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Idea & Info: a Preservation of Alien Evolution doco? — Page 6

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Originally posted by: meedermow
I'd say that's all pretty much goods news suntech ! The fact you've still got it and its first generation is a major step in the right direction. Let us know how your other deck goes. Mono would be better than nothing ! Many thanks for bringing your tech to this thread

My words. Personally I do not care much about the quality in this case. I believe that this cut does not contain anything not re-used later in the SE. I want to have this one only for reference. If you can burn a mono copy on a DVD, I do not ask for more. I just hope that it really is the mysterious 145 min cut preceding the LD release of the SE.
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Originally posted by: RIJIR
My copy of Aliens CBS is probably the same. Have never checked it though.
Check it, please. That is all I can say.

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I don't want to push this thought too far (this project is getting big enough as it is!) but it's interesting that we've discussed alternate or unreleased versions of all of the first three films - Alien Redux, Aliens CBS, and the Alien 3 workprint. There's another set to be made right there...
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One thing fun is the Pre intro CBS Promo. That is something that might be of interest.
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I have the CBS Promo for the Thing. That is kinda cool.
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Originally posted by: suntech
One thing fun is the Pre intro CBS Promo. That is something that might be of interest.
Some footage before the movie starts or what? Can you tell me more about the movie, please? Is it in PAL or NTSC? What is the name of the channel? CBS or ABC? Is it an UK or US TV channel?

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I think it is time to summarize the list of contents. Jonno became our natural leader since he started to burn the discs already and I think that he is the right person to do all the editing. Ash595 proved to be our master cover-designer and Meedermow will probably provide his nice menus. Here follows the list of videos I would like to see in the set. We should not include anything already available on official DVDs (AL, AQ, AS).

YES (and source)
Giger’s Alien (from Necronomicon/GA eBay DVD or from LD if we find any; the version from Meedermow’s Archives is probably worse, right?)
Alien Evolution (Jonno’s disc #1 already available)
Aliens: J. Cameron A Director & His Work (either the incomplete one from old Archives or from my friend in London)
Making of A3 UK version (The one in the old Archives. Does it need to be remastered from the original facehugger promotape again or should it stay as it is? Jonno probably has one, right? If not, I can make a copy from my box.)
Making of A4 HBO version with Ron Pearlman (Promo VHS, Jonno probably has one, right? If not, I can offer my official VCD.)
Making of A4 Sci-fi Channel version with Brad Dourif (either from my DVD or from tb1971, somebody must compare the quality)
A4 Behind the Scenes documentary (aired by E! Entertainment one week before premiere, does anybody have it?)
A1 DC trailer, interview with R. Scott and TV spots (Ash595 and tb1971)
AQ trailers (Ash595, if he has both, I have just one on my promo DVD)
Shock & Awe (either from old Archives or from tb1971, somebody must compare the quality)
Ride at the Speed of Fright (tb1971)
Alien War in Trocadero/Glasgow (tb1971 + anything we can find)
SNL Aliens show (tb1971, any other versions for a comparison available?)
Films by Ridley Scott documentary (from AFI The Directors series, does anybody have it?)
selected short bites from TV (tb1971 plus anybody else)
if somebody can provide the 6 Aliens TV spots from US Abyss, I vote for them (Yes, Abyss definitely IS an official DVD, but the spots do not belong to that movie. I am willing to buy the movie if nobody else has it, in order to add them to the mix.)
How about AvP??? Do you consider it to be a part of the series? The 2-discs set contains almost everything, but still there are few more trailers on promo DVDs. And also a TV documentary about AvP FXs ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0472993 ).

NO (and Why no)
Sigourney’s screen tests (in AS)
any A1 – A4 trailers (in AQ, in AL, the 1,85:1 A1 trailer with blue opening screen is in AS and in “Galaxy and Beyond”)
any deleted scenes (in AL, AQ)
Aliens: Behind the scenes 8 minute version (from EPK?) (in AS)
Making of A3 US version (in AL)
Making of A4 4 min version (from EPK??) (in AL)
The Alien Saga 109 min documentary (in AS, of course)
Alien Legacy 66 min documentary (in AL and available separately too)
Films by James Cameron documentary (from AFI The Directors series, available on a separate DVD)
any laserdisc bonuses (Not 100% sure. AQ contains the LD archives from A1 and A2. Are there any OTHER LD editions of these two movies with different bonuses? I believe that A3 and A4 LDs never have any bonus except for trailers. Can we confirm this theory somehow?)

SEPARATE PROJECTS:
Finding Nemo 1 (best quality A3 Workprint, still waiting for your comments)
Finding Nemo 2 (any quality A2 CBS cut – either Suntech or Rijir, probably Suntech because of the intro)

Continue please with anything I forgot. Should we switch something between YES and NO categories?

