Firstly i will state that ive been listening to this commentary on the extended version of the film and as yet am unsure whether the commentary is different or just cut on the theatrical version....
With a cut and pasted commentary its still entertaining....some talkers are better than others with my favourite being Terry Rawlings who sadly doesnt dominate this track. Paul Mcgann is also very good, backing up David Finchers nightmare shoot with some great words. As usual the effects are described well by the effects crew (i always like listening to effects crew...) Alex Thomson takes us through the lighting and all the details of the photography of the film including which lenses and what power of lights were used....(didnt hold my attention as i know begger all about lamp powers)

All in all a good commentary. Not as good as i hoped it would be and sadly no input from Fincher but if you want some more insight for the film there are 3hrs of documenteries on this DVD set for that.

Alec Gillis, Tom Woodruff and Richard Edlund are together. I think the rest decided to go solo. The track has more silent bits than the others in the set and, I find, a little less engaging. I'm sure having Mr. Fincher would have been a little more interesting, given his history with the movie. In any case, Mr. Thompson is probably the most interesting guy, although he doesn't say any jokes. He talks more about the technical aspects of shooting the movie, describing in great care how some of the shots were shot. Some of the others like the effects guys let loose a few times, making you chuckle. Seemingly everybody on this track talks about the problems the studio gave the crew. I suppose Fox had a lot of money invested in it and wanted things to be commercial. You obviously learn a few tidbits of information. The most interesting being that Jack Nicholson's ear from 'Batman' was used in the movie at the end with Mr. Henriksen. I find it a bit strange because 'Batman' was from a different studio. In any case, it's okay but for some reason I didn't like it as much as the others in the set.

This commentary is a bit dissapointing compared to the other ones in the box-set, especially considering what a troubled shoot it's suppossed to have been. Curiously, everyone are very gentle when discussing the shooting and expressing what an enjoyable time they had. I dont know if they're just being polite or the rumors of the shoot being chaotic are exaggerated. Ofcourse it would've helped to have David Finsher on board to shed some light on the production, I'm sure he'd have some good stories to tell. And that's one of the problems with this commentary, I think every chat track suffers greatly by not having the director involved, he is obviously intimately involved with most aspects of the film and that insight could contribute greatly to a track (as evidenced in the commentary for Aliens). Especially in this case, I would've loved a nice, candid affront from Fincher. Also lacking in all the Alien commentaries is Sigourney Weaver, Ripley is the most important character in the films together with the alien itself, and hearing her talking about the character and her experience playing her over the whole series would have been appreciated.

In closing the editing of the commentary track is not as good as the other ones in the set, there are more instances of silence (though there not very long), and some subjects gets told repeatedly by different persons.

I would'nt say this is a necessary listen if you're not extremely interested in the Alien films, and barely worth it even then.

Best bit: Lance Henriksen (who is not credited in the commentary) signs off by making an insightfull remark about how there really is no one to root for in this film, and how that makes it a rather grim experiance.

Man this was a waste of time. The movie isn’t that bad, especially the extended cut, but this commentary as well as the new movie edit could’ve used the touch of David Fincher. Unfortunately he said no to any involvement in this new release of the dvd, even making a directors cut. 3/10

This commentary is not a waste of time - as the previous reviewer states - it's actually all very subjective anyways, but a waste it is not. I would have loved to hear more from Alex Thomson seeing as how it's the only commentary he has done. For the amount of time he was on the commentary it was actually quite illuminating about his process of shooting - you know how they say "quality over quantity". Paul McGann who played Golic gives a recount of his experience with Fincher - the FX guys obviously touch on the FX and the early days of digital taking over. Lance comes on once in the beginning and at the very end. There are quite a bit of gaps in between which could've been filled. It's not bad, Thomson's comments gave insight into the photography of the film, which were quite great.