ALIEN 4K Review & Complete Alien Collection + 4K vs 35mm Print 

Lovely to hear from you Nummer6. And great to have you with me. John.

I was thinking the same, I don´t have a single 4k disc or even a 4k TV and i´m watching a bunch of these videos.

@@darkambience i m just like you, no 4k equipment at all lol 😆 but love the channel.

@@moviecollector5920 I REALLY must get you to watch the assembly cut of Alien 3. It’s 45 minutes longer and is a superior piece of work that only a true Alien aficionado would appreciate. At least let that be you remember the film from then on. Just watch it once!

Exactly!

Thank you so much. It's great to have you with me all the way from Mexico. John.

@@moviecollector5920 anyone ever tell you sir you strongly resemble the late great Peter Cushing God rest his soul,

@@Dinvadbhatmarathi98 They only seem to tell me that when I'm out of an organized vampire hunt! John.

@@moviecollector5920 ah God bless you you are the closest I'll ever get to see. Peter Cushing God rest his soul,have you seen Exorcist 3 Starring the late George c Scott and Brad dourif, the premise is 15 years after the Mac Neal excorcism murders are taking place which are exactly as the Gemini M.O. of course he has been dead so how is this possible , Detective Kinderman who was played by the late Lee j Cobb is now played by George C Scott has to peice together the mystery

@@Dinvadbhatmarathi98 I only ever saw Exorcist III at the cinema but I thought it was pretty terrific. If I remember correctly it's actually the film version of William Peter Blatty's book sequel to The Exorcist 'Legion'. John.

Yep, guilty as charged! John.

Thank you as always Ariel. John.

I too have purchased this film so often Matthew. We must be completely bonkers but there's just something about it and when a genuinely new version of it comes out it always seems so collectable. I think I need therapy! John.

I have it also on 4k br then😊👍

Funnily enough Jeffrey, I fancy giving it another spin myself. Actually I've just re-watched the feature length making of on that double DVD and it's almost as good as the movie itself. A classic in its own right. John.

No way could I have gotten my parents to take me to Blade Runner when I was 11. People are so soft nowadays.

Awesome uncle!

I like the look of that Columbia Classics box. If we can ever get out to HMV again I will take a closer look and see if I can afford to add it to the trolley load that I usually seem to leave the shop with. I only watched LOA a couple of years ago on Blu-ray otherwise I'd have probably jumped in on that 4K box right at the start. A great film.

Yeah it’s a classic, stunning transfers they did amazing work. I struggled to find stock, had to use Amazon US.

I would also like to hear from you about these John!

I meant to get Cinema Paradiso when it was release Christian but I just haven't managed to get that sorted yet. I think the cost is a bit of a factor given all the bargains that HMV are offering to tempt me elsewhere. But yes, I expect to do something on Paradiso and now that you've asked, how can I say "no"! Next review will be [hopefully] an education on Superman The Movie and the controversial 4K transfer. I've just completed it so will get it up in the next day or two. Keep well. John.

I 100% agree!

Thank you Mark. I suspect my favourite films are strikingly similar to your own. Alien being the pick of the bunch and Blade Runner up there too along with 2001, The Terminator, Halloween... and Death on the Nile from 1978 - which may be a bit of a surprise to some but I've grown to love that film more and more as the years have gone on largely due to a full length Super 8 print that meant I got to know every little nuance. What a great hobby this has been throughout my life. John.

The extended cut has been recommended to me by a few people so I will take a look sometime. Somehow I doubt I'll still be able to get past the downbeat tone of the film, particularly after the struggle the survivors went through towards the end of Aliens to then be killed off during the opening titles of Alien 3. That was not the best start. But I do think Fincher is a top class director even if Alien 3 was not the best of starts. Not entirely his fault though. John.

Thank you Danny. Elephant Man is one I will be getting on 4K. I don't think I've seen it since it's original cinema release so it's about bloomin' time I took another look I thought it was a great film then and I don't think my opinion will change. It was released full length on Super 8 by Derann in a fabulous 'Scope print but I stupidly never bought a copy. John.

you have alien on dvd but you have never seen the movie!???

I’ve seen Alien the movie, never bothered watching the dvd I purchased.

@@danboy77 that dvd got to be very old by now. you should upgrade to at least the blu ray version and while you're at it why not aliens which is one of my all time favorite films.

@@funkmachine9094 Did you actually watch this video? If you did then maybe you should pay more attention. Ha

Just the best comment I've ever had. Thankx! John.

Thank you for saying so mbvburn and glad you liked it. It did take a few days and even more planning. Had to practically write a script in the end so I wouldn't forget anything. John.

yes! such good history here!

Great stories Stephen. And great memories of seeing what has to be one of the most iconic films of all time. I think it gets even better as the years go on. John.

A great actor. A great villain in the James Bond 'Live and Let Die' in particular.

