Alien Movie Universe

alien

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ali81

MemberNeomorphAug-24-2017 3:49 PM

at my work and watching alien directors cut, its been said so often but I just thought id say it again. it is by far the best of the lot. even today, after having seen it 100 plus times, having seen films that scare, shock and entertain of all genres, it is a masterpiece. still have to pause certain bits. we have to accept nothing will ever rival it in the franchise imo. it blows the rest out the water.

though saying that, watching it I have to wonder, why have the prequels lost their edge? this film is 40 years old. with the technology of today, Ridley should have given us 2 masterpieces in Prometheus and AC. though I love Prometheus, alien is way way ahead of it

33 Replies

dk

MemberTrilobiteAug-24-2017 3:51 PM

I think part of the problem is prequels instead of moving forward or just leaving it alone as the masterpiece that it is.

ali81

MemberNeomorphAug-24-2017 3:55 PM

having seen Prometheus and AC, given the answers,or lack of, that we have been given so far, would u want to see a prequel series or just leave the franchise as it was and have the mystery left in tack? forget ur opinions on the actual movies

dk

MemberTrilobiteAug-24-2017 4:01 PM

I would leave it be. Making what amounts to a mini series on the big screen can dilute the original. Just my two cents.

ali81

MemberNeomorphAug-24-2017 4:03 PM

yea I get what ur saying. sometimes its best not to look behind the curtain

I.Raptus

ModeratorPraetorianAug-24-2017 4:05 PM

It certainly is a cinematic Master Class!! A well-paced suspense building narrative full of Sci-fi lore and ambiguous mystery. An A class creature feature that does it right. Gives you just enough of a glimpse of the Xeno, and lets your imagination do the rest.

Brilliant

 

dk

MemberTrilobiteAug-24-2017 4:06 PM

For instance, I thought Pitch Black was excellent on its own and got bogged down with Chronicles. For that matter, Jaws was great and became a laughing stock with its sequels. 

I.Raptus

ModeratorPraetorianAug-24-2017 4:27 PM

Im probably going to cop it for this, but so is James Cameron's Aliens. Aliens is just a Master Class of a different kind. As a fullbore heroic action film of the 80s variety it is full of guns & explosions, over-the-top bravado, patriotism and one-liners. And the films owns that era of cinematic style. We might not all enjoy it, especially the more bug-like xeno's in it, but its still a great addition to the Alien franchise and is a logical progression for the Ripley story arc. 

The biggest things Aliens got right was to massively expand its scope and universe from the claustrophobic confines of a stalk-and-kill creature feature film. Cameron grabbed it by the balls and opened up a whole new environment.

Look at the Predator franchise. It is stunted and has always struggled because no-one has taken the risk of expanding the Yautja premise. Every film in that franchise re-hashes the exact same premise.

Im full of rants today lol

dk

MemberTrilobiteAug-24-2017 4:33 PM

I still think the franchise could be good if it forged ahead after Resurrection. To me, it doesn't have to be Ridley Scott.

Something Real

MemberTrilobiteAug-24-2017 4:35 PM

ALII81 - The beautiful dream and the horrible nightmare - both last within our memories and can not be replaced. :)

Capt Torgo

MemberFacehuggerAug-24-2017 5:28 PM

It has to be in the writing, maybe egos at the studio or finding that talented writer is just too difficult. The prequels have good ideas but there are just too many cooks in the kitchen. Great cooks together can't make a great meal if they're not unified. Alien 1 just seems so solid and so does A2, like the dialogue is just so real and believable. It must be pride and this lust to go after pet project ideas like Scott is all about 'style' to me or 'his' narrative. Which many of that is kosher I just diabolically rage hate most of his characters and their dialogue. Jordan Peele could do it comparable to the first two I bet or Denny V. if they assembled a cohesive team w liberty from Fox to pursue something original or wrap things up. Rambling on now but......the talent is out there it's just finding and nurturing it into something special. The sky is the limit

ScorpioStar

MemberFacehuggerAug-24-2017 5:41 PM

@dk,

"Pitch Black" and "Jaws" - you nailed it!

ignorantGuy

MemberChestbursterAug-24-2017 10:51 PM

Some background. Coming from a former communist country I first seen all the first 3 movies in the early to mid 90s. The forth one i have seen in the cinema. Then I liked all with exception of the forth, but of course the impact was not that powerful like it must have been in '79 and I clearly don't wear rose tinted glasses. I've re-watched the first two some ten years ago ago and I still liked them. After watching Covenant, and hating it, I've revisited the series and I realized that I don't like either movie as a whole. The first one of course is the best and the second has some good parts.

