]

Originally Posted by HD Goofnut

Good thing we're talking about the one Alien film that I care nothing about.

Same here. I mainly bought the UK Anthology set for the three films I enjoy, ALIEN Cubed redeemed itself with the Special "Assembly" Cut via DVD and got even better on BD, and the TONS of bonus features. Resurrection is just an afterthought.
Although I did give the longer cut a watch, I still didn't care enough about the film to give it more viewings. Better with the commentaries, though. So yes, on DVD I bought the 2-Disc editions of the first three and only rented the fourth. (Fairly much the same with ROCKY V in the Heavyweight Collection I own. To this day I have yet to watch it, except the trailer. But of course I've watched all the rest of the ROCKY movies. To me they go I-IV and then Balboa.)