The Real Reason Why the Alien Sequels Sucked [RE-UPLOAD]

[@storyrant]

Since KZbin age-gated this video, I've since re-edited it to ensure it won't get flagged. Please drop your likes and share this video around! :) Eric's Links: My debut cyberpunk/cosmic horror book just got an epic re-release with a sick new cover, check it out! www.amazon.com/dp/B0DJDZ73PD/ Links to Books and Socials: linktr.ee/EricMalikyte

[@miller-joel]

I don't think you understood Aliens, though. It wasn't about the alien(s). We had already seen the alien's life cycle, etc. None of that was going to be a surprise anymore after Alien. Aliens is about Ripley, her trauma, facing her nightmares, and having a second chance to be a mother after losing her daughter. That's the genius of Cameron, taking the story in a very different direction without disrespecting or contracting the original. Trying to replicate Alien would have been a disaster. In fact, you can't even rewatch Alien and replicate the experience, because the mystery is gone. You already know Kane is going to be facehugged and chestbursted, you already know Ash is an android, etc. It's like hearing a joke again after knowing the punchline. You may enjoy the retelling of the joke or the story, but the power of that first experience is gone forever. 3 is a disaster in many ways. Mainly, breaking continuity with that stupid magic egg on the Sulaco, and killing Hicks and Newt in the opening credits, making the first two movies pointless. And then Ripley dies. The opposite of what the first two movies were about: Surviving seemingly impossible odds by being resourceful and brave. 4 is a cartoonish parody of itself, but not a huge middle finger like 3.

[@storyrant]

Oh, I understand all that about Aliens, but that discussion really isn't part of the scope of this video, which is why it's really just a foot-note here and frankly does not have to be said because it's blatantly obvious. There's a lot more to the original Alien than just the life cycle of the creature, though. Many people look at Alien and don't really think about what the alien actually represents thematically, and that's a general problem with media analysis online. The first film's ending is also extremely bleak. Ripley does survive, but that survival may as well be a death sentence out in the black of space where it is extremely unlikely she'll be rescued. It's not necessarily about surviving against all odds. 3 and 4 fail because they fail to understand the cosmic horror themes of the first film. 3 tries to recapture the original's bleak atmosphere without understanding those inner, thematic workings, and becomes nothing more than a simple creature feature. And I agree about the 4th film entirely, it's a campy mess.

[@Paul_1971]

The engineers don't even scale the same as the Space Jockey - hate any of the Alien movies with the 'engineers' & the black goo nonsense that can do anything the plot dictates. They don't even sync with the originals.

[@storyrant]

Yep. I was really enjoying Romulus until they mentioned the goo. If they were going to use black goo, it should have been like William Gibson intended, by having them evolve this viral capability to spread via viral load. Would have been terrifying.

[@Paul_1971]

@@storyrant Another thing I hated about Romulus was the Rook/Ash thing. At this point am sick & tired of this digital Weekend at Bernies sh!te, attempting to resurrect dead actors who can no longer have any input or say in their characters performance, what was the point of him being based on Ian Holm anyway, it could've been anyone - except for MEMBERBERRIES! Hell if it was Ridley crowbarring in the goo & engineers stuff, he might as well just get Fassbender back in instead to really gel it to his prequel nonsense.

[@jesusramirezromo2037]

​@@storyrant Romulus at least fixed the Goo and Xenomorph origin The engineers didn't make it, They just harvested it from the Xenomorph

[@storyrant]

I've only seen Romulus once. I may have missed that part. I'm probably going to revisit the movie when it comes out on Blue Ray.

[@jesusramirezromo2037]

@@storyrant It's in the scene where the Android is explaining the goo, They only refined it, It's the substance that Facehuggers use to implant the chesturburster (it doesn't implant an embryo, it implants the substance wich develops into a xenomorph with dna from the host)

[@BlackStar250874]

Space Jockey was terrifying and mysterious, because your mind kept throwing things in. What they were? And from where? And what happened in Prometheus was disecting all that to kitty litter. I have seen Alien like few trillion times. First time as a kid during 80's. And yes, it gave me nightmares.

[@storyrant]

YES!

[@Imylover]

What is also so sad is that in the first 2 Alien films they made such effort to try to hide the fact that it was a guy in a suit (even if in some moments it was impossible to hide the fact). And, even if we jump from Xeno to Engineer, what did the Spacejockey end up being, in the very plot itself? A guy in a suit! Talk about going against all original movie making logic when even the plot openly shows what they behind the scenes desperately were trying to hide. It shows just how much the mind-set of the actual production of making an Alien film has changed fundamentally.

[@AbirTarafdar]

Go check out CM Kosemen’s breakdown of the derelict and space jockey. It’s really, really good, and will transport both you blokes back to 1979. I promise you.

[@Posts_Comments]

Our alien is called a Xenomorph, the name meaning 'foreign form', because it doesn't have one single form, it accentuates the hostile features of its host with a robust, incredibly energy efficient biomechanical structure with a very hostile ant-like hive behaviour. I always thought it was called the perfect organism not because it could be super sneaky or kill easily, but because it could invade any ecosystem, impregnate the dominant life form on that planet taking all it's traits that have perfectly adapted it to that environment, dialing up it's offensive and defencive abilities and overnight replacing it as the new dominant life form, with it's hive-like mentality making every creature it spawns work together for the sole purpose of domination of that environment. No deliberation, no morality, no fanfare. This was not taken advantage of at all in the movies. We only ever see it use a dog as a host, and even then it looked far too much like the human spawned xenomorph, trading their imagination for recognition. There's a lot of questions that the films raised that I'm sure everyone has their own head canon for. They're obviosuly not naturally evolved creatures, so who made them? What purpose? What is the space Jockey, and Is it a biological componant of the machinary or a species that naturally evolved? Why were they carrying eggs? Where were they going and where from? Why haven't humans seen the space jokeys before.. Or have we.. Where are they now? How many other space fairing intelligent species are out there, do they interact, are they at war, are they long gone and how? How did Wayland Yutani know about the xenomorph? And so many more questions. The biggest problem with these movies (ignoring the poor writing/characters) (Prometheus, Covenant) in my opinion isn't that they tried to answer them, but that the answers they gave lack creativity, they're bland.. Not knowing was more exciting than the answers we were given. The space jockeys? Albino body builders who also created you using black goo Every question you have about the xenomorph? Black goo.. Who created the xenomorph and why? A delusional android that went from experimenting with black goo with the motivation to be a better creator than his own, to wanting to create the perfect weaponized organism to destroy his creators and the engineers (Fuck I hate that they're called that). The black goo was used as a cheap tool by the writer to try to create different flavours of the xeno we know and love that might as bloody well be magic, it was used to give the delusional android its' power and will never be explained, because it can't be... You can't even use your imagination to answer what it is, because after seeing its' inconsistent directional effects, you'll always be wrong. The fact is, it is and always will be whatever the writer wants it to be and do. And that's pathetic. To further that, Romulus just tries to recreate the first movie, they don't just lack creativity, they put a torch to it. While typing this, I was struggling not to type up better ideas/answers I just came up with on the spot lol.