For me, Alien has not aged that well. First the characters, I don't like none of them (Ripley became likable only in Aliens), and their mannerism so '70s. I sincerely don't understand how such a giant ship should be maintained by a crew of 7. 3 of them (Brett, Kane and Parker) are not that different from the crew of Covenant. Further insult Parker is a living stereotype of an african-american thinking only of money. Dallas is more or less Janek. Why they have a cat on a spaceship? why they smoke and have cans of beer on it? 

The Nostromo is completely ridiculous, with completely non functional shape and why is full of pipes. Is it powered by steam? If it transports ore why does not look as an giant silo? And why does the screen displays 0s and 1s, even the binary data would have been edited in hexadecimal and some offset data would have been displayed. Analog video transmission in 2122 will never happen as they predicted.... And why is there gravity on the Nostromo or are their Converse shoe magnetized? And why all the flamethrowers in the series are so unrealistic? After one jet all would have been empty.

The science part was not great that crucial part of the series, and it never aged particularly well. For me only 2001 aged well as a sci-fi, most probably because people thought about the science part.

I like the first hour of the movie or so, until the xenomorph appears. The mood is excellent until then, after that the slasher part is boring and by now is full of cliches. For me as a horror movie Carpenter's The Thing aged much better (with fully workable flamethrowers). I also loved Prometheus because it expanded on parts of the original that I liked and the technology in it was slicker (with new absurdities like the dream helmet, there is no sleep in cryo sleep, or in the Alien there is?).  

 

SuperAlien

MemberXenomorphAug-24-2017 11:10 PM

red0guy@gmail.com Nostromo was a cargo ship and the similarities with today's cargo ships (waterborne) are obvious. You have cans of beers and cigarettes and crew who is doing the job only for the money.

Sometimes I prefer this kind of straight forward approach instead of the pretentious holographic images and black goo.

"He survived, he’s now in Disneyland in Orlando, and no way am I going back there. How did he end up in Disneyland? I saw him in Disneyland, Jesus Christ!"

ignorantGuy

MemberChestbursterAug-24-2017 11:23 PM

daliens

Do you have beers and cigarettes in modern submarines where air supply is limited?

Sorry i see no similarity between the two. The Nostromo was only 4 towers joined together, with a labyrinthine interior. 

SuperAlien

MemberXenomorphAug-24-2017 11:30 PM

red0guy@gmail.com US banned smoking on submarines only in 2011, however sailors were still allowed to smoke on deck. And Nostromo was not a military ship.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1343689/US-submarines-smoking-ban-comes-force.html

 

And until some years ago smoking was permitted in airplanes as well. In 1979 smoking was cool, so if you really want to be picky and look for flaws try something else. If you don't like Alien, fine, but get over it. Same I am trying with Aliens.

"He survived, he’s now in Disneyland in Orlando, and no way am I going back there. How did he end up in Disneyland? I saw him in Disneyland, Jesus Christ!"

ignorantGuy

MemberChestbursterAug-24-2017 11:54 PM

daliens

You got me there. The analogy was wrong.. but that is some major stupidity on behalf of the us navy... they had the idea to ban smoking in submarines after 16 years after regular ships? And it seems that the soviets smoked on the MIR (https://www.quora.com/How-do-astronauts-smoke-in-space ). We as a species are so dumb.

To conclude, I was not looking for flaws I was pointing out that the Aliens series is rather shitty to predict things from the future as a good Sci-fi should and that's why they did not age well.

SuperAlien

MemberXenomorphAug-25-2017 12:07 AM

red0guy@gmail.com the Alien is a love it or hate it thing, there no way in between. It's like the Greshka thing from the short "A song for Lya" by George R.R  Martin. It grows on you.

Only look at the passionate debates on this forum.

"He survived, he’s now in Disneyland in Orlando, and no way am I going back there. How did he end up in Disneyland? I saw him in Disneyland, Jesus Christ!"

ignorantGuy

MemberChestbursterAug-25-2017 12:53 AM

daliens

Look, I said that i liked the atmosphere of the movie until the xeno appears. I liked the same loneliness in space feeling before the marines wake up in Aliens.

Something Real

MemberTrilobiteAug-25-2017 12:55 AM

RED0GUY - If you had been in charge of creating Alien, how would you have presented the Alien itself? I would have kept it slightly more mysterious than it was. :)

SuperAlien

MemberXenomorphAug-25-2017 12:59 AM

I got it, you like Alien but you hate The Alien.

"He survived, he’s now in Disneyland in Orlando, and no way am I going back there. How did he end up in Disneyland? I saw him in Disneyland, Jesus Christ!"

ignorantGuy

MemberChestbursterAug-25-2017 1:16 AM

Something Real

in 79, I guess the whole thing was effective as it was, but you can't make a sequel to a Lovecraftian story. Once you Imagined and provided some explanation for the inconceivable you diminish the effectiveness of the fear. That's why a more absurd creature as the Thing is more effective on the long run. Carpenter for me is much more intelligent to nothing or do some unrelated stuff then some rehashed sequel/prequel (Of course Escape from LA was shit for this reason and thank God that there is no escape from Earth). RS if he keeps on coming back he will bring only rehashed stuff and a robot can never be that terrifying no matter how evil he is.

