From: jonke@kong.gsfc.nasa.gov (Stephen Jonke)
Newsgroups: rec.video.releases
Subject: Aliens Special Edition -- Yuck!
Date: 28 Aug 92 20:25:13 GMT
Organization: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Note the "s", I'm not talking about the upcoming Alien S.E. set, but the
currently available AlienS special edition.

I just rented this and is it only me, or are there others who really dislike
all the extra footage?  Most discussions in the past seemed to be dealing
with the picture quality and grainyness (which I thought was good for the
most part except maybe one or two short sequences), but I don't recall
anyone discussing the merits (or lack thereof) of the extra footage.

A general gripe is that most of the scenes add nothing to film other then
in lengthening an already long film.  The only exception might be the remote
sentry stuff which was mildly interesting.  A second complaint is that many
of the additions/changes in dialog are really pretty "gushy" -- in particular
the exchange of first names scene nearly made me throw up!  Someone along the
line realized this and edited the stuff out for good reason!  If you haven't
seen this version, you'd get an idea of what I mean by "gushy" dialog by
watching Cameron's film, xxxxx (can't remember the name -- the one about
the aliens underwater), which has some of the "gushiest" dialog around.
Phony emotions might be a better way to put it and if Cameron isn't put
under control he tends to spout the stuff!

By far, the worst addition to the film is the longest addition.  The scenes
in the beginning of the S.E. edition taking place on LBxxx (whatever the
name -- obviously I have trouble remembering names!)  Although these scenes
are reasonably well done, their effect is to give us a glimpse early on
of what happened and how the colony was wiped out.  When watching the original
version, although you had some idea of what happened just from seeing the
first film, the lack of seeing anything specific added to the mystery and
enhanced the "I don't know what's going to happen next" aspect of the film.
Plus, you knew instantly that they would find Newt (or her brother or both),
where as in the originally released version it was suprise.

Incidentally, by reading through some of the extras on the disc (which are
quite good (except for the occasional "here's Cameron drinking tea with
Paul Reuben" pictures), I found that the special fx for the above sequence
were finished specially for the special edition.  Early on they must have
realized that the sequence probably would NOT be a good idea, but Cameron
must have felt differently.  Well, Cameron was wrong.  I suppose it shows
that directors really aren't Gods and are definitely NOT the only person
involved in the end result of a released film.  The S.E. edition really
feels like something Cameron wanted to do simply because he didn't want all
that extra footage he shot to go to waste.  Well, it was a waste to start
with and that's why it was edited out.  It's all part of making a good film
-- you need to know what should be edited out, as well as what should be
included and Cameron definitely needs help in this department.

Oh, the letterboxing does wonders for the film, but I only wish that there
were a "less then special" edition that was a letterboxed version of the
film as it was released in the theaters (or include the extra footage
in the extras section instead of the film itself, as will be done for
the Alien special edition.)  As it is, (IMHO) there is not yet a good
letterbox version of Aliens.

Steve
Newsgroups: rec.video.releases