...In space no one can hear you scream...

* iNTRODUCTIOn *

Before you start, this is a long winded review but there was no way I could shorten it due to the sheer amount of information so I've tried to lay everything out neatly and clearly in the best way that I could…

Alien was originally released back in 1979. It was written by Dan O'Bannan and Ronald Shusett and directed by Ridley Scott. It went on to become one of the most succesful movies in history, winning an oscar and a further 29 award nominations and wins for its achievements and genuinely terrified an entire world's audience. An whole seven years passed until Aliens was released in 1986, this time around directed by James Cameron. Like the first the movie went onto achieve phenomenal success also becoming one of the most successful movies in history picking up 2 oscars for it's efforts. Another 6 years passed before Alien 3, directed by David Fincher was released, this time, however, not achieving the same success at all, at the time, that the first two had but as the years have passed, fans and critics have slowly began to appreciate the movie a lot more and it has finally gained it's status as a masterpiece of cinema and a worthy sequel to the first two. 5 more years passed and to the surprise of everyone Alien: Resurrection was released in 1997, directed by Jean Pierre Jeunet. It recieved mixed reviews as it just didn't have the same intensity that the first 3 had but still, like the 3rd, earns its place as a worthy sequel. In December 2003 the movies were released in a quadrilogy DVD boxset that fans would not be dissapointed in. There really is everything here. Nothing is left out whatsoever, the 5 discs of extra's each with several hours of footage is all that you will ever need. I am going to attempt to review this quadrilogy for you in the best way that i can...so here goes nothing...Alien: Quadrilogy...

* aLIEn *

Alien begins by introducing us to Nostromo, a commercial ship on its way back to earth carrying seven crew members currently in hyper sleep for the long journey. The Nostromo recieves an unknown distress signal from a nearby planetary system which then wakes up the crew alerting them to the signal. It is contracted that they must check out the signal before returning home so left with no other choice the crew members, Dallas (Tom Skeritt), Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), Lambert (Veronica Cartwright), Brett (Harry Dean Stanton), Kane (John Hurt), Ash (Ian Holm) and Parker (Yaphet Kotto) land on the planet LV-426.

Discovering that the signal is coming from a huge, derelict spacecraft, three crew members, Dallas, Lambert and Kane go out to investigate but soon after, Ripley learns that the signal is in fact a warning and not a distress signal that they originally thought. Ripley wants to go and warn the three who have gone to investigate but Ash advises her that by the time she gets to them they'll already know if it's a warning or not so what's the point. The three crew members finally get to the spacecraft and climb inside to discover a vast nesting area full of eggs. Kane goes to investigate the eggs but soon discovers that it's a bad iidea when one of them hatches and lets out an alien that attaches itself to his face called a 'face-hugger' and wraps it's tail around his throat.

The three manage to get back to the Nostromo where they attempt to remove the creature from Kane's face but without success. Later on, the face hugger removes itself from Kane's face and the crew discover it dead. Kane seems fine once awoken but at dinner later that evening, in an infamous scene, Kane begins to choke and all of a sudden a small alien bursts through the ribcage of his chest, killing him, and escapes. Shocked, the remaining 6 crew members go on a hunt for this alien to track it down and kill it before it gets to anymore of them. But what they don't know is that the alien has quickly grown to 20 times it's original size and what follows is a movie which will end the lives of 5 further crew members and change the life of the seventh forever. It's full of terrifying, nail biting suspense, twists, turns and outstanding acting performances making it one of my all time favourite movies.

* eXTRAS FOR ALIEn *

Each movie comes with two discs. One disc for the movies (including a theatrical version or a director's cut) and one disc for the extra's.

The first disc containing the theatrical version of the movie comes with a full length commentary by Director Ridley Scott, writer Dan O'Bannon, Executive Producer Ronald Shusett, Editor Terry Rawlings, actors Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skeritt, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton and John Hurt. For the directors cut of the movie but you get an introduction to the movie by Ridley Scott who explains his reasoning for re-releasing a directors cut of the movie. 'Over the years, you start to notice things so you, naturally, want to correct them.'

Also, just for you to know that for all 4 movies you get a THX Optimizer which allows and helps you to set up your television set, using colour, sound and picture settings to give you the best possible viewing experience for the movie.

The second disc includes the following extras divided into three sections: Pre-Production, Production and Post-Production:

...Pre-Production...

*Star Beast: Developing the story which gives you an in-depth look at the very birth of the Alien script and where the idea came from and the shocking fact that it could have ended up being a b-movie disaster.

