Blomkamp is officially making an Alien film

[Rankles75]

If only we could handwave all the people who think "It was all a dream!" is anything other than the laziest get-out-of-jail free card out of here too...

But not as lazy as ad hominem side-swipes. 

Yup. It'd be ridiculous, and incredibly convoluted, if they went that route.

If you're going to retcon, retcon. Do it with a little dignity though. Don't try to please everybody and then slap them in the face by saying it was all a dream.

I'm all for that. How? I'd be all for a really elegant solution that isn't Ripley's Indigestion - but I really can't think of one. I really liked that "The Evil Pred" idea that did have Ripley's Indigestion, only it was induced by Wey-Yu, running different scenarios - it was more thought out than that, but that's the gist of it.

Is it any less of a slap in the face to say "nah, don't worry, didn't happen." I genuinely think that that would confuse the vast majority (I don't have analytics to back that up of course, so conjecture), but for me, if (the huge IF) this is a retcon, they have to explain it somehow.

I can't think of a better way and in reading threads and threads and threads and threads, no one else on here can either. Or if they have, I've missed it - but I'm all ears (or more accurately - eyes), I would love there to be a consistent, logical and smarter way of explaining it.

I can see them doing a 'Returns... but for me that doesn't fit with this universe at all. But that's only my opinion ... maybe they will!

Which is why I say it's the placement that's the issue. If they'd have made it clear that it was in the dropship somewhere instead...or not stuck upside down. Or that a face-hugger had hitched a ride on the Queen from the Hive and omitted the egg completely. The sound of the face-hugger crawling is even in the credits of Aliens.

It's really not that much of a stretch. And it'd be nice if that sequence was reworked in any future Assembly Cuts.

No it's not a stretch at all, and I wish they had done that with the last Assembly Cut to be honest. It would have been really easy for them to do so. But they didn't - so all we have to go on is what we assume to be the case (which is entirely reasonable), but if we're going on "facts" such as they are, it doesn't stand up. Which was sort of my point to HuDa - if the Indigestion scenario is bad, it's no worse than the magic faceugger in a film that some are defending and want to keep as canon over and above a retcon.

I often read "for all its faults" about Alien3 - for me, this was the biggest one of all, the whole film hinges on something the audience has to assume has happened. Well, that and the other stuff I've been ranting on about, but all that hinges on the facehugger. No facehugger, no accident. No Alien3 for that matter! (Thinking about it, they REALLY should have done something with an Aliens cut to explain it!).

As I keep saying, it's conceivable. Entirely. As far back at Alien the notion of recording dreams or viewing dreams has been mentioned. It's just cheap. It's poor story writing. It is the worse trope of writing.

It may well be, but we agree it's conceivable and it fits. It's by far the neatest solution (if, if, if etc). A few cuts, some digital youthening (what should that word be? Making them look younger...?) in the cryo tube... bang. Its done.

I've said all along - its not ideal, but its logical and I feel better than adopting the 'Returns approach.

As well as the magic facehugger, we also had to buy the theory that the previously sensible/intelligent Ripley (with the self-preservation skills she's honed over the two films) wouldn't check for eggs/facehuggers/Xeno's considering she's just come face to face with a f***ing stowaway Queen! Kind of makes it hard to invest in a film when you have the main character having to act so completely out of character just to justify it's existence...

[HuDaFuK]

As well as the magic facehugger, we also had to buy the theory that the previously sensible/intelligent Ripley (with the self-preservation skills she's honed over the two films) wouldn't check for eggs/facehuggers/Xeno's considering she's just come face to face with a f***ing stowaway Queen!

The Sulaco's a damn big ship and she's not exactly familiar with it.

But of course, that then raises the problem of how the egg could possibly get to somewhere Ripley couldn't easily check. I imagine she would have searched the dropship, so it couldn't realistically be there.

[Corporal Hicks]

Just get rid of the egg, insert a shot of the hugger crawling up the Queen. Insert a shot of hugger crawling away, Rippers and Queen fighting in the background.

