Alien (film series)
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The Alien film series is the group of films that take place in the Alien universe. These always include the tetralogy (quadrilogy) of Alien (1979), Aliens (1986), Alien³ (1992) and Alien: Resurrection (1997). Sometimes included are the Predator and Alien vs. Predator films.
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[edit] Tetralogy plot-summary
Following is a plot summary for the entire Alien series. For additional plot details, see the movies' specific pages or The Alien Universe Timeline.
[edit] Alien
The USCSS Nostromo, a towing vessel hauling an enormous ore refinery and 20 million tons of raw ore, with a crew of seven (including Captain Dallas and Warrant Officer Ripley) has set out from the mining colony Thedus on its return to Earth in the year 2122. During the return voyage, the ship’s computer (called Mother or M.U.T.H.E.R.) intercepts a non-human transmission from the moon LV-426. Mother, according to Weyland-Yutani (“the Company”) protocol, alters course and wakes the crew from hypersleep in order to investigate the transmission.
Upon investigation of the transmission source, a derelict alien ship, Executive Officer Kane becomes infected with an alien parasite. On orders of Captain Dallas, Kane is brought back on board and treated by Science Officer Ash, an android. The crew members return to the Nostromo from LV-426, hoping to return to Earth as soon as possible. After a brief period, an alien emerges from Kane and proceeds to kill all human crew members except Ripley. Ash, the android, was terminated by the other crew members after his attempted murder of Ripley, an action he took in defense of the alien species.
Ripley activates Nostromo's auto-destruct sequence and escapes in the shuttle. The Nostromo and its cargo are destroyed in a series of explosions, but Ripley soon discovers that the alien had also entered the shuttle. Half-dressed and nervously singing "Lucky Star", Ripley kills the alien by blasting it out of the shuttle's airlock and burning it with the shuttle’s jets. Ripley sets the shuttle's course for Earth and returns to hypersleep.
[edit] Alien Director's Cut
Ridley Scott has stated that he did not really think that Alien required this tweaking, and that the term "Director's Cut" was used for marketing reasons only (and inconsistently as well). In the Alien Quadrilogy materials, he goes out of his way to state his preference for the original: "rest easy, the original 1979 theatrical version isn't going anywhere". He recut the film himself, only after viewing the studio's attempt to do so; a version that he felt was "too long" and ruined the film's pacing.
A brief rundown of the restored footage or cut scenes, in the order that the scenes appear:
- The Nostromo crew listening to the alien transmission
- Kane took out his weapon in the egg chamber.
- The scene in which Ripley asks Ash if Mother has analyzed the alien transmission (and in which Ash replies “No”) has disappeared. Instead we see Ripley simply playing with the computer console and sitting down while a binary sequence displays on the computer screen.
- Lambert slapping Ripley for refusing to let them bring Kane back aboard the ship.
- Some dialogue deleted during the scene where Ripley confronts Captain Dallas in the corridor over letting Ash keep the dead alien facehugger. Dallas' lines about the replacement of Nostromo's original science officer by Ash at the last minute have disappeared. This interesting deletion removes a bit of foreshadowing that all is not as it seems with the character of Ash.
- Cut of the scene where Ash leaves the infirmary after Ripley has confronted him for breaking quarantine procedures.
- A handful of shots added to Brett's death scene, including one clearly showing the alien dangling from above, and another where Parker and Ripley rush into the room just after the alien grabs Brett. As they look upward, dripping blood covers them.
- Cut of a brief sequence showing Dallas querying the ship's computer, Mother, about his odds of killing the alien, and getting no reply, before he enters the ventilation ducts.
- A new brief shot of Lambert added as the crew regroup and weigh their options after Dallas' death.
- Restoration of a portion of the film's arguably most famous deleted scene — Ripley discovering the alien's nest and the bodies of Dallas and Brett. But the Director's Cut does not include Ripley's lines to the dying Dallas ("What can I do?" and "I'll get you out of there") before she kills him with the flamethrower.
- A quick extension of a shot as Ripley discovers the alien blocking the path to the shuttle; the alien appears staring at Jones the cat in his catbox, then it swats the catbox out of its way. This extended shot had never aired before, even on DVD.
