[Vader]

"In Space No One Can Hear You Scream."

With that tag line, Ridley Scott redefined what an extraterrestrial threat could look like, and gave us what is among the best science fiction/horror movies ever made (winning an Oscar in the process). I did not see this in the theater (first run, anyway), and my first exposure to the Nostromo was a watered down, kid-friendly scholastic edition of the novel by Alan Dean Foster (I was in the 5th grade). Even so, I was hooked, and you would have thought it was the second coming for me when the film premiered on HBO (in crop & chop, no less). If I recall correctly, the original script idea was that of gremlins on a plane during WWII. When they couldn't get Sam Jackson for the lead - he wanted snakes (sorry…. couldn't resist), Scott re-imagined the characters as "intergalactic truck drivers". The sensibility of a future where everything was not pristine and "futuristic" was the perfect backdrop for the story he wanted to tell, and the script was fleshed out by Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett. The rest is history, as the film went down as one of the top 100 films of all time.

There have been several incarnations of Alien on video, from VHS, to LaserDisc, to DVD (and soon, rumor has it, to Blu Ray). The version I will be reviewing is the "Quadrilogy" DVD, which received one of the most comprehensive restorations I am aware of. There are two versions of the film here, both the original cut and a "Director's Cut", which Scott created especially for the Quadrilogy set in 2003. I have come to prefer the DC for viewing on its own merits, while the theatrical version is more in keeping with the continuity followed by James Cameron's 1986 follow-up "Aliens". Scott's vision was for something so utterly alien to our everyday experiences, that it itself would create intense anxiety in the audience. When Cameron established that the aliens were akin to an insect community (complete with a queen), he undermined that. However, with the DC, Scott re-edited the film, and in so doing revived the alien nature he was trying to achieve. We accept, for instance, that Brett is killed quite bloodily, but never question why Dallas disappears with no blood left behind. This is answered in the DC, and that answer flies in the face of everything we understand about life, and how it works. Cameron's sequel suggests that all the alien's victims are used as incubators for parasites that come eggs laid by another alien, much like what some spider species do on earth. In contrast, Scott suggests that some of the victims are killed and altered in some way to become the parasite egg, and another victim is kept alive for the parasite to feed on. This also answers Lambert's question abord the alien derelict, "Wonder what happened to the rest of the crew?" - they are still there in the form of alien eggs. And the fact that we realize what is going on at the same time as Ripley (in the engine room, right before she torches both a living Dallas and Brett's mutating body) makes it all the more effective.

As for the DVD, it is a revelation over every other version I have seen. It has been re-color timed, and the level of detail is pushing what SD can achieve. Skin tones are spot on, and shadow detail is fantastic. I did not notice any EE at all, save for the opening credits (but that might be my display). There are two soundtracks included, both Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1. Both sound fantastic, but to my ears the DTS pulls ahead in terms of smoothness and clarity (while not being able to localize exactly where the sound is coming from - a big plus in my book). The DTS soundtrack is exemplary, drawing the viewer into the Scott's gritty world, which has been called (accurately, I might add) the "anti-Star Wars". Surrounds are used quite effectively to convey the atmosphere, aided by Jerry Golsmith's fantastic music. Likewise, LFE is not over used, but mainly to add atmosphere (actually, the only times I can think of that it is used significantly for anything else are the landing and takeoff sequences). While there have been uncounted attempts at mimicing the style and substance, to date none have come within a light year of succeeding (IMO).