Anchorpoint Essays Back Online

[Darkness]

A little bit of news. Mike Lynch brought the Anchorpoint Essays site back online.

Back By Popular Demand!

After several months of being closed, and numerous emails from those who tracked me down I'm going to give this another go.

I initially created the Essays so that I could have the kind of ALIENS site that I had always wanted, but never found. So this site had been an act of self-indulgence, but something I hadn't realized is that over the years this site had become not just my site, but your site as well. You, the fans of the ALIENS saga, are what keeps sites like this going. And it was you who convinced me to reopen the site and give it another try. Besides... with comments like this how could I not give it another try: "You gave so much to the ALIENS community over the past 10 years, perhaps more than you realize. You changed the way many of us think, perceive the Alien, and even how we watch the movies. Your imagination changed the face of the Alien forever." ...Thanks Matthew! I'm not sure how much I really changed the slime covered mug of our favorite Xenomorph, but the numerous other sentiments that echoed Matthew are what brought this site back. So I thank you all once again.

So what have I been up to since February? Quite a bit, actually. The short version of it is I was laid off, planned on going full-time freelance, and wound up being offered a job to not only start-up, but head, an in-house CG department for a comp house in New York City. Which means I've been doing a lot of Industrial Design/Product Vis - which is right up my alley! Our pipeline consist of LightWave, Modo, After Effects, and Photoshop... again - right up my alley! So I now have a healthy commute, and I've been busy getting the department on its feet, producing work... and well, you get the idea.

[gameoverman]

Nice..  A lot of info there.   

[Master Chief]

What a great site about the Alien.  Pretty much all of the questions I've ever had are answered on his site.  From paralyzing the host to the queen.  Can't wait till I can read about the eating habits and such.  *Saved to favorites.

[Thedus]

Thanks, Darkness.

...And I was just thinking about the beasties' feeding habits this morning in the shower (of all places). ...Perhaps it was because my shower curtain reminds me of the curtain behind Clemmens. ...Or perhaps I'm just weird like that.

[fluxcap]

Great news. The day I decided to give the essays a dedicated read-thru it started having all those problems then eventual shut-down.

[Troy]

I know that I'm new around these parts but glad to see Mike's site back online!

[Thedus]

Thanks Troy and Fluxcap.

Stay tuned.  I'm currently proof-reading the next essay.  And hopefully it will answer some questions, as well as create some new ones.

[Corporal Hicks]

Thanks, Darkness.

...And I was just thinking about the beasties' feeding habits this morning in the shower (of all places). ...Perhaps it was because my shower curtain reminds me of the curtain behind Clemmens. ...Or perhaps I'm just weird like that.

Glad to see it back online. I was just trying to recover the essays last month. Can't wait to see the site updated.

[Thedus]

Glad to see it back online. I was just trying to recover the essays last month. Can't wait to see the site updated.

And now you can.    I just added a new essay - the Exoskeleton Essay.

I hope you enjoy it.

[Corporal Hicks]

Coolio. It is my intention in the coming months to do a little list of sites to present to DH Press as recourses for their authors doing Alien novels. I'd like permission to include Anchorpoints into that list?

[Xenomorphine]

The only really major part I find disagreement with is the statement that Dallas was intended as a host for Brett's egg, as opposed to Ripley. Giger states the original intention was that Dallas is becoming an egg and it would make no sense for him to be in such massive pain and trauma if he's merely been cocooned, like Newt or Ripley on the Auriga.

The rest had always pretty much been great fun, though and it was always among the very best of sites, back in the nineties.

[Thedus]

Coolio. It is my intention in the coming months to do a little list of sites to present to DH Press as recourses for their authors doing Alien novels. I'd like permission to include Anchorpoints into that list?

Feel free.

The only really major part I find disagreement with is the statement that Dallas was intended as a host for Brett's egg, as opposed to Ripley. Giger states the original intention was that Dallas is becoming an egg and it would make no sense for him to be in such massive pain and trauma if he's merely been cocooned, like Newt or Ripley on the Auriga.

The rest had always pretty much been great fun, though and it was always among the very best of sites, back in the nineties.

Not everyone agrees with everything on the site, and that's fine.  ...That's good, actually.

You bring up a very valid point.  As I had been writing that bit I had been thinking about Giger's comments, and the amount of time that had elapsed between Brett and Dallas being captured, and Brett just seemed so much further along in development.  And Dallas' feet and legs are also clearly still visible in the resin, which means they hadn't succumb to transformation yet.  ..Which furthered the disparity in change between the two crew members in my eyes.

I try to stick as closely as possible to the canon of the films as I'm extrapolating and creating theories.  But sometimes I have to step out side of that a bit to make it all work.  The films were created with certain levels of consistency between them, but in the places where that consistency fails I need to be a little creative in making it fit and work with other aspects and elements of the franchise.  And to be honest I'm not trying to make my site canon - it's fan fiction.  But I try to creatively work all of the films together and incorporate the canonical elements of each one into one cohesive site.

As a result not everyone agrees with 100% of the material on the site, and that's fine.  That creates conversations, generates debates, raises more questions, etc.  ...And In the end that is really one of the reasons I originally created the site. 

[Kriszilla]

I'd forgotten about this site to be honest. Though I remember visiting it vaguely years ago. I just gave the site a thorough read-through, and I'm glad you brought it back.

[Darkness]

I try to stick as closely as possible to the canon of the films as I'm extrapolating and creating theories.  But sometimes I have to step out side of that a bit to make it all work.  The films were created with certain levels of consistency between them, but in the places where that consistency fails I need to be a little creative in making it fit and work with other aspects and elements of the franchise.  And to be honest I'm not trying to make my site canon - it's fan fiction.  But I try to creatively work all of the films together and incorporate the canonical elements of each one into one cohesive site.

Are you still taking AvP into account? The thing that disappointed me was your decision in 2004 to include stuff from AvP into your essays. Personally, I wouldn't even begin to make sense of what Anderson did to the Aliens with that movie.

[Thedus]

To a certain degree yes I am, but not to the extent of the other ALIEN films.  And I'm not sure how far I will take it.  I do make mention to it in the new essay.  And depending on how well done AVP-R is I may incorporate a decent amount of material from the new film.  ...Of course the AVP saga seems to be taking place in an alternate universe - one where the events do not have any influence on the original 4 Alien films.  So incorporating them is not easy.