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View Full Version : Alien (director's cut) Tarnishes Original Version



tabuno
11-02-2003, 02:41 AM
The six to eight changes in the Director's Cut of the classic sci fi thriller Alien (1979) I believe diminished the quality of the original version. It's hard to believe what Ridley Scott was thinking because the changes from the original really do not add to the quality of the first theatrical release:

1)The addition of the alien beacon scene where the crew gets to have an expanded listen to the alien message did not really add anything to the movie. We do not learn anything more than before and it's the hidden suggestive power of the message not the actual experience of the message that really makes the movie strong. The sound of the message itself wasn't anything special unlike First Space Ship on Venus (1962).

2) The substitution of the slap scene between Lambert and Ripley outside the medical lab was overly dramatic and unncessary as the original version has more sedate but carefully done with Lambert acting, again, indirectly and more in character moping around Ripley's decision not to allow them into the Nostromo.

3) The director's cut eliminates the dialogue between Ripley and Ash about whether or not the alien message has been put through a computer program to attempt to translate it where Ash says it hasn't and Ripley volunteers to examine the message and see if she can determine what it says. Leaving this scene out makes Ripley's warning message scene abrupt and disjointed.

4) The director's cut also eliminates (I believe) a brief scene of the Nostromo taking off the planet where Brett and Parker rapidly discuss either overheating or a loss of a shield and Parker talks about sitting on it that adds to the suspense of just leaving the strange planet.

5) The director's cut also eliminates Dallas' scene with Mother regarding the chances of surviving which I thought was really effective in demonstrating how technology couldn't compute the future.

6) The director's cut also eliminated the scene between Ripley and Dallas about the nature of Ash's assignment to the Nostromo which I thought heightened the corporate conspiracy angle.

7) The Dallas cacoon scene slowed the escape scene and made it more disjointed for me (while interested and was actually part of the original storyline) this scene was more intellectually stimulating but not emotionally necessary for the movie (the unknown ultimate demise of Dallas is more satisfying - see "Picnic at Hanging Rock").

8) Was the alien image in the Brett about to be killed sequence in the original?

9) Did the alien actually slap the cat box in the original?

SinjinSB
01-11-2004, 01:34 PM
I got the Aliens: Quadrilogy for Christmas and watched the new version of Alien. I agree with that the new version of Alien (1979) is inferior to the original. I don't believe it takes anything away from the original though, but is just a new substandard version. It's not a true director's cut, but just an extended version.

Don't blame the director though, he also prefers the 1979 version. I feel the new version is unnecessary and will only watched the original from now on.

Now I feel totally differently about ALIENS, I will only watch the director's cut and I think it's pretty much universally the preferred version of the film and really a true director's cut.

I haven't seen Alien3 or Resurrection since the theater. I will watch their newer versions first just to compare them to the originals.

tabuno
01-12-2004, 03:20 AM
Does this new DVD release of Aliens: Quadrilogy for Christmas contain a new version of Aliens? I haven't purchase on seen any of the DVD Quadrilogy so I can't comment on it.

SinjinSB
01-12-2004, 03:37 AM
The Quadrilogy doesn't have a NEW version of Aliens, but it has the 1986 original and the 1992 director's cut.

tabuno
02-12-2004, 07:11 PM
I just finished reading the insert in the newly bought Alien 2-CD Disk set from Blockbusters. Ridley Scott, the director, specifically states that the original 1979 version is his version of choice and that the Director's Cut was produced more for marketing purposes! As I've mentioned above, I also personally believe that the 1979 version is the truer vision of this Alien. Now I even have the director's own stamp of approval.