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Mnemosense t1_iu8jykq wrote

I've been reading the Aliens Original Years omnibus recently and it's always struck me as weird how the Alien movies have never gone to Earth.

> Whedon fought to set the film’s finale on Earth. It is the Alien series’ ultimate dramatic question: what would happen if xenomorphs came to Earth? “The reason people are here is we’re going to do the thing we’ve never done,” Whedon argued. “We’re gonna go to Earth.” The studio, however, wanted to spend the money elsewhere.

Well, shit.

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Outkast_IRE t1_iu8l30b wrote

There are a few novels based on aliens and one of them has a secret lab on earth they are experimenting with them and guess what inevitably happens !

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mezz7778 t1_iuaquwe wrote

Everything works out fine and everyone lives happily ever after??.......

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VisibleEvidence t1_iu926nw wrote

The directors cut of “Resurrection” in the Quadrilogy boxset ends with a shot of Ripley & Call on a devastated earth. I haven’t seen it in years but I think it’s implied that the aliens had already gotten to earth. I forget.

The studio had that ending cut because they intended to beat the dead horse in space as long as they could. Which is weird because the famous teaser trailer for Alien 3, released a year earlier, had the tag line, “On earth everyone can hear you scream.” So clearly, the plan was to move the series in that direction.

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O_o-22 t1_iu98obx wrote

A4 took place far into the future based on the timelines of the original movies being set over about a 100 year span. I always thought that by the time A4 came out earth was basically a polluted planet that either no one lived on or only the poor who couldn’t leave because they didn’t have the connections or cash.

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AlexDKZ t1_iuawv9j wrote

Problem is, it makes no sense that Earth has become an unlivable wasteland by the year 2381 when it is canon that by the year 2179 terraforming tech is commonplace. Hell, it retroactively makes less sense now that the backstory to Prometheus has Weyland solving earth's enviromental woes using large scale geoengineering in 2017.

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thesmellofsound t1_iubdnn4 wrote

I don't think Ridley Scott gave a fuck about keeping continuity with Alien Resurrection when making his prequels. Didn't he also break continuity with Aliens in some major ways? Like the concept of a queen?

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AlexDKZ t1_iube5l2 wrote

>I don't think Ridley Scott gave a fuck about keeping continuity with Alien Resurrection

He didn't even need to, it's a non canon deleted ending.

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wyldcat t1_iucl9p5 wrote

>but I think it’s implied that the aliens had already gotten to earth. I forget.

No it was just that earth had become a really shitty place.

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PlasticMansGlasses t1_iubmt75 wrote

Damn I’ve only seen the movie once and that was the ending I got. I didn’t know I was watching a directors cut haha

What was the other ending?

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ignore_me_im_high t1_iu9adpx wrote

Personally I think the idea is shite and I'm not surprised Whedon thought it was cool. The idea of 'Xenomorphs on Earth' and how that would have to be executed is basically the opposite of what made the first Alien film so good.

I just think it becomes a very mundane story at that point, pure action, because you know it's just trying to make things 'bigger and better' than AlienS. It's basically just 'Starship Troopers on Earth', only done without any satire or self-awareness..

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Mnemosense t1_iu9gkao wrote

Aliens on Earth is completely different type of story than an Alien killing a crew one by one which is the same damn shit we've gotten in literally EVERY SINGLE ALIEN MOVIE. Literally every single one follows the same template, Alien 1, 2, 3, 4, and even the shitty last two movies.

The comics have stories set on Earth and they're vastly more interesting than Alien 3 onwards for exploring how a traumatised Newt and Hicks living in a cyberpunk world deals with aliens, plus there are stories set on the Alien homeworld which are more interesting than anything Ridley's done with the shitty prequels.

This is why I'm still astonished the franchise hasn't gone to Earth yet, it opens up new narratives, but instead they just keep repeating the same damn formula, it's mind-boggling.

EDIT: for all the sad people who watched AvP, no those movies are in their own timeline and don't count.

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dbabon t1_iu9kj08 wrote

When you break formula and release the cool beasts from scary isolated environments, you get shit like the end of The Lost World and all of JW: Dominion

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FeedMeACat t1_iu9nqp9 wrote

Movies like this almost always become self parody. The stories are inherently anti corporate. There is nothing ostensibly wrong with setting Alien movies on Earth. There is also nothing ostensibly wrong with the scientific study of an dangerous aggressive alien species, but we know the inevitable outcome when corporations have control of these projects be they entertainment or dangerous alien research.

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Asiriya t1_iubi833 wrote

Even Dominion barely bothered to have dinos loose and immediately put them back in a park

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ehiggs t1_iueqsh8 wrote

If they didn't want to do the same formulae and wanted more Alien stuff they could being a couple of xenomorph eggs back to a space station, contained. Then it becomes a hot potato amongst factions where they try to get access to this weapon. A bit like The Expanse and the protovirus. Basically make more episodes of The Expanse, please. But without the imaginary people giving exposition dumps.

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frederick_tussock t1_iu9mpgd wrote

There's a lot more going on in "Ridley's shitty prequels" than just crews being killed by an Alien one by one. Making a movie where Xenomorphs are let loose in a Wal-Mart just sounds like Alien Vs. Predator 2.

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Mnemosense t1_iu9nz4g wrote

The comics do not go down the AvP route at all. Apocalyptic cults start forming around the world worshipping the aliens, which hastens the breeding process. After a few story arcs, once Earth has been retaken many years later, humans start wearing mech suits which counters acid blood, which gives the whole franchise a new aesthetic instead of characters stupidly getting acid all over their face. Mega-Corporations start looking for 'royal jelly' from the alien queen and turning it into a designer drug.

