The Alien Anthology Extras Discs

The Aliens Anthology: Bonus Discs

You’ve found the extra features listing for the two bonus discs in the Alien Anthology. If you want the reviews for the films, click here.

There is so much in the way of extra material on the supplementary two discs in this anthology that I’ll just opt to list it, and leave any comments to the end.

Extras: Making The Alien Anthology – Disc 5

The main menu here lists a DataSearch Option (An A-Z listing), a Play All Featurettes Option, and the MU-TH-UR Mode. Of course you can access the featurettes separately, divided by film. There are also plenty of subtitles. Unless stated otherwise, the content is in SD format.

Alien: The Beast Within: Making Alien

Star Beast: Developing The Story (18:14)
The Visualists: Direction and Design (16:41)
Truckers in Space: Casting (14:54)
Fear of the Unknown: Shepperton Studios 1978 (24:03)
The Darkest Reaches: Nostromo and the Alien Planet (17:28)
The Eighth Passenger: Creature Design (31:35)
Future Tense: Editing and Music (16:28)
Outward Bound: Visual Effects (18:52)
A Nightmare Fulfilled: Reaction to the Film (19:22)

Enhancement Pods (27 supplementary videos to The Beast Within: Making Alien) Total runtime – 79:43

Aliens: Superior Firepower: Making Aliens

57 Years Later: Continuing the Story (11:05)
Building Better Worlds: From Concept to Creation (13:29)
Preparing for Battle: Casting and Characterisation (17:00)
This Time It’s War: Pinewood Studios, 1985 (19:39)
The Risk Always Lives: Weapons and Action (15:12)
Bug Hunt: Creature Design (16:23)
Two Orphans: Sigourney Weaver and Carrie Henn (13:48)
Beauty and the Bitch: Power Loader vs. Queen Alien (22:25)
The Final Countdown: Music, Editing and Sound (15:31)
The Power of Real Tech: Visual Effects (27.47)
Aliens Unleashed: Reaction to the Film (12:33)

Enhancement Pods (25 supplementary videos to Superior Firepower: Making Aliens) Total runtime – 58:31

Alien³: Wreckage and Rage: Making Alien³

Development Hell: Concluding the Story (17:42)
Tales of the Wooden Planet: Vincent Ward’s Vision (13:11)
Stasis Interrupted: David Fincher’s Vision (14:13)
Xeno-Erotic: H.R. Giger’s Redesign (10:20)
The Color of Blood: Pinewood Studios, 1991 (23:42)
Adaptive Organism: Creature Design (20:58)
The Downward Spiral: Creative Differences (14:55)
Optical Fury: Visual Effects (24:04)
Where the Sun Burns Cold: Fox Studios LA, 1992 (17: 33)
Requiem for a Scream: Music, Editing and Sound (14:53)
Post Mortem: Reaction to the Film (8:24)

Enhancement Pods (29 supplementary videos to Wreckage and Rage: Making Alien³) Total runtime – 74:03

Alien Resurrection: One Step Beyond: Making Alien Resurrection

From the Ashes: Revisiting the Story (10:10)
French Twist: Direction and Design (26:09)
Under the Skin: Casting and Characterisation (12:45)
Death From Below: Fox Studios Los Angeles, 1996 (31:36)
In the Zone: The Basketball Scene (6:43)
Unnatural Mutation: Creature Design (26:21)
Genetic Composition: Music (13:10)
Virtual Alien: Computer Generated Imagery (9:53)
A Matter of Scale: Miniature Photography (22:50)
Critical Juncture: Reaction to the Film (14:28)

Enhancement Pods (26 supplementary videos to One Step Beyond: Making Alien Resurrection) Total runtime – 75:17

As you can see, there is a whole lot of supplemental material to go with each movie, hours upon hours worth, and if like me you tend to sneak in a bit of extras viewing in between all the other stuff that you might be watching, this disc could last you weeks. The good thing is that there is no dead weight here; all of the extra material is informative, well curated and very well worth watching.

Extras: The Alien Anthology Archives – Disc 6

If that isn’t enough, you get a whole other disc of extra features, although a lot of stuff here is in the form of image and text galleries to click through.

