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Picture Imperfect: Special Editions Vs Theatrical Releases
WARNING: Spoiler Alert. If you're saving your Alien Franchise special editions for some kind of DVD-and-popcorn evening, don't read on...
As someone who has inherited approximately 2,000 DVD's in the last year or so, via both my husband moving in with me and a variety of film reviewer journalist friends who say "Do you want this? It's crap..." (to which I always say "yes" for some masochistic reason even I don't understand), I have to ask: what is the big deal about so-called "special editions"?
Alternate ending! Alternate beginning! Deleted scenes! Director's Cut! Easter Egg (what the hell is that?!)! I sit down to watch these different versions, always to be disappointed and have my belief reaffirmed - it was the original way 'cos that was the better way; anything cut after is down to the director's/producer's/screenwriter's/set cat's indulgence.
Now I love the Alien Franchise; I've written before on this blog that these films that have influenced my own writing and even, dare I say it, my own thinking with regards to the horror genre. I spent my teenage years watching Alien 1, 2 and 3 religiously like some kind of girl-geek so much I was able to quote the scripts. All of them! I did Film Studies A'Level and spent two years writing about them (God my teacher must have been bored). As I said: Geek. Now I've inherited one of my own (I bought my husband a Queen Alien statue for our wedding, not a ring - really! He preferred it) I can understand others' pain when the franchise is mentioned. That's because I do not believe any of those films are perfect; each have flaws so huge in narrative logic, acting, set dressing, character, dialogue, etc (maybe even all of them - ALIENS comes to mind particularly here) that I can actually understand some people's low opinion of them, especially now they've fallen victim to the Rocky, Police Academy and Jaws mentality: we had a winner, let's recycle it - and again, and again, and again..... When people get bored, let's combine it with another icon and start again! Yay! What do you mean, it doesn't make any sense? Here's a squillion dollars, make it!!!
Yet all of the films' theatrical releases were what I loved as a kid. When DVD's first came out with "making ofs" and "featurettes", that was cool - finally sad teens with no friends like me who had spent hours obsessing on various movies could see what went into them. Then came the alternate versions. If I recall correctly, James Cameron's recut of ALIENS came first (I think we were still even on VHS at this point), swiftly followed by the "original" storyline of ALIEN 3 starring Paul McGann as the main Brit convict character instead of Danny Webb.
Controversially, ALIENS, even the theatrical release, is probably my least favourite of all the franchise, even behind the train wreck that was ALIEN: RESURRECTION and for one simple reason - it's not a horror movie in my book. It's Action/Adventure, lacking even the gung ho gore that makes PREDATOR and even, dare I say it (cue howls of horror), ALIEN VS PREDATOR such fun. Instead we are treated to entirely wooden performances throughout (even from the usually fab Sigourney Weaver in my view) with the most tissue-paper plotline I have ever seen: Ripley comes back after 50 years. Ripley tells them about the Forbidden Planet but it's okay, colonists already live there. Bad Man Burke tells colonists to look for spooky space ship and bribes Ripley into going back. Cue lots of chest bursting and guns. No! The character motivation in this sucks - Ripley would never have gone back for her space driving license or whatever it was. She would have needed some big MORAL reason to go back. But anyway. Adding an extra seventeen minutes of colonists going to find the face huggers did not impress me (oh, and some guns in a corridor - hmm, really pushed the story forward); worse, it actually took away the one thing that was interesting about the original in my opinion - the Marie Celeste atmosphere when the Marines actually touch down on the planet.
There is also the fact that ALIEN: THE DIRECTOR'S CUT now totally screws the narrative logic of ALIENS, special edition or not. When the Marines go into the nest unwittingly, that was interesting - especially as Ripley, never having seen anything like it before, was unable to warn them in her "advisor" capacity. However, with the new cut of the first film, Ripley sees both Dallas and Brett trussed up as little snacks in the Alien's goeey spider web. She sees the ripples on the wall, the resin stuff that one of the marines in ALIENS, Dietrich, declares going in: "Looks like some kind of secreted resin..." How much of a clue do you need? What made sense ten years or so ago, no longer does! By rights, Ripley should stand up and say "Hey guys, I've seen this before, you better get out before you all get ambushed!" Of course, I can't blame James Cameron for this one, more's the pity.
ALIEN 3 had the most changes for a "special edition" and in my view, every last one of them was dire. Instead of an infected dog, we have an infected cow (sexy); instead of the creature going to ground and chasing convicts throughout the tunnels in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse, they actually lock it in the lead mill for Paul McGann to conveniently let out...Why? Oh, he's a mentalist. Talk about a Deus Ex Machinas! Shame on you! And where was Morse? Danny Webb's performance was great, adding just the right amount of humour the previous two lacked, even in Hudson in ALIENS - "Game over man, game over!" was replaced in the theatrical release by Webb's grabbing of another inmate's scissors, a pathetic attempt to protect himself from the creature: "You don't hold 'em like that. You hold 'em like this, you could kill someone, you fucking moron!" Paul McGann's religious obsessive Golic could not compare in my mind.
Last, but by no means least, ALIEN: RESURRECTION. I could be here all day about what's wrong with this film, however concentrating only on the notion of special edition, there's the point that at least the others attempted a true different cut. The so-called alternate beginning on the special edition consisted only of the credits and a bad joke - apparently space bugs have teeth just like the Alien! Wow. Funny. Again, the theatrical release's credit sequence was better - though perhaps the alternate beginning was more true of the film's actual content. Poor.
So there you have it: special editions - more like another way of getting you to buy multiple discs in my eyes. What do you think? An interesting way of appreciating what goes into film making, or a waste of money?
bang2write at 09:37:00 o'clock GMT Blog about this entry |
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damn! i stand corrected...but ONLY on my spelling. my film criticism faculties are still very much intact! and from now on i'm using a damn spell checker... :-p -
I told you...controversial to the end, that's me. And besides my cross-Atlantic love, your inability to *spell* is obviously AFFECTING your judgement ; )
Oh come on...you asked for it! -
once again you've gone off the deep end dear. aliens is your *least* favorite?? really, your pregnancy must be effecting your sanity. aliens is not only the best of the franchise, it's one of my favorite films of all time!
though i agree the "special edition" version is a mess and absolutely every piece of additional footage added was completely unnecessary.
22/02/06 11:32
Rule Britannia!