Alien 'Quadrilogy'

Rest in Peace, Dan O'Bannon. He was 63.

what?! ah, shit. RIP

nooooooooooooo

he was the real genius of sci fi. I credit him with inventing "Blade Runner."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QozLSpjQc0

i got the blu ray version of the quadrilogy, and just watched Alien 3 the 2003 version (which i've never seen before)

They really changed a lot didn't they. I think I preferred the dog host rather than the ox though.

one question. how did the 'company' know anything about ripley being impregnated?

The little scanner doohickie automatically sent the CAT scan to the company.

^ yes indeed

Preferred the ox host, but only because I'm a squeamish person who didn't like seeing the dog being killed

Surprised at how much better that version of Alien 3 was, and also and how feeble were the attempts to clean up the audio in the extra scenes

dude who came up with word "quadrilogy" should be fucking eaten by wolves

or any form of quadruped

Lobster Quadrillogy

haha I was just coming here to post that Phil.

the blu-ray set's just the "alien anthology" now, thankfully (at least in the US)

they shoulda just called it the "ALIEN THIS-MANY" with a pic of Ripley holding up 4 fingers on the cover

yes Latebloomer correct, i'm in uk and it's called the anthology too.

Bought the Alien Vault 'making of' book recently, pretty nicely produced and lots of detail on the production, pre-production sketches, storyboards etc. Doesn't have the hilarious ron cobb or chris foss visualisation of the spave jockey tho - just a crap humanoid skeleton in an office chair.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1845136675/ref=asc_df_18451366757156531?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&tag=googlecouk06-21&linkCode=asn&creative=22206&creativeASIN=1845136675

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_8GJbAAr1DY8/TK_1Vxc-DYI/AAAAAAAABv8/Y1GVIAv2REo/s1600/spacejockeypic.jpg

doesn't quite have the belittling office cubicle perspective i recall.

this image satisfied Dan O'Bannon in terms of what he wanted.

obv he deserves a lot of credit for the story and script but you gotta be glad the design work was out of his hands. he didn't even like giger's derelict ¯\(º_o)/¯

http://parkablogs.com/content/book-review-book-of-alien

yeah i remember reading someone else's copy of this as a kid, definitely beats 'alien vault' for concept art.

So I ran into this company Super 7 over the weekend down in Orlando - they've received permission from 20th Century Fox to produce and sell the "Alien" action figures that were planned but never came to be:

In 1979, prototypes for 3 ¾” action figures for the ALIEN film were developed but never manufactured. Through our network of industry and collector contacts, Super7 has unearthed the original 33-year-old prototypes and will utilize these to help make these “lost toys” a reality.

With official authorization from 20th Century Fox, Super7 will produce the full series of ALIEN toys as part of our REACTION Figure Series (Retro-Action.) REACTION Figures are stylized exactly as items from the “golden age” of action figures with approximately five points of articulation, accessories, and period-authentic blister card packaging.

The original line up of 3 ¾” action figures for the ALIEN were scheduled to be RIPLEY, ASH, DALLAS, KANE in NOSTROMO SUIT, and the BIG CHAP (the nickname used on-set for the ALIEN creature).

http://getfile9.posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/temp-2012-07-08/nwJHtaDvkluaDxGeJDlCxvprzrjDcrmzEtjFqzBFJGqAzBGAAxntbluehIyg/Alien_Lineup.jpg.scaled500.jpg

Kane in the Nostromo suit looks like one of the dancers from the "True Faith" video.

http://vincentwardfilms.com/concepts/alien-3/unrequited-visio/

http://avp.wikia.com/wiki/Alien_III_(Vincent_Ward)

knew those were going to be about the wood-structured satellite thingy

they threw away more interesting ideas making this series than some movies have ever had

wood moon is a trippy idea that should not have made it past the drug session. i'm glad fincher changed it.

films never made and the documentary/speculation bits prob lend well to the imagination, may not have done well on film

the jodorowsky/dune doc being prime territory for that

has anyone seen aliens on 70mm? is it special?

I watched the Alien 3 "assembly cut" once and thought it was OK. Am I misremembering?

I don't know if this was discussed in another thread, but last month the North Bergen, NJ high school put on a stage production of Alien that very quickly went viral. They apparently had zero budget, so they built all their own props and costumes, which all turned out to be very clever. It got some attention from both Ridley Scott, who offered his congratulations and future assistance; and Sigourney Weaver, who recorded a video thanking the school and then attended an encore performance.

Sigourney Weaver visiting the NBHS cast and crew at their encore performance of Alien after national media recognition was unbelievable!! #alien #Alien40th pic.twitter.com/2UXL0v1H3X

— Nicholas J. Sacco (@NicholasJSacco) April 27, 2019

The whole thing is now available on YouTube, and it's really nicely done. The special effects and staging are clever, they use pieces of Jerry Goldsmith's score and some video elements from the movie, and for not having any budget, accomplish some really great things on the stage!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DX3VaFG7AvU

omg this rules

I've only just heard of Alien Romulus, due August this year. It looks like some schoolchildren and an AI remaking the first film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjDG_XnkrDY

Posted on the "KH Studio" YouTube channel....

thank god

directed by fede álvarez, who did the evil dead remake. i’m stoked bc i love that movie and ive been wanting something new from him and it’s an alien movie! hooray

So - real film, fake trailer?

