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[Robot Pants]

Shocked at how many people are putting Alien 3 in front of Aliens.

For me:
Alien > Aliens > Alien 3 > Alien Resurrection > Prometheus.

That's right. In that order.
Prometheus sucked. Hard.

 

[Mr Swine]

To me its

Alien > Prometheus > Aliens >> Alien Ressurection > AVP2 > Alien 3 > AVP

 

[reggie]

As if the hyperbole in this thread couldn't get any worse, some of you are now ranking Aliens 3/Resurrection higher than Prometheus? lol.

 

[Salvor.Hardin]

As if the hyperbole in this thread couldn't get any worse, some of you are now ranking Aliens 3/Resurrection higher than Prometheus? lol.

Not surprising given the amount of Fincher and Whedon fanboys on gaf.

 

[D.Lo]

Shocked at how many people are putting Alien 3 in front of Aliens.

For me:
Alien > Aliens > Alien 3 > Alien Resurrection > Prometheus.

That's right. In that order.
Prometheus sucked. Hard.

I would have done your order a few months ago, but watching all the movies again on Blu Ray made me drop Aliens way down, mostly because it's really ugly looking. Alien 3 and Resurrection are much, much better shot, lit, edited and coloured than Aliens, even though they have obvious problems.

Otherwise I agree, as I said above I put Prometheus equal or below the AVP films because at least they did what they promised and were designed to do.

 

[DECK'ARD]

As if the hyperbole in this thread couldn't get any worse, some of you are now ranking Aliens 3/Resurrection higher than Prometheus? lol.

I'd put Prometheus about the same as 3, but I dislike the Ancient Aliens angle so much I'd rather divorce it from the whole franchise.

It just isn't a direction they needed to go in.

 

[Tom_Cody]

To me its

Alien > Prometheus > Aliens >> Alien 3 > Alien Ressurection > AVP >> AVP2

Yeah, that's about right

Shocked at how many people are putting Alien 3 in front of Aliens.

For me:
Alien > Aliens > Alien 3 > Alien Resurrection > Prometheus.

That's right. In that order.
Prometheus sucked. Hard.

I am threatened by the righteousness of your words.

Edit:
modified my ranking

 

[eshwaaz]

The make-up on Wayland was fucking AWFUL and looked like a damn joke. I have a friend who just got out of MUD (make-up school) who can make a more convincing old person that that. Fucking Ms Doubtfire's face looked more realistic than that. Out of everything in the entire movie, that was the only thing that SCREAMED "fake" at me and pulled me out of the movie every time he was on screen. It was SO BAD. WTF

I agree completely. From the first moment they showed him, I cringed at how unconvincing the make-up was.

I don't understand why they couldn't just cast an elderly actor, and use make-up and prosthetics to exaggerate the aging if he still didn't look old enough. The whole approach seemed totally unnecessary, and was consistently distracting.

 

[DECK'ARD]

I agree completely. From the first moment they showed him, I cringed at how unconvincing the make-up was.

I don't understand why they couldn't just cast an elderly actor, and use make-up and prosthetics to exaggerate the aging if he still didn't look old enough. The whole approach seemed totally unnecessary, and was consistently distracting.

I still haven't totally ruled out the whole film being an elaborate piss-take.

 

[shintoki]

Visually
AVP2 > Aliens

How the fuck does this even work?

 

[symphonask]

I'd put Prometheus about the same as 3, but I dislike the Ancient Aliens angle so much I'd rather divorce it from the whole franchise.

It just isn't a direction they needed to go in.

Is it that you don't like the premise, or is it that you feel it didn't need to be added to the Alien universe?

Alien series doesn't have much of a mythology to begin with. Alien itself is a B-movie (slasher movie in space). Prometheus expanded the universe. I find the Engineers a compelling new addition to the canon, and would like them explored further in the sequels.

 

[JB1981]

I would have done your order a few months ago, but watching all the movies again on Blu Ray made me drop Aliens way down, mostly because it's really ugly looking. Alien 3 and Resurrection are much, much better shot, lit, edited and coloured than Aliens, even though they have obvious problems.

Otherwise I agree, as I said above I put Prometheus equal or below the AVP films because at least they did what they promised and were designed to do.

OprahWinfreyShakingHead.gif

 

[JB1981]

my big question is why does shaw assume the engineers want to kill them before the engineer starts killing them. shaw and crew stumbled upon a warship that was used for war, but it seemed like a big jump to assume they were going to go to earth to murder everyone.

