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triffid

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2-Feb-2006
Last activity
30-Nov-2018
Posts
109

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Post
#234834
Topic
Idea & Info: a Preservation of Alien Evolution doco?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/234834/action/topic#234834
Time
Both Suntech and Bigrob are mentioning their laserdiscs. Are you able to compare the LDs with Alien Quadrilogy disc #9, guys? Did Lauzirika's team move all bonuses from the two collectors edition laserdiscs to the DVD set or did they leave something behind? Suntech is even suspicious that he found some unused footage already. I am waitng for a definitive answer about the LDs content for years and nobody can tell this for sure.
I recorded the Making of Alien3 on a DVD-R again, this time without the drops. I am also buying the Making of Alien Resurrection LD now, but I cannot copy it. Should I borrow the LD to Meedermow or Jonno?

Post
#234771
Topic
Idea: The Thing(s) :)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/234771/action/topic#234771
Time
Is there anybody who owns the official TV edit of the 1982 movie? According to outpost31.com, there were many short shots added into this edit without Carpenter's permission. Some of these are available in the bonus section of the DVD, some are not. This version of the movie is probably much worse than the original - they cut out all the gore scenes to make it less scary for the TV audience. And to maintain the length of the film, they added several scenes from their archives. However it may be an interesting experience to watch this version.
Maybe there was a thread about this movie on Originaltrilogy already, but unfortunately all old posts are deleted now. Any suggestions?

Post
#203126
Topic
Info & Help: looking for... 'AFI - The Directors'
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/203126/action/topic#203126
Time
Thanks for the hint once again, ReverendBeastly. Here is what I found. Are some of these interesting for you, NeilB? Sometimes the documentary is on Region 1 version only, sometimes on Region 2 France only.

Hills Have Eyes Director: Wes Craven
Time Bandits Director: Terry Gilliam
The Brood Director: David Cronenberg
Scanners Director: David Cronenberg
Vampires Director: John Carpenter
Short Cuts Director: Robert Altman
Wild At Heart Director: David Lynch
Gangs Of New York Director: Martin Scorsese
Charade Director: Stanley Donen (not necessarily from the AFI series)



Post
#203118
Topic
Idea & Info: a Preservation of Alien Evolution doco?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/203118/action/topic#203118
Time
Originally posted by: tb1971
I've actually had a short 1-2 minute Alien War promo, but sadly I lost it a while ago.
I am in touch with a guy who recorded his own 2 mins video in the exposition room attached to Trocadero (it shows the egg, Ripley's flamethrower and the rubber model of Dr Clemens's face). However, I am afraid he cannot send it to me in time. All these people tend to be slow, very slow. I cannot push anybody to work faster. I can just write a new message to them each two weeks to stay in touch and to get a short "Yes, I did not forget about you." from them. The items in question include the "Director and his Work", Making of Resurrection laserdisc, some (yet) unidentified Aliens documentary of unknown length, Resurrection EPK, maybe something else I cannot recall at this moment. I am still trying (unsuccessfully) to contact any former member from Get It Pictures team (they made the Sci-fi Channel thing). The editor Alain Gourrier answered to me, the others not. I think that we should not wait anymore. I will collect the videos in the course of maybe next few months, but definitely not weeks. Meedermow mentioned a new version of "Director and his Work" and he could ask the author of Archives for help. Ash595 wrote something about the Pepsi add, if I remember right. And that is all, I think.
Post
#202731
Topic
Info & Help: looking for... 'AFI - The Directors'
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/202731/action/topic#202731
Time
Hi NeilB. I already wrote few words about this series in our Alien Evolution doco thread several weeks ago, but nobody seems to know anything about it, even the people from USA. From my point of (Alien fan) view, there are two interesting episodes: J.Cameron and R.Scott. And while Cameron is available on DVD, the episode about Ridley Scott is not. If you manage to find it somewhere, let me know please. I cannot help you myself because they aired only the first 12 (or so) episodes here in Czech Republic.

