The Alien and Predator Discussion Thread

[MechaGoji Bro7503]

Alien 3 was amazing in my opinion, and I've only seen the theatrical/"normal" cut. It's a film me and eabaker share a love of. So far I give it a 8/10.

Predators is a film I'm not a fan of I'm sorry to say. Missed potential and all the Predators are boring compared to City Hunter and Jungle Hunter. That fight with the yakuza and Falconer was a unnecessary rehash of the Billy "sacrifice" in the original. Tracker was severely underused. All the Predators were underused. Should've ended with the Youngblood surviving and teaming up with Royce and Isabelle, that's what I would've preferred given the circumstances. Maybe I just cant flow with Robert Rodriguez films. It's most definitely better than the newest film. This one went too little, and The Predator went too far.
I also can't stand the fight choreography in this one, the final battles feel off. The human characters are alright, I mean they get the job done. It's a 5/10 in my book.

Oh, and anyone else notice we haven't had a Predator film that's brought up the honor code since the first AVP?

[GodzillaFan1990's]

Predators I personally think is a decent timewaster. Though I will admit it had more potential going for it. One thing I feel they missed was making all these characters different alien species. Some humans and some aliens.

Gladly will take it over Alien 3, Resurrection, Prometheus, Alien: Covenant and The Predator (2018).

[Xx_The_Masquerade_xX]

Also...is your username a reference to the Marilyn Manson song?

Oh yes it is my friend, Holywood is a personal favorite album from him. I'll take it as your also a fan? If so it's always nice to meet a fellow Manson fan!

[Godzilla21]

I enjoyed Predators. Its not my favorite of the franchise but I can watch it anytime. Unlike Alien Resurrection

[GodzillaFan1990's]

How I'd rank the Alien and Predator movies.

Alien:
1. Aliens (1986)
2. Alien (1979)
3. Alien: Resurrection (1997)
4. Alien 3 (1992); Special Edition only

Predator:
1. Predator (1987)
2. Predator 2 (1990)
3. Predators (2010)

I refuse to acknowledge the 2018 film exists. That was NOT the Predator. That was a spoof and parody that had the name labeled on it! I hope to skreeonking god that Shane Black never touches the franchise again.

Same with the Alien prequels.

[_JNavs_]

How I'd rank the Alien and Predator movies.

Alien:
1. Aliens (1986)
2. Alien (1979)
3. Alien: Resurrection (1997)
4. Alien 3 (1992); Special Edition only

Predator:
1. Predator (1987)
2. Predator 2 (1990)
3. Predators (2010)

I refuse to acknowledge the 2018 film exists. That was NOT the Predator. That was a spoof and parody that had the name labeled on it! I hope to skreeonking god that Shane Black never touches the franchise again.

Same with the Alien prequels.

I liked Prometheus but they took 5 steps back with Covenant. They should've continued the Engineer/Paradise storyline. Instead they gave into the people who wanted Alien immediately.

The Predator could've been good if they kept only the Fugitive Pred the whole film and didn't completely butcher the lore by going back on why Predators came to the planet and why they took trophy skulls, which aren't even trophies anymore.

[GodzillaFan1990's]

I liked Prometheus but they took 5 steps back with Covenant. They should've continued the Engineer/Paradise storyline. Instead they gave into the people who wanted Alien immediately.

Or...Nothing at all because some things should just stay as mystery which Alien was one of those. Prequels were totally unnecessary.

I'll give Alien 3 and Resurrection credit. At least those were continuations.

[Grievous]

Oh yes it is my friend, Holywood is a personal favorite album from him. I'll take it as your also a fan? If so it's always nice to meet a fellow Manson fan!

Nice.

I'm a Mechanical Animals & Golden Age of Grotesque guy myself.

[Maritonic]

I liked Prometheus but they took 5 steps back with Covenant. They should've continued the Engineer/Paradise storyline. Instead they gave into the people who wanted Alien immediately.

Or...Nothing at all because some things should just stay as mystery which Alien was one of those. Prequels were totally unnecessary.

I'll give Alien 3 and Resurrection credit. At least those were continuations.

In fairness the idea was giving it back to Scott, and Scott's mentality was the Space Jockey was never explained at all. Where did he come from, etc. The commentary on Prometheus provided a lot of insight into why Prometheus was made.

And just because you don't dig it doesn't mean "nothing at all" should have been made. Plenty of people enjoy Prometheus and Covenant.

[eabaker]

I liked Prometheus but they took 5 steps back with Covenant. They should've continued the Engineer/Paradise storyline. Instead they gave into the people who wanted Alien immediately.

