Rank your favorite ALIEN.

[furystorm]

The queen chestburster is only missing in the Assembly Cut. She remains in the theatrical version.

Oh, I'm aware of that. Just wondering why it was scrapped in the otherwise superior version...

 

[a-dev]

I suppose because it seemed too much of a kick in the face to Ripley. In the theatrical cut not only did she have to end her own life but she wasn't even spared the agony of an alien bursting out of her chest. It was one thing we knew she never wanted to have happen to her.

 

[nekromantik]

I suppose because it seemed too much of a kick in the face to Ripley. In the theatrical cut not only did she have to end her own life but she wasn't even spared the agony of an alien bursting out of her chest. It was one thing we knew she never wanted to have happen to her.

Well even if its just a normal chestburster it still pains. So she wasnt spared anything.

 

[a-dev]

I meant that the special edition of the film, in which the queen doesn't erupt from her chest as she is falling, spares her that agony. Probably because the writers gave her a tough enough time as it was without adding that to it.

 

[RIDDICK]

Meh, Alien didn't have CGI, the space ship didn't shoot lazers, the alien didn't look or act like anything we've seen before..
Oh, and the lack of guns and explosions..

boring

You win this thread!

 

[nekromantik]

I meant that the special edition of the film, in which the queen doesn't erupt from her chest as she is falling, spares her that agony. Probably because the writers gave her a tough enough time as it was without adding that to it.

Oh ok.
Yeah maybe.

 

[brothership]

Oh, I'm aware of that. Just wondering why it was scrapped in the otherwise superior version...

I'm probably not telling you anything you don't already know, but if I'm not mistaken, the filming of Ripley's chestburster was done some time after the Assembly Cut was put together. I guess this explains the odd shape of Weaver's head in several shots during the finale and in publicity photos since he was wearing a bald cap to cover her hair, which had begun to grow back by then. So the chestburster wasn't scrapped from the Assembly Cut...it just hadn't been filmed (or concieved) yet.

 

[abake]

Anywhere but where the Alien was! The ship was made of huge long corridors so its not like they were trapped in a house with it. Ripley bumped into it on her way to escape the ship then she backed up turned around run off. And it just stood there. That could never of happened in any movie after the original as any other would of ran and pounced on her before she got to the ladder. And its not like it didnt know she was there because if it can sense where humans are from a great distance away im sure it would know if she was popping her head around the corner to look at it.

I dont buy into this image that the original Alien was meant to be as agile and fast as the things we saw in later movies. i actually think the scale was more sided with it being a power house than agile. Of course it was no slouch with agility but i just dont think its a wall crawling long distance jumping creature. It almost half asses itself around the ship.

I think you're missing the point...
The crew is stuck in the ship, they have nowhere to run to, there is no escape (until there's only three of them and they can take their chances in the shuttle). The level of intelligence of the alien is never made clear, and it is implied that it knows its way around the ship, so why would it run after them? It's not even very clear why it kills the crew. Or whether it actually wants to kill them. I think you're missing a lot of subtext... it seems to me you're just wondering why the monster isn't running after its victims and killing them, when there's a lot more to the movie than that.
FWIW, the monster was pretty agile and quick, as evidenced by how it could swing down silently from the chains and then take off carrying Brett up those same chains. Also, when it attacks Dallas it's made clear that it's moving quickly and then lies in wait to ambush him.
In the final sequence, you can hear it scurrying around behind Ripley, and then it jumps out of the ladder in front of her, cutting her off from her escape path. It blocked her, why would it need to run after her? Especially if it already knew where to go, i.e. the Narcissus.
Of course the decision was taken to show as little of the alien as possible, and that it should move slowly and gracefully based on Scott's dislike of the "lumbering man in a suit". But it doesn't mean the alien is not shown to be very quick when it needs to.

 

[a-dev]

Abake do you feel that Aliens (Cameron's film) $h@t on these ideas of the creature in the first film or have you been able to rationalise it for yourself and maybe see those creatures as the same type of thing - just more of them...or what?

 

[greygoose]

All true however since Alien 1979 was the original film, it decides what the alien should be like. The subsequent films changed it. Mind you I'm perfectly happy that Cameron introduced the idea of a Queen - Aliens is just too great a film to ever look on it with regret IMO

 

[ExMem-LarjaThwei]

Anywhere but where the Alien was! The ship was made of huge long corridors so its not like they were trapped in a house with it. Ripley bumped into it on her way to escape the ship then she backed up turned around run off. And it just stood there. That could never of happened in any movie after the original as any other would of ran and pounced on her before she got to the ladder. And its not like it didnt know she was there because if it can sense where humans are from a great distance away im sure it would know if she was popping her head around the corner to look at it.

