Alien (film series)

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Alien
Alien Quadrilogy box set
Directed by	Ridley Scott (Alien') James Cameron (Aliens') David Fincher (Alien³') Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Alien Resurrection')
Produced by	Gordon Carroll David Giler Walter Hill
Written by	Dan O'Bannon, Ronald Shusett (Alien) Walter Hill, David Giler(Alien (uncredited), Aliens, Alien³) James Cameron(Aliens) Vincent Ward(Alien³) Larry Ferguson(Alien³) Joss Whedon(Alien Resurrection)
Starring	Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley
Music by	Jerry Goldsmith (Alien') James Horner (Aliens') Elliot Goldenthal (Alien³') John Frizzel (Alien Resurrection')
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	1979 - 1997
Country	United States  United Kingdom (Alien and Aliens)
Language	English
Gross revenue	$702,830,000

The Alien film series is a science fiction horror film franchise, focusing on Lieutenant Ellen Ripley (played by Sigourney Weaver) and her battle with an extraterrestrial lifeform, commonly referred as "the Alien". Produced by 20th Century Fox, the series started with the 1979 film Alien, which led to three sequels, books, comics and video game spinoffs.

In addition to the franchise are the "Alien vs. Predator" films (AvP: Alien vs. Predator and Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem), based on the related franchise which combine the titular Aliens with the Predator beings from the Predator film series.

[edit] Development

After completing the film Dark Star (1974), Dan O'Bannon wanted to take some of the ideas (such as where an alien hunts a crew through a ship) and make them into a science-fiction horror film, at that time provisionally called Memory.^{[citation needed]} Screenwriter Ronald Shusett decided to collaborate with him in the project, adding elements from another O'Bannon script, Gremlins, which featured gremlins getting loose aboard a World War II bomber and wreaking havoc with the crew. The duo later finished the script, initially entitled Star Beast, until casting around for a better name, O'Bannon noticed the number of times the word "alien" occurred in the script, and so he adopted this for the film's title.^[1] The writers imagined a low-budget film, but Star Wars' success made Fox invest $8 million on production.^{[citation needed]}

In the original script, the ship has an all-male crew, including the Ripley character (though the script's 'Cast of Characters' section explicitly states that "The crew is unisex and all parts are interchangeable for men or women"), which would be played by actor Tom Skerritt, but later, character re-casting made Ripley a woman, because producer Alan Ladd, Jr., and script-doctors Walter Hill and David Giler had heard rumors of Fox working on other titles with strong female leads. ^[1] Skerritt became Captain Dallas, and Sigourney Weaver was cast as Ripley.^{[citation needed]}

Swiss painter and sculptor H. R. Giger designed the alien creature's adult form and the derelict ship,^[2] while Moebius created visual for the spacesuits ^[1] and Ron Cobb provided most of the on-set design.^[3]

The film was successful, but Fox wasn't very interested in a sequel until 1983, when James Cameron expressed his interest in continuing the Alien story to producer David Giler. After Cameron's The Terminator became a box office hit, Cameron and partner Gale Anne Hurd were given approval to direct and produce the sequel to Alien, scheduled for a 1986 release. ^[4]

Due to studio changes to Aliens, Sigourney Weaver wasn't much interested in returning to the series, so she didn't argue when producers David Giler and Walter Hill told her, in early 1990, that they were commissioning a third Alien film without Ripley, coming back with her in a fourth installment. But Fox's president Joe Roth didn't agree with Ripley's removal, and Weaver was called in for the movie. Alien³, released in 1992, had a troubled shooting, without even a finished script and having already spent $7 million when David Fincher, the third director considered for the film, was hired to lead the project. ^[5] After the film was ready, the studio reworked it without Fincher's consensus.^[6]

While fans and critics didn't receive Alien³ well, the $103 million in international box office kept Fox interested in continuing the franchise. In 1996, production on the fourth Alien film, Alien: Resurrection, begun. Ripley wasn't in the script's first draft, and Sigourney Weaver wasn't much interested, but decided to join the project after meeting director Jean-Pierre Jeunet. ^[7] The film, released in 1997, had a long production and was described by screenwriter Joss Whedon as having done "everything wrong" with his script.^[8]

[edit] Series plot-summary

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Following is a plot summary for the entire Alien series. For additional plot details, see the movies' specific pages or The Alien Universe Timeline.