[@randallbesch2424]

The black strain xenomorphs are Engineers' products as a new form of labor. Ones built so well they rebelled the ultimate workers became renegade. And what do some humans do? They play up the worst elements of the xenomorphs. The failures they see as ideal for their limited view of them as mere weapons.

[@grisflyt]

If I remember, Scott threw out all those questions as uninteresting and not what the fans want. People want bigger issues. Like God. Scott has gone religious on us, see?

[@voopu]

My personal beef with the prequels is more than anything that they messed with the origin of the alien. Sure,in later movies we saw that David did not create the Aliens, but Prometheus really made it seem that way. In later installements it was made to be still artificially created by the engineers, which brings me to my main point: What I personally found so terrifying was that the alien was an animal and not a bio weapon. Hear me out on this: For once, you have the unknown factor and you can take some aspects of our own planet's fauna and play around with. Then, imagine what kind of ecosystem out there is so messed up that this kind of creature evolved? What are other parts of that ecosystem? And, if this is just one random species, what other worlds out there hide millions of the same level of terrifying creatures out there? This is what frightened and enamoured me to this series back then. You could argue that a species intelligent enough out there to create such a terrifying bio weapon is way more scary, but honestly, seeing the kind of evil that mankind created with way lesser technology makes a killer organism kind of not stand out.

[@storyrant]

@@voopu The reason why the bio-weapon angle doesn't bother me has everything to do with my love of Shoggoths in Lovecraftian horror. But I absolutely can see it the other way too. Maybe it would have worked better if they EVOLVED the viral reproductive ability in Gibson's drafts?

[@christianpoint0888]

Well done !

[@callumdent]

I had similar thoguhts. One of the thing i was told when i was younger about humans compared to most other if not all other animals on this planet is that we make the einviroment adapt to us, not the other way round. I liek the idea that the Aliens do somthing similar, turning any world the end up on into a massive hive, consuming and convering all other viable life forms, redcuing the planet to nothing, waiting for another chance to spread across the galaxy.

[@treborkroy5280]

It's from was too biomechanical, too "perfect" to be natural. Sorry but it's lore is consistent. It was found like cargo in a giant biomech spaceship. Onin aliens the sequel did it start to be more animal like. And "natural"

[@storyrant]

I liken them to Shoggoths in the Cthulhu Mythos. Though they were created by the Elder Things, they are extremely dangerous and are pretty unpredictable. If Xenos took a page out of some of the more horrific and creative things done with Shoggoths then they would be truly terrifying.

[@aerynstormcrow]

Side note: I could never enjoy Ian Holm as Bilbo Baggins bc he will forever be seared into my head as Ashe 😅

[@storyrant]

He's another one of those chameleon actors who physically transforms for every one of his roles. For years, I never made the connection that Bilbo and Ash were the same guy.

[@MILDMONSTER1234]

Why there are still ridley scott fanboys who defend Covenant is something ill never understand

[@storyrant]

I'm guessing they've never heard of Dan O'Bannon or HP Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness? It's very strange.

[@steverambo4692]

It used lots of big words and philosophy mumbo jumbo so they feel smart

[@storyrant]

And yet failed to do any lick of research into the science of things. "Half a billion miles." lmfao

[@mechinate]

I'd say David Gyler had more of an impact on the world we see in Alien and Aliens than Dan O'Bannon.

[@alltheflavors9673]

@@mechinate lol, Giler did an excellent job. O'Bannon brought Giger onboard and was working with him since the beginning, he came up with the stowaway alien slasher, the egg with the face hugger and Shusett came up with the chest burster, many talents worked for Alien.

[@Robert-ju6ub]

I begged my dad to let me watch Alien as a kid, which he had on VHS. He finally said I could watch the first ten minutes. Even THAT gave me nightmares! The atmosphere was so full of dread, I picked up on it right away. Great memory 😂

[@daverobson3084]

Why does he keep calling Ian Holm's character " Asher"? I cannot find a single source calling the character anything other than " Ash".

[@GBDupree]

I wondered the same thing, and I finally found a reply he made. Apparently in his comic book he has a character named Asher and accidentally kept calling Ash that because of habit. So that is why.

[@daverobson3084]

@@GBDupree Yes. Long discussion with him on other comment .

[@tonymcnamee2741]

You are exactly right. Voicing my opinions over and over. Mystery. I saw Alien and Aliens very young and was terrified and fascinated equally. Especially by the Space Jockey. I remember trying to draw it from memory and constantly wondering what it could be. How old was it? Was it the pilot of the ship? Why was it melded to the structure? Did it have legs in there? How did it get face hugged? What I didn't realise at the time was it was that mystery that made it so brilliant. The unknowable. I literally teared up at the engineers when I first saw Prometheus. All wrong and also not to the scale of the Space Jockey. Man that film hurt.

