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The Alien Movies

linesmachine said:
Oddly, most of my friends rate the first film higher than the second. But personally I prefer the second. I totally appreciate the "crash bang wallop" element; Alien is much more spookier than it's sequel. But Aliens is just relentless as a "chase" movie and leaves you feeling completely drained by the end of it's 2 hours plus running time. Besides Aliens has one of the best film scripts ever (imho!).

Alien is the one I'd watch on my own to freak myself out.

Aliens is the one I'd watch with friends for a laugh. "One of the best film scripts ever" is a just a little OTT I think, but it's horribly quotable. ;)
 
Dr_Baltar said:
"One of the best film scripts ever" is a just a little OTT I think, but it's horribly quotable. ;)

Oh come on " I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid". It's genius!

It's such a pacey film that the script has to rocket along and writing sci-fi has surely gotta be one of the hardest genres.
 
As a trilogy, the series was superb. Three films linked inextricably by theme, plot and character, but with very different moods. As linesmachine mentions, the cast in the third installment are excellent; far more rounded than the (hugely memorable) cartoon characters of Aliens. I treat them as a single story: each chapter has its moments.

Alien 4 was, at times 'nice' to look at but narratively and conceptually a sack of balls.
 
linesmachine said:
Oh come on " I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid". It's genius!

It's such a pacey film that the script has to rocket along and writing sci-fi has surely gotta be one of the hardest genres.

The script's great fun and suits the mood of the film perfectly; that's the best you'll get out of me.
 
linesmachine said:
Dr_Baltar said:
"One of the best film scripts ever" is a just a little OTT I think, but it's horribly quotable. ;)

Oh come on " I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid".


"Have you ever been mistaken for a man?" "no,have you?"always makes me smile. :D
 
The trouble with Alien 3 is that it reduces the triumphant ending of Aliens to a damp squib by killing off all the survivors off bar Ripley. She must have wondered why she bothered.

I last saw the first two on a huge screen at a midnight showing many years ago, still one of the best times I ever had in a cinema, the audience was really into it. Alien and Aliens are two very different films, the first has been described as a haunted house movie and the sequel a war movie, but I like them both in their way. Alien is a classier affair, though. Ridley Scott when he was good and not spreading himself too thinly.
 
Alien and Aliens are two very different films. The first is a classic horror film, the second is an action film. There's nothing wrong with these films, they're each a very good example of their type.

That's just one reason I don't agree that Aliens is better than Alien, that they really aren't comparable. But also, I personally prefer the first. I enjoy the second a great deal, but I think the first is a better film.

I wonder how things might have gone if they'd made the third film without Ripley, as originally planned. (Weaver wasn't going to be available on their original schedule, but then delays meant she was.)

On the other hand, while I agree the third was a disappointment, I'm glad the William Gibson script that was floating around the net 15 years ago never got made. It seemed to be a bit silly, really. Maybe somewhere between the two...

Resurrection was an odd thing. Some people I know claim it's a perfect parody of an Alien franchise film. I think as a part of the franchise, though, it really doesn't work.
 
Anome_ said:
Resurrection was an odd thing. Some people I know claim it's a perfect parody of an Alien franchise film. I think as a part of the franchise, though, it really doesn't work.

It does have one great scene, though, the underwater sequence. Worth watching for that, and being a million times better than the AvP movies as a whole. OK, that's not difficult.
 
What really got under my skin about Alien and made it so intriguing was the whole "whatever you do you can't kill it" aspect. Then Aliens came along and all the space marines were merrily blasting the creatures to death which seemed strange, given how tough the original was to kill (okay granted Ripley and co didn't have the ready firepower).

Speaking of weapons: one thing which has been bothering me since I re-watched Alien is how come a mining crew had high-voltage electric cattleprods, flamethrowers and lethal harpoony-type things (one of which which Ripley used to shoot the alien out of the shuttle)?

Not being much of a fanboy I don't know much about the genesis of the Alien franchise, is there a source novel or was it an original screenplay?
 
mr_macabre said:
Not being much of a fanboy I don't know much about the genesis of the Alien franchise, is there a source novel or was it an original screenplay?

It was an original, but heavily influenced by cult sci-fi B-movies like It! The Terror from Beyond Space and Mario Bava's Planet of the Vampires. It's better than either of those, but that's not to say its influences are not worthwhile.
 
There's also some suggestion that its owes a lot to AE van Vogt's short stories 'Black Destroyer' and 'Discord in Scarlett' from 1939, which were fixed up into the "novel" "Voyage of The Space Beagle". The first one features a murderous alien stalking a space ship, and in the second the muderous alien stalking the space ship lays eggs inside people. (It! The Terror from Beyond Space, is supposed to have been inspired by these stories as well [i.e. it plagiarized them])
 
I know I'm going to get shouted down about this, but I love the pants off Alien 3. The first movie is great, the second bored me to death and had me almost begging for Hicks to die, preferably in a very painful and violent manner. The third movie had me giggling the whole way through, and for some reason I just enjoy the atmosphere more than the others.

