A Sharp Decline: Alien

[@mojotheaverage]

I feel like Scott is bizarrely similar to George Lucas: a visionary who really, really needs talented people around him with the willpower to push back against his bad ideas and reign him in a bit. We often forget that Scott didn't 'create' alien or the xenomorph, he directed the film adding his own brilliant touches but so much of the brilliance was down to the concept, acting, character writing and Giger's incredible monster design. The idea that Scott gets to be the ultimate arbiter of the Alien franchise is flawed considering how many brilliant and talented minds went into the creation of the original

[@igodreamer7096]

Good analogy

[@brianbell3836]

Remember, Scott chose those brilliant and talented minds.

[@hanburgundy4317]

Cameron took the Alien concept and made it far more iconic, though. Aliens is easily the best of the bunch, and the idea that they're a hive mind like insects was brilliantly executed.

[@igodreamer7096]

@@hanburgundy4317 This is the stupidest thing I ever read. Godammit! Are you for real, bro? Taking away all the initial mystery to say that they have a "queen" now, while comparing they to insect which was a perfect excuse to use as cannon folder. You must be joking, seriously now.

[@hanburgundy4317]

@igodreamer7096 Nope. The first is a classic, but Aliens is just all around more enjoyable and far more iconic. It's the same as T2:Judgement Day - Cameron took a great first film and made a superior sequel that fans loved even more. Honestly kinda weird to me how anyone could like the first Alien better, or to outright dislike the sequel. Now, the rest of the series - again, like the Terminator series - is trash IMO. Except AVP; it's dumb, but I like it.

[@panqueque445]

"People will only care about the jockeys if their story is ultimately our story" Literally the opposite. That reveal in Prometheus killed any interest I had in them.

[@turtleanton6539]

För sure😊

[@heath_deadgerpvp1161]

Yep, that's because retconning to stay relevant is the deathknell of good storytelling. Ridley Scott is hopefully done ruining franchises.

[@presentprogressive8780]

Exactly the same feeling I had when I watched Prometheus. I saw Alien as a 13 year old and it opened up the world of cinema to me like no other movie could before and after. One crucial element of the movie's lasting impact on me was the mystery behind it all that was left unanswered. That's also the reason why I actually prefer Alien over the sequel even though it is a phenomenal sci-fi action flick, because it demystified the Alien. But I will never forget how downright violated I felt when I had to endure the reveal that the jockeys were just bulky humanoids who seeded human life on earth and when I had to witness one of their heads getting experimented on until it exploded. In a certain sense Prometheus was a genuine horror movie, but definitely not in a way that it was meant to.

[@TheJoshuamooney]

Yep.

[@tri-ox9508]

For the many years that I would watch Alien, I like others would wonder about the Space Jockey. Where it was from, why did it have a hold full of eggs. After Prometheus? It’s the Michelin Man in an exosuit. (Cue the failure music from The Price is Right).

[@manganiaco]

The idea of an creature that was so inhuman that it has grown fused to a console. That's beyond thinking just of alien anatomy. It's a creature that is so out there that it twists its own concept. ...and they turned the Space Jockey into a stuntman on a suit.

[@volpeverde6441]

the SPACE JOCKEYS should have been kept separate from the ANNUNAKI/WATCHERS/NEPHILIM beings....

[@SewTubular]

The Alien ship was a war-ship. The suit the Engineer wears protects him from the movement of the "canon" that's in front of him as he fires the black-goo ampules into the planet below. The ship that David fires the black-goo ampules from is very different. Different shape, and it seems to use gravity to spin and spew out the black-goo ampules into the city far below. The Space Jockey had been dead in the "canon-chair" for probably a thousand years. The Engineers that we see in the Prometheus transparent hologram-films were at least two thousand years old. The original Engineers, the weak looking bald guys you see with the UFO flying in the background at the beginning of Prometheus are supposed to be seven million years old, and they have evolved beyond being able to procreate so they use the black-goo "cup" to disintegrate one of the Engineers so that his DNA will spawn new life on the planet they are seeding with life. ( that might have been Earth )

[@lostree1981]

@@SewTubular I too like to make up shit.

[@SewTubular]

@@lostree1981 There's a KZbinr that has published about 20 hours of video about Prometheus based on scripts, script-notes and multiple interviews. He states that the the old white people near the beginning are 7 million years old and unable to reproduce, so they use a modified version of the goo to dismantle their DNA into water, where it recombines to create new life. The Alien "gunner" has fossilized into the ship's "gun" that fires the black-goo ampules. We see in Prometheus when they take off the "suit" he is wearing that the fossilized gunner is another Engineer like the live one we meet later on in Prometheus. The black-goo is obviously a type of technology that can be used for many different things. In Covenant we see some of the things that David has created using the black-goo and Elizabeth's corpse.

[@SewTubular]

@@lostree1981 You can clearly see the Space Jockey is sitting on a massive gun, and we find out in Prometheus that he was an Engineer wearing a space-suit. We have no idea what killed the Space Jockey, it might have nothing to do with the Xenomorphs, the Face-Hugger, or it's progeny.

[@SnowyFeet]

There are three pieces to the success of the original Alien; O'Bannon and Shusett's writing, Giger's art direction, and Scott's movie direction and cinematography. Ridley Scott's BIG mistake was the hubris in thinking it was all him.

[@SexycuteStudios]

O'Bannon and Shusett had a great concept, but the script was hot garbage. Giler and Carrol had to re-write it, and they added the Ash android concept. So really it was four writers and a visionary director. Scott does have quite the ego though. And he can pretty much get away with bragging about it being "all his" because three out of the four writers are pushing up daisies.

[@worsethanhitlerpt.2539]

Prometheus had some good ideas but the execution was so bad it didnt matter. Every character on that ship was cardboard as fuck except maybe the 3 main people. Covenant was like an apology that just makes the insult worse

[@linkinparkrulz2275]

The art design in Prometheus was great even though it departed from the Giger concept a bit. The issues with all of the alien films after Alien 2 have been lazy writing. He needed a script doctor to come in and repair all the plot holes and inconsistencies that make these films a huge joke. Literally all the pieces are in place for Prometheus to be a masterpiece other than the character motivations and writing in general are just horrible.

[@drlca6601]

the only thing good about Prometheus were the design elements, SFX and of course, the original trailer with Max Richter music accompanying. Prometheus had me hyped for movies and the future in general in 2011/2012. That fell apart quickly and I haven't been excited for a film ever since. Everything is just hype or stupidity, or both, that the exception to that rule just can't convince me even they're worth it. I don't get hyped anymore. Alien is one of my top 5 films for its concepts.@@worsethanhitlerpt.2539

[@brianbell3836]

@@worsethanhitlerpt.2539 I couldn't believe the settlers didn't have jet packs to zip over the terrain. And where were the ray guns?

[@gwfranklin1]

Man shame they never made more than two Alien movies. Damn shame.

[@charlesreid9337]

Ikr imagine how badly they'd have fucked it up

[@Nicholas_Chen_]

No this is not a shame, leave them as they are! If only...

[@arostwocents]

Agree. I always wish the original star wars trilogy got a sequel or some tv shows made but I guess we just don't live in that world. 🌞

[@premier69]

i like the 4th

[@Insanabiliter_In_Linea]

I mean, I like the third and fourth films, the third one is decent (especially the director's cut, which is way better than the theatrical cut imo), albeit nowhere near as good as the first two, and the fourth one is absolutely terrible but still wildly entertaining. That said though, I think Alien: Isolation serves as a better entry in the series than any of the post-Aliens films could've ever dreamed.

[@woodrowgodshyne1654]

I treat the Alien series like I treat Indy and Raiders. No films exist after Aliens, just like no films exist after The Last Crusade. It's less painful that way.

[@yvonnesanders4308]

And I even have issues with aliens with those trumpet screams they do

[@Dude-oh8vq]

Very true! However, at least Alien 3 and Alien 4 are pretty good, whereas Indy 4 and Indy 5 were pretty bad. I can take or leave Alien 3 depending on the day, but one aspect that saves it is the continuous brilliant performance from Weaver, and it's a well made film despite the flaws and despite killing off Ripley.

