Alien Evolution (2001)

The documentary "Alien: Evolution" follows the history and production of the wildly successful (well, in the 70's and 80's, anyway) "Alien" franchise, and offers quite a bit of amusing and interesting information about the making of the first film, and, to a lesser extent, the sequels made in later years. The show is hosted by Mark Kermode (also of "On The Edge Of Blade Runner" fame), who narrates the whole show, and is on hand to give little quips about the production of the films.The documentary primarily deals with the 1979 original masterpiece, and Ridley Scott, Dan O'Bannon, Sigourney Weaver and other participants are on hand to talk about their experiences making the film. Of course, where the real meat is (and is something that wasn't included on the cut version of the doc on the Alien Quadrilogy DVD set) concerns the making of Aliens, Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection. Granted, all of the participants in the Aliens interviews have nothing but glowing praise for the film, but when you get down to the later entries, people have some surprisingly interesting things to say, including H.R. Giger, who compares the alien suit design in Alien 3 to a piece of excrement, and Lance Henriksen talking about how the third film destroyed all the work that was put into the first two entries, it sheds a whole new perspective on what it was like for the cast and crew to experience these films.It is understandable that Fox would want to cut these offending bits (seeing as how they cut an hour of candid footage of David Fincher out of the Alien 3 Special Edition documentaries), so they recut the film and had it focus on the first movie instead. I don't believe this was a wise move, and I think that if the studio heads have a chance, they should release this documentary in it's original form for everyone to see.Bottom Line: I am giving this a 9 out of 10, because, as it is, the documentaries featured on the Alien Quadrilogy set actually have better in-depth coverage of the same material posted here, but not everything. If you can find it, the documentary airs on television sometimes. Watch it if you get the chance.

Alien Evolution is a documentary-maker's dream. It gives you everything you could possibly want to know about your favorite creature feature franchise.It is a 64.21 minute long inside look into the minds of the writers, giving you the story behind the story. Many critics have dogged this work since its release saying it spent to much time with the writers, when in fact, many millions of fans were clamoring for more back story and conceptual histories of these wonderfully Machiavellian Aliens.There are also interviews with the Producers, special effects departments, actors, directors, and more, more, more.I thoroughly enjoyed this comprehensive and inspired Supplement which was Disk 9 of the Alien Quadrilogy Collector's Set.Fantastic.It rates a Documentary Scale 10/10 from...the Fiend :.

Some of the interviews I found annoying. They should have focused less on the writers and more on the stars and directors. Too much time is spent focusing on the story behind the original film - i.e., pre-production - and by the time it gets around to the production aspect, and the sequels, etc., time has run out so they try to wrap everything up far too quickly.I first caught this after a UK broadcast of ALIEN - it was featured after the film was over and I was eager to see it because I think Mark Kermode is a pretty good critic and always has something interesting to say.But overall it's just a bit too superficial and annoying to consider deep - the other documentaries on the ALIEN Quadrilogy are much better.

I don`t know what to think of Mark Kermode as a critic , he`s far better than the egocentric and sycophantic Johnathan Ross but nowhere near as good as the brilliant and witty Barry Norman . Kermode lacks the sense of humour needed for being a truly great film critic , but in this case he`s probably the most appropiate presenter for this documentary ALIEN EVOLUTION could have been one of those tedious features with a bunch of thespians gibbering on about how honoured they were to work with a great director . Thankfully this is not the case , but that doesn`t mean it`s a classic documentary . Structured on themes like ` Ancestors ` Gestation ` and ` Birth ` directors , screenwriters , designers and actors discuss the concept , subtext and progression of the ALIEN saga , but this is where it`s flawed . Films are all about making money but you`d think it was some sort of intellectual art form the way the cast and crew talk about the first two movies " It`s the ultimate form of rape " etc . They do confess that the latter two films are indeed about money , but these two films only take up a very small percentage of recollections which is a pity because I was wondering how the people involved in the making of the original film feel about the series becoming one very dumb excuse in making money ? I guess talking about art is more important than talking about money , but it does strike me as being slightly dishonest . And there`s not enough info on the umpteen rejected storylines for ALIEN 3 One word of warning : Several scenes feature strobing light effects which may trigger fits amongst people suffering from photo sensitive epilepsy . Satillite stations warn viewers about this before they broadcast films , TV shows and pop videos , but for some reason network never does this .