Post
#202727
Topic
Idea & Info: a Preservation of Alien Evolution doco?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/202727/action/topic#202727
Time
Hello everybody.

Today I sent two discs to Klokwerk (Saga and DVD Discoveries DVD-Rs) and four discs to Jonno. These include: 1. Making of A4 VCD (for consideration). 2. Sharpline Arts interview (guys who made A1 and A2 LD boxsets and then also Alien Legacy) from DVD Discoveries, 1:1 cut from the disc by “DVD Angle” company, I used DVD Shrink to make the cut. 3. Making A4 from Sci-fi Channel (for consideration, but I am sure tb1971’s version is better). 4. miscellaneous TV bits from Resurrection era.
Since I do not include any letter with the DVDs, here is a list of footage you could use. The rest is not important. The quality is unfortunately poor and maybe you choose not to use any part of this crazy mess at all.
0:01:36 ET on location in LA (2 separate bits)
0:07:25 Sci-fi Channel commercial announcing the Making of to be aired soon
0:07:56 trailer “No one… this year will”
0:09:10 Making of A4 again, this time in PAL, but the image is unstable (wrong TV signal?)
0:31:20 interview with LO, JPJ and SW at premiere (the channel’s logo is a 5 in circle)
0:38:05 E News at premiere
0:42:40 CNN Showbiz SW, WR interview (out of sync)
0:52:40 SKY review, int. SW, JPJ

I decided to make another transfer of Making of A3 VHS this Saturday and thus I am not sending the copy I made last time (because of the drops in the picture).

To DigitalfreakNYC: Thanks for the offer, but at this very moment there are no Alien related videotapes in NTSC I need to copy. Unless Jonno decides to close this project soon, there is still a chance that some tapes show up in the future.


Post
#197015
Topic
Idea & Info: a Preservation of Alien Evolution doco?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/197015/action/topic#197015
Time
Originally posted by: digitalfreaknyc
Reading this thread gives me a headache.

If anyone needs something NTSC copied, i could do that. i also have something that disabled copy-protection.

Yes, guys, I know it is ridiculous. I am a novice with no equipment other than my PC. And since the PC cannot help me to copy tapes at the moment, I tried to do it that way. The friend I mentioned is not any video professional and he uses his DVD recorder just to record PAL TV signal, he never needed to play or copy NTSC tapes.


Post
#197006
Topic
Idea & Info: a Preservation of Alien Evolution doco?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/197006/action/topic#197006
Time
I did not turn my PMs off. Yesterday I received a message from Suntech and there was no problem with it. I will delete few old messages to make space.

I do not know where to buy the DVD Discoveries. I tried several sources during past three months and I bought it from a movie fan in the end. The DVD is probably a really low quantity pressing because of its special content. And as I already wrote, I believe that the company DVD Angle is out of business now. I can make a private copy for you for free. Most of the disc's content are commercials (with weblinks urging you to visit the respective companies' sites) anyway and I think nobody will complain about any copyright. The most funny part is a promotional video which tells you a story of making of a fictional DVD Hare and Tortoise. A movie of that name does not exist, but the company shot this commercial to show how good they are in doing such things.

Post
#196741
Topic
Idea & Info: a Preservation of Alien Evolution doco?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/196741/action/topic#196741
Time

Hey, folks. I am back with some news about my progress.

1. 8t88’s discs received some time ago. I did not send any message to you, I am sorry. I waited until I was ready to compare these with my own, you know. I made my first attempt to transfer a VHS to DVD in my friend’s flat last weekend. Here is what we got: I took two samples only with me – Making of A3 and Making of A4. Also we tried to copy few minutes from a NTSC tape he has. The results are really poor. We learned that we are not able to copy any NTSC tape at all – his Sony DVD recorder simply cannot write the signal even if it plays NTSC DVDs normally. Second, we cannot copy the A4 Making of because the tape is copy-protected and the recorder refuses to write the signal even if it understands it. However I still have the VCD I mentioned several times before and I think that the VCD picture is better anyway since it was probably made from LD. Also I am considering buying the 3 LD set that contains this documentary and thus the final decision is still open. The copy of A3 we made seems to be slightly better than 88t8’s – see the two samples (his – mine – his –mine), but the difference is really minor. My tape is probably better preserved, but, unfortunately, it shows some ugly drops like the one on Giger’s shirt (pic 4). What do you think? I have two or three pieces of this tape in my archive, so I can try to make another transfer from one of the others during our next session.