[edit] Alien

The Nostromo, a towing vessel hauling an enormous ore refinery and 20 million tons of raw ore, with a crew of seven (including Captain Dallas and Warrant Officer Ripley) has set out from the mining colony Solomons on its return to Earth in the year 2122. During the return voyage, the ship’s computer "Mother" intercepts a non-human transmission from the moon LV-426. Mother, according to Weyland-Yutani (“the Company”) protocol, alters course and wakes the crew from hypersleep in order to investigate the transmission.

Upon investigation of the transmission source, a derelict alien ship, Executive Officer Kane becomes infected with an alien parasite. On orders of Captain Dallas, Kane is brought back on board and treated by Science Officer Ash, who is, unknown to the others, an android. The crew members return to the Nostromo from LV-426, hoping to return to Earth as soon as possible. After a brief period, an alien emerges from Kane and proceeds to kill all human crew members except Ripley. Ash, the android, was terminated by the other crew members after his attempted murder of Ripley, an action he took in defense of the alien species.

Ripley activates Nostromo's auto-destruct sequence and escapes in the shuttle. The Nostromo and its cargo are destroyed in a series of explosions, but Ripley soon discovers that the alien had also entered the shuttle. Half-dressed and nervously singing "Lucky Star", Ripley kills the alien by blasting it out of the shuttle's airlock and burning it with the shuttle’s jets. Ripley sets the shuttle's course for Earth and returns to hypersleep.

[edit] Alien Director's Cut

Director Ridley Scott has stated that he did not really think that Alien required this tweaking, and that the term "Director's Cut" was used for marketing reasons only (and inconsistently as well). In the Alien Quadrilogy materials, he goes out of his way to state his preference for the original: "rest easy, the original 1979 theatrical version isn't going anywhere". He recut the film himself, only after viewing the studio's attempt to do so; a version that he felt was "too long" and ruined the film's pacing.

A brief rundown of the restored footage or cut scenes, in the order that the scenes appear:

• The Nostromo crew listening to the alien transmission
• Kane took out his weapon in the egg chamber.
• The scene in which Ripley asks Ash if Mother has analyzed the alien transmission (and in which Ash replies “No”) has disappeared. Instead we see Ripley simply playing with the computer console and sitting down while a binary sequence displays on the computer screen.
• Lambert slapping Ripley for refusing to let them bring Kane back aboard the ship.
• Some dialogue deleted during the scene where Ripley confronts Captain Dallas in the corridor over letting Ash keep the dead alien facehugger. Dallas' lines about the replacement of Nostromo's original science officer by Ash at the last minute have disappeared. This interesting deletion removes a bit of foreshadowing that all is not as it seems with the character of Ash.
• A handful of shots added to Brett's death scene, including one clearly showing the alien dangling from above, and another where Parker and Ripley rush into the room just after the alien grabs Brett. As they look upward, dripping blood covers them.
• A new brief shot of Lambert added as the crew regroup and weigh their options after Dallas' death.
• A new brief shot of the alien swatting at Jonsey the cat after Ripley drops the case next to the airlock.
• Restoration of a portion of the film's arguably most famous deleted scene — Ripley discovering the alien's nest and the bodies of Dallas and Brett. But the Director's Cut does not include Ripley's lines to the dying Dallas ("What can I do?" and "I'll get you out of there") before, at his request, she kills him with the flamethrower.
• A quick extension of a shot as Ripley discovers the alien blocking the path to the shuttle; the alien appears staring at Jones the cat in his catbox, then it swats the catbox out of its way. This extended shot had never aired before, even on DVD.

The Director's Cut also deleted brief snippets of footage:

• Some of the conversation between Ripley and Dallas concerning Ripley's distrust of Ash
• Scene where Ash leaves the infirmary after Ripley has confronted him for breaking quarantine procedures.
• A brief sequence showing Dallas querying the ship's computer, Mother, about his odds of killing the alien, and getting no reply, before he enters the ventilation ducts.
• Part of the sequence where Ripley gains entry to Mother
• Parker going through the ship alone and watching out for the alien
• An almost unnoticeable cut as the last three surviving crew members round a bend in the corridors of the spaceship

[edit] Aliens

Found in the year 2179 after 57 years drifting in space, Ellen Ripley returns to human civilization. Upon recounting the events of the Nostromo and LV-426, she learns that a group of settlers has recently moved to LV-426 and set up Hadley's Hope, a space-colony. After dismissing Ripley’s claims as ridiculous, the Company (specifically Carter Burke) sends colonists to the derelict ship to investigate Ripley’s report of an alien species. Shortly thereafter contact with the colony ceases. In response, the Company sends Ripley, a group of Colonial Marines, and Carter Burke to investigate LV-426 aboard the vessel Sulaco.

