ALIEN Franchise

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  • edited April 2019 Posts: 5,767
    talos7 wrote: »
    There are times when a “Director’s Cut” or “Extended Edition “ of a film only serves to pad it and does little to improve; The Abyss is not one of these. The extended release is a significantly stronger film than the theatrical release.
    Absolutely!


    SaintMark wrote: »
    Today he has, but with Terminator 2, Aliens & the Abyss I am glad having the extra scenes edited back into the movies. They actually add to the movies.
    Especially in The Abyss, it´s far, far more than just extra Scenes. Almost every Scene is a bit longer in the DC, which in this Special case has the effect of multiplying the Impact of the Overall atmosphere, bringing the whole Thing to live much more than the theatrical Version. Unlike in many other films, in The Abyss characters don´t do superfluous Things. Every bit of life on the Drilling platform adds to the experience.
  • edited April 2019 Posts: 5,767
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  • CraigMooreOHMSSCraigMooreOHMSS Dublin, Ireland
    Posts: 8,009
    The final short film from the Alien 40th Anniversary collection is a decent one:


    I found that really boring. I am still hoping Scott will finish his Prometheus trilogy. The premise there is much more interesting than these tedious attempts at recapturing the horrors of the first.

    The Prometheus trilogy thus far is a bit of a fustercluck to me. Admirably ambitious but extremely misguided in execution. Though yes, I would agree that Scott should finish it out.

    A lot of these shorts have been pretty shrug inducing (for a variety of reasons) but that one above gave me exactly what I like about Alien.

    The Alien.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,368
    An unused script for Alien 3 has now been turned into an audiobook featuring Michael Biehn and Lance Henriksen:

    https://theplaylist.net/alien-3-audiobook-william-gibson-20190531/
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 23,447
    Creasy47 wrote: »
    An unused script for Alien 3 has now been turned into an audiobook featuring Michael Biehn and Lance Henriksen:

    https://theplaylist.net/alien-3-audiobook-william-gibson-20190531/

    Has anyone read the comic adaptation yet? I believe I've collected all the released issues, but I haven't read it yet. Looks interesting though.
  • Posts: 7,653
    DarthDimi wrote: »
    Creasy47 wrote: »
    An unused script for Alien 3 has now been turned into an audiobook featuring Michael Biehn and Lance Henriksen:

    https://theplaylist.net/alien-3-audiobook-william-gibson-20190531/

    Has anyone read the comic adaptation yet? I believe I've collected all the released issues, but I haven't read it yet. Looks interesting though.

    I have pre-ordered the collected edition of this comic.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    4af91ecbeddc9d934b14ba49f8dc4a4a.jpg
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 23,447
    SaintMark wrote: »
    DarthDimi wrote: »
    Creasy47 wrote: »
    An unused script for Alien 3 has now been turned into an audiobook featuring Michael Biehn and Lance Henriksen:

    https://theplaylist.net/alien-3-audiobook-william-gibson-20190531/

    Has anyone read the comic adaptation yet? I believe I've collected all the released issues, but I haven't read it yet. Looks interesting though.

    I have pre-ordered the collected edition of this comic.

    Having read the ALIEN³ book by Gibson, I can honestly say I was rather let down. The story offers very little to prove that it would have been a more appropriate sequel to Aliens than Fincher's movie.
  • Fire_and_Ice_ReturnsFire_and_Ice_Returns I am trying to get away from this mountan!
    Posts: 23,102


    One of the greatest pieces of music of all time, shame it was not in the movie though the Die Hard scene was amazing
  • Posts: 698
    I've spent the last couple of months watching the Alien films, some of which I saw for the first time. I decided I would share my ranking for no apparent reason (no AVP).
    1. Alien (10/10)
    2. Aliens (9/10)
    3. Prometheus (8/10)
    4. Alien: Covenant (5/10)
    5. Alien 3 (5/10)
    6. Alien Resurrection (4/10)
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 23,447
    2Wint2Kidd wrote: »
    I've spent the last couple of months watching the Alien films, some of which I saw for the first time. I decided I would share my ranking for no apparent reason (no AVP).
    1. Alien (10/10)
    2. Aliens (9/10)
    3. Prometheus (8/10)
    4. Alien: Covenant (5/10)
    5. Alien 3 (5/10)
    6. Alien Resurrection (4/10)

    So glad someone other than me ranks Resurrection as the worst film in the series. All the goofy stuff in it isn't even trying, unlike Covenant, to bring the classic thrills of an alien film. It's neither scary (it really isn't) nor inventive nor even remotely horrific. The cast is good and the music is one of its major strengths IMO (though I know that's a very controversial thing to say), but other than that, I just can't see it and the stuff with the newborn is utterly stupid. Anyone who had seen some of Jeunet's previous work had to be either drunk or pulling a prank when he suggested this man for this film.

