New Replies (Page 4,734)

Just one of the stunning visual effects in the film I hope Hukerlover, lol.

@ZetaRetoculi - Yeah even going by the trailer, the space scenes look truely immense! I cannot wait. . .

Well... In fact, AFAIK no movie in the "Alien" franchise EVER had a space scene outside interplanetary space. We have never seen a true interestellar scene _ except maybe you could try to classify the final scenes of "Alien" as one, but I would disagree because it seems that in the "Alien" universe interestellar flight probably only takes place after people go crio. So, little chance to see 3D nebulae, I think...

@centrosphere Maybe RS is also departing from this tradition...

Yeah, cut away from the action (just for a little while) and let the audience immerse in what the space travellers would experience: the cold, vast beauty (and terror) of deep space and - linger awhile.... This would set the scene for the truth of how inconceivably far away they are from home. That would be the start of the terror..... The opening scenes of Alien came near to that, but the vastness and isolation of space was felt aboard the sleeping Nostromo rather than the cold outside itself.

Maybe. But look at this: [img]http://www.udaff.com/image/701/70111.jpg[/img] Pure poetry. A figurative simphony. And think of this: [img]http://blogs.jovempan.uol.com.br/cinema/wp-content/files/2009/12/2001.jpg[/img] I think interestellar space is overrated. Planets are the gold and better suited to the human scale. We are planet dwellers! :)

According to the current official synopsis the journey will be "leading them on a thrilling journey to the darkest corners of the universe". Not sure, RS is going for anything "better suited to the human scale" in his choice of surroundings.

I'm gonna stick to watching "Fringe" online, it's my usual sunday tradition as I'm fed up of the massive gap Sky1 leaves when showing it compared to it's airing in the US!

Superbowl all the way for me, especially as i have those films on bluray

@Xenophobe Good call, excellent series, got to wait 'til April for Game of Thrones S2. Thank god True Blood S4 is starting on FX tonight!! got to Sky+ it though Not sure whats happening regarding Caprica would like to see another series just to tie up the whole BSG timeline!!

Alien 4 seems to tease us reminding about Alien, then about Prometheus, then that there will be no trailer on Super Bowl....

Crap ! Thanks guys you just reminded me to grab my DVD's and Blu-Ray. Being stuck in a hotel for 3 weeks is gonna suck. Oh the joys if making good money. Never home long enough to spend it. Off to Detroit for a week hope I make it before the game. Laters, Rick

Superbowl for me. Should be a great game but also to see the other previews of other movies, Avengers, Act of Valor, ect. Who knows, maybe we will see some good commercials this year.

@wheresbasky - Yeah "Fringe" is pretty amazing to be honest, far and away the best series around right now! If it gets cancelled I will never watch another sci-fi/drama again, period. . .

This was already talked about bud. You may get locked.

Actually I recall your thread Cain (although probably not all of it) the derelict exploration I didn't know about so no locking from me, that is going to be epic. Man I so can't wait for ACM to come out. I wonder if you can pre-order now? Regards, Rick

Yeah, I had mentioned the game will tie in Prometheus with the derelict but it's all good. There were conflicting reports with the date. On Amazon, it was slated for release on March 31 of this year and now gearbox is showing fall 2012.

Holy Holy!!

Personally I would prefer if he was not involved. I have nothing against Harrison Ford of course, he had a powerful screen presence in his day and has starred in some of my favourite all time movies (B Runner, S Wars and Raiders of course) BUT every time I see him in a film these days he looks distant and fails to engage me with his character. On the other hand, if he is involved them I am sure RS could prove me wrong

The main problem with him coming back is: I find difficult to believe that people really ages in that future.

The thing about the Harrison Ford news is that he was incredibly unhappy on the set of BLADE RUNNER. And later he poo-pooed the movie in public as being about " a guy who fell in love with a toaster.." (The Replicants are referred to as "machines" in the movie by Deckard). Now that his stardom is on a steady decline (he is no Clint Eastwood I guess), he may have to kow-tow to Ridley for a role, LOL!

Ford and Scott have long since made-up. This is why, after years of avoiding anything to do with Blade Runner, Ford participated in the documentaries made for the BR:Final Cut release. I personally get the feeling this is not true as, if I understand correctly, the Ladd Company were only able to secure the rights to the "universe" of Blade Runner, but could not use any of its pre-established characters; something that was worked out in order to prevent people from "remaking" the original film. Also, on release of the Director's Cut back in the 90s, Scott officially confirmed that Deckard was supposed to be a replicant, so I'm not sure how they would get past age thing without using horrible CG de-aging.

i will like to see an aged deckard ... matured ... pondering about the big questions of the first movie while being involved in other adventures . I thought that Ford was cooked ..but his performance in Cowboys and Aliens made me smile more than one time .

