I've been cooped up in the apartment for the past couple of days, so I took the opportunity to break out my Alien DVDs and books and dig into them again. Found this in the Giger's Alien hardcover published by Morpheus International. This is from the February 23, 1978 entry where Giger and Scott are roughing out how the adult alien suit will work: I don't know why, but those words conjure up all sorts of humorous images in my head. Also, seeing Giger on the DVDs saying "slaughterhaus" makes me chuckle. It also amazes me that elements of the film still continue to pop up in unlikely places, such as: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ym_mRBMPnM Everyone post about Alien and the sequels in this thread. I command it.
I re-watch the quadrilogy once a year. Some of my favourite films ever. I'm interested to see if the prequel talk goes ahead with Scott revisiting the space jockeys.
the first two alien movies are classics, but after that it goes down hill fast. give it about five years to help everyone forget the alien vs predator crap and reboot.
I can tollerate 3, I don't HATE it, and I actually like Resurrection, it's cute. Maybe it's because I really like Jean-Pierre Jeunet. No it's not as classic as 1-2 but it's cool and fun on it's own and entertaining without being totally vapid. Honestly I kinda like 1 more than any of them, most go with Cameron's sequal, but 1 is so much creepier and feels more tense to me. The action and fun of 2 is great, but it doesn't do as much for me. I'm always suprised we haven't seen an Anime based on the series, seems like it'd have that feel BUT it could go totally wrong too.
I would love to see an Alien prequel made, my dream is that the only character would be the space jockey, his dialogue (which I imagine to be this gurbledy grunting "mphh mphh gkkk" kind of language) would not be subtitled, and it would be three hours long. And every minute of it would be supervised by Giger. It would be like a feature film-length Tool video. There was an Aliens cartoon planned once, to coincide with Kenner's toy line. There was even merchandise released for it: http://www.alienscollection.com/operationaliens.html
Maybe because the Alien is actually a double headed PENIS is why they 86'd the childrens cartoon? I collected Alien stuff a bit before kaiju. I got one piece in a box 'aqua alien' and a super awesome space jockey puzzle I found in a comic store in New England. Made by H-G toys inc. of long beach N.Y. It has water damage and is missing 2-3 pieces but the frigging box alone was worth the price. Wish I could post a pic, but its is a screen shot (i guess) of the Space Jockey profile. The original is the very definition of suspense. All hail Ridley Scott.
just saw the anniversary edition of alien in the theater a few months back. love giger and the original alien.
I have the Nostromo jigsaw puzzle and the 70's Alien boardgame...which is actually kinda fun. Oh, and here's a custom action figure I bought many years ago...based on the unproduced Kenner line... 9" Marmit Alien rules... wait...is this the 'Show your Alien collection' thread?? I'm with you Roger on the prequel...
Gotta agree with vintagevinyl and the masses on this. "Aliens" took a different approach and succeeded without ruining the mythology. After that, both the mythos and the quality of the films plummeted. The last time I watched the original film, it was good to be reminded of just how little of the Alien you actually see, and that its form is revealed in increments. I'd forgotten about that. The makers of "Cloverfield" took this same approach, to their credit. Then there's the fact that the original had an exceptional ensemble cast and strong use of some stagey cinematic techniques (claustrophobic interiors, epileptic fit-inducing strobe lighting) that worked the first time around, but felt false and cheesy when mimicked in III and especially IV. There's also the fact that the Geiger aesthetic was new to most people at the time of the first release ... if anyone had seen his work, it was mostly in Omni magazine illustrations, which were what put him on the international "map." The whole disturbingly quasi-sexual bio-mechanical thing wasn't yet a cliché. Showing the whole beast off the bat isn't necessarily a bad thing, just that for dramatic and exposition effect, the cautious, almost Kubrick-like pacing of the first film was a major strength in its case. It helped to set a tone that would have been impossible to re-capture in the same way in sequels. Cameron wisely expanded upon the mythos with the Queen Alien and a more action-oriented tone to do something new and keep it fresh. Big risk ... it might not have worked in lesser hands. After that, the movies have a very clumsy, sometimes downright dreary feeling with stupid new characters and the ruination of everything that made Ripley great in the first place. They come across as your typical "movie by committee" Hollywood films rather than having a strong auteur quality, which both Scott and Cameron managed to bring to their films. In a month we'll all be arguing about "Avatar."
Alien Vs. Predator 2 was pretty awesome. I mean that guy rolled about 100 yards even over obstacles to "GET TO THE CHOPPAH!". Best rolling seen in a movie, ever.
