Customer Reviews

The Alien Saga

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This two-hour documentary, narrated by John Hurt (who played the first "victim"), chronologically describes the production of all four films and compiles interviews with many of the principal players (H.R. Giger, Sigourney Weaver, Ridley Scott, James Cameron, etc.) The highlight is the first 50 minutes or so, which covers the groundbreaking first film, the development of the alien creature, the psychological aspects of the script, and the creation of the set. For those looking forward to the upcoming 'Alien: Director's Cut', there is even a discussion of the controversial deleted scene. Overall, I recommend this to anyone who is a fan of the franchise.

Buy this, along with the 4 2 disk Alien movies, and you've made your own VASTLY superior "Quadrilogy". This is far better and more fun to watch than the Quad 9th disk.

This is a fabulous sequencing of the movies, giving details on casting, interviews, and set design that no other special dvds have done. It contains material you will not see in the sets or the 9th Legacy disk. The best "extra" disk I have seen...bar none, because it does so in a interesting and well paced manner. A must for true fans.

This is a great behind-the-scenes documentary told by the people who created the Alien films. It's much better than the doc on the Quadrilogy set. John Hurt narrates. Sigourney Weaver gives the definitive interview. All the principals, including Giger, are here. Best of all is the stylish editing and sound design. First rate production and sound. Great bonus extras, too. A great companion to the boxed set. Contains some materials and info not contained in the Alien Quadrilogy. Created by the same people who did "Behind the Planet of the Apes" and lots of other really grat docs. Highly recommended!

Since I own the Alien Quadrilogy, I was curious as to exactly what this could add to the massive amount of info already included in the Quad collection. Woud it simply be a rehash of old material? So I bought it and was pleasantly surprised. While more actor interviews would have been nice (ol Yaphet Kotto is still as elusive as ever) it's a very good documentary. I enjoyed it quite a bit although I had no idea how old it was. Watching it knowing that it's pre-AVP & AVPR, it's an interesting perspective. But being a completist I had to get it and I don't regret doing so. I recommend it to all Alien fans.

I thoroughly enjoyed this DVD. It chronicles the 4 movies, leaning heavily on the first two movies, but giving enough credit to the 2nd two as well. John Hurt narrates, which is nice to hear a familiar voice. If you buy each movie in the double CE sets, you will get a 2nd disk detailing each movie in depth. These are great, but can get draggy. This Saga instead is quick and interesting...leaving out many of the boring details. I highly recommend this to anyone collecting the CE sets (which are MUCH nicer than the Quadrilogy, by the way)...to finish off their colleciton.

The Alien Saga showcases a two hour documentary that aired on television many years back. The real kicker for the documentary is that it is narrated by John Hurt, and boy does that make this thing feel special. It covers ALL of the Alien movies in relative detail, although it seems the further down you go in the sequels the information becomes less and less. The Alien segment gives a good deal of production information, including details from Sigourney Weaver's test footage (including some of the footage) and HR Giger's work on the film. The Aliens segment shared its content between production and the overall reception and marketing aftermath. Alien 3 was somewhat a sour note in the series, and the documentary does touch on the troubles the film had (although not nearly as concise and (brutally) honest as the Alien 3 Anniversary Edition) as well as the technical breakthroughs. Alien Resurrection delved mostly into interviews with Sigourney on the theme of the movie along with various footage and some technical notes. All in all a satisfying documentary.

If you think The Alien Saga was all you got from this disk then prepare to be pleasantly surprised. You get a ton of the original Alien test footage with Sigourney Weaver including the controversial "release" scene (sorry folks... the version on this DVD is panned and scanned for family viewing... no partial nudity). Also included are a good number of tv promo featurettes that aired while these movies were released on theaters. Some are pretty informative and entertaining, but keep in mind these were fluff pieces to help sell tickets. There are at least one featurette per movie with Aliens having more than one. Not bad.

Now the Alien Blu-Ray collection actually includes this feature length documentary in its entirety, so that may make this DVD no longer necessary. Maybe not. I think the volume of test footage on this disk is quite larger than on the Blu-Ray collection. Then again that footage tends to be repetitive. If you are an absolute Alien completist then this DVD still has some value. If you are more interested in the documentary then the best option is the Blu-Ray collection.

This is a wonderful documentary on the Alien Quadrilogy. The fact that it is narrated by John Hurt makes it all the better. I enjoyed this documentary better than any of the extras on the Special Edition Alien DVD's.

For every one who loves Alien Saga, Sigourney Weaver and all SFX stuff
from Alien 1 and 2.

Sure, it has your garden-variety archival footage and a few nifty interviews sprinkled in but it just lacks an in-depth perspective that dedicated fans would find fulfilling. For instance, the interviews were nothing of substance, just a re-inforcement of what's been said about the films: Álien being óral male rape'for instance or Aliens being a vietnam in space wasn't anything suprising. Worst off is that they don't even have the deleted scene from Aliens where Ripley hands Burke a grenade that I personally haven't seen EVER and I've been a hardcore fan since '86. Granted, if you''ve just seen the aliens movies and aren't a too knowledgeable fan you should find it nice such as Carrie Henn being interviewed in present and Ripley's screen test (She gets topless in one of them), but they're still missing any analysis of Alien 3 scripts and didn't tell anything of how Fincher got tossed from the editing and finalizing of the film. Whatever you do, don't buy it. Instead, get the new Alien Quadrilogy instead and see the saga the way its meant to be.