*The Visualists: Direction and design which gives an in-depth look at the many different ideas the writers and director had to go through before finally deciding on one.

* Truckers In Space: Casting which includes such information like Sigourney Weaver at last minute wondering if it was really worth her auditioning for the movie and then turning up an hour late when finally deciding to go for it!

* Sigourney Weavers screen test with optional commentary by Ridley Scott

* Still photo galleries including first draft original screenplay by Dan O'Bannon, Ridleygrams: Original thumbnails and notes, storyboard archives, Art of Alien and Cast Portrait Gallery.

...Production...

* Fear Of The Unknown: Shepperton studios 1978 hich gives us an in-depth look at the studio used to film the movie and it's history.

* The Darkest Reaches: Nostromo and Alien planet which gives us an in-depth look at the design and construction of the Nostromo and the planet LV-426 and the number of ideas they went through for each.

* The eighth passenger: creature design which is an incredible look at the artwork of H.R Giger (the man who designed the alien) and the story behind his imagery and where his ideas for the Alien came from.

* Chest-burster: Creature design including multi angle scene studies with commentary by Ridley Scott which gives us a brilliant look at how they created and executed this infamous scene.

* Still Photo Galleries including Production Galleries, The Sets Of Alien and H.R. Gigers workshop.

...Post Production...

* Future Tense: Music and Editing showing the tedious, stressful and incredibly limited time conditions that the editors and composers had to work in to make sure the movie met it's release date. The music section is particularly interesting showing original score sheets and the ideas behind the music used for the movie.

* Outward Bound: Visual Effects gives a great look at how they created the visual effects of the movie including scenes like the Nostromo landing on LV-426

* A Nightmare Fulfilled: Reaction to the film including Dan O'Bannon retelling the story of the time when he went to the theatre where Alien had opened in and seeing the cue for it coming out of the theatre and going all the way around the block!

* Deleted and extended scenes including Kane in the morning, The derelict, Kane's condition, Brett, Parker and Ripley argue, Planning Scene, Ripley soothes Lambert, Airlock sequence and Still Photo Galleries, Visual Effects Gallery, Poster Exploration, Special Promotional shoot and Premiere.

and that rounds up the extras for Alien which includes enormous ammounts of unseen footage and photos and includes brand new interviews with the cast including Sigourney Weaver and Veronica Cartwright and the Director Ridley Scott.

* aLIENs *

After escaping the Nostromo and Alien seconds before it's destruction, Ripley floats in space during hyper sleep for 57 years before finally being picked up by a deep space salvage team. Ripley, now suffering from terrible nightmares is soon grilled by 'The Company' who want to know exactly what went on on the Nostromo and why she blew it up. When she tells her story of the Alien and the fate of her fellow crewmembers it is met with disbelief as Ripley discovers that LV-426 (where the alien ship and it's 100's of eggs were discovered) has been colonized for years and no aliens have been reported to back up her story. Ripley loses her licence as commanding officer and is forced to have therapy sessions and work as a crate packer.

But things are about to change when communication with LV-426 is lost and the company, now believing her story, offers to reinstate Ripley's flight-licence but only if she acompanies a team of high-tech colonial marines including Hicks (Michael Biehn), Bishop (Lance Henriksen), Hudson (Bill Paxton), Gorman (William Hope) and Vasquez (Jenette Goldstein) to the planet to check it out. At first Ripley refuses but she soon realises that the only way to banish her nightmares that await her every time she sleeps is to confront her fear head on so she finally accepts.

When Ripley and the marines reach the planet things soon turn sour when the marines discover the planet derelict of human life. They are then attacked by an army of Aliens that take out a lot of the marines leaving only a few alive. The remaining Marines and Ripley decide to nuke the entire colony from orbit as soon as their ship arrives to pick them up but when that ship crashes and blows up they are all left stranded on LV-426 with no other choice but to fight the aliens and try to stay alive. However, not all human life was lost as they assumed when they discover a young girl named Newt (Carrie Henn) who has been in hiding from the Aliens after losing her family to them.

This movie is far more military and gun-action orientated than the first but nevertheless is still a scary, masterpiece of a movie that remains true to the original. I loved every minute of this movie as it developed the character in Ripley a lot more making us care for her even more so than we did in the first.

* eXTRAS OF ALIENs *

Like the rest. The movie comes with two discs. One for the movie and one for the extras.