[@bentucker2301]

This right here is the only true timeline

[@robertmaybeth3434]

Fair enough. As one who's seen them all and regretted the wasted hours spent doing it, I can't say you're wrong. In keeping with that, I will refrain from asking how you treat Star wars.

[@woodrowgodshyne1654]

@robertmaybeth3434 I love Star Wars. I grew up on the original trilogy. I'm not a Star Wars fan, though. Indy, Alien, and Predator series are closer to my heart. The Disney Trilogy can jump into a wood chipper. As for the prequels... They are fine. I guess? I saw The Phantom Menace numerous times in theaters. Attack of the Clones was a mess. Revenge of the Sith is one of my favorite Star Wars films. My favorite trilogy is Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy.

[@mikej70]

The creature design by H R Giger is the real star.

[@skywillfindyou]

mah Creature disign is not even the most important parts of the film. The feeling that it is there, cold deep space void, silience, that's the core.

[@buzzfunk]

Nothing in Prometheus was designed by Giger. It was inspired and copied by his earlier work on Alien. They never used his the few new designs he did for Prom,etheus.

[@fogellmclovin3740]

@@buzzfunk Everything Alien was designed by Giger during Alien 1979. The derelict, space jockey, xenomorph, the eggs, the alien architecture. All that was created by Giger.

[@buzzfunk]

Like i dont know that? I have all of his books here on my shelf. What was yoour point? The book for Prometheus says " Giger did some new designs but were not used in the final film." that was my point. @@fogellmclovin3740

[@LarryHazard]

@mclovin3740 the movie wouldn't exist without Ridley Scott and designs don't make a good movie

[@RepublicTrooper125]

David “creating” the xenomorphs makes no sense when the derelict in Alien is described as being ancient.

[@LanceVanceDance84]

Shhhh...that never happened. Alien and Aliens are canon; the rest has just been awful fan-fiction.

[@rocoe9019]

​@@LanceVanceDance84 not as awful as when fanboys start spouting garbage like it's not canon and just fan fiction, let me guess, it ruined you childhood aswell, get a life !

[@gulc]

@@rocoe9019 It's not canon. There, i ruined YOUR childhood. You'll get over it, kid.

[@LanceVanceDance84]

@@rocoe9019 If going around picking fights with fans who happen to dislike certain decisions made by those who wrote and filmed two prequels to one of the most beloved and influential films of all-time that retroactively ruin certain elements from said film is something you enjoy doing (I assume you must, otherwise why bother replying to my harmless comment?), then I'd say that _you're_ the one who actually needs to "get a life", you silly little boy.

[@jasonl1942]

Poor riddled snott, his advanced stages of dementia had him believe he was the sole.reason for the original aliens success. Whodve thought a bloated pseudo intellectual think piece with a huge budget, state of the art fx and a who's who cast would be the snoozefest it was and couldn't even come close to the imagination, creativity and success of a b grade haunted house movie in space? (ahem, WE did!)

[@markbarrett4440]

I saw Covenant on the day of release and found myself the oldest in the screening and literally said out loud 'You've got to be fucking kidding' from The Thing. I actually felt sorry for the teens that perhaps came off the back of AVP who didn't bat an eyelid or appear even remotely terrorised by the film. I wanted to shout to the viewers as they filed out 'I'm sorry but A L I E N shouldn't be like this, you should be feeling wrung out and traumatised, Ridley has fucked up and I can only apologise' but was too traumatised but for all the wrong reasons.

[@richardspillers6282]

Go see Kingdom of the planet of the apes and you'll feel better.

[@Gooch_cruiser]

I rewatched covenant last night and loved it even more 🤷‍♂️

[@Edmar_Fecler]

Same. Can’t fucking stand this new continuity bullshit. 3 and Resurrection are more “accurate” Alien movies than the last 2 major shitshows.

[@alltheflavors9673]

@@Gooch_cruiser sure sure, go away now. No wonder they think they can make the scripts dumber and dumber everytime, wait, covenant flopped miserably. They should sprinkle a deluge of black goo upon the scripts see if the mutated garbage is any better oh wait that was Prometheus lol. Hadn't been for Scott's supernatural talent for visual brilliance those two movies would've been a total loss.

[@brackishnz]

Very ironic that James Cameron hated that they killed off his characters for Alien 3. Then he goes on to make a sequel to terminator 2 where the main character dies in the opening scene.

[@J0MBi]

🤣🤣🤣 How many sequels down the road was Dark Fate? I stopped watching after Salvation.

[@Oursisthebreastplatestretcher]

He just did it to provide his old friends Arnie and Linda a paycheck. He didn't set out to blow anyone's mind and the franchise was already pretty much dead. T1 and T2 are the only real Terminator movies.

[@valmarsiglia]

Scott's just one of those kinds of filmmakers: when he's hot, he makes cinema history; when he's not, he makes complete messes.

[@kingbaby8761]

He is by far the most hit-and-miss director ever. He makes a complete hit, then he makes a complete failure, over and over.

[@terrylandess6072]

It has to be collaborative. While he might not give 'credit', I have to believe there are many whispers in his ears.

[@iansharp7422]

He's a visual stylist, even his mediocre films look good but he should leave the ideas and writing to others. Still think Alien and Blade Runner were great. Covenant and Prometheus were major disappointments. Some great scenes in Gladiator and The Duellists was underrated.

[@alessandroguarrera2203]

It's funny, I felt over-awed when I first watched Prometheus, then a few short years later, it seemed like one of the stupidest films I had ever seen.

[@geoffok]

Most people *LOVE* Gladiator, I thought is was a *REALLY* long, wet fart.

[@ewaf88]

RIP Kane, Brett, Ash, Parker, Mother, and the Alien itself. Just a few of the original crew members left.

[@trumpsextratesticle8590]

May they walk among giants that they were.

[@edgepixel8467]

"Disney." "Noooo!"

[@ewaf88]

@@edgepixel8467 Disney are ruining everything. They've turned into a ghastly corporation. May an Alien visit Bob Iger

[@patrolpilot3756]

RIP B Pax. You and your squad of Ultimate Badasses are still killing it nearly 40 years later.

[@GTOberfest]

Yeah sucks he's gone.

[@patrolpilot3756]

@@ncshuriken Gone way to soon. Complication during heart surgery if I remember correctly.

[@ryanmcamis7419]

Considering Alien is Sigourney Weaver's first acting gig, she nailed it. She sells the desperation and terror in the last 20 minutes.

[@darioinfini]

I used to think Ridley Scott was a genius. Then after much consideration I realized he just got really lucky with Alien.

[@dr.carmichael530]

Out of 28 films. He only has 4 arguably 5 great films.

[@Tareltonlives]

I remember thinking "why are people so hard on Scott? He did make Alien" then Napoleon came out and I remembered why he's a one hit wonder

[@davidroyston1671]

@@Tareltonlives Blade Runner

[@watamatafoyu]

It's amazing how Ridley Scott with Prometheus chucked H. R. Geiger's work for his creationist fever dream when he was the one that fought for Geiger's work in Alien.

[@kayzee3595]

well…. christians 😂

[@travisperry5288]

Correction: this is an anti-Creationist polemic, as in even if we grant a creator, that doesn't mean the creator is good. This movie wasn't pro-Christian

[@captnwinkle]

​@@kayzee3595 wow, you are so original. Bet you bend over for Palestine

[@SewTubular]

Ridley was expanding the alien characters of the story. The engineers were populating life throughout the universe using a form of the black-goo and sacrificing one of their own each time. The Xenomorph was a different project, but it still used a version of the black goo in it's creation. David might have been the creator of the Xenomorphs, or perhaps the Xenomorph was always in the structure of the black goo and David just figured out how to set it free. ( it seems like the black goo was a very powerful mutative substance that could be used many different ways. It could release Life or it could release Death )

[@BoleDaPole]

Ah yes a pro Christian movie written by David Lindelof, a jew.

[@DamoBloggs]

The more Scott tries to embellish the Alien lore, the more you realise that his input on the original was mostly cinematic. His, and his collaborator's increasingly awful blend of pretentious ideology and fan service, is painful to witness. I wish he'd just leave it alone.

