PREDATOR Chronicles

What kind of fan edit: True Fan Edit.
Original film name: Alien vs Predator, and Aliens vs Predator: Requiem
New film name: Predator Chronicles
Film studio name: 20th Century Fox
Edit crew name: Uncanny Antman
Date Original Film Was Released: 2004 and 2008
Date Edit Was Released: June 2008
Original Runtime: 1h48m and 1h41m.
New Runtime: 57m and 55m.
Amount of time Cut/Added: I'm terrible at math.
Your intention for this fan edit: To create a kind of, "What if the Predator series spawned a series of short TV films, a la Masters of Horror?"

I also wanted to emulate the kind of storytelling that Dark Horse did with their one-shot Predator comics. Straight forward Predator stories, (that just happen to also feature the Aliens) with paper-thin characters. The films themselves had very little in the way of interesting characterization, so I felt my only choice was to embrace that approach. Also, as with many of the comics, these edits assume you have a reasonable knowledge of the Alien and/or Predator universe(s). Things such as the Alien's lifecycle, and the Predator's M.O. are not fleshed out just for the benefit of the uninitiated.

In the end, I just wanted to be able to watch these stories without cringing all the time. They'll never be great films, but I hope they are now at least fun films.

Cuts removed/added/extended: Too many to list individually, but these are some of the major alterations:


AvP: (Both theatrical and unrated versions were utilised.)

¢ Removal of all Predator ship interiors. They are incongruous with Predator 2, and also keeps the actions of the Predators more mysterious, rather than showing us every step they take.
¢ Altered all Predator P.O.V. shots (Except when in "Alien Mode") to resemble the Ëœcorrect' heat vision from Predator 1 and 2. Also added in triple heartbeat sound effect, which was oddly absent.
¢ Removed all mention of "metric time". Not only is it unnecessary, but it's complete bunk. 10 minutes is not metric time.
¢ Removed all instances of the super-long-wrist blades.
¢ The Queen is no longer activated by a secret switch on the floor. She is revived by the Predators directly. In this version, the humans are not lured to the pyramid on purpose, but are merely caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.
¢ Removed the first batch of eggs/facehuggers. The assumption is that when the Queen was unfrozen, so were a bunch of warriors. This removes the problem of the ridiculously sped-up gestation time. (Not to mention that Rousseau's chestburster scene was abysmal.)
¢ Removed Scar killing the unarmed Quinn.
¢ All but the more minor references to the rite of passage removed. The less of the supposed back-story we know, the less ridiculous it is.
¢ Removed Scar marking Lex as a fellow warrior.
¢ Trimmed several of the not-so-great shots of Scar's unmasked face.

Most scenes have been reworked in other ways, including re-sequencing events, re-scoring, sound effects replacement (Such as the Predator plasma cannon sound), and minor effects work on some shots. Some efforts have also been made to minimize the "chunky Predator" appearance when possible.


AvP:R:

¢ All connection to AvP removed. (This edit also done in AvP.) The PredAlien on board is from a different, unknown-to-the-audience incident.
¢ Altered Predator P.O.V. shots so that the PredAlien is the same color as regular Aliens. I do not care for many of the ways in which the PredAlien was made to be apart from the rest of its species. In fact, much of the PredAlien has been trimmed out until we get to the roof fight.
¢ Removed Buddy Benson's arm melting off, and the oddly "black" looking facehugger.
¢ Removed all the early teen-angst scenes. We now only see Ricky when he's interacting with his brother.
¢ Removed PredAlien's new reproduction method entirely.
¢ Removed all early scenes with Kelly O'Brien. She and Molly do not appear until the department store.
¢ Removed all instances of the Predator's magic blue liquid. The Predator is here on a hunt, not to clean up the town. (His motives were inconsistent in the film at the best of times, so this makes more sense.) Also, the liquid and it's never-empty bottle is just plain stupid.
¢ Some of the more egregious shots of Aliens simply not defending themselves against the Predator have been removed. Couldn't take Ëœem all out, or there would be almost no fighting left.
¢ All uses of the Predator's power-punch-glove-thing are gone. More ill-thought-out ridiculousness.
¢ Removed early references to nuking the town. It works better if it's as much a surprise to us as it is to the townspeople.
¢ Reworked roof fight to remove such things as the Predator coming up through the ground, stomping on an Alien's acid-filled head, the unmasking scene where the PredAlien patiently waits for the Predator to disarm himself, and the Predator pulling the PredAlien's tongue out.

As with AvP, there is also major re-sequencing of events in the early stages of the story, some minor scoring alterations and additions, sound effects alterations, and some effects shots.

Note: As anyone who bought the AvP:R DVD knows, the image is hideously, impenetrably dark. I've made every attempt to brighten the image to an acceptable level without ruining the contrast or revealing the digital break-up within the black areas. It's not perfect, but it's the best I could do. The end result varies depending on your set-up, so apologies if you see too much macro-blocking. There are also several instances where there simply was no image to 'reveal', so they remain brightened, yet difficult to make out.


Both stories now have a few "nobody" characters who disappear from the narrative, but I didn't consider them important enough to worry about resolution for them. Both stories end in situations that makes their final fates clear, so there's no real problem there.


Fan edit details (please add here details about DVD contents as well as video and audio information): 16x9, 5.1 audio. The DVD also features some supplemental Predator activities (Some footage that was not used in the edits is presented here) three Predator related parodies, and the Chronicles teaser.

