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Alien: Alone Available Online! – New Alien: 40th Anniversary Short

Alien: Alone is now available to watch online and marks the release of the last of the Alien: 40th Anniversary Shorts. Noah Miller’s short brings us a different take on an Alien entry!

“Hope, an abandoned crew member aboard the derelict chemical hauler Otranto, has spent a year trying to keep her ship and herself alive as both slowly fall apart. After discovering hidden cargo, she risks it all to power up the broken ship in search of human life.”

And as usual, now you’ve seen Alien: Alone, head on over to the Alien Anthology YouTube channel to check out their Meet the Filmmaker video introducing us to writer/director Noah Miller and producer Patrick Ridge!

Keep checking back in with Alien vs. Predator Galaxy as we’ll be uploading an interview with Noah later tonight for your listening pleasure! And now that all the Alien: 40th Anniversary Shorts are all available, now would be a perfect time to head back and check out our review episode!

What did you think of Alien: Alone? Be sure to sound off in the comments section below and let us know!

Make sure you stick with Alien vs. Predator Galaxy for the latest on the Alien 40th Anniversary celebrations! You can follow us on FacebookTwitter, Instagram and YouTube to get the latest on your social media walls. You can also join in with fellow Alien and Predator fans on our forums!



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  1. Nrmiller
    Yep thats it, I was even briefly talking to the prop store to let us shoot on the original Nostromo model. But that never materialized.

    I loved the model work, I know it doesn't stand up as well when compared to the other shorts with ship shots but we were always a slightly different production.

    The model was about 4 feet, absolutely gorgeous too, it probably needed to be about 15 to 20 feet, but I knew we didn't have the cash/resources to make something massive-- we could've gone cgi but I really wanted the process to feel like making a movie in that era, that was important and just plain fun for me. So it wasn't just the final product that was an homage, but the production itself.
  2. Kradan
    Alone is my second favourite (Harvest is above). I agree with Hicks that in terms of the storytelling it was the bravest one. It also continues some of themes from Covenant (lone android, fascination with xeno, drawings) that i highly appreciate. Actress did a great job acting taht very emotionly restricted synth. Especially i loved Ash homage.
  3. The Cruentus
    Quote from: HuDaFuK on May 03, 2019, 10:12:19 AM
    Quote from: The Cruentus on May 03, 2019, 10:01:53 AMInstead the scene shows issue with the practical effect of the creature walking and the android having to hold it on him.

    I assumed that had something to do with the fact the Facehugger was dying, so she had to help it through the process.

    Quote from: The Cruentus on May 03, 2019, 10:01:53 AMI can't recall if it was stated in the short but I wonder how long was the ship drifting for, the android needed maintence and power yet David was "fine" after being alone for over ten years.

    David was Weyland's personal prototype, it's not entirely unreasonable to assume he was constructed to a higher standard than the presumably mass-produced Hope.

    Oh I understand it was dying, it just looked funny when she was holding it to the guy's face.

    Yeah that is a good point as well
  4. HuDaFuK
    Quote from: The Cruentus on May 03, 2019, 10:01:53 AMInstead the scene shows issue with the practical effect of the creature walking and the android having to hold it on him.

    I assumed that had something to do with the fact the Facehugger was dying, so she had to help it through the process.

    Quote from: The Cruentus on May 03, 2019, 10:01:53 AMI can't recall if it was stated in the short but I wonder how long was the ship drifting for, the android needed maintence and power yet David was "fine" after being alone for over ten years.

    David was Weyland's personal prototype, it's not entirely unreasonable to assume he was constructed to a higher standard than the presumably mass-produced Hope.
  5. The Cruentus
    Watched this recently, not bad at all, interesting premise, glad they used a practical effects for the hugger as the cgi versions, especially in the last short don't really look too good. I agree with what have said about the A:I but the movies have shown A:I as being somewhat emotive, Call and David being the worst offenders.
    I think one part that lets it down a little is the impregnation scene, they could have just from cut from when he got knocked out to just showing him wiith a hugger on him. Instead the scene shows issue with the practical effect of the creature walking and the android having to hold it on him. Other than that, I enjoyed this one.