What do you mean? David tells them where they were/are headed and the ship's cargo is full of black goo bombs.

 

[Replicant]

The make-up on Wayland was fucking AWFUL and looked like a damn joke. I have a friend who just got out of MUD (make-up school) who can make a more convincing old person that that. Fucking Ms Doubtfire's face looked more realistic than that. Out of everything in the entire movie, that was the only thing that SCREAMED "fake" at me and pulled me out of the movie every time he was on screen. It was SO BAD. WTF

This. So much. Fire whoever did the make up. So Godawful. You'd think someone as rich as Weyland can afford better plastic surgeon/botox injection. And don't give me "Weyland is so old" excuse. My grandma died when she was 102 years old and she did not look that bad/wrinkly despite never having any surgery/botox. Vickers is not even that old. How old could Weyland be?

 

[BattleMonkey]

AVP1 over 2? Come on, they both sucked but AVP1 was just so bad and boring... those fat predators *shudder*. 2 at least had bad assery and good looking Predator.

 

[Blue Ninja]

Engineers were all make up all awesome. Prob some minor CGI enhancements here and there though.

Weyland did look bad but that could be explained. He was clearly obsessed with immortality if he is willing to fly across the universe and spend a trillion to see the engineers. So it's not out of the question the he used many other means to increase his age some of which made him look like shit.

Has to be creepy as fuck having a few guys run around on set dressed like that.

 

[Man]

I love the look of the engineers. Gregorian monk demigods with biomechanical tech.

 

[Joe Shlabotnik]

The Engineers were guys in suits. These were the same people seen eating lunch in leaked set photos eons ago("xenomorph looking suits with no Xeno-heads").

They made an animatronic of the giant squid as well but it's clearly CGI enhanced in the final film.

The Engineer at the beginning ended up being completely CGI, however. They shot it with a live actor and were going to transition to CGI for the disintegration but the shots never matched up right, so WETA made the whole thing digital.

 

[Emwitus]

Alien >>>>>>>> Alien 3 > Aliens > Alien Resurrection >>>>> AVP1 > Prometheus = AVP2

Even the complete garbage AVP films at least made sense, and the B-movie feel they went for actually fit 'retarded slasher film character' actions.

Visually
Alien >> Prometheus > Alien 3 > Alien Resurrection > AVP1 > AVP2 > Aliens

 

[popeutlal]

Now this planet was not the engineers' home, it was just an empty planet where they housed their weapons and ships, so why did the cave paintings point to this plant and not their home planet?

 

[Man]

Same reason for not wanting to have an airfield or immigration in your backyard I guess.

 

[mantidor]

It may not have been feared as them showing what they intended to create with it? Also, it is possible that this has happened before, as I stated in a previous post, who's to say they hadn't created humans before? Or possibly they created the race of humans from their own DNA as a way to breed the xenomorphs for some other reason?

Honestly who knows what the motives are, and I agree the connection so far seems to be fan-service, however why does it necessarily have to be on the same planet to be connected? This movie obviously shows that there is the possibility for the xenomorphs to exist elsewhere and to have existed elsewhere in the universe before the original Alien movie.

My conclusion is that the goo is the super biological weapon that can mesh with any lifeform and mess them up. The xenophorm, while highly adaptable, is still limited, it needs a host after all, the goo only needs to be ingested, actually all you need is contact with it. We got squid hugger and proto xeno from its interaction with engineers and humans, but the actual xeno from the alien saga might come from other mutation/host, thats why I think that might happen in another planet.

 

[Doublesith]

It's just that a friend of mine is a classical language major and speaks some Latin. According to her, when David speaks to the Space Jockey, the language is very much spoken with Latin roots. She did say that the gist of it was "This man is dying and can you help him live?"

Pretty sure the language was invented by some student at a languages university that Scott chose himself. Story's out there somewhere.

Knowing this I bet it has root in many dead languages and whatnot.

Haven't seen any interviews, but the language sounded like Proto-Indo-European to me. David recites Schleicher's fable as part of his lesson.

 

[Raxum]

My conclusion is that the goo is the super biological weapon that can mesh with any lifeform and mess them up. The xenophorm, while highly adaptable, is still limited, it needs a host after all, the goo only needs to be ingested, actually all you need is contact with it. We got squid hugger and proto xeno from its interaction with engineers and humans, but the actual xeno from the alien saga might come from other mutation/host, thats why I think that might happen in another planet.

