This year marks the 40th anniversary of the theatrical release of Alien, the 1979 scifi/horror masterpiece from director Ridley Scott, starring Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, Harry Dean Stanton, Veronica Cartwright, John Hurt, Ian Holm, and Yaphet Kotto. Now, Fathom Events, TCM, and Twentieth Century Fox are bringing the film back to theaters nationwide for 3 days only this month.

Theaters nationwide will be showing the film on October 13, 15, and 16, as part of TCM’s Big Screen Classics Series. The screenings will include special commentary before and after the film from TCM Primetime Host Ben Mankiewicz, as well as an introduction with newly unearthed and rarely seen alternate takes.

Since there isn’t much home video news to report this week, I’ve decided to make this edition of The Digital Wire a special one. In light of the recent deaths of Leonard Nimoy and producer Harve Bennett this week’s Wire will be devoted to a list of the five best films in the Star Trek franchise starring the legendary Original Series cast available to own on Blu-ray.

Each title provides a link to its corresponding Amazon page so you can order a copy of your very own if you choose (you can also get the 6-film Star Trek: Original Motion Picture Collection, which comes with a bonus disc). Also, although this is a special edition of the Digital Wire, I’ve still provided a list of this week’s major releases on Blu-ray and DVD, complete with their own purchase links. We would greatly appreciate it if you use those links to order because a small percentage of each order helps keep this website running at max power.

A Thesis on the implications of Total Recall and the contrast between the original film [1990] and the remake and/or reimagining [2012] by Sam C Smith.

“They stole his mind, now he wants it back.”

REMINISCENCE:

It is my Star Wars. Yes, I said it. So I did what any fanboy would do: Collect.

Why bother? It’s not as if Total Recall [Original will be referred to as TR, the new film hereby referred to as Total Recall] was the greatest film ever. It doesn’t even feature that highly on the greatest sci-fi film list of all time. But something just stuck with me throughout the 1990s to today that I never got with Star Wars – a film series pretty much filmed and over and done with before I could afford a video player.

But consider how much more difficult it is to get original TR-based collectibles. Especially in the UK. Especially in 2012. Any fan of any age can find something Star Wars based, and that includes error-in-production Kenner figures from the 70s.