    I can't recall if it was stated in the short but I wonder how long was the ship drifting for, the android needed maintence and power yet David was "fine" after being alone for over ten years.
  6. Corporal Hicks
    Noah Miller on the Making of Alien: Alone

    QuoteRounding out the release of the Alien short films on Alien Day, the sixth and final installment is Noah Miller's Alien: Alone. A fan among fans, Noah brings his deep knowledge of the canon and obsessive attention to detail to his film, which follows Hope and her solo journey aboard the Otranto. This foreboding tale is a reverent nod to the gothic horror genre with an interesting twist that fans are going crazy for.
  7. Highland
    Quote from: HuDaFuK on Apr 29, 2019, 06:46:32 PM
    Finally got around to giving this a second viewing.

    Only real complaint I can muster is that the music at the very end struck me as really out-of-place, which is disappointing because otherwise the score is by far the best from any of these shorts.

    Other than that, this was really very good. Excellent performance from the lead. Without question the most thought-provoking of the six.

    Oh yeah, forgot to mention the model shots. Sure, they may have looked kinda hokey, but man did I get a kick out of them. Reminded me of oldschool Red Dwarf ;D

    I used the exact same description in another thread. I really didn't like the hugger shots. Say what you like about it, but the facehugger just sitting there is off. Maybe if it was scurrying around, or sitting dormant I could buy it. The short was ok, I just though that aspect of it wasn't really well executed.
  8. HuDaFuK
    Pretty certain the idea with Call - as with all Autons like her - is that they were self-aware and therefore not governed by programming. Hence their rebellion and the subsequent outlawing of synthetics.
  9. XenoHunter99
    Humans have a tendency to anthropomorphize. Hope is a human-like AI. She knows exactly what the facehugger is, what it's doing, It doesn't matter, In the situation, she likes its company. She talks to it. She even cares for its survival as one might care for a rather exotic pet, ultimately sacrificing a human so the facehugger can spawn. The ethics and morality of all that is quite interesting. The more curious part of that is what the adult Alien would have done next. It raises a lot of questions about what the creature knows, how it knows it, what it thinks, and how it acts on that information. Knock Hope's head off is a possibility, but not the only possibility.

    The biggest problem with the droids in the Alien series, at least from a human perspective, is that they mostly lack Asimov's 3 Rules of Robotics in their programming. Only Bishop and maybe Walter seem to possess them. I think Bishop's decision-making is most obviously influenced by them. Call is compassionate, but I think she arrived there more or less on her own.
  10. SiL
    Neither do I. It attacks Hope, realises she's not a host, buggers off, then comes back when it realises there's nothing else around to grab. It stays nearby on the offchance a host does show up near her.
  11. SiL
    Designed to evoke that facehuggers make chirping noises. They always have.

    It's clear from the director's comments that it wasn't intended to show it was a "pet". If that's how it comes across its an issue of execution, not intent.
  12. TC
    Quote from: irn on Apr 30, 2019, 12:52:14 AM
    I really enjoyed this one. It was the first that actually tried something new. Regarding the facehugger being a "pet"; if I'm not mistaken, it's implied that it has the urge to attack the synthetic because it's a humanoid shape and that's what it's designed to go for, so it stays close, yet obviously she's not biological so it doesn't really know what to do. It's demonstrating a confused impulse.
    ...

    Yes, Hope has a line that says this. But being the sophisticated movie viewers that we are, a character's explanation for what's going on is always prime suspect in unreliable narrators. What we observe is cutesy cooing and chirping from the face-hugger - designed to evoke what, i wonder?

    TC
  13. Ronoc
    Quote from: irn on Apr 30, 2019, 12:52:14 AM
    I really enjoyed this one. It was the first that actually tried something new. Regarding the facehugger being a "pet"; if I'm not mistaken, it's implied that it has the urge to attack the synthetic because it's a humanoid shape and that's what it's designed to go for, so it stays close, yet obviously she's not biological so it doesn't really know what to do. It's demonstrating a confused impulse.

    I'd love to have seen Alone with a bigger budget and a bit longer.

    ^this
  14. irn
    I really enjoyed this one. It was the first that actually tried something new. Regarding the facehugger being a "pet"; if I'm not mistaken, it's implied that it has the urge to attack the synthetic because it's a humanoid shape and that's what it's designed to go for, so it stays close, yet obviously she's not biological so it doesn't really know what to do. It's demonstrating a confused impulse.