The first disc contains a special 148 minute edition of the movie with a full length commentary by Director James Cameron, Producer Gale Anne Hurd, Alien Effects Creator Stan Winston, Visual Effects Supervisors Robert Skotak and Dennis Skotak, Miniature Effects Supervisor Pat McClung, Actors Michael Biehn, Bill Paxton, Lance Henriksen, Jenette Goldstein, Carrie Henn and Christopher Henn so it's self-explanatory really, absolutely no details are left out.

You also get the theatrical 131 minute version of the movie and an introduction to the special edition by James Cameron who like Ridley Scott on the first movie explains his reasons for releasing this edition including his statement that he wanted us to see the movie in 'it's full, original glory'

The second disc contains the following extra's divided into three sections: Pre-Production, Production and Post-Production.

...Pre-Production...

* 57 Years Later: Continuing the story, a great insight into the birth of the ideas for the second movie and the fact that Sigourney Weaver didn't even have an idea that a second movie was even being prepped until she got the script!

* Building Better Worlds: From Concept to Construction, an in-sight into how they developed the story and it's set plans further.

* Pre-Vis Animatics including Mulit Angle viewing

* Preparing for Battle: Casting and Characterization

* Still Photo Galleries including Original Treatment by James Cameron, The Art of Aliens: Conceptual Art Portfolio and Cast Portraits.

...Production...

* This time it's war: Pinewood Studios 1985 which gives us an insight into the set construction and the history of the studio.

* The Risk Always Lives: Weapons and Actio n which is an in-depth look at the training the actors had to endure for the movie and also Sigourney Weaver attempting to get over her fear of fire-arms.

* Bug Hunt: Creature Desing, a look at how the aliens have evolved since the first movie and the new design ideas they had for this movie.

* Beauty And The Bitch: Power Loader Vs Alien Queen: A look at the filming of the final scenes of the movie and how they constructed the power loader and how they managed to create the effect of the Alien Queen.

* Two Orphans: Sigourney Weaver and Carrie Henn, a look at the relationship between Ripley and Newt in the movie.

* Still Photo Galleries including Production, Continuity Polaroids, Weapons and Vehicles and Stan Winstons workshop.

...Post-Production...

* The Final Countdown: Music, Editing and Sound, which again like the extra on the first movie, gives you a brilliant in-sight into the harsh, limited time conditions the editors and composers had to work under to meet the movies release date not helped by 20th Century Fox's inpatient attitude.

* The Power of Real Tech: Visual Effects, a look at the final touches to the visual effects before the movies release.

* Aliens Unleashed: Reaction to the movie giving you a look at the earnings of the movie, the movies premiere, critics reviews and audience reactions.

* Still Photo Galleries including Visual Effects Gallery, Music Record and Markets, Movie Premiere and Special Promotional Shoot.

and that rounds up the extras for Aliens which again contains an incredible ammount of un-seen footage and interviews with everyone involved in the making including James Cameron and Sigourney Weaver.

* aLIEn 3 *

After narrowly escaping the Aliens on planet LV-426, Ripley, Newt and Hicks are in cryo-sleep on the escape-pod which they escaped LV-426 from. But they are not the only ones onboard. Whilst they are all asleep an Alien egg is hatching at the foot of their cryo-chambers. The pod crashes after a malfunction on Fiorina 161, a bleak planet inhabited by former in-mates of a maximum security work correctional facility. Oh yeah..and Ripley is the only woman to arrive on the planet in many many years as the planets population include, murderous, peadophilles and rapers. Dillon (Charles S Dutton), Clemens (Charles Dance), Golic (Paul Mcgann) and Andews (Brian Glover) being some.

Ripley is reovered from the pod alive but Newt and Hicks are not so fortunate dying, supposedly from the crash impact. It's not long before Ripley awakens and discovers that her friends are dead. Distraught and beginning to question the coroners report that they died of natural causes Ripley gets the coroner to open up Newt's chest and see if an Alien is inside but they discover nothing.

Now waiting to be picked up by 'The Company' to be taken home Ripley gets on with things. It's (in usual Alien style) not long before things go horribly wrong. During the salvage of Ripleys pod a dog is attacked by a face hugger and a new breed of Alien is born which begins to take the lives of the planets in-mates leading to an amazing scene, which features in the movies trailer, where the Alien finds Ripley but doesn't kill her.

Discovering that the planet she is now awaiting rescue on has no advanced technology or modern weapons to fight this alien she deems the entire planet and it's population 'f**ked". How will Ripley stop the Alien breed this time with no weapons of any sort and no way of escape until 'The Company' arrive which isn't for a few days...

