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We have just uploaded the 120th episode of the Alien vs. Predator Galaxy Podcast (right-click and save as to download)! Corporal Hicks, RidgeTop and Voodoo Magic reconvene to see 2020 out with our traditional Alien vs. Predator episode! And to close this year off, we’re looking at David Bischoff’s novel Aliens vs. Predator: Hunter’s Planet!

We talked about how Hunter’s Planet fits into the timeline given one particular dead character who is alive for this entry, origins of surnames, the Yautja and plenty more!

I reference some missing notes at one point during the episode. I eventually found them! Instead of the planet Bunda from AvP War, Hunter’s Planet calls it Gordian. The artwork that RidgeTop brings up during the episode is this piece by Marek Okon.

And be sure to check back in for our next episode where we’re talking to none other than Predator 2 director Stephen Hopkins! So that’s our 2021 off to a good start!

What did you think of our latest episode? Be sure to let us know down below! You can also listen to any of our previous episodes in the Podcast section under the News tab on the main menu. The Alien vs. Predator Galaxy Podcast is also available via iTunes, PodBean, GooglePlay Stitcher, and Spotify! Please be sure to leave a rating and review on whichever platform you're using!

And if you’d rather see our beautiful faces, the video version of the podcast is also available on YouTube!

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f**k yeah there's something to lighten my mood up !

What about Thicker Than Blood ?

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QuoteAnd be sure to check back in for our next episode where we're talking to none other than Predator 2 director Stephen Hopkins! So that's our 2021 off to a good start!

Oh, I'll be there, don't worry about that ! If only to see Voodoo melting down in front of his idol

Quote from: Kradan on Dec 21, 2020, 04:02:32 PM
What about Thicker Than Blood ?

It'll be coming next year. We've already recorded an interview with the writer, and will be doing a review episode as well. Probably be Jan/Feb.

Very curious to hear your thoughts on that one

Oh I absolutely loved Thicker Than Blood. I'll spend that episode gushing.

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Also, I'm surprised at how much love the book is getting on socials. Really didn't expect to be having outside opinions on this one.

As I. It's quite shocking!

I remember liking it as a funny, what if type story back when I re-read it five or six years ago. But boy was I confused as a teenager the first time I read the three AVP books.

I always loved the Predator 2 inspired cover art. Remember going into my public library as a kid and seeing all these aliens and Predator books and feeling like a fat kid in a candy store

HP might have been the first disappointment I had in the Alien verse. 

Matt best just released a YouTube vid...spec ops vs sci-fi...predator is there.

That was interesting. I went into the podcast after seeing the novel cover art thinking, that looks good. Maybe I need to make more effort to read these novels.Then I hear the quick reviews, and I think, oh. Maybe not?  ;D I'm usually more entertained by graphic novels. Even then, I don't try to keep up with it all. Mostly, I hear about these things here on the site. Podcast was good though. Informative! Good job, as usual. Glad to have Voodoo on the team. Cheers and season greetings to you all!

Great job gentlemen. I believe you boys gave an honest and fair review for Hunter's Planet. I remember reading this in my late teens and felt it was lacking in character depth aaaanndddd aliens. It was also pretty cheesy with the hunting of dinosaurs. I felt like this novel had a very "Saturday morning cartoon" feel to it with its predictable plot stereotypical villain. I felt like you could swap out the antagonist with Dr. Robotnik and it would have felt the same. As far as the story had to reread the opening sequence a few times because I was thinking there's no way that Xeno had a gun, but boy was I in for a surprise. The buggers definitely lacked the menace of the xenoborgs from the AVP classic game.I remember almost shitting my pants as a predator everytime I came across one and it booted up. Oh  Also, I've always been unclear as to the order of these earlier AVP releases as well, im glad it wasn't just me. Once again great job! I look forward to your interview with Stephen Hopkins!  Also I can't wait for Hicks review of South China Sea. In my humble option it is the best stand alone Predator novel available.

@XenoHunter99 - Thanks brother! And happy holidays to you!

Quote from: GreybackElder on Dec 24, 2020, 03:03:36 AM
I felt like this novel had a very "Saturday morning cartoon" feel to it with its predictable plot stereotypical villain. I felt like you could swap out the antagonist with Dr. Robotnik and it would have felt the same.

That made me laugh out loud.  :laugh:

Quote from: Voodoo Magic on Dec 24, 2020, 02:08:17 PM
@XenoHunter99 - Thanks brother! And happy holidays to you!

And to you! I made good on my intent to rewatch P2 and found the experience quite interesting! The few parts I remember vividly are still there, but I was surprised how well-assembled and coherent it all is, as well as how much I'd forgotten about how it all fits together. The story-telling is very meticulous. Everything is smooth and by the numbers, so to speak. In all, a very good experience. I'd also forgotten how soon Keyes shows up, how integral he and his helpers are to the plot. P2 may be the best of the Predator films. As an added bonus (for me), I rewatched Predators and... I still really like it! :D Is it as good as P2? I think they're close. YMMV.

Just read Hunter's Planet and checked out this episode to hear your thoughts on the book. Definitely not the best Alien or Predator book I've ever read but I did think you guys shit on the book somewhat unfairly. Some of the things that were being complained about were literally things addressed in the story but that commentators seemed to have missed in the reading, probably because they felt put upon or were rage reading by that point.

Anyway, as I said, not the best book ever, and maybe I'm just being put off by all the negative reviews on the podcast in the last little while, but I thought it was an alright afternoon's diversion and these franchises have definitely offered up worse fare.

Feel free to call out anything that we complained about that was addressed in the book. It's been a while since I listened to this one so I'd be curious to go back and check it out.

