Can you buy a normal Aliens DVD WITHOUT the special edition stuff?

R

robowen

Guest
Trying to get hold of a copy of Aliens on DVD. Is it possible to get the normal version not the special editions?

cheers
 
doubt it but why would you want that?

I think the extra scenes add a great deal to the film
 
The bits removed from the theatrical release meant that certain bits of the film didn't make a lot of sense, mainly because they removed the introduction sequence about the guy from "the company" who only cares about the "substancial dollar value" of the space station near the start of the film.
 
also if everyone apart from newt had been taken to impregnated with an alien (excluding ones who were killed) there would have been hundreds of the bleeder not a couple of dozen we saw in the theatrical release

so the remote machine guns in the extra footage explain what happened to the others

they were shot


just had a thought what do those naughty little aliens eat perhaps they eat humans once the nipper has burst onto the scene

in which case they have their very own hanzel and gretel home lucky sods
 
Unlike Bladerunner, Aliens certainly benefits from its 'SE' treatment.
 
Personally I don't like the extra scenes at the colony before the marines arrive - I feel it takes away from the suspense, and also the special fx are fairly ordinary.
 
Another good question is how those aliens satisfy their fluid needs? I mean they seem to be loosing huge amounts of fluid trough their mouth, they drool a lot don't they? Seems like a major flaw in the so called perfect race...
 
Hi,

The answer is that you simply CANNOT get the original, regular "Aliens" on DVD anywhere - as far as I know.

You may still be able to get it on VHS in the UK, but more than likely it will be really old stock.

Sorry, Rob. You may just have to wait until Sky or ITV repeat it on TV.

Pooch
 
Unlike Bladerunner, Aliens certainly benefits from its 'SE' treatment.
WHAT?! Are you seriously trying to tell us that you prefer the original release of Bladerunner to the Director's Cut? :eek:

***Major "Aliens" Spoiler Warning***

As far as "Aliens" is concerned I think the special edition is a bit of a mixed bag. One scene which helps tremendously is the one where Ripley finds out that her daughter has just died. Omitting this fact makes the whole relationship between Ripley and Newt much less plausible. Once you understand that Ripley is thinking not "I can't let this happen" but "I can't let this happen again" it makes far more sense.

I am divided as far as the sentry guns. I never understood why Hicks (in the original cut), after mentioning the rifles and ammo they've saved from the wreck of the APC says "that's not too good..." - the reason of course being that he is supposed to go on to talk about the sentry guns as being useful. As against that one of the key things that makes the film so unsettling is that you're never entirely sure just how intelligent the aliens are. "They cut the power!" "What do you mean, they cut the power? How could they cut the power? They're animals!" Watching the aliens getting slaughtered by the sentry guns makes them look a lot dumber.

I liked the exchanging names scene.

I most emphatically didn't like Hudson's "me and my team of ultimate bad-asses will protect you" speech. And I really didn't like all the speculation about the possiblity of a queen alien before you actually see it. In the original someone asks what's laying the eggs, and Bishop says "it must be something we haven't seen yet" and that's all.

I also think that pre-disaster scenes on LV426 are a mistake. In the original cut when Ripley and the marines arrive on the planet you have absolutely no idea at all what they're going to find there. That makes for far more suspense during the initial prowl around the base.



they drool a lot don't they
That's probably some sort of organic resin rather than water. There's the odd hint here and there that the aliens may be biomechanical - I think the adult ones probably eat plastic and metal rather than flesh, but that's pure speculation on my part.
Seems like a major flaw in the so called perfect race
Yeah, but then an alien mouth wouldn't be a vagina dentata would it?



if everyone apart from newt had been taken to impregnated with an alien (excluding ones who were killed) there would have been hundreds of the bleeder
There would have been 156, minus however many colonists were killed rather than cocooned (which I get the impression is quite a few).
 
it's weird that a few years ago I spent ages trying to find this Special Edition Aliens (which had a limited Rental VHS release) and now it's the only version you can get. oh the irony.:rolleyes:
 
As many thing that one can find to nit-pick at in Aliens I would still say it is by far the best one of the lot. Too bad that the morons behind the third instalment had no trouble ruining it and with it the entire series.