I've found some other trailers and I don't know what's real any more. I feel like someone's granddad on facebook.

oh i didn't even watch the trailer, but yeah this is obv fanmade AI nonsense. i don't think there is an official trailer yet

there is also a tv series coming out that is a prequel which will be inconsistent with prometheus/covenant.

It would be even better if it pretended they’d never happened.

Ok for real this time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTNMt84KT0k

Interview with Alvarez. I did like this:

Q. The synopsis involves a group of young space colonizers and scavengers who encounter “the most terrifying life form in the universe” inside a run-down space station. Did you choose to focus on a younger cast just because that’s a relatively new dynamic for the franchise?

A. I wish there was some sort of deep-thinking strategy about it. It was really more based on Aliens. I remember watching an extended cut of Aliens, and there’s a moment where you see a bunch of kids running [and riding a big wheel] around the corridors of this colony. And I thought, “Wow, what would it be like for those kids to grow up in a colony that still needs another 50 years to terraform? There’s no sunlight and there’s no real life, except to just take the place of a parent and do the same job they did.” In my movies, I’m always interested in those characters. Maybe it’s because I grew up in the small country of Uruguay. I think it connects to a lot of people who grew up in small towns and think that all the important things are happening somewhere else.

Both Scott and Cameron allegedly love it to bits. (I guess Fincher and Jeunet don't count.)

Plus looks like all the blood in the first tracking shot is the aftermath of...something:

I’ll tell you more without spoiling too much. It takes place in [the teaser’s] first shot. There’s a tiny hint in there, and it has to do with that scene that Isabela talked about, which is great. When you manage to have an idea or concept that has not been seen before in any Alien movie — and it’s also something that has never happened before in the history of movies and science fiction — my first test usually when I shoot it is to just look at the boom mic guy. He has no idea what’s about to happen, and then I see his face completely in shock over what he’s witnessing. So that is, for me, the biggest reward, and when you know that there’s something special, then you just can’t wait for opening night. I’ll sit in the front and turn around to see people’s reactions to those moments.

To be fair, Scott's opinion on what makes these films good or bad has taken some punishment.

Cameron yassifying Aliens and True Lies in his latest remasters indicates that the man may not be totally trustworthy now.

lol at him finding inspiration in the 10 minutes or whatever cut from theatrical version of Aliens.

The final trailer for #AlienRomulus has arrived.

Get tickets now and experience it in IMAX. In theaters everywhere August 16. https://t.co/N35mxAEvS8 pic.twitter.com/IsBESsLPbg

— Alien: Romulus (@AlienAnthology) July 18, 2024

very spoilery but looks good

Oh no! I sure hope there's no aliens on that derelict spaceship

Huge, if True.

all this characters better be making smart decisions or ILX is going to come down on this movie like a mountain

Oh when will they make something interesting again from this franchise, they could go in all sorts of directions but instead we get 'this could be our ticket out of here...' and 'da fuck was that?'

everything else we know about their lives

ie: dead soon. any minute now.

i started Alien: Resurrection last night and guys, i know some of you ride for this space cartoon but i am here to say it still sucks

I know I must have posted this years ago, but back when I was in college in the '90s I used to know this guy with Hollywood connections who would often get scripts of upcoming movies, like "Pulp Fiction" (didn't read it because I didn't want it ruined) or Danny Boyle's forgotten follow-up to "Trainspotting" ("A Life Less Ordinary," which I did read and which was ... not good). I remember him bringing in a copy of "Alien: Resurrection," which I was excited about, because I liked the Alien movies and I liked Jean-Pierre Jeunet, though didn't know much about Joss Whedon. I vividly recall scratching my head at it, thinking, nah, there's got to be something else to it, maybe this is a draft or something, and then I saw the movie and no, the script was accurate. It just soured me, on Jean-Pierre Jeunet, on the Alien series, on Weaver (who was so good that year in The Ice Storm), on Ryder, on Jeunet's muse Dominique Pinon and Ron Perlman (both of whom I liked in City of Lost Children), just a disappointing time all around. Glossy schlock but iirc awkward and dumb. I'm sure I've seen it again since then, but I don't recall ever being swayed.

one of those movies, i remember being in the cinema and thinking I WANT THIS TO END

Maybe three genuine creep-outs (esp the hybrid lab obviously) but the rest of the film was so asinine and self-consciously wacky that I came out hating Jeunet permanently. Weaver I still love, how could you not?

