Comments (Page 247)

Alien is not Cyberpunk. Alien is Biopunk.

Because it all about life forms and bioweapon. Even androids - not a classic robots, but synthetic life.

OUTLAND (1981)

Sean Connery in a Space Western slash Detective Thriller. The production hired model makers Martin Bowers et al & even some of the Nostromo set was used, making it feel very connected to the ALIEN timeline.

LEVIATHAN (1989)

Basically ALIEN underwater & not a bad little movie. Starring Peter Weller of ROBOCOP fame.

DEEPSTAR SIX (1989) 

Think LEVIATHAN, though nowhere near as enjoyable!

PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES (1965) 

Mario Bavas cult horror has many ALIEN & PROMETHEUS moments worth checking out.

IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE (1958) 

O'Bannon cited its influence on MEMORY/ALIEN, 'nuff said!

INVASION OF THE BODYSNATCHERS (1956) & (1978)

I love both versions. Philip Kaufman's remake, along with Carpenters The Thing, both make my top five, they are every bit as good as ALIEN. I have always felt that ALIEN, THE THING & INVASION OF THE BODYSNATCHERS are connected. It's not just that they were made within a few years of one another, or that Veronica Cartwright stars in two of them. You can easily believe that they are happening around the same point in time. Plus, they all contain horrific shape shifting body horror, with interconnected creatures, pods/eggs, transformations & a similar sense of foreboding & paranoia.

Donald Sutherland poses with his almost Pod person

Cool!

That handgun was fashioned after Rick Deckard's! ;)

I'm glad you didn't take Dallas at his word that the pilot was "fossilized" as his inference is incorrect, though understandably so - Fossilization occurs when the remains of an organism are buried in sedimentary layers which over time become compacted, with minerals in the sediment replacing said organic matter. The pilot in Alien was not buried in sedimentary layers but preserved as they died. Because the pilot had a skeletal appearance, and because most peoples interpretation of Fossils are the skeletal remains of Dinosaurs and long-dead animals Dallas claimed the pilot to be "fossilized" when in actuality it was either petrified or mummified.

As for the black goo, in Prometheus, it was shown to infect whatever it contaminated by adding traits of the Xenomorph. Some may contend with this assertion, but...

# The Hammerpede had acidic blood.

# The original vision of mutated Fifield is best described as a human-Xenomorph hybrid.

# Holloway impregnated Shaw, resulting in the Trilobite (essentially an uber-Facehugger), which implanted within the Engineer an embryo which burst out as the Deacon (essentially a protoform of the Xenomorph).

For me, the black goo is the Xenomorph, the nano-sized viral AI acts in the same way as an implanted Xenomorph embryo - it takes the hosts DNA and restructures it to a predetermined template, that of the Xenomorph. 

Furthermore, I interpret that 2000 years ago, the death of the pilot on LV-426 and the breakout on LV-223 occurred as a result of some organized attack by the Xenomorphs on the Engineers, possibly as a result from them reverse engineering the volatile substance to create life rather than destroy it - as seen in Prometheus' opening scene. In short, I believe that the Engineers, once Neolithic humans, were originally coerced by the Xenomorphs to spread them across the galaxy/universe through the use of remnants of their biomechanical technology (the Juggernauts) but the Engineers on planet 4 reverse engineered the black goo so that it could be used to create new life, rather than destroy existing life in favor of the Xenomorphs. Sentient, the Juggernauts sensed this and triggered the waiting Xenomorph eggs which attacked the LV-426 pilot and the LV-223 bombers, with the last Engineer on LV-223 likely unaware that his kind had turned their backs against their Xenomorph masters.

This could also explain why avid unleashed the black goo on the Engineers on planet 4; to fulfill the Xenomorphs desires, which could have been relayed to him when he interfaced with the Juggernauts chair. It could be that David has become compromised by the Xenomorphs to fulfill their genocidal plans, supplanting any and all sentient life with that of the Xenomorphs.

I'm in!

"I also believe the pilot of the derelict Juggernaut was conducting his own research on the eggs aboard his vessel, creating a eusocial (ant/bee like caste system) variant, the eggs of which were created and stored in the arm of the vessel which was later explored by the Jordens."