[@callumdent]

I really enjoyed this video, thank you for the re-edit, as much of a pain as it must have been. I listened to it at work and i can’t use my youtube account to watch so anything age restricted is a no go for me. Cosmic horror has always gone over my head, both with Aliens and other films series like the terminator, and i like seeing the monster as it were. But I don’t like the idea of the xenomorph species being a bio engineered creature. I’ve always liked the idea of them just being a product of alien evolution, a reminder that nature is impressive and that it hates you. I’ve been pinging some idea round my head for what i would like to have seen in an Alien sequel post Aliens and I would have like to have seen an Alien infestation happen to a large population center, like the planet at the start of Romulus or my preferred setting, a mining ship. Im not talking like the tug boat in Alien, i mean something like the size of the Red Dwarf, a floating city, with the grim hierarchy of life. From lowly bottom fo the ladder maintenance personnel to over worked and over stressed officers, over seeing the break down of asteroids and space debris, balancing the cost of resources, lives included in the calculations, against how much they can harvest and for how long. Humanity crammed into a massive tin can and told to get on with it. I think it would be interesting to see examples of how different groups of survivors deal with a Xenomorph infestation, picked up from a mined asteroid, some sacrificing themselves to save other groups while others do horrible acts for the “greater good” such as opening up other locations to draw the Aliens to “lesser crew” to save their members as they hunt for supplies or escape. I would like to see the idea played out as the human crew number’s drop, the Alien numbers grow and as more of them take over larger parts of the ship, the lights start to go out, air isn’t being cycled as much and the heat increases. Leading to the suffocating conclusion that the Aliens are turning the mining ship into a “hive ship”. Cosmic horror goes over my head, but how awful or noble people can be in a crisis, I think that would be worth showing in an Alien story.

[@kenhammscousin4716]

Alien had some very innovative cinematography that always struck me. Like, even in the 90's as a kid, movies from the 70's were like old, grainy, bad acting, just unattractive... Even Star Wars has a definite 70's feel, but Alien really felt more like a late 80's early 90's movie and i loved it.

[@Strelok762]

For the love of God, it's Ash not Asher 😂

[@storyrant]

I know. The text is up there as a correction. For some reason I misremembered it and no one caught it.

[@Strelok762]

@@storyrant ohh ok, sorry I'm listening to it vs watching the vid. Lol

[@storyrant]

Nah, you're fine. I'm sure it won't be the last comment about this. lol I got a lot of comments about this in the original upload (that got age-gated cause KZbin). It's kind of a great example of how unreliable human memory is. If you know anything about the "Mandela Effect" conspiracy theory, it all comes from people basically misremembering quotes from movies. For example, "Luke, I am your father" is actually, "No, I am your father." It probably doesn't help that I've got a character named Asher in my Suleniar's Engima book series. lol Now though, I double and triple check names to make sure I'm not misremembering them, cause I can't trust my ADHD ass.

[@randallbesch2424]

@@storyrant Mandela effect is a memory problem.

[@krops2331]

@@randallbesch2424 ehhh, I would say that the Mandela Effect could be a memory problem, except I personally experienced the Apollo 13 movie switch. Started with somebody saying that people misremembered the line "Houston, we've had a problem", thinking they said "Houston, we have a problem". I thought for sure it was always "Houston, we have a problem", but, watching a clip on youtube, it did, indeed, say "Houston, we've had a problem." I had a hard time believing it was always "we've had a problem" but was willing to think, somehow, I had gotten that wrong. Don't know how, but, I guess I did. Well, as it turns out, somebody said it changed BACK to "we have a problem", and, sure enough, it did. I know the ORIGINAL quote from the actual mission was "We've had a problem", but in the clip it was definitely saying "We've had a problem".... until it didn't, instead saying "we have a problem". I know 100% that this happened, for sure. It wasn't a delusion. I will never change my mind on this happening. Same thing happened with "Froot Loops". Somebody said it was now "Fruit Loops", and, again, sure enough, pictures showed it was, again, had always been, "Fruit Loops". Thought, no, I know for sure it was "Froot Loops", but, pictures showed it was "Fruit Loops". Changed back, too. This one could have been faked, I guess, because I never actually went and checked the physical box myself, but I saw a lot of sources showing boxes with the "Fruit Loops" spelling. I'm willing to admit I could be wrong on this one. Same with Flintstones being Flinstones for awhile. Again, could be wrong on this one, because I never actually verified it for myself, but saw multiple sources talking about it. Berenstain bears has never changed from Berenstain, though I do think I remember it being Berenstein. I'm willing to believe I just got that one wrong. At this point, though, I have no idea what is true, lol. I know it sounds stupid and insane, but these things did happen. I have ZERO freaking clue how this stuff happened, or why. I really don't know what to make of it. It's just so weird, but it does prove, to me, that reality is just freaking weird and I have no real idea of what it is. Didn't mean to write a long reply on something stupid like this, but it was a real mind **** when it happened. Feel like I'm wasting time actually posting this, but it sure was, and is, weird.

[@normalhuman9878]

I follow the Alien vs Predator canon. The new movies are just a separate canon that I prefer to put aside

[@cagneybillingsley2165]

this is a problem with sequels that come out decades later. a lot of the original collaborative talent have left the industry or life itself.

[@CMDR_Verm]

Thanks for a very insightful and personal video. I agree totally, the first movie will always be the best. The derelict ship and the Space Jockey were the stuff of nightmares and so many questions. Nowadays I often stop the DVD at that point, I don't need the bloody alien lol.

[@storyrant]

I totally get what you mean. I mean, the alien is awesome, but that sequence is where it's at.

[@group-music]

Fyfield isn't a biologist in Prometheus. He's a geologist. Not that it matters, it's an embarrassing movie from a senile director.

[@storyrant]

That's the stoner, though, right? His buddy's the biologist I think.

[@group-music]

Yes, although Fyfield is the one freaked out by the "engineer's" body.​@@storyrant

[@group-music]

I'm sorry. I don't understand your comment. ​@@treborkroy5280

[@storyrant]

Dude, what the fuck are you talking about? I can barely decipher that sentence.

[@group-music]

@@storyrant Well you could understand it the last time you replied to it a month ago. Oh did you mean to reply to @treborkroy5280 ?

[@Spartan_803]

Handsome Squidward can work as the space jockey. It's just the way it was handled which I don't like.

[@Rizzo1812]

Why do people still think the refinery is part of the Nostromo ? Its the cargo its towing . The Nostromo is what lands on the planet .

[@storyrant]

The establishing shot makes this confusing by labeling the whole thing the Nostromo. Someone explained this to me in the original version of this video and it clicked.