@@moviecollector5920 Mr. Big/Kananga = great villain and a great actor. I really enjoyed him in 'Midnight Run' :) R.I.P. Yaphet Kotto

The more I see 'ALIEN' (I´m somewhat obsessed with this classic masterpiece), the more I tend to lean towards Parker as my fav character. Probably in no small part due to the fact that I can see parts of my own personality in Parker. R.I.P. Yaphet Kotto

@@MrChiffre He certainly was one of the more memorable performances in Alien despite every single performance being outstanding. Mr. Kotto was simply perfect for that part.

@@JohnGClancy Dear John (is everyone on this channel named John:))? Ay! I second your notion! Luckily; I have his geniune signature on one of my lobby cards for 'ALIEN'! As I have genuine autographs from six out of the seven (eight with Bolaji) actors that starred in this EPIC! Including Sigourney´s! Sincerely.

Thank you for saying that. I was rather pleased with it but it took way too much time to put it together. Still, you only get one chance and this was 'Alien' so I had to do my best. John.

I think you are as big an Alien fan as I am but I never knew that about the accidental test soundtrack. I want to put the laser disc on again but I just don't seem to get as much time as I did when I was younger. Working on a Raimi 'Spider-Man' films review right now so you can expect more 4K, Super 8 and 35mm in that one too. John.

Good to have you here Dane. I'm currently working on a 'Superman The Movie' 4K review so if all goes well I'll get that shot, edited and uploaded soon... but these videos always seem to take longer than expected once I get into them. John.

Keith at Euphoria Pictures cited the Producer's Cut of Alien 3 just last week so I will take a look. Maybe I'll wait for a 4K release if one is in the pipeline. The Ladykillers is a great film and as I haven't seen it for years I'll pick it up when we can finally get out again. I rather fancy spending an hour or so going through the shelves of HMV... which is always an expensive process! John.

@@moviecollector5920 Haha I know your pain there! I cant wait to have a browse in HMV myself, best way to discover new things - That's how I discovered Dario Argento's Cinema - ps. Suspiria 4k Blu ray is a US-only release (but region free), you have never seen anything as colorful or dynamic. It truly was the best 4k of 2020

@@zakbrown8346 Never seen 'Suspiria'. Actually I might have done years ago but I watched so many horror movies as an adolescent that I overdid it a bit and lost a lot of interest in them. But I might take a look at 'Suspiria' sometime simply because so many people are telling me it's a good 'un. John.

Never seen that one Jacob so that's another one to put on the list. If it was shot on 65mm/70mm then you're right and that's why it looks fantastic on Blu-ray. I want to finally get around to watching a recent Blu-ray purchase of the 1960's 'Grand Prix' which after a sneak peek is also going to be among the best quality films on disc. That one was issued to Cinerama theatres at the time so that probably tells us all we need to know. John.

The 4K of Alien is immediately, perceptibly better than the THX Blu-ray Adrian like you, I have so many copies of this film it does get a bit tiresome picking up a new video version every few years. 'Alien Covenant' was great on Blu-ray in terms of picture quality but I think the film was very good for the first hour and then lost its way. 'Prometheus' too was a bit of a struggle for me at times. Neither film has spoiled the original for me though so that's good. John.

@@moviecollector5920 Sadly I think the newer Alien films display a problem that Ridley Scott has in either picking scriptwriters or meddling too much in what they write. It seems like out of all his films of the last decade the best ones were already written before he came on board as director. The Martian especially shows just how well Scott can still perform with a ready to go script. Knowing this I would say for god sake don't let him near any future films until the script is done.

@@mnomadvfx I expect that the people who work for him now are in awe and therefore agree with everything he says. That certainly wouldn't have happened in his early days. But The Martian was a great film. And that Gladiator thing wasn't bad either!?! Gawd, that man has directed some great films so I think we'll forgive him some of the excesses of Prometheus and Covenant. For me, Alien stands on its own and nothing that came after has detracted from it. John.

A lot of people have recommended the re-working of Alien 3. As it can hardly be worse I do plan to take a look if/when a 4K option is made available. I suspect I'll actually enjoy it in spite of the dreadful opening that I have tried to forget for 30 years! John.

Well, maybe if we can resurrect the British Film Collectors Convention in London again next year then we can all get together. I think a few Alien series extracts are called for on film and/or 4K disc. Much to still work out yet but plans are afoot. Thank you for commenting Simon. John.

Morning Cloudy. I hope things are going well with you over there and you're still dreaming up great IMAX videos for us to enjoy. This Alien video was something people were asking me for from almost the time I started the Movie Collector channel. I resisted for a while but then I thought I'd take a look at the 4K as a means of talking about my own history with the film. I went to bed the night I uploaded it feeling that I'd nailed it with this video and woke up in the morning to an explosion of comments and a few days of up to 700 new subscribers in a day. What happened was that the success of this video caused people to find my 2001 A Space Odyssey video from a few months before and it took me a while to work out that was what had happened. An extraordinary time. I couldn't get away from the keyboard for a few days. John.

Apart from a headache from spending way too much time working on this review Umar I think I'm doing alright. Well, I don't seem to have a facehugger on my face so no imminent chestburster is likely today anyway! John.

