From: FAC_JCLARK@JMUVAX.BITNET
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.cinema-l
Subject: Re: Akira
Date: 16 Oct 92 23:35:17 GMT
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU
X-Envelope-to: CINEMA-L@AUVM.BITNET
X-VMS-To: IN%"CINEMA-L@AUVM.BITNET"
MIME-version: 1.0
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT

Orlanda,

Okay, here's the full dope on the expanded Aliens (including what you already
got from list-newcomer Trevor Stynes).  That is, as full and smooth as I can
make it here without using our VAX edit mode, which always kicks me out for
some reason about halfway through my messages.  (Halfway?--I'm being optimis
tic....)  The only further disclaimer is in the following parts: (a) some of
the extra footage was added to the TV showing of Aliens, which I didn't see
all the way through and don't remember, and (b) I no longer have a copy of
the original Aliens and can't remember even that ur-text as it were.

At any rate, here are the changes in sequence, trivial as well as major, as
best I can describe them:

1.  Major: B
1.  Major: Burke visits Ripley right out of the hospital, just before the
inquest.  She had an 11 year old daughter and asks about her, realizing how
much time has passed.  Burke reluctantly tells Ripley that "Amy" died two
years ago, in her late sixties.  Ripley breaks down.

2.  During the inquest, the council's final decision after Ripley's outburst
has been restored--they basically state that their findings don't support her,
and she loses her rank and job.  This extends the original scene by a couple
minutes.

3.  Major: Sequence of the Jorden family on planet LV-426.  This shows the
colony (kids cycling through the corridors where engineer-types work: hey you
kids! thought I told you...), and the Jordens--mom, pop, Newt and her brother
Timmy) out in the field.  Turns out they were sent to investigate the region
of the Alien ship from the first film by Burke (learn that later on), and want
to file a claim at colony HQ.  The sequence shows mom and pop going out, then
returning with a face-hugger on pop.  Ends with Newt's horrified scream...
Next scene is the visit Ripley gets by Burke and Lieutenant Gorman, about having
   lost contact with the colony.

4.  During that next scene, Burke fills in some background of the company's
interest in the colony.  This extends its length some.

5.  A restored introductory shot to the Sulaco, showing more of the interior
of the ship before tracking to the sleep chambers.

6.  During the drop to the planet, Hudson (Bill Paxton) struts his pride-of-
the-Marines armaments in front of Ripley before being told by sarge to knock
it off.

7.  On their initial search, Vasquez and Hudson investigate something caught
by their motion detector.  I think this is just added footage to that sequence,
doesn't result in any new revelation.

8.  Restoration of short sequence of Ripley, Gorman, Hicks (Michael Biehn) et
al first entering the colony after the marines have "secured" it.

9.  "Subplot" of the sentry guns.  Originally, Cameron had the marines place
automated guns in sealed-off corridors to ward off the aliens. Here they
discuss gun placement, use, and Vasquez/Hudson do the testing and sealing.
My, those guns is wonderfully noisy and fearsome!

10.  Extended dialog when Ripley puts Newt to sleep in the infirmary.  Newt
asks if she had a daughter, and they discuss the origin of babies... primarily
in relation to the fact that it's *not* like a little alien coming out of you.

11.  More discussion of the aliens' life cycle than was in the original film,
as everyone is gathered over the colony blueprints.  Hudson in particular puts
in a speculation about a "mama" ant or bee type, which of course anticipates
the queen that Ripley does confront.

12.  Ripley's confrontation with Burke (before being trapped in the infirmary)
goes on a little longer than in the original, I think, with her accusing him
of sending out the colonists when he knew what was there, and how she would
report this when they got back to Earth.  (New, I think, because it makes
direct reference to the colonist sequence which wasn't in the original, either.)
   Also, shots of the aliens being ripped apart by those sentry guns, and the gu
   ns
getting exhausted of ammo pretty darn fast....

13.  After Bishop is sealed in the tunnel to go and bring down the shuttle,
more aliens and sentry guns being exhausted.  Also, a few rearranged shots and
redone dialog when Hudson and Vasquez are dispatched on more security measures.
Can't remember more specifically how these things differ.

14.  In the shuttle, just before Ripley leaves Hicks and Bishop to find Newt
at the end, she and the corporal exchange first names--Ellen and Dwayne.
"Don't be late, Ellen...."