[@discasting]

Good video essay! It pretty well sums up things I've been ruminating slowly for years, particularly after seeing Prometheus in theater and being disappointed. However, I wish you had mentioned something about nature of sequels in general, no matter what genre, cosmic horror or not, the whole concept of sequels of themselves are very problematic in itself as W. Adorno wrote. I just wish you had thrown some quotes from his text regarding movie sequels. I don't completely oppose doing sequels as he did, but regardless he had very good points how the American culture particularly cultivates this idea of sequels and the audience is much more comfortable with the sequels exactly because there is less new, less unknown - less art. More you think cinema as an art form more difficult it becomes as the movies suppose to gain audience and make profit. Film studios nowadays seem to allow writers and directors less and less opportunities to take risks that are necessary to produce phenomenal, excellent cinematic art.

[@thelegendrubyrodd]

I like alien resurrection 🤷‍♂️🤷🫄

[@commanderkruge]

And a hole in a spaceship does not mean "implosion". It's the opposite.

[@storyrant]

I know. I made a mistake.

[@commanderkruge]

Parker tells Lambert not to "get away" so he can "throw himself at the alien" - he wants to use his flamethrower. He only attempts to go mano a mano when it becomes clear Lambert is frozen by fear.

[@miller-joel]

Huh? He tells her to get OUT of the way, so he can use the flamethrower.

[@storyrant]

When I say "throw himself at it" it's meant to be more metaphorical, because he's actively putting himself in danger, risking his skin.

[@scottricci5063]

Yeah, instead of the whole Engineer concept, it would've been better if The Derelict had just been an extraterrestrial ship that crash landed on a moon and somehow unearthed a dormant nest of Alien eggs.

[@storyrant]

Someone commented that the compartment Kane goes down is actually a cave not connected to the ship, but I haven't gone back and confirmed Kane calls it that. Still, Ridley Scott was huffing Ancient Alien juice when he made Prometheus and crapped all over Dan O'Bannon and co's work.

[@group-music]

@@storyrant Kane says he's in "A cave of some sort".

[@treborkroy5280]

There is nothing explained in Prometheus. What was "learned" that changed anything we already knew or know in the first film?

[@daverobson3084]

"...and they still bleed acid, so you don't want to kill them on a spaceship because IMPLOSION is a bad way to die..." There wouldn't be any " implosion". That would require a HIGHER pressure outside the ship, as opposed to the ( near) perfect vacuum of space. What you would get is decompression, or, much less likely, an explosive decompression. Never an "implosion".

[@Ason19]

You could have made this longer imo. I love stuff like this playing in the background for walks etc. keep up the good work

[@storyrant]

I'm working on more.

[@voidwalker7774]

The black goo, makes only sense IF the facehuggers produce it in small amounts and this is what allows the Xenomorphs to adapt to any host. The engineers saw the potential in it and used as base for they tech which is based on gen editing, thats why everything is such a giger like organic design, because it is ogranic machines. Now Wayland-Yutani wants this stuff, because unlimited gen-editing capabilities. This makes sense. You can even tie humans and engineers together, because they created us to be the perfect host for the Xenomorph. EVERYTHING ELSE DOES NOT MAKE SENSE. David creating aliens, this strange mutations. David killing everything on the planet. The stupidity of the people and Romolus ooooh boy, dont get me started.

[@randallbesch2424]

The xenos are inorganic life-forms barely read as anything other than machines.

[@treborkroy5280]

It's the black goo that the face huggers are inserting into their prey.

[@mobbs6426]

I always use the steam engine as my example of resurrected technology. The steam engine was invented in the Roman era, but didn't see commercial use until some madman said, "lets make it 100x bigger and strap it to some iron wheels. How do we steer it? More iron!"

[@Icspiders247]

I liked the egg morphing scene in the first movie. Brings the big area full of eggs and the horror of where they came from back around to the end.

[@BigGahmBoss]

The only thing I would debate from the opening 90 seconds is the idea that every horror franchise has diminishing returns. NoES3 is the best Freddy movie And yes, I know you were just generalizing. And we could compile a list of decent horror sequels if we tried. But, ya know. The internet. Opinions and engagement and whatnot

[@storyrant]

Yeah, it's not true across the board. Evil Dead is a great example, as while I don't enjoy the reboots as much there probably isn't a bad film in the series.

[@BigGahmBoss]

@@storyrant Evil Dead is another great example

[@storyrant]

I'm thinking about doing an Evil Dead 2 essay.

[@shaon317]

Dropping a like and a comment for the excellent kitty.

[@storyrant]

Kitty!

[@jamesknight3070]

At this point I have given up on the franchise and just stick to the ones I like, ignoring the existence of the explanations for basically everything. I rewatched Pandorum for the first time since 2009 and it was a breath of fresh air, not least because all of my questions from 15 years ago haven't been ruined by prequels/ sequels.

[@storyrant]

Pandorum's on my list for a rewatch, since I haven't seen it since it came out. :) But, I agree for the most part. Part of me is always going to want that "dream Alien movie" that exists in my head, but we can ultimately learn important lessons from the failure of these films and create better stories in the future.

[@frenchcoupon3391]

Disagree on Alien Resurrection (but totally agree on Alien 3)- it is a visual masterpieces, but the lack of action scenes, the too soon death of the best secondary characters, downscaled settings (lacks the grandeur of the first 2) and lacks the Whedon original last 4th act (but without the “winged” alien). Other than that- an amazing commercial Alien. Because art-house doesn’t have to be the staple of the better movies.

[@treborkroy5280]

It's an awesome comic book in film kinda movie.

[@iaingeddes4288]

It’s just occurred to me that if the trope of overcoming space travel for humans is hyper/cryosleep, then surely that technology could be used for anyone on the base planet to which said travellers plan to return. If synchronised, this would negate variable ageing rates and avoid subsequent drama and conflict of missing out on familial milestones, such as birthdays, graduations weddings or extinctions. Or is that pure science fiction ? Or is extended mortality the preserve of cosmic hauliers alone? Just saying

[@ASSLEVANIA]

That’s a good idea! Another idea I caught from an Alien/The Thing-esque 80’s anime OVA called Lily Cat is the concept of criminals going into hibernation for years or decades on the downlow to avoid persecution & wake up later after they’ve been presumed dead or missing. And the OVA goes nowhere with that idea. That and your idea are really clever ways of thinking of that kind of technology & how people could & would use/abuse it in that universe.