Afternoon Stephen. The film reviewed here looks strikingly similar to the 35mm print. I doubt that will be the case with Aliens but to issue a 4K home video disc something had to be done with it because it's not the image quality of TENET and most general purchasers of these discs wouldn't understand why. I hope it's a huge success. I'm also thinking about the possibility of a RU-vid video in the future comparing the look of a 35mm general release print to the 4K. After all, no one else is likely to do that. John.

Well Said ❤

Many others have recommended the Assembly Cut RayDon so I will give it a try. Thank you. John.

Jane Fonda was always my favourite leading lady. Something to do with seeing Barbarella as an adolescent I think but as it turned out, she was - and still is - a great actress. Bumped into her at the National Film Theatre a few years after Mr. Hurt. Had some memorable times back then. Sigourney Weaver was the other 'Alien' star who did an on stage interview and that was during the 1997 London Film Festival. I didn't get to speak to her but we did say "hello" in the lobby. Another great actress. John.

Thank you very much Vicmanpergar. I saw 'Prometheus' at the Empire Leicester Square but didn't really get on with it. I then got the Blu-ray and preferred it at home without all that 3D nonsense which was what really spoiled the screening at the Empire. I liked to see the space jockey again but it did rather spoil the mystery... to the point that I have erased it from my thoughs of the original film. By that I mean Prometheus stands on its own and doesn't spoil the original for me - a sort of unrelated movie. John.

That's very nice of you to say Tom - thank you very much. Good to have you with me. Next review should be the 1978 'Superman The Movie' in 4K. John.

Thank you Rickiy. Funny thing is, I can't stand to hear or see myself but I think we're all a bit like that. I just had to get on with it over the years though as I've spent the last 15 years documenting the history of the British motor industry on disc releases. John.

@@moviecollector5920 Yeah, I was a radio DJ for a while. Hated hearing my own voice, but was told it was nice. hahaha. I understand.

Well I think we need a Euphoria Pitures review of Alien next. And if Aliens appears in 4K then we both need to ensure we get something out on that soon after release because it's almost as popular as the orignal film. I need to see the revised cut of Alien 3 you mentioned a few videos back Keith because I really didn't like the film at all. I though Resurretion was great though. John.

@@moviecollector5920 I finally see a kindred spirit.....Alien : Resurrection wasn't bad at all, been saying that for years. Granted, it's not close to the 1st and the 2nd movie, but way better than the highly disappointing 3rd movie. I did rewatch the 3rd somewhere last year.....I finally bought it cheap to have a complete series....I'm a completist, which is a good and bad thing at the same time. And it was a bit better after all these years.....I may be growing soft at an older age, but yeah, my hate has diminished somewhat. But by no means does it come close to 1 and 2....or 4.

@@despayre3914 Alien 3 had flaws right from the opening credits and there was no way back from that. It did achieve something though because it got even worse as it went along. But having said that, I haven't seen the film since opening night in 1992 so I expect I will be less disappointed with it when I do finally see it again. Might be fun to go through all the flaws and then list the positives... and hope there are actually some positives! John.

You've just seen Alien the way I do. I don't so much watch it as look at it. Those opening shops of the interior of the Nostromo are like looking at a great painting and it never stops from there. Thank you for sharing your latest impressions of this Ridley Scott work of art and masterpiece. Blade Runner might be even better to look at in some respects. John.

@@moviecollector5920 Yeah, that shot when the lights slowly come on in the chamber where the crew are sleeping, looked absolutely amazing in 4K HDR on the larger screen! Also, I watch Blade Runner a few weeks ago and the quality of the image is unbelievable!

Funnily enough, I did know that Mr. Brody but thank you for reminding me. I used to get out of sync' problems with early DVDs but that was due to the player not being able to cope and hence the sound slipped a couple of frames. Interesting that you were able to sort it out in a modern 4K player. John.

I hope you like it as much as I did Michael. I find it amazing that video quality is now this good for the home.

Robert, I think you need to install full Cinerama facilities in your home theatre... and then as soon as this pesky Kung Flu is over I'm coming over!!! John.

@@moviecollector5920 now you're talking! I visited the Cineramadome in LA many years ago. if you're ever in California it would be a delight to catch up and chat movies. hanging in my kitchen is a signed photo from Ridley Scott where he asks what he has to do to direct one of my productions :)

@@Celestialrob Well you'd better hide that Ridley Scott signed photo when I do get back over again!!!

I hadn't even heard of 'Raised By Woles' Paladin so that's going on my list! I wasn't too enamoured by Prometheus though and even less so by the sequel 'Alien Covenant'. But Ridley Scott is one of the best film makers in the world today so I always ensure I see his work (even if 'Councillor' put me off a little!). John.

Its a ok series some good concepts and some bad execution lots of plot holes , but sometimes its visually stunning. Go in with low expectation . Also are you doing this as a series of old 4k releases ? I'm asking because 4k Alien is out since the anniversary .

Thank you so much for saying that Bob. It makes me happy to know you enjoyed it. John.

My pleasure! John.