That actually makes a lot of sense, especially since when the engineer ingested it at the start and then interacted with the water it reacted by creating life. Or at least I think it was the same black goo. I wonder if the engineers understood all of the properties of the goo and understood at the xenomorphs were an unwanted by-product that occurred from mishandling? Maybe that plaque was meant as a warning?

 

[andycapps]

To me its

Alien > Prometheus > Aliens >> Alien Ressurection > AVP2 > Alien 3 > AVP

Sounds about right to me.. But after Aliens, the lines get really blurred and everything is pretty much shit, but with some decent ideas in there.

 

[Tom_Cody]

AVP1 over 2? Come on, they both sucked but AVP1 was just so bad and boring... those fat predators *shudder*. 2 at least had bad assery and good looking Predator.

Really? I've never understood why the second one is fondly considered to be a fun B-movie and somehow superior to the first.

I found the second painful to sit through. I have a lot to say about this topic but I don't want to write it out while I'm at work.

 

[Tom_Cody]

Haven't seen any interviews, but the language sounded like Proto-Indo-European to me. David recites Schleicher's fable as part of his lesson.

You are correct about Proto-Indo-European and Schleicher's fable. In spite of that, what David says at the end is known only to the creators of the film. According to Lindelof the dialog is specific, Scott just made a deliberate decision to not subtitle it in order to make that scene more ambiguous.

Fun link, the below is a language blog that had speculated about the language in the film. The film's language expert (who cameoed as David's teacher) ended up responding to it in the comments to confirm that the language is Proto-Indo-European:

http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=4008

Anil said,
June 9, 2012 @ 4:34 am

Dear fellow linguists, I congratulate you on the many comments made connecting the language of the 'Engineers' with PIE and/or pseudo-Sanskrit. Some of the guesswork is absolutely spot on - and this is very gratifying to read. I'm sure that Fox would have no issue with the dialogues being presented publicly, now that the film has been released, so I'm looking forward to being able to continue this discussion further. Best wishes,
Anil K Biltoo (SOAS, London).

Greetings, KD and others. Schleichers' Fable is indeed the practice piece used in David's language lesson. Fassbender took, by his own admission, about 17 hours to commit the entire fable to memory - poor man - and RS ended up using only the first line, which runs as follows:

hjewɪs jasmə hwælnə nahəst akʷunsəz dadʳkta (KD

This isn't a million miles away from Kortlandt or Lühr (or, for that matter, Schleicher's original). On the subject of the writing system, let me quash a rumour: it ISN'T of my doing. The use of what resembles a mixed cuneiform/hieroglyphic system, with elements of Eteocypriot and Linear Elamite chucked in for good measure, would not have occurred to me - I'm glad to say. The script comes courtesy of Fox's art department.

 

[Szu]

I don't know if this has been mentioned, but the guys who plays the Engineer at the end also played a Predator in each of the AvP films.

Through him, we've completed the circle of non-continuity.

 

[DECK'ARD]

Is it that you don't like the premise, or is it that you feel it didn't need to be added to the Alien universe?

Alien series doesn't have much of a mythology to begin with. Alien itself is a B-movie (slasher movie in space). Prometheus expanded the universe. I find the Engineers a compelling new addition to the canon, and would like them explored further in the sequels.

I just hate the Ancient Aliens angle, it's really lazy and just asking for all the sorts of problems that opened up. To go with that premise it would have had to have been really well written to make it compelling and believable, and for me it just wasn't.

So the end result I got out of Prometheus, apart from a very beautiful looking film, was something that takes more away from the Alien universe than it adds to it. I really don't care now about the Engineers and their elephant suits, I find them a bit ridiculous and poorly conceived. If a story doesn't stack up don't try and tell it in the first place, the mystery has been shattered and replaced with something for me that I don't buy. Therefore killing any interest in these characters or a sequel.

I just find Prometheus incredibly dumb on lots of levels, which is the one thing I wasn't expecting from the film.

 

[Phoenix]

Shocked at how many people are putting Alien 3 in front of Aliens.

For me:
Alien > Aliens > Alien 3 > Alien Resurrection > Prometheus.

That's right. In that order.
Prometheus sucked. Hard.

It sucked, but hard to say that it's worse than resurrection. Go back and watch it. It's truly awful.