Quote from: ModMonkey on Jun 28, 2022, 02:02:46 PMall the negative reviews on the podcast in the last little while

You're not the only one. I'm just scheduling in a discussion on one of our favourite ones because between Alien 3, Prometheus which I'm editing now, and the inevitable Alien: Revival, I needed one where people were positive.

I've probably read most of the published EU in the last 30 years and I would say Hunters Planet definitely lands near the bottom.

@Corporal Hicks, what is Alien: Revival ?

Also, you're doing something for Prometheus ? A retrospective,  perhaps ? :o

Quote from: Kradan on Jun 28, 2022, 04:15:08 PM@Corporal Hicks, what is Alien: Revival ?

Unless I'm misremembering, that was what I thought Marvel's second arc was titled.

Quote from: Kradan on Jun 28, 2022, 04:15:08 PMAlso, you're doing something for Prometheus ? A retrospective,  perhaps ? :o

Just an anniversary retrospective.

Uh, I see

Also, EEEEEEEEEE !

Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Jun 28, 2022, 02:31:04 PMFeel free to call out anything that we complained about that was addressed in the book. It's been a while since I listened to this one so I'd be curious to go back and check it out.

A number of the things I would have called out were actually addressed by one or more members of the panel when they came up on the show. Little details like when someone mentioned that there were no traditional Aliens in the book and it was pointed out that there was the one on the Predator ship and a few in flashback. Also, my memory of the scene with the person who had the chestburster is a little different than how the panel viewed it. Machiko did wonder about the lady's condition but there was a line or two in the book where it says something that allayed Machiko's concerns. To be fair, I don't love that scene either but the text is at least there to address the thing that we all disliked about it.

There were a handful of bits like that that just felt like whomever brought it up was speedreading, skipping pages, or rage reading. I did think the complaints about chapter length and how the dialogue was sorted throughout the book was also very much on the subjective side (though to be fair, all reviews are entirely subjective).

To me, the shorter chapters fit the pacing and the style of the narrative, love it or hate it. I honestly couldn't imagine what else Bischoff would have to say with Hunter's Planet by adding 10 to 30 more pages to each chapter. Maybe a handful more pages *could* have been used to flesh out a few more details, but your comment about the book being a quick work-for-hire deal is likely spot-on and probably played a role. Bischoff also could easily have been writing to a set word or page count as per his publisher and contract.

The example of Phalanx was brought up during the conversation to argue the chapter and pacing point and I honestly thought the first half of that book was an awful, painful slog before it suddenly became one of the more thrilling Alien novels I'd ever read. In my mind, at least Hunter's Planet was brief and consistent in tone and pacing, something that I honestly didn't think Phalanx had going for it (though I think Phalanx is also a very different book from HP and probably had very different goals and creative intent behind it).

As for the dialogue, I don't know why it was so difficult to keep track of who was speaking in any given scene. 100% Not an issue that I had with the book. It kind of stood out as an odd complaint for me when the panel started ragging on that point.

Though the X Group and Attilla's abilities are a bit on the ridiculous/deus ex machina side of things, Bischoff is pretty straightforward about them in the story. The exposition is all there.

Again, I don't think this is by any means an amazing piece of expanded universe fiction. A quickly put together work for hire sounds like a pretty accurate evaluation of it. I think that's why the pile on just seemed a bit harsh. I think AJ hated the book pretty early on in his reading of it and every little thing was not the best was probably equivalent to swallowing glass for him. It didn't offend me. I've definitely read worse (Earth War was far less enjoyable, likely because it was adapting an existing story I previously enjoyed) and the book, at no point, seems to be trying to be the best AVP tie-in novel around. Like I said in my previous post, it was a brisk afternoon read for me and my expectations were not the highest to begin with so that probably has a lot to do with why I enjoyed it. I didn't mind the fact that the Aliens were kind of background elements in the story. As soon as you put Machiko in a book you know it's going to be pretty Predator heavy, anyway.

Anyway, I just found myself reacting strongly to the heavy negativity of the episode that I thought seemed a little unfair. Maybe it's because of all the other negative reviews and the Predator commentary having a slightly bitter aftertaste, maybe I'm just jumping to the defense of the underdog. I dunno.

Love the show, keep on doing what you're doing. I'm going to go have a nap.

It's probably one of the worst books I've read, alien or otherwise.

This book shouldn't even be mentioned in the same breath as Phalanx. But I've seen a lot of tearing down of good things to make other things look better lately.

Quote from: 426Buddy on Jul 09, 2022, 01:53:22 PMThis book shouldn't even be mentioned in the same breath as Phalanx.

Quote from: 426Buddy on Jul 09, 2022, 01:53:22 PMIt's probably one of the worst books I've read, alien or otherwise.

This book shouldn't even be mentioned in the same breath as Phalanx. But I've seen a lot of tearing down of good things to make other things look better lately.

Fair enough. Not trying to change hearts and minds about Hunter's Planet. It's objectively not a great book by any stretch of the imagination and I'm not arguing that it is. The criticism I have has everything to do with the general tone of the discussion by the panel and complaints that were levelled against the book that were kind of specious and super negative. I'm not defending the literary quality of Bischoff's book, per se, though it clearly doesn't bother me as much as it does some others in the community.

And Phalanx and HP are two completely different animals that were produced in two radically different periods for licensing and expanded universe content, roughly 25 years apart, and with two very different approaches and goals beyond a basic desire to be somewhat entertaining. You are correct in saying they're a bit apples and oranges and I'm saying it would have been nice if that context was reflected in the panel's discussion a little bit more.