Sounds like you're going to need Super 8 too Paul. And 16mm and 35mm... and how about findng an almost unbtainable 70mm too? It seems a lot of us really do love this film and I'm glad to learn it's not only me that's a bit of an addict. I can't tell you how many times I've seen the feature but I can tell you that my brother and I ran that Super 8 400ft reel over 100 times. Treasured memories. John.

I have already reviewed John Carpenter's Halloween Marko if that's the one you mean. Another one of my favourite films but I didn't pick up the 4K disc of that one because I rather know if off by heart from having run the Super 8 feature about a hundred times!!! John.

Thanks John. This video resulted in an explosion of views across my channel at the time. It was a little shocking I can tell you. Things settled down but views have remained fairly high ever since. John.

That man was amazing. I don't often listen to movie soundtracks these days but I still love just about everything Jerry Goldsmith has done. John.

@@moviecollector5920 His music for Outland (Sean Connery sci-fi) is well worth hearing.

What's your opinion of Aliens on home video?

Well, I purchased that Super 8 as soon as it came out but such was the demand my copy came from the second print run and cost £299. I got a second-hand copy later on which I made up from odd reels and I think that totalled about £150. Today you'd probably be looking at up to a grand! Maybe more. Aliens is another of my favourite films. It might even be number 2 to Alien but perhaps The Terminator is in that spot. I could probably name ten or twenty films that are my favourites in reality. John.

I haven't seen the Blu-ray Steve but I'm sure that's about as good as it gets. I saw Aliens at the Odeon Leicester Square three times so you can see that I was rather impressed with it on the big screen. I enjoyed the original VHS release but it lacked something. Then I got it on Super 8 and I've only ever seen it on a big screen from then on. Not particularly good Super 8 quality but looked close enough to the 35mm in miniature on our roll down ten foot wide screen. I re-recorded the sound from the laser disc so it was even better than the excellent sound it came with originally. John.

Alien should look better on any equipment than what has been shot in recent years as it was full frame anamorphic 35mm so well in excess of today's shot on video productions. There have been a few videos that look exceptionally good but only one that I've seen that probably looks better than Alien. I still prefer the natural look of Alien though. The Thing was another full frame anamorphic. John.

Ta velly muchly. I do seem to be getting rather a good response lately. Just running out of 4K releases to review but maybe I'll give 'Superman' a spin next. John.

Thank you Mark. John.

I really like to pause and look at all the fun toys and books and films he shows!

I ran my Alien 35mm print a few weeks ago. This was on my Kinoton FP20 projector and I put it on a pair of 5000ft spools and watched it with just one break for a reel change. Ben Wales has fully sorted the sound from the machine to the Dolby CP500 processor and I therefore enjoyed Alien with the best possible image quality (short of a 70mm blow-up print) along with the best possible sound. I don't think the digital sound failed over to analogue Dolby SR once during the whole screening. I watched my first run print of Aliens on Super 8 twice recently. I couldn't get things right the first time so it was a good excuse to try again. Second time it was just about perfect all the way through. Well, as perfect as Aliens can be without a James Cameron remaster applied. I wanted to revisit it in preparation for the 4K sometime soon once the price has come down to about £15. Then I'm hoping to get together with a colleague who owns a 35mm print and we can then compare directly between the 4K and the 35mm from 1986. I don't think we'll be as critical as some have been about the 4K remastering and that is because we both know that Aliens never really looked particularly impressive. And before I forget, I've also run my 35mm print of Alien Resurrection recently. I've only ever seen that film on 35mm and although the image quality isn't as good as Alien, it does look beautiful on film and always has done. The aliens have never looked better or more menacing than they did in Alien Resurrection. I'm told that it doesn't look very good on video though. John.

As much as I will enjoy hearing it please be careful not to infringe any copyrights there though MrChiffre. John.

@@moviecollector5920 Greetings. I will upload it lossy, in the MP3 format (320 kbit/s.) So as to not infringe "too much"?! How does that grab you? Sincerely.

@@MrChiffre I don't think it's worth the risk MrChiffre. I plan to track down the Intrada double album which should keep me happy enough. That and the making of book so many people have told me about. You wouldn't want me to overdose on all things Alien now would you?

@@moviecollector5920 OVERDOSE! OVERDOSE!! OVERDOSE!!! Note: The above are to be chanted as on a BIG game of football. For instance: Chelsea - Arsenal or Liverpool - Man. U. Sincerely:)

@@MrChiffre My brother is obsessed with Chelsea. I daren't mention their name otherwise he'll talk for hours!

Thank you Conall. I haven't seen Alien Romulus but I would have made the effort if I still lived in the West End of London. As it is, there aren't any good cinemas around when I now live so without being able to get to one of the few good ones left in the centre of London I'm better off waiting for the home video disc release and enjoy it in a good cinema at home. Quite a sad state of affairs really but you're the second person today to tell me they enjoyed it and that the special effects are traditional. That's all good to know. I have to say though that the best the Aliens ever looked was in Alien Resurrection which used both practical effects and computer generated. I'm not averse to CGI I just don't much like its overuse. I've only ever seen 'Resurrection' on 35mm which is just as well because people tell me quite often that it looks awful on video. Such a shame. John.