http://web.quick.cz/Triffid/workprint/MAKING_ALIEN_c3.jpg

http://web.quick.cz/Triffid/workprint/MAKING_ALIEN_c3m.jpg

http://web.quick.cz/Triffid/workprint/MAKING_ALIEN_c4.jpg

http://web.quick.cz/Triffid/workprint/MAKING_ALIEN_c4m.jpg

2. Meedermow – sorry, we had no time to copy the Italian movie, but I remember I promised it to you.
3. I received an answer from the company that made „J.Cameron and His Work“ doc. No chance to get it from them. Their representative wrote: „Hi Jiri, yes we did produce the ALIENS piece many years ago. We used to have a copy on VHS but I think even that has now disappeared. Fox certainly seem to have lost the master some time ago.“ But I still hope I can get it from the girl in London… we will see.
4. Suntech: Thank you for the description, it matches the Alien Saga version perfectly. Actually this „For over fifty years“ sentence is not the beginning of the PRESS PAK. There are approx 40 secs before it. Again, this is one of the basic problems of our compilation. Regardless of the copyright issue, I do not think we should use anything already available on Alien Saga. There is no point to do this. If we choose only some from the bonuses there, a real fan must still buy the original. And even if we grab all 10 bonuses from Saga, there is still the main hour-long documentary that cannot be added to the compilation. So why to do this? By the way, I have one surplus copy of Saga if somebody wants it.
5. I bought a DVD-R with a collection of A4 TV shots. Well, the quality is mostly poor, but it contains some interesting short interviews and TV ads. Basically I recommend some 8 shots out of the total of 25, the TRT of these eight can be just around 10 mins, no more. There is also the Sci-fi Channel Making of again, the picture is pretty clear, but it does something I never saw before – it vibrates somehow like when you hit a pinball table. It is a pity since my NTSC version is not so good.
6. Once again the Evolution issue: Thanks for your comments, Meedermow and Jonno. As I wrote already, I cannot understand how the words Appendix and Preservation „taste“ in your language. So if you guys feel they are OK, I have nothing against them. However I still disagree with the words Uncut and Full since they indirectly say that the Q version is cut and shortened. Can you simply write „original version“ or „TV version“? Meedermow wrote: „…version that I watched on UK television before I even heard the word "Quadrilogy". Of course you did not hear about AQ at that time. The misunderstanding here is my fault. When I wrote „Maybe they prepared the Quadrilogy version first and then they changed the conception to Kermode's version“ I only refer to the two different entities – I should call them versions A and B instead. It has nothing to do with the actual release of Quadrilogy. I know it was aired in 2001 several times (actually you can tell this from what the woman’s voice says during the ending credits, she announces the next Alien movie in a row and there are at least two versions of what she says). But there is still a chance that NG made two versions of Evolution (A and B) in 2001 and then choose one for the TV, leaving the second one in the archive, unused. The copyright in AQ version still says MMI. And even if they made the second edit from their original archive footage only AFTER Lauzirika’s team asked them to do this for AQ, it is still their child, a younger brother of the TV version and it is not abridged because you cannot get it by cutting down the TV version.
7. If you never heard of DVD Discoveries, it is a special low quantity DVD made in 2002 for people who wants to learn more about DVD creation process. It consists from several short docs, mainly interviews and commercials. Many people involved in this industry speak here, Lauzirika and Van Ling among others. I just got my copy. Cool stuff. Unlike Alien Saga, it is no must-have item for Alien fans, actually it is no must-have disc for any fan since all the videos are purely educational and the references to movies like SW, T2 and others are random and very short. But among others there is an interview with Sharpline Arts guys, the only one I ever saw. Well, there is none in AQ I think, am I right? TRT 20 mins. These two and Bob Burns talk about making of the A1 special edition LD for approx 3 mins and they basically repeat what they said here http://hometown.aol.com/scifitalk/page3.htm few years before. I do not think that it will be a copyright problem when we borrow this small part of it (i.e. edit our own ABRIDGED version) or maybe even the whole interview. Especially when the production company seems to be dead now (at least their web site is down for months). If you want to see it there, let me know.
8. Still no answer from the guy who offered the GA LD for copying in that forum. I do not expect to receive any.
9. Meedermow: Did you try to contact the author of the Archives? What did he say?
10. And back to 88t8. The second disc contains the GA documentary from his tape. It has no subtitles which is great. It is much more grainy than the version from the Archives, but it has significantly better colors. None of these is good either. It is a pity we cannot trace the LD somewhere…
11. After reading of the last posts once again, here is another comment for Meedermow: I love your menus on both Archives and the demo menu you sent to me. If I wrote „I am definitely against any touches into this our first disc, i.e. adding any other footage or menus. It is great exactly as it is now.“ I did not mean that I do not like menus! I consider menus to be an important part of any original DVD and sometimes I even make a decision whether to buy a new DVD or not (a new DVD edition of a movie I already have) on the fact whether I love the graphic of the new edition or not. That old sentence is ripped out of its context. I just wanted to say that Jonno’s AE needed no menu since it contained no other video than the main feature. Thus making a menu with only one PLAY button seemed to be a bit stupid to me. A disc with only one video should be self-running.