Though now that I think about it, "Alien: Resurrection" kind of set the template for the series going forward, from all the themes of hybrids (even "back to basics" Romulus had that) to broad, bad characters to, yeah, glossy schlock.

I was a big Jeunet fan. Delicatessen might have been the first non-English language film I had ever seen? I wasn't sure how he was going to handle it, given that the tone of that film was so wildly different from those found in the Alien series, but I was nonetheless hyped. Instead, it was pretty much just hollywood blockbuster shit done slightly weird and with a ridiculous story.

And speaking of Danny Boyle, he was the producers first choice to direct Resurrection, but passed to make...A Life Less Ordinary. Took a date to see that one and we were both miserable.

I think of it as a French guy trying to make an Alien movie like it’s a Moebius comic (namely The Incal, written by Jodorowsky) but hampered by an American’s goofy script. Now that I think of it, I generally enjoy whimsical films from French directors but comedy from French directors is very hit or miss, and there was just too much attempted comedy in the script

At the time I thought Alien: Resurrection was dreadful. However when we did a rewatch of all the films without taking it all as seriously as I probably used to I found it an absolute hoot and very welcome relief after the dull tones of 3.

yeah last rewatch i really loved a:r despite the stupid nerd script. my reaction is probably recorded upthread. hard for me to dislike an alien movie where there is a sex scene between ripley and the alien and it's filmed so beautifully

if you don't take it as canon, resurrection is delightful camp.

i rewatched resurrection the other day and frankly the ideas and images are too good to be entirely sunk by the fuckboy script. it's still whedon's worst tendencies all at once, particularly the crew dynamic... and yet it is the only alien movie to really dwell on abortion, and the only alien movie that is aggressively lesbian and trans, and the only alien movie where a human has sex with a xenomorph. god, what can you do except appreciate its mutant form

― ivy., Thursday, September 5, 2024 9:20 AM (one year ago) bookmarkflaglink

oh yeah, i'm right

only alien movie to really dwell on abortion

At the time!

Gotta say I loved the Prometheus treatment of that topic

ivy. otm

I still think Prometheus should have included “give me my damn space abortion!” as a line when she’s yelling at the medical machine

Meantime:

https://gizmodo.com/fede-alvarez-wont-direct-the-alien-romulus-sequel-2000654731

watching all these making-ofs through the first 3 movies, i’ve started developing this theory that Brandywine/Giler & Hill are the consistent fly in the ointment that seem to be constantly dicking w scripts etc

like they dont SAY that, it’s always “the studio” as the big bad but the offhand comments from Giler & the fact that, for example, he & Hill *hated* O’Bannon’s original script, that they tried to rewrite the whole thing to get story credit etc… and i know that Giler/Hill came up w the trucker part & made Ripley a female character etc, so its not like theyre full-on black hats…but producers who are also writers in this era, of this ilk, just seem like more harm than good idk
i dont know enough to know for sure but i get real underhanded-weasel vibes anyway lol

The "Assembly Cut" of Alien 3 is streaming on HBO Max.

All four of the quadrilogy special editions were on there six years ago. Are the other three not, now?

I watched Resurrection the other night for the first time and hey it really wasn't as bad as I expected at all

it's got its virtues for sure. i mean, Alien 3 is also over-hated as well

Some really great imaginative setpieces. Some excellent acting, especially Weaver. And just the right amount of grubbiness. Yeah the script needed a second pair of eyes, but other than that I found it fun and solid

I saw these in the theater and I remember liking 3 & 4. I was a teen though, so I have no idea how they would hold up. By 4 I was skeptical of never-ending Ripley.

xp That said, anyone else agree it was a little hard to follow? Maybe I was tired but the version I saw seemed strangely cut so it wasn't entirely obvious exactly what was going on or why people were doing the things they were

Could have done with fewer characters i reckon. Occasionally a crew member would appear on screen and I'd be like "Wait... have we seen him before?"

Yeah the script needed a second pair of eyes, but other than that I found it fun and solid

It had at least six extra specific eyes and however many pairs any individual studio directive counts as.

(Giler and Hill thought the idea of a fourth film was bad and damaging to the completed arc, but suggested it be about a clone of Newt to stay connected to the existing series. After Whedon wrote this, the studio insisted he rework the entire thing to be about a clone of Ripley instead, which he found bad and ill-fitting. Jeunet wasn’t impressed with Whedon’s script in general, and rewrote parts of it himself. There was also intended to be a third act with a climactic battle set on Earth, five different versions of which were written to accommodate different production facility availability or budget levels, and eventually hived off to be in a fifth movie.

(Whedon, establishing a standard practice, said the final film was unwatchably bad, especially because JPJ* didn’t direct the jokes in his dialogue properly.)

*who was not fluent in English and required a translator on set

Who wereyouexPECting, SantaCLAUS?!?

Reappraisals disallowed for no. 4. It is bad!!!!

It might have been a good Resident Evil movie though.

Whedon’s sense of humor being completely inscrutable to Jeunet is funny but also Jeunet mostly otm