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Alien: The Prequel

Started by Feralkid, July 07, 2010, 11:26:05 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

They were going to put the dome on the aliens in Aliens, but then Cameron liked the job that one of the effects bods had done of the skull underneath and decided to go without.

Also, in the first film, Ridley Scott had wanted to take full advantage of the translucent dome and show the alien's brain pulsating under it (usinf maggots) but they couldn't make it work.

El Unicornio, mang

I actually slightly prefer the design of the alien in Aliens from a stylistic point of view. When you see the full shot of the alien standing up (I think it's on a deleted scene) in Alien you can tell it's someone in a suit, whereas the ones in Aliens looked more naturalistic to me, and the black look with the ridges on the head looked more impressive I thought. The scene when they are seen crawling through the air vents looks amazingly real, I thought. As you only see brief snatches of the alien in Alien though, it works well. The thing I like about Alien is the creepiness and otherworldly feel of it, right from the start with the letters in 'ALIEN' forming on the screen like alien letters, the eerie soundtrack, the unexplained space jockey and the huge chamber inside that weird spacecraft. The setting for Aliens is a human-built construction and the soundtrack is more obvious action fare, so that feeling is lost somewhat.

Cohaagen

Yeah, exactly. The feeling you get from watching Alien is one of total loneliness, being hundreds of billions of miles from even the most remote outpost. Aliens inadvertently subverts this through Cameron's clever-clever merge shot from Ripley's head to planet Earth right at the beginning. Alien - on the other hand - is one of those movies, like The Thing, where you are marooned upon your own feelings of helplessness and desperation.


AND YOU SEE AN ALIEN WITH A SMOOOOOTH GIANT COCK FOR A HEAD, AS IT WAS MEANT TO BE!

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

Quote from: El Unicornio, mang on July 12, 2010, 08:55:48 PM
I actually slightly prefer the design of the alien in Aliens from a stylistic point of view. When you see the full shot of the alien standing up (I think it's on a deleted scene) in Alien you can tell it's someone in a suit, whereas the ones in Aliens looked more naturalistic to me, and the black look with the ridges on the head looked more impressive I thought. The scene when they are seen crawling through the air vents looks amazingly real, I thought.
This is a consequence of how the suits were made and the people cast to fill them. The costume in the first film was made of rigid moulded rubber and designed to be worn by the very tall Bolaji Badejo, as lofty stature was one of the primary aesthetic concerns behind the creature's design. The costumes in the sequel were built for flexibility, being essentially leotards covered with foam rubber strips, and worn by dancers, who could assume less obviously human stances.

For this and other insights, I heartily recommend getting a copy of this book, which details the making of the three movies (because, of course, there is no fourth).

El Unicornio, mang

Looks like a pretty nice book, one for Christmas perhaps. I noticed on there that the Alien Quadrilogy box set is only a tenner now, probably because of the upcoming bluray box set, but still, a bargain for nine discs worth of stuff (and the Alien Resurrection DVD makes a good frisbee, and is at least worth watching for Weaver's amazing non-CGI basketball fluke)

The designs for Resurrection are worth checking out too. Chris Cunningham's contributions really pushed the psycho-sex/bodyhorror angle that went out the window after Alien.

JPA

Quote from: Spiteface on July 12, 2010, 08:31:05 PM
Something omitted by other films in the series or it's not quite as evident.  Even though I liked Aliens for being an entirely different film to the first, it kind of bugs me a little now, as seeing the skull like that makes it even creepier.

I don't like to think of them with the 'eyes', I like the way they seem essentially blind but rely on other senses instead - it's like that other-wordlyness you get from those deep-sea predators that live in total darkness yet have adapted to their environment to be efficient hunters.


Quote from: Cohaagen on July 12, 2010, 06:20:15 PM
I think this may just be a trait common to enormously determined auters with a singular visual imagination and poor interpersonal skills, rather than an indictment of film making in run-down, union-barracked 1980s Britain as Cameron later tried to explain it. Certainly seeing the Alien Makers series (one of the really good fan-made documentaries around) gave me an even greater appreciation of the craftsmanship involved in miniatures, matte painting, set dressing, etc.