Arriving at LV-426, Ripley and her companions soon discover that aliens have overrun the colony and that all settlers have died, except for a young girl, Rebecca Jordan, nicknamed Newt. The rescue team becomes trapped in the settlement, where hundreds of aliens hunt them. Their mission is further complicated by Ripley's discovery that Burke intends to bring one of the aliens back for the Company's bio-weapons division.

Eventually, the aliens kill all those barricaded at Hadley's Hope except for those who eventually retreat to the Sulaco: Ripley, Newt, Corporal Hicks, and the android, Bishop. After a brief confrontation with the Alien Queen aboard the "Sulaco", Ripley sets a course for Earth and the crew enters hypersleep.

[edit] Aliens Special Edition

The Aliens Special Edition added approximately 17 minutes to this film. Several small additions to the plot were presented, including:

• Ripley has a daughter and learns of her death upon arrival at the Gateway Station.
• The events taking place on LV-426 immediately before infestation. (The longest addition at roughly 6 1/2 minutes.)
• When the marines first enter the complex on LV-426, the marines detect movement which turns out to be a false alarm.
• Foreshadowing dialogue about the existence of a larger alien, the queen
• Extra battle scenes involving the marines' robot sentries.
• More scenes of Newt and Ripley bonding.
• Hicks and Ripley's exchange before she goes to rescue Newt.

[edit] Alien³

The movie begins with one alien facehugger emerging during the crew's hypersleep on the Sulaco. It proceeds to impregnate Ripley with an alien queen-embryo. The cover of Ripley's hypersleep-chamber cuts the facehugger, and the release of its acidic blood causes a fire on board, which leads to the Sulaco jettisoning an escape shuttle towards a penal-colony planet, Fiorina 161, inhabited only by a small number of extremely violent and dangerous offenders. The rescuers who recover the escape shuttle discover that only Ripley has survived the crash. Meanwhile, prisoner Murphy's dog Spike becomes impregnated with a second alien embryo by the same facehugger. (A first in the series, as facehuggers have been depicted as only being able to impregnate a single being prior to this.) Ripley is nursed back to health by Dr. Clemens, who she develops a relationship with. After carrying out an autopsy on Newt, to make sure there is no "cholera" infection in her chest, the bodies are thrown into the prison's gigantic furnace. At the same time, Spike goes into convulsions and the alien is born. This alien is different from the previous kind, having lost the spikes on its back and now walks on all fours. A more dangerous alien has arrived.

Upon learning about the alien on the planet, the Weyland-Yutani corporation sends a rescue ship to Fiorina 161. However, it quickly becomes clear that they only care about capturing the Alien specimen, not Ripley or the inmates. In these circumstances, Ripley convinces the inmates to kill the Aliens (including the one inside her) before the company's ship arrives. After an elaborate set-up, which required the inmates to run up and down tunnels and corridors to confuse the creature, Ripley, Dillon and Morse are chased into the furnace, where the destruction of the alien takes place. After pouring several hundred gallons of molten lead onto the Alien, it still chases Ripley up to the ceiling via an extensive pipe system. Ripley activates the overhead sprinklers, which cover the alien in cold water; it then explodes from the immense temperature changes.

Using a lead smelter, Ripley sacrifices herself to prevent the company from harvesting the queen embryo from her body, saving countless human lives in doing so. Every single prisoner on Fiorina 161 is dead, except Morse, who is seen being taken by the company to an unknown location for unknown purposes.

[edit] Alien³ Special Edition

The Special Edition added approximately 35 minutes of new or alternate footage to the film. Several changes to the plot ensued, including:

• A completely different opening in which Clemens finds Ripley washed up on the beach.
• The impregnation of an ox, rather than a dog.
• The film now shows a more in depth perspective with the prisoners' apocalyptic, millenarian religion.
• The film now shows the temporary capture of the Alien and its confinement inside the toxic waste dump. One of the prisoners sacrifices himself to lure the alien into the trap, but this random act of heroism is in vain, as the mentally ill prisoner Golic, who develops an obsession with the alien, releases it. The creature kills Golic after using him.