I love Stargate...the show especially....but these two premises exist on two entirely different planes of storytelling...and it's not even really fair to compare them...it doesn't do justice to either. 'Prometheus' projects to be far more dark and disturbing, as well as the fact that the interaction between our species and whatever the crew encounters fixes to be infinitely less civil, political or social.....I liken the events we expect to see, based on the little evidence we have as well as our experience from 'Alien', to be comparable to ants confronting the human race. The disconnect there, from an ant's perspective to ours is beyond comprehension and sort of the point. Isn't it? Humanity's perspective in 'Prometheus' confronted with that of the SpaceJockey's race seems wholey indefineable and thus completely, terrifyingly unimagineable. 'Stargate', both as film and tv series, is a dramatized socio-political exercise in action/adventure. It's more involved in personal, social and political relationships set against an incredibluy detailed and concieved sci-fi back drop. To me, there two entirely different things. .......but start thinking about this aspect of 'Prometheus'.....remember how Sigourney Weaver referred to the crew of the Nostromo as seven little indians and now picture those little indians in 'Prometheus' as seven to ten ants examining your shoe before you step on them....that what Shaw, Vickers and company are up against...that's the kind of fundamental, visceral and bewildering experience waiting for them.

It has also got similarities with the movie "2001:A Space Odyssey".....Finding a monolith on the moon which lead them to another monolith near Jupiter which turns out to be a portal to another star system. The movie also deals with terraforming, Android, Aliens and alien influence in human evolution.

Stargate...? [img]http://oi42.tinypic.com/15x0ltv.jpg[/img]