Well, that is all for today. Have a good time!
Post
#192147
Topic
Idea & Info: a Preservation of Alien Evolution doco?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/192147/action/topic#192147
Time
to Ash595:
This time you hit the bull's eye. Much better than the first one. I especially like the combined fonts from all movies, it is a brilliant idea. Only the "I" looks strange. Can you simply cut the original blue "I" from Aliens logo? Next comment is just for consideration: Since we are talking about at least 4 discs, don't you think that preparing of four covers is not necessary? I mean I will surely keep the discs in 2-DVD boxes to save space. What do you think, people? Should be the covers designed this way or not? Also, either two or four covers, they must be linked to each other by some central motive. And this will be very hard to achieve once this one is approved. Why? Because the front artwork is painted and thus (I feel it this way) the others must use painted artwork too, no photos. In case of two 2-DVD covers, the second design can simply contain this picture again converted from black to dark blue or something like that.

to 88t8:
Nothing yet. Next delivery is on Monday, we will see.

to Suntech:
I watched the CBS Aliens today simultaneously with the full director's cut. Really interesting. The 4:3 picture shows much more above and below the WS screen (approx 5% in each direction). Also, there is no way to estimate the real running time. Cameron added several elements known from the 1991 DC cut (all the main pieces except for the shots from the colony before the disaster: the park, the robotic sentry guns, their testing, both attacks, people children discussion) and omitted all the short additions (except for Dwayne x Ellen exchange). However the movie is heavily censored by CBS for the TV broadcasting and the length really drops down due to this fact. All shits, asses and fucks are cut out, either as single words or whole lines. Sometimes it sounds ridiculous. For example Hudson's "Out of this chicken shit" is cut down to "Out of -it". Nice experience anyway.

to Meedermow:
Don't you want to try to incorporate the Mother font into the menus? The text: I do not like the word Appendix, but you people must know better than me if it is appropriate - it is your language. Second, why Preservation? Does this term apply to the process that Jonno did with this documentary? I thought that Preservation means more than just copying a video from some source to DVD-R. Third, as I already wrote on the previous page, none of the two versions is Abridged in any way. The Quadrilogy version is even a bit longer. Similarly, the words Uncut and Full are misleading. We do not even know which one is older. Maybe they prepared the Quadrilogy version first and then they changed the conception to Kermode's version, who knows? Any Full version must combine both of them with a TRT around 85 mins.