[edit] Alien: Resurrection

Two hundred years later, around the year 2379, several United Systems Military (USM) scientists have cloned Ripley eight times by using blood samples from Fiorina 161 rediscovered in the year 2356. Upon successfully cloning Ripley, the 8th clone, whose DNA had combined with the alien species her body had hosted, the experiment successfully develops an intact alien and extracts it from her chest. In the year 2381, a small ship called the Betty, manned by smugglers, brings several kidnapped space-travelers, still in hypersleep, to a secret USM research vessel called the USM Auriga. The smugglers do not realize the reason for the kidnappings, but they later discover that the USM scientists will impregnate the travelers with alien embryos. The experiment quickly runs awry when the aliens break loose by killing one of their own to melt a way out with its acidic blood. They then begin killing everyone on the ship. While chaos ensues, an android named Call (passing itself off as a regular human female) changes the course of the ship (previously heading to Earth as per default emergency procedures) to crash-land in an attempt at destroying the aliens on board in the process.

While the ship is on course to crash, the crew race for their last ship after the escape pods have been ejected from the military presence. While rushing to the ship, Ripley falls into the alien nest only to confront the queen in pain from birth, who was given a human's reproductive system from the DNA combination. The Queen gives birth to "Newborn", which is half Alien half Human (more alien), which kills the Queen and accepts Ripley as its mother. Ripley runs for the ship as the Newborn chases after. She barely makes it aboard but brings the Newborn with her without knowing. The ship escapes with almost no time to spare as Ripley quickly realizes that the Newborn is aboard from Call's missing presence on the deck. Ripley, with quick thinking, cuts herself as the Newborn is "hugging" her and flicks her blood (acidic from the DNA combination) at a close viewing window, causing it to eat through the glass. As the window shatters, air rushes from the room, pinning the Newborn in the broken window's frame. The powerful pressure differential between the room's atmosphere and the dead vacuum of space outside quickly crushes the Newborn's body and its collapsed remains are violently blown from the ship.

The Auriga crashes into Africa and explodes, presumably killing all aliens on board. The clone Ripley, Call, and the remaining crew of the Betty (Johner and Vriess) manage to escape the Auriga before it explodes, violently. As the Betty descends towards Earth, Ripley and Call contemplate their next move.

[edit] Alien 5

Before 20th Century Fox greenlit Alien vs. Predator, James Cameron had been working on a story for a fifth Alien film. Alien director Ridley Scott had talked with Cameron, stating "I think it would be a lot of fun, but the most important thing is to get the story right."^[9] In a 2002 interview, Scott's concept for a story was "to go back to where the alien creatures were first found and explain how they were created", however he has not shown interest in pursuing the project.^[9] On learning that Fox intended to pursue Alien vs. Predator, Cameron believed the film would "kill the validity of the franchise" and ceased work on his story, "To me, that was Frankenstein Meets Werewolf. It was Universal just taking their assets and starting to play them off against each other...Milking it."^[10]

Sigourney Weaver and director Ridley Scott are considering another Alien movie with Fox's approval. ^[11]

[edit] Reception

[edit] Box office

[edit] Critical reviews

IGN listed Alien as the 13th best film franchise of all time.^[29] Alien was nominated for two Academy Awards, winning for Best Visual Effects. Aliens got seven nominations, including a Best Actress one for Sigourney Weaver, winning Best Visual Effects and Best Sound Effects. Alien³ was nominated for Best Visual Effects. Alien was also inducted into the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress for historical preservation as a film which is "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".^[30][31] The American Film Institute ranked Alien as the sixth most thrilling American movie and seventh-best film in the science fiction genre, and in the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains list, Ripley was ranked eighth among the heroes, and the Alien was fourteenth among the villains.

[edit] Spin-offs

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There have been a number of spin-offs in other media including a large number of crossovers within the Alien fictional universe. These include:

[edit] Novels

Main articles: Aliens (novel series) and Aliens vs. Predator (novel series)

As well the novelizations based on the various films (including Alan Dean Foster's) there are a number of novel series.

[edit] Comics

Numerous comic appearances include:

• Aliens
• Alien Loves Predator, a spoof webcomic
• Aliens vs. Predator
• Aliens vs. Predator vs. The Terminator
• Batman/Aliens
• Green Lantern Versus Aliens
• Judge Dredd vs. Aliens
• Superman vs. Aliens
• Superman & Batman vs. Aliens & Predator
• WildC.A.T.s/Aliens

[edit] Video games

See also: Alien vs. Predator video games

The first game based on the franchise was Alien (1982) for the Atari 2600, a game heavily based on Pac-Man. A strategy game based on the first movie was released in 1984.