The first two are up here: http://www.zen171398.zen.co.uk/

Cheers for that.

Can anyone remember seeing Alien 3 on initial release?  Other flaws aside, what were your thoughts about the alien effects?  I think it still looks far more impressive than the CGI Resurrection xenos and when I saw the Making Of was surprised to learn that most of it was puppetry (except the skull cracking in the furnace) - growing up watching digital effects in movies led me to the assumption that if it looks CGI then it probably is and it's crazy that a film from '92 challenges this.

copylight

Quote from: El Unicornio, mang on July 12, 2010, 11:36:35 PM
Weaver's amazing non-CGI basketball fluke)

This is really interesting, suggesting Weaver had been practicing the shot for weeks beforehand

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOrTfA8QZyI

Forget the debate whether the Alien in the 1st was a scarier beast than the one in Aliens, Ron perlman has a more horrific bonce than the two of them combined.

Cohaagen

For what it's worth, I think most of the rod puppetry in Alien 3 is pretty bad, particularly the green-screening. The actual bodysuits are superb, and that behind-the-scenes footage where they attempt to use a young whippet in prosthetics as a dog-chestburster is fucking priceless. I think the creature design deteriorated hugely from that point, as Gillies/Woodruff from ADI gradually turned the Alien into an extraterrestrial homologue of the velociraptors from Jurassic Park.

My best mate thinks Ron Perlman and Tom Waits are the same guy. He is 31 years old.

Mister Six

Quote from: Cohaagen on July 13, 2010, 12:09:55 PM
For what it's worth, I think most of the rod puppetry in Alien 3 is pretty bad, particularly the green-screening. The actual bodysuits are superb, and that behind-the-scenes footage where they attempt to use a young whippet in prosthetics as a dog-chestburster is fucking priceless. I think the creature design deteriorated hugely from that point, as Gillies/Woodruff from ADI gradually turned the Alien into an extraterrestrial homologue of the velociraptors from Jurassic Park.

My best mate thinks Ron Perlman and Tom Waits are the same guy. He is 31 years old.

To be fair, they do look pretty similar. Ron Perlman also looks like Will Ferrell would, if he'd spent a few years living rough. Hmm, another one for the 'people who look like each other in threes' thread, I suppose.

copylight

(with Mel Gibson completing the triptych)


surreal

Quote from: El Unicornio, mang on July 12, 2010, 11:36:35 PM
I noticed on there that the Alien Quadrilogy box set is only a tenner now, probably because of the upcoming bluray box set

Full details on that just announced - October 25th release in the UK, specs look fantastic:
Quote

Fox Home Entertainment have announced the UK Blu-ray Disc release of Alien Anthology on 25th October 2010. From the press release...

All four ALIEN films have been reinvigorated for an intense Blu-ray high-definition viewing experience. The release also marks the debut of MU-TH-UR Mode, a fully interactive companion that takes the extensive materials in the ALIEN ANTHOLOGY and puts them in the user's hand - connecting fans to special features on all six discs and instantly providing an index of all available ALIEN content, including over 60 hours of special features and over 12,000 images. ALIEN ANTHOLOGY will also be available in a Limited Edition Collector's Set featuring 'The Guardian' - an exclusive illuminated egg statue sculpted by Sideshow Collectibles®.

The ALIEN ANTHOLOGY is a truly unique home entertainment experience. For the first time ever, the studio has united the material from every home video release of the ALIEN saga including the 1991/1992 laserdisc releases, the 1999 "Legacy" release and 2003's groundbreaking ALIEN QUADRILOGY release into one complete Blu-ray collection. The set also includes two versions of each film and over four hours of previously unreleased exclusive material such as original screen tests of Sigourney Weaver prior to filming the original ALIEN, unseen deleted scenes, thousands of still photographs from the Fox archives, the previously unseen original cut of "Wreckage and Rage: The Making of ALIEN3," and much, much more.

