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[Alucard]

I have recently gone back and watched a bunch of old movies that I've never seen before. One of the franchises I've always wanted to see was Alien, so I rented all four movies and have watched them all. Anyways, I loved the first one with its slow and eerie pace, liked the second one (Bishop kicked ass), liked the third one (Very T2-like ending), but am not sure what to think of the fourth. Yeah, the queen mother looked REALLY badass, as did the offspring, and the film still had that horror quality about it, but something bothered me about it...

...How the hell did they clone Ripley WITH the alien inside of her? More importantly, how the hell did they retrieve her from the sea of hot lead she died in in Alien 3? I don't think it was at all possible for her to survive that, nevermind come out as unscathed as we see her later on the movie when she's laying naked in that cloning room. So uhh...yeah. What's up with that?

For the record, the first movie is probably my favourite. The whole atmosphere around it is just really damn cool and creepy. Plus, it kind of reminded me of Metroid...

 

[Ferrio]

You had never seen an alien movie before?

 

[Matlock]

Aliens > Alien > Alien Resurrection > Alien 3

Just call the Alien series a bi-logy, and you've got it made.

 

[ManaByte]

Aliens > Alien > Alien Resurrection > Alien 3

Just call the Alien series a bi-logy, and you've got it made.

Aliens > Alien > Alien 3 Extended Cut > Alien Resurrection

 

[Wheeljack539]

You had never seen an alien movie before?

::shrugs:: I hadn't either until they started playing them nonstop on Encore. The only one I haven't seen yet is number 3.

Still gotta see Evil Dead.....

 

[Dead]

Alien >>Aliens >>>>>>>>>>>Alien 3> Alien Resurection

 

[Warm Machine]

4th movie actually completely destroys the serious tone of the franchise with its dumb jokes and stupid circumstances. The French science fiction element to it is very overt thus derailing the mood of the series.

That and the storyline was so compartmentalized and loose that they completely rearranged 2 entire sequences and you can't even tell because these sequences don't build off one another in any meaningful way.

Plus, the newborn Alien thing was the dumbest idea and dumbest design for a creature in the last 30 years.

 

[Brian Fellows]

Still gotta see Evil Dead.....

Dont waste your time........

 

[Alucard]

Alien >>Aliens >>>>>>>>>>>Alien 3> Alien Resurection

That sounds about right to me. The first two were easily the best of the bunch with Alien being my favourite. I loved how it felt very claustrophobic and there were SO many memorable scenes. Seeing that alien attached to someone's face for the first time was really creepy...and finding out that there was a robot on board was also really unexpected.

You had never seen an alien movie before?

Nope. Not until last week. Lately I've been a movie watching junkie though. I've got The Professional and Dune to keep me busy, and then...I'm not sure what I'll watch next. I've never seen any of the Mad Max movies so I might rent those.

 

[Alucard]

Dont waste your time........

I disagree with this post!

Evil Dead certainly isn't for everyone. The first one is actually a little creepy...I was really impressed with the makeup and death sequences for "the dead". Evil Dead 2 is just classic. So many funny moments in a thoroughly entertaining popcorn flick. Then there is Army of Darkness, which is like...the best B movie ever.

 

[Ferrio]

I disagree with this post!

Evil Dead certainly isn't for everyone. The first one is actually a little creepy...I was really impressed with the makeup and death sequences for "the dead". Evil Dead 2 is just classic. So many funny moments in a thoroughly entertaining popcorn flick. Then there is Army of Darkness, which is like...the best B movie ever.

If you're looking for films to watch I got a few suggestions, which you probably have (or would not otherwise) watch.

Any Marx Brother movie.

Examples:

The Cocoanuts
Animal Crackers
Monkey Business
Horse Feathers
Duck Soup
A Night At The Opera
A Day At The Races



You'll laugh your ass off.

 

[Musashi Wins!]

Alien >>Aliens >>>>>>>>>>>Alien 3> Alien Resurection

YES.

 

[The Faceless Master]

Aliens > Alien

Killer Klowns From Outer Space
Weekend At Bernies

 

[Trevelyon]

WTF?


Resurrection was painful. The ending was so, so lame & the design of the Newborn queen thing was so off, that it had me laughing & cringing at the same time. Pretty dissapointing coming from the writing/directing team of Joss Whedon & Jean-Pierre Jeunet.

Not even Perlman could carry this movie.