In 2006, I wrote a short synopsis for an [i]Alien[/i] film that would disregard the sequels and return to the original taxonomy and mythos of the first film. I was a huge fan of [i]Alien[/i] and disappointed by the sequels (even [i]Aliens[/i]) which I thought sacrificed the subtlety and mystery of the original movie in favor of action, etc. So anyway, since I was living in Hampstead at the time and Ridley Scott has a house there, I stuck a print-out of my story idea through his mail slot. Naturally I never heard back, nor did expect to. I was pretty sure RS would never return to the [i]Alien[/i] franchise, which popular opinion considered "dead in space" by then ([i]Alien Vs Predator[/i] being the gravestone). Imagine my surprise, etc... Don't worry, I'm not about to do a Sofia Stewart (self-claimed true author of [i]The Matrix[/i] & [i]Terminator[/i] films) and start saying they stole my idea, especially since we don't know the plot of [i]Prometheus[/i] yet. However, what has been revealed does include a few interesting similarities, at least to the extent that I wonder if my idea didn't inspire RS, at some level, and even if he's long forgotten about it. I can hardly wait to see the finished film. Here's the synopsis anyway, doc created 6/5/2006. I post it at this thread because one of the ideas it maybe has in common with RS's film is that of the Alien as the progenitor of humanity (also found in [i]Mission to Mars[/i], BTW, and the BBC classic by Nigel Neale, [i]Quatermass & the Pit[/i]). ALIEN WORLD This movie is the sequel to the FIRST movie in the series (1979, directed by Ridley Scott), and will ignore the other sequels entirely, just as if they had never existed. A team of astronauts return from a space mission to Pluto and are placed in quarantine. The press is refused access to them and there is no word on the results of their mission. The mission was to investigate the possible existence of ancient alien ruins on Pluto, photographed by an unmanned space shuttle the previous year. The press insists that it is against the law to deny the public news of the mission; they demand access to the astronauts, quarantine or no. Curiosity is aroused, and much speculation occurs as to what really happened on Pluto. The government finally informs the press that the astronauts are bound to secrecy by the National Security Act. In information quarantine, the crew is isolated from one another and questioned intensively by the Company. Meanwhile, a gutsy reporter, Foster, persists in trying to communicate with the crew. Though she is unable to penetrate Company security, as a result of her efforts she finds herself dealing with the artificial intelligence “Mother” (as seen in the first movie); although she successfully uncovers certain clues (regarding the nature of the mission), she fails to make sense of her discoveries. Finally the crew is released from quarantine, sans one of their number, a female who apparently died while in quarantine. None of the other crew members was found to be carrying any extraterrestrial diseases. They are told in no uncertain terms not to divulge anything of their experiences on Pluto, on pain of death (execution for treason). Foster, the persistent reporter, finally persuades one of the crew members, Greg Samson, to talk. Samson is suffering from repeating nightmares and is in danger of losing his sanity.It transpires, in his talks with Foster, that (as in the first film) the Company deceived them: the space mission had the actual end of bringing back an alien life form for study as a possible weapon of war. The crew was sent to the alien world, given almost no information as to what to expect, and barely escaped with their lives. What actually happened there (though not divulged until near the end of the movie) is the following: the crew ship landed and the crew found itself unable to leave the ship for 48 hours (NB: the Luis Buñuel film, The Exterminating Angel). Finally, able to leave at last, an explore team of four members is selected to leave the ship and investigate the supposedly alien ruins. Samson and three others (including one female) enter a surreal nightmare world with no familiar features. The entire crew is abducted, isolated, and kept prisoner in the Labyrinth. There they are programmed for future ‘activation’ to occur when the alien invasion takes place. The crew have in fact been given specific information that will aid the human race when the time comes. It will aid it, NOT to resist the invasion, however, but rather to accept and succumb to it when it comes. One of the crew, the female, is inseminated with an alien life form. The others know only that she of all of them was especially traumatized by her experience, and had the least recall of what happened. The explore group return to their ship 24 hours later, with no real idea of where they have been. They have some video footage but nothing that is conclusive. The captain of the ship is unnerved by everything that has happened, and decides to leave, even though they have apparently failed in their mission. Back on Earth (a possible cameo for Sigourney Weaver, to explain nature of the beast), we learn that although the alien in the first film was unusually hostile in nature, the aliens are highly intelligent. Although predatorial, they are capable of reasoning, strategic action, and so forth. They are in fact vastly more intelligent than human beings. What the aliens seek is a new world to inhabit; to this end they have chosen Earth. They are telepathic beings that have evolved beyond technology (NB: the Krell, Forbidden Planet, “no instrumentalities“). They have been aware of Earth but unable to reach it, hence their need for human hosts to bring them here. One alien is enough, however, to constitute a full invasion. For one thing, even over such vast distances, the alien is in telepathic communication with all the others. For another,it is able to reproduce without a mate. Finally, as in the first film, it is completely indestructible by ordinary weapons. Once it arrives on Earth, it is effectively unstoppable. It has used human ambition to get there. The Company attempts to learn from the alien, and to breed more of them, and most of all to train it to serve its own ends. The alien is far too intelligent to be employed as a living weapon, however, and it quickly outsmarts its captors, and is free on Earth. It begins to breed at once, and to kill humans wholesale. Its agenda is to reduce human population by nine tenths, and then to use the remaining population for host bodies. Terror reigns! No one is safe! Meantime, Foster and Samson are exposing the alien plan just in time to witness its implementation, i.e., too late. As soon as the alien is released, civilization begins to fall apart, and Samson begins to remember what he was programmed to do while on the alien planet. At first he resists it, but it is impossible for him to do so for long. What he has been shown is a truth that no one is ready for. At first, Samson fights his programming and the knowledge he has been given. What he as been shown is that the Alien is neither humanity’s destroyer, nor even its adversary, but rather its evolutionary successor. When the alien uses a human host, the human in question is not merely being destroyed, but also recreated. The physical vehicle is of course destroyed, but the awareness of the individual survives. All his memories and feelings are incorporated into the much wider spectrum of awareness that the new being—the alien—represents. Hence the aliens, so far as they use human hosts to reproduce, are in fact [i]evolved[/i]—or transformed—humans. The catch is that—as in the case of the first film—the new being is necessarily an expression and extension of the old, meaning that all the unconscious urges, fears, desires, etc, of the human host will be acted out by the alien successor. To this end, the Alien is most selective about its hosts, and seeks out those human most capable of embracing the transformation without fear. To this end, 144,000 humans have been chosen; they are not chosen at random but for their specific genetic characteristics (which in turn dictate their emotional, psychological being, etc). The rest of humanity is to be slaughtered without mercy. Civilization itself is totally decimated, not by the aliens but by humans, in their mad attempt to resist the alien hordes (all the major cities are nuked). This all facilitates the aliens’ takeover plan. As the alien population rises and the human one drops, humans begin to actually see through the eyes of the Alien. They perceive a whole new biologic perspective, a cosmic point of view, by which they are linked to the biosphere of the Earth. At this point, those able to comprehend the new influx of information or sensory data (with the help of Samson) realize that the Alien is in fact the original inhabitant of the Earth. That it was the first life form to evolve there, but that humanity—which the Alien had created for its own uses, as a host body and slave species—eventually drove the aliens out. This they did not by force but simply by learning [i]to act as individuals[/i]. The Alien was not prepared for this, having not engendered its slave species with any such capacity as “free will.” As a result, the Alien left humanity to its own devices, out of respect for this new and mysterious “free will,” and moved to Pluto, where it kept a close eye on humanity’s development thereafter. Samson explains that, as an evolved life form, the Alien was compelled to respect all other life forms, and so gave humanity a certain time period in which to develop its own individuality and pursue its destiny. If, after the culmination of this period, the Alien perceived that humanity was evolving into a higher life form, then it would leave it alone, and seek another means to perpetuate itself. If, on the other hand, it saw humanity destroying itself and devolving into a lower life form, then it would feel free to return and complete its original agenda. This entailed the splicing of alien with human DNA in order to create a new hybrid species (which is the alien as seen in the first movie, a specifically [i]human[/i] version). When Earth’s civilizations are destroyed, the handful of humans that survive do so only [i]by losing their own “humanness.”[/i] At this point, we see through the eyes of the Alien, a new world of organic wonders. The Alien hive mind (telepathy based) is combined with human individuality and free will, whereupon the new species is capable of leaving Earth as a collective body, and thereby joining the Universe. This is our HAPPY ENDING. Love it, or lump it, folks.