    I'd love to have seen Alone with a bigger budget and a bit longer.
  15. Kimo
    Really liked this one because it's different from your typical how do we kill this creature in a room scenario, like some of the last shorts. Defo would love to see something original like this rather then ur rehash of Alien/Aliens.

    However
    Spoiler
    I would of had the Alien knock her head off like she was just some foreign object in its way at the very end when she enters the room. Not because the Alien see's her as some human or a threat, but because the Alien does not know what to think off her since she's a machine. Similar to how the xeno in the first Alien movie slapped jonesy's cage on the floor.
    [close]
  16. HuDaFuK
    Finally got around to giving this a second viewing.

    Only real complaint I can muster is that the music at the very end struck me as really out-of-place, which is disappointing because otherwise the score is by far the best from any of these shorts.

    Other than that, this was really very good. Excellent performance from the lead. Without question the most thought-provoking of the six.

    Oh yeah, forgot to mention the model shots. Sure, they may have looked kinda hokey, but man did I get a kick out of them. Reminded me of oldschool Red Dwarf ;D
  17. XenoHunter99
    Quote from: Nrmiller on Apr 29, 2019, 12:23:46 AM
    Quote from: XenoHunter99 on Apr 28, 2019, 04:22:43 AM
    I like the weirdness of this one. I like this one best of the lot because it's quirky and the actress did a good job with the material. But it's still the tale of another droid with serious mental issues. It adds to the enormous volume of subtext in the series that human-like AI has a lot of unsolved problems.

    If I ever get around to polishing up the 20min cut, there's a lot more going on with her. There's a tiny tiny tiny left over clue in the crew photo.

    When that happens, I look forward to seeing it.
  18. Nightmare Asylum
    Quote from: Nrmiller on Apr 29, 2019, 12:23:46 AM
    Quote from: XenoHunter99 on Apr 28, 2019, 04:22:43 AM
    I like the weirdness of this one. I like this one best of the lot because it's quirky and the actress did a good job with the material. But it's still the tale of another droid with serious mental issues. It adds to the enormous volume of subtext in the series that human-like AI has a lot of unsolved problems.

    If I ever get around to polishing up the 20min cut, there's a lot more going on with her. There's a tiny tiny tiny left over clue in the crew photo.

    Well this certainly has me intrigued.
  19. SM
    QuoteBishop isn't the least bit resentful about that. Just being pragmatic.

    Perhaps.  He also has an ego.

    QuoteCall was... Odd. Not written like an AI should be, a lot like David 8, in that regard. I reconciled it by assuming some programming-related weirdness happened during the ambiguous event which caused Call and others to rebel (still for reasons unknown). I still don't understand what Whedon was getting at with that. :/

    Not for reasons unknown - they didn't like being told what to do.

    Also Call was masquerading as a human.

    How should she act?

    Anyway - this was pretty good.  Looked the part, but also a little niggling that left me a teensy bit unsatisfied that I can't put my finger on.

    Soundtrack was a cracker.
  20. Nrmiller
    Quote from: XenoHunter99 on Apr 28, 2019, 04:22:43 AM
    I like the weirdness of this one. I like this one best of the lot because it's quirky and the actress did a good job with the material. But it's still the tale of another droid with serious mental issues. It adds to the enormous volume of subtext in the series that human-like AI has a lot of unsolved problems.

    If I ever get around to polishing up the 20min cut, there's a lot more going on with her. There's a tiny tiny tiny left over clue in the crew photo.

  21. Naginata
    This is now tied with Specimen for the number one spot, as far as I'm concerned. Spectacular!  :o

    QuoteCall was... Odd. Not written like an AI should be, a lot like David 8, in that regard.

    Do you not see the irony of a human saying - of a sci-fi robot - "STOP THAT, YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO ACT LIKE I EXPECT YOU TO!"

    Dude... That's, like... the whole point. They don't necessarily act 'like they should' or in the way their creators intend or expect. You turn on an AI with intelligence comparable to (yet distinct from) a human being, you better be ready for some unexpected results. Call was sentient. She acts however the hell she wants, because she has human-level intelligence and free will. The idea that androids have to be written a certain way isn't just dogmatic; it's antithetical to most of science fiction as a genre. I mean, 'androids not behaving the way we think they should' is basically the entire plot of Blade Runner! It's a feature, not a bug.
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