Now don't kill me, people. I am just opening a discussion, OK?

Post
#191915
Topic
Idea & Info: a Preservation of Alien Evolution doco?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/191915/action/topic#191915
Time
Originally posted by: suntech
I have the Cover Art and Insert for the Legacy Bonus Disc. These did not come with the disc. I had to download them from some website (don't think it was an official site). I can Post it here if it is OK.
Do not post them there because they are really big, I do not want to download the covers each time I open this page. These are originals, made for US Legacy DVD box by Sharpline Arts, but later discarded and used only for the Legacy VHS box (and the cardboard envelope of the bonus DVD). I am actually using this cover for its original purpose for years - if you own the US Legacy, this fifth disc fits with the other four perfectly.

Post
#190807
Topic
Idea & Info: a Preservation of Alien Evolution doco?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/190807/action/topic#190807
Time
to Jonno:
Wrong. Never use Fonts.com, since the results there do not display fonts not available from them. Try the main database: Identifont.com. The font in question is called Square Slabserif 711 TTF, it is from Bitstream family and it exists in three main versions (light, medium and bold). However this info does not help either since it is not a free font too. I worked for a design company last year and I have a small archive of Bitstream fonts in my computer, but unfortunately there is an empty space between TT0384 and TT0420 (the three are TT0410-412). But if somebody have it already......

to Meedermow:
I do not think that the Aliens CBS cut belongs to the mix. It is not a documentary and its picture quality is below our standards. I think that this should be a stand-alone disc "on request".

Post
#188559
Topic
Idea & Info: a Preservation of Alien Evolution doco?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/188559/action/topic#188559
Time
to Smurf:
I do not think it is necessary to send the Workprint (you call it Pre-version) to anybody. Check page 6 of this forum, download my sample images, resize them to full screen and you can make the comparison yourself. They are in their real resolution.
Meanwhile, I tried to contact the eBay seller who sold the 2VCD to me back in 2002 (to ask for a DVD copy). No chance. No longer a registered member.

to Jonno:
I do not know anything about converting of UMD to DVD. But did you ever checked the normal 4:3 tapes and TV versions? They often offer small portions of picture above and below, not seen in the WS editions. This happens when the 4:3 release is "independent" on any WS version coming out at the same time. I must admit I never tried to study any Alien movie from this point of view, but I found this anomaly in T2 for example.

I just refused to buy a 20 years old original Japanese Giger's Alien VHS (for a price of the laserdisc...!), but I got some information at least. There were three tapes for GA, Necronomicon and Passagen in 1985 released together with the (only) LD editions of these three docs. Some two years later they reprinted GA and Necronomicon on one tape. No more official releases nowhere in the world, except for that 2-tape half-official set from Switzerland (8t88). All tapes by "Sony Video Software", catalogue numbers unknown. The info comes from the man who offers the LDs on eBay. I asked him for a DVD copy of GA, but he wants to sell the originals instead (understandable). All tapes contain subtitles too, so the only non-subtitled edition is the Swiss one.

http://web.quick.cz/Triffid/workprint/GigersAlien+Necronomicon.jpg

http://web.quick.cz/Triffid/workprint/Passagen.jpg
Post
#187823
Topic
Idea & Info: a Preservation of Alien Evolution doco?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/187823/action/topic#187823
Time
Originally posted by: meedermow
The good thing is there is no rush whatsoever and we should definitely chase the leads we have to acquire the best material out there rather than rushing things. We've got plenty of material.
I agree with this. I spent many hours writting and sending letters to many people, I registered in few forums including this one and I checked the web with Google from its head to its toes. My work ended and now is the time to sit and wait for a while until the answers come. Do you think we should set any deadline for the incoming material?