[DoomRulz]

I'm sticking to my theory that the Queen literally has an emergency facehugger attached to her body that detaches itself whenever the Queen is in mortal danger.

[Valaquen]

I'm sticking to my theory fiction that the Queen literally has an emergency facehugger attached to her body that detaches itself whenever the Queen is in mortal danger.

Fixed that for you.

It's a shame that fans have been driven to flat out invent things to make sense of the film, but we're not left with much choice are we?

[DoomRulz]

Considering the film is a mess, we don't have a choice.

[Lamal]

Let it take place after Ressurection. Closure to the film.

[Master]

I`m sticking with emergency egg. Queen is one big mamma, it isn`t so impossible she has an undeveloped egg in her uterus (or whatever she has insted).

But changing the scene in future cut to superfacehugger hiding somewhere would be best solution. Oh and remove ox and add dog in assembly cut (burst scene) and we are home.

[Corporal Hicks]

Let it take place after Ressurection. Closure to the film.

Indeed. Completely agree.

But changing the scene in future cut to superfacehugger hiding somewhere would be best solution. Oh and remove ox and add dog in assembly cut (burst scene) and we are home.

And also completely agree.

[xeno-kaname]

If only we could handwave all the people who think "It was all a dream!" is anything other than the laziest get-out-of-jail free card out of here too...

But not as lazy as ad hominem side-swipes. 

Yup. It'd be ridiculous, and incredibly convoluted, if they went that route.

If you're going to retcon, retcon. Do it with a little dignity though. Don't try to please everybody and then slap them in the face by saying it was all a dream.

I'm all for that. How? I'd be all for a really elegant solution that isn't Ripley's Indigestion - but I really can't think of one. I really liked that "The Evil Pred" idea that did have Ripley's Indigestion, only it was induced by Wey-Yu, running different scenarios - it was more thought out than that, but that's the gist of it.

Is it any less of a slap in the face to say "nah, don't worry, didn't happen." I genuinely think that that would confuse the vast majority (I don't have analytics to back that up of course, so conjecture), but for me, if (the huge IF) this is a retcon, they have to explain it somehow.

I can't think of a better way and in reading threads and threads and threads and threads, no one else on here can either. Or if they have, I've missed it - but I'm all ears (or more accurately - eyes), I would love there to be a consistent, logical and smarter way of explaining it.

I can see them doing a 'Returns... but for me that doesn't fit with this universe at all. But that's only my opinion ... maybe they will!

Which is why I say it's the placement that's the issue. If they'd have made it clear that it was in the dropship somewhere instead...or not stuck upside down. Or that a face-hugger had hitched a ride on the Queen from the Hive and omitted the egg completely. The sound of the face-hugger crawling is even in the credits of Aliens.

It's really not that much of a stretch. And it'd be nice if that sequence was reworked in any future Assembly Cuts.

No it's not a stretch at all, and I wish they had done that with the last Assembly Cut to be honest. It would have been really easy for them to do so. But they didn't - so all we have to go on is what we assume to be the case (which is entirely reasonable), but if we're going on "facts" such as they are, it doesn't stand up. Which was sort of my point to HuDa - if the Indigestion scenario is bad, it's no worse than the magic faceugger in a film that some are defending and want to keep as canon over and above a retcon.

I often read "for all its faults" about Alien3 - for me, this was the biggest one of all, the whole film hinges on something the audience has to assume has happened. Well, that and the other stuff I've been ranting on about, but all that hinges on the facehugger. No facehugger, no accident. No Alien3 for that matter! (Thinking about it, they REALLY should have done something with an Aliens cut to explain it!).

As I keep saying, it's conceivable. Entirely. As far back at Alien the notion of recording dreams or viewing dreams has been mentioned. It's just cheap. It's poor story writing. It is the worse trope of writing.

It may well be, but we agree it's conceivable and it fits. It's by far the neatest solution (if, if, if etc). A few cuts, some digital youthening (what should that word be? Making them look younger...?) in the cryo tube... bang. Its done.

I've said all along - its not ideal, but its logical and I feel better than adopting the 'Returns approach.