I mean please! Ripley spends half the movie trying to save newt from death and after going trough hell and beating impossible odds she manages to do it only for the idiot script writer, who deserves to be dragged out to street stoned and be boiled in oil, to kill her together with the only other human survivor. And all for what? For us to discover that somehow during the turmoil Ripley had been impregnated without knowing it and ends up killing herself?!? For the love of god the third movie is so lame! They don’t have any weapons and the threat is only one measly alien? If Ripley was impregnated then where the hell is the carcass of the facehugger that did it to her? That movie is rubbish and ever since seeing I’ve been trying to forget about it. I only managed to keep my sanity by ignoring it’s existence until some nuts decided to justify the existence of abomination by making a sequel for it. And not a very good one at that.

If the persons trying to scrap together enough pieces to make a sequel from the ashes of the third instalment had half or even a quarter of a brain they would have just ignored the huge mistake that the movie is and had made a alternative sequel for Aliens where newt, bishop and the marine don't die in the first 3 minutes of the movie. Perhaps getting hold of the guy who wrote the script for Aliens or at least convinced James Cameron to direct it.

If aliens truly do exist, stumble across our planet and are left with the question of either befriending humans or annihilating our pitiful species I'm certain that the fact that Aliens 3 was allowed to come to be will convince them of the latter...

Aliens 3, truly humanities greatest sin since the original one, Jesus wept the day the project got the green light.
 
Originally posted by NicolasB
WHAT?! Are you seriously trying to tell us that you prefer the original release of Bladerunner to the Director's Cut? :eek:

Yes I do. Why? What's wrong with that?
 
i just want to defend Alien 3 a bit, i'm not saying it is anywhere near as good as the first and particularly the second, but i still think it is a decent film. for me it seems like quite a daring move for a Hollywood franchise to kill off two fairly major characters, all-be-it rather too quickly into the film. it's not like we were really expecting a 'happy family' film from the Alien frachise surely? the situation of the prison planet itself is quite interesting and in particular the lack of weapons for obvious reasons means that even one Alien can be a major menace to human life. Ripley's final sacrifice is a seemingly satisfying conclusion to the series for me.

now what *IS* really terrible is what they did with Alien Resurrection which really is un-redeemingly bad although i am sure Jean-Pierre Jeunet is not to blame for most of it! Ripley died at the end of Alien 3, so let's clone her and bring her straight back!!! then let's put in a mis-quote from Aliens by having Ripley voice-over the line about 'my mummy told me there were no real monsters' instead of Newt. then there's the embarrassment of the whole ending with the pathetic New Born thing... urgh :-(
 
Oh come on! Alien 3 was garbage and you know it. The story did absolutely nothing to move the plot forward and was just a cheap imitation of the first movie. In fact if it was a TV show I would call it a filler episode just that major characters don’t die in filler episodes. The general tone in the movie was dark and broody in a way that was inappropriate for this kind of movie. This was due to a very bad choice of director, David Fincher? Please! As much as I enjoy Fight Club and Seven the choice of director could not have been anymore off.

I don't care if it was daring or what not it was a bad choice killing off the important characters from the prequel is a move that could do nothing but to disappoint the fans. It’s obvious that direction in which the writer was moving towards with the script had no place for the characters from the prequel so he chose to kill them off in the beginning in a very sloppy and non professional way. Not to mention the total lack of character development in the movie, it seems that all the characters where put in only for the sole purpose of dying in one way or the other. I mean my holy lord Jesus son of God where the hell did they find this guy? A chimp typing randomly away on a typewriter could produce a better script that the sewage this guy squeezed out.

Not to say that it is always (ALWAYS) a very bad idea to kill off the main character. How dare he kill off Ripley I mean how selfish can a decision be? By killing her they kind of say that's it we are wrapping up this series, it's over folks. At least leave little loophole for a potential sequel so we wouldn’t get something like resurrection, you selfish bastards...

If it was for me I'd get Weaver, Cameron and the script writer of the Aliens on the phone and convince them to make a alternate sequel to Aliens, one that is worthy of it's predecessor.

The fact that the people involved in the previous project don't get to make the sequel as well truly is the problem with Hollywood and a major contributor to why most sequels suck. Ironic that the same tradition that led to Aliens being better than Alien (director change from Crow to Cameron) led to the disaster that is Alien 3.