 

[Chichikov]

Weyland did look bad but that could be explained. He was clearly obsessed with immortality if he is willing to fly across the universe and spend a trillion to see the engineers. So it's not out of the question the he used many other means to increase his age some of which made him look like shit.

Let it go man.
It was just bad makeup, not a hint at a great truth or a key to a puzzle.

 

[Phoenix]

The Engineer at the beginning ended up being completely CGI, however. They shot it with a live actor and were going to transition to CGI for the disintegration but the shots never matched up right, so WETA made the whole thing digital.

Great job. Looked very much like a regular non CG shot.

 

[Tom_Cody]

Let it go man.
It was just bad makeup, not a hint at a great truth or a key to a puzzle.

I am one (of an apparent few) that liked the make-up. As others have said, I think it adds to the notion that he is old to the point of decay and he has no business still being alive.

That said, its completely jarring that it is Guy Pierce under the make-up. I honestly think it would look good to someone who had never seen guy pierce, but it is impossible to get over the "Guy Pierce in make-up" thought while looking at the character.

What sucks most of all is it sounds like the young Weyland scenes were awesome as written and what's left of the character in the movie feels like it isn't totally fleshed out.

 

[Tom_Cody]

The Engineer at the beginning ended up being completely CGI, however. They shot it with a live actor and were going to transition to CGI for the disintegration but the shots never matched up right, so WETA made the whole thing digital.

I had no idea. Those shots of the guy in make-up look flawless.

 

[Chichikov]

I am one (of an apparent few) that liked the make-up. As others have said, I think it adds to the notion that he is old to the point of decay and he has no business still being alive.

That said, its completely jarring that it is Guy Pierce under the make-up. I honestly think it would look good to someone who had never seen guy pierce, but it is impossible to get over the "Guy Pierce in make-up" thought while looking at the character.

What sucks most of all is it sounds like the young Weyland scenes were awesome as written and what's left of the character in the movie feels like it isn't totally fleshed out.

So you like it even though it's jarring and screw with your suspension of disbelief?
That's weird.
But to each his own.

 

[Joe Shlabotnik]

Alien > Aliens > Bunch of critically flawed films with fitfully inspired ideas and imagery

 

[andycapps]

I am one (of an apparent few) that liked the make-up. As others have said, I think it adds to the notion that he is old to the point of decay and he has no business still being alive.

That said, its completely jarring that it is Guy Pierce under the make-up. I honestly think it would look good to someone who had never seen guy pierce, but it is impossible to get over the "Guy Pierce in make-up" thought while looking at the character.

What sucks most of all is it sounds like the young Weyland scenes were awesome as written and what's left of the character in the movie feels like it isn't totally fleshed out.

I wouldn't mind seeing some shots of young Weyland on the Blu-ray. Not at all.

 

[DECK'ARD]

Alien > Aliens > Bunch of critically flawed films with fitfully inspired ideas and imagery

That's basically it for me as well.

Although Prometheus suffers from a lack of inspiration in its ideas outside the imagery, the bigger the story you try to tell the more you must make sure the pieces are in place to support it.

 

[fifasnipe2224]

Alien > Aliens > Prometheus > Alien Resurrection > Aliens 3 > AvP
(and I never saw AvP2)

 

[Mr. Sam]

The ultimate, comprehensive, undisputed Alien Anthology ranking list (i.e. my list):

1. Alien
2. Aliens
3. Alien 3
4. Prometheus
5. Alien vs. Predator
6. Alien Resurrection
7. Alien vs. Predator: Requiem

There. Now we know.

 

[Joe Shlabotnik]

That's basically it for me as well.

Although Prometheus suffers from a lack of inspiration in its ideas outside the imagery.

In the broadest sense, I think Prometheus picked fertile ground for interesting ideas, but yes, it doesn't go anywhere with them. There's a thread somewhere in there about the relationship between the creator and the created, and "wanting to kill your parents"--I could probably write a tortured piece about the Xenomorph being a pure biological expression of filial hatred (unwanted "child" + disappointed creator = phallic hatemonster), which is kinda neat. But it's all so muddled.

(Also, the Xenomorph can only be born from the death of both its "parents".)

 

[Count of Monte Sawed-Off]

It sucked, but hard to say that it's worse than resurrection. Go back and watch it. It's truly awful.

Yeah, Prometheus was pretty bad but Resurrection was wretched.

