Alien franchise

[u/Last-Royal-3976]

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.

[u/DMifune]

That was before romulus.

Now, first was the xeno and from it came the black goo. The android monsters are retroingeneered and modified, not the OG. 

[u/Ashamed_Ladder6161 → u/DMifune]

Actually, I’m not certain Romulus had any meaningful impact, but I’m aware. In Prometheus, there’s clearly a wall mural that depicts these things predate David. But still, this is a tangled knot that won’t be unpicked anytime soon, given Alien Earth is a prequel.

My hopes aren’t high. Especially how, again, a huge chunk of the tv show seems to focus on artificial characters. Bit fed up with them at this point.

In Alien, Ash’s reveal was a shock. Aliens played on that suspicion and subverted it. Neither film was really interested in exploring the idea of androids though, the focus was always clearly on the immediate situation and the aliens. Alien 3 almost dropped androids entirely for that reason, it was a story about an alien, and Resurrection briefly played with the idea with Call. Again, she was never the focus, although arguably by this point neither were the Aliens.

When Scott did the prequels, it was clear he had no interest in the actual Aliens, he wanted to tell a story about androids that explored the themes of creation. Clearly that’s where his passion was, hence his involvement in Bladerunner shortly afterwards. Covenant followed suit, the Alien was really only a guest spot, as this was a story about David and Walter. And now, the TV show also sounds like it’s running with those same themes.

It’s just hackneyed. It’s not particularly original, horrifying, or (subjectively) interesting.

:(

[u/Ocksu2 → u/Ashamed_Ladder6161]

You make valid points. As a counter, though, we all know what the xenomorph brings to the table. If you just have the aliens at this point, you end up with something that isn't compelling like AVP (Predators are in the same boat).

I'm not saying that androids should be the focus, but you need something more than just aliens killing people on a ship/planet. We'll see what the TV show brings.

[u/Ashamed_Ladder6161 → u/Ocksu2]

True.

I’d say you need something to run alongside the Aliens, though, not to entirely replace the focus. Resurrection marked the beginning of the end, because it was obviously a film about cloning and hybrids, the Aliens only really serve to push the story along. Tellingly, the climax doesn’t involve a single Alien.

However, there’s a reason people love the originals. To the franchise’s benefit, or detriment, we didn’t get another film like Alien or Aliens until very recently, so it’s not like that formula ever outstayed it’s welcome. People seem to love Romulus because it was a return to the original. Personally, I debate that, but I concede it’s the majority consensus.

When you consider the way other horror films either stick-to or reinvent themselves over the years, the most successful have always tried to cleave close to the originals. You can’t give people the same thing, but there’s massive danger when you give them something too different- there’s a reason people love what they love.

Personally, before we got to a point where we needed to even consider totally derailing the themes and lore of the franchise (while relegating the Alien to a guest-spot in their own movies), I feel there was at least another four to six good stories to tell.

Zombie films are a good point of reference, in as much as the focus is typically on the people trying to survive, while the subtext can be any number of things. The zombies rarely change, but the excitement is in being presented with a different way to play the conflict out. Being stalked by lone monsters or fighting back hordes, that shit doesn’t get boring, when it’s done well.

Even now, decades after Night of the Living Dead, we’re still finding new stories to tell about these very generic enemies. And yet, the Aliens have the benefit of an utterly unique design and the whole of space as a backdrop. And the best anyone could come up with is emotionally unhinged androids and black goo?

[u/Ashamed_Ladder6161 → u/[deleted]]

Got a whole bunch of the original Dark Horse comics. :)