Hardware and software information (what did you use to create your fan edit): Premiere, DVDLabPro.
Time needed for the edition: My original attempts at AvP stretched out over about eight months, but the revised "Chronicles" version took about two months all together.
Persons involved: One.
Additional download links: Teaser trailer - http://rapidshare.com/files/117306631/PChronTeaser.avi

very cool. Thanks a lot for sharing, UA:

You're welcome, Boon.

Cheers.

Thanks UA!

I'm really glad you tryed to brighten up AvP2!

I wish it could be more improved, but I gave it my best shot.

Uncanny Antman said:

Note: As anyone who bought the AvP:R DVD knows, the image is hideously, impenetrably dark. I've made every attempt to brighten the image to an acceptable level without ruining the contrast or revealing the digital break-up within the black areas. It's not perfect, but it's the best I could do. The end result varies depending on your set-up, so apologies if you see too much macro-blocking. There are also several instances where there simply was no image to 'reveal', so they remain brightened, yet difficult to make out.

Click to expand...

THANK YOU!! When I was watching this (not your edit) I had dust on my tv and cleaned the screen, it helped but still I was constantly adjusting the contrast and brightness. I had no idea if my tv was screwed up or not. At least your comment confirms that the sh*t disc was f*cked.

didnt they brighten up a lot of the scenes in the unrated version? at least they look somewhat brighter in my unrated copy.

perhaps they had a better master for the PAL version? I know on the ntsc disc the pic looks terrible as far as brightness and contrast are concerned

Nah, I also checked out the Region 4 in hopes of a better picture...no dice.

Sounds good. Very cool concept. Not too much of a fan of this particular bit in the series, and they definitely seem to be of a "made-for-TV" quality, so this sounds like it could be just what these 2 turds need.

Another solid fanedit, Uncanny Antman. It's not my favorite of yours (that honor still lies with Terminator 3: The Coming Storm) but I did have fun with it. The end of Alien vs. Predator with the human teaming up with the Predator still sucks. As long as that ending is there, I can't ever like that movie, no matter how much is cut out. Still, I understand that you couldn't cut that out and make it all work. At least you were able to cut out the ridiculously short gestation period and a lot of the other crap. Still, the movie is crap, plain and simple. Paul W.S. Anderson is a hack who got lucky a few times ($hopping, Event Horizon, The Sight) but he totally blows it here. The over-reliance on CG to create the hokey looking aliens, the chunky / weak Predators, the total ignorance of both series' continuity and tame PG-13 action are only a few of the film's many missteps. I actually liked Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem despite its many flaws. I think that's why I liked this cut more than the first movie's cut. The brightening is awesome. There's a difference between atmospheric and just plain dark, and this movie was just plain dark. On top of that, axeing the stupid teen angst B.S. was a welcome cut. I did miss some of the gore that had to be excised in favor of a better version, especially that annoying bully kid getting his face melted off. All in all, I think these movies both work better as "TV episodes." As has been pointed out, they're not terribly well shot or film-like to begin with. The first movie is better shorter but it still doesn't work. I liked the second one in its original version but liked it more in this version, lack of some of the gore aside. I also loved the cover art and thanks for introducing me to that amazing Predator rap. Keep 'em coming, Antman, your attention to detail is most appreciated.

OK, so I finally got to watch this fan edit and I gotta be honest with you what I thought.
First for the record I am a fan of both original movies, but of course I know that they have their flaws.
Now let me start with what I liked.
I liked the altered heat vision and the tripple heartbeat sounds, that worked really well, I liked that Scar doesn't get facehugged, that really sucked in the original when all 3 Predators basically meet their fate right away. And I also liked the pacing of the movies and I'm also glad that most the teen drama was cut out.
Other then that, it felt that too much was cut out. The predator ship shots were taken out, and I understand u feel they conflict with the ship in P2, but honestly, this could be because it's a different ship. The cut out scenes of the first batch of facehuggers should've been in there too IMO. I know they sped up the process, but with the 10 minute thing cut out, who knows how long they're actually stuck in there. Also I didn't like how u cut out Scar marking Lex, because I'm a huge fan of the original AVP comic book that came out in 1989 and that is straight up a homage to the comics, as a matter of fact the movie it self is loosely based on the comic, and that should have not been cut out. I also didn't like in the AVP-R version how the young Pred-Alien Queen's reproduction scenes have been cut out and also IMO there was a lot of gore that was cut that didn't do justice. I think your heart is in the right place though UA, I'm just letting u know what I thought from my perspective and I know everybody has different opinions, it's just that I am a huge fan of the original AVP comics and of course all the Predator and Alien movies and IMO the edits you did here kind of cut out some of the stuff I really liked with the movies. If the movie was like you said, intended to be a TV Show on a movie channel or something, the edits would have worked well, and if I never had scene the originals and didn't know what scenes were missing, maybe I would've felt different except I still think that you should not have cut the sacrificial chamber scene which explains where the Aliens came from and what happened to the scientists who got trapped in there...

I have to give this edit 3/5

while avp and avpr get a bad rap they are essential not bad movies, the only problem with them is that there is too much padding and bad writing,a lot a people complain that avpr is too dark but rewatch the first alien movie that was dark to. The only difference is that in that movie the writers created characters you actually cared about,they were real people.  
 Soooo what does that have to do with this edit.well uncanny antman has taken the better story plots out from both movies and condensed the bad acting to a minimum. avpr is still a bit dark but a lot better than originally. my only gripe is that the music on key scenes kept making me want to watch the original predator movie. overall a good watch