1. Alien
2. Aliens
3. Alien 3
4. Prometheus
5. Resurrection

 

[Deadly Cyclone]

Funny to see people actually putting this after Alien 3/4 and AvP.

For me it would be

1. Alien
2. Aliens
3. Prometheus
4. Alien 3
5. AvP
6. Alien Ressurection
7. AvP 2

 

[Mondriaan]

Except the xenomorph had already been reborn, and their planned destruction of humanity would have made millions of them.

The xenomorphs were the Biblical plague.

I think xenomorphs were the actual intended final product of the goo and mankind was just a tool that was conveniently available to be re-purposed.

My hypothesis is that there is some sort of Engineer war that started recently (maybe 2000 years ago), and the Engineers would have otherwise left mankind alone. I'm going to speculate further and guess that the enemy is machine-based and that the surviving Engineer that met the Prometheus crew reacted poorly as soon as he realized that David was a robot.

 

[noah111]

Funny to see people actually putting this after Alien 3/4 and AvP.

For me it would be

1. Alien
2. Aliens
3. Prometheus
4. Alien 3
5. AvP
6. Alien Ressurection
7. AvP 2

This is accurate. People putting Prometheus under or equal to AVP2? That's pure fucking ignorance right there imo.

 

[Mr. Sam]

The ultimate, comprehensive, undisputed Alien Anthology ranking list (i.e. my list):

1. Alien
2. Aliens
3. Alien 3
4. Prometheus
5. Alien vs. Predator
6. Alien Resurrection
7. Alien vs. Predator: Requiem

There. Now we know.

Yeah, Prometheus was pretty bad but Resurrection was wretched.

1. Alien
2. Aliens
3. Alien 3
4. Prometheus
5. Resurrection

Yeah!

Funny to see people actually putting this after Alien 3/4 and AvP.

For me it would be

1. Alien
2. Aliens
3. Prometheus
4. Alien 3
5. AvP
6. Alien Ressurection
7. AvP 2

Close enough.

 

[DECK'ARD]

I think xenomorphs were the actual intended final product of the goo and mankind was just a tool that was conveniently available to be re-purposed.

My hypothesis is that there is some sort of Engineer war that started recently (maybe 2000 years ago), and the Engineers would have otherwise left mankind alone. I'm going to speculate further and guess that the enemy is machine-based and that the surviving Engineer that met the Prometheus crew reacted poorly as soon as he realized that David was a robot.

Good luck with collecting and transporting all those millions of xenomorphs from Earth, when you already knew how dangerous they were to the point of worshipping them and were not even equipped to contain them on your ship.

Seems a rather stupid plan, as infecting the rival Engineers who were responsible would do the job anyway and the xenomorph cycle is most effective against a biological enemy. So why would they be going to all this trouble (and danger) to use that to wipe out a new robotic enemy rather than appropriating a more suitable weapon?

Unfortunately for Prometheus it seems the most simple explanation is the correct one, because all the themes in the film are handled in such a simplistic manner.

 

[Tom_Cody]

So you like it even though it's jarring and screw with your suspension of disbelief?
That's weird.
But to each his own.

I thought my post was clear, but I guess I can clarify further it you want.

1) I like the design of character as a decaying old man and I think the make-up depicts that concept effectively.

2) I know that it is Guy Pierce and thus I can't shake that thought when looking at the character. That said, in a detached way, I think it looks realistic and would probably be believable to someone that did not know previously that it was Guy Pierce under the make-up.

3) When I say that the overall effect is jarring, I would say the same thing about the "Forrest with historical figures" scene in Forrest Gump. Despite being convincing effects I was taken out of the movie because I knew what I was seeing was not real.

 

[Tom_Cody]

I wouldn't mind seeing some shots of young Weyland on the Blu-ray. Not at all.

Well, the TED talk exists:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpYUW0ekPSA

I'm not sure what else was actually filmed besides that.

I am still totally convinced that there will be a director's cut. I think they are just trying to hide its existence during the initial theatrical run.

 

[Doublesith]

You are correct about Proto-Indo-European and Schleicher's fable. In spite of that, what David says at the end is unknown only to the creators of the film. According to Lindelof the dialog is specif, Scott just made a deliberate decision to not subtitle it in order to make that scene more ambiguous.

Fun link, the below is a language blog that had speculated about the language in the film. The film's language expert (who cameoed as David's teacher) ended up responding to it in the comments to confirm that the language is Proto-Indo-European:

http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=4008

Awesome! Thanks for the link.