Alien Quadrilogy (Alien / Aliens / Alien 3 / Alien Resurrection)

definitive collection
This consists of two discs for each film, the original and an alternate version (more on that below) on the first disk, and collections of approximately 2 hours of featurettes and other bonuses on the second disc. The ninth disc is a hodgepodge of trailers and other items from previous DVD and laser disk versions. Although the extras have been released in a variety of forms over several years (the John Hurt documentary 'The Alien Saga', being the latest), THIS is the definitive version.

'Alien' (average user rating: 4.6). If you haven't seen this classic film, then you must be living under a rock. The collection includes the original theatrical version (which I prefer) and the "Director's Cut", notable for its inclusion of the controversial captain-cacooned by alien scene (controversial because from the Alien mythology developed in later films, we know that only the massive queen can lay eggs). I prefer the original (which is actually 1 minute longer), and...

It should be called the Tetralogy, but get it anyway
The Alien series never broke out the way that Star Trek and Star Wars did--you don't see the presence of an Alien-worshipping subculture, the way you do with Roddenberry's and Lucas's franchises. However, the series has been far more inventive and varied than those two franchises. Explore the Alien movies (minus the abomination known as Alien vs. Predator) on this 9-disc set. Even though they are very different films which have little commonality, aside from the presence of those vicious monsters and the lovely Sigourney Weaver, they complement each other well, and collectors would be wise to pick up this boxed set instead of buying the movies piecemeal. Far from being simple horror films, the Alien movies are attempts to put into film the anxieties of the modern age, from the biological to the corporate, and the series is at its best when it exploits these anxieties.

This is what the first entry in the series, Alien, does best. Directed by Ridley Scott, whose other work...

If all this isn't enough for ya, WHAT IS?
There's a LOT of stuff in this box set. Almost too much, really. You could spend a couple of weeks watching and reading all the extras, commentaries, script drafts, etc. But by then you would have deconstructed the films so much that you have robbed them of whatever "innocent viewing pleasure" you enjoyed before you delved into the minutiae of the extra features.

So it is a double-edged sword: Learn more than you ever thought you would about the 4 "Alien" films, but suffer having to watch them from then on and forever more through the filter of "knowing too much behind-the-scenes info" & "curtain-pulled-back-on-the-Wizard" insider perspective.

That said, it is a real treat to have this collection, even though the fourth film was abominably disappointing. The packaging, which opens to a nearly five foot long foldout, is kind of neat but soon grows cumbersome and irritating. When you unfold it the first time, it is like...

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