Aliens was adapted into four different videogames, a shoot 'em up arcade by Konami, a collection of minigames by Activision, a first-person shooter by Software Studios, and a MSX platformer by Squaresoft.

Acclaim released three different games based on Alien 3, two different run and gun platformers (one for various platforms in 1992, another for the SNES an year later) and a Game Boy adventure game in 1993. Sega also released a light gun arcade, Alien 3: The Gun in 1993.

The last game based on an Alien film was 2000's Alien: Resurrection, a PlayStation first-person shooter.

Other Alien games include Mindscape's adventure game Aliens: A Comic Book Adventure (1995), Acclaim's first-person shooter Alien Trilogy (1996), the FPS Aliens Online (1998), the Game Boy Color action game Aliens: Thanatos Encounter (2001), and the mobile phone game Aliens: Unleashed (2003). The latest game released was the arcade game Aliens: Extermination, in 2006.

There is also a First person shooter videogame for PC called Aliens versus Predator (computer game) in which one can play as a Marine, Predator and Alien. This was followed by Aliens versus Predator 2 and the expansion pack Aliens versus Predator 2: Primal Hunt

In December 2006, Sega struck a deal with Fox Licensing to release two games based on the Alien franchise on seventh generation consoles. ^[32] Obsidian Entertainment will develop an Alien role-playing game, ^[33] and Gearbox Software will develop a first-person shooter, ^[34] since then titled Aliens: Colonial Marines.

[edit] Alien Quadrilogy

The Alien Quadrilogy is a four-movie, nine-DVD box set of Alien, Aliens, Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection. Released by 20th Century Fox on December 2, 2003 following the re-release of Alien in theaters on Halloween 2003. This nine-disc set replaced the five-disc set of the series, The Alien Legacy .

Created by DVD producer Charles de Lauzirika, the Alien Quadrilogy features each of the four movies with two discs; one contains the theatrical and director's cut/special edition of the movie, and the second includes bonus features such as "making of" documentaries. The ninth disc includes bonus features for the entire franchise, such as an edited version of "Alien Evolution", a documentary made by the UK's Channel 4. Each film has been remastered and restored, presented in its original aspect ratio, and remixed with Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 audio (Alien and Alien: Resurrection only).

The Alien Quadrilogy was well received by DVD critics and went on to win several awards, including the DVD Exclusive Award for Best Classic Movie (including all extras) and Best Audio Commentary for Alien, as well as landing on several top ten DVD lists. In 2005, for the 25th anniversary, the Alien Quadrilogy was re-released in Alien-head packaging, with the DVDs stored inside the head.

[edit] Origins and production

In 1999, 20th Century Fox released all four Alien films on DVD with limited features as The Alien Legacy. The transfer was based on an interpositive, which was thought not to be "in the best shape", with the Sony High Definition center cleaning up the films frame-by-frame. In 2002, The Alien Saga, a making-of documentary was released. Although these packages contained some deleted footage and behind-the-scenes material, discussions about an Alien Five Star Collection release occurred with DVD producer Charles de Lauzirika. As Lauzirika was particularly enthusiastic about producing a special edition of Alien 3, Fox hired him to produce an all-new collection containing the four films for a December 2003 release.^[35]

Lauzirika supervised the restoration process, overseeing a crew which included supervising editor David Crowther, Fox Home Entertainment's Karen Fromel and several visual effects companies. The restoration team searched through Fox archives to find scenes that were thought to be lost from all four films. When they compiled the footage of Alien and showed it to director Ridley Scott, he thought "it was too-long and the pacing was off", which is why the scenes were cut from the film originally. From this footage and Scott's comments, Alien: The Director's Cut was created. The team was unable to restore all the footage as some scenes were only partially filmed.^[35] Aliens director James Cameron was happy with the previous cleanup of the film on the DVD transfer, and only a small amount of work was done cleaning up grain issues.^[36]