Something Real

MemberTrilobiteAug-25-2017 1:21 AM

RED0GUY - I wholeheartedly understand and respect your viewpoint, my friend. I, personally, am not pleased with the direction in which Sir Scott has taken the Alien series. With that being said, I respect a creative mind's desires. The Thing was an absolutely terrifying and wonderful film! It kept me awake quite a lot when I first watched it! :)

ignorantGuy

MemberChestbursterAug-25-2017 1:47 AM

Something Real

To make it perfectly clearly, I could live with some stupid explanation for a creature I don't care about but what infuriates is killed off a character you made me care about, that I find interesting in spite of not being a believer myself. You made her being experimented upon (in the novelization while being alive and that is what I understood while watching the movie) and finally the xeno is the ultimate survival because of her dna? Why such a mockery? And why should I care anymore?   

Something Real

MemberTrilobiteAug-25-2017 1:54 AM

RED0GUY - Those are very valid questions, my friend. Indeed; Ripley was an excellent character whom, in my opinion, should not have had the rather strange twists and turns which took place over her story. It is the human aspects of the first Alien film which drew me to like it so greatly. It is very easy to see some of the elements which occured to Ripley as a mockery - even dreadful. It is easy and understandable to be angry at such things. Furthermore, it is good to have healthy anger over such things - provided it is used contructively.  When I feel anger over a film's plot, I write down what I would have liked to see - it makes me feel much better. :)

VivisectedEngineer

MemberChestbursterAug-25-2017 8:03 AM

Ok, ali81 , most importantly, what kind of awesome job do you have that you are able to watch Alien at work!?

Cerulean Blue

MemberFacehuggerAug-25-2017 8:59 AM

Guys, I will just go ahead & say it, I do not care to see any Alien installment, not directed by the Knights Bachelor aka Sir Ridley Scott.  It is his creation & if he chooses to be David about it, so be it.  I do not care for any of the sequels, though I absolutely adore the prequels!  This has been my rant in Cerulean Blue!  ;)

SuperAlien

MemberXenomorphAug-25-2017 9:55 AM

Cerulean Blue I feel the same, still I like Alien 3 from the Alien sequels. The rest are like heresies. 

 

"He survived, he’s now in Disneyland in Orlando, and no way am I going back there. How did he end up in Disneyland? I saw him in Disneyland, Jesus Christ!"

Cerulean Blue

MemberFacehuggerAug-25-2017 11:02 AM

@daliens - I can do that, as Alien 3 seemed more in line with the end of Alien, than Aliens?  Alien could have even been Alien 2 & just skipped over Aliens?

Timmy the ultramorph

MemberChestbursterAug-25-2017 2:04 PM

I agree that it is an absolutly perfect movie. however there is ONE shot in the movie that is not perfect to me. it is when the xenomogph gets blown out of the ship. you can just tell it is a person in a suit. other than that, probably the best sci fi film of all time. if your wondering, here is my list of greatest sci fi films ever.

1: alien

2: blade runner

3: Alien 3

4: 2001. a space oddessy.

5: terminator 2 judgment day

6: inception

7: empire strikes back

8: the matrix

9: jurrsic park

10: aliens.

(honerable mentions include: prometheous, mad max fury road, the terminator, district 9, robocop, wall-e, alien covenant, akira, and ghost in the shell 1995.

food ain't that bad! - Parker

cuponator3000

MemberChestbursterAug-25-2017 4:22 PM

I think it's just... different eras. What we saw in Alien wasn't necessarily what Scott saw when he imagined the future and spaceships. He did work out that aesthetic and thought it was a good one, but Alien was one of those movies that were made ahead of it's time. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't trade anything in the world for Alien as it is (my favorite film!) I just think that Scott had so much he wanted to do visually with the story, that one of the reasons he went back into it with the prequels, is to realize that vision. He obviously wanted to do something very different and give it a different gravitas or meaning. Or, add to the meaning as well. 

The main reason I love Alien is the set design, so I love how it is, but I just feel like Scott had a lot of ideas in his mind that he could not do back then (like, a LOT). That is why we see so many recycled and reworked ideas either considered, or actually put into Prometheus and Covenant. 

I think when the prequels began, a lot of us thought that he would go back to those designs and just make it, somehow BETTER. Updated, but still like what we first saw, mostly. Instead, he went more what he wanted to do originally. 

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