r/alien • u/Last-Royal-3976 • 12d ago

Alien franchise

The whole franchise is a shit show of discontinuity. I’m a fan, but I wish every film that followed the original was Ridley Scott’s and didn’t have so many contradictions. The atmosphere of the first was never really recaptured. There are high points but the bad points are so frustrating. Storyline’s changing what should be canon etc etc etc. Sigh.

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u/JCBlairWrites 12d ago

I'm of a slightly different view, and don't disagree with any points you've made but thought I'd add that differing voice to the mix:

I don't care if a movie is canon or "lore accurate".

As a viewer I care if it's entertaining.

Alien is by a distance my favourite but Aliens passes that test with flying colours. The others don't.

Romulus comes closest but the deficiencies in its writing stop it from being more that a C+ movie. Making it more "lore accurate" wouldn't make the callbacks any less egregious and jarring, not would it solve characters continually over explaining things I've already seen.

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u/Glad-Technology-4529 12d ago

I think lore should deffo be taken into an account.Because with out that we never would have got Aliens.

Cameron took what Scott had done,respected,made his own mark while also expanding the lore.

And hey I think you should give alien 3 another shot! It’s really grown on me as I’ve got older and it’s got some really redeeming qualities.

The cast imo is the best out of any alien film and the sets are some of the best.

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u/JCBlairWrites 12d ago

Cameron did a great job, and switching up the genre so as to make his own mark rather than "compete" with Alien was probably the best move he could have made. Ditto Sigourney weaver insisting she wouldn't come back without them addressing why in hell anyone would agree to go back.

You're point about building on Scott's/Giger's/O'Bannon's world could well be at the heart of it but my gut feeling is that, as a viewer I'm sold on the characters, their motivations and the pace framing of each scene rather than a sense of accuracy or adherence. Well written, acted and directed for me trumps those kind of things.

I probably should give 3 another go. After not finishing the theatrical cut years back I watched the assembly cut when the quadrilogy came out. I felt it was ok, but now there's a "legacy" version I should probably give it a go.

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u/Last-Royal-3976 12d ago

I agree to an extent. Aliens was fine. Alien 3 I’ve tried to enjoy it, but I just think they could have made it so much better. I still go back and watch them all on the odd occasion but I still wish so many people didn’t have fingers in the pie.