The ALIEN ANTHOLOGY is just one aspect of Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment's yearlong campaign to honor the studio's 75th birthday. This year the division will debut several select fan-favorites on Blu-ray for the first time ever including The Rocky Horror Picture Show, William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge! and The Sound of Music.

DISC ONE: ALIEN
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
MU-TH-UR Mode Interactive Experience with Weyland-Yutani Datastream

DISC TWO: ALIENS
1986 Theatrical Version
1991 Special Edition with James Cameron Introduction
Audio Commentary by Director James Cameron, Producer Gale Anne Hurd, Alien Effects Creator Stan Winston, Visual Effects Supervisors Robert Skotak and Dennis Skotak, Miniature Effects Supervisor Pat McClung, Actors Michael Biehn, Bill Paxton, Lance Henriksen, Jenette Goldstein, Carrie Henn and Christopher Henn
Final Theatrical Isolated Score by James Horner
Composer's Original Isolated Score by James Horner
Deleted and Extended Scenes
MU-TH-UR Mode Interactive Experience with Weyland-Yutani Datastream

DISC THREE: ALIEN3
1992 Theatrical Version
2003 Special Edition (Restored Workprint Version)
Audio Commentary by Cinematographer Alex Thomson, B.S.C., Editor Terry Rawlings, Alien Effects Designers Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff, Jr., Visual Effects Producer Richard Edlund, A.S.C., Actors Paul McGann and Lance Henriksen
Final Theatrical Isolated Score by Elliot Goldenthal
Deleted and Extended Scenes
MU-TH-UR Mode Interactive Experience with Weyland-Yutani Datastream

DISC FOUR: ALIEN RESURRECTION
1997 Theatrical Version
2003 Special Edition with Jean-Pierre Jeunet Introduction
Audio Commentary by Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Editor Hervé Schneid, A.C.E., Alien Effects Creators Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff, Jr., Visual Effects Supervisor Pitof, Conceptual Artist Sylvain Despretz, Actors Ron Perlman, Dominique Pinon and Leland Orser
Final Theatrical Isolated Score by John Frizzell
Deleted and Extended Scenes
MU-TH-UR Mode Interactive Experience with Weyland-Yutani Datastream

DISC FIVE: MAKING THE ANTHOLOGY
In addition to over 12 hours of candid, in-depth documentaries, you now have the ability to go even deeper into Alien Anthology history with nearly five hours of additional video Enhancement Pods created exclusively for this collection, presenting behind-the-scenes footage, raw dailies and interview outtakes from all four films. At topical points in the documentaries, you may access these pods to enhance your experience, or watch them on their own from the separate Enhancement Pod index.

The Beast Within: Making ALIEN
The Visualists: Direction and Design
Truckers in Space: Casting
Fear of the Unknown: Shepperton Studios, 1978
The Darkest Reaches: Nostromo and Alien Planet
The Eighth Passenger: Creature Design
Future Tense: Editing and Music
Outward Bound: Visual Effects
A Nightmare Fulfilled: Reaction to the Film
Enhancement Pods

Superior Firepower: Making ALIENS
57 Years Later: Continuing the Story
Building Better Worlds: From Concept to Construction
Preparing for Battle: Casting and Characterization
This Time It's War: Pinewood Studios, 1985
The Risk Always Lives: Weapons and Action
Bug Hunt: Creature Design
Beauty and the Bitch: Power Loader vs. Queen Alien
Two Orphans: Sigourney Weaver and Carrie Henn
The Final Countdown: Music, Editing and Sound
The Power of Real Tech: Visual Effects
Aliens Unleashed: Reaction to the Film
Enhancement Pods

Wreckage and Rage: Making ALIEN3
Development Hell: Concluding the Story
Tales of the Wooden Planet: Vincent Ward's Vision
Stasis Interrupted: David Fincher's Vision
Xeno-Erotic: H.R. Giger's Redesign
The Color of Blood: Pinewood Studios, 1991
Adaptive Organism: Creature Design
The Downward Spiral: Creative Differences
Where the Sun Burns Cold: Fox Studios, L.A. 1992
Optical Fury: Visual Effects
Requiem for a Scream: Music, Editing and Sound
Post-Mortem: Reaction to the Film
Enhancement Pods

