Totally Unauthorized Commentary: Alien (1979)
Welcome to the revival of our series of Totally Unauthorized Commentaries! We’re kicking things off with a screening of the original Alien, with commentary from Adam, Norm, and Simone in her first time ever watching the film! (Apologies for the audio quality of this episode, as we had a technical error during the recording.)
30 thoughts on “Totally Unauthorized Commentary: Alien (1979)”
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I would have loved to enjoyed this commentary. I tried so hard to enjoy as much as I could, but the echoey audio is barely understandable. It is even harder when watching the movie along with it. I tried to apply some filtering to cut down on some frequencies but it didn’t work to well.
With all of the chip heads and digital gizmo freaks at tested I am still shocked how often things like this slip through unnoticed. I was only able to catch maybe 50-60 percent of the commentary. Much of it was garbled unintelligible nonsense. Couldn’t pause or rewind to catch missed stuff because it went out of sync with the movie. It was tricky to keep it synced up.
I LOVE TESTED! The majority of the content is very well done. I am just surprised when something THIS BADLY DONE slips through the cracks. Something mainly intended as “audio only” has horrible audio.
FINALLY!!!!! Been waiting for more Unauthorized Commentary!!!
**Agree audio is real bad….Plan to watch and listen to this with one earbud in.
I have to agree with heyvern. The content is awesome as always but this time the audio quality is as bad as a Darth impression into a steel bucket.
Which directer cut?
I can only find a director cut that has the additional footage of the Alien life cycle which shows captured crew being turned into eggs. I have copies of Alien on various formats, VHS, Laserdisc, DVD, and now Bluray. All of the “director cuts” have that extra footage of the egg conversion. The version being watched is not this director cut. I don’t have any others unless there is some additional footage I am not aware of.
Also would like to apologize abut ranting on the audio. I did not read the notice in the description about the audio difficulties and the edit feature here doesn’t work after realizing my mistake I couldn’t change it.
I didn’t mind the audio that much. That being said I didn’t watch the movie with it. I just watched the commentary and found it pretty enjoyable by itself even though I’ve never watched the movie.
no apologies needed. we messed up here with the audio, but i made the decision to still release it since there was no way to reshoot an honest first viewing with Simone and Adam. We’ve already taken measures to ensure that the next commentary we do will have much better audio. Thanks for bearing with us.
As for the version of the film, it’s the 117-minute version!
I liked the projection of the movie on the helmet, made sync to the movie real easy.
Sound was bad, but with the movie muted it worked.
As norm says Simone cant watch it for the first time twice.
That was fantastic, even with the less than stellar sound. Watching Simone during the chest burster scene was worth the price of admission.
The sound definitely wasn’t optimal, but not totally unlistenable either save for a few sections. The reactions made up for that 🙂
I hope you do a Blade Runner one for when the new movie comes out.
Simone is hiding, Norm looks terrified and Adam sits there with a big grin on his face. 🙂 🙂
Great that you put this out even though the audio wasn’t perfect! Scare Simone some more, she can take it being a Swede an all!
Great video think you should definitely do more of these, would love to see a Blade Runner one as I haven’t seen it either so I’ll watch it for the first time with your commentary.
As for the jumpsuit Simone is looking for, people on the rpf say it could be a G4b flight suit with the patches added. Another (probably cheaper) alternative could be some overalls and fit the patches to them.
Couldn’t find much on the flashlight, could possibly be an old dive light or maybe a studio light that has been modified in a custom case.
Regarding Adam’s statement that all the Alien sequels are totally different movies (all by great directors btw.), here’s a fun fact:
Alien Resurrection (Alien 4) was brought to you by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Director of Amelie, Delicatessen, and City of the lost children. Funny, they never advertise that fact on the DVDs do they? (also not the other way around, “Amelie, by the director of Alien 4”). 🙂
Once you know that (assuming you’re a fan of Jeunet) watch it again – the visual style has a lot of similarities, and although he toned down his usual dark comedy a lot, it’s unmistakably the style of his other movies. He even brought in his regular crew of actors that he has in all his movies.
This was fantastic yes the audio was a little annoying but it still made for a great watch, I only wish that they could have had a view of the actual movie on the screen for the people who want to watch this but are not home to put the movie on
Second that motion 🙂
It would be really nice if we could download a .srt file you can use watching the movie at home, but anyway I would love to see more movie commentary! Thanks
time to throw my bluray in!
Wish for those Europeans: provide an alternative 25fps alternative version of the commentary (speed it up a little to prevent it getting out of sync overtime) – while OK for me (since I can adjust playback speed myself) other might have more issues syncing up.