Lump it....

I liked Stargate, I thought it was really neat and its idea was fresh.

I don't disagree with any of that. The whole vibe of what's in the trailer, the name of the film, the prospect of a sequel, and the way Ridley has described it all suggests that the humans will eventually take an observer role (probably through Shaw) as a witness to something bigger than their own puny mission. Of course we probably won't [i]see[/i] the bigger story until the sequel, but hopefully we'll know it's there!

oh beautiful ms theron, you have got a nasty side.... great pic - i like the pose!

I actually thought that if the alien protoform is really made by mutating humans, they might look similar like the creatures in Species, which was also designed by Giger.

Craig, I think we'll have to agree to disagree on this one. You did bring up some good points though. I think the company would micromanage this from the top down and would be that deeply involved. I've had a little bit of time to mull over some information. 1. Communication: Takes 2 wks. (1wk to and 1 wk back LV-426 to Earth Round trip 57 years post Alien) 2. Ash replaced 4 days prior to Nostromo leaving Thedus 3. Since the xeno smoked the crew in 24hrs. (per Ripley in Aliens) 4. SO 937 had to have been a. already in place based on significant knowledge from prometheus and about the xeno b. tailing ship to give Ash orders (why else collate with MUTHUR?) Number 4 pretty much clinches this for me. The company knew from beginning to end. If the Special Order was already there then the company had to have known about the alien and what was aboard the derelict and thus needs to be hands on. If the SO came in during Ash's study and transmission of information to Network (or Corp) then there would be no way for Ash to receive information since everything on the Nostromo took place inside 24hours if there wasn't a ship tailing to transmit orders back to him from someone that was in charge. Its one or the other, but the bottom line is they knew and were hands on. On the conspiracy and corp knowledge would tie all the alien franchise together which is what I thought Ridley was planning on doing with the prequel. The corporation is the only common element that will be present through all of the movies. Ripley isn't born yet, xeno's aren't present in prometheus (not as we know them anyways), Droids ARE present that could be a tie into Bladerunner since I recall someone saying Ridley wants to tie those universes together. Could be xeno DNA that helps reprogram the age barrier with the replicants. (That's just a possible theory, not real conjecture). Anyways just some half inebriated thinking outloud. Regards, Rick

There was a deleted scene from Alien which did not make it Into the 2003 directors cut. im talking about the scene where The alien is sitting on the ground staring at lambert with is head Leaning to side. Its feet were in the front, also its tail was facing forward while It slowly crawls to lambert. As that scene Appeared on youtube without any music, it was not scary at all.

[quote]Its feet were in the front, also its tail was facing forward while It slowly crawls to lambert. As that scene Appeared on youtube without any music, it was not scary at all.[/quote] It's the last scene posted by Ripley Clone 8 above. Indeed it was not scary, the movement looked waaay too human. It really does look like a human in a suit and we see too much of the Alien in that scene.

@craigamore You are dead on about the cut from the prop head to Ian's head. And with the facehugger, right on as well. Rigor mortis should have set in a little bit there. A fully rigor mortis facehugger was picked up by Hicks in Aliens with his shotgun. Alien is a great movie, and does stand the test of time. I guess my only gripe with the movie is that you have a commercial vehicle with a crew of 7 and there is only one escape pod for only one person? Help me out, am I crazy?

@craigamore You are dead on about the cut from the prop head to Ian's head. And with the facehugger, right on as well. Rigor mortis should have set in a little bit there. A fully rigor mortis facehugger was picked up by Hicks in Aliens with his shotgun. Alien is a great movie, and does stand the test of time. I guess my only gripe with the movie is that you have a commercial vehicle with a crew of 7 and there is only one escape pod for only one person? Help me out, am I crazy?

The Ash cut [i]is[/i] distracting, but I always wondered where all that biomechanical mass came from, as the chestburster somehow went from the size of a snake to a 7 foot tall humanoid monster in a single molt .....without eating [i]anyone[/i]..............?!

Hmm. Chestburster looks a bit muppet like when it scuttles off the table. Love the rest of the movie though.