One Step Beyond: Making ALIEN RESURRECTION
From the Ashes: Reviving the Story
French Twist: Direction and Design
Under the Skin: Casting and Characterization
Death from Below: Fox Studios, Los Angeles, 1996
In the Zone: The Basketball Scene
Unnatural Mutation: Creature Design
Genetic Composition: Music
Virtual Aliens: Computer Generated Imagery
A Matter of Scale: Miniature Photography
Critical Juncture: Reaction to the Film
Enhancement Pods
MU-TH-UR Mode Interactive Experience to Access and Control Enhancement Pods

DISC SIX: THE ANTHOLOGY ARCHIVES

ALIEN
Pre-Production
First Draft Screenplay by Dan O'Bannon
Ridleygrams: Original Thumbnails and Notes
Storyboard Archive
The Art of Alien: Conceptual Art Portfolio
Sigourney Weaver Screen Tests with Select Director Commentary
Cast Portrait Gallery
Production
The Chestbuster: Multi-Angle Sequence with Commentary
Video Graphics Gallery
Production Image Galleries
Continuity Polaroids
The Sets of Alien
H.R. Giger's Workshop Gallery
Post-Production and Aftermath
Additional Deleted Scenes
Image & Poster Galleries
Experience in Terror
Special Collector's Edition LaserDisc Archive
The Alien Legacy
American Cinematheque: Ridley Scott Q&A
Trailers & TV Spots

ALIENS
Pre-Production
Original Treatment by James Cameron
Pre-Visualizations: Multi-Angle Videomatics with Commentary
Storyboard Archive
The Art of Aliens: Image Galleries
Cast Portrait Gallery
Production
Production Image Galleries
Continuity Polaroids
Weapons and Vehicles
Stan Winston's Workshop
Colonial Marine Helmet Cameras
Video Graphics Gallery
Weyland-Yutani Inquest: Nostromo Dossiers
Post-Production and Aftermath
Deleted Scene: Burke Cocooned
Deleted Scene Montage
Image Galleries
Special Collector's Edition LaserDisc Archive
Main Title Exploration
Aliens: Ride at the Speed of Fright
Trailers & TV Spots

ALIEN3
Pre-Production
Storyboard Archive
The Art of Arceon
The Art of Fiorina
Production
Furnace Construction: Time-Lapse Sequence
EEV Bioscan: Multi-Angle Vignette with Commentary
Production Image Galleries
A.D.I.'s Workshop
Post-Production and Aftermath
Visual Effects Gallery
Special Shoot: Promotional Photo Archive
Alien3 Advance Featurette
The Making of Alien3 Promotional Featurette
Trailers & TV Spots

ALIEN RESURRECTION
Pre-Production
First Draft Screenplay by Joss Whedon
Test Footage: A.D.I. Creature Shop with Commentary
Test Footage: Costumes, Hair and Makeup
Pre-Visualizations: Multi-Angle Rehearsals
Storyboard Archive
The Marc Caro Portfolio: Character Designs
The Art of Resurrection: Image Galleries
Production
Production Image Galleries
A.D.I.'s Workshop
Post-Production and Aftermath
Visual Effects Gallery
Special Shoot: Promotional Photo Archive
HBO First Look: The Making of Alien Resurrection
Alien Resurrection Promotional Featurette
Trailers & TV Spots

ALIEN ANTHOLOGY
Two Versions of Alien Evolution
The Alien Saga
Patches and Logos Gallery
Aliens 3D Attraction Scripts and Gallery
Aliens in the Basement: The Bob Burns Collection
Parodies
Dark Horse Cover Gallery
Patches and Logos Gallery
MU-TH-UR Mode Interactive Experience


The uncut "Wreckage and Rage" might be interesting if they have Fincher's input re-inserted - didn't they cut all of that last time?

Hoping for a great new transfer, the last DVD set looks horrifically bad upscaled to hi-def

Johnny Textface

Quote from: surreal on July 15, 2010, 12:30:52 PM
Fincher's input re-inserted - didn't they cut all of that last time?

