The Alien: 40th Anniversary Edition 4K Blu-Ray finally hits the shops this week just in time for Alien Day.
The key feature of the Alien 40th Anniversary release is of course the brand new transfer which was scanned in native 4K from the original camera negative at EFilm. Ridley Scott and Pam Dery at Company 3/Deluxe Entertainment Services Group supervised the restoration. The film was graded for high dynamic range in HDR10 and for the new standard HDR10+.
Bear in mind the Alien Theatrical Version was scanned at 4K while the Director’s Cut footage comes from the 2003 scan which means it has less detail. It’s blended together seamlessly though so I don’t think most people would notice. The most striking thing you’ll notice in the new 4K transfer is the new colour grading. In the original releases, it looked a lot warmer but now, it’s probably more faithful to the original theatrical release.
Space Jockey Comparison (Top: 1080p Bluray, Bottom: 4K Blu-Ray)
The release comes with the 1979 Theatrical version of Alien as well as the 2003 Director’s Cut. Both of Ridley Scott’s commentaries for both versions of the film are included as are the Isolated Score for the Theatrical version and the composer’s original score. A few deleted scenes are ported over from previous releases but there isn’t any new bonus features. Despite some early rumours to the contrary, the recent Alien Short Films are not available to watch on the discs.
Review Roundup
The Digital Bits
Blu-Ray.com (4.5/5)
Forbes
WhySoBlu (4.5/5)
Alien Archives
HighDefDigest (4/5)
ImpulseGamer (5/5)
The article on Digital Bits does theorise about when we will see the other three Alien movies in 4K and the answer is not to expect them any time soon. Any 4K remaster of Aliens will need James Cameron’s approval and he is way too busy with the Avatar sequels. The 35th Anniversary of Aliens is two years away so we’ll be lucky to see it before then and the article speculates we may never see 4K remasters of Alien 3 or Alien Resurrection. Will you be picking up the new Alien 4K Blu-Ray set? For those who haven’t ordered it, you can get it here on Amazon (£23.95/$14.96).
https://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=930448
So I arrived home and it was there.
The steelbook with the new rendition of the original posters egg is actually not to bad. Much better than the standard cover.
Ultra HD (new scan) vs. Full HD (old BluRay):
https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?d1=13061&d2=5205&c=2127
Genuinely restored additionally,
the 2010 Blu-ray is cropped.
Studios rarely ever do that. And why would they? Even if they remastered the 1080p transfer, you're not gaining much of anything. No enhanced resolution, no HDR, The 4K set is for people who have the equipment to view 4K stuff. The addition of the 1080p disc is merely a supplement.
Well it's true...ish.
I totally agree.
The anthology blurays are about as perfect as I could ever want.
Yeah, I notice a difference in sharpness and visible detail. Though it's also more dependent on distance from the screen than 1080p is. HDR also makes a difference depending on the quality of the display implementation.
It's not as big of a jump as the one from DVD to Blu-Ray was, but it's still a jump.
And yeah, the Blu-ray annihilates the DVD's visual and audio presentation, and the UHD is superior again.
It is indeed the Anthology disc.
Ultra HD has nothing to do with frame rate, it's the frame size. The actual size of the image. The films are still 24 frames per second, it's just that they're scanned in a higher resolution digital format.
Even new cinema movies are still filmed in 24 frames per second so DVD is fine.
The 4K-HD element adds odd movements and frame morphing during films I find. TV is ok but that's because TV is ultra real. Movies need that fantasical haze to differentiate the atmosphere.
Just throwing this out for anyone who's curious.
Now now, you know what I meant.
I don't believe I've purchased product I can't use in regards to A or P, but I do have duplicates of releases.
Does that mean I'm not a truuuuue fan?
We've all done it.
I've done it.
Only if you use the code in iTunes. I made the mistake of using it in Movies Anywhere, which does not support the short films.
Only reason I was buying this was for the shorts.
The Space Jockey reveal has thankfully been fixed - no neon green spacesuit for Kane - his original tan-coloured suit is back.
Had a look at the DC and am happy with the new colour grading for the DC scenes. The scenes, whilst upscales, don’t detract too much from the 4K material either side of it.
All the edits made to the DC are there but not the updated effects - added stars and the three helmet lights, rounding the rock formation during sunrise, are missing - basically the DC without the reworked visual effects. This may qualify as a third version of the DC?
I was hoping the audio would be fixed for the overhead shot of Brett (exclusive to the DC), you can hear his footsteps while still standing motionless, looking around for Jones.
I enjoyed this 40th anniversary edition. A definite step up from the 2010 Anthology release.