posted
It's still a very weird little world, though. According to the footage from the special edition (which was also included in the older LD and DVD releases), the planetoid has a diameter of 1,200 km and a surface gravity of .86g. In order to get that, you need a density of approximately 50 grams per cubic centimeter, or about nine times that of the earth; just what the hell is that world made of, anyway? Maybe Starfleet mines the materials for its warp coils here .
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Registered: Aug 2001
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The first one was great, and I truly enjoyed it. However, out of all four, I prefer the second. It has that balls to the wall all out blood and guts action that I really like.
Kinda reminded me of a video game without the controller.
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Registered: Dec 2003
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posted
Since I'm an old guy, I remember seeing Alien in a packed theatre in St Louis the first week it was out. It was great experience. Lot's of screaming in the audience. I remember thinking of how it carried on the lived-in Star Wars aesthetic to a whole new level. But I was disappointed that we never got a good look at the Alien. If I hadn't read Starlog, I would have had no idea what it looked like.
I saw the second one under similar circumstances. Lots of cheering and screams from the audience. A great roller coaster ride with cool military equipment. I was sitting next to this guy who apologized after the movie because his girlfriend/wife was screaming so much.
I probably like the first slightly better than the second, since I value mood more than action in the movies. But I own both and watch them from time to time. The corporate weasel and the broadly drawn, archtypical Marines get on my nerves a bit. Also, is any one as surprised as I am that Sigourney Weaver was actually nominated for Best Actress for Aliens? The movies don't stand up to logical analysis too well (and the director's cut of Alien mucks it up even more, but who cares.) If the movies do their most important job -- entertainment --I don't worry as much about logic.
Can't say muchabout 3 and 4 other than they bored me to death and I haven't watched them since.
PS: About why the Alien ship in Aliens wasn't putting out a distress beacon. I think there were some effects shots prepared that showed the ship had been damaged/broken up a bit by lava flows/earthquakes.
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Registered: Oct 1999
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posted
The first movie was a great horror story that happened to occur in outer space. I still think its the best with a close second being the second movie. My only gripe with II is there's a big warship just floating overhead completely unmanned. Just don't seem right.
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Registered: Aug 2003
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quote:Originally posted by WizArtist: My only gripe with II is there's a big warship just floating overhead completely unmanned. Just don't seem right.
I thought that too! Even on Nostromo, most of the crew stayed behind when they investigated an unknown situation. Besides, the Sulaco is HUGE but has a crew of only the one marine platoon?!? That doesnt make much sense....are we to believe that each platoon has it's own warship?
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Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
I was under the impression that one platoon was all they NEEDED for an investigatory mission, for which all it could be was "a downed transmitter". They didn't go EXPECTING trouble... If they did, I'm sure the Sulaco could support many more (and the excellent but apocryphal ALIENS tech manual supports this).
Of course, Burke could have swindled someone into sending only one platoon, which would be easier to manage with all the infecting he wanted to do...
posted
I think the novel took note of this and explained the lack any extra support onboard being a cost cutting measure. Still, if they hadn't parked the APC just where the Dropship was going to crash then they would have been just fine (nukes, knives, sharp sticks etc.)
posted
I'm old enough to have seen all these movies in their original release, I remember 'Alien'Being really something in 1979, but now it just seems like an good remake of '"IT!":The Terror from Beyond Space' (1958) Or I guess it would be a "re-imagining" now.
I always liked Cameron's 'Aliens' best, A very exciting film, with good linkage to the first.
'Alien 3' I fell asleep in the theater during this film, and did'nt care! I saw it a year or so later on video. I thought the settings and story, darkly bland and filled with religious overtones, really broke the story line. It's the 'Star Trek V' of Alien movies!
I have a soft spot for 'Alien Resurrection' though. I liked 'City of Lost Children' and Jeunet's other films, and after #3 it was anything goes, so I really looked forward to this one. I like how strange and scary (and buff) Ripley 8 is in this one. Plus the lovely Wynona Ryder and rest of the cast, cool sets, and a freaky but funny script made it entertaining for me.
I hear there may be a fifth movie coming, I think that's about as nessesary as the Forbidden Planet remake, But I'll go check it out anyhow.
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted
My favorite is the one with John Hurt where the alien bursts outt of his chest and starts singing "Helo my baby! Hello my honey! Hello my ragtime gaaaal....."
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
I'm probably one of the 0.5% of the population of Sweden who got that joke, since I had watched Loony Tunes in my childhood. *ribbit*
ZARDOZ: "and a freaky but funny script" This, to me, is the problem with virtually every sequel to an old thriller/horror movie released nowadays. They have to throw in those stupid slapstick-jokes to try and make up for a movie that is neither thrilling nor horrifying. It can get really pathetic sometimes, like the Predator running through a bunch of apartments while fleeing from the pinnacle of earth's military resistance (a fat policeman) and the Predator just happens to disturb an old woman watching "Jeopardy"! So she gets the broom out! LOL!!
Let's just say I don't have any high hopes for "Alien vs Predator". I'll bet that Token Black Soldier #3 (about to die) will grab a Predator's head and give it a nookie.
Registered: Aug 1999
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posted
So in a WB cartoon "Re-imagined" the guy in the spacesuit disentigrates a building down to the cornerstone and out of the box jumps...... an Alien embryo?
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Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
Yes. But just to make sure we're all talking about the same thing:
The bit in Spaceballs where John Hurt is at the bar (or coffee shop, I forget), and an alien bursts out of his chest is obviously a reference to, er, Alien. The fact that the alien pops out, produces a top hat and cane and starts singing "hello, my baby..." etc is a reference to the frog on the old Loony Tunes cartoons where a, er, frog produces a top hat and cane and starts singing "hello, my baby..."
Everyone together now? Good.
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Registered: Mar 1999
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