Yep, zero Fincher input on the DVD Quadrilogy set - I'd love to know what his take is (probably involves swear words).

mobias

Fincher won't have anything to do with Alien 3. I don't blame him either after the way they treated him.

AsparagusTrevor

Quote from: Cohaagen on July 13, 2010, 12:09:55 PM
For what it's worth, I think most of the rod puppetry in Alien 3 is pretty bad, particularly the green-screening. The actual bodysuits are superb, and that behind-the-scenes footage where they attempt to use a young whippet in prosthetics as a dog-chestburster is fucking priceless. I think the creature design deteriorated hugely from that point, as Gillies/Woodruff from ADI gradually turned the Alien into an extraterrestrial homologue of the velociraptors from Jurassic Park.

My best mate thinks Ron Perlman and Tom Waits are the same guy. He is 31 years old.

I think the actual puppetry itself is quite good, just the compositing is very bad and spoils a lot of the shots of the alien. Green/Blue-screening was never really great back then. There's also shots where the lighting and shadows have been obviously rotoscoped and it doesn't help matters. Still, at least they tried.

The CGI used for the ox-burster in the workprint is quite good, the DVDs show they were originally using rod puppets for that too, but couldn't get it right, so they knocked up some pretty decent CGI for the DVD.

surreal

Just been doing a bit of digging - looks like the extra 30 minutes of "Wreckage and Rage" in that set might actually be the Fincher stuff.  From a review of the previous set on The Digital Bits:
Quote
More than thirty minutes of material that was produced for this documentary was cut at the last minute. You might be wondering what difference thirty minutes could make in a three hour documentary. A big difference. Gone now is much of the honesty and truth about the hell director David Fincher went through on the production. Among the footage lost were actual moments with Fincher on the set, where you saw his frustration and anger. You saw his struggles with producers. You heard from Sigourney and the other cast and crew members talking about the problems, and what a raw deal Fincher got. You even heard from the film's producers and Fox executives talking about what went wrong. Simply put, this disc was about as good a behind-the-scenes look at the making of Alien³ as you could ever hope to get, short of Fincher returning to address the production himself (and he WAS asked to do so, but declined). Unfortunately, what you get now, while it still does contain some of the above (including material that you've never seen before), it sort of teases the stuff you really want to know, then glosses by it.


Cerys

That's a big egg.  What's the face-hugger going to rape - Jimmy Carr?

Quote from: Cerys on July 24, 2010, 05:43:44 PM
That's a big egg.  What's the face-hugger going to rape - Jimmy Carr?

I'm seeing a tiny alien. Anyway, its another eyesore of a boxset... not that I wouldn't mind having it.

Ginyard

I quite like it. Shame I think most of the series is a bit crap otherwise I'd buy it.

Cerys

Simple solution - buy it and send it to me.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth


El Unicornio, mang

Here's the long awaited scene featuring Burke cocooned which is on the new blu-ray (quality is a bit poo)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zCnKbKr7eI

Famous Mortimer

AAAARRRGGGGHHHH  PREQUELS ARE ALWAYS RUBBISH

I hope that's not already been covered by this thread.

Big Jack McBastard

With regards Alien3 It suffers from being simply not as good as the first two, which to be fair were bloody great. I did like the directors cut (or whatever it was) though, some CGI moments were a bit off (as some scenes were clipped early in editing) but it felt more complete and gave a bit of set up to the colony which was missing in the theatrical release.

Thing is the fact that they saw fit to film and release a longer version makes me question why many directors, who have something good on their hands, bend to the whim of some 'golden ratio' set period of time when it comes to releasing in cinemas. I suppose a shorter film means a swifter profit for both the distributor and the theatres showing it, but besides people being inattentive mongoloids who can't sit somewhere for 3 hours, that's the only reason I can come up with.




samadriel


Big Jack McBastard

#88
Lot of people liked Empire over any of the others as well.

And the second Terminator, minus the thumbs up.

I'm sure more will follow.

Edit: Oh the shame of it.

gmoney

Those are sequels you fool! And Godfather Part II is only part prequel.