15.  The end credits now list Newt's family (and probably other colony bit
players).

That's it.  As you can see, some of this is connective tissue, embellishment
that--I think--doesn't really flag the pace of the film, which remains a
headlong rollercoaster.  The two major sequences are the colony and revelation
of Ripley's daughter.  I disagree with Trevor that the colony decreases the
suspense of knowing what happened; it's nice to get some Newt background and
have a sense of what (family) she's lost, and really we know what's going on
down there (after all, this is a film called Aliens, right?).  The revelation
part does strengthen Ripley's character and gives you a sense of what it means
to have been out of consciousness for a *really* long time, and what her
background and loss are.  It's very touching, and feeds of course into her
bonding with Newt later on.  This takes the edge off of criticism about how
Ripley's been simply turned into a a supermom figure, because she's been put
into a specific personal drama in this version of the film.  However you view
her character, Sigourney Weaver deserved that Oscar nomination for this
performance--she's splendid.

A while back in another message, I said that Cameron had reconstructed his new
version in a way that allows you to program it out with a player.  Looking at it
   in detail now, I see that isn't quite true.  You can take out the major scene
   s,
and also most of the ones that are just extensions on the ends of already
existing scenes.  However, this doesn't matter to me.  I still think Aliens
at about 2 hrs 35 min or so is still the fastest play of any film I've seen at
that length, so no harm done at least in home viewing.  Theatrical release was
a different matter, so Cameron claims in his notes: the Aliens cut on initial
release was the best theatrical version possible for the film; this Aliens is
the best version without constraints of time and economics.  --By the way,
Cameron also mentions that he had to have some special effects in the restored
sequences completed, since they never were originally.  Another decision he
made was to "re-time" shots in the video transfer for this release, which has
resulted in some controversy among disc enthusiasts.  What's happened is that
he's boosted brightness in some dark shots to bring out more detail, but in
that process has made those shots a little grainier since they originally had
the natural grain of high-speed film but were more subdued by the lower light
level.  Me, the look doesn't much bother at all; it's nice to have something
that doesn't look too uncomfortably like what might've been a murky tape
version.  (But nope, I don't recall how it looked on tape so I'm not bad-
mouthing the actual tape version.)

I just got the new edition (part of the same Fox Video special edition release
set) of ALIEN, too.  Ridley Scott worked on the transfer, just as did Cameron
on Aliens.  But here he choice to leave all supplementary material in the sup-
plement, including several deleted scenes.  For the most part, this was a wise
decision by director and producers.  Most of the added scenes (included here
from a print from the original negative material, so they look just as good)
played up the hostility between the crew members on the Nostromo--a thing
which was left more implied and engagingly subtle in the released film.  I
think that was a more powerful choice, to leave that stuff buried.  My one
problem is with the most notable deletion--the scene where Ripley finds
Dallas (Tom Skerritt) and Brett (Harry Dean Stanton) cocooned down in the
hold.  Scott is interviewed in the supplement, and all he has to say about
reasons for deleting that sequence is a matter of pacing: he sensed the
audience was getting restless around then, Ripley was now on her own (scene
occurs right after she finds Lambert and Parker's bodies) and they needed
to keep the inertia of fright going steady to the end.  I can agree that
the tension in Alien may have to be more finely tuned than in Aliens: the
template for the former is the haunted house situation; the latter, the
under-seige battle movie.  They have essentially different tones, even down
to their superb sound mixes: like the rest of Aliens, the soundtrack is an
in-your-face rollercoaster ride, sounds booming and thrusting and shifting
direction all the time.  Alien has a low-key, Chinese water-torture effect.
You can notice how often Scott has some odd, at first almost subliminal
sound riff rising from the ship's electromechanical chitterings, with the
occasional noises and dialog playing over them almost like solos.  And this
gets on your nerves superbly in that cocoon sequence.  It's completely dif-
ferent from Cameron's cocoon sequence, a matter of glutinous reds and
oranges rather than cool blues and grays.  And Skerritt, who's still half
alive, gets out only three words--"Kill me..." and "Mercy...", several times
each.  I can't convey to you how *skin-crawlingly* powerful this whole
four-and-a-half minutes is, which is why I regret that Scott couldn't see
his way clear to reinstating it and reconsidering the matter of pacing for
a home, as opposed to theatrical, environment.  I think the film could have
withstood this extra "detour" to the end, and it adds a new depth of nastiness
to the film's demon alien (which we can only know otherwise in retrospect,
having seen the sequel).  Unfortunately, they've placed the thing on a separate
disc, so it can't be programmed into its spot in the film even though it's
clear where it goes.  Ce la vie.  And enough from me....  Jeff Clark
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU