Stan Winston (deceased)
MemberFacehuggerApril 26, 2017I have just returned from my Alien Day experience at my local theater. All in all, it was a thoroughly worthwhile investment.
It all teed off with a showing of Prometheus. And it was just as painful as every other viewing I've ever had the sadism to endure. Only two notable points: they seemed to dub out words at seemingly random points; they silenced the word "straight" when Vickers instructs David to fix her a drink, "Vodka ________ up". The other occurrence I can no longer remember.
Once finished, Ridley Scott came on screen to thank fans and introduce his seminal masterpiece, Alien. The wonderful surprise for me was that it was a director's cut / special-edition version, which included deleted scenes and subtly different dialog in parts. Notable was the inclusion of: Lambert slapping Ripley; the Alien rocking before attacking Brett; Parker and Ripley explicitly witnessing Brett's capture; and of course, the cocoon scene. However, the most notable for me was a slight extension to the scene where the Alien is examining Jonesy in his box -- it then swipes the box away!
Alien was tremendously enhanced by this version, in my opinion. It was absolutely riveting, and I was constantly looking to the sides of my empty row with the irrational fear of something creeping up on me!
The juxtaposition of Prometheus and Alien only highlighted the poor quality film that the former is -- plot, acting, props, effects, etc. Frankly, the opening credits of Alien looked a bit dated with the jittery wording in front of a jittery mining ship, but that was soon forgotten as I indulged in a tour de force of acting, effects, camerawork and suspense.
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After that, Ridley was back on screen to introduce the footage that was shown a few months ago involving the backburster and the landing ship exploding. It was actually very compelling and the acting was exceptional -- that scene alone is better than the entire debacle that is Prometheus.
Finally, Ridley treated us to "the crossing" footage, which others are discussing elsewhere. I will just say that, I'm glad the plot does not look like it is following the obvious path I certainly thought of.
Suddenly, my pessimistic disposition has been lifted into feel-good optimism. I think we are going to love Alien: Covenant.