There's so many routes you can go by allowing Earth into the mix, instead of repeatedly having stupid ass characters running down spaceship corridors being chased by ever-increasingly shit looking aliens that still haven't rivalled the ones in Alien 1 and 2.

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frederick_tussock t1_iu9qn8i wrote

Mmm... what's always been interesting about Alien to me is the Xenomorph as this terrifying, unknowable and practically unstoppable force, when you outfit your protagonists with mech suits to fight them and then have people getting high off the alien's bodily fluids you kind of kill that.

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Mnemosense t1_iu9tqp4 wrote

Unlike Ripley's previous two movies, the comics have not to my knowledge given an origin for what the aliens are. Humans adapting to them however gives our species a modicum of intelligence.

One of the best lines in a recent comic I read was something like "imagine what kind of predator there had to be, for the aliens to evolve acid blood as a defence mechanism..."

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hlessi_newt t1_iu9jvs7 wrote

It would be be amazing. If Hollywood could just pull it's head from its arse this would be a billion dollar trilogy.

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fellfields t1_iu8lfb9 wrote

The original script for Resurrection is pretty great. What we got was a portion of it. Ripley and Call battle the newborn with a futuristic harvester on earth. And the scene with the hole in the hull was originally a crew member.

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Yeeaaaarrrgh t1_iu8smbt wrote

Not to mention the crew of The Betty seems like a dry run at Firefly.

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TurboPGT t1_iu9uixw wrote

They’re in the process of making Alien series for FX right now that takes place on Earth…before the Alien movies. Which makes absolutely no sense.

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Mnemosense t1_iu9w7ed wrote

This franchise hasn't made sense since Alien 3. :|

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TurboPGT t1_iu9wyot wrote

That’s beside the point. Each new attempt has a chance at being interesting.

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Mnemosense t1_iu9xg85 wrote

You just told me they're making an alien movie on earth set before Alien. These ideas are getting less interesting.

Sad thing is they have a blueprint for compelling ideas in the Dark Horse comics written decades ago.

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K9sBiggestFan t1_iub04xo wrote

Amen re: the Dark Comics run. To me it’s still the definitive concept for a sequel (to Aliens, ignoring / disregarding Alien 3) that I’ve seen.

IIRC it did however do a weird thing where Hicks and Newt weren’t Hicks and Newt… until they suddenly were?

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Achaewa t1_iubui26 wrote

In the 30th Anniversary edition of the original Aliens comics that issue has been corrected.

Well, I think so as it has been some time since I last read through it.

If I recall correctly, it had something to do with licensing or the writers believing there was.

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K9sBiggestFan t1_iucdodz wrote

Interesting thanks for the tip. Certainly in the collection I have they randomly change identities halfway through.

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thesmellofsound t1_iubdtuy wrote

Who cares if it makes sense timeline wise? What are you, a Xenopedia editor?

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TurboPGT t1_iubjijl wrote

The premise of Alien and all its sequels revolves around elite humanity wanting to get their hands on the xenomorph, which is unknown to most people. In what realm of imagination does it make sense for there to be xenomorph stories taking place on Earth pre-Ripley…even pre-Weyland and the Prometheus.

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El_human t1_iu98z84 wrote

We saw that in AvP and AvP 2.

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SynthwaveSax t1_iu9h3fx wrote

Did we though? Because I couldn’t see shit in AvP 2. One of the darkest movies I’ve ever seen with regards to lighting.

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dangerous_strainer t1_iu9uw7u wrote

It really is bizarre how dark that film is.

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Jon-Osterman t1_iucj81w wrote

Here is a piece of trivia for you. AVPR's DP intentionally made this decision to avoid what its predecessor did. I.e. showing too much of the creatures due to too much lighting thereby defeating the horror element. Of course his efforts went too much in reverse instead, and what we got was very dark and very shaky.

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dangerous_strainer t1_iue1q6s wrote

That DP made a horrendous mistake. I can only imagine the production cringing at the dailies haha

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briancarknee t1_iu9dqaf wrote

It's funny because the teaser trailer for Alien 3 hyped up aliens coming to earth...and the movie took place on a completely different planet.

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the_nebulae t1_iu9hi11 wrote

Isn’t Ripley on earth early in Aliens? Like, when she wakes up in that hospital bed and Paul Reiser’s character comes to visit her?

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hlessi_newt t1_iu9jj95 wrote

Just make 'earth war' with some respect for the story and it will be a 3 movie money printer.

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ForumsGhost t1_iuacgaj wrote

Alien vs predator 1 & 2 are on earth

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Mnemosense t1_iuacvo4 wrote

They're not part of the Aliens film series, but offshoots. No Alien movie will ever reference them.

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ForumsGhost t1_iuad1sl wrote

They're alien movies on earth, that was the criteria

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OMGlookatthatrooster t1_iuav4bi wrote

So then Independence Day counts?

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ForumsGhost t1_iub73ba wrote

No, because they said the alien movies, meaning a specific type

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OMGlookatthatrooster t1_iuck16k wrote

A specific type of movies that includes aliens? Like The Abyss?

Edit: you people can't take a joke?

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ForumsGhost t1_iudqk9j wrote

You're missing the key word

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OMGlookatthatrooster t1_iuegshz wrote

What would that be?

Edit: Anyone wanna cue me in what they're talking about?

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ForumsGhost t1_iuegwn4 wrote

I am not your school teacher

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OMGlookatthatrooster t1_iuehl9k wrote

God damn. Excuse me for being Swedish...

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