Lauzirika was enthusiastic about creating a special edition of Alien 3 as he thought it was an "amazing visual film", which was underrated at its time of release. The extensive behind-the-scenes footage of how the production of the movie was difficult for director David Fincher, was of particular interest to Lauzirika, who wanted to make audiences aware of the production of the film that was "hamstrung from the very beginning in the writing stage,"^[36] Commenting on the restoration and addition of footage to Alien 3, Lauzirika said, "you get to see the troubled writing process and the troubled editorial process. It's more just an artifact of the problematic shoot. To me, as a film it still has the same problems because they are deep rooted conceptual problems, but there's plenty of really interesting new subplots."^[36] Fincher was asked to participate in the project although chose not to. He is the only director to not contribute to the Alien Quadrilogy. Lauzirika and his staff found Alien 3 the most difficult film in the audio restoration process. There were missing elements, and the production sound "wasn't particularly good" according to Lauzirika, "they had a lot of fans blowing and a lot of on-set noise". The films were restored with Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 audio for Alien and Alien: Resurrection.^[36]

Actress Sigourney Weaver who plays the heroine Ellen Ripley almost did not participate in the project. It was by chance she was in Los Angeles promoting the movie Holes and was able to contribute to the audio commentary of Alien.^[36] Cameron's contribution also came late, and he was only able to contribute to the Aliens commentary. Over 80 people involved in the series were interviewed over the course of several months.^[37]

[edit] Reception

Released on December 2, 2003, the Alien Quadrilogy received positive reviews from professional and amateur DVD critics. Almar Haflidason of the BBC called it "a stunning resource with features-rammed discs to explore and the films presented like never before. It's a five-star set."^[38] Andy Patrizio of IGN gave an overall score of 9,^[39] while Dan Mancini of DVD verdict thought the Alien Quadrilogy "represents a new benchmark in DVD releases. It has to be experienced to be believed."^[40]

The Alien Quadrilogy won three awards at the DVD Exclusive Awards— Best Overall DVD, Classic Movie, and Best audio commentary for Alien. The box set matched the number of awards won by The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Special Extended Edition.^[41]

[edit] DVD Features

[edit] Disc 1 – Alien

• 1979 Theatrical version (117 min.)
• 2003 Special Edition (118 min.)
• Audio commentary by director Ridley Scott, actors Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton and John Hurt, writer/producer Ronald Shusett, co-writer Dan O'Bannon and editor Terry Rawlings
• Deleted/extended scene index
• Introduction by director Ridley Scott

[edit] Disc 2 – Special Features: The Beast Within: The Making of Alien

• Pre-production: Star Beast (developing the story), First Draft of Screenplay by Dan O'Bannon, The Visualists (direction and design), Ridleygrams (original thumbnails and notes), storyboard archive, Art of Alien (Cobb, Foss, Giger, Moebius), Truckers in Space (casting), Sigourney Weaver's screen test with optional commentary by Ridley Scott, cast portrait gallery
• Production: Fear of the Unknown (Shepperton Studios, 1978), production gallery, The Darkest Reaches (Nostromo and alien planet), The Sets of Alien, The Eighth Passenger (creature design), The Chestburster (creature design)
• Post-production: Future Tense (music and editing), eight deleted scenes, visual effects gallery (photo archive), A Nightmare Fulfilled (reaction to the film), poster explorations, special shoot, premiere footage

[edit] Disc 3 – Aliens

• 1986 Theatrical version (137 min)
• 1991 Special Edition (154 min)
• Audio commentary by director James Cameron, actors Michael Biehn, Bill Paxton, Lance Henriksen, Jenette Goldstein, Carrie Henn and Christopher Henn, alien effects creator Stan Winston, visual effects supervisors Robert Skotak and Dennis Skotak, miniature effects supervisor Pat McClung and producer Gale Anne Hurd
• Deleted/extended scene index
• Introduction by director James Cameron

[edit] Disc 4 – Special Features: Superior Firepower: The Making of Aliens

• Pre-production: 57 Years Later (continuing the story), Original Treatment: by James Cameron, Building Better Worlds (from concept to construction), The Art of Aliens (conceptual art portfolio), Pre-Vis Anamatics, Preparing for Battle (casting & characterization), Cast Portrait (still gallery)
• Production: This Time It's War (Pinewood Studios, 1985), Production Gallery (photo archive), Continuity Polaroids, The Risk Always Lives (weapons and action), Weapons and Vehicles (photo archive), Bug Hunt (creature design), Beauty and the Bitch (Power Loader vs. Queen Alien), Stan Winston's Workshop (photo archive), Two Orphans (Sigourney Weaver and Carrie Henn)
• Post-production: The Final Countdown (music, editing and sound), The Power of Real Tech (visual effects), Visual Effects Gallery (photo archive), Aliens Unleashed (reaction to the film), Film Finish and Release, Easter egg (A Boy and His Power Loader)