I think it was 2003 that the Alien Director's Cut was released theatrically. Video projection then was truly awful but most people didn't notice. Video projection today is outstanding but I never got over that terrible period around the mid-noughties when previously superlative venues for watching premiere prints were projecting crap. As a result I always check a film is being projected before visiting a cinema. If not, I wait until it's out on disc and watch it at home. John.

Good to have you here Daniel. I don't know what is wrong with the focus on your current video projector but I've never had a similar issue with any video projector I've had, and that's a lot of them now. If it were a film projector it would most likely be a lens out of alignment so it could be that but I can't really understand how. My 4K projector has been with us for over three years now - an Optoma UHD550X - and it's exceptionally sharp all the way across. Too sharp at times and that's something I'll probably go into a little in my next 4K review which will be 'The Fifth Element'. Optoma now have a 4K projector that is below £1,000 here in the UK so it would certainly be worth looking into if you can possibly afford that much. Always find somewhere to get a demonstration first though, don't purchase off the internet. Mine came from Richer Sounds after a serious look at the next model up which was almost identical but twice the price. Couldn't look at the model I purchased as a result of that demo because there were only 11 in the country at the time and all in the Richer Sounds warehouse pending distribution. Television isn't a patch on projection by the way. Most televisions are too bright and spoil the imagery for one thing but it's the constraint of a fixed screen width. Some say they have a big screen - 72 inches or similar - but that means little to me because I grew up with film and cinema so I want to know the width, not the diagonal measurement which is meaningless. John.

Thanks for that Terry!

This video does seem to have done quite well. And there I was thinking we all had 35mm prints of Alien in our home movie collections! John.

Thank you Den. The number of views have all but doubled since I uploaded this 'Alien' review so something seems to have just happened. I'm currently putting a 'Superman The Move' (1978) 4K review together so it will be rather interesting to see if the trend continues. It has been a nice surprise, not least to get all the lovely comments people such as yourself have made. John.

I only ever saw Alien 3 once and I still don't want to see it again. I have promised that if it appears as a 4K home video disc I'll finally give it a second chance but nothing is going to correct the obvious flaws with that one. Resurrection was great to look at even if anyone didn't particularly care for the film. I suppose the third film might be the same but the Alien in that one didn't look much like the Alien. In Alien Resurrection the aliens had never looked better. I nearly ran the 35mm print of it a few days ago but decided I should wait until I get the new projector set up into a final position for the new home cinema. Interestingly the image quality of the 1997 film is not as good as the 1979 original. That's a full frame anamorphic in 1979 and just a Super 35 in 1997. John.

35mm Alien prints are still out there but I think one would cost almost as much as a JVC D-ILA video projector now. A friend did get the first JVC D-ILA that came into the country about 20 years ago so I know how good they are but film is and always has been my priority for the home cinema. We've just purchased a floor standing 35mm projector with Dolby Digital capabilities but it's going to take me a while to track down everything to make the digital sound work through a home amplifier. Right now I'm sorting out the optical Dolby Stereo which has been a little frustrating at times but also a lot of fun. The 4K disc release of Alien is excellent and compares very well to the film prints but it's not film and so has all those little telltales to confirm it's been through a scanner. Run the film on 35mm and it's got that fully natural look that was lost when cinema underwent the big downgrade in 2011. Actually, the downgrade had really got underway in 2005 when most films were no longer finished on film and everything was edited in a computer before being put back out to film but with much degraded image quality. OPPENHEIMER has just confirmed to the industry that they made a catastrophic, near fatal, error. Let's hope they learn from it and we can get back to occasional big releases with 35mm or 70mm master prints being a big draw to encourage people back into cinemas... me included! John.

I don't recall having seen your email. When did you send it?

I actually have a postcard of the poster bearing the name 'The Eighth Passenger' in another language René, so I'll have to look for that one now that you've mentioned it. It would be interesting to see Alien in D:150. I think that's something that cinema should consider bringing back as it would offer something different and distinctly better compared to sitting at home watching a film on the box. Something has to be done to save cinema and that' D:150 process would certainly be a possibility. Bring back giant curved screens! John.

The Space Jockey and Alien Queen are Halcyon kits Rene and I think one of the Alien warrior kits is too but the warrior from Alien 3 is from another manufacturer - it's made out of plaster or something like it. The French market had a 'Le Huitieme Passager' subtitle so Mexico was not alone in identifying the Alien as the eighth passenger. There were seven others besides Jones the cat. John.

Well you just need to track down copies of Alien on Super 8, 16mm and 35mm now to complete the set!!! 22,000 discs though is really something. You're never going to be stuck for something to watch, that's for sure. Who needs television when you can own and watch so many wonderful films? I've seen Sigourney a couple of times in London and the second time I did geta silent "hello" from her which was nice. She always seems down to earth and I particularly remember the end of her on stage interview at the National Film Theatre when she thanked everyone for coming. She did seem really surprised to have a packed house that were interested in hearing what she had to say. I secretly recorded that night on a cassette but I had to keep it hidden so it's not brilliant quality but at least it's there and captured. John.