 

[XS+]

The 'Humalien' garbage AUTOMATICALLY BY DEFAULT drops Resurrection to dead last in the Alien series. Even without that franchise-killing abomination Resurrection was a poor implementation of 'Aliens Remix.' The guy from CSI was a cool character though.

EDIT: I thought Alien3 was OK. Almost in the exact same way Terminator 3 was OK.

 

[Dead]

YES.

I mean Aliens was great and all, but motherfucking Alien....unbelievable

 

[SKluck]

They seriously need to go all George Lucas on Alien 3. The aliens just look SO horrid and out of place with the lighting TOTALLY fucked, that it is hard to watch. Quadrilogy rocks, but come on, fixing the fucking lighting discrepances on the aliens.

 

[Brian Fellows]

I disagree with this post!

Evil Dead certainly isn't for everyone. The first one is actually a little creepy...I was really impressed with the makeup and death sequences for "the dead". Evil Dead 2 is just classic. So many funny moments in a thoroughly entertaining popcorn flick. Then there is Army of Darkness, which is like...the best B movie ever.

Never seen two. Maybe I'd like it. Is it more Army of Darkness-like?

 

[Alucard]

Never seen two. Maybe I'd like it. Is it more Army of Darkness-like?

Yes and no. I was actually talking about this the other day with a friend of mine. In Evil Dead 1, Ash isn't really Ash. In Evil Dead 2 though, he starts becoming the wise cracking badass that we see in Army of Darkness. Plus, the movie has a totally different vibe than the first movie. It doesn't try to be scary, so much as it does scary/funny. There are fountains of blood pouring all over the place, and a lot of humour that you really have to pay attention to in order to get. Really, it's a brilliant film. I didn't appreciate it as much when I saw it about 3-4 years ago, but having seen it again recently, I recognize it for the great film it is. I'd definitely say to at least give it a rental.

 

[sc0la]

well to answer your question about how they could clone her. This is my interpretation only, I doubt the writers even gave it as much thought, I also have read none of the comics and am totally oblivous to any of the series canon beyond what I see on the screen.

The aliens obviously operate on a different sort of biology than other beings, though similar enough that they may gestate their young in hosts. Why even lay eggs in a host, its not for protection as the alien can obviously fend for themselves, and I doubt it is for food (the aliens never really "eat" to my knowledge). What they are doing is evolving themselves by taking traits from the host and taking them on for themselves (see the "dog" alien from Alien3).

Now, here is where I just make some shit up. We have one unique DNA our entire lives, but what if the aliens don't, what if their "DNA" was more like a computer hardrive than a book, and this information updated and modified itself as it lived its life, its DNA was its "memory".
If you clone a human, it is always the same, the instructions are always the same. When the alien egg is deposited in riply it begins to take her information to assimilate it, perhaps it even changes some of her physical makeup. Now, these two beings are swirling around together. Ripley's blood sample, is taken on the prison colony. This blood contains both her and the aliens DNA up to that time.

1-15 (or what ever they were) were failed attempts at cloning the pair at the exact state they were in when the blood sample was taken. Perhaps the information is all out of order or they where just refining their technique. Even the final ripley was nto correct, she had leftover alien information in her genetic makeup, and likewise the queen had ripley's make up in her.

This was always my take on it.



I really liked ressurection, not my fav, but still neat in some respects. i think of it as the alien take on frankensteins monster, and in some ways it brings the themes in the alien series about messing with nature for destructive purposes backfiring to a new level. It sufers ultimately from "MArio Sunshine Syndrome" good stuff with the misfortune of having really big shoes to fill

edit: what I meant before was that when the alien is developing in her, she is changed physiologically such that her DNA begins to make "backups" as well.

 

[Alucard]

well to answer your question about how they could clone her. This is my interpretation only, I doubt the writers even gave it as much thought, I also have read none of the comics and am totally oblivous to any of the series canon beyond what I see on the screen.

The aliens obviously operate on a different sort of biology than other beings, though similar enough that they may gestate their young in hosts. Why even lay eggs in a host, its not for protection as the alien can obviously fend for themselves, and I doubt it is for food (the aliens never really "eat" to my knowledge). What they are doing is evolving themselves by taking traits from the host and taking them on for themselves (see the "dog" alien from Alien3).