I completely agree.

I wasn't too sure if and how I wanted A3 and A|R retconned, but I do think the dream manipulation is the best course. Cheap? Lazy? Maybe. It's far better than just ignoring the movies. They deserve to at LEAST exist in Ripley's imagination.

What comes to mind are stasis pods similar to the ones in Prometheus. Two at each side, with an android each working on them. In one pod you see the events of Alien 3 and Resurrection unfolding, Ripley's worst nightmares. Losing Hicks and Newt. Carrying an alien in her. A queen no less. Actually BECOMING part Alien in a cloning expirement. Her sorrow over losing both a biological and surrogate daughter summons a third "child" that is an even more grotesque human/alien hybrid than herself. Yet she has to lose this one as well, by her hands.

In the other pod, you see the events of Colonial Marines unfolding. Hicks' nightmare. (And all of ours as well ) Still bound to Acheron. Prisoner of the company. Still fighting the xenos. With even more menacing variations. And although his outlook is more positive in that he escapes in the end, he never finds Ripley or Newt again.

The company for some reason trying to influence different outcomes and decisions during these subconscious invasions.

Yeah. It sounds pretty cheesy at times. But I could swallow this. For the sake of a good story. If the story sucks, well then it would just pile on and make it all that much worse. But for now I believe Blomkamp has something great in mind that would be worth the risk.

[Tough little S.O.B.]

If only we could handwave all the people who think "It was all a dream!" is anything other than the laziest get-out-of-jail free card out of here too...

+1

Considering the film is a mess, we don't have a choice.

Im sure there is another thread for this, but the magic egg does not bother me at all. It's a classic macguffin. You don't need to know where the egg came from, is just there.

I mean, if there is suddenly an egg in the Eiffel Tower, and then a movie with the aliens infesting Paris starts, that would be crazy. Where did the egg came from? But an EGG in a spaceship with an Alien Queen around, well, that makes sense. That it could have been done more nicely? yes.
But I don't think it's such a terrible thing to assume that could have happened.

If only we could handwave all the people who think "It was all a dream!" is anything other than the laziest get-out-of-jail free card out of here too...

But not as lazy as ad hominem side-swipes. 

Yup. It'd be ridiculous, and incredibly convoluted, if they went that route.

If you're going to retcon, retcon. Do it with a little dignity though. Don't try to please everybody and then slap them in the face by saying it was all a dream.

I'm all for that. How? I'd be all for a really elegant solution that isn't Ripley's Indigestion - but I really can't think of one. I really liked that "The Evil Pred" idea that did have Ripley's Indigestion, only it was induced by Wey-Yu, running different scenarios - it was more thought out than that, but that's the gist of it.

Is it any less of a slap in the face to say "nah, don't worry, didn't happen." I genuinely think that that would confuse the vast majority (I don't have analytics to back that up of course, so conjecture), but for me, if (the huge IF) this is a retcon, they have to explain it somehow.

I can't think of a better way and in reading threads and threads and threads and threads, no one else on here can either. Or if they have, I've missed it - but I'm all ears (or more accurately - eyes), I would love there to be a consistent, logical and smarter way of explaining it.

I can see them doing a 'Returns... but for me that doesn't fit with this universe at all. But that's only my opinion ... maybe they will!

Which is why I say it's the placement that's the issue. If they'd have made it clear that it was in the dropship somewhere instead...or not stuck upside down. Or that a face-hugger had hitched a ride on the Queen from the Hive and omitted the egg completely. The sound of the face-hugger crawling is even in the credits of Aliens.

It's really not that much of a stretch. And it'd be nice if that sequence was reworked in any future Assembly Cuts.

No it's not a stretch at all, and I wish they had done that with the last Assembly Cut to be honest. It would have been really easy for them to do so. But they didn't - so all we have to go on is what we assume to be the case (which is entirely reasonable), but if we're going on "facts" such as they are, it doesn't stand up. Which was sort of my point to HuDa - if the Indigestion scenario is bad, it's no worse than the magic faceugger in a film that some are defending and want to keep as canon over and above a retcon.