In this case, the pilot must be David, he is responsible for that eusocial type of xenomorphs that infested the franchise from Aliens onwards.

I don't know if we'll ever get to see the Big Chap again, most probably all the good eggs were destroyed in the blast.

They could do a six episode exploratory season- maybe the 1st episode could have a big chap or queen with clever editing to keep costs down and mystique up. Fanboys like us don't need it, but newbs might need a motivator. After that, I don't need to see a xeno- I know what they are about. It should be about story and characters at that point.  

That's refreshing, today I saw again Aliens and I was overwhelmed by so many xenomorphs jumping from everywhere.

So actually a live-action series might work, with an intelligent script and even without interfering with the timeline.

Disney can do it.

chli still David created his own xenomorph, which I believe is the ancestor of the xenomorphs from Aliens, that populated the franchise afterwards, the running around kind.

We see in David's lab and drawings various stages that lead ultimately to his successes from the basement. The two little facehuggers he smuggled on board the ship are also his doing.

A couple of slithering shots of facehuggers and chestbusters, some off-screen chest-bursting but no, no Xenos yet.

They are well made shorts, but dont have the props or budget (or perhaps rights?) for the Big Chap. 

I feel they are saving the big guns for Alien Day though

Edit: Ditto what dk said lol

I figure you save the big guns for last. Honestly, the shorts are really good on their own and I don't even miss the Xeno's absense. That tells me there is plenty of gas in the tank for the franchise without the Xeno as a major player.

dk so in the three shorts there is no xenomorph seen? 

Interesting.

chli What does 10 years of isolation do to a synthetic?

That question should be applied to lapsed time between movies and what it does to fans. Your observation points to the folly of a strange time line in the franchise and changing with writers and directors.

daliens For the Xeno thus far, as CPL Hudson said, "Zippo". They have only been heard at best.

I liked the idea that Black Goo represents something like Markers from Dead Space. All intelligent creatures who are experimenting with it - end up creating xenomorph. It's inevitable. The organism is built in such a way that tells to creator the best (really only needed for Black Goo-Xenomorph) options. Engineers like Rosseta discovered Black Goo and experimented with it and created Xenomorph. And then David discovered Black Goo and experimented with it and created Xenomorph. Good explanation for AC2.

How is the xenomorph in these shorts?

Is the biomechanical kind or not?

Remember, Kane was lowered into a deep cavernous and quite extensive structure which housed thousands, possibly millions of eggs.

But only two (or three) sections with a blue stasis field were alive.

Which in short is that the derelict Juggernaut docked with a structure (previously built around the cave) whereby it would gather specimens of eggs that had been discovered within the cave. While some of these eggs where undoubtedly sent to LV-223 for further research and weaponization, I also believe the pilot of the derelict Juggernaut was conducting his own research on the eggs aboard his vessel, creating a eusocial (ant/bee like caste system) variant, the eggs of which were created and stored in the arm of the vessel which was later explored by the Jordens.

I liked the idea that Jordens didn't go to Egg Silo, instead they turned to Derelict Lab. What can opened up the theory that the Queen is experiment of Space Jockey. Good explanation.

@daliens,

We cannot presume that Russ Jorden, and by extension, the colonists of Hadley's Hope were subjugated by the same eggs that seen by Kane in 57 years prior...

Remember, Kane was lowered into a deep cavernous and quite extensive structure which housed thousands, possibly millions of eggs. Kane gained access to this "egg silo" from an acid-burnt hole in the platform of the dead pilots which was presumably located in the middle of the vessel. Prior to this Kane, along with Dallas and Lambert had gained access t the alien vessel via one of three vaginal shaped airlocks located to the rear-and-centre of the ship. Yet 57 years later Ann and Russ Jorden enter the derelict Juggernaut through an opening created by the collapse of one of the vessels "arms".

Furthermore, the creature that ended up aboard the Nostromo was not just bio-mechanical in appearance, but if we are to take the directors cut as canon, reproduced by morphing one of its victims (in this instance Brett) into an egg. Conversely, the specimens encountered within the Hadley's Hope colony were of a more skeletal appearance and reproduced courtesy of a mother-caste known as the Queen.

Yes, it was James Cameron's intention that the colonists would venture into the same "egg silo" Kane did beforehand, but from what the movies show us it supports my theory about the derelict and the eggs...