[@worsethanhitlerpt.2539]

Covenant was especially dumb aside from the Back-burst scene it was like bad fan-fiction. All the moments that were supposed to be titilating to ALIEN fans were just BORING

[@SewTubular]

@@worsethanhitlerpt.2539 I hated Covenant because it essentially was David as Mad-Scientist creating monsters from Elisabeth's corpse. I wanted to see the film that was promised after Prometheus which was David and Elisabeth going to the Engineer's home-world. They would have had free rein to write any story they like, and keep it completely separate from the ALIEN timeline.

[@brianbell3836]

Pretentious? Moi?

[@The_ZeroLine]

There’s nothing wrong w/the crossovers. They don’t cheapen the franchise. However, the horrible sequels really do/did. The Prometheus chapters have been a mess, but are also still interesting and different enough not to cheapen it.

[@SewTubular]

@@The_ZeroLine It was obvious that Ridley wanted to avoid making another Xenomorph film with Prometheus, and I am all for it. Otherwise this franchise becomes a retread of the original ALIEN film every time.

[@valmarsiglia]

Prometheus was one of the most disappointing movie experiences of my life. I was so stoked to see it, to see Scott taking the helm again and righting the ship, that I bought a streaming copy ahead of time so I'd have it when it went live. Afterwards I had to rewatch the first one just to make sure it was still a masterpiece, because throughout Prometheus I kept wondering with a growing sense of dread: "Was the first one this stupid too, and I'm just viewing it through the rose-tinted lenses of memory?" Thankfully it still holds up as well as on the day it was released.

[@valmarsiglia]

@@group-music Yep. He's like Terry Gilliam: amazing, ground-breaking visual stylist, but has trouble with stories. Gilliam's best work like Time Bandits and Brazil was the result of collaborating with really good writers (Michael Palin and Tom Stoppard respectively).

[@station7thedoor]

@@group-music That's actually a really great point. Dan O'Bannon all the way.

[@kidkong637]

Just hearing the word Prometheus makes me ill.

[@Euclides287]

I could say the exact same thing about *George Lucas* and Star Wars after watching *The Phantom Menace.* It's hard to believe both films were written and directed by the same guy. smh

[@valmarsiglia]

@@Euclides287 Agree 100%.

[@marineboy4622]

The thing i liked most about the original Alien was the mystery. Sometimes, the scariest thing is the unknown.

[@rino7789]

The first movie had an artistic and gothic quality that the oncoming movies did not have. This is why it stands out from the others. They were never able to recapture that.

[@grassmonkeyO5]

the first one sucks

[@roachdoggjr155]

@@grassmonkeyO5first one is the only good one lmao

[@roachdoggjr155]

@@gaynzz6841tf are you talking about? weird ass guy

[@SewTubular]

ALIEN was always described by Ridley as a haunted-house in space. That was the gist of it.

[@sunamori]

the third one did, in spades. It was everything that made the first memorable, but on steroids.

[@padawanmage71]

The one thing I loved that captured the feel of the first movie was ‘Alien: Isolation’. Definitely made from people who were passionate about the movie. So scary it made me almost have a heart attack….

[@unbearifiedbear1885]

I have it on VR.. literally couldn't play for more than 20min at a time because it was legitimately *terrifying* One of the best horror ANYTHINGS ever made

[@lance7607]

I left my character cowering under a table in the med bay. I assume she's still there.

[@SexycuteStudios]

Isolation is an *ok* game, but boiled down it's just a rehash of Alien. And the rubber-banding of the xenomorph is a little absurd at times. It very much felt to me like another Thief game. I did play through it, but didn't see everything on the station so I did another run with the xenomorph pretty much turned off. That second run was much, much more enjoyable. Unfortunately I bought some of the DLC. Absolutely terrible.

[@Gentleman_Jester]

I don’t know why these companies in charge of iconic characters feel the need to deep dive in back story and origin stories. Marvel screwed Wolverine up doing that. Now Alien has been ruined. The mystery is what captivates audiences. It’s what has people talking and speculating for years after. Once you explain all that away. No one cares. Fans will always ask for origin stories but when they get one. They criticize and complain and then they stop caring. That’s because you can never live up to what someone imagination has made. We all have these grand theories and ideas which are all better than anything Hollywood could make. So leave it at that. Stop trying to explain everything.

[@PungiFungi]

A sad state of affairs that today’s audience required everything explained to them… like the fanboys who thought Newt’s survival in Aliens was a plot hole because the theatrical cut deleted the colony/derelict scenes in which it was explicitly stated that she played in the air vents.

[@Grogeous_Maximus]

Demystifying Alien as well as countless movie slashers has made all these wonderful universes smaller for it. Each origin story somehow dimishes the worldbuilding of all the story.

[@Fightingat40]

​@@PungiFungiNewts survival isn't so much a plot hole as much as it's just a another cosm of the xenomorph being neutered and pussified by Cameron so he could make a bombastic action movie.

[@lucasaguirre3113]

Ripley Scott always wanted to explain the origins of the xenomorph it's not a Hollywood thing. If you are into sci-fi it's very common to give clear answers to the world around you. The mistery of the alien isn't (at least for me) the interesting part of the alien, it's the physiology of the creature and how its born, how it lives and how it kills, we can see that throughout the movie. The third alien did it's own thing and didn't want to mess with the existing lore and look how that turned out, same goes for resurrection. The new movies are cool in concept but poorly executed, that's my only problem with the newer entries

[@infectedgoat7775]

I'm so sick of origin stories especially Batman. I would love a movie that just kicks into the story with the characters we knoW and love. Or just dive into a sequel and go - like a new Friday the 13th movie that picks up after Part 8 or pull an Obi Wan - here's what happened after Part IV and 5! Show human Jason and maybe him turning into a zombie and how he ends up in the grave by Part VI. Have Tommy get busted out of an institution by Trish. Use the same pov SHOTS and creepy stalker vibe from the first four. Call it LOST FRIDAY or whatever! Just make us feel for the characters and story again and WE the fans and audience will invest time and money again. I also miss being excited to see a new film by a director and filmmaker with a signature style. Cronenberg says he can't get funding anymore its either micro budget or billion dollar franchises. John Waters retired and lives off book sales and conventions. Todd Solondz can't get funding for a film or even blue ray releases of his early work like HAPPINESS. And when EVEN Oliver Stone can't get funding and is attacked by his own fanbase bc of his Pootin documentary we are in surreal times.

[@dextercarrie8131]

It’s rich that James Cameron said you can only hit the audience in the face with a 2X4 long enough before they realize it speaking to Alien 3 and for David Fincher killing off Newt, Hicks and Ripley, but he kills off John Conor in the latest Terminator: Dark Fate movie as a Producer. I actually sometimes like James, but need to call out his bullshit.

[@linkinparkrulz2275]

They needed the ESG funding to get the film made. Sad world we live in.

[@SewTubular]

David Fincher was the replacement director on Alien 3. Vincent Ward was the first director chosen, and was later fired from the Alien 3 shoot. "Ward pitched a new idea that set Alien III in a medieval partially wooden space satellite with monks. Giler and Hill loved it, Giler remembers ‘it was a little far out, but that’s what we wanted, to push things a little bit’. Sigourney Weaver found Ward’s concept ‘very original and very arresting.’ Ward was hired to write and direct the film and Alien III was finally greenlit."

[@SewTubular]

@@linkinparkrulz2275 Between Vincent Ward's version of Alien 3 that was partially shot and then he was later fired from the project. And then roping in Fincher to shoot a different script, they went through about 2.5 film budgets making Alien 3. They were insane to hire Vincent Ward in the first place. He's an artistic nut-job.

[@dextercarrie8131]

@@SewTubular David Fincher is possibly my favourite director and could tell he didn’t enjoy FOX executives telling him how to direct Alien III and were most likely held back from budget constraints to make it a near impossible and gruelling task to complete.

[@SewTubular]

@@dextercarrie8131 I like Fincher's work quite a bit. He's a very detail oriented director. Unfortunately I think James Cameron is going to retire on the Avatar series. They are interesting films, but we don't need more than two films in this series. Such a waste of his talent. I read something in the last week about Alita : Battle Angel, that two sequels are currently being produced, hopefully the stories fit the first film. I really liked the first film, but the promotion was terrible so not many people knew it existed. ( and it took 5 years to get the backing to produce the sequels ) James Cameron and Robert Rodriguez are both keen on getting these two new Alita films made.

