Alien (franchise)

In space no one can hear you scream.

This is a series, it seems, all about Old Testament vengeance, and how humanity has failed to live up to its spiritual potential. We refused to be humble in the face of the infinite cosmos, failing to grasp our own humility, hence, divine-ish beings from beyond are looking to settle the score. ~ Witney Setbold

The Alien film franchise (also known as Aliens) is a science fiction horror film series consisting of four installments, focusing on Warrant Officer Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) and her battles with an extraterrestrial life form, commonly referred to as "the Alien".

Films

But since both Predator and the Aliens films are “movies in a can,” situations in which the protagonists are basically trapped with these lethal creatures, you have to create story elements that move beyond that scenario without losing what that kind of context creates: the tension, the isolation, the claustrophobia. ~ John McTiernan

The Alien franchise is renowned in feminist film circle as the first blockbuster series of the era to deal with gender and sexual politics. Ellen Ripley, as performed by Sigourney Weaver, was the first iconic female action hero. This wasn't the clichéd horror portrayal of girls served up as screaming, helpless victims. Ripley was, as Laura Mulvey termed it, the first "final girl"—a woman still capable of possessing everything we associate with femininity (think of the maternal way she holds her cat in her arms during Alien's finale) while outsmarting a creature that had efficiently worked through every male member of the Nostromo crew. ~ Tom Seymour

• Alien (film) (25 May 1979)
• Aliens (film) (18 July 1986)
• Alien³ (22 May 1992)
• Alien Resurrection (26 November 1997)

See also

• Last words in Aliens media

Spin-offs

• Prometheus (2012 film) (20 May 2012)
• Alien: Covenant (May 19, 2017)

Crossovers

Alien vs. Predator (franchise)

• Alien vs. Predator (film) (12 August 2004)
• Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (25 December 2007)

About Alien (franchise)

Anderson shows such a lack of interest in character or mood that the first 45 minutes, pre-Alien and Predator battles, feels unnecessarily lugubrious. His film lacks the obsessive haunted house setting of Ridley Scott’s Alien, the virtuoso gung-ho action of James Cameron’s Aliens or John McTiernan’s Predator, the bleak doom of David Fincher Alien³, and the cartoon splashes of Jien-Pierre Jeunet’s Alien: Resurrection. ~ Jerimiah Kipp

• Anderson shows such a lack of interest in character or mood that the first 45 minutes, pre-Alien and Predator battles, feels unnecessarily lugubrious. His film lacks the obsessive haunted house setting of Ridley Scott’s Alien, the virtuoso gung-ho action of James Cameron’s Aliens or John McTiernan’s Predator, the bleak doom of David Fincher Alien³, and the cartoon splashes of Jien-Pierre Jeunet’s Alien: Resurrection. Those movies were of varying levels of quality, but the filmmakers were committed to a singular vision. Alien vs. Predator is a technically proficient fan-boy’s wet dream, made for people who want to see the Alien bleed acid on the Predator’s body armor, or the Predator using his nifty laser to blow apart alien hoards. It’s not much of a movie, but it’s a geek’s paradise.

• Jeremiah Kipp. "Alien vs. Predator". Slant Magazine. (July 5, 2004).

• What was the toughest thing in coming up with stories involving both alien races? What was the most fertile ground?

John McTiernan: I think that the fact that the first films in the franchises, which are literally all we had to go on initially, were so good, that following them up was pretty intimidating. Those aren’t just good films, they’re classics. They hold up. But since both Predator and the Aliens films are “movies in a can,” situations in which the protagonists are basically trapped with these lethal creatures, you have to create story elements that move beyond that scenario without losing what that kind of context creates: the tension, the isolation, the claustrophobia.
Again, I bring it back to the characters. If your characters have some dimension and you care about them, you’re halfway home. I also try to focus on finding an interesting environment in which to set the stories. In Hunters, I chose an isolated chain of tropical islands. In Hunters II, the mountains of Afghanistan.

• John McTiernan in “THE CREATOR OF ALIEN VS PREDATOR LOOKS BACK ON HIS CLASSIC AND HIS NEW PREDATOR BOOKS” by Ernie Estrella. Syfy Wire. (Jul 27, 2018).

• This is a series, it seems, all about Old Testament vengeance, and how humanity has failed to live up to its spiritual potential. We refused to be humble in the face pf the infinite cosmos, failing to grasp our own humility, hence, divine-ish beings from beyond are looking to settle the score.
  • Witney Setbold, "The Religious Symbolism of the Alien Series", Nerdist.com, (May 5, 2017).

• The Alien franchise is renowned in feminist film circle as the first blockbuster series of the era to deal with gender and sexual politics. Ellen Ripley, as performed by Sigourney Weaver, was the first iconic female action hero. This wasn't the clichéd horror portrayal of girls served up as screaming, helpless victims. Ripley was, as Laura Mulvey termed it, the first "final girl"—a woman still capable of possessing everything we associate with femininity (think of the maternal way she holds her cat in her arms during Alien's finale) while outsmarting a creature that had efficiently worked through every male member of the Nostromo crew.
  • Tom Seymour. "'Alien' Is Sci-Fi Horror's Most Feminist Movie Franchise". Broadly.vice.com. (May 19 2017).

• I don't think Alien belongs on Earth popping out of a haystack, which is where I was afraid it was going to go. I feel it should take place in the far reaches of the universe where no one in their right mind would go. There are very few filmmakers that I can think of that I would want to entrust this to.
  • Sigourney Weaver in Jeff Goldsmith, "Sigourney Weaver Hero Complex Film Fest Q&A. The Q&A with Jeff Goldsmith", Herocomplex, (2014).

• I felt that Ripley was going to become a burden to the story ... There are only so many aspects to that character you can do.
  • Sigourney Weaver, "Bald Ambition". Cinescape. November 1997.

• Had we done a fifth one, I don't doubt that her humanity would have prevailed. I do feel like there is more story to tell. I feel a longing from fans for the story to be finished. I could imagine a situation where we finish telling the story.
  • Sigourney Weaver, in Ben Beaumont-Thomas, "Sigourney Weaver on Alien sequel: 'There's more story to tell'", The Guardian, (June 3, 2014).

• Q: What’s your personal favorite of the four films?

Weaver: That would be really hard for me. Because each one had, at the helm, such an original visionary. Ridley transformed the idea of space from this sterile, cerebral place to a place where people actually got up and had breakfast and swore and griped and carried on like regular people. Then Jim [Cameron] took it to a whole other scale of story and emotional resonance. Each director has put his own emotional stamp on it and I think they’re all legit. It was kind of dizzying to go from one to another, even though there were some years between. But I think it was fun for me to come back every few years knowing a little more about what I do and having more confidence and more experience in life. So I felt that that was an extraordinary opportunity for me.

Q: We do tend to focus on the first two, though. What are your thoughts on that stamp of David Fincher and Jean-Pierre Jeunet?

Weaver: I think that, with “The Social Network,” everyone now is going to be able to recognize Fincher for being one of the great directors of our day. Certainly that was true after “Fight Club” as well. What I love about each of these directors is that they’re really unsentimental. I think it got harder for Jean-Pierre because the story is much more about the science and the corporations. It’s difficult for us to watch the fourth one because it seems like yesterday or tomorrow. It’s not happening far away. It seems like something we read about in the papers. Cloning and BP and all this stuff. I think it makes people more uncomfortable. But I think they all really stand up. I’ve heard people arguing over their favorites, though, and three and four have a lot of fans.

• Sigourney Weaver in "Interview: Sigourney Weaver on the Alien Anthology" by Silas Lesnick. Comingsoon.net. (October 16, 2010).

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