The nine-disc "Alien Quadrilogy," selling at a suggested retail price of $99.98, is a startling assemblage. Short of stretching it out on a bed, a long table or the floor, there is no good way to take it in all at once. The four films — Alien (1979), Aliens (1986), Alien3 (1992) and Alien Resurrection (1997) — each has a disc with the theater version and an altered cut with as much as 30 minutes added, along with commentaries by directors and many others. Each film also has a supplemental disc of short documentaries about the making of the movie and many other extras, like still photographs, storyboards and posters. The ninth disc has still more interviews, trailers and commercials for all four movies. Played end to end, the package runs more than 62 hours.
Um, Quadrilogy? A tad perfervid, dontcha think? What, did Pat Riley copyright "quartet" back when he locked up "threepeat"?