    I think I can easily agree with your list, except I might perhaps add some points to Alien³.
  • Posts: 3,333
    An interesting video on the new engineers...



    I also liked this one of his on the engineer planet concepts that were dropped, presumably because Ridley Scott was holding off from using Giger's planet design for the final movie. Here's a look at Giger's engineer planet designs...

  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 23,447
    It was a mistake to abandon the engineers arc so disrespectfully in Covenant, only to focus on David so much. And where the hell is Shaw? Nothing makes sense anymore. Have we stopped caring about continuity entirely? Or is the next film in the series--if we ever get one--going to tie things together?

    To be frank, I'd much rather have that Blomkamp Alien 5 movie instead. A comic series can "finish" off the mess Scott has left.
  • edited July 2019 Posts: 3,333
    I agree it was a mistake to abandon the engineers in Covenant and concentrate on David. Personally, I preferred the outtake of Shaw and David on the juggernaut to anything that was included in the actual movie. Again, this was Scott listening to a very vocal minority of the fanbase criticising Prometheus for not being a proper Alien movie, when another section really liked that movie despite it having its flaws. Had Covenant been a proper sequel, with a bigger budget, that explored the engineer's home planet then I'm sure the movie would've been more successful than it was. What we didn't need was another bunch of unfamiliar crew members go through the same key sequence of events as Alien and Prometheus all over again. Most of us were invested enough in Shaw to see her role continued, not airbrushed out for the introduction of Katherine Waterston, who wasn't an improvement over Noomi Rapace.

    As for Blomkamp, the jury is still out. Let's see what he does with Robocop before genuflecting at his feet.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 23,447
    bondsum wrote: »
    I agree it was a mistake to abandon the engineers in Covenant and concentrate on David. Personally, I preferred the outtake of Shaw and David on the juggernaut to anything that was included in the actual movie. Again, this was Scott listening to a very vocal minority of the fanbase criticising Prometheus for not being a proper Alien movie, when another section really liked that movie despite it having its flaws. Had Covenant been a proper sequel, with a bigger budget, that explored the engineer's home planet then I'm sure the movie would've been more successful than it was. What we didn't need was another bunch of unfamiliar crew members go through the same key sequence of events as Alien and Prometheus all over again. Most of us were invested enough in Shaw to see her role continued, not airbrushed out for the introduction of Katherine Waterston, who wasn't an improvement over Noomi Rapace.

    As for Blomkamp, the jury is still out. Let's see what he does with Robocop before genuflecting at his feet.

    Agreed on the first bolded text, more than agreed on the second, and I love how you used the word "genuflecting" there, @bondsum. :D
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    DarthDimi wrote: »
    It was a mistake to abandon the engineers arc so disrespectfully in Covenant, only to focus on David so much. And where the hell is Shaw? Nothing makes sense anymore. Have we stopped caring about continuity entirely? Or is the next film in the series--if we ever get one--going to tie things together?

    .

    The third film was supposed to take place between the first and second. Scott had his reasons for that, in terms of story. I still hope we get to see it.
  • edited July 2019 Posts: 3,333
    DarthDimi wrote: »
    Agreed on the first bolded text, more than agreed on the second, and I love how you used the word "genuflecting" there, @bondsum. :D
    Cheers @DarthDimi. If Blomkamp really delivers a worthy and great belated sequel to the original then no one will be happier than me. For me, apart from Paul Verhoeven helming that movie it was Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner's smart script that made that movie work. It's my understanding that Robocop Returns happens to be based on an unused script from the original screenwriters which was written back in 1988 as a follow-up to Paul Verhoeven's movie which is obviously a good sign. The negative appears to be that Justin Rhodes of Terminator: Dark Fate has made some changes to it, so how much of Neumeier and Miner's work survives in the rewrite is anybody's guess.
    The third film was supposed to take place between the first and second. Scott had his reasons for that, in terms of story. I still hope we get to see it.
    Recent reports appear to counter that claim. Maybe it has to do with Disney recently acquiring the xenomorph rights, but it looks like the next movie will be a continuation of the last one involving more engineers in pursuit of David.
  • Fire_and_Ice_ReturnsFire_and_Ice_Returns I am trying to get away from this mountan!
    Posts: 23,102
    Memory: The Origins of Alien