[@zamiyaFlow]

Years ago, I remember thinking "I hope they never explain the alien space jockey" the mystery of the thing was fundamental to the horror in the first movie Then Prometheus had to come along and demonstrate why some story points are best left unwritten

[@poochies0316]

exactly let the space jockey very alien looking creature be the weird crazy mystery it was for decades

[@GeminiBabe1996]

I'm glad I only saw parts of the film and just remember the abortion scene

[@miketully9905]

Riley Scot once talked about the alien in the first film. He said he was dead set on making the alien truly alien looking, and went to great lengths to pull that off. He supposedly went as far as having a mime play the part of the alien at one point in order to have the creature move in unnatural ways. But, he said, nothing he tried worked, and in the end with all the shots in the can he was stuck with what still looked like "a guy in a rubber suit". So after many attempts to edit the film he finally went in and ruthlessly cut every single frame where the alien looked bad. But then he wound up with just momentary clips of the alien sprinkled throughout the story. Essentially he'd cut nearly all he'd filmed of what was to be the star of the show out of the film. To his shock though it actually worked. He found that the less you ever actually saw of the alien the scarier it became. It was the fear of the unknown. The fact that you never really got a good look at what the crew was up against that really made it terrifying. Also, the creature in the egg that you could vaguely see through the walls of the egg, was essentially a hand puppet worked from under the floor of the set, and Scot himself was the one working it in that shot.

[@GenoX1987]

Alien Isolation and Alien Dark Descent told better Alien stories than anything Ridley and Lindeloff put out.

[@singaporeghostclub]

💯

[@lancemartin6782]

Prose novels ? Who wrote them ?

[@rudolphantler6309]

Slow down there! Amanda was very forced after we had 3 good Ripley entries, 1 bad Ripley, 1 bad Shaw, 1 bad Daniels, and 1 bad Woods. And Dark Descent dropped the entire ball with a horrible stress system that literally made me quit my favorite genre from one of my favorite franchises from completing the story.

[@primordialserpent1763]

@@rudolphantler6309 How was Amanda forced? She's mentioned by name in the Aliens director's cut.

[@Zorros2ndCousinTwiceRemoved]

@@rudolphantler6309 Well, Amanda was as forced in Isolation as Ellen was in Aliens and Alien 3. What are the chances of her getting picked up half a century later? What are the chances that WY terraforms LV-426 but doesn't discover a frigging spaceship - and then puts Hadley's Hope within an hour-long drive over rough terrain from it? What are the chances of Ellen's survival of the crash? And so on. Why do we put up with these chances? Because we want the story to happen, and preferrably with Ripley in it, so we suspend our disbelief as long as the story doesn't take it too far (as it did in Resurrection which was just plain stupid). So having Amanda look for traces of her mother was actually a pretty neat idea for a plot hook. It's an iconic name after all.

[@PhanTimo01]

My biggest gripe with Covenant. How do you go to an undiscovered alien world with no atmospheric protection? No suites, air filtering tech, nothing. Half of the incidents in that film wouldn't have happened if they wore suites.

[@TheRealJonster]

Covenant is an abomination. Completely bereft of scientific intelligence.. How these smartasses went unto a planet without suits, and break regulations and protocols countless times, I will never ever let it slide

[@harnois75]

Short film then.

[@PhanTimo01]

​@@harnois75 exactly which implies that it shouldn't exist. It was dumb.

[@LinusE]

I think the essence of stupidity was the guy who went off to "take a piss", proceeded to sit down, take a cigarette, smoke half of it, toss it and then go back. Like, why did you just do any of those things?

[@Six_Gorillion]

@@LinusE He pissed in his suit dude.

[@Shorty_Lickens]

I am one of those people who thinks this did not need to be a franchise. It could have been a one shot deal and it was excellent people liked it and lets just leave it at that. Maybe one day years later people would say "hey, remember that weird ass horror flick in space? It starred the lady from Ghostbusters?" "Oh yeah, that was a weird flick. Whatever happened with it?" "NOTHING! they made it and that was it."

[@petrfedor1851]

Because "new Alien movie" fits into short ad better than explain what that movie is about.

[@andreseh87]

Yeah but despite the bad media the franchise spawned, without it being a franchise maybe the first film wouldn’t be as revered

[@Shorty_Lickens]

@@andreseh87 I must be weird because I do not care at ALL how much a film is revered. I care if a film entertains me. Modern films do not entertain me. They have shit stories and rely too hard on nostalgia instead of actual content. Alien didnt have nostalgia. There was nothing to copy-paste. They just made a good movie. Thats WHY is was entertaining. And Star Wars. And Ghostbusters. And Raiders of the Lost Ark. We dont need franchises. We need entertainment.

[@AxisChurchDevotee]

But we wouldn't have alien isolation.

[@Shorty_Lickens]

@@AxisChurchDevotee And thats a good thing.

[@johnny5805]

I stuck with it for 10 minutes, but you're just summarizing the storylines of each movie.

[@petarded8529]

Quantity over quality really grinds my gears. This kid went full 7th grade book report.

[@BlueMarsalis]

And expressing dull opinions.

[@miltone-n7434]

The Alien 3 part gets into the production which was kind of interesting

[@HawkGTboy]

@@miltone-n7434”We didn’t wrap the film, we just stopped shooting.” Ouch.

[@heyheytaytay]

The analysis is nuanced, or are you too adhd to focus?

[@Toqom]

I always like to point out that the "Michigan J Frog" alien popped out of the same actor in Spaceballs, as the original Aliens' first chest popper, he even said, "Oh no, not again" before the baby alien performs.

[@agenttexx]

Prometheus was visually beautiful. The problem is I think Ridley got too caught up in trying to explain everything when that just ruins what made Alien a hit to begin with. We didn't need everything tied up into a neat package.

[@linkinparkrulz2275]

Well they don't explain the thing the audience wants to know which is why the humans were created in the first place. And I suspect it's because he couldn't come up with a satisfying answer to that question.

[@SewTubular]

@@linkinparkrulz2275 The Engineers were seeding life throughout the universe. So humans might be a very common creature if you visited enough planets.

[@audie-cashstack-uk4881]

He ruined his own and the OG LORE an alien that wasn’t an alien but a human made monster by a human made AI utterly ruining the first two movies completely.. permithius have a Jesus being crucified scene go back have a creationist scene fast forward have humans want to investigate the alien find then have them stumble on a creationist race have this lead to the zenomoroh and many other creatures. Being made from by the same science f the creation aliens have the og alien find exposed as a race weaponising to end humans after Jesus and terrace judged as not good enough. Keep it alien keep it old keep it distant but with the big reveal its all created by these far away people THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN COOL

[@bankruptbritain6103]

How pretentious can you get? Trying to explain the meaning of life

[@honestabe411]

A neat package would have been acceptable

[@probablynotmyname8521]

Its fun to consider how these great horror “slasher” films (jaws, alien etc) turned out so well. First the directors took the material very seriously and second the monster didnt actually work very well so it had to remain a largely hidden threat. So when you actually got a good look it was scary because of the build up not because of how it looked. That said, just imagine a thing era rob bottin alien film… that would have been something to behold.

[@brianbell3836]

Wow.

[@SewTubular]

We saw that with John Carpenter's "The THING"

[@EmlynBoyle]

The first two films work because the characters were mostly ordinary, down-to-earth and grew on us. So when the aliens(s) do appear, they react in terror like most of us would, and so we care about their fates. In contrast, you have that ridiculous moment in Prometheus, when a boring character gets facehugged, and then, before the alien within hatches, he starts philosophizing about stuff? The supreme irony being that David, the android, is more human than the robotic, cardboard human characters. Ridley Scott lost it years ago. Even the mediocre Alien 3 and 4 had more interesting characters. I'm hoping the new Alien shows will be a return to form, but am not holding my breath.

[@terrylandess6072]

Then he makes 'The Martian' and redeems himself - the guy is all over the place in terms of understanding what ticks and what doesn't.

