Aliens: Expanded, the massive 4+ hour commentary from director Ian Nathan and the team at CreatorVC recently enjoyed a nomination for the prestigious Rondo Hatton award in the ‘Best Documentary’ category. The exhaustive documentary is now going even further, with the release of a new 2 disc Collector’s Edition that includes 12+ hours of the not-so-quite-raw (they edited for sense and repetition) interviews featuring within the documentary!
In addition to the whopping amount of interviews, the Collector’s Edition also includes Inside Aliens Expanded, a featurette with director Ian Nathan and producer Robin Block, an additional alternative new “theatrical” cut of Aliens: Expanded which is described as “pacier and more direct,” a Collector’s Edition Booklet which charts the production of the documentary itself and includes production diary and script pages and notes. And lastly, a 2-Disc Slipcase.
Aliens: Expanded – Collector’s Edition is available for purchase now for $99. There is also an upgrade package available for fans who already supported Aliens: Expanded which comes with the new disc, slipcase and booklet for $64.99. You can find out further details and pick up Aliens: Expanded on CreatorVC’s store now.
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Yea I'll agree with your assessment here. Funny thing is, since you brought up the score, the one used for aliens expanded bugged me. It was a generic sounding score, that evokes the 80s but not "aliens" at all. Would have been perfectly suitable for one of their other docs that weren't focused on a single film like this one, but rather films from certain genres in the 80s.
On a slight tangent, I have a thing about DVD and blu ray menus. The menus on the old legacy boxset were fantastic. The alien 4K menu is my new favorite; it's fantastic too! The aliens 4K menu was probably my least favorite, because it's so static. Oddly enough, the aliens expanded menu turned out ok, and maybe even outdid the aliens 4K. Wouldn't justify buying a copy just for the menu screen though lol
Very hesitant now given their dubious marketing tactics.
After seeing the documentary myself, (thankfully without paying for it) I feel like all of the criticisms are totally valid. Especially now, with how they're being snakes about it and asking for even more money for extra footage that should have been included in the first place. If this extra footage wasn't in the original cut, I'm going to assume there's nothing of real value in it, or else it would've been part of the documentary already. The whole thing felt like a waste of time. Sure, it's nice to hear from everyone again and get a little more from some cast members we don't usually hear from, but I didn't walk away feeling like I gained anything new or worthwhile.
Thats pretty much what I thought. Im always against judging something you didnt see, but I wasnt interested in it because the ultimate 'Making Of', the "Superior Firepower" has already been done. Now, how could I say its better without seeing Expanded? Couple reasons
1. Superior Firepower was made primarily using archival, rare behind the scenes footage. As far as I know, Expanded is all new interviews with some photos spliced in - typical, by-the-bumbers modern Documentary
2. It also mixed in archival interviews from the set of the movie with interviews from early 2000s. This way, we get a whole picture - newer and older. Expanded as far as I know, its all new 2024 interviews, at the time when memories just an impression - I think recollections from 86 and even 2002 are far more valuable than from 40 years after the movie was made. Not only that, but a lot of the key players had passed away since - James Horner, Syd Mead, Ron Cobb, Stan Winston. They were all included in SF (Superior Firepower). And why no key players from Winston team were interviewed? Wheres Rosengrant and Mahan? Why is Gillis and Woodfruff there when they were new hires working under basically everyone else at the time? I could understand Tom, he helped sculpt the Warrior heads but Gillis? He had a minimal task on the picture, tiny work with facehugger as far as I remember. But the key players from Winston team who sculpted the Queen and the aliens and made the animatronics, along with Winston, were on SF
3. As far as I know, Expanded uses original music, not the film score. The way SF was made, it had a feeling of the movie it was about. It was edited along with the music in such way, it really felt like a part of the movie.