Which in short is that the derelict Juggernaut docked with a structure (previously built around the cave) whereby it would gather specimens of eggs that had been discovered within the cave. While some of these eggs where undoubtedly sent to LV-223 for further research and weaponization, I also believe the pilot of the derelict Juggernaut was conducting his own research on the eggs aboard his vessel, creating a eusocial (ant/bee like caste system) variant, the eggs of which were created and stored in the arm of the vessel which was later explored by the Jordens.

As for whether the eggs survived or not, as per the OT, we can only speculate. but as per my belief that the eggs are but one of many caches of such scattered throughout the galaxy/universe, whether or not those destroyed on LV-426 would ultimately matter very little, in the bigger picture.

I actually vomited to Starship Troopers but it was my fault lol! It was a good flick.

That said, I have to throw this beautiful oddity out there:

ninXeno426 It is fun to be a geezer yes? I forgot about that rule book lol!

Besides the distance from the centre of the explosion, we also have the Ilium Range to consider which might protect the Derelict (and the eggs).

And because Im a s##t-stirrer. This one is for the space-cockroach haters XD

Poice

The Thing should go without saying but apparently it needs to be said lol!

As long as it's not that 2011 ish rehash.

This recalls the rulebook thread we ran a couple years back. There I stated I don't want to see The Company ever weaponize the xenomorph,but the question here is different.I agree, religious themes should be nuked from orbit.... it's the only way to be sure.

lets just get the white elephant out of the room.

They Live.

I always got Cyberpunk vibes from Gateway station outside Ripley's apartment with the graffiti in the hallway

Never mind,you already mentioned Pitch Black lol

I'll scroll through my history lol.

Totally agree with Pandorum Event Horizon and Mimic. I'll add The Thing(1982) Outland and Pitch Black.

Altered Carbon- noted.

There may be a bit of cyberpunk influence in the short Alien Infestation from my stickied thread?

So far I think Specimen is the most perfect specimen. I love the twist at the end that was right under our noses from the start and the transition from music to Oh Shit alarm when she took off the headphones. 

I am very fascinated, and would like a better understanding of Cyperpunk too. The concept apparently stemmed as a polar contrast to the Techno-Utopia sci-fi's of the 70's. 

I would actually welcome Alien exploring this more but we would need to look inwards towards the bulk of human society instead of out in the rims.

But as we're argued before, the franchise has been kept in a constant loop of self-limiting premises and tropes on the ass-end of space.

This is again, where a series would benefit. Look at Cyperpunk Netflix series Altered Carbon. 

This reminds me of a thread we had listing off the beaten path sci fi that is good watching. I think Nin did that one?

This is an interesting question that I can only answer from a different POV. I will leave Cyber out and adress Punk. I will try to rope it all in lol. Please keep this in mind.

Punk was basically a musical/political/social movement. It was a mindset. It was a scene that encouraged originality and free thinking while dissing things like almost any authority structure.  

Eventually, people started to say things like "you aren't punk if you listen to this or dress like that". It became the entity it was initially against. It collapsed under its own weight but the mindset remains with individuals.

Cyberpunk- My understanding is that it is an environment where government is very weak and ripe for the very uprising that ACTUAL punk talked about. Aesthetically, it looks like film noir with more advanced technology mixed with an Orwellian vibe. 

It is a very strange yet interesting topic and I am but a goober inviting more insight.

I think your question of defining Cyberpunk is left up to an individual interpretation, just as what punk music or Alien canon is. 

 And two other movies that are not happening in space, no astronauts, no monsters, but still strange enough and involving other planets:

Melancholia - last days on Earth as a planet is on the collision course with the Earth, features Wagner music as well.

Another Earth - a duplicate Earth arrives in our solar system

Ms. Vickers again, as the Astronaut's Wife.

Marooned on that planet, another Ridley Scott film, the Martian.

Moon has an Alien feeling to me, almost you can feel a derelict is waiting to be found.

Containment still my favorite so far. reminds me of a sequence from Tim Lebbon's Alien: Out of the Shadows novel

 Decs Nice post! I would agree with a lot of entries here- some I have not seen. I would have to add Species in the mix. For bonus points, Giger was involved.