Dean, disagree with you on two things: - While the "slow reveal" technique a la Cloverfield was executed well in the first Alien film, unfortunately at the end it's clearly a guy in a suit, and it's probably the roughest edge the film has. Cameron did a lot more to make the aliens more alien by putting acrobats in the costumes and shooting them at strange angles, although the costumes lacked the fine detail that the Giger ones had. - The design of the Queen is cool, but even as a kid I disliked the notion of it. It wasn't just that I knew about O'Bannon's original idea (that the adult alien captures victims and coocons them to become new eggs), but the idea that the eggs came from a queen just made them much more insect-like, and therefore more like something you'd find on Earth. Not that it matters, but I believe Giger and Scott didn't like the idea much, either.
Is that actually a guy in a suit in that last Cloverfield shot? I thought it was CG rendered to match the shaky-cam. I guess it could be a suit, since the original screenplay didn't include that shot. Allegedly they added it "at the last minute," when the crew reasoned that the audience wouldn't be satisfied without at least one detailed shot of the monster. I appreciated your criticism of the Queen, good one. On the other hand, the omnipresence of suggested humanoid sexual apparatus in the landscape, mechanics, and beings of the Alien world was pretty Earthly in the first movie. I was riffing about the overall quality of the films and mythos without thinking at that level of detail, but it shows that you're an attentive science fiction fan to call those things out.
That face sucker toy is badd azz!! I mean admit it. Anything 'face sucker' is going to be bad ass. A Lego face sucker would be pretty rad. Do you guys remember the aliens stuff in the plastic jar? There was a chest burster and face sucker. They are bendable and looked like a movie prop. Too cool... Question: Did Giger sell his soul to the devil down at the crossroads?
Well, I think the first film and the second film are classics. I can't stand anything past that. But the criticism of the Alien Queen in the second film is a real interesting nugget to mull on. In the first movie, the whole thing is about "Mother" the computer (that is literally it's name MU/TH/UR 6000), waking up "the kids" (the crew of the ship) and forcing them out of the home onto a dark and scary trip to some place where some crazy alien thing impregnates the kids, and causes all kinds of hell at home. Meaning, these "kids" learn the scary side of sex, birth and being an adult. In the second film, they amp it all up but the big theme is Ripley now being the mom to Newt—where in the first film she was a scared kid like the rest of them—and fighting some other mom that is protecting her alien kids. It's interesting to think about, but I'm not too sure how any sequel based solely on the first movie’s premise could ever be as strong—or stronger—than the first. Blah, blah... But will say this, the comment on Alien lifeforms acting "alien" is well taken. Too many movies cop out. And the only other stand out examples of an alien in TV or movies that was truly weird and alien to me are that Star Trek episode with the Horta who is basically a big rock. And John Carpenter’s "The Thing" with all of that insanity in it. But past that I was listening to Michio Kaku (theoretical physicist) talk about alien life and he explained that if the current theory of how life began on Earth is true, then the chances of there being humanoid or animal life on on that track out there is quite good. The theory is that bacteria came from a comet or asteroid that has streaked across the galaxy and basically just deposited it's bio junk on the planet when it crashed. So if chunks of it crashed on Earth and here we are, some other humanoid aliens are out there on some other planet where other comet pieces crashed. Which is all to say an Alien like the one in this series existing would have to be derived from the same junk that created us since it's the only explanation of how they can deposit and egg in a human and then use that human as food and nutrients. If they were truly Alien, they simply couldn't eat us because the DNA would be so different it would be like eating a rock. Wow, I wrote that. Thanks liberal arts degree!
I read a David Fincher book last year and what he had to go through for his version of Aliens was excrutiatingly painful. When he accepted to direct this film the script changed 3 times by three different writers. Let's just say the cast was so impressed with his professionalism through this film given all the shit urin the filming that the main cast wanted to work with him on future films. Glad he had this film as a stepping stones to prove himself.
I like how on "Thriller" MJ reduces the word "alien" to two syllables. "There's no escaping the jaws of the ale-yen this time..." MicromanZone, excellent post, great thoughts.
Joey Ramone was the master of that, he could cram 4 into 1.....syllables I mean. James Hetfield is a master of enlongating syllables, the Reverse Joey if you will.
I personally thought the Alien franchise started going downhill when it stopped being Horror and started being action blockbuster which is to say after the first one. I wish David Cronenberg would take a crack at the franchise. He's always had a fascination with conjoining the organic with technology (Existenz, Videodrome) and I think he'd give the H R Giger 'biomechanoid' concept drawings the respect they are (still) due. I was most disappointed with David Fincher's Alien film since I had such high hopes for it. He really seemed like a pretty good 'match'. What a mess that turned out to be. And While I *loved* Delicatessen and to a lesser degree The City of Lost Children, applying Jean Pierre Jeunet's visual style to the dismal Alien world seemed like an unforgivable misstep. Indeed it was. I do love looking at it, but it doesn't feel like an Alien movie at all and is the one I have the most trouble sitting through.
Did anyone get this? If so, how is it? http://toysrevil.blogspot.com/2008/01/a ... e-400.html "At outer space, as for your scream it is not audible in anyone."
