• Title: Alien Quadrilogy: The Ultimate Edition
• Format: DVD
• Release: 2003
• Country: UK / Region 2
• Certificate: 18
• Contents: Alien (1979), Alien: Director’s Cut (2003), Aliens (1986), Aliens: Special Edition (1991), Alien3 (1992), Alien3: Special Edition (2003), Alien: Resurrection (1997), Alien: Resurrection: Special Edition (2003) + associated bonus material/special features
• Features running time: Over 16hrs + extensive (and I mean extensive) bonus content

I first started collecting DVDs in the late 1990s. This continued throughout the majority of the ’00s, before I switched to Blu-ray in the early 2010s and digital in the late 2010s.

Once I switched to digital, I started to downsize my DVD collection considerably, as well as most of my physical media collection, as I started to embrace streaming. Well, this was until I lost patience with the limitations of streaming, and re-embraced hard copies again.

However, throughout all this time of dropping and picking up DVDs, one thing remained constant: My love for the Alien Quadrilogy: The Ultimate Edition DVD boxset. Despite the ups and downs of my collecting journey, this boxset remained on my shelf irrespective of what came and went because it was (and still is) an absolute gem.

You could offer me all the money in the world and I wouldn’t part with it. When I die, the undertaker will have to prise it out of my cold dead hands, because I refuse to give it up.

Why am I so attached to this chunky set? Because when it was released back in ’03, it was easily one of the best DVD boxsets on the market, and to this day it remains a superb set jam-packed with a wealth of content and a treasure trove of special features.

As the title of the boxset suggests, the set includes all four movies which make up the Alien Quadrilogy: Alien, Aliens, Alien3, and Alien: Resurrection, but it’s so much more than a four-film collection. Every film is also accompanied by a director’s cut or special edition version of the movie, meaning you essentially get eight films in one collection.

Here is what is included in this nine-disc set:

Disc One

• An SD copy of Alien – Theatrical Cut (116 mins)
• An SD copy of Alien – Director’s Cut (110 mins) + Ridley Scott introduction
• Full-length audio commentary by director Ridley Scott, writer Dan O’Bannon, executive producer Ronald Shusett, editor Terry Rawlings, actors Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, and John Hurt

Disc Two

• Star Beast: Developing the Story
• The Visualists: Direction and Design
• Truckers in Space: Casting
• Sigourney Weaver’s screen test with optional commentary by Ridley Scott
• Pre-production still photo galleries
• Fear of the Unknown – Shepperton Studios 1978 documentary
• The Darkest Reaches: Nostromo and Alien Planet
• The Eighth Passenger: Creature Design
• The Chestbuster: Creature Design – Multi-angle scene studies with commentary by Ridley Scott
• Production still photo galleries
• Future Tense: Music and Editing
• Outward Bound: Visual Effects
• A Nightmare Fulfilled: Reaction to the Film
• Deleted and extended scenes

Disc Three

• An SD copy of Aliens – Theatrical Cut (131 mins)
• An SD copy of Aliens – Special Edition (148 mins) + James Cameron introduction
• Full-length commentary by director James Cameron, producer Gale Anne Hurd, effects creator Stan Winston, visual effects supervisors Robert Skotak and Dennis Skotak, miniature effects supervisor Pat McClung, actors Michael Biehn, Bill Paxton, Lance Henriksen, Jeanette Goldstein, Carrie Henn, and Christopher Henn

Disc Four

• 57 Years Later: Continuing the Story
• Building Better Worlds: From Concept to Construction 
• Pre-Vis Animatics
• Pre-production still photo gallery
• This Time it’s War: Pinewood Studios 1985
• The Risk Always Lives: Weapons and Action
• Bug Hunt: Creature Design
• Beauty and the Bitch: Power Loader vs. Alien Queen
• Two Orphans: Sigourney Weaver and Carrie Henn
• Production still photo gallery 
• The Final Countdown: Music, Editing and Sound
• The Power of Real Tech: Visual Effects 
• Aliens Unleashed: Reaction to the Film
• Post-production still photo gallery