I do have quite a few things from the third film but as I just said in my reply to you on the Star Trek VI video, I didn't much like it in 1992. In fact, i was so angry by the end of it that I didn't stay to see the credits and that's something I always do without fail. John.

There are significant problems with the third film Ben but I only ever saw it the once, on opening night and I haven't felt the need to ever re-visit it. However, I have promised a lot of people on here that I will give it another try if it ever makes a 4K disc appearance. Too many serious flaws will never turn it into a good film and especially because there is unlikely to be a way to replace the chestburster ending where Ripley grabs hold of the alien that has just exploded out of her chest. Whoever thought that nonsense up really needed to go back to school. But it had already turned into a bit of a farce by then so I don't suppose many people gave it any thought. Killing off Charles Dance's character just as Ripley had found an ally and just as the audience had taken a liking to him, was a basic film making error. But killing the surviving Aliens cast off right at the start lost the audience immediately so that was probably the biggest flaw. Several people have told me they don't like Alien Resurrection but I haven't come across anyone yet who disliked it who saw it on film. I've never seen it on video and I take their word for it that it looks awful on video, but on film it's a thing of beauty. I do still run it every few years and it has many more similarities to Alien and Aliens than the third film did but most people would miss that and wouldn't see it the same way on low quality video releases. The newborn alien is a wonderful conclusion but the film is hampered by being the same ending as the first and second film. No one ever seems to spot that these aliens keep getting blasted out into space at the end of the films which was the one failing of the second film. So there we are, we often tend to have different opinions about films and it really doesn't matter. I can't stand a single scene from The Sound of Music and yet it's one of the most beloved films in history. I find it quite amusing that I can't bear to see (or hear really) anything from it, but musicals often have that effect on me. Not all of them but there's something about the ham acting and the sudden bursting into song in The Sound of Music that grates with me. The original Alien film stands on its own but Aliens has to be the best sequel of all time. It's a shame Alien 3 was made when it was rather than waiting for a better idea and incorporating the surviving characters from Aliens but a lot of people like it. I didn't speak to anyone who liked it back in 1992 or for many years after and only when I put this video up did I finally learn there were people out there who actually enjoyed it. It will be interesting to see how I feel about it if I do ever see it again. Who knows, I may not walk out as soon as the end credits start next time. John.

I'm glad you found me Mr. Duck! John.

Derann went out of business about ten years ago Erik and the negatives do not appear to have been salvaged for future use so that seems to be the end of Alien as a Super 8 'Scope feature. Second hand copies come up occasionally but for about £1000 now! That would be a bit of a lottery though because it's an earlier prints that you'd need to find as they were cleaner and generally better graded even if a little dark in a couple of scenes. Classic Home Cinema are the top dealer in the world now but they have a distribution deal with The Reel Image in the USA run by Steve Osborne. www.classichomecinema.co.uk/ is the place to go and if there isn't a link in there to The Reel Image then drop Phil and Denise Sheard (proprieters) an email to point you in the right direction. I haven't done a video of my favourite films. I have just about all of them on Super 8 so most RU-vid viewers probably wouldn't be interested in looking at blank reels of film instead of a colourful 4K or Blu-ray inlay. And before I forget, Derann usually issued 2 hour features on four 600ft reels. Alien is four reels, Aliens is five but each reel is a slightly shorter running time for the sequel. John.

And you won't have to wait long John because a 4K disc review of Superman The Movie is going up today. John.

I don't care for the prequels much. I don't like Alien 3 but I very much like Resurrection Just as well we're all different and I will even give the third film another try when it finally appears on 4K so I'll keep an open mind until then. John.

Ah, but you'll be on a slippery slope now. Before you know it you'll be looking out for film projection equipment and then a 35mm print of this great title! I've recently purchased a more capable 35mm projector primarily so I'll be able to screen my 35mm print on two big reels and with the Dolby Digital sound. Getting it all setup and working is going to take a while yet but that's the ambition. John.

The PAL LaserDisc will be a few minutes shorter than the NTSC LaserDisc as PAL runs at 25fps whereas NTSC runs at 23.97fps. It's possible that the VHS box used the information or complete artwork from the NTSC VHS release. With my Super 8 copies I can speed up or slow down the projector so the running time does vary on that too. A few times I've run it in synch with the PAL LaserDisc or DVD so it's run fixed at 25fps. No one ever notices any difference. John.

I went through Alien War many times and was even there for the opening night when Sigourney and Lance Henriksen came over. Never anything else like it before or since. Trocadero now a derelict just like the space craft in the film. Very sad. John.

@@moviecollector5920 Very lucky! I only went once and was only a young teenager at the time, so don’t have the best memory of all of it, but what I do remember was great. I posed for a photo after holding a pulse rifle (which I remember being very heavy) with one of the marines, and found out that some of the props used in Alien War were actually from ‘Aliens’!