[@StrickenGhoul]

Giger was a consultant on Prometheus and there is bts video of him and Scott going over designs.

[@storyrant]

He provided an alleged 30 illustrations. Whether or not they were used in the final product is up to speculation. In any case. The film is garbage.

[@StrickenGhoul]

@@storyrant well yeah, Scott is a self absorbed egotistical asshole who threatens, belittles and bullies people so he can get his way even when he is clearly wrong and trying to do way too many things without having clear definitions of what those things are.

[@storyrant]

Yeah, the more I learn about him the less I like him.

[@JohnJohn-yl4ko]

I just noticed and realised how weird the marines look when walking around the planet without spacesuits on.

[@randallbesch2424]

Atmosphere processors for 20 years...should have clued you in.

[@teamhren1000]

@32:48 veteran here! No, they're not. They're an 80s action cliche. In my experience, very few films ever capture what it's like in the service.

[@shadquirk607]

Imo there is a single scene that catapults Alien into god tier quality, and that's the scene where Dallas and Kane are assessing the planet the signal is coming from, and Lambert is close by smoking. At this point a careful observer would of picked up on the subtle signifiers in regards to Lambert's personal, emotional feelings towards Kane and Dallas. We've seen her responses when they both speak, seen her glances and reactions, we should have a clear idea that there is attraction to both men, but most importantly that the attraction is different. Again imo it feels like a sexual attraction to Kane, and a leadership attraction to Dallas. There is a deep respect there for Dallas, a rigid sense of attention when he speaks or 'leads' a scene, where as there is more of a shy, looking but not looking type behavior towards Kane. So back to the scene, we have Kane and Dallas poring over the details coming through, exited and deep into their curiosity, we have Kane's sedated but obvious exuberance and Dallas' more clinical, measured response. But in the background we see Lambert smoking, clearly agitated, all nervous tension. I implore people to watch her carefully, watch her responses to each of them speaking. She jumps when Kane exerts excitedly that he'll volunteer for a ground reconnaissance, in what looks to be fear for someone she cares about. When very soon after Dallas states that Lambert will join them we don't see relief that she will be with this person she cares about, we see an introspective, deep, very deep fear. This performance imo is not just on the level of Pacinos famous scene in The Godfather, where Michael finds within himself the ability to do the most vile of things, I think this performance is better. Also watching Ash, and only Ash, in every scene he is in, is a literal acting lesson. Edit- also I'm not convinced that The Big Chap in Alien has acid for blood, and am personally one of the small contingent of fans that love Aliens, but believe that Cameron completely ruined the Alien as an organism. The facehugger having acid as a protection system makes sense, but there doesn't seem to be much biological sense for the bigger, evolved xenomorph to use acid as a protection system. But that's been argued to death but people far more knowledgeable and dedicated than me lol.

[@storyrant]

Absolutely, you hit the nail on the head here. The performances in Alien are seriously next level. Everything from Ash's creepy ass leers, Lambert's relationships with the other crew members, Brett and Parker's relationship, it's all so wonderfully subtle. It seriously needs to be talked about more.

[@ilikeknives1000]

the funny thing is that after the first 2 alien and first 2 predator movies the lore is largely contained in the comic books which ironically the new movie gets some of it's story from along with the first avp movie in the arctic

[@mattm8870]

Antarctic not artic.

[@jonwashburn7999]

Ash/Asher/Ashes

[@storyrant]

Ashly. Ashley. Shop smart. Shop S Mart.

[@yhzh2002]

I think the path back to a more cosmic horror flavored take on Alien was completely closed by Covenant, but it's been closing steadily even from Aliens, especially by the novels and comics, despite their non-canon status. We know way too much about them now, and have seen them stand in as generic sci-fi monsters too many times. I don't think even a full reboot would help at this point with how Covenant has colored our perception of the Xenomorph as having somewhat mundane origins.

[@jordyalmonte42]

Idc what anyone says Alien 3 (especially Director’s Cut) isn’t as bad as people make it out to be.

[@storyrant]

I'm glad you enjoy it. I just couldn't get past the issues with it in my last re-watch. That could change again in the future, you never know, but for now, I dislike it.

[@miller-joel]

No, it's worse.

[@randyphillips6506]

It’s solid

[@miller-joel]

@@randyphillips6506 A solid turd.

[@mechinate]

There is no such thing as 'Alien 3 Director's Cut'. Its director disowned it.

[@Shadowdemon2311]

My theory is the xenomorph realized it was isolated due to how Queens communicate with drones so it became Big Chap. cocooning people was a fruitless instinct.

[@storyrant]

But that requires Aliens to have already been conceived. There was no concept of a queen or hive behavior in the original film.

[@jasonself783]

The nostromo was designed to look like a haunted castle in space

[@jennaherman3859]

In the alien universe, mammalian beings not in hypersleep pods when undergoing ftl drive tend to develop psychotic tendencies. And you could argue how close daivid is to humans mentally this is why he too could be changed during the travel to lv-223

[@storyrant]

Would have loved to have actually SEEN that in one of the films. Imagine if the reason why going to FTL speeds does this is because it forces humans to bear witness to the cosmic terror hidden behind the veil of the universe, something akin to Yog Sothoth.

[@jennaherman3859]

@@storyrant it has something to do with the type of ftl jump drive mechanics and the way that the energy waves and time dilation affects the brain. I only learned the why of the hyper sleep pods due to also being a ttrpg buff and reading the alien rpg books recently put out

[@storyrant]

Oooh, you mean the one from Free League? Is it good? I've been wanting to give it a go.

[@jennaherman3859]

@@storyrant I guess you could say that there may be several movies intertwined, blade runner is tied to the aliens universe, why not others which have developed a kind of cosmic horror to their ftl drives.