[@GR-bn3xj]

Don't forget the idiotic mistakes these people make In prometheus. That frustrated watchers to this day.

[@MiloDC]

Which human got facehugged in _Prometheus_ ?

[@worsethanhitlerpt.2539]

Its not the characters though the first 2 movies had far superior characters to the sequels, its the believability of the world they made on-screen. Alien 1 and 2 had this and just generally better film making behind them

[@brianbell3836]

Sounds like you've already made your mind up, Emlyn

[@malteschindler1864]

My biggest gripe with the prequels isn't even the reveal of the space jockey; while I hate that too, I absolutely hate hate that they turned David into the creator of the Xenomorph. And its the same problem of the space jockey reveal: what made the Xenomorphs so captivating, so unsettling, so interesting, was the fact that we didn't know what they were, where they came from or how they were created. And we didn't need to know. It was the perfect cosmic horror: a incredibly well designed alien creature we know nothing about. Why THE FUCK did they have to tie it in with some random crazy scientist Android? I loved that the Alien were as far from humans as possible, that's what made them so interesting: that we as human had literally no ideas or any control about this creature. But no, of course Xenomorphs were created because of humans, because we can't have an interesting alien race that isn't connected to our human race. We don't want stories about aliens to be connected to us. We want them to just be aliens, whose concept we as humans struggle to understand. That's what makes good cosmic horror.

[@hdckdsadd]

the older I get, the more I like Alien 3. A very underrated movie.

[@casonwatkins3781]

The assembly cut in particular fills in a lot of gaps in the story. Shame that it wasn't directly mentioned in this video. Since it came out, it is the only version of the film that I rewatch.

[@speeta]

The fundamental mistake, I think, is that Alien was conceived of as a standalone sci-fi horror tale of suspense. It was an unsuitable concept to reimagine as a "franchise" for open-ended storytelling. That's difficult for horror to sustain effectively over the course of multiple sequels. A terror repeatedly vanquished quickly stops feeling threatening and starts to become a joke. There's little variation in the stories that can be told while still maintaining the tone expected of an Alien movie.

[@TheJoshuamooney]

Agree, to a point. James Cameron found a way to do Part 2, found a cast and a story. Had the mojo to reimagine as a sci-fi action film at just the right time. Anything post-Aliens was a mistake from the get-go. As we now know.

[@adamduffield7782]

Thing is, there are alot of interesting alien stories in other mediums like comics and video games. And even Gibsons alien 3 script in audio book with Micheal Beihn amd Lance Henrikson voice acting. It wouldve been a better movoe than what we got .

[@GR-bn3xj]

Alien 3 is where they went wrong. Instead of focusing on the colonial marines and the battles with the aliens, they decided to get all weird on us. Had it stayed more like Aliens or Alien, it could have been a better franchise.

[@LarryHazard]

@@TheJoshuamooney Prometheus and Covenant are better sequels than Aliens cause they actually deal with the sci-fi and horror ideas of the first one instead of doing a big action movie. Aliens completely changed what made Alien special

[@mrzurkon6013]

@LarryHazard Hi Ridley!

[@Monkey_Boy9602]

When I was in 6th grade, a kid used to draw this weird creature with a wrench coming out of its' mouth. One day, I finally asked him, "Why's it got a wrench in its' mouth?" and he told me that, "It's not a wrench. It's a second mouth." I was confused. Until "Alien 3" came out. I went with a neighborhood friend to see it in the theater, and while he thought it was alright, I, without anything else to compare it to and because it had Charles S. Dutton in it (I was a fan of "Roc", a series on Fox), I thought it was damn cool! It was a few years later before I saw the others that came before it and I'll agree that they were better, but the three as a whole definitely work as a trilogy. "Alien Resurrection", which I also saw in theaters, is dumb fun for me. I just think that Ron Perlman is hilarious in this movie!

[@Wolf10media]

Interestingly enough my first taste with the Alien franchise started with Aliens then Alien. Then later Alien 3 and Resurrection. Aliens was so amazing and the first one upon first viewing scared me white. And I watched it in daylight. The third movie scared me just the same as the first and I knew Dulton as well from Roc. Love that series next to Mr. Cooper and Parenthood. Resurrection was quite fun, I definitely enjoyed Perlman's antics throughout that movie. Specially him shooting a spider for simply jump scaring him. Shame where the franchise went as the years moved.

[@Flint-Dibble-the-Don]

Roc was good. Came on after Married with Children right? That or the Simpsons. Or neither, my memory sucks lol.

[@Monkey_Boy9602]

@@Flint-Dibble-the-Don I do believe you were right the first time! "The Simpsons"-"Married with Children"-"Roc" is the order I remember them coming on.

[@worsethanhitlerpt.2539]

I remember before the internet and widespread pics of Xenomorphs nobody could describe exactly what they looked like

[@tommymarco]

good times

[@Druffmaul]

I was 10 when Alien hit theaters, and thanks to reading Starlog magazine I was all over it. Obsessed with it for years. I was over the moon when Aliens finally came out, I'd wanted a sequel for so long, and I loved it just as much as the original. But as time went by, I gradually realized more and more, it belongs in the bin with the rest of the sequels. The original stands alone for me. Can't roll my eyes hard enough any time I hear someone claim it's better than the original.

[@WarlockX4]

Exactly. Finally, someone who sees the genius of the 1st movie over the sequel.

[@jneilson7568]

I'm leaning more that way these days, as it ushered in the idea of the Alien as cannon fodder instead of a strange, unknowable lifeform with ancient origins we'll never really understand.

[@chexfan2000]

The problem with Prometheus and Alien: Covenant was that they sucked all the cool unknown stuff and the “worker class under siege by the uncaring cruelties of the universe and their bosses simultaneously” thing while also portraying the character who were seeking out this information as idiots who deserved to get dunked on for how stupid they were. The tone of the entire thing was “get a load of THESE guys trying to FIND OUT STUFF??? they shouldn’t have even TRIED” and while the audience agreed in theory, the unfortunate truth for Scott is that we all were perfectly aware that he was the one WRITING the damn thing. He made the characters do the stuff they did, and then punished them for it, when nobody does a single thing the audience can relate to and barely anyone to root for, while dumping lore reveals we would have preferred remain unwritten. the contemptuous tone ends up creating something that, in a very basic sense, is in poor taste. Like, it TASTES bad, much in the same way as the hand wavey “sequel reset” deaths of Hicks and Newt, but more abstractly. We can point to those two characters and say “we liked them, and you just acted like they were unnecessary ephemera that you needed to push away as fast as possible so you could try to repeat earlier emotional beats instead of building on what got established.” But there’s nothing like that, not exactly, for Prometheus, because there aren’t loveable characters being killed, so we can’t anthropomorphize the problem so easily. The writing has the same hamfisted contempt for ideas and concepts we treasured, though, and treats them as just as unnecessary. In that sense, it remains about the horror of an uncaring universe imposing a horrible reality on our treasured illusory one, proving our inability to prevent our suffering from a greater power, it’s just that now it’s not transportative. it doesn’t illuminate new perspectives by allowing us to think about it differently, it leaves us in our seats watching a lousy movie that exists because of corporate greed and the overindulged egos of detached overcomplimented auteurs. This too, is well tread territory for the franchise, so nothing is gained, not even some sort of awakening to La Revolución! edit: actually this franchise DID finally teach me how to fully embrace the idea that I’m allowed to decide when a piece of serialized fiction ends for me. Alien and Aliens are too good, so I just… decided that I was gonna allow that to be MY ending, in that I don’t have to stop imagining a future for Ripley’s found family just because Alien3 said so. That’s just… a lame timeline that never went anywhere cool, so I’m under no obligation to consider it. When it’s all fiction, stories can’t be ruined by later stories unless you allow them to. You ALLOW art to have real estate in your mind and heart, it is a PRIVILEGE for the artist to access your feelings, despite whatever ego-poisoned nonsense rantings you may hear from overcompensating insecure artists on the subject. If you don’t feel that a piece of art is treating your mind and heart with the respect those spaces are due, you are under no obligation to continue to host the offender.