@@sonnyshow That's right. The two founders were given free reign at Pinewood and they found loads of abandoned Aliens props chucked about on the backlot. Pinewood remanufactured the Alien suits for them too and that's why the Aliens you saw inside the attraction were so realistic. They also produced that Alien Queen they had on display from the original mould. I have a little Alien War A5 magazine amongst my collection from the brief period they had a members club which I think is where the above information came from but there's a lot swimming around in my head. I also shot some Super 8 in the lobby area but it was very dark. John.

We didn't have the option of renting a full length copy on anything but 16mm until years after the film was released. I think a rental video did get issued but that Super 8 cut down reel was the king at the time. Actually Super 8 was the king of home cinema until about only 15 or 16 years ago really. Video projection for the home then took a bit of a jump in quality and it finally started to become viable. John.

That's a terrible shame that you didn't get to live through an Alien War session because it really was unique. As for Sir David Attneborough, thank you for that... although I think he's a daft old coot!!! John.

I probably should have got the steelbook too but I'd resisted reviewing the 4K for so long before deciding it would be an excuse to make a video of my own history with the film. Right now I'm resisting the calls for a Raiders of the Lost Ark review but i think that's only available in the four film set so a little out of my price bracket I think. John.

Two brilliant fllms so you've made a good start there. With regard to how to upgrade to 4K, there's nothing like projection. Most people today have only ever known television and so the thought of venturing into the unknown with a video projector is a little frightening but they're not difficult at all. All you need is a white wall so don't be fooled into thinking you need more than the projector to make a start. The rest can come later. John.

Not yet but I will. I've been putting another review video together which will be up in the next day or two. I don't have the Legacy box set as I have these films so many times I had reached my limit... until I was cajoled into looking at the 4K release.

To make you feel better, the Super 8 print of Alien was £300 in 1992. Just try not to spend too much... which is something I keep telling myself but it never seems to work. Glad you like the videos Swansong and thanks for letting me know. John.

I did see one of those Alien v. Predator films but I don't know which it was. It was a television screening and I think I must have only seen a part of it but it was interesting because it had some of the excised sections of Dan O'Bannon's Alien script such as the pyramid containing the eggs. I didn't feel like I ever wanted to watch it properly though and I have similar feelings for the Prometheus and Covenent although I have seen them both. I don't think they're particularly good but thankfully none of the sequels have spoiled my enjoyment of the original and best. John.

Thank you very much Lenny. I've started researching a 4K review of Ad Astra which I hope to have out sometime in the next week. They tend to take four or five days to put together now but I think they're worth it in the end. Comments like yours are certainly encouragement to carry on. Shame you were too young for the Super 8 adventure of the late 70s and early 80s that was the start of the home cinema boom. John.

I've promised a lot of people that I will give Alien 3 a second chance when it's released in 4K. I know the opening can't be improved whatever they've tried in re-edit, but perhaps the Charles Dance character won't be killed off just as he's become interesting and hopefully that awful ending where Ripley calmly grabs a chestburster that has just ripped its way out of her body will be replaced with something just a little sensible. Well, we can all hope! John.

I think you and I could talk for hours if we ever meet Colt. Star Wars and Alien - two of the most impressionable films of all time. Shame you've no longer got your Brett cap though. John.

I don't think there is any doubt that Alien is the better film but Aliens has got to be the best sequel ever made. I love them both. Aliens is a widescreen image ratio though whereas Alien is the full Panavision 'Scope frame so that counts against Aliens too. I don't have Aliens on 35mm but I do have two copies of the film on Super 8. Well, why have one copy when two will do? John.

Thank you Snowywinter. I expect you gathered from this video that I'm not exactly the biggest fan of Alien 3. I've had many people ask me to give it a second try so I've said that if it ever gets a 4K disc release that I'll do that. I may then do a video along the lines of everything wrong with it and explain why it is wrong and what caused it to be that way. It's certainly an interesting story but I'd rather they'd never made the film in the first place. John.

Good summary Barrie. John.

Hello Alan. I thought I'd replied to you already but if not thank you for your kind message and I hope you are keeping down there there in Argentina. It's rather exciting to be able to communicate with movie enthusiasts all around the world, particularly those who like Alien! John.

I've been preparing my latest 35mm projector for a screening of the film again and today I ran a reel of Star Trek X which I'll run again to make sure all is well with everything. Then I might just stick on the opening reel of Alien and see how I get on with that. The Dolby Digital decoding from the new projector into the Dolby CP500 processor has been causing some issues but no issues today with Star Trek X. I'm hopeful the digital track on Alien is okay all the way through as I've never had the equipment for Dolby Digital before. The Dolby Stereo 4 track is excellent though so it won't be the end of the world. Glad you enjoyed this video. I made it about three and a half years ago but it doesn't feel like that long. My channel exploded shortly after it was uploaded and for a while I couldn't work out what had happened but thankfully it all settled down again otherwise I'd have spent all day, everyday at the keyboard. John.

I thank you again Gary. I expect you're on your second cuppa' now. I'm just boiling up the Ovaltine! John.

This Alien video resulted in my channel exploding over the ensuing two weeks. A little disconcerting at the time but it settled down quite nicely after that. John.