Now, here is where I just make some shit up. We have one unique DNA our entire lives, but what if the aliens don't, what if their "DNA" was more like a computer hardrive than a book, and this information updated and modified itself as it lived its life, its DNA was its "memory".
If you clone a human, it is always the same, the instructions are always the same. When the alien egg is deposited in riply it begins to take her information to assimilate it, perhaps it even changes some of her physical makeup. Now, these two beings are swirling around together. Ripley's blood sample, is taken on the prison colony. This blood contains both her and the aliens DNA up to that time.

1-15 (or what ever they were) were failed attempts at cloning the pair at the exact state they were in when the blood sample was taken. Perhaps the information is all out of order or they where just refining their technique. Even the final ripley was nto correct, she had leftover alien information in her genetic makeup, and likewise the queen had ripley's make up in her.

This was always my take on it.



I really liked ressurection, not my fav, but still neat in some respects. i think of it as the alien take on frankensteins monster, and in some ways it brings the themes in the alien series about messing with nature for destructive purposes backfiring to a new level. It sufers ultimately from "MArio Sunshine Syndrome" good stuff with the misfortune of having really big shoes to fill

edit: what I meant before was that when the alien is developing in her, she is changed physiologically such that her DNA begins to make "backups" as well.

Wasn't that actually Ripley who was laying naked in that bed though? Or was that also a clone? Your explanation makes some sense but that was the one part of the plot that was REALLY far-fetched and hard for me to accept, thus tainting the rest of the film for me.

 

[sc0la]

Wasn't that actually Ripley who was laying naked in that bed though? Or was that also a clone? Your explanation makes some sense but that was the one part of the plot that was REALLY far-fetched and hard for me to accept, thus tainting the rest of the film for me.

There were several clones of Ripley. The real Ripley is dead. The other clones where fuckups bacuase the scientests where unable to get the mix between ripley/alen correct (they never did get it right) This is why Ripley has that identity crisis and goes apeshit on all the other clones.

I understand how that would make it hard for you to accept, I don't blame you, but it is really the only thing I could think of, as ridiculously convoluted as it is, to account for what happens.

A lot of geiger's art deals with the merging of unrelated forms, so conceptually it isn't really a streatch. I guess it is particularly interesting to me because I enjoy concepts like external evolution etc.

 

[Alucard]

I just don't understand how a crew would be able to salvage anything left of Ripley after she jumped into that sea of melting lead in Alien 3. Nevermind how they would be able to salvage enough blood for 8 clones...or that they would be able to clone her with the alien still inside her and actually living and breathing. Ah well. I'll probably just buy Alien on DVD and be happy with that.

 

[sc0la]

I just don't understand how a crew would be able to salvage anything left of Ripley after she jumped into that sea of melting lead in Alien 3. Nevermind how they would be able to salvage enough blood for 8 clones...or that they would be able to clone her with the alien still inside her and actually living and breathing. Ah well. I'll probably just buy Alien on DVD and be happy with that.

lol that was the point of my post.

They were not able to salvage anything of her body. She was liquified in the molten lead. no matter survived. The blood they got from her was taken by the doctor on the prison colony when he was giving her a check up after the crash.

If your technology is advanced enough you don't need blood for a clone, just to extract the DNA. The blood would be used once to map her genetic sequence. You could theretically reproduce the DNA witout any original organic material with sufficient technology (nanotech assemblers).

The reason my theory is so ridiculous is that it has to account for something human DNA never does, change over your lifetime. When the alien lays its egg in her she changes such that you could clone her, alien embryo intact. And I would attribute this to the xenomorph's ability to take on the traits of its host, a cross polination thing.

cue *its a movie don't overanalyze it* posts

 

[7imz]

alien 3 sucked for the very simple fact that they freaking killed newt and the other guy... they've been for the whole movie to escape, just to have a freaking alien on board at the end. It just seemed like a poor excuse to make another movie.

 

[Burger]

Someone said once that David Fincher was editing Alien 3 in downtown L.A while the roits and shit was happening, and he hoped to god someone would burn the place down along with all the film stock.

 

[Flynn]

Alien >>Aliens >>>>>>>>>>>Alien 3> Alien Resurection

I second this motion.

 

[buck naked]

Alien Directors Cut > Alien Resurection > Aliens > Alien 3 Directors Cut

I don't think any of them are bad, but I LOVE Alien and, of the sequels, I felt Resurection was the most thoughtful.

 

[Willco]

Yes, thoughtful at destroying the franchise.

 

[Hamfam]

4th movie actually completely destroys the serious tone of the franchise with its dumb jokes and stupid circumstances. The French science fiction element to it is very overt thus derailing the mood of the series.