[@RM_VFX]

Scott is a big part of why Alien was so successful. But far from the only one. Like so many classics, it was a perfect storm of talent, from O'Bannon to Shusett to Cobb to Giler/Hill, to Giger, they all made vital contributions with their individual genius. It wasn't an auteur effort. And Ridley seems to currently suffer from the end of life existentialism that many elderly filmmakers do: every story (witness Prometheus, Covenant, Blade Runner 2049, and probably Gladiator 2) becomes about the meaning of life and legacy, rather than preying on the audience's primal fears, which was the whole theme of this series originally.

[@ExMachina70]

I watched Aliens in the theater and I have to say that Ripley coming out in the P-5000 Powered Work Loader was hands down the most *"HOOLLEEEFUK"* badass experience in my life.

[@fluffiedoom]

"Get away from her you BITCH!" Just awesome.

[@Krhys1]

The first two movies were incredible, simply incredible. Nothing since comes close.

[@MiloDC]

First movie was incredible. Second movie was very good.

[@IamDamiani]

A lot of people do not like 3 but I do. I know it’s not the best but was better the 4.

[@oerthling]

@@IamDamiani I'm of the opposite opinion. Neither 3 nor 4 are great. But 3 started badly and was all together unoriginal. Just more people running scared in dark tunnels, getting picked off by aliens. We had all that on 1 and 2. #3 is just more of the same. #4 at least had some original parts, more interesting characters and a few fun bits of dialogue. Yes, it was a mess and the alien "child" was terrible, but at least it had some new parts.

[@kayzee3595]

@@MiloDCYou’re one of those fanatic haters who intentionally “hate” the greatest film director and underwater explorer of all time, aren’t you? That’s what I call “also a fan, just an anti-fan” 😏

[@MiloDC]

​@@kayzee3595 YOU are the fanatic. I can say that I think a movie is very good (my exact words), and you interpret it as "hate" because you're batshit head-over-heels in love with _Aliens_ , like every other space marine-loving FPS video game-playing fanboy who loves the one-liners and thinks the alien queen is a bitchin' boss monster. _Aliens_ is a highly entertaining popcorn blockbuster action movie (one that I love, I've seen it many times) that nevertheless isn't in the same league as the first film. _Aliens_ is dated (not a lot, but it definitely shows its age) while _Alien_ still looks like it came out last week. Next-level acting, art direction, music, creature design, and directing techniques, all of which filmmakers are STILL copying to this day.

[@Drak976]

8:25 I'll never understand James Cameron. He was so 100% right and that's what makes Terminator 2 and Aliens so great. How this same man then just made Avatar water world I don't understand. Avatar 1 was ground breaking for it's time even if not well remembered. 2 was what? The same movie in the o'chin? 11:43 Omg flashback to that. Was that at the end of the Aliens 2 VHS maybe? I always thought it was going to be Earth Hive. Me and my friends thought 4 was going to be Earth Hive as well or a prelude to it. One of the first amazing IPs to get butchered. 40:15 My Dad's buddy had me absolutely convinced those loaders were real and used in various cases lol.

[@incomingincoming1133]

The answer is obvious. They have replaced all our influential ppl with clones.

[@alejandrojuarez5640]

Agreed about Cameron. I really like the first Avatar even though it's clearly derivative of all sorts of other movies. But knowing how James Cameron created two of the greatest sci-fi sequels ever to two completely different franchises gave me a lot of hope he could really elevate his own Avatar franchise to a new critical high. But Avatar 2 unfortunately didn't do it for me. The effects were great like I was expecting, and the movie looked amazing on the giant IMAX screen I saw it on. But the story and characters left so much to be desired. I'm probably not going to re-watch this one the same way I do the first one, and no scene in particular really stands out the way the first movie did. Maybe things will be better for Avatar 3. One can only hope.

[@TheUltimateBastich]

Cameron didn't make a good movie since True Lies. None of the Avatars were good. On top of that he put a nail in the coffin for Terminator - it was his idea to kill off John in Dark Fate, and this is after he had balls to whine about Alien 3 killing off Newt and Hicks. Dude is a hypocrite.

[@tronam]

Avatar 1 is now essentially a prelude. A2-4 are one continuous story told over 4 films. They’ve all been written since 2017, so at least there will be better continuity moving forward.

[@Widderic]

He went woke.

[@igooog]

I didn't mind Prometheus But holy horse did Covenant make me nope out faster than a pope in a poorhouse

[@ryanf7441]

What Ridley did to the Alien franchise with his prequels is worse than what Lucas did to Star Wars with his prequels. And now both franchises are lacking any sort of creativity whatsoever since Disney owns them

[@Theu131]

Napoleon, Exodus, body of lies, alien covenant, Prometheus, Robin Hood… Only non flop Scott has made in the last 20 years is the Martian. Guy lost his edge a while ago unfortunately . He gets to make movies now because of his early success, kind of like shyamalan. Wow can’t believe that comparison just came up in my head. So sad :(

[@mikaelnilsson8041]

The "space jockey" being a bio suit... Such a ridiculous idea.

[@enterbalak]

Why?

[@zinncomicsandart8811]

there was a time when creatives made movies , now executives do . Until Hollywood gets its head out of it's a$$ and lets creatives make movies again they will continue to fail . Executive ran movies suck .

[@alabamafreak]

Personally, this is how I see it: the problem isn't the fact that they continued to make more movies after Aliens, it's that all of them are lesser rehashes of the first two. Like in my opinion, both Alien 3 and Resurrection might've been more acceptable or even better if they didn't bring Ripley back and just moved on to a new cast of characters with a whole new situation. Even though that would've been hard to do, since Sigourney Weaver is pretty much what Arnold Schwarzenegger is to Terminator.

[@danielwesterlund1905]

Orson Welles said that the enemy of art is the absence of limitations. Guys like Ridley Scott and George Lucas initially work under limitations, produce good things together with others, become big and successful individually, and then no longer have to deal with those limitations that reined them in and curbed their excesses.

[@pohjanakka4992]

If Weaver wanted out that badly, the third movie probably should have kept Newt and Hicks alive, then go for adult Newt as the next main character. Considering how stupidly the characters in Prometheus and whatever that thing coming after is called - oh, Covenant - act, the only conclusion I can think of is that since they are some sort of prequels the cryosleep system back then tended to cause serious brain damage to most people who used it. Hated those movies - well, I actually bothered to watch only Prometheus, the hints about the plot of the sequel sounded stupid enough that I refused to bother with it - mostly due to the idiotic decisions of those supposed scientists and crew members. It's not particularly interesting when the plot happens mostly because the characters keep making stupid choices.

[@terrylandess6072]

Hearing her claim how uncomfortable she was being in a film with 'SO MANY GUNS' was not anything I needed to hear. That's her personal feelings. Keep those at home or on talk show circuits. As a viewer I don't need that kind of tripe echoing in my head when I watch her do a professional job.

[@ElftheDog]

@@terrylandess6072when she said that it was an interview on a talk show….what are you going on about?

[@dylansmit3883]

Covenant is a great comedy though. Best slapstick in years.

[@ukestudio3002]

Would hardly call "The Day the Earth stood Still" ..laughable. Many other sci-fi films of that era also iconic, probably not in "special effects" but in story, suspense drama; captivating audiences of the 40’s-80’s. I still put up popcorn to re-watch these, as a non-guilty pleasure. I also liked ‘Alien’ .

[@SexycuteStudios]

I wonder what the OP would thnk about Planet of the Vampires, then.

[@gaynzz6841]

I just looked it up.... saw flying saucers... yeah not laughable at all. It's absolutely ridiculous

[@KingClovis]

I hadn't heard Disney was making an Alien movie. But I shouldn't be surprised... if it sucks!

[@redpillnibbler4423]

Snow White and the 7 Facehuggers anyone?

[@NobleRaider2747]

Prey was made under Disney, so....

[@robertbrown3413]

The best thing to do when the inevitable Disney-Alien arrives is stay further away from it than any sensible person would with a face hugger!

[@NobleRaider2747]

@@robertbrown3413 I'm giving it a chance. Fede has a good horror filmography under his belt, I trust him to have delivered. Ridley can go die in a hole for all I care.