Alien

Pre-Production

-Development
First Draft Screenplay by Dan Bannon
-Pre-visualisation
Ridley-grams: Original Thumbnails and Notes
Storyboard Archive
-Conceptual Art
The Art of Alien: Conceptual Art Portfolio
-Casting
Sigourney Weaver Screen Test (8:15 SD, with optional Ridley Scott commentary)
Cast Portrait Gallery

Production

-Footage
The Chest-burster Multi-angle Sequence (5:28 SD with optional Ridley Scott commentary)
Video Graphics Gallery (5:31 SD)
-Photography
Production Image Galleries
Continuity Polaroids
The Sets of Alien
H.R. Giger’s Workshop

Post Production and Aftermath

-Footage
Additional Deleted Scenes (x7 SD 16:33)
-Photography
Image Galleries
-Miscellaneous
Experience in Terror (1979) (featurette 7:10 SD)
Laserdisc Archives (extra features from 1992 Laserdisc, text, images and video, the latter in SD)
The Alien Legacy (1999) (making of documentary 66:53 SD)
American Cinematheque Q & A (2001) (interview with Ridley Scott 15:40 SD)
Trailers and TV Spots (SD)

Aliens

Pre-Production

-Development
Original Treatment by James Cameron
-Footage
Pre-Visualisations: Multiangle Videomatics (3:13 with optional commentary SD)
-Pre-Visualisation
Storyboard Archive
-Conceptual Art
The Art of Aliens (3 galleries)
-Casting
Cast Portrait Gallery

Production

-Photography
Production Image Galleries (9 galleries)
Continuity Polaroids
Weapons and Vehicles
Stan Winston’s Workshop
-Footage
Colonial Marine Helmet Cameras (5:01 SD)
Video Graphics Galleries (4:04 SD)
Weyland-Yutani Inquest: Nostromo Dossiers (3:35 SD)

Post Production and Aftermath

-Footage
Deleted Scene: Burke Cocooned (1:31 SD)
Deleted Scene Montage (4:07 SD)
-Photography
Image Galleries (4 galleries)
-Miscellaneous
Laserdisc Archives (extra features from original Laserdisc release, text, images and video, the latter in SD)
Main Title Exploration (2:55 SD)
Aliens Ride at the Speed of Fright (1996) (4:05 SD)
Trailers and TV Spots (SD)

Alien³

Pre-Production

-Pre-Visualisation
Storyboard Archive
-Conceptual Art
The Art of Arceon
The Art of Fiorina

Production

-Footage
Furnace Construction Time-Lapse Sequence (4:35 SD)
EEV Bioscan: Multi Angle Vignette (2:02 SD)
-Photography
Image Galleries (8 galleries)
A.D.I.’s Workshop

Post-Production and Aftermath
-Photography
Visual Effects Gallery
Special Shoot: Promotional Photo Archive
-Miscellaneous
Alien³ Advance Featurette (2:56 SD)
Making of Alien³ (23:24 SD
Trailers and TV Spots (SD)

Alien Resurrection

Pre-Production

-Development
First Draft Screenplay by Joss Whedon
­-Footage
Test Footage A.D.I. Creature Shop (with commentary 9:51 SD)
Pre-Visualisations: Multi-Angle Rehearsals (2:52 SD)
-Pre-Visualisation
Storyboard Archive
-Conceptual Art
The Marc Caro Portfolio: Character Designs
The Art of Resurrection

Production
-Photography
Production Image Galleries (9 Galleries)
A.D.I’s Workshop

Post-Production and Aftermath

­-Photography
Visual Effects Gallery
Special Shoot: Promotional Photo Archive
-Miscellaneous
HBO First Look: The Making of Alien Resurrection (25:40 SD)
Alien Resurrection Promotional Featurette (3:56 SD)
Trailers and TV Spots (SD)

Anthology

Alien Evolution (2001 Original TV Version) (48:58 SD)
Alien Evolution (2003 Re-Edit) (64.33 SD)
The Alien Saga (109:02 SD)
Aliens 3D Attraction
-Script
-Conceptual Art
Aliens in the Basement: The Bob Burns Collection (16:54 SD)
Parodies
-Peter’s Daughter (Family Guy (0:32 SD)
-Spaceballs (1:47 SD)
Dark Horse Stills Gallery
Patches and Logos Gallery

I had thought that this sixth disc would be mostly image galleries, but there is a whole lot of footage here to watch as well, and it also addresses one concern that I had about the movie discs, that the sole deleted scenes on those were those re-integrated into the Special Editions. There are further deleted scenes on disc 6. It also collects those featurettes and documentaries that were presented on previous releases of the film, even going as far as including the Laserdisc extras for the first two films. And just when you think it’s all over, you get the Anthology extras, which offer another four hours of documentaries, including the Mark Kermode programmes, the first for all four films, then subsequently re-edited to focus on the first film alone. This might just very well be the definitive release of the Alien saga, when it comes to extra features.