[edit] Disc 5 – Alien 3

• 1992 Theatrical version (115 min.)
• 2003 Assembly Cut (restored workprint, 155 min.)
• Audio commentary by cinematographer Alex Thomson B.S.C., editor Terry Rawlings, alien effects designers Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff, Jr., visual effects producer Richard Edlund and actor Paul McGann
• Deleted/extended scene index

[edit] Disc 6 – Special Features: The Making of Alien 3

• Pre-production: Development (concluding the story), Tales of the Wooden Planet (Vincent Ward's vision), The Art of Acheron (conceptual art portfolio), pre-production part III featurette, storyboards, Art of Fiorina, Xeno-Erotic (H.R. Giger's redesign featurette)
• Production: Production part I featurette, Production Gallery (photo archive), Furnace Construction (time-lapse sequence), Adaptive Organism (creature design), ADI Workshop, E.E.V. Scan Multi-Angle Vignette, Production part II
• Post-production: Post-Production part I, Optical Fury (visual effects), Music, Editing and Sound, Visual Effects (photo archive), Post-Mortem (reaction to the film), Special Shoot

[edit] Disc 7 – Alien: Resurrection

• 1997 Theatrical version (109 min.)
• 2003 Special edition (119 min.)
• Audio commentary by director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, actors Dominique Pinon, Ron Perlman and Leland Orser, editor Herve Schneid, A.C.E., alien effects designers Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff, Jr., visual effects supervisor Pitof, and conceptual artist Sylvain Despretz
• Deleted/extended scene index
• Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet introduction

[edit] Disc 8 – Special Features: One Step Beyond: The Making of Alien Resurrection

• Pre-production: From the Ashes (reviving the story), First Draft Screenplay by Joss Whedon, French Twist (direction and design), Under the Skin (casting and characterization), Test Footage #1 (hair/makeup), ADI Effects, Mark Caro Image Gallery, The Art of Alien Resurrection (conceptual art gallery), storyboards, Pre-Visualizations (multi-angle rehearsals)
• Production: Death from Below (underwater photography), In the Zone (the basketball scene), production gallery (photo archive), Unnatural Mutation (creature design), ADI Workshop, ADI Test Footage
• Post-production: Genetic Composition (music), Virtual Aliens (computer generated imagery), A Matter of Scale (miniature photography), Visual Effects Gallery (photo archive), Critical Juncture (reaction to the film), Special Shoot (promotional photo archive), Easter egg (Alien extra)

[edit] Disc 9 – Bonus disc

• Alien: Alien Legacy, Alien Evolution, Experience in Terror (promotional featurette '79), Ridley Scott Q&A, Alien Laser Disc Archive: Part I (pre-production), Part II (production), Part III (post-production), theatrical trailer A, theatrical trailer B, TV spot (Egg), TV spot (Now Playing)
• Aliens: Aliens Laser Disc Archive: Part I (pre-production), Part II (production), Part III (post-production), theatrical trailer A, teaser trailer, domestic trailer, international trailer, TV spot (Now Playing)
• Alien 3: six trailers, seven TV spots
• Alien: Resurrection: Theatrical teaser, two theatrical trailers, four TV spots, Bob Burns Alien Collection, Dark Horse Still gallery, DVD-ROM (script to screen comparison)

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

• The Book of Alien (by Paul Scanlon and Michael Gross, Star Books, 112 pages, 1979, ISBN 0-352-30422-7, Titan Books, 2003, ISBN 1-85286-483-4)
• Making of Alien Resurrection (by Andrew Murdock and Rachel Aberly, Harper Prism, 1997 ISBN 0-06-105378-3)
• The Complete Aliens Companion (by Paul Sammon, Harper Prism, 1998, ISBN 0-06-105385-6)
• The Alien Quartet: A Bloomsbury Movie Guide (by David Earl Thomson, Bloomsbury Publishing, 208 pages, 1999, ISBN 1-58234-030-7, as The Alien Quartet (Pocket Movie Guide), 2000 ISBN 0-7475-5181-2)
• Beautiful Monsters: The Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to the Alien and Predator Films (by David A. McIntee, Telos, 272 pages, 2005, ISBN 1-903889-94-4)

[edit] See also

• List of characters in the Alien series‎

[edit] External links

• Alien Legacy official website
• Alien Quadrilogy official website