Let's hope that if they decide make another sequel they at least try and move the story along a little. I mean we still don't know much about these so called aliens. Where they manufactured weapons or a species that have it's own planet? If they have their own planet and are intelligent can they build machines? Can they travel trough space? Will they attack mankind? If they are manufactured then surely those who made them made more than what was discovered in the crashed ship on LV-426. Where and who are the creators.

Hell they don't even really need Ripley anymore they could just make a movie with a entire new cast taking place at the same time and it the same universe as Aliens
 
IMHO the mistake they made with the Aliens sequeals is believing that Sigourney Weaver is integral to the story - she isn't! Her story was effectively concluded at the end of Aliens. They should have taken the franchise elsewhere, there are plenty of 'Alien' stories out there - but I guess they were frightened of not having a 'star' attached to the film (Alien3).

Personally I do not blame David Fincher at all - in fact I think without him the film would have been a TOTAL disaster.

Alien Ressurection however is quite possibly the worst film of all time.

Watching the aliens getting slaughtered by the sentry guns makes them look a lot dumber.

Ah, but the Aliens LEARN from their mistake - the guns still have rounds left when the firing stops - this is because the Aliens have 'decided' to stop and find an alternative way into the room. ;)
 
i do agree with a lot of what Bagpuss said except i love the ultimate badass speach it was top

i don't remember the exchanging names scene

I agree in that the first few scenes of the colony did remove a lot of the tension but it does have that bloke from Red Dwarf

I thought Alien 3 was a very good film. However, it could have been much better. I didn't like how Ripley was impregnanted with a Queen, excuse me, how?

Also at the end of Alien 2 don't you think they would have thought to check the spaceship for Eggs especially as they just had the Queen on board

I also think Alien 4 is a great film upto that human alien hybrid thing that was a terrible idea. Infact, why would giving the queen a womb make it a better killing machine?

I always got the impression that the aliens were developed by a human like alien race as the a fighting weapon and they were shipping the eggs to an enemy planet. Unfortunately it crashed onto LV426. I am not convinced this theory is correct mind you.

I really don't think they are all that hard (the aliens) some decent long range weapons and they are toast

there has been rumours for some time now of a fifth film featuring get predators!!!

I just can not see it myself
 
i don't remember the exchanging names scene
It's very short. Just before Ripley sets off to find Newt (leaving a wounded Hicks in the dropship) Ripley and Hicks exchange first names. "Dwayne! My name's Dwayne!" "Ellen." Or something along those lines. Nice tender moment.


Infact, why would giving the queen a womb make it a better killing machine?
I don't think the scientists intended that to happen. What they wanted to do was create a clone of Ripley with a cloned queen alien inside her. Unfortunately they couldn't fully separate the two types of DNA, so the cloned Ripley ended up with some alien DNA (and acid blood) while the alien queen ended up with some human DNA.


I always got the impression that the aliens were developed by a human like alien race as the a fighting weapon and they were shipping the eggs to an enemy planet. Unfortunately it crashed onto LV426. I am not convinced this theory is correct mind you.
In the original version of the script for the first movie there's a scene where Ripley discovers Dallas and a couple of other people you thought were dead cocooned by the alien, and the cocooned people are actually in the process of metamorphosing into alien eggs. So the implication is that the eggs in the ship on LV426 have actually been made from the bodies of the ship's crew. Of course that idea pre-dates alien queens.
 
Originally posted by Lex
Personally I don't like the extra scenes at the colony before the marines arrive - I feel it takes away from the suspense, and also the special fx are fairly ordinary.

Totaly agree with you Lex, I dont like the extra footage, showing what happened to the colony. The original screen version where no one knows what to expect on the planet works brilliantly.

Infact the only film I have seen where the extra footage works is LOTR and that extra footage should have been included in the original.
 
Originally posted by karkus30
Infact the only film I have seen where the extra footage works is LOTR

I would say that The Abyss is another film that works better with the axtra footage - and maybe T2 (so basically all of James Cameron's films! :D )
 
Originally posted by Lex
I would say that The Abyss is another film that works better with the axtra footage - and maybe T2 (so basically all of James Cameron's films! :D )

Not sure about the Abyss, the wave bit at the end felt tacked on, T2 was fine,you hardly noticed it.