The Director's Cut also deleted brief snippets of footage:
- Some of the conversation between Ripley and Dallas concerning Ripley's distrust of Ash
- Part of the sequence where Ripley gains entry to Mother
- Parker going through the ship alone and watching out for the alien
- An almost unnoticeable cut as the last three surviving crew members round a bend in the corridors of the ship
[edit] Aliens
Found in the year 2179 after 57 years drifting in space, Ellen Ripley returns to human civilization. Upon recounting the events of the Nostromo and LV-426, she learns that a group of settlers has recently moved to LV-426 and set up Hadley's Hope, a space-colony. After dismissing Ripley’s claims as ridiculous, the Company (specifically Carter Burke) sends colonists to the derelict ship to investigate Ripley’s report of an alien species. Shortly thereafter contact with the colony ceases. In response, the Company sends Ripley, a group of United States Colonial Marines, and Carter Burke to investigate LV-426 aboard the vessel Sulaco.
Arriving at LV-426, Ripley and her companions soon discover that aliens have overrun the colony and that all settlers have died, except for a young girl nicknamed Newt. The rescue team becomes trapped in the settlement, where hundreds of aliens hunt them. Their mission is further complicated by Ripley's discovery that Burke has orders to bring one of the aliens back for the Company's bio-weapons division.
Eventually, the aliens kill all those barricaded at Hadley's Hope except for those who eventually retreat to the Sulaco: Ripley, Newt, Corporal Hicks, and the android, Bishop. After a brief confrontation with the Queen Alien aboard the "Sulaco", Ripley sets a course for Earth and the crew enters hypersleep.
[edit] Aliens Special Edition
The Aliens Special Edition added approximately 17 minutes to this film. Several small additions to the plot were presented, including:
- Ripley has a daughter and learns of her death upon arrival at the Gateway Station.
- The events taking place on LV-426 immediately before infestation.
- Extra battle scenes involving the marines' robot sentries.
- More scenes of Newt and Ripley bonding.
- Hicks and Ripley's exchange before she goes to rescue Newt ("See you, Hicks." "Dwayne. It's Dwayne." "Ellen." "Don't be gone long, Ellen.")
[edit] Alien³
The movie begins with one alien facehugger emerging during the crew's hypersleep on the Sulaco and impregnating Ripley with an alien queen-embryo. The cover of Ripley's hypersleep-chamber cuts the facehugger, and the release of its acidic blood caused a fire on board, which leads to the Sulaco jettisoning an escape shuttle towards a penal-colony planet, Fiorina 161, inhabited only by a small number of extremely violent and dangerous offenders. The rescuers who recover the escape-vehicle discover that of all the humans, only Ripley has survived the crash. Meanwhile, a colony dog becomes impregnated with an alien embryo, shortly after which an alien emerges from the dog and begins hunting and killing inmates.
Upon learning about the alien on the planet, the company sends a "rescue ship" to Fiorina 161. However, it quickly becomes clear that they care only about capturing the alien, not about saving the inmates. In these circumstances, Ripley convinces the inmates to kill the aliens (including the one inside her) before the company ship arrives.
After the destruction of the alien using a lead smelter, Ripley sacrifices herself to prevent the company from harvesting the queen embryo from her body, saving countless human lives in doing so. The fate of the sole survivor of Fiorina 161, Prisoner Morse, remains unknown.
[edit] Alien³ Special Edition
The Alien³ Special Edition added approximately 35 minutes of new or alternate footage to this film. Several changes to the plot ensued, including:
- A completely different opening in which Clemens finds Ripley washed up on the beach.
- Impregnation of an ox, rather than a dog.
- The temporary capture of the Xenomorph, its confinement inside the toxic waste dump site, and subsequently release by Golic, whom it kills.
- The alien queen embryo appeared on the CAT scan, but not when Ripley sacrifices herself.
- Significantly more interaction occurs between Warden Aaron and Ripley.
[edit] Alien: Resurrection
Two hundred years later, around the year 2379, a United System Military (USM) scientist has cloned Ripley several times by using blood samples from Fiorina 161 rediscovered in the year 2356. Upon successfully cloning Ripley, whose DNA had intermingled with the alien species her body had hosted, the experiment successfully develops an intact alien and extracts it from her chest.