Or...Nothing at all because some things should just stay as mystery which Alien was one of those. Prequels were totally unnecessary.

I'll give Alien 3 and Resurrection credit. At least those were continuations.

In fairness the idea was giving it back to Scott, and Scott's mentality was the Space Jockey was never explained at all. Where did he come from, etc. The commentary on Prometheus provided a lot of insight into why Prometheus was made.

And just because you don't dig it doesn't mean "nothing at all" should have been made. Plenty of people enjoy Prometheus and Covenant.

Scott's interest in an explanation for the Space Jockey always threw me. To me, part of what's so great about Alien is how much is unexplained. I never wanted the space Jockey to be demystified. (Thank god we never got a prequel to Planet of the Vampires, amiright?)

Fortunately, since the explanation didn't come from Dan O'Bannon, I'm quite comfortable ignoring it.

EDIT: The main point being that, hey, if it's not what you want, it's easily ignored. No reason it shouldn't have been made.

[MechaGoji Bro7503]

Fortunately, since the explanation didn't come from Dan O'Bannon, I'm quite comfortable ignoring it.

People seem to always forget O'Bannon's contributions to Alien!!

[Grievous]

People seem to always forget O'Bannon's contributions to Alien!!

The stories he told on the Alien commentary track
where awesome.

"CUT! O'BANNON'S IN THE SHOT AGAIN!"

[tbeasley]

Honestly some of O'Bannon's ideas and backstory for Alien were just as goofy and ungainly as what would later wound up in Prometheus and Covenant. He deserves credit for coming up with the basic story and premise, but he's not the sole owner and creator of the piece, you know what I mean?

Alien, like Godzilla before it, succeeds because of the communal effort of filmmaking, everyone contributed something - O'Bannon and Shusett's original story and screenplay, Giler and Hill rewriting and streamlining (and improving) that script, Scott's impeccable direction, the solid cast (with Weaver becoming the central focus and producer in later sequels with their own [sometimes controversial/unpopular] creative decisions), Goldsmith's excellent score and of course Giger's monolithic creature design, Cobb's mechanical work, etc., etc...

[eabaker]

Honestly some of O'Bannon's ideas and backstory for Alien were just as goofy and ungainly as what would later wound up in Prometheus and Covenant. He deserves credit for coming up with the basic story and premise, but he's not the sole owner and creator of the piece, you know what I mean?

Alien, like Godzilla before it, succeeds because of the communal effort of filmmaking, everyone contributed something - O'Bannon and Shusett's original story and screenplay, Giler and Hill rewriting and streamlining (and improving) that script, Scott's impeccable direction, the solid cast (with Weaver becoming the central focus and producer in later sequels with their own [sometimes controversial/unpopular] creative decisions), Goldsmith's excellent score and of course Giger's monolithic creature design, Cobb's mechanical work, etc., etc...

I don't think anybody was suggesting that sole authorship of Alien belongs to Dan O'Bannon.

[tbeasley]

I got the implication from this, concerning the Alien's origins at least

Fortunately, since the explanation didn't come from Dan O'Bannon, I'm quite comfortable ignoring it.

If it were up to him the Alien would be a "civilized, learned and long-lived race one they got over their adolescent blood lust."

He also had weird ideas for AVP with the Predator as the final stage in the Alien lifecycle and stuff like that.

[eabaker]

I got the implication from this, concerning the Alien's origins at least

Fortunately, since the explanation didn't come from Dan O'Bannon, I'm quite comfortable ignoring it.

If it were up to him the Alien would be a "civilized, learned and long-lived race one they got over their adolescent blood lust."

He also had weird ideas for AVP with the Predator as the final stage in the Alien lifecycle and stuff like that.

I come from the school of thought that once a work is completed, nothing that is not a part of that finished product applies to it. It doesn't matter what anybody had in mind behind the scenes. Alien consists just exactly of what is contained in its 116 minute runtime.

All I was playfully saying was that if anybody's extra-textual concepts or expansions have any weight at all, it's O'Bannon's, regardless of whether they were particularly good ideas or not.

[tbeasley]

Well. Anyway.

Something more fun - who's your favorite?

[_JNavs_]

Well. Anyway.

Something more fun - who's your favorite?

A
C
D
G
H

I prefer the smooth dome look because it looks much more extraterrestrial, never really liked the rigid Warrior look. They're supposed to look slick and wicked, not generic.

I picked G and H because they're so drastically different than anything that came before them (or after them, in-lore)

[UltramanGoji]

Well. Anyway.

Something more fun - who's your favorite?

A only.

[Noble Saber]

A, C, and F (I like the Resurrection warrior design-sue me.)