[@jennaherman3859]

@@storyrant yeah I downloaded it because I got nobody to play with but it has a lot of information (sort of ignoring 3, and resurrection). They are releasing a 2nd edition soon I have heard

[@DamonCzanik]

Asher? Really? 😏 Someone put into a single video what I've been saying for years. Thank you. The genius (for me) of Terminator 2, & Aliens is uncovering more of that "iceberg" & NOT remaking the same movie. They felt fresh, but at the same time they still follow the same formula: Both Alien & Aliens feature: a mystery that lures them to a dangerous planet, Ripley's being ignored, the crew encountering a hostile alien species that decimates their numbers, there's corporate betrayal, tension through atmospheric claustrophobia in confined spaces, a dramatic escape from an impending explosion, a fake-out ending with the alien returning when thought defeated, Ripley ejecting the big alien into space through an airlock. T1 & T2 revolve around a Terminator sent to kill a key target, an underdog sent to protect them, intense chases, relentless pursuit, and climactic battles in industrial settings. Both films feature a fake-out moment where the Terminator seems defeated but returns for one final attack, & both end with the destruction of the villainous Terminator, conviently with the one thing around that can destroy it. Another example is Nightmare 3: The Dream Warriors where they're trying to use dream powers to defeat Freddy. Same tropes, same rules, but they feel very different. Like poetry, they rhyme. Different, but same same. People want the sequels to be more like the original. But then, it's just remaking the same movie. This is how you get Jaws 2, Predator 2, Ghostbusters 2, Hangover 2, Home Alone 2, Taken 2, etc. They maybe fine but they're never as good as the original. And writers of sequels. If we're attached to characters don't fucking kill them off in the first moments of your sequel! Everybody who survived Aliens dies. It was a slap to the face. 30+ years later I am still mad about it. Girl too old? Recast. It's a big part why I can't stand Alien³. Terminator: Dark Fate unceremoniously killed John Connor just to replace him with another John Connor (this time with boobs). Alien³ killed everything I loved about Aliens. Alien Resurrection introduced a lamer alien. Prometheus turned the mysterious Space Jockeys into albino Gym bros & suggested they're mad because we killed their space Jesus. Covenant made the Alien, not an alien. Our creation made them. They're just our grandkids now. Sorry for the novel. They just irritate the hell out of me.

[@Dmcs1917]

This is a great analysis man. Agree with pretty much all of it. Real shame hoe much has been fucked up since the original

[@storyrant]

Yeah, the silver lining though is that we can learn from these mistakes to make better stories, especially in the fairly unexplored Cthulhupunk genre (cyberpunk + cosmic horror). There's so much potential for great stories that can fill the void.

[@Rizzo1812]

​@@storyrant unfortunately Holywood never learns from its mistakes .

[@storyrant]

I mean, you're not wrong there. Execs are duuuumb.

[@finisterfoul]

Great essay!

[@MagicE13]

After watching Romulus, I have a new found respect for Resurrection, but I always liked Alien 3, I felt it was a really good send off for the franchise, the bleakness fits the Alien tone and you get some good movie quotes, Alien 3 tries to be about the characters redeeming themselves, it comes across more of a Jacob's Ladder scenario where Ripley is in purgatory. The main theme for Alien 3 being - Sacrifice. In the Novelization for Alien Resurrection the Aliens are suffering from 'Individuality', which from the perspective of the Aliens confuses the F out them, it is also why the Alien would not 'Sacrifice itself for the good of the Hive', I think they are meant to be talking but it does come across as barking. I also will always suggest Out of the Shadows, River of Pain and Sea of Sorrows to any Alien fan.

[@Balevolt]

Mat Paintings are amazing. I wish we brought them back

[@seancepticon]

Are you calling Ash, Asher? Driving me crazy…

[@storyrant]

Yeah, I have a character named Asher and got confused. The names in Alien aren't given a whole lot of importance, and are often a little confusing because of the focus on surnames.

[@seancepticon]

I disagree, names are important. Ash is the name of the android, while Asher is not. If you want to gain credibility, getting the names of the characters is important. Mistakes happen though I guess.

[@daverobson3084]

I asked the same thing. Even checked IMDB and my old copy of the novel to see.

[@storyrant]

@@daverobson3084 And there are several answers as to why.

[@daverobson3084]

@@storyrant I saw the " other character " one. What are the others?

[@BobJenkins-ez1jl]

Who the hell is Asher?! You claim to have seen alien a number of times. Yet you don't know the name of the android who is referred to in the movie as ash.

[@storyrant]

Are you listening only, because I have the correction on screen. I have a character named Asher, so it got stuck in my head.

[@randallbesch2424]

@@storyrant And that is how things can go wonky. Confusion.

[@alexwilmes9496]

He’s using the British pronunciation

[@Aeon2Flux]

What is creepier than Ash sitting next to Ripley is how the hell he got into the room without her or us noticing. In the womb room ,the door closes right after you enter and sit. Now maybe she was really zoned out into the Exchange with Mother..Even the air changes like a vacuum when the door opens like pressure..Its bothered me how ,but not nearly as much as its effectiveness as a scary moment..Ash is a Sidler. I wonder if she gave Bishop a case of Tic Tacs 57 yrs. later to assure not getting creeped up on? 🤔 hmm

[@cassivellaunushonestus4927]

Implosion isn't such a bad way to go since it's pretty instantaneous. However spaceships don't implode since that would require external pressure and in a vacuum there is no external pressure.

[@storyrant]

Yeah, my bad. Got that one wrong.

[@cassivellaunushonestus4927]

@@storyrant No problem, I may be a bit on the spectrum and thus nitpicky about such things...

[@adamduffield7782]

The 3 best alien media, are Alien, Aliens, and Alien Isolation, all 3 are incredible

[@FRADAVE02]

I spent decades thinking that the alien pilot was from a race evolved from an elephantine background! Finding out, years later, what the Engineers actually looked like was one of life's disappointments!

[@thehackmusician]

Great work

[@storyrant]

Thank you.

[@randallbesch2424]

Excellent analysis I found it refreshing.

[@craigamore2319]

Every time you say "Asher" instead of "Ash," my head wants to explode.

[@SoullessAIMusic]

For decades we called this movie space Truckers in space stuck in a haunted house. Yet here we are, seeing the film Alien fall underneath the Magnificent Banner and ever stretching definition of cosmic horror. Frankly I think it is an overused and Bloated definition. We are to the point where anything extraterrestrial with a hint of Mystery is shoved underneath this banner. I guess that's my long-winded version of, no you're wrong. It's A Haunted House movie in space.