[@robertbrown3413]

@@NobleRaider2747 I wouldn't waste another 2 hours+ of my life as with 'Covenant". While Gozilla -1 (and Toho Studios) shows that an old franchise can make a good movie, Disney is the kiss of death!

[@ikept_the_jethryk2421]

Maybe this is outside your zone, but the Fantastic Beasts series is a great example of this syndrome. The original gets a free set of world-building from the Harry Potter world without saddling itself with the characters and themes. This gave it the whole movie to focus on great characters in what is really a Doctor Who story. They could have sent Newt and his companions anywhere in the world. But the studio didn't care about that. They wanted all the HP merchandisable content crammed into the sequels, along with the mandatory current-year politics. And the result was a huge waste.

[@OneTinyDancer]

"Weavers flawless depiction...", really? She's always been a so so actress. She was extremely lucky to land the role that launched her career. Which ever woman that would have been the 1st Ripley would have been in Ghost Busters...

[@CMDR_Verm]

Your praise for Alien and Aliens is spot on, couldn't agree more. Alien was cosmic horror at its best. I'd even stretch to saying Alien3 wasn't a complete disaster but only after watching the Assembly Cut, or whatever the hell it was called. After that, forget it. Prometheus was Ridley selling out and giving us exactly what he said he'd tried to avoid in the original, a ''man in a rubber suit'' for the Engineer, never mind the alien (small ''a'' on purpose). I won't waste words on Covenant, but only hope that Alien: Romulus puts the franchise back on track. The upcoming TV series too. Fans of Alien know the Space Jockey wasn't an Engineer, it belonged to a totally different race as depicted in the comics and novels that have sprung from the original movie. It may take a constant mental effort but I can expunge anything after Aliens from my memory and have my own personal nightmares.

[@stepheng1523]

Imagine a PROPER david fincher alien movie.... what a sin

[@HappyTribble]

"Public enemy number one" Damon L. I loved that line, because it's so very true. Also, for those detesting Alien 3, give the Assembly Cut a try, it saves the film.

[@slang1517]

The Assembly cut changes very little, other than adding a few bad, unfinished special effects, and a 2 minute subplot about the crazy guy letting the alien loose. I definitely wouldn't recommend the Assembly cut to a first time viewer.

[@CaptainCanuck1975]

You'd think it would be impossible to screw up a movie where Brad Dourif plays a mad scientist, but the makers of Alien Resurrection pulled it off. I remember someone praising A:R saying it was "silly and fun." Those words should never be used to describe an Alien movie. Help us, Alien: Romulus. You're our only hope.

[@vadoksam9235]

"a series of sequels that never quite lived up to the intensity". Sure, but Aliens was far more successful and rewatched than the original. Its a legendary movie. I prefer the first one but most people love the 2nd. Its almost better in every way on a technical level. Apart from creepy factor.

[@Mopantsu]

I was in my early teens when I stumbled across a crazy 'comic book' called 'Heavy Metal' (Metal Hurlant in France). I was an avid 2000AD reader at the time but was looking for something a little more mature to read (HM had some adult themes in it including sex so...). Anyhow they ran an article on Alien with some screenshots and I was like 'Whoa! I need to see this!'. I managed to get into a screening all by my lonesome (yes there was audience but I went alone). Getting home that night without constantly looking over my shoulder was a challenge! Been a big fan since but let down a number of times since Aliens.

[@unbearifiedbear1885]

Have always loved 2000AD but man there is something _so_ special about the art in HM

[@SewTubular]

I saw the original ALIEN with a friend from school and we were expecting a Star Trek movie. We had no idea what we were in for. ( it was an IMAX theater too )

[@festol1]

Alien is Giger. Period. Mr Scott and Mr Cameron were very important. But the audience and studio forgot that the creature is the center of the movie. PS: CGI make it worse.

[@Brucifer72]

Brutally accurate. Well done. It has been hard to watch the saga get worse and worse, then hope only to be dissapointed agian. Also kind of ironic that a franchise with a strong continual subplot of corporate fuckery actually suffers from real world corporate fuckery.

[@outsideintel]

lolll I actually hadn't even thought about it from that perspective! Thanks for the love

[@Mekon74]

Absolutely this. Ridley Scott has utterly ruined the franchise p permanently with his pseudo-philosophical origin stories of Aliens, robots, engineers and rewriting even evolution. The fact that he's produced and been involved with Romulus is a kiss of death. It's openly connected to all the films including his last two clusterfucks and that's tragic. I despair.

[@BUGHUNTER6]

Wtf, how is the Newborn alien the "worst creature design"? It might not have been what people wanted, but it was undeniably impressive

[@zosterinski]

It’s a miracle whenever a good movie is made (especially one that needs a substantial budget) considering the amount of hoops it needs to pass through. “They didn’t like gigers work”…ffs

[@SewTubular]

Prometheus's main story was NOT about the Xenomorphs, it was about the Engineers. I had a blast the first time I saw Prometheus, and was dying to see the next film which was supposed to be David and Elisabeth going to the Engineers home-world. Was very pissed when I saw the first teasers for Covenant. Not the film that was promised...

[@jerichomarsh3681]

In the late 1960s and 1970s sci fi films like 2001, a clockwork orange, planet of the apes, Andromeda strain, zardoz, demon seed, west world, future world, soylent green, silent running and various others. Sci fi had moved beyond b movies long before alien or star wars.

[@redpillnibbler4423]

Absolutely.

[@outsideintel]

Fair point! I guess our perspective was more from a mainstream sense. On name recognition alone you're going to have vastly more people who know about Alien as opposed to Zardoz. I should also say (whether it's warranted or not) that personally I put a lot of the more creature-centric films like Alien, Predator, etc. in a separate category from 2001, Clockwork Orange, etc. Again, whether that makes sense to anyone else other than me? Who knows lol. I appreciate your comment though because it's very true that there were definitely other people pushing the genre forward! - David

[@deadfool3344]

So rhsi is what happed to David​@@outsideintel

[@grimnir7749]

35:02 This, to me, is the biggest contention I have about the prometheus duology! This is supposed to be a creature of mystique, an unknown mystery of the universe that unfortunately fell upon humanity! Now they're telling us an android did it!!! What?!?!?!?

[@WhatisReal11]

Alien 3 is more like Alien than Aliens... its highly underrated

[@Greedisgood-qy2ed]

and the mainstream audience is too dumb to get it

[@howilearned2stopworrying508]

The Black Goo felt like it could be an XFiles tie in

[@paulaburrows8660]

Alien is my all time favourite. I especially enjoy the first 45 minutes or so, discovering the signal, LV426 and of course the derelict. The mystery of the Space Jockey was fascinating. All of that ruined by two more crappy "modern audience" movies

[@terrylandess6072]

I like when they are about to leave orbit for the planet you can hear something like: Okay, the money's secure . . . More script to show the corporate side of the situation.

[@worsethanhitlerpt.2539]

I like ALIEN more before the Alien arrives too its an amazing monster but the Facehugger and Space Jockey are better. Nothing could live up to the wonder that the Space Jockey presents

[@uutdiegodzilla3821]

Does anyone remember the Golgafrinchams? When I saw the way the crew of the Covenant behaved after landing on a *foreign* planet, I thought: "Must be that the people on earth tried to get rid of all their dumb people, and managed to shoot them into space!" Whatever planet these settlers would have colonized, the answer would have always been 42! 😄

[@uutdiegodzilla3821]

@@group-music 100%! 👍🏻

[@origami83]

I love your dig at disney, because it most likely will be true. Alien 3 and 4 will look like masterpieces in hindsight

[@brazil-y2y]

Exactly!

[@caucasoidape8838]

They might as well make a "Contra" movie instead.

[@LanceVanceDance84]

Speaking as someone who loves the first two films and ignores everything that came after (though Alien Isolation was really fun), Noah Hawley's upcoming Alien series for FX has actually got the best chance of correcting the course of this franchise. The work he's done with both Fargo and Legion has been absolutely phenomenal, which leaves me optimistic that his take on Alien will be much more in line with what most of us have been wanting for years. If there's anyone who can save Alien, it's him.