But I do have to say that the first Alien is a classic horror and should be watched by everyone. It scared the crap out of me and I continue to love it silly.
 
I saw the 3rd movie at the cinema and it was really enjoyable,watching it at home ..well it doesn't seem that good.
 
Timble2 said:
There's also some suggestion that its owes a lot to AE van Vogt's short stories 'Black Destroyer' and 'Discord in Scarlett' from 1939, which were fixed up into the "novel" "Voyage of The Space Beagle". The first one features a murderous alien stalking a space ship, and in the second the muderous alien stalking the space ship lays eggs inside people. (It! The Terror from Beyond Space, is supposed to have been inspired by these stories as well [i.e. it plagiarized them])

And not forgetting Dan O' Bannon's earlier Dark Star, also featuring an alien stalking the crew members of a spaceship, albeit in a comedy vein.
 
The thing I love about the Alien films is the whole shadowy "company" conspiracy to study the aliens and bring back specimens. I think this is what really shocks you when you see the first film - when you realise Ian Holm is a "synthetic" and when "Mother" reveals that the crew are expendible and everything is subservient to the company plans. That's the thing that really makes you feel like the characters are helpless, less so in the second film but the theme is still there.

I think my favourite is Aliens because I think it's a good all-rounder in terms of action, shocks, plot and aesthetics - there's something for everyone there. While at uni I studied film and wrote an essay about Aliens and the Sublime (in the Edmund Burke sense) - must dig it out and have a look!
 
I don't think anyone's mentioned the Giger-inspired look of the films yet, with that whole organic mechanoid thing going on. I was very young when Alien first came out, so only ever saw stills of the film in magazines and stuff, so what really stuck in my mind even before I got to watch it was just how stylised and bizarre-looking not just the creature but the universe around it looked. Very creepy and atmospheric.
I agree with the comments about Alien 3, which I too enjoyed immensley.
 
titch said:
I saw the 3rd movie at the cinema and it was really enjoyable,watching it at home ..well it doesn't seem that good.

Try the alternative DVD cut - it's much better ;)
 
mr_macabre said:
I don't think anyone's mentioned the Giger-inspired look of the films yet, with that whole organic mechanoid thing going on..

I was just about to mention H.R. Giger but you beat me to it. He really is a haunting individual.

His later works like the 1996 "Killer Condom" weren't as ...er....well received.
 
linesmachine said:
I was just about to mention H.R. Giger but you beat me to it. He really is a haunting individual.

His later works like the 1996 "Killer Condom" weren't as ...er....well received.

No love for Species? No, I can't say I'm surprised.
 
gncxx said:
linesmachine said:
I was just about to mention H.R. Giger but you beat me to it. He really is a haunting individual.

His later works like the 1996 "Killer Condom" weren't as ...er....well received.

No love for Species? No, I can't say I'm surprised.

Species does have the man who played Ghandi walking around with a ridicuously large gun though.
 
i can think of a few more interesting things in that movie... :oops:
 
Does it count as "Giger inspired" if it was actually Giger who did it? Does he inspire himself.

Alien did kind of bring him to public attention.
 
No he didn't inspire himself, but I think his "biomech" stuff inspired the director/producers or whoever to commission him to flesh out the Alien concept, which runs through the whole film's production.
Someone will soon correct me if I'm wrong.
 
Just read some blurb about the Alien prequel. I'd definitely pay to watch it, especially with Ridley Scott back at the helm, although some of the rumoured plot lines sound very strange.

One of the things I loved about the original was the mystique around the crashed spaceship where they find the egg, and I especially liked the strange fossilised creature (subsequently referred to by Scott as the "space jockey") which clearly had a whole back story which we as the audience have no way of knowing about.

I'm not sure I really want them to go back and fill in the blanks, but it might be kind of cool.
 
I'm watching, 'Alien Resurrection ', on Dutch TV, tonight. By far the most bonkers of the series. :yeay:
 
LaurenChurchill said:
I know I'm going to get shouted down about this, but I love the pants off Alien 3. The first movie is great, the second bored me to death and had me almost begging for Hicks to die, preferably in a very painful and violent manner. The third movie had me giggling the whole way through, and for some reason I just enjoy the atmosphere more than the others.

But I do have to say that the first Alien is a classic horror and should be watched by everyone. It scared the crap out of me and I continue to love it silly.

Have you heard of the original concept for part 3, set on a wooden planet populated by monks. Sounds crazy but would have loved to have seen it.

http://www.empireonline.com/features/al ... en-planet/
 
That sounds fantastic! I hope he manages to make his vision come to life one day. I'd definitely pay to see that. :)
 
I would like to see it too. I just hope it isn't a money milking excercise.
 
Was trying to describe my performance at a crucial interview the other day in an email, the best analogy I could come up with was Lambert's reaction to seeing Alien. Looking for a link to the scene I found this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eR5jYeIMBKk

May be old news, but I think it's wonderful. I think I prefer it to the scene they used.
 
Looks really silly to me , glad they cut it out. She was a silly moo i think? didnt she get the captain killed?
 
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