That and the storyline was so compartmentalized and loose that they completely rearranged 2 entire sequences and you can't even tell because these sequences don't build off one another in any meaningful way.

Plus, the newborn Alien thing was the dumbest idea and dumbest design for a creature in the last 30 years.

You should write for a Movie magazine. ;o

 

[LakeEarth]

Didn't some of her blood splatter in Alien 3? I mean, she was falling when the alien came out of her, but maybe they were able to collect some splatter that she left around the prison.

 

[COCKLES]

WTF?


Resurrection was painful. The ending was so, so lame & the design of the Newborn queen thing was so off, that it had me laughing & cringing at the same time. Pretty dissapointing coming from the writing/directing team of Joss Whedon & Jean-Pierre Jeunet.

Not even Perlman could carry this movie.

I concur wholeheartdly.

SHITFEST OF A MOVIE!

 

[Matrix]

Alien Directors Cut > Alien Resurection > Aliens > Alien 3 Directors Cut

I don't think any of them are bad, but I LOVE Alien and, of the sequels, I felt Resurection was the most thoughtful.

Something is wrong with you dude

 

[GuntherBait]

Something is wrong with you dude

Agreed.

Aliens was the best god damn Aliens movie ever made. Why? Because Cameron made it.

Alien was scary because you didn't know what was going to happen next and the suspense was really great.

Alien 3 introduced us to the fact of what would happen with no weapons against the Aliens.

Alien Resurrection was a classic look at how man tried to make Aliens Bio-Weapons as was the first theme introduced in Alien.

So..... AGAIN,

Aliens > Alien > Alien Resurrection > Alien 3

The next movie..... I hope is going to be based off the books that came out.

Aliens: Earth Hive is the first book. Go read it. Great look at what would happen if the Aliens ever hit earth.

 

[Asbel]

I have recently gone back and watched a bunch of old movies that I've never seen before. One of the franchises I've always wanted to see was Alien, so I rented all four movies and have watched them all. Anyways, I loved the first one with its slow and eerie pace, liked the second one (Bishop kicked ass), liked the third one (Very T2-like ending), but am not sure what to think of the fourth. Yeah, the queen mother looked REALLY badass, as did the offspring, and the film still had that horror quality about it, but something bothered me about it...

...How the hell did they clone Ripley WITH the alien inside of her? More importantly, how the hell did they retrieve her from the sea of hot lead she died in in Alien 3? I don't think it was at all possible for her to survive that, nevermind come out as unscathed as we see her later on the movie when she's laying naked in that cloning room. So uhh...yeah. What's up with that?

For the record, the first movie is probably my favourite. The whole atmosphere around it is just really damn cool and creepy. Plus, it kind of reminded me of Metroid...

I had only seen this franchise a few months ago myself and only cuz a friend forced his quadrilogy on me, ha. I'm glad he did cuz there was something I liked about every movie. The intro setting for 3 and 4 and kinda umm.. far fetched but I guess they tried. They did say 4 took place hundreds of years after 3 so who's to say what their cloning tech can do by then. The scene with the clones and the evoled offspring being pulled apart is so damn freaky. And yeah, I remember an interview with Nintendo who said they were influenced by the Alien movies. Fusion being most apparent.

 

[MetatronM]

Alien > Aliens >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Alien 3 >>>> Alien Resurrection

 

[yoshifumi]

alien and aliens rock, alien3 and alien resurrection are fucking terrible. i read that the alien3 directors cut was better, but that just seemed like it was an hour longer and that entire hour consisted of shit.

 

[Necroscope]

::shrugs:: I hadn't either until they started playing them nonstop on Encore. The only one I haven't seen yet is number 3.

Still gotta see Evil Dead.....

See Evil Dead, one of my favorite fuckup movie.

 

[buck naked]

Something is wrong with you dude

Yes, thoughtful at destroying the franchise.

Agreed.

Aliens was the best god damn Aliens movie ever made. Why? Because Cameron made it.

Alien was scary because you didn't know what was going to happen next and the suspense was really great.

Alien 3 introduced us to the fact of what would happen with no weapons against the Aliens.

Alien Resurrection was a classic look at how man tried to make Aliens Bio-Weapons as was the first theme introduced in Alien.

I love Alien the most because of Scott's mood and atmosphere (the floating synths, retro-futuristic styling) and the reserved build up of dread (even fear). So many 'scary' type movies rely on jump moments and extreme close-ups (in lieu of any real visuals), so few capture this incredible feeling of desperation and impending doom. The directors cut is even better as it trims down more awkward parts of the movie significantly.