@@moviecollector5920 that's awesome! You deserve it, this was an incredible video and your passion shows through. I recently made an Alien 4K Review and it grew quicker than pretty much all my other review videos. Must be a passionate Fandom out there clamoring for more. I have a feeling the Star Trek Fandom is similar. I'm really wanting to start doing more Star Trek content on my channel because I love it.

@@MyFireVideos Your review is really interesting. A completely different way of doing it which is an achievement in itself because most reviews are basically a similar format but not yours. I hope it continues to do well. Anything Alien related seems to do better than just about everything else but science fiction in general usually attracts an audience. I had a bit of a surprise with my review of The Fifth Element which got a huge number of views compared to what I normally get but it was my 2001 A Space Odyssey upload that generated the most. When my Alien review went up and word seemed to be getting around, what happened was that some fanbase for 2001 must have got a notification that I'd put something different up about that film and it took me a while to work it out. I was stuck at my desk responding to comments all day and then most of the following few days as the number of views continued to climb. It slowly died off and is now just another video I have up there. I think i went from 700 subscribers to over 4000 in about a week. It was all quite shocking as I said. John.

@@moviecollector5920 thank you! I hope it's a good different because that's kind of how my brain works. I want to add a different voice to the conversation to compliment what is already out there, not necessarily mimic it. I enjoy watching reviews on the same movie from several different youtubers. For example, your channel is completely unique and always a good experience. No one else (that I've found) really goes into film reels. Thanks for sharing about the growth of your channel! I love to hear about the nuts and bolts behind the scenes. Thanks!

@@MyFireVideos Oh, certainly in a good way there's no doubt about that. I like calm, softly spoken presentation most of the time rather than the act so many RU-vidrs put on because they are clearly uncomfortable being in front of camera. I can understand why they are like that but occasionally someone comes along who is completely relaxed and you're one of them. I've been putting a 4K review for 2022 video together today which is different to the plan I started out with. I don't know if anyone else does this sort of thing but with so many Top Ten of 2022 being recommended in my RU-vid feed I somehow ended up doing something that I hope will be a little different. It's going to be about half an hour long by the look of it but chock full of things to look at besides me. John.

Alien looks equivalent to my 35mm print in my little home cinema so I'm pleased to learn you've had a good experience with it too Andrew. I didn't think too much of Prometheus at the cinema (3D at The Empire with rather poor image quality) so I got the standard Blu-ray and although it was much better I still felt the film was lacking something. What do you think? As for the Star Wars series on 4K, I can't watch the re-hashed versions of the original film even though I think the Death Star battle is fabulous in any version. The film looks so different on Super 8 but it's how it looked back in 1977 and 1978 albeit without quite the same level of clarity. John.

I'm just surprised to get so many people watching my little productions. The Alien review started a bit of an explosion after it was uploaded and a few weeks later I was inundated. A smaller version of that is happening again right now following the upload of The Fifth Element review. Good to have you with me. John.

Never seen that film so I'll look out for it. Thank you. John.

Most people don't really know what film is and how superior it is as a format so I think I'm possibly a little too niche market to ever get too popular. But I simply enjoy talking about movies and particularly to show people some of the various gauges and why some of them look better than others and therefore why some 4K discs look better than others.

I think Resurrection is terrific. But I am going to give Alien 3 another watch with the amended edit as several people have told me it's worth a go.

Bloomin' heck, has it had 600 likes?!? When I uploaded that video just over two weeks ago I thought I'd nailed it but it took some effort as you only get one chance to cover a film you love properly. I haven't seen how many views it's had today as I'm still trawling my way through all the comments and responding to every single one, but I think it might be approaching 10,000. In just over two weeks... GULP! Thank you for taking it to the big 600 Dominus. John.

Super 8 reached new heights in the latter part of the 80s. Quality peaked around the early 90s and although those heights were not achieved again in the 2000s, except for any of the Derann feature length Disney releases that were still coming out, it did mean that Super 8 was the undisputed leader of home cinema up until maybe 12 to 15 years ago. I intend to review the 4K of Speed when I can get a copy and that was one of the very top-notch Super 8 prints. Might be an excuse to include Super 8 again. John.

It's a darned fine disc too Pete and compared really well to my 35mm general release print. I did watch Alien a few times on a VHS recording before the complete film was released on Super 8 but apart from that I've only ever seen it on film until taking a look at the 4K disc. It is like having a film without actually having the physical print. It doesn't quite hold the same magic as running a film print but that won't mean so much to most, just us longtime film lovers and collectors of real film prints over the past five decades or so. John.

Good to hear from you again nistel. You and I are in almost complete agreement but I do like The Martian. That's got to be his best in more recent years. If the other Alien films get the 4K treatment I think I'll be covering those in review too. Next review video planned is Superman The Movie. John.

Well done James. Video editing is a tedious business and I seem to have spent half my time over the past 15 years doing it. Film editing was always far more enjoyable but those days have largely gone now. John.

Next you'll have to track down a full length Super 8 or 35mm print Jay!