ALL SCI-FI

[Gord Green]

I don't know just how frightening the chest burster scene was, but the young lady next to me in the theatre let out a scream when it happened. That was followed by a drip-drip-drip sound and the theatre floor got awfully wet.

It was an example of the effect film can have to totally immerse the viewer in the reality of the moment.

[bulldogtrekker]

My library recently bought the new bluray edition of Alien and so I had to watch it. This is a list of the special features:

Special features

1979 Theatrical Version

2003 Director's Cut with Ridley Scott Introduction

Audio Commentary by Director Ridley Scott, Writer Dan O'Bannon, Executive Producer Ronald Shusett, Editor Terry Rawlings, Actors Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton and John Hurt

Audio Commentary (for Theatrical Cut only) by Ridley Scott

Final Theatrical Isolated Score by Jerry Goldsmith

Composer's Original Isolated Score by Jerry Goldsmith

Deleted and Extended Scenes

Of course I watched it to hear the Composer's Original Isolated Score by Jerry Goldsmith. The main difference is the music during the acid blood scene.

[Bud Brewster]

[Robert (Butch) Day]

Over at AICN is a new (and weird) review of the movie:

https://www.aintitcool.com/hedgehog-corner-19-alien-81728/
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Common Sense ISN'T Common

[scotpens]

[Bud Brewster]

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I agree. scotpens. The guy worked hard to be witty, but he didn't quite get the job done.

Oh well. Not everybody can be funny like me.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Eadie]

Red band trailer for ALIEN shorts:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe4-kj-8iYo
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Art Should Comfort the Disturbed and Disturb the Comfortable.

[Bogmeister]

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_____________________ Alien (1979) Trailer


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It wasn't the space horror that impressed me about Alien when in came out 30 years ago; it was all the attention to detail that was usually non-existent in these sf pictures. Director Ridley Scott, Giger and the various production design team members made sure that we felt we really were on some space freighter of the future, grungy and rundown as it was in places. I think it was a detriment to me that I watched a behind-the-scenes featurette on making this film at the same point I went to see it; unfortunately, it took away much of the mystique.

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I also really admired the acting n this one; there was a naturalism which was missing in the usual films about the future. Sigourney Weaver is the one who benefited, becoming a big star more through her screen presence than any acting style, but Tom Skerritt, Harry Dean Stanton, Veronica Cartwright and Yaphet Kotto were excellent as the various members of this doomed crew; Ian Holm was ambiguous; and John Hurt was on screen fairly briefly, but was his usual professional self. They all drew you in to their dilemma - not by being very nice, likable characters but by reminding us of ourselves; it just may as well be us stuck on this creepy ship.

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The sequel was Aliens (1986) by James Cameron, a different style but also effective. The later ones, Alien3 and Alien Resurrection, just seemed to be copying this, less successfully. And Alien vs Predator was just a kiddie show. This first one remains the adult, innovative, professional effort, even if it does copy the plot of It! The Terror From Beyond Space (1958).

BoG's Score: 8 out of 10


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BoG
Galaxy Overlord Galactus

[Bud Brewster]

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Bogmeister and I have different opinions of this movie. To be honest, I've never been very impressed with it, an opinion not shared by very many folks. The sequel by James Cameron was (in my opinion) a far better movie. And Bogmeister's low opinion of Alien vs Predator seems a bit unfair. In fact, I like it a bit better than the famous original.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[ralfy]

As part of its 40th anniversary, a series of shorts have been released:

https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/alien-short-films-40th-anniversary/

[Eadie]

[ralfy]

"A deep dive into the UX of the Nostromo’s self destruct procedure"

UX = user experience design

[The Spike]

There is a clause in the contract which specifically states any systematized transmission indicating a possible intelligent origin must be investigated...

Alien is directed by Ridley Scott and written by Ronald Shusett and Dan O'Bannon. It stars Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, John Hurt, Yaphet Kotto, Ian Holm and Harry Dean Stanton. Music is by Jerry Goldsmith and cinematography by Derek Vanlint.

The space merchant vessel Nostromo receives an unknown transmission as a distress call and land on the moon where the call had come from. Bad idea...

Back on release it was one of the most talked about movies of 1979, backed by a terrifically tantalising trailer - which itself was backed by one of the greatest tag-lines of them all, the weight of expectation of a genre blending classic was colossal. This was only after all director Ridley Scott's second feature length film, could a sophomore pic really be all that? History as we now know has proven that to be the case.

On plot synopsis it's standard format, where the haunted house and a killer on the loose has been replaced by a space ship in space. Yet once the pic plays its alien hand, and it becomes a battle of survival in one location, it dawns on you there is really no escape. No running into the garden and down the street, no hiding in the attic hoping the killer saunters off home, this is find and destroy or be destroyed yourself - with the future of mankind depending on the humans to succeed.

Some still go into a viewing of Alien nowadays and decry it for being too much of a slow burn, yet this is one of the pic's biggest assets. Time in space is slow anyway, and lonely one would guess, so Scott wisely lets the characters be introduced, lets us understand just enough about their psychological make up before things go belly up (literally as it happens). When the pot finally boils over it's terrifying, the bar well and truly raised for horror/sci-fi hybrid conventions.

With art design by H.R. Giger and Goldsmith producing eerie musical rumbles, the whole piece has a disquiet about it, notably with distressing sexual connotations and symbolism that haunts the mind as the body horror unfolds. The quiet passages are nerve shredders, Alien across the board is a visceral experience, especially for those who have ever watched it on a big screen in a darkened theatre.

It made a star of Weaver, who unbeknown to those on first viewing is the main character, another masterstroke by Scott, with Ripley the character in Weaver's hands shunting women's character's in big budget films forward by some considerable margin. All the cast are on great form, there's no showy stars in here, a collection of hard working British and American actors feeding off their director for super returns.

Now 40 years old, Alien shows no sign of losing its classic status, and rightly so. A seminal class act that still holds all the qualities it had back in 1979. In space no one can hear you scream - indeed! 10/10
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The quality of mercy is not strnen.

[Eadie]

The plot seems to be taken from Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, DBE [Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire] (née Miller; September 15, 1890 – January 12, 1976)'s Ten Little Indians (USA title And Then There Were None), published originally in 1939.
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Art Should Comfort the Disturbed and Disturb the Comfortable.

[Krel]

The character of Ripley was originally suppose to be a man. When they decided to change the character to female, the only change they made in the character was to make Ripley a woman.

One of the unusual things that most imitators miss, is that all the characters are likeable. They have differences, but they all like each other. This made their deaths all the worse for the audience.

Originally Veronica Cartwright was suppose to play Ripley. But when Scott saw Sigourney Weaver's performance in a film, he decided that she should play Ripley. He had a hard time convincing Veronica Cartwright to stay in the film.

John Hurt replaced Jon Finch as Kane. Finch had to drop out after filming for only a few days, due to health problems.

David.