[@origami83]

@@LanceVanceDance84 If its something new that doesnt crap all over what came before i will be easily pleased!

[@Vanilladye]

Alien 3. That garbage that was Alien 4 will never be considered anything worthwhile, period.

[@tuckerprice5521]

Thank you for including my favourite line from the entire franchise! I think everyone knows which Ripley quote I'm talking about.

[@BruceVial]

just found this channel today, top quaility videos, surprised only 7.5k subs, a real hidden gem here.

[@dennisearle]

Great analysis. Thanks. The fusion of ancient aliens and the Alien universe really grated on me; and, I'm someone who's wanted to see a serious ancient aliens movie forever. I just wish Hollywood wouldn't try to seek to franchise every great movie. They just end up destroying their own amazing creations. Someone once told me that characters need a back story; but, the audience doesn't have to actually see it. I guess Hollywood just sees back stories and origin stories as ways to rake in more dollars.

[@alexanderwatson1980]

Ridley Scott is a tired old drunk, who has pickled his brain with bourbon and waxes obsessively about androids, likely in some semi-sub-conscious desire to live beyond his years. Blade Runner - androids which, according to the author of the original work on which it based, he fundamentally misunderstood. Aliens - literally a movie about aliens, and he turns it into androids. Raise By Wolves - more goddamn androids. The man is a cinematic genius. He is a terrible storyteller, who's best years are behind him, and he should be kept far, far away from the greatest IP in film or science fiction history.

[@kennythecomiccollector]

I’m a huge fan of the Alien franchise. The timeline sequence of Alien related films and audiobooks I like to watch & listen to are: Movie: Alien Audiobook: River of Pain (cast version) Audiobook: Out of the Shadows (cast version) Movie: Aliens Audiobook: Alien 3 - Lance Henriksen and Michael Biehn Audiobook: Sea of Sorrows

[@anyone-f2r]

The best video I've watched explaining this subject!

[@crash-ew6hw]

15:08 depressed xenomorph cracks me up so hard rn

[@oerthling]

What are you all talking about? There's 2 Alien movies and they are both great. Exactly like the Terminator Duology.

[@Red_Lion2000]

Here here.

[@MajorJakas]

That Geiger guy totally seems OG. Original Goth.

[@matiasmoulin2126]

He was. I lived in the same town. He was a national freak.

[@qarljohnson4971]

Worth also remembering the role of two other vital design artists who came along to "Alien" from the Jodorowsky "Dune" artists gang: Moebius and Ron Cobb. Moebius was the artist whose suit designs determined the "Alien" space suit design. Ron Cobb designed most of the Nostromo.

[@kzinful]

I was one of those who witnessed this masterwork when it premiered in 1979. After the chest buster scene many in the theater sat in the aisles because they were too frighten to return to their seats, it was wild. And of course that was soon followed by Burke getting killed by the now large Xenomorph. From there on it was relentless. We loved the mystery of the pilot, how the derelict ship looked, with its mix of the biomechanical and yes, sexual, just look at Gigers works, its there pilgrim...lol. Some things are best left unanswered Ridley, yes?

[@Curly_Swivelman]

Here after Romulus, Can report: They did pretty good to be honest.

[@reloadpsi]

I was not disappointed. I disliked some parts of the movie, but I certainly didn't dislike the movie as a whole. And all the Star Wars brats were afraid Disney were gonna ruin Alien. Womp-womp.

[@etherealceleste]

Truckers in Space is why Alien was so freaking amazing.

[@danqarious4733]

People don't get why things are scaring... The unknown and the mystery behind it all; That's why The Thing surpasses Alien-Series despite having two movies

[@kayzee3595]

The thing is overrated.

[@direktive4]

it's like they don't even do focus group testing anymore

[@terrylandess6072]

What do we consumers know?

[@direktive4]

@@terrylandess6072 they dont care what you know, they want to know what keeps your attention, what’ll keep you coming back, what’ll get you to spend money, etc

[@terrylandess6072]

@@direktive4 They could just ask instead of assuming everything is about the lowest common denominator. :) Asking isn't the same as responding to digital bullies whom don't represent a majority.

[@SexycuteStudios]

Nah, it's all dictated by algorithms now.

[@THEremiXFACTOR]

Alien is a stunning film. For many years we only had it on VHS/TV, but with HD formats (and if you've been lucky enough to see it at a theater) you can appreciate how beautiful the cinematography is. Every frame is perfect.

[@brianbell3836]

The greatest movie of all time?

[@taofist]

"Aliens" was JUST as good as "Alien"...it was just a different kind of film...a war-thriller, rather than a horror movie.

[@基督教是光和道路]

"It was trod on by those with the least talent" Literally ALL modern media.

[@DarkWestern]

2:38 - It is genuinely refreshing to hear someone actually pronounce Giger's name properly. Bravo.

[@EvenStevenChannel]

Bewildering how u fail to mention The Assembly Cut of Alien³ It's an amazing improvement and a brilliant movie

[@xBINARYGODx]

clearly he kept it to official/canon/blah blah blah more bewildering is I see another comment about this version but no copypaste about how to access it myself. Shame on you - spread the good word or begone thot

[@erroneous6947]

The William Gibson script?

[@chilled99]

Google it

[@chilled99]

Google it

[@chilled99]

Google it

[@ewaf88]

One of the problems with Prometheus was that the crew were stupid in one respect In a film of this nature, the writers and Directors, have to give credibility to the incredible. In the original Alien film, Ripley wouldn't let Kane in, for fear of contamination. Yet here, the crew go down to an Alien planet, and set foot without any proper protective gear. No sensors in the World could analyse a massive planet and declare it free of hazards. This one act destroyed the film's credibility.

[@nathanahubbard1975]

Well, I never watched Resurrection because Alien 3 was so bad. I also never saw Covenant because Prometheus was so bad. After watching this, I know I made the right decision both times, decades apart.

[@extofer]

I liked Prometheus and even some parts of Covenant, but I completely understand why people don’t. Prometheus in particular had the opportunity to explore its ideas in more intelligent ways. The idea of the space jockey race is so intriguing. Instead we got a bunch of characters that constantly make ridiculous choices, ultimately leading to the confrontation with the engineer that could have been its saving grace. Instead it answered nothing. The reasons why I liked it more than others did is more about how the aesthetic and world building we did get was interesting enough to me to want to see the next film. The parts of covenant I did like was along those same lines. I wanted to know more about this world. I was ultimately disappointed though because it became more of a run of the mill generic alien film. The ending was still pretty well executed by the actors. I believed when she realizes that it’s David she’s talking to, that she has a sense of horror and despair that she is about to go to sleep. I would have liked to see it through to the next film - perhaps they could have redeemed that arc somehow especially because it seemed like they weren’t on the actual engineer homeworld and we could have gotten more answers - but it looks like that won’t happen (which is probably a good thing for most fans).

[@linkinparkrulz2275]

The ending totally ruined the film for me. So you have this super intelligent creature that wakes up after an unknown amount of years, and instead of trying to communicate or persuade the humans to perhaps get some information as to what's going on, he immediately murders them. I get that he wanted to make the movie scary but it was so hamfisted it completely collapsed the entire premise for "generic movie monster" third act every film has to have.

[@gaynzz6841]

@@linkinparkrulz2275 You didn't understand the movie.

[@linkinparkrulz2275]

I understood the movie too well@@gaynzz6841

[@AllenSmithe]

​@@linkinparkrulz2275 he converses with David and Waylen before killing them, you can find the dialog and translations with a simple search.

[@fusionspace175]

I think maybe you just didn't understand that the X in xenomorph was really a cross the entire time.

[@linkinparkrulz2275]

Xeno means other or foreign

[@fusionspace175]

@@linkinparkrulz2275 What was jesus but the foreign spirit of god, bound in a human body on earth? And yea, his chest did burst three days later, and he ascended up to heaven.

[@PatrickMcGowan-ch4ho]

I like to think that Prometheus and Covenant are set in a different dimension or timeline which explains the discrepancies. Wotcha.

[@shroomzzz]

Literally, the best documentary content I've seen since Vice.

[@KevinoftheCosmos]

awesome doc, I needed the boost of inspiration i got from watching. xoxo