Was fun rewatching it, although I didn’t remember the alien to be so body-suite like – guess the sequels did stick more in that regard 🙂
PS: comments for these kind of content should allow for spoiler formatting
Simone, lets be honest… I don’t think you are ready for that space project of yours quite yet 🙂
But keep on watching all of the Alien movies because according to NASA, it may help you become a Planetary Protection Officer: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/planetary-protection-excites-space-fans-of-all-ages
Really nice experience re-watching Alien while watching you guys on a second screen. I also tried to synchronize the movie by watching the reflection in the helmet, but I think a timer overlay based on the time on your side would be very helpful.
I would be so thrilled if you three were to watch Blade Runner next! Adam sparked my love for Blade Runner making it my favourite movie of all time. It would be an honor to watch it with him.
Sunday morning… the wife is out for the day… dogs have been walked… it’s lovely out but hell, I got plenty of sun yesterday. OK, let’s watch Alien with Tested team commentary!
Great to see another commentary! Been waiting for this. Sure, the audio wasn’t great, but the reactions wouldn’t be the same if you re-recorded it, so happy it was released anyway.
That was a lot of fun. Simone, I feel for you! The 2003 director’s cut I watched had the extra Dallas scene, which yours didn’t appear to,so that was a bit odd. Still one of the greatest films ever made and a great excuse to watch it again. Aliens (director’s cut) next please 🙂
Great commentary! If anyone is interested in really get into the design of the movie, I can recommend this site: https://typesetinthefuture.com. It also dissects other movies like Blade Runner, 2001 and Moon also.
There seems to be a lot of confusion regarding which “cut” this is. Please take note, the version that was first called “The Director’s Cut” and which usually maintains that title, is actually shorter than the Theatrical version of the film, although it contains more scenes than the “Theatrical Version.” You guys (Tested) watched the 117 minute “Theatrical Version”.
There is a certain, very popular, and very common place where people can find a digital copy of Alien, and “borrow it from a friend” in order to watch it. The number one most popular “friend” letting people “borrow” a copy of Alien, has the film incorrectly labeled as “DC” which stands for “Director’s Cut”. There is a detailed discussion of the various cuts in the comment section of that torren — I mean, “shared file for friends to borrow”. That file lists the runtime as 117 minutes. I suspect that that is where Tested found the version that they watched, hence the confusion about which cut it is.
It’s also worth noting that Ridley Scott later expressed the notion that he is very happy with the Theatrical release, and considers both versions to be “Director’s Cuts” of the film. So while this version is not what’s most commonly referred to as the “Director’s Cut”, it could, theoretically still be considered the “Theatrical Director’s Cut”. Personally, I consider this to be the superior version of the film anyway.
Too bad about the sound issue, but I absolutely loved this commentary! I would love to see more, especially of films that maybe even Adam and Norm haven’t seen before. Please let us know if you’re taking recommendations!
I don’t know if this was covered in the comments but Adam mentioned the music. If this is indeed the theatrical cut, then the music was actually the “second” version of the score written by the late Jerry Goldsmith. His original score was rejected by Ridley and the producers for being a little to lush and romantic. They wanted a much darker creepier tone. Both Jerry and the Production disagreed on this subject pretty passionately. Most of this is outlined in the extended featured released on the anniversary editions. With that said, I do believe there is a cut of this film with Jerry’s original score. It’s an interesting cut that’s for sure, but I definitely prefer the second version more. So much darker and grittier for this film.
Final note on the audio quality. It was a little hard to hear everyone. My suggestion is that if you are going to use a single mic, maybe use the stereo mic attachment on the zoom you use for the podcast, or just get a zoom H4n and set it up on the coffee table with the 120 degree angles on the mic heads so we can pick up all three of you clearly. Having it closer will cut down on that high room tone like it was recorded in another room. The best would obviously be with the LAV mics you use for the rest of your videos but I understand that makes impromptu content like this a little harder to pull off. Those Zoom mics included are perfect for stuff like this. Just my thoughts. I hope to see more of these in the future. All the best, -Chris
was very interested hear that two kids in space suits where used on the space jockey set to make the set look bigger than it was. and those kids were Luke scott and Charley Boorman. Boorman is not credited for Alien on IMDB. Can anyone find a reference coroborating this claim ?
Finally got round to watching this, and it was worth the wait (the audio issue was really not that bad). Simone’s reactions were everything I hoped they’d be. Really looking forward to more of these.
where is the Aliens commentary gotta do it guys