Disc Five

• An SD copy of Alien3 – Theatrical Cut (109 mins)
• An SD copy of Alien3 – Special Edition (138 mins)
• Full-length commentary by cinematographer Alex Thomson, editor Terry Rawlings, effects designers Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff Jr, visual effects producer Richard Edlund, and actor Paul McGann

Disc Six

• Development: Concluding the Story
• Tales of the Wooden Planet: Vincent Ward’s Vision
• Pre-production Part III
• Xeno-Erotic: H.R. Ginger’s Redesign
• Pre-production still photo gallery
• Production Part I
• Furnace Construction time lapse sequence 
• Adaptive Organism: Creature Design
• E.E.V. scan multi-angle vignette 
• Production Part II
• Production Part III
• Production still photo gallery
• Music, Editing and Sound
• Optical Fury: Visual Effects
• Post-Mortem: Reaction to the Film
• Post-production still photo gallery

Disc Seven

• An SD copy of Alien: Resurrection – Theatrical Cut (104 mins)
• An SD copy of Alien: Resurrection – Special Edition (111 mins) + Jean-Pierre Jeunet introduction
• Full-length commentary by director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, editor Hervé Schneid, effects creators Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff Jr, visual effects supervisor Pitof, concept artist Sylvain Despretz, and actors Ron Perlman, Dominique Pinon and Leland Orser

Disc Eight

• From the Ashes: Reviving the Story
• French Twist: Direction and Design
• Under the Skin: Casting and Characterisation 
• ADI effects
• Pre-visualisations: Multi-angle rehearsals 
• Test Footage #1: Hair/make-up
• Pre-production still photo gallery
• Death from Below: Underwater Photography 
• In the Zone: The basketball scene
• Unnatural Mutation: Creature design
• Production still photo gallery 
• Genetic Composition: Music featurette 
• Virtual Aliens: CGI
• A Matter of Scale: Miniature photography 
• Critical Juncture: Reaction to the Film
• Post-production still photo gallery

Disc Nine

Alien

• Alien Evolution documentary 
• Experience in Terror promotional featurette
• Ridley Scott Q&A
• Alien Special Edition laserdisc archive 
• Theatrical teaser & trailer
• TV spots  

Aliens 

• Aliens Special Edition laserdisc archive
• Theatrical trailer & teaser trailer
• Domestic & international trailer
• TV spot

Alien3

• Advance featurette
• Theatrical trailers 
• TV spots

Alien Resurrection 

• Theatrical teaser
• Theatrical trailer
• TV spots

• Aliens in the Basement – Bob Burns featurette
• Dark Horse cover gallery

In addition to the above, each disc is housed in its own clear plastic holder, with cover, and card outer case. The set also includes a 24-page booklet, which includes a synopsis for each film, as well as details about all of the disc contents/special features.

As you can see from the details laid out above, the 2003 Alien Quadrilogy: The Ultimate Edition DVD boxset really lives up to its name. The content and value in this set is just insane.

Having two different versions of each movie is crazy, and puts the running time at over 16 hours, but it goes way beyond this with all the bonus material. There are so many featurettes and behind the scenes documentaries, that Alien fans could spend days, weeks, and even months working their way through this set – and I certainly did back in 2003!

I poured over this set for a good couple of months, and it really cemented my love for the Alien movies. I liked the films prior to getting the boxset, but completely adored them afterwards.

And this is why I refuse to replace this set. A number of Alien boxsets have been released since, but this one remains the absolute pinnacle for me and I have so many fond memories attached to it.

I recently picked up the 4K editions of Alien and Aliens, and will purchase Alien3 and Alien: Resurrection whenever they become available on the format, but I still won’t give up this DVD collection. DVD doesn’t get this kind of attention any more, so this Alien boxset will remain with me as a constant reminder of how brilliant DVD was at the height of its popularity, plus it has endless re-watchability value!

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