I say Resurection is the most thoughtful because it retreads so many of the Alien subtexts with a consideration not present in 2 and 3. Winona Ryder's android character, the role of the corporation (their power over government) and their research into aliens as bio-weapons (like GuntherBait said), the behaviour of the humans (cheapness of human life, ethics, greed and betrayal - acting worse than the animals), the role of religion (the bible as a computer interface, 'Father', and commentry on mankinds dependence on guidence) as well as other scientific ethical issues.

Not even the alien sex child could ruin it for me.

EDIT: I know there is plenty of theme overlapping in the series, but #4 took a fresher angle, I felt.

 

[Pimpwerx]

Resurrection was an absolute turd of a movie. I don't even rate it as an Aliens film. One of those WTF moments. Clear milking. I liked the first three though. I liked Alien3 a lot, unlike most people. It's third best, but a close third best. Aliens was the best by a country mile. PEACE.

 

[Ristamar]

Aliens > Alien > Alien 3 Extended Cut > Alien Resurrection

IAWTP

 

[sc0la]

what is everyone's facination with Aliens anyway?

Other than Ripley flipping out and going commando, Bishop, and Newt the movie is average. Some of the characters are annoying, Alien had better special effects (Man in costume jumps /gets shot *repeat*), and don't get me started on the utterly 80's rendering of the future, repleat with stupid ass collars on the corprate stiff character.

If you really want to get started on inconsitencies in the aliens series, you would ask why after Aliens, when they had a clear program intact for studying and harvesting xenomorphs, did they have no offsite information on the creatures. 3 and 4 still left the company (though it is "gone" in 4) scrambling to get a hold of a specimen. Why did they have no creatures/information offsite in Aliens? They had no contigency plan?

Alien> Alien Resurrection > Aliens = Alien3. None of the movies where bad, I still really like Aliens. Its just not my favorite movie in the series and definately dates itself more than the other 3.

I want to know what it is about Aliens that people like so much. I always see Aliens is the best one, 3/4 are shit. But why do you like Aliens?

BTW: I agree with Buck Naked. I really liked the exposition of the series themes in 4.

 

[Phoenix]

Something is wrong with you dude

I believe this news!

 

[GuntherBait]

what is everyone's facination with Aliens anyway?

Other than Ripley flipping out and going commando, Bishop, and Newt the movie is average. Some of the characters are annoying, Alien had better special effects (Man in costume jumps /gets shot *repeat*), and don't get me started on the utterly 80's rendering of the future, repleat with stupid ass collars on the corprate stiff character.

If you really want to get started on inconsitencies in the aliens series, you would ask why after Aliens, when they had a clear program intact for studying and harvesting xenomorphs, did they have no offsite information on the creatures. 3 and 4 still left the company (though it is "gone" in 4) scrambling to get a hold of a specimen. Why did they have no creatures/information offsite in Aliens? They had no contigency plan?

Alien> Alien Resurrection > Aliens = Alien3. None of the movies where bad, I still really like Aliens. Its just not my favorite movie in the series and definately dates itself more than the other 3.

I want to know what it is about Aliens that people like so much. I always see Aliens is the best one, 3/4 are shit. But why do you like Aliens?

BTW: I agree with Buck Naked. I really liked the exposition of the series themes in 4.

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!??!?!

THIS MAN ALONE MAKES YOUR FUTURE CHILD LOOK LIKE SHIT!

 

[sc0la]

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!??!?!

THIS MAN ALONE MAKES YOUR FUTURE CHILD LOOK LIKE SHIT!

Meh, Hicks didn't do it for me. He wasn't a bad character, at least he wasn't a shell of a stereotype like some of the other Aliens characters. But Ripley trumps Hicks as a bad-ass, he is redundant

I don't really think Aliens is average (that was flame bait) but I still stand by my statement that it is not the best movie in the series. All I want is for someone to articulate why they like it the most.

 

[Brian Fellows]

Thats Hudson not Hicks.

 

[sc0la]

Thats Hudson not Hicks.

me = pwned.

Is Hudson the "Game over Man"?

I will now retract previous statements because of stupidity

 

[Brian Fellows]

Yup that would be him. Poor guy has been killed by both Aliens and a Pedator

 

[GuntherBait]

me = pwned.

Is Hudson the "Game over Man"?

I will now retract previous statements because of stupidity

nice.