I notice that the full rat drowning is missing from the Abyss, if I remember correctly it was included on my special edition video version.
 
Ah, but the Aliens LEARN from their mistake - the guns still have rounds left when the firing stops - this is because the Aliens have 'decided' to stop and find an alternative way into the room.

The Alien colony resembles a ant colony a lot where the soldiers are just servants and protectors of the queen, they live only to take orders, even if it means their death. The queen gave the order of attacking and since a colonies power lies in it's numbers they try the brute force method until a better one is found.

there has been rumours for some time now of a fifth film featuring get predators!!!

I think you are referring to the adaptation of the Aliens vs Predator games to the movies. It's was hinted as early as the second predator movie as in one scene you see a Alien skull among the trophies in the predator ship. Who knows it might happen and it may even turn up to be good.

Personally I don't like the extra scenes at the colony before the marines arrive - I feel it takes away from the suspense, and also the special fx are fairly ordinary.

I like the extra footage and the suspense you are talking about is there only the first time you see the movie but seeing it for the umpteenth time I say bring on the extended version. The effects in this movie are in my opinion much better than the CGI crap most movies sport these days. I mean is it me or does every single peace of CGI ever used in a movie look fake/crappy? Most of the time it's so bad that it actually ruins the movie. Jurassic Park is a exception to this rule, the CGI used in it looks rather good. Probably because unlike movies of today they didn't use CGI where they could but only when they needed to do something that the puppets wouldn’t allow them. The effects in Aliens are actually pretty impressive for that time if you ask me.
 
Oooooo an Aliens topic. Goodo :)

Alien and Aliens (either version) are pretty much flawless, so I'll skip onwards for rants sake :)

I don't mind Alien 3 anymore. Never used to like it, but now I've watched it enough times to find it passable. I think Ripley dying at the end is a fitting conclusion to HER trilogy. But for its failure, I would probably blame the producers and the money men. David Fincher on many occasions has said it was a living nightmare dealing with them and their refusal to let him do what he wanted.

There is a supposed Directors Cut (or something) lying around somewhere, but Fincher has stated his refusal at revisiting the film (notice how he was the only one absent from that Channel 4 documentary a while ago).

As for the script, with all its major plot holes etc. is because (I think) it became a cut and paste job of the best ideas from the 14 (or so) previous script drafts for the film, after the money men where becoming impatient at the lack of progress.

But for its failings as I film, I would LOVE to get a warts an' all Special Edition of Alien 3 sometime in the future (to go with the new special editions of Alien and Aliens coming out), with a no holds barred admitance of what happened in the forms of commentaries and a mother of a documentary. But of course, that will never happen.

But for Alien Resurrection, there is no excuse. Terrible film. The whole thing is just wrong. It plays out and looks like a comic book, with its "cool scenes", over the top characters, over the top scenarios and unnecessary camera moves. Things that just don't belong in an Alien film. It's like a comic book version of the previous films, which is miles away from what the Alien series is meant to be about, in terms of mood etc. The intended humour is simply unfunny and every character in it is awful. In terms of visuals, what the hell is with all the random smoke and flashing lights? no reason, just makes the film look "exciting" paa. And the New Born? pleeaassee.

I don't just dislike the film, it annoys me. Everything that worked in the previous films just doesn't exist in this one. At least with killing off all the previous characters in Alien 3, the makers of the series had a clean slate. They could take it somewhere else, with new characters, scenarios, etc. But no, they bring back Ripley. I mean, how many times can one person be the only one who meets and survives these creatures in the entire human race? Three times is pushing it, but to bring her back so we can meet them again?

And since we have her back, she has to be somehow involved in any follow up story. Even if she didn't appear in a sequel, people would wonder what happens to her. Instead of her story ending at number 3, it needs to continue now, thanks to the poor ending of Resurrection. And I really wouldn't want to see any of the other surviving characters in a sequel. I mean, they are comicy, over the top characters, meaning the sequel would have to contain some form of comicy and over the top style whenever they are around, which I definetly don't want.