I often read "for all its faults" about Alien3 - for me, this was the biggest one of all, the whole film hinges on something the audience has to assume has happened. Well, that and the other stuff I've been ranting on about, but all that hinges on the facehugger. No facehugger, no accident. No Alien3 for that matter! (Thinking about it, they REALLY should have done something with an Aliens cut to explain it!).

As I keep saying, it's conceivable. Entirely. As far back at Alien the notion of recording dreams or viewing dreams has been mentioned. It's just cheap. It's poor story writing. It is the worse trope of writing.

It may well be, but we agree it's conceivable and it fits. It's by far the neatest solution (if, if, if etc). A few cuts, some digital youthening (what should that word be? Making them look younger...?) in the cryo tube... bang. Its done.

I've said all along - its not ideal, but its logical and I feel better than adopting the 'Returns approach.

I completely agree.

I wasn't too sure if and how I wanted A3 and A|R retconned, but I do think the dream manipulation is the best course. Cheap? Lazy? Maybe. It's far better than just ignoring the movies. They deserve to at LEAST exist in Ripley's imagination.

What comes to mind are stasis pods similar to the ones in Prometheus. Two at each side, with an android each working on them. In one pod you see the events of Alien 3 and Resurrection unfolding, Ripley's worst nightmares. Losing Hicks and Newt. Carrying an alien in her. A queen no less. Actually BECOMING part Alien in a cloning expirement. Her sorrow over losing both a biological and surrogate daughter summons a third "child" that is an even more grotesque human/alien hybrid than herself. Yet she has to lose this one as well, by her hands.

In the other pod, you see the events of Colonial Marines unfolding. Hicks' nightmare. (And all of ours as well ) Still bound to Acheron. Prisoner of the company. Still fighting the xenos. With even more menacing variations. And although his outlook is more positive in that he escapes in the end, he never finds Ripley or Newt again.

The company for some reason trying to influence different outcomes and decisions during these subconscious invasions.

Yeah. It sounds pretty cheesy at times. But I could swallow this. For the sake of a good story. If the story sucks, well then it would just pile on and make it all that much worse. But for now I believe Blomkamp has something great in mind that would be worth the risk.

People accepting that dream crap makes me understand why movies are so dumb nowadays...

[Adam802]

I say retcon A3/A:R.  Alien 3's plot only happened the way it did because in the REAL WORLD the movie went through development hell and even the people working on the movie probably would've wanted it to turn out differently.  The continuation of ALIENS is what everyone really truly wanted. 

And resurrection is just crap and wont be missed.  Ripley 8 is a terrible character that isn't the REAL Ripley we all know and love.  The real original Ripley would never sympathize with the aliens, and Ripley 8 was in fact PART alien, so f**k that.  It was a goofy script that didn't fit in with the believability of the First 3 films.     

[HuDaFuK]

The continuation of ALIENS is what everyone really truly wanted.

Alien 3 was a continuation of Aliens.

Unless you mean an Aliens clone. And that's something I definitely didn't want.

[Adam802]

The continuation of ALIENS is what everyone really truly wanted.

Alien 3 was a continuation of Aliens.

Unless you mean an Aliens clone. And that's something I definitely didn't want.

Not an Aliens clone, but a different direction of the story after Aliens, that's not Alien 3.

[Tough little S.O.B.]

The continuation of ALIENS is what everyone really truly wanted.

Alien 3 was a continuation of Aliens.

Unless you mean an Aliens clone. And that's something I definitely didn't want.

Not an Aliens clone, but a different direction of the story after Aliens, that's not Alien 3.

Alien 3 is an awesome failed movie. But I don't think it's problems have anything to do with killing hicks and newt. That was bold and brave and set the tone for the movie. I love Aliens, but In general I rather have an ALIEN tone that an ALIENS tone on this series. Aliens worked just because Cameron was on his prime, but I don't think it can work again. And its what I fear most from Neill, I think he is more likelly to make an actioner like ALIENS than a dark, claustrophobic thriller like ALIEN.