This is possibly my favourtie Alien movie, it's dark, scary, suspensful and dirty looking and it has the most emotionally charged endings of all the four which gets me every time. It may be others least favourite but once you watch the extras you'll see the pain and struggle that everyone went through trying to make it and how the movie turned out nothing like it should have after pilings of pressure being put on Director David Fincher by 20th Century Fox who wanted the movie done 'their way'.

* eXTRAS OF ALIEn 3 *

Again, like the previous two, the movie has 2 discs. One for the movie and one for the extras.

The first disc includes the 109 minute theatrical version of the movie with commentary by Cinematographer Alex Thomson, Editor Terry Rawlings (also edited the first movie), Alien Effects Designers Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff Jr, Visual Effects Producer Richard Edlund and actor Paul McGann.

Also inlcluded on disc 1 is the special 138 minute special edition of the movie which in my opinion is far, far superior to the theatrical version.

Disc 2 is divided into three sections of extra's: Pre-Production, Production and Post Production:

...Pre-Production...

* Development: Concluding the story which is a look at the story ideas for Alien 3 and how they could end the series as a trilogy.

*Tales Of The Wooden Planet: Vincent Ward's Version, an incredible story of an idea for the movie which never went ahead including...obviously...the wooden planet.

* Pre Production: Part 3, a look at more ideas for Alien 3 including set design and from script to the big screen.

* Xeno-Erotic: H.R. Gigers redesign, a look at the design of the 'new' alien for this movie as it looks nothing like it does in the previous 2, rightly so as it came from a dog instead of a human this time.

* Still Photo Galleries including The Art Of Arceon: Conceptual, Art Portfolio, Storyboards and Art Of Fiorina.

...Production...

* Production Part 1, a look at the studio where the movie was filmed in.

* Furnace Construction Time Lapse Sequence, a incredible time-lapse view of the construction of the set, which really is one of the most incredible things i've ever seen.

* Adaptive Organism: Creature Design, a further look at the design of the 'new' alien, including how it would look, how it would move and experimentations.

* E.E.V Scan, a multi angle enabled view of the scan scene

* Production Part 2, a look at the pressure and strain of the entire crew as they made the movie, makes you understand what happened and appreciate the movie a lot more.

* Production Part 3, a look at what David Fincher went through including depression whilst trying to make this movie under the pressure and scrutiny of 20th Century Fox.

* Still Photo Galleries including Production Gallery and A.D.I. workshop.

...Post Production...

* Music, Editing and Sound, like the first two movies a look at the process of editing the movie and composing the score.

* Optical Fury: Visual Effects, a in-depth look at the final touches made to the movie using visual effects before it's release.

* Post-Mortem: Reaction to the Movie, a look at the less than well recieved movie on it's release.

* Still Photo Galleries including Visual Effects Gallery and Special Shoot.

That rounds up the extras for this disc which are again an incredible ammount including interviews with everyone from David Fincher to Sigourney Weaver and never before seen footage.

* aLIEN RESURRECTIOn *

200 years have passed since Ripley made the ultimate sacrfice on Fiorina 161. Throughout those years and seven horrific experiments later scientists of the USM AURIGA have finally managed to clone a perfect replica of Ripley which also still includes the Alien queen growing inside her chest (which she discovered in the 3rd movie) at the time of her death. After removing the queen alien from her chest the Ripley clone is doing fine so they decide to keep her alive after all for study also but the new breed of alien born from Ripleys Queen is far more intelligent than their predecessors - something that the scientists don't realise yet.

Meanwhile, we are introduced to the crew of 'The Betty', Annalee Call (Winona Ryder), Vriess (Dominique Pinon), Johner (Ron Perlman), Christie (Gary Dourdan) and Sabra (Kim Flowers) are boarding the USM AURIGA with cryo-chambers they have stolen ready to sell to USM AURIGA who want to use the sleeping people in their cryo-chambers as experiments for the aliens they are now breeding from the queen they recovered from Ripley.

But dum, dum, dum, things quickly go wrong. The Aliens are clever and have broken out of captivity sending the entire USM AURIGA into panic. Its crew are evacuated in escape pods leaving the crew of 'The Betty' and Ripley to fend the aliens off themselves whilst trying to get back to their ship to take off.

This movie, i think, combines all three in one, it has the scaryness of the first, the action of the second, and the dirty look of the third. I thoroughly enjoyed it but it still isn't a patch on the first three. It struggles to find it's own identity at times but apart from that, it's a great movie, a worthy sequel, if not a little silly.