    This will be good
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    Posts: 15,686
    RIP Sir Ian Holm.

    ash-alien.jpg
  • CraigMooreOHMSSCraigMooreOHMSS Dublin, Ireland
    Posts: 8,009
    It's a credit to Holm as an actor that in a film where the crew of a spaceship are mercilessly killed one after another by a slimey, phallic inspired alien of unknown origin, he still managed to give us one of the creepiest scenes in science fiction history. He certainly left his mark.
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    edited June 2020 Posts: 15,686
    It's a credit to Holm as an actor that in a film where the crew of a spaceship are mercilessly killed one after another by a slimey, phallic inspired alien of unknown origin, he still managed to give us one of the creepiest scenes in science fiction history. He certainly left his mark.

    Alien is a perfect mix of talented actors giving great performances and a perfectly written script where these characters are all 3-dimensional. Over 40 years on this film remains a landmark achievement in the horror genre.
  • LeonardPineLeonardPine The Bar on the Beach
    Posts: 3,985
    It's a credit to Holm as an actor that in a film where the crew of a spaceship are mercilessly killed one after another by a slimey, phallic inspired alien of unknown origin, he still managed to give us one of the creepiest scenes in science fiction history. He certainly left his mark.

    Alien is a perfect mix of talented actors giving great performances and a perfectly written script where these characters are all 3-dimensional. Over 40 years on this film remains a landmark achievement in the horror genre.

    Exactly right. I think it's one of the most influential films ever made.

    One of my favourite films and one i never get tired of watching.

    I was still at school when it was released and far to young to see it, but a schoolmate had seen it and when he described the chestburster scene i knew it was a film i had to see!
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,368
    Alien really is the template to beat, an absolutely perfect sci-fi/horror mash-up from start to finish. Scott teases us with brief flashes of the eponymous monster and it makes the chills, jump scares and overall tension that much more intense. Of course, having such an effortlessly talented cast, including the "last hero" switcheroo, is another highlight.
  • edited June 2020 Posts: 5,767
    It's a credit to Holm as an actor that in a film where the crew of a spaceship are mercilessly killed one after another by a slimey, phallic inspired alien of unknown origin, he still managed to give us one of the creepiest scenes in science fiction history. He certainly left his mark.

    Alien is a perfect mix of talented actors giving great performances and a perfectly written script where these characters are all 3-dimensional. Over 40 years on this film remains a landmark achievement in the horror genre.
    I agree and would add a talent as director of actors which Scott hardly showed on this level after Alien and Blade Runner.
    I´ve said it before: On some DVD there is a crew member who tells the rather funny story that one day while filming Legend Scott was so obsessed with getting the stage design, lighting and framing right that he forgot about the actors when he ordered the cameras to roll. I´m not sure if this really happened, or if Scott himself made a joke. But in any case it´s obvious that the actors in Alien are directed really well.

    But that should in no way diminish the legacy of the great Ian Holm.
    He was truly one of the greats, who could adapt to anything, be it very high budget blockbusters, or very low budget independent films.
  • Posts: 5,772
    Partwork magazine which has begun publishing recently i France : Build your own Xenomorph :



    Don't know if this collection is available in Great Britain, or elsewhere, though.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 23,447
    That looks awesome! But a 100 issues of that magazine, with a no-doubt increased price per issue after the initial offer, that's going to cost quite a bit. ;-)
  • Posts: 5,772
    It always does. Remember the James Bond Car Collection ?

    Did you know that there was a version of Alien on stage ? Well, there is. There's even a documentary about it :



    And here's the new jersey version, with a surprise guest :

  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 23,447
    Gerard wrote: »
    It always does. Remember the James Bond Car Collection ?

    @Gerard, I do. That was quite a financial undertaking. Wow. I dare not even calculate what it cost me in total. Hence, as tempting as it is, this Alien building packet will not be for me.
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