I dont buy into this image that the original Alien was meant to be as agile and fast as the things we saw in later movies. i actually think the scale was more sided with it being a power house than agile. Of course it was no slouch with agility but i just dont think its a wall crawling long distance jumping creature. It almost half asses itself around the ship.

He seemed to get in the Narcissus rather quickly...

It's the perfect organism. You don't see him running and jumping in the movie because it would look silly as hell in that suit, and it would take so much away from what the creators of the movie were trying to achieve. This is why the Alien is far more terrifying than Cameron/Winston's version. It was weird. It didn't act like..a normal monster. I mean, it's curiosity with Lambert..the whole tail rapey thing.
Also, we never get a good view of the Alien in the movie because it adds mystery, horror, suspense..you only see this weird inner jaw thing, milky white head..and it's only for a few seconds. You don't know what's coming after you..err..them, you've only seen small glimpses of it, and those glimpses look like somthing from your nightmare's nightmares.

The design for the Alien is I think, one of the most unique creations ever. That plus the very odd, unfamiliar, just plain weird and creepy way it acted..PLUS how little we see of it in the movie...just makes it perfect. The movie and the Alien. Perfect organism.


Oh but wait..there's this whole insane twist..the big fossilized elephant man!

You win this thread!

You know, that's exactly what I thought when I was like..7.
I always loved the Alien/Predator, but I couldn't watch Alien. I thought it was so boring..we hardly ever see the alien, he didn't do any cool monster moves.. I would look at the Star Wars ships..then at the Nostromo and just want to puke.

But that's the thing..I was a child. That's the way a child in the modern world is going to see things.
When you are older though, it is much easier to understand these things...but it seems like most people take the easiest route. The route where they don't have to think..the Transformers route.

 

[nekromantik]

To me, Alien and Aliens are very different movies.
So you cant compare them. Yes they are in the same sage, yes they have same monsters and is a continuation of Alien BUT Alien is a awesome atmospheric horror scifi movie. It is meant to be slow and brooding and slowly trod along. It does it and then some and is very effective. On the otherhand Cameron wanted to do something different and he achieved it, Aliens is a all out action flick with Aliens in it but different kind of Aliens! There needed to be some changes as the Aliens in Alien were meant to be lurking in the shadows and scary. The warriors in Aliens were meant to be all out fierce.

 

[abake]

Abake do you feel that Aliens (Cameron's film) $h@t on these ideas of the creature in the first film or have you been able to rationalise it for yourself and maybe see those creatures as the same type of thing - just more of them...or what?

Well, Cameron did radically change the concept of the aliens.
From that weird "how much of Kane is in that thing, how intelligent is it, what exactly does it do?" vibe to a big hive full of insect-like workers who overrun a colony.
Personally, I like the former better, but I enjoy Cameron's movie as well as his take on what the aliens are.

 

[nothingface35]

My favorite alien is the Predali......

Wow...that was close

 

[Butters]

Well, if it's going to be like that . . . A L I E N has the BEST design and IS the best movie of the series! ^_^

Is there a correct answer? Apparently there is??? Wtf?

 

[Kiva]

My favourite Alien design is Ripley Clone #7

 

[FACEBOX]

I'd like to think that the introduction of a Queen changes the behavior of the alien.

A sole alien's purpose seems to be self-preservation. (wipe-out hostiles and survive)

On the other hand, the aliens surrender their will to the Queen, while she plays a deadly game of chess to insure the survival of their species. (needs of the many outweighing the needs of a few)

With the Queen doing most of the thinking, the warriors can afford to be more reckless.... ala Cameron's Aliens.
I think if the Xenos in ALIENS acted like the drone in ALIEN, we wouldn't have had much of an action movie. More like a slow and painful slaughter.

 

[Hex]

Is there a correct answer? Apparently there is??? Wtf?

No. NPD for the win! ^_^

 

[Butters]

Reading through all this just tells me how much these movies have impacted people lives, though, you have to be careful about reading too much into these things at the same time.

 

[Hex]

The ALIEN fans on the forum seem to be a pretty together bunch, but the the Predator fans are a bunch of weirdo's. It's funny how some identify with the creatures more than the humans - like it's their spirit symbol or something. That's a bit sad. <_>