[@frenchcoupon3391]

I can give you 3 cheap Alien (1) SFX, which make, technically and lore wise, Aliens a superior movie: - Jazz Hands (too human like gesture!!!) of the Alien killing Parker/ >compare it to outer earthly Aliens movements (opening Tank doors, pulling Hudson, jumping on the Elevator doors to get Hicks and Ripley, hiding in crevasses and blending perfectly with the environment etc) *Alien shadow when he appears behind Lambert (come on- that’s clearly a man in suit!!!). The movements are again- too human like. -Alien waking up and putting his f… rubber hand to the side in the Narcissus -One more: Alien dangling outside Narcissus like a rag doll when attached to the harpoon 🤦‍♂️ * I get the love for this movie- I adore it, but all these man in suit quirks take me out of the movie. Whereas Aliens has just one such moment- the hand of the Queen trying to get Newt under the floor. That’s it. - Also- can someone acknowledge for the Christ sake- Alien “playing” an invisible harp?! Again when it approaches Lambert 🤦‍♂️

[@flow-re5357]

Blud yappin, solid video tho 👍

[@storyrant]

What's blud yappin?

[@Specklewingdun]

Lovecrafts quote explains why I never felt as positive about ‘Aliens”as I did the original. Been there, done that, let’s shoot them. The prequels’ Engineers were a terrible disappointment as they represented a major element that helped create the initial dread we felt during the original but then ignored their actual appearance. The message in the original is clear. There is a huge universe out there full of the unknown and the Zeno in all of its forms was just one very nasty part of it. So the engineers ended up being portrayed as pale body builders who could kill old men and chase women. Whoop de doo. Where’d the mystery go?

[@PapaWooody]

Sucked is a very strong word ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@CWRardin]

Dallas said they were only halfway there. They must have been in hypersleep for 10 months

[@storyrant]

Well, if they're halfway there and it's been 10 months, it probably means it'll take another 10 months in hypersleep before they get home.

[@TheCriiss180]

I will watch it again dont worry

[@storyrant]

Excellent. :) Thank you for the support! Octal is hard at work on the next essay in this series (it's over an hour long).

[@michaeldavis2001]

There is no-one named Asher in Alien.

[@BURDYMAN777]

Found you on bio and goegraphics.. work on your lighting please.. the contrast between the "movie theatre" and jumping to you in your overlit room kind of ruins the video.. great speculation though

[@scifiguy26]

I've been saying it for a while they know Got damn well the space jockey was not an engineer the jockey was bigger you can tell that was his bones not a biomechanical suit... then Ridley Scott went senile and came up with this engineer & black goo bull💩 😆

[@iseeundeadpeople9]

Humans can be irrational. They can also be bad writers.

[@Ming1975]

I hated all the movies after the second one.

[@comentedonakeyboard]

On the bright side: you did not have to bother about Alien vs Predator

[@storyrant]

I mean, we'll see if I cover it in the future. It's been ages since I've seen it, and I never bothered to watch its sequel.

[@kjartanmagnusson3883]

Bellbottoms are back in 😊

[@storyrant]

Whaaaat? No way!

[@mybumstudios1989]

Brohan Sebastian Bach here skipped right over Alien Versus Predator

[@Atrocitus-k2j]

Good analysis, but…who is Ash-er? 😂

[@storyrant]

My brian short circulating in my old age.

[@Atrocitus-k2j]

@@storyrant I can relate 😅

[@storyrant]

@@Atrocitus-k2j It's also why I double-checked and triple checked the names while writing the first part of my Uzumaki video essay.

[@iseeundeadpeople9]

I hate to side with the... overdog? But tape is not more reliable than hard drives.

[@storyrant]

I read a study that suggested that the advantage of tape as a storage medium is that it a) has fewer moving parts, so knocking a tape drive off a desk won't ruin all of the data inside the drive (which has happened to me before), b) lasts longer than HDD tech and also doesn't suffer the same kind of data quality deterioration, and c) they have generally higher temperature tolerances than HDDs. Mind you, unless there's a massive breakthrough in tape technology writing speeds and storage capacity, then it's highly unlikely that we'll ever see it become a popular media.

[@saudade969]

The Prometheus and Covenant movies aren't canon in my mind

[@corbelan4]

Alien and Alien Romulus are the best

[@CrungleTheGoober]

Don’t forget aliens, and isolation.

[@prmediagroupdk]

John Wick.. can keep it fresh🤔

[@storyrant]

There we go. Alien: John Wick. John Wick's dog is taken by a face hugger. John declares war.

[@onlyadonis3936]

Ok it finally drove me overboard. Alien is not Cosmic Horror. Its not even close. Constantly repeating the term doesn't somehow make it true. It takes nore than being set in space to be cosmic horror. JFC.

[@storyrant]

Except, in these videos, I've outlined exactly why I think Alien qualifies, yet the best most of you who disagree can offer is "NUH-UH!" It's fine if you disagree, but don't pretend that I haven't made an argument for my position. And sadly, a lot of you won't even touch my points on themes and metaphor. It's fine if you don't see these things, I'm not saying you have to, but that's the thing...storytelling and media analysis are subjective.

[@CorvusChristie]

Any chance you’d cover some Rob Zombie movies like The Firefly Trilogy? (House of 1000 Corpses, The Devil’s Rejects, Three From Hell). I love the way you dissect the horror and sci-fi genre!

[@storyrant]

If I get enough requests, it's a possibility.

[@Spudcore]

Asher? You've been listening to too much So Solid Crew bruv.

[@storyrant]

No joke, I saw an Asher BLVD street sign and almost took a picture of it to post in the community tab.

[@kiss4luna]

change my mind: promethues and convenant suck harder than avp2

[@storyrant]

I avoided AVP 2.