They had the chance to go somewhere else after Alien 3 and they blew it. I mean, since the third was poor, it should have pushed them to go somewhere else, but Resurrection killed that. Rehashed and restocked. It seems that the Alien series is now stuck in a rut with no where to go.

As for sequels, I know Ridley Scott has expressed his interest in doing another Alien film about where they came from etc, which would be great. But this should have been the fourth film. It could of set off a larger story, with the perfect starting point being after Alien 3. One story ends (Ripley's story), another begins (an origins story). Clean slate. But Resurrection has killed that flow in its tracks. You could still do the new story, but Resurrection would need to be involved, which is a big no no. I would be so much more up for a sequel if Resurrection didn't exist.

Its like a turd that won't flush :) OK, Alien Resurrection had a good trailer, thats it :)

The Alien series deserves more, but I just don't know where it could go.

As for Aliens vs Predator. It is moving forward at Fox, but unfortunately, Paul Anderson has officially been drafted to write and direct it. Big gulp.

Rant mode off. Phew, I'm tired now :)
 
i read in a movie mag empire or one like it that talks are well underway about a aliens vs predator game someone wasn't happy about it because they wanted it to feature earth

It also mentioned as Spaz said that Ridley wanted to do one featuring the home planet

I think this is far more intested than the alien vs predator which to me just seems so commercial

however spaz reserection does not really need to come into it as they could vist the home planet after 4 or in between 3 and 4 as so long had gone by between 3 and 4

all contact with earth from this far away planet could be cut off


I was very unhappy with 4 when i saw it at the cinema but after seeing it a few times apaprt from the ending (ok v important) i like it
In the original version of the script for the first movie there's a scene where Ripley discovers Dallas and a couple of other people you thought were dead cocooned by the alien, and the cocooned people are actually in the process of metamorphosing into alien eggs. So the implication is that the eggs in the ship on LV426 have actually been made from the bodies of the ship's crew. Of course that idea pre-dates alien queens.

that would have been quite intesting but yeah the idea of the ant like race disappears

so what does this imply anyway that the aliens were on the ship or part indiginious to the planet

If you look carefully when the enter the ship the bloke with the face hugger on him is huge far bigger than a human but it did have a human skeletal form.

The one thing that always disturbed me about alien was the Lambert's death

Somewhere i heard this discribed as some kind of rape scene which i really could not understand or grasp what was meant but after watching again though i did notice the way the alien approaches her is peturbing then you see her dangling without any trousers on

what the hell was that all about?
 
As for Aliens vs Predator. It is moving forward at Fox, but unfortunately, Paul Anderson has officially been drafted to write and direct it. Big gulp.

What in the unholy name of god! Paul Anderson!?!?
Holy mother of crap on a stick! WE ARE DOOMED! DOOMED I TELLS YA! DOOMED! ABANDON ALL HOPE! EVETY MAN FOR HIMSELF!

Jesus Christ our holy lord and heavenly father did these guys learn nothing from Resident Evil? Paul Should not be allowed to write anything, ever again. The only good thing that man has ever created was Event Horizon and if anything his work since has proved that it was a once in a lifetime chance happening.

I really love the Resident Evil games and somewhere deep inside I knew that although a movie had a lot of potential the odds of it being good where just infinitely small. Hollywood is an expert in screwing things like this up. I mean really, how do these so called professionals with all of these resources and millions of dollars at their hands manage to f*** up so badly, so often? It's beyond me, it really is. I leave it for the future generations to figure it out.

But for Alien Resurrection, there is no excuse. Terrible film.

Yeah but it has it's moment like the 1-7 room scene which was pretty cool me thinks. The reason why both Alien 3 and resurrection sucked so much is due to a bad choice of director and script writer. Can it really be so hard for people to read a draft of a script and realise that it won't work? Or take a look at a directors previous work and see that his style and artistic vision does not match a film of this type? It's almost like the people in charge of choosing these things are totally ignorant to the fact that each director/writer has his own niche and should always be given work that fits it there.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that James Cameron makes the best damn action movies with a great visual style, so he should of coarse not be put in charge of directing a comedy or a drama chick flick.
 
There is another long thread about the highly rated and talented (not) Paul Anderson.
 

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