DO NOT USE “QUOTE” WHEN REPLYING


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Originally posted by: Jonno
I don't want to push this thought too far (this project is getting big enough as it is!) but it's interesting that we've discussed alternate or unreleased versions of all of the first three films - Alien Redux, Aliens CBS, and the Alien 3 workprint. There's another set to be made right there...

Lol. We might end up with a set of 8 discs if you think like that (4 for an alternate cut of each film, 4 for all the extras).

Anyway, about the music...

Originally posted by: Jonno
klokwerk, I think the scores for the first two films are fairly easily available - Aliens has been released complete (I believe) on a 'deluxe edition' CD, and of course Alien already has two isolated scores on the original DVD release. Alien 3 only had the one CD release though - are your MP3s from some sort of extended version? I'd be very interested to hear about those if so - Elliot Goldenthal's music is perfectly suited to the film(s), and I'd have much preferred that he scored Resurrection too, rather than the quite generic music that John Frizzell composed. In my opinion


Alien: There are many different versions of Alien available. There are 2 official CDs and a multitude of bootlegs. While many of the bootlegs are ripped from the DVD, some are not and as a result might sound better quality-wise. The fact that all of my versions are MP3s kind of negates that possible quality increase.

Aliens: You are right about the Deluxe Edition release (there was a shorter CD available beforehand) but I think one of the bootlegs has additional music not found on the DX Edition. I'll have to check.

Alien 3: I have an extended soundtrack for this one. There are a few additional tracks to what is officially available and I believe it's the complete score.

Alien Resurrection: This is the longest soundtrack. I have the 2CD complete score for this film along with the short piece for the trailer (done by one of those "trailer music" companies).

There would be a lot of overlap with official material if we included them, so how about this: perhaps we could include only the tracks from each movie that are not commercially available?

To contact me outside the forum, for trades and such my email address is my OT.com username @gmail.com

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Now we're cooking Thanks for the hard work in putting that together triffid.

Some thoughts:

I don't consider AVP part of the series I have to say - I can understand the connection (quite obviously) but it managed to, bizarrely, not feel like an Alien movie or a Predator movie ! Quite a mean feat when you consider it. Perhaps for the benefit of our collection Sigourney = Yes, Lance = No

Not directly quoting but hard no to address the questions put forward anything other than indivually:

Giger’s Alien - I'm guessing this could even be out-of-synch on the Archives disc ! But since it's a voiceover - I'll let you decide re. quality, you have both
Aliens: J. Cameron A Director & His Work - Complete would be preferable - otherwise Archives disc
Making of A3 UK version - If it can be remastered, so be it. Again the Archives would suffice if it meant too much additional work
Making of A4 HBO version with Ron Pearlman - Official VCD could well be preferable over VHS - depends on generation of Jonno's
Making of A4 Sci-fi Channel version with Brad Dourif - you'd be best to liase with Ash595 and t1971 re quality
Shock & Awe - as above. Quality isn't great (but at least now it's finally in synch !) - if better is out there, go with that
Ride at the Speed of Fright - can't wait to see this footage !
Alien War in Trocadero/Glasgow - everyone knows my thoughts on this = ALIEN WAR ROOOOOLED !

My thought's
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I recommend somebody contact the guy who created the Alien Archives discs. I got them from him directly, so I could do it I guess. The reason for emailing him being - see if he has any additional material or if he has better versions of the content from the Archives discs.

To contact me outside the forum, for trades and such my email address is my OT.com username @gmail.com

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Originally posted by: klokwerk
I recommend somebody contact the guy who created the Alien Archives discs. I got them from him directly, so I could do it I guess. The reason for emailing him being - see if he has any additional material or if he has better versions of the content from the Archives discs.
Nice idea. But do you really know who is it? I always thought Meedermow is the one until I met another guy who claims that "Making of Aliens ends before the end credits (you've obviously already seen a version copied from my original), my brother taped it in 1986 and the tape ended too soon" (my rewording, do not have his message at hand). His name was Phil. But anybody can say something like this if he owns the same DVDs, right?



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Triffid, yes I know the guy. I directed Digitalfreaknyc and Jambe Davdar to him as well. He has many other DVDs he's done for Star Wars and the like. I have his Jaws In-Depth DVDs (like the Alien Archives but for Jaws).

To contact me outside the forum, for trades and such my email address is my OT.com username @gmail.com

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Originally posted by: meedermow
Alien War in Trocadero/Glasgow - everyone knows my thoughts on this = ALIEN WAR ROOOOOLED !
Eh, I am used to work hard... and Aliens are my hobby No1.

My feelings about AvP are similar, but if there will be - let's say - 1 or 2 GB of free space on some of the disc, why not to add something? I consider AvP to be Predator 3 much more than Alien 0. It is a movie about Predators and humans; Aliens play there the same role as boars in a wood during a hunt.