[@kiss4luna]

@@storyrant you nailed it :)

[@RickCantwell-w5v]

Can any of you who call yourself fans open a book. The urns and black goo have been there since beginning. Did you ever take a second to wonder why Dallas and Brent were melting when Ripley found them. They were being turned into black goo and placed in urns. It's a way the alien can start a new hive when there is no queen. So tired of listening to sudo fans and their complaints. Open a book

[@storyrant]

You can't expect fans of a film to read extended material. That is an INSANE expectation to have. And it's something I'm sure Dan O'Bannon (the creator of Alien) did not intend. Most "fans" will only use the movies to go off of. And we've seen that companies consider the books of many IPs to be non-canon. Also. It's spelled pseudo.

[@ozzbow3507]

I Iike the other films. Just don't consider any of them "Alien" films.! Right from the second to present. Though "A3" kinda took you back there. The concept was effective but the beasts graphic Imaging was left more to CGI, a let down. But they're all more like temprimental amature film college variations on the theme. Political in some variation or other... And not just a simple straight forward 'jump scare' horror flick! Ever also notice that "Life" ( a good film) has a very, all be it enimic ( "the meat, if you will".. ) structure to "Alien". Like someone plagiarised the concept, messed sloppily with the whole scripted. Made a half hearted attempt to gradually unravel the plot to conceal it's origins on the great reveal ( face hugger scene. Re structured for the little cute lifeform.. Forcing it's way into the mouth, and down the throat of one of the astronauts... Digesting them from the inside out..) Then going on to pop them all off. One after the other.. Basic primary structure!

[@jakedizzle]

I’m surprised they never made a prequel to Alien. Seeing as Ash aka Weyland-Yutani already has knowledge of the alien. Must mean they came across it before the Nostromo.

[@storyrant]

I implore you not to finish the video, then. Preserve your world view!

[@randallbesch2424]

Maybe maybe not. I am tired of prequals.

[@djangofett4879]

Alien is the best one in the franchise for sure but i still enjoy the other movies except Resurrection. that one really does suck. i havent seen Romulus and the trailer was very obnoxious so im not really interested.

[@storyrant]

Hey, glad you enjoy them. I used to enjoy Alien 3 more than I do now. Things change with time and perspective. Since going on my own journey as a cosmic horror author, I can't help but look at this series and be a little sad because it could have gone in a really awesome and terrifying direction. :) And Romulus isn't bad. I have a review on the channel that might or might not sell you on it.

[@robynmarler1951]

No, they were very afraid of the snakey thing in Prometheus but they hoped to win it over. I did enjoy the video.

[@storyrant]

This is probably totally subjective, but I think the stoner dude was afraid, but the biologist certainly didn't show any outward sign of caution. lol A wildlife professional would keep their distance from a new species, imo. Glad you enjoyed the video!

[@sourabhkarmakar8040]

Oh look a channel of Cameron-Blomkamp-Biehn cultist.

[@commanderkruge]

"Ash". Not "Escher".

[@storyrant]

Shop smart. Shop S Mart.

[@commanderkruge]

@@storyrant Indeed. :) Dang, I just remember that some ppl make sure to add mistakes to their content so ppl like me will point it out and create interaction. :D Still: overall good video. :)

[@storyrant]

Editing this was like a feaver-dream, man. Thankfully, I'm more thorough and I'm faster. lol I added corrections on-screen, but one dude suggested adding a deadpan "Ash" every time I fucked it up.

[@commanderkruge]

@@storyrant That'd be pretty funny. :)

[@jasonself783]

Asher ?????? WTF ?

[@storyrant]

Shop Smart. Shop S Mart.

[@gold333]

Disagree

[@LukeLovesRose]

Whatever. I love the prequels. I think Prometheus and Covenant are the 3rd best movies in the franchise. There are several videos on KZbin celebrating the prequels. If you people would only give them a chance....

[@storyrant]

Dude, I gave them a chance. It's great that you love them, but don't pretend that I haven't outlined my reasons for disliking them (assuming you got to the end of the video). This trend of people getting pissy whenever someone has the audacity to critique a thing they like is not only annoying, but it's also really sad. It shows a general lack of curiosity when watching and thinking about media. Just because people make videos praising the prequels doesn't mean they're objectively right or wrong. Art is subjective. But if you're going to disregard my points, at least cite your reasons for liking this stuff.

[@MILDMONSTER1234]

Promethues is good but covenant was ass

[@storyrant]

We'll have to agree to disagree on that. I hate Prometheus. I'm not one of those people who tries to tell other people what they should like, though, so good on you if you find something enjoyable about it. :) I wish I could.

[@Kefir-fw2qf]

I felt insulted while watching "Prometheus". It's not science fiction. It's antiscience fiction.

[@storyrant]

It's like there was a deliberate effort not to do any research.

[@davidcunningham9282]

I refer to it as idiots in space with covenant being fast and furious in space

[@richardchildress9031]

bla bla bla

[@CrungleTheGoober]

TikTok addict EXPOSED to a normal KZbin video:

[@richardchildress9031]

@@CrungleTheGoober I dont have tik tok. but i do like getting to the point

[@BigGahmBoss]

First ... Dammit!

[@storyrant]

A little late on that one, sir! Lol

[@Infoulnessyeshallknowthem]

I personally think the biggest reason the first film is so intense is because you believe the actors the direction is solid. The dialogue is solid. The dialogue in aliens is atrocious and the direction in alien three is awful. Alien four is pretty much a joke on itself it would’ve been better off as a scary movie sequel. I would enjoy the Prometheus alien covenant much more if they were just disconnected from the franchise

[@storyrant]

I mean, fair point. Though, the dialog is still good in Aliens, so long as you buy that space marines act and banter the way they do in the film. I've known a handful of marines and they do act close to Hicks and the crew in the film.

[@gamedad7336]

Oh, and if all horror sequels are trash maybe just dont watch them. Lol. Your take is a hot one for sure, but youve not given any credible critique, or any real reason why they dont work. Lol.

[@monkeyzorr3090]

Ridley, is that you? Are you drunk again?

[@handsomestik]

wait......how do the sequels suck? Aliens is godly and Alien 3 is not bad either?

[@storyrant]

Someone didn't watch the video.

[@untroubledwaters2137]

I don't know man, I see movie theater silhouettes like this (2:30) and i just want MST3K. Where's Tom Servo? This...this commentary isn't funny! Help! Where am I?? Whats going on??