Dual-layered Blu-ray MPEG-4 AVC 1080P

HEVC Video  

DVD Release Date: June 1, 1999
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DVD Release Date: Dec. 2, 2003
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Edition Details:
 

• Audio Commentary by Director Ridley Scott, Writer Dan O’Bannon, Executive Producer Ronald Shusett, Editor Terry Rawlings, Actors Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton and John Hurt
• Audio Commentary (for Theatrical Cut only) by Ridley Scott

4K Ultra HD Release Date: April 23rd, 2019
Black 4K Ultra HD Case inside cardboard slipcase
Chapters: 40 

The 4K UHD Blu-ray disc carries over the Quadrilogy's 5.1 DTS-HD Master audio track with some shocking separations. Sadly there are no new 7.1 Atmos or DTS:X mixes here. Of course, the score by Jerry Goldsmith (Link, Breakout, The Salamander, The Mephisto Waltz, Seconds, Hoosiers, The Blue Max, Breakheart Pass, The Omen) sounds amazing in the lossless with plenty of depth. There are numerous foreign-language DUB and subtitle options. As always 4K UHD discs are also Region Free.

The main extras here (that also appeared in the Quadrilogy set) are the 2003 audio commentary with director Ridley Scott and various cast and crew and a 1999 commentary with just Scott (only available over the theatrical version). The final theatrical isolated score by Jerry Goldsmith is also an option as well as his original isolated score. 6:39 minutes worth of highly interesting deleted scenes are also included.

"Alien" is a testament to what wonders can be achieved when you absolutely stack a film's cast and crew with exceptional artists. What would otherwise be some low-budget Roger Corman fodder, is given grandiose and grotesque artistic license. The film is a series of iconic horror and sci-fi imagery that this new 4K UHD disc shows in all its glory. One can only hope that we will one day soon have the following sequels looking this good. Here is the short version of the review-- if you own a 4K UHD Blu-ray player and TV capable of HDR or Dolby Vision, this is a 'Must-Own' for fans of science-fiction and high-end home theatre presentations. At the writing of this review it is very reasonably priced on Amazon.

Colin Zavitz

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ADDITION: 20th Century Fox - Anthology - Region FREE - Blu-ray - October 2010:  Firstly, how is this film 31-years old? - goodness, how time flies. As the entire "Anthology" Blu-ray is so massive (4 films - 8 versions!) we couldn't possibly review it on one webpage. Over time we will add to our existing DVD comparison of Aliens etc. We may even do an entire separate page just for the supplements (65 hours of archival and never-before-seen content!).

The package case is impressive in its own right. It's the height of a standard Blu-ray case and the discs are housed in a very solid thick cardboard book-style case with 11 sturdy pages - all have images and some have compartments for the 6 discs (contents listed above). The back sleeve has a booklet and leaflet. With all the hokey packages I've seen of late - this is more professional in appearance and ease of disc placement.

The first disc has both the films; the 70' Theatrical and the minute longer 2003 Director's Cut seamlessly branched - meaning quality is exactly the same for the duplicate scenes. Okay, the image appearance is not overwhelming for the first film of the 'Anthology'. This doesn't surprise me as this late 70's film stock used was always problematic when transferred to digital. Saying that though it does look 'improved' - things tighten up colors are superior (richer but not artificially boosted as in the original DVDs) and some scenes even have a sense of depth. Grain looks fairly consistent - not overly blocky. Contrast is also exporting cleaner, brighter whites and richer black levels. This isn't a glossy look by any means - it's a dark film and the 1080P rendering maintains that eerie aura when in the bowels of the ship but visual detail also improves in those areas. Some segments you would have to be quite discerning or have a large enough system to notice the benefit BUT there are other parts, the brighter lit scenes - earlier in the film - when the high resolution is much more impressive. It seems the Blu-ray has slightly less information in the frame from the 2003 DVD. This is a dual-layered Blu-ray with the features taking up over 32 Gig each.

Where many will notice a bigger difference from the audio which is a lossless DTS-HD Master 5.1 at 3385 kbps.  It rocks. The films is rife with important effect sounds and separations that are defined are strong/aggressive at times and subtle in other portions. It's competently mixed and adds a very strong sense of chilling atmosphere to the film experience. There are many DUB and subtitle options and my Momitsu has verified it as being a region FREE disc playable on Blu-ray machines worldwide.

Aside from the seamlessly branched features we get the audio commentary by director Ridley Scott, writer Dan O’Bannon, executive producer Ronald Shusett, Editor Terry Rawlings, actors Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton and John Hurt as well as the other audio commentary (for Theatrical Cut only) by Ridley Scott. Plus you can listen to the final Theatrical Isolated Score by Jerry Goldsmith PLUS the composer’s original isolated score by Goldsmith (also only theatrical) as well as some seven deleted and extended scenes. I have indulged in the MU-TH-UR Mode Interactive Experience with Weyland-Yutani Datastream. At present I don't even know what the heck it is. I just watched the tutorial on how to use it. It runs as you watch the film - popping up potential information that you can access via 'Audio', 'Visual' or 'Weyland-Yutani Datastream' which appears to give a running text narration/explanation of what is going on. It partially obscures the screen. For those keen they may really get into it. You can also bookmark scenes 'personalized' from all the films of the 'Anthology'.

So far my investigation confirms that people who enjoy these intense, thrilling, sci-fi epics will be overwhelmed by the package and if not so much by the video - but definitely the audio.... and have more than their hands full with the supplements which they may be able to reference for years to come. So far - a recommendation - stay tuned for further comparisons and more in-depth analysis of the 65-hour long worth of extras.       

***

ON THE DVDs: Gregory used Theatrical Cut on the Quadrilogy Boxset for Fox (CE) captures and there is quite a striking differences as you can plainly judge. The old issues look quite faded in comparison. The new DVD looks brighter with more defined colors and sharper. Although all three have the Ridley commentary, the CE release has a host of other interesting Extra Features including a seamlessly branched extended cut. The CE version also offers DTS which the other DVDs did not ( although all three have 5.1 sound ). None of the editions seem to have any cropping. So it looks like the new CE Region 1 version wins hands down.      

 - Gary W. Tooze