The Alien Franchise

[James Cameron]

Thread rebirth!!





I always found it cool how this franchise has two different logos that are still in active use. The first is used more, but the Aliens logo is still used for some of the novels, particularly the ones that are more action-oriented.

[Frobisher]

BTW funny thing-looks like the Prometheus mountain was based on an unused concept for Baron Harkonnen's castle in the unmade 70's Dune!

Yes, basically true! Dan O’Bannon was involved in the pre-production of Jodowosky’s Dune and brought Moebius and Giger with him to Alien. Earlier drafts of the script had a pyramid as well as the derelict spacecraft, where the eggs were kept, and more clues about the space jockey civilisation.

[ChrisIII]

Also seems slightly similar to a "Natural" hive (Made without co-opting an existing structure like the atmosphere processor or the Auriga) comics design which is based on one of the concepts for the Pyramid before they went with the spaceship.

Also kind of funny that one of the concepts that was dropped was that the Alien would've matured into a more intelligent adult version who built the pyramids and the hostile creature is just the awkward growing up bit!

[James Cameron]

Alien will be back in theaters on April 26th for the 45th anniversary

[Odd Rödney]

For me, the Alien films are ranked thusly:

1. Aliens
2. Alien
3. Alien 3
4. Alien Resurrection
5. Everything else

I hope what comes this year is good but I really have my doubts.

[Celgress]

Alien canon media ranked by me, top five -

1.) Alien
2.) Aliens
3.) Alien Isolation
4.) Alien 3 (close fourth)
5.) Alien Resurrection (distant fifth)

all the other crap....

[Ramsay Snow]

I'll have to disagree with you philistines, for I'm a Ridley Scott purist.

1. Alien
2. Prometheus
3. Alien: Covenant
4. Aliens

The other crap doesn't exist. I will see Alien Romulus at the theater, as it's endorsed by Sir Ridley.

[ChrisIII]

Alien will be back in theaters on April 26th for the 45th anniversary

Probably in part to show off the new restoration on the big screen.

I've watched it, it basically kind of scrubbed the film's grain but there doesn't seem to be any loss to the rest of the image (Like some early blu-rays tended to do way too much DNR-Patton, for example, made everybody look too smooth!). Granted, I'm no expert on picture quality....

[James Cameron]

I can't really rank the Alien movies because I don't think any of them are bad. Yes, some are better than others, yes some of them took the series in a weird direction, but none of them are actually bad films. They all have incredible moments. Alien 3 and Resurrection for example get way too much hate, they are really good movies. The prequels too with all their issues are spectacular films.

But if I were to rank them, it would be:

Alien
Alien 3
Aliens
Alien Resurrection
Alien Covenant
Prometheus

Just saw Alien 3 (assembly cut) again last night, so it's fresh in my mind. The only "bad" thing in that movie is the CGI, but man everything else in that movie is so gorgeous and I freaking LOVE Charles S Dutton's character!

Probably in part to show off the new restoration on the big screen.

I've watched it, it basically kind of scrubbed the film's grain but there doesn't seem to be any loss to the rest of the image (Like some early blu-rays tended to do way too much DNR-Patton, for example, made everybody look too smooth!). Granted, I'm no expert on picture quality....

They did the same thing on Alien Day when Covenant was being released. Also, the screening will have a special sneak peak of Alien Romulus!

I really enjoy the restoration, but I prefer the director's cut of Alien and I'm not sure which version will be shown in theaters

[ChrisIII]

Oh woops, I read that as ALIENS instead of without the S. So I was mainly talking about the ALIENS recent restoration and 4K release.


I haven't seen the directors cut too many times of the original but I certainly have of ALIENS. The directors cut is interesting in that it gives Ripley and Newt more of a character arc as Ripley loses her daughter, Newt loses her family etc. so they kind of form a new one.

Also the gun scene is a nice addition.

The Hadley's Hope scenes and the Queen discussion are kind of give and take, in the theatrical version there's a bit more of a mystery surrounding what happened to the colony and the audience may hold out hope that the colonists are somehow alive....until they reach the Atmosphere processor/Hive.

Also it's kind of cool seeing the fully operational/lit command center of the complex.

Although there's the horror of seeing the various colonists being alive and playing etc. and realizing they're all dead later on.

[Nods]

For me the ranking is

1. Alien
2. Aliens
3. Prometheus (IMAX 3-D) which was incredible...
4. Alien 3 - new cut
5. Alien Covenant
6. Resurrection
7. Alien vs Predator

[Frobisher]

I can't really rank the Alien movies because I don't think any of them are bad. Yes, some are better than others, yes some of them took the series in a weird direction, but none of them are actually bad films. They all have incredible moments. Alien 3 and Resurrection for example get way too much hate, they are really good movies. The prequels too with all their issues are spectacular films.

But if I were to rank them, it would be:

Alien
Alien 3
Aliens
Alien Resurrection
Alien Covenant
Prometheus

Just saw Alien 3 (assembly cut) again last night, so it's fresh in my mind. The only "bad" thing in that movie is the CGI, but man everything else in that movie is so gorgeous and I freaking LOVE Charles S Dutton's character! K

Fun fact about Alien 3: it has exactly one CGI shot in it. Can you guess which one it is?

[James Cameron]

Fun fact about Alien 3: it has exactly one CGI shot in it. Can you guess which one it is?

The skull shatter at the end right?

But you're right, the bad CGI I mean is how awkward the digitally composited Xeno puppet model looks.