Giger’s Alien - Not watched your version yet, a shame. But whatever it is, I still do not like the first (N/GA) verson too much. I WANT THE LD!
Making of A3 UK version - I guess that Jonno has the original promotape. If not, I have it.
Making of A4 HBO version with Ron Pearlman - Same as above. Easy to get in the UK, we do not need any x-generation copy. For 0.99 at eBay at anytime. I will compare the VCD with VHS.
Making of A4 Sci-fi Channel version - I am trying to convice tb1971 to send me his copy for comparison. Mine is (as I said already) a NTSC DVD from not-too-good TV recording. His is converted to PAL, but it may came from better original.
Shock & Awe - same as above. His version may be better.
Alien War in Trocadero/Glasgow - I have two short videos but we cannot use them, both are stupid 240 or 320 mov files. I want to see this Roooooling too! Maybe we could put our money together, buy the scrap and reopen the show??? I want to play a Marine.
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Originally posted by: klokwerk
Triffid, yes I know the guy. I directed Digitalfreaknyc and Jambe Davdar to him as well. He has many other DVDs he's done for Star Wars and the like. I have his Jaws In-Depth DVDs (like the Alien Archives but for Jaws).
If HE is not a member of this forum, can YOU contact him in our name? And probably without inviting him here? I really do not like an idea to see our DVD set on eBay a month later. That "Phil" asked 9 pounds for each DVD plus postage. I do not participate in this wonderful project to let him make more money. Do you remember that "Where you draw the line" guy? Selling Originaltrilogy projects to public is behind that line, I think.



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I have the Region 1 Abyss 2disc set and can supply the TV Spots. What is the best way, format, file type etc?

Edited
1 x 2:05 Aliens trailer
5 x 0:30 approx Aliens trailers
= 171MB as VOB files.

Ready to go.
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Indeed, without getting into names and the like, the creator of the Archives disc is a chap called Pheeks, I know him *very* well and am in contact with him on a nigh on daily basis at the moment. A number of his sources for some of the Alien archives and the Star Wars archives and the Jaws archives and the 2001 Archives and the Indiana Jones archives and the CE3K archives and the ET archives (and even the Starsky & Hutch archives !!!) are very close to home

He's not a member of this board and would be considered a bit of a "Dark Side Trader" since his going rate back in the day was £20 a disc, which indeed drop off, but its very much a monetary exchange deal. However I'm bringing him round to the lighter side of things (I was similar back in the day when the £/$ etc. ruled things - but I have now seen the light thanks to the people here !), but preservation is not the #1 priority in regards to quantity for Pheeks. Nearly every disc I've had from him in the past has now "expired" as Ash595 will remember with the 2001 debacle ! However if you have any Archives disc with a menu on it (other than a typical VIDEO_RM splash screen) then that is by my fair hand. And not an apt representation of the level I'm work I'm currently putting into these current menus.

Now, Adobe Encore is calling
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Originally posted by: fezza2000

1 x 2:05 Aliens trailer
5 x 0:30 approx Aliens trailers
= 171MB as VOB files.

Ready to go.
The first one is probably the most well known one, begins with “Just tell me one thing, Burke”, ends with “This time it’s war”, length 1:56, fullscreen, right? Priceless. But the five TV spots aren't available enywhere else. Good job. I think that you should leave the files as they are now, just extract the master vob file that contains them, and Jonno will cut them out of it himself.

By the way there are as much as 13 TV spots for Resurrection at its old webpage. Only one of them made it into AQ.


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Originally posted by: Jonno
Ash 595 - that's looking good. There's a font I think might be useful, but I need to find it - will get back to you tomorrow.



Any news on the Font ?
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A year ago I found this very interesting series of articles. It is now deleted from its original source, so I am offering my personal address instead. Basically it is a complaint against AL (in 2001 nobody knew that there will be AQ soon) and the author of this article gives his hints how a "good edition" of Alien DVD set should look. You can compare how incredibly close we are now to his ideas!!! I just sent an e-mail to him, asking if he wants to see his Alien Good Edition DVD set idea coming to life.
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I looked through the Laserdisc Database and it seems that apart from the two special LDs that had all over their contents ported to the Quadrilogy set there are only the theatrical trailers for the first 3 films as extras on the other releases (it's those trailers or no extras at all).

However there is a German set and a Japanese set that might be of interest. The Japanese set seems to have 5.1 AC3 surround mixes. Both the German and the Japanese set feature "The Making of Alien Resurrection". The japanese has in-picture subtitles while the German LD appears to have only German audio (but no subtitles).

Finally there was an LD for Alien that supposedly has "sound remastered from the 6-track magnetic masters prepared for the original 70mm theatrical prints."

I know we probably don't need any of the above, but they are the only sets with notable features aside from the Alien and Aliens LDs that the Quadrilogy set took content from.

