I’m glad you brought that up, because one thing I really like about Aliens is how it doesn’t cheat. The movie shows you exactly how the alien queen gets to the Sulaco. When Bishop shows up to rescue Ripley and Newt, just as they’re lifting back off and the landing gear is retracting, you see an explosion blow the dropship sideways a bit. It gets one of the landing gear a little tangled in some girders or some such metal, and then when it pulls away you see one of them is still attached to the dropship. Now you could say, well that’s just a little random detail to ratchet the tension up a little further. But I think that’s intended to show you that the alien queen, who we already saw detach herself from her nest to chase Ripley, had the means to grab onto the ship and escape with them. We saw in the first movie that the xenomorphs can survive the cold vacuum of space, so I guess it’s mostly a question of grip?
It’s always a question of grip.
Been on that date.
-xtien
Alien. Lols.
Been on that date.
Hey, this is pretty cool - apparently April 26 is Alien Day, not sure how I missed that. But this being the 40th anniversary of Alien’s original release, Fox is releasing a series of short films made by a number of filmmakers about Alien! Here is the first, Containment:
Has anyone mentioned Dark Star yet? It’s a dark comedy and somewhat of a precursor to Alien. Co-written by Dan O’bannon who is also in the film. It’s an extremely low budget film (it began as a student film), hence an alien that kinda resembles a beachball. There’s also a philosophical argument with a temperamental ship AI. The movie really nails the loneliness and isolation of multi-year space exploration with a small crew. At one point a crew member can’t remember his own name.
From wikipedia:
The “Beachball with Claws” segment of the film was reworked by Dan O’Bannon into the science fiction-horror film Alien (1979). After witnessing audiences failing to laugh at parts of Dark Star which were intended as humorous, O’Bannon commented, “If I can’t make them laugh, then maybe I can make them scream.”
Quoting a great author: “Finally a less scary version of Dark Star”.
Lol. Easter egg!
People didn’t laugh at the alien in Dark Star? Weirdos.
Do you mean besides the three Dark Star fans on the podcast? :) I have a deep and abiding fondness for pretty much anything and everything Dan O’Bannon has done. Return of the Living Dead probably first and foremost. Even this weirdly made-for-TV style adaptation of Case of Charles Dexter Ward:
For all that movie’s awkwardness, it gets Lovecraft better than anything Stuart Gordon has done.
As a child who had been dragged to see Dark Star at a drive-in theater, I sure didn’t laugh. The beach ball creeped me out! However, as an adult, I can’t imagine anyone getting to the scene when it deflates without realizing it’s being played for laughs. Dark Star doesn’t really get any kind of serious until the end.
-Tom
I actually talked about it at length on a Kellywand 3x3 about things you’ve never seen before in movies. My strategy on the topic was to view movies Kelly had mentioned a bunch of times but I had never seen, and which I would find challenging. Dark Star was one of the three movies I chose to talk about, much to his delight.
-xtien
-Can we get a dog?
-No.
And here’s another one - “Specimen.”
I watched Alien for the first time with my son tonight. He’s fourteen. He’s been asking for a while but I’ve put it off because I thought it was too intense for him.
“It’s from 1979? Does it look like 1979?”
“Apart from a series of explosions at the end, not really. It’s just really good.”
The reason I thought it was too intense for him was because him mom recently showed him this “Criminal Minds” TV show and he couldn’t sleep at night. It terrified him. So I was leery. And I told him that.
“This is sci-fi. That’s different. I can handle that.”
“Because the TV show takes place in the real world? That’s the difference?”
“Yeah.”
We watched it on blu-ray and I walked him through it. He really liked it, but he did hide behind a pillow mulitiple times, and even watched a very scary part in the reflection of the frame of one of my movie posters. I’m not sure how that helps reduce the fear, but that’s how he modulated it.
“We can stop this anytime. I’m fine with that.”
“I’m okay. It scares me now, but it won’t scare me when I go to sleep.”
He’s sleeping soundly now. I’m just happy he bugged me to see it, knowing I would see if for this podcast, but not able to work out the timing because of reasons.
It was actually, now that I think about it, like watching The Hunt for Red October with him, which I did before the Hunter Killer podcast. I figured it’d be too slow for him, but we had fun. Me explaining submarine tech and cold war aspects. This movie was more about me explaining the ship and the company and assuaging his fears about Jonesy. It was also fun helping him get to know the characters.
“Okay…there’s Beard Man. Shaved Head Man, who is useless. That Skinny Guy. The Black Guy Who Is Very Aggressive–”
“That’s Yaphet Kotto. Careful. He’s in one of my favorite movies.”
“Okay. Also the guy from The Avengers. The Scared Woman. And Ripley.”
“Yep. Pretty much.”
-xtien
“I like griping.”
Man that’s a tremendous story. There really is something special about sharing one of your favorites with your kids.
Thank you, Craig. I’m very excited to show him the second movie now. I just have to figure out whether I’m going to show him the version I have in my Quadrilogy set, which has all the extra settler stuff in it, or if I should get an original version.
-xtien
“Why don’t you put her in charge?”
My impression is there is A LOT more harsh language, so I hope he is well grounded.
“That’s the plan. You have my word on it.”
A lot more nukes, knives and sharp sticks too.
He is.
But now we’re just grinding metal.
-xtien
The Quadrology set has both versions.