* eXTRAS OF ALIEN RESURRECTIOn *

Like the first three, the movie comes with 2 discs. One for the feature movie and one for it's extras.

The first disc includes a running commentary by Director Jean Pierre Jeunet, Editor Herve Schneid, Alien Effects Creators Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff (from Alien 3), Visual Effects Supervisor Pitof, Conceptual Artist Sylvain Despretz and actors Ron Perlman, Dominique Pinon and Leland Orser for both the 104 minute theatrical version and the 111 minute special edition which also includes an introduction to by Jean Pierre Jeunet.

Disc 2 extras are divided into 3 sections: Pre-Production, Production and Post-Production.

...Pre-Production...

* From The Ashes: Reviving the story, an in-depth look at the writing process of this script including an interview with Joss Whedon who wrote the movie.

* French Twist: Direction and Design, a feature explaining why Jean Pierre Jeunet was approached to make the fourth installment of a classic american series.

* Under The Skin: Casting and Characterization, featuring interviews with the actors including Winona Ryder who explains her love for the alien movies and why she was so excited when she got the script.

* ADI Effects, a look at the Alien design for this movie.

* Pre-Visualizations, a multi angle feature of actors rehearsals.

* Test Footage No.1: Hair and Makeup.

* Still Photo Galleries including First Draft Screenplay by Joss Whedon, Mark Carro gallery, The Art Of Resurrection: Conceptual Art Gallery and storyboards.

...Production...

* Death From Below: Underwater Photography, an amazing in-depth look at the filming of the underwater sequence and what the actors had to endure, how they filmed it, and the incredible ammount of time it took, including almost a death of one of the actors!

* In The Zone: The Basketball scene, a look at the training Sigourney Weaver endured to make this scene happen including an incredible hoop Sigourney Weaver makes (which no basketball player has ever made) which they originally thought they would have to create using CGI. I LOVED THIS!

* Unnatural Mutation: Creature Design, a look at the crearion of the aliens new look in this movie.

* Still Photo Galleries including Production Gallery.

...Post-Production...

* Genetic Composition: Music, a look at the creation of the score to the movie including an interview with the Composer John Frizzel.

* Virtual Aliens: Computer Generated Imagery, a look at the use of CGI to create some scenes in this movie.

* A Matter Of Scale: Miniature Photography

* Critical Juncture: Reaction to the movie, an excellent look at the reaction including interviews with Sigourney Weaver who states herself that this movie was maybe pushing the barrier too far.

* Still Photo Galleries including Visual Effects Gallery and Special Promotional Shoot.

and that rounds up the extras for Alien Resurrection which includes interviews with everyone who worked on the movie including actors Sigourney Weaver and Ron Perlman and Director Jean Pierre Jeunet. Another in-depth, staggering look at the creation of this movie.

* dISC 9 EXTRAs *

The final disc of extras (and you thought you'd seen it all!) includes the following divided into categories:

ALIEN: Alien Evolution, Experience in terror, Ridley Scott Q&A, Alien special edition laserdisc archive, theatrical trailer and teaser and TV spots.

ALIENS: Aliens special edition laserdisc archive, theatrical trailer and teaser, domestic & International trailer and TV spot.

ALIEN 3: Advance Featurette, Theatrical Trailers and TV spots.

ALIEN RESURRECTION: Theatrical trailer, teaser and TV spots.

And also 'Aliens In The Basement', an incredible story of a man names Bob Burns who basically was asked by 20th Century Fox to look after the memorabilia from the movies including pieces of sets, Alien costumes, Actors costumes, scripts, minatures...you name it, and he houses it all in his enormous basement! He is also welcome to show anybody who asks a tour of the memorabilia for free at his home in the USA!

and, last but not least, 'Dark Horse Cover Gallery', a look at the artwork for the dozens of Alien comics that were released.

* tO SUM Up *

This really is one amazing DVD collection which shows just how great DVD can really be. From the birth of the script for Alien to the reaction to Alien: Resurrection absolutely nothing is left un-answered. I have to admit that it was a task in itself to get through it all but I enjoyed every minute of it and so will you. You can either buy the regular DVD boxset or you can get one of the limited edition Alien Heads that hold the nine discs to proudly display (which I have). If your not an Alien fan then it's time to be one as this collection has everything. If you've never heard of them then it's time you bought this boxset. I just hope I've done it justice. Enjoy everyone, we'll never get anything like it again…wow…an incredible achievement…thank you 20th Century Fox!