To contact me outside the forum, for trades and such my email address is my OT.com username @gmail.com

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Originally posted by: Ash595
Originally posted by: Jonno
Ash 595 - that's looking good. There's a font I think might be useful, but I need to find it - will get back to you tomorrow.



Any news on the Font ?


Oops - sorry I tried to PM you but my PC crashed, and I forgot to try again! Could you PM me your email? I'll shoot something over to you. You're looking for something that matches the word 'Evolution' in the title sequence? The font I have in mind isn't perfect I'm afraid, but it IS very nice - see what you think!

Thanks for the trailers, by the way - they're excellent. Do you mind divulging the source of the Alien DC trailer and featurette? Are they ripped from a DVD?


triffid - wow, good work with the list. The things to discuss now seem to be availability of particular elements - how long should we spend trying to track down the best possible versions? - and sequencing. Ideally we should order the extras film by film, but I feel strongly about separating PAL and NTSC material (rather than converting some of it to create a single format across all the discs).

By the way, I DON'T rate AvP as an Alien film - heck, I don't even think much of Resurrection, but I'm not going to let that get in the way here (individual opinions can easily mess up projects like this, so let's keep something in if there's any doubt!)

One thing I'm not sure of - was there really an AFI DVD on Ridley Scott? Can't seem to find reference to it anywhere...

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If possible, I suggest not doing transfers from NTSC-PAL and vice versa. I use DVD studio pro (on Mac) and version 1.5 can combine both NTSC and PAL clips in the same project (Versions 2 and 3 can't do that for some reason). Of course TV capable of reproducing both systems would be needed.

Regarding AFI documentaries... There is no reference of one for Ridley Scott being made. The one with Cameron did feature some aliens EPK footage, but all of it in its entirety was released on The Alien saga DVD

AVP was pretty decent considering low budget and lack of involvement from RS & JC. In a recent interview even Cameron himself placed it as 3rd best alien movie ever (probably after Alien & Aliens. He hated Alien 3... I wonder if he got to watch the new cut, which improves it significantelly making it look more like Fincher we got to know)

Alien War had great props. One Colonial Marine told me they had exact replicas for Pulse rifles but they were falling apart due to wear and tear, so they had to replace them with more robust models. Does anyone have any footage on Alien war? Even smaller size featurettes taken off internet might look decent full screen, at least as an easter egg. Speaking of attractions, there is a small segment on Alien in a "film history" tram tour in MGM Disney studios in Florida. Just animatronic of Ripley and Alien jumping off the roof...

Has anyone seen any vintage TV appearances done during promotion of Alien & Aliens? I'd love to get hold of those...
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Indeed, I remember that part of the attraction at Disney/MGM - is it still there ?

I also remember that the Granada "back-lot" tour in Manchester had a site-specific Alien walk-through/ride, can't remember certainly never went on it. Did anyone here go ?

EDIT: Aha ! Right down at the bottom of the ALIENS trivia: Granada Manchester

Some of that "trivia" sounds a bit contentious in places !!
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Update:
Positive – Waiting for two Making of Aliens docs. I bet that we already know these, but maybe…? Their owner cannot describe them sooner than in a week and I do not want to push him too hard.
Negative – The guy with Aliens CBS did not find the tape. How about our two new potential suppliers?
Negative – I am not buying the Workprint. I sent my photos to the man and he honestly admired that there is probably no difference in the quality.

to Klokwerk:
I do not believe LDDb too much, there are often mistakes in their descriptions. However, let’s say that the info is correct. We are not talking about some B-grade low-budget movie of unknown origin. Alien saga LDs should be very well catalogized already. I am almost sure that there are no more different trailers for the first 4 films. (But there are for Legacy, Alien DC and Quadrilogy.) And the A4 featurette will be probably just the 4 minutes one. I can confirm the existence of the different A1 audio. There were two sets of reels sent to theatres. A smaller group of more technically advanced theatres received the 70mm copies, the rest 35mm copies. The audio tracks are different (they say “some noises and also few words”). Never saw this one. Worth of copying to DVD, don’t you think? I guess we can find it on eBay for 5 bucks. Finding Nemo 3? This idea sounds much better for me than the Alien Redux thing.

to Jonno:
Scott DVD was never released. I am asking if somebody taped it from TV (approx 2003-4). They released only few (10?) first episodes on DVDs including Cameron (aired in 1998?). That is why it is in YES category. More info on IMDb.

Please do not mix NTSC and PAL.

Edit: Making of A4 in the LD sets is the 30 min HBO version.
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Originally posted by: JonnoThanks for the trailers, by the way - they're excellent. Do you mind divulging the source of the Alien DC trailer and featurette? Are they ripped from a DVD?



they came from a NTSC DVD named Movie FX. I don't remember the Issue But I can look for it if you need it.