In the year 2381, a small ship called the Betty, manned by smugglers, brings several kidnapped space-travelers, still in hypersleep, to a secret USM research vessel called the USM Auriga. The smugglers do not realise the reason for the kidnappings, but they later discover that the USM scientists will impregnate the travelers with alien embryos. The experiment quickly runs awry when the aliens break loose and begin killing everyone on the ship. While chaos ensues, an android, Call, changes the course of the ship (previously heading to Earth as per default emergency procedures) to crash-land in an attempt at destroying the aliens on board in the process.
The Auriga crashes into South America and explodes, presumably killing the aliens on board. A few survivors: Ripley’s clone (#8), Call, and two members of the Betty crew (Johner and Vriess) manage to escape the Auriga before its crash-landing, using the Betty. As the Betty descends towards Earth, Ripley and Call contemplate their next move.
[edit] Rumored sequels
It has been rumored for years that there will be an Alien 5. James Cameron, the maker of Aliens, started work on a story for Alien 5, but when he heard of Aliens vs. Predator, he thought that the crossover would "kill the validity of the franchise" and stopped work on his script.[1] As of 2007 there are no plans for a 5th Alien film.
[edit] Spin-offs
There have been a number of spin-offs in other media including a large number of crossovers within the Alien fictional universe. These include:
[edit] Novels
As we the novelizations based on the various films (including Alan Dean Foster's) there are a number of novel series:
[edit] Comics
Numerous comic appearances include:
- Aliens
- Alien Loves Predator, a spoof webcomic
- Aliens vs. Predator
- Aliens vs. Predator vs. The Terminator
- Batman/Aliens
- Green Lantern Versus Aliens
- Judge Dredd vs. Aliens
- Superman vs. Aliens
- Superman & Batman vs. Aliens & Predator
- WildC.A.T.s/Aliens
[edit] Video Games
2006 saw the release of a brand new video game based on the Alien franchise. This is called Aliens: Extermination. The plot revolves around Colonial Marines arriving on a planet infested with Aliens, who are being guarded by synthetic humans (a la Bishop, but evil). This game is a first person shooting game for 2 players.
Sega struck a deal in December 2006 with Fox Licensing with regards to their lucrative Alien film franchise. The new agreement, as detailed by The Hollywood Reporter, allows Sega to develop multiple games for new generation consoles and PCs. With a first-person shooter and a role-playing game already under development. Mike Gallo, senior producer of the Alien series at Sega, promises that the developers will go out of their way to "tie the games into the films in unique ways." He also says they'll look at source materials and the films for inspiration.[citation needed] The first title is due in 2008 -- that's when Sega will be "taking licensing to the next level", he says.
Games include:
- Alien
- Aliens (MSX)
- Aliens (Arcade)
- Alien³
- Alien³ (Game Boy)
- Alien³: The Gun
- Alien: Resurrection (PlayStation)
- Aliens, by Electronic Dreams
- Aliens: Colonial Marines
- Alien vs. Predator (SNES)
- Alien vs Predator: The Last of His Clan
- Alien vs. Predator (Arcade)
- Alien vs. Predator (Jaguar)
- Alien Trilogy
- Alien versus Predator (PC)
- Aliens versus Predator 2
- Aliens versus Predator 2: Primal Hunt
- Aliens versus Predator: Extinction
- Alien vs. Predator (Mobile)
[edit] References
- ^ Quint. "Holy Crap! Quint interviews James Cameron!!!", AICN, 2006-02-07. Retrieved on February 17, 2007.
[edit] Further reading
- The Book of Alien (by Paul Scanlon and Michael Gross, Star Books, 112 pages, 1979, ISBN 0-352-30422-7, Titan Books, 2003, ISBN 1-85286-483-4)
- Making of Alien Resurrection (by Andrew Murdock and Rachel Aberly, Harper Prism, 1997 ISBN 0-06-105378-3)
- The Complete Aliens Companion (by Paul Sammon, Harper Prism, 1998, ISBN 0-06-105385-6)
- The Alien Quartet: A Bloomsbury Movie Guide (by David Earl Thomson, Bloomsbury Publishing, 208 pages, 1999, ISBN 1-58234-030-7, as The Alien Quartet (Pocket Movie Guide), 2000 ISBN 0-7475-5181-2)
- Beautiful Monsters: The Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to the Alien and Predator Films (by David A. McIntee, Telos, 272 pages, 2005, ISBN 1-903889-94-4)