So, unless Im mistaken on any of the points and correct me if I am(and I didnt research Expanded much because from the get go I was taken aback by fixing something thats not broken), from the get go it told me its not only something heavily inferior to what was already available, but also seemingly another cookie cutter modern doc
Still, I feel bad criticizing something I havent seen, but Im simply explaining why I was not interested in it from the beginning
My personal opinion? It's a good documentary for new or casual fans looking to learn more about the film without having to search for magazine articles that are upwards of 30 years old now. But us hardcore fans? No, you won't learn anything new. That being said, it doesn't mean one might not still find it enjoyable, regardless. I just wish that they had marketed this thing as being for those newer and more casual fans (whom, let's be honest, were the ones who bankrolled it in the first place) rather than saying it was meant for the "hardcore fans." That sounds extremely elitist and ultimately not accurate... I mean, there's no shame in making a product for newer/casual fans, and all of the hardcore fans I saw taking about it said the same thing: "what could they possible tell us that wasn't already said in the 'Superior Firepower' documentary?" The answer to that question is "nothing." So why they pitched it the way they did is bizarre to me...
I thought I'd start using material from the documentary on my blog once it didn't look as if I was going to try to interfere with their sales by stealing everything too soon but I liked what Paul Reiser said about his costume, and there were things about what went on behind the scenes that would help build up the behind the scenes world, but it's not as if there are any big revelations. Cameron didn't have much of interest to say.
I think that I managed to grab the biggest revelations out of the ether as ideas at the time they were making their documentary, and it was nothing that they wanted to know about and in the end since it's all unconfirmed, nothing that anyone wants to know really. And all I can do is want to poke holes through Jim Cameron about the way he adapted Giger's work, even sketches for Poltergeist 2 and basically in a brilliant way, ripped off Hill Street Blues season 1, and Asterix In Spain
I'll be happy to see the extended interviews, I'm sure, or at least some of them
I thought that in the documentary, this Alien Theory person almost started to wake up when he talked about Alien V Predator and that's about it. I don't know much about his videos though
I thought from their address that I was sinking money into a local business venture, because it was just a ten minute bus ride from where I live, but later I found out that it was their solicitor's address
If somebody did a documentary or even a podcast episode on the 'other side of the development of Aliens', I would these days have a lot to talk about, even mentioning Wernher Von Braun and Dalí, but these strands of idea development might seem too fantastical to talk about for some
Glad I never supported this thing.
I was just trawling through the rest of this thread and noted a comment I made yonks ago about any major revelations winding up on Youtube.
Is it correct to assume there weren't any?
They absolutely insisted the only way to get this was to be a backer. No other possible way to get your hands on it - be in first or miss it.
Oh actually sorry you can totally just buy it later.
Oh and here's some f**king DLC. Where you can also buy the full thing.
I truly do not understand how people are basically responding with "oh, you" like they're just some cheeky buggers and not an actual predatory company, and then forking out an extra $60+ for something they already bought.
Cheapest was $65 (USD + shipping) for someone who bought the original?
Personal opinion: this shorter, theatrical cut, should have been provided to their backers for free as a "thank you" since they made it anyway, and got paid for it already via its theatrical run. To re-package it this way is a cash grab, through and through. But again, the rest of the extras they're advertising? 🤷 have no idea about that stuff, but I still wouldn't buy it myself...
A reminder: the documentary was made by CreatorVC - a venture capital company. They are the ones who ponied up the initial cash to get it made. We know this because the kickstarter campaign had actual footage to show backers, which means the documentary was done before the campaign started. If backers were actually funding the project to get it made, it would have been filmed after the campaign ended, and wouldn't exist if the campaign failed.
The reality is that the backers (and anyone else who bought in later) were the return on CreatorVC's investment in a product that already existed.
I'm honestly surprised that you actually continue to give them even more money.
You guys actually have a decent platform - maybe call this shit out.
How would you compare what was already released to the "Superior Firepower"? Im not and never was interested in Aliens Expanded mostly because I dont think anyone can do better than whats on Quadrilogy/Anthology, so how would you compare the two
Dude monotoned af and not interesting at all...
https://x.com/80sscifidoc/status/1916651607539790002?s=46&t=7Hw57af4Vx-8BX46Zoeo0g
I dunno anything about the other features they're advertising
PS. Good to see you're still around blue!