Ask Steve Perry

[SiL]

It's not that they were that hard to comprehend. They just got so numerous and frequent that I lost track of them all and got jaded.

[Kimarhi]

The new movie should be called Steve Perry vs Sil.

I don't know that Perry is mma in the modern sense, but didn't I read somewhere back in the day that he has taken/instructed three different styles of martial art?

The battle could be difficult sil.

[SiL]

I'm a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. Bring it on, bitches

[Uncanny Antman]

Can I compete, too?  I've seen The Karate Kid 37 times.

[Kimarhi]

"Karate will get you killed!"

[Bug Hunt]

Hey Steve

I have another question. Which Alien/Predator film is your favourite and how did it inspire or influence your career? Also could you tell us anything about the novels you are currently planning.

[steveperry]

Hmm. I answered the last question on page 9 yesterday and posted it, but now it's gone ...

I'll wait a couple days, see if it shows up ..

[Corporal Hicks]

Well I certainly didn't delete anything.

[steveperry]

Hmm. I answered the last question on page 9 yesterday and posted it, but now it's gone ...

I'll wait a couple days, see if it shows up ..

Well, I guess it musta got lost in the aether.

I thought A2 was the best of the Aliens movies. A1 was truckers-in-space, and scary, but an idiot plot.
Didn't like A3 at all, which starts out making A2 moot. A4 was ... okay.

First Predator movie, even though I really like Danny Glover in P2.

AvP, I wish they'd used the comic/novelization Dark Horse and my daughter and I did as a basis for the script -- our story was better.

I'm hoping AvpR recharges things, though the plot looks pretty thin, from the trailers. It'll depend on how clever the writing is, and how good the actors are, just like other movies. The EFX look good, and there would seem to be a lot of exploding heads.

My next Predator novel is set in Alaska, due out early next year, February, I think. Guys who like guns will probably think it's okay -- got some good ones in it.

[SiL]

A1 was truckers-in-space, and scary, but an idiot plot.

And Aliens wasn't?

Dur, da Aliens kilt all da kolonists, let's all bunch up in da cramped Alien hive spaces with flame throwers duuur.

The little girl survives the entire massacre of the colony ... yet screams the second an Alien appears.

[Corporal Hicks]

I doubt she survived by hanging round with the Aliens to be fair.

[Bug Hunt]

I agree that Aliens is the best. I wish Aliens 3 had been like Earth Hive though, it makes me angry everytime I see Hicks and Newt die.

[steveperry]

A1 was truckers-in-space, and scary, but an idiot plot.

And Aliens wasn't?

Dur, da Aliens kilt all da kolonists, let's all bunch up in da cramped Alien hive spaces with flame throwers duuur.

The little girl survives the entire massacre of the colony ... yet screams the second an Alien appears.

Much less so. First, you got armed marines who are used to kicking ass an taking names, so they are more of a match than truck drivers who are having to make do for weapons.. Second, they have an excuse for not carrying all their hardware, you know, that potential atomic explosion and all, and they have a stupid officer, which might be redundant. Plus there is a cororate geek who is working behind their backs. Better writing, and what got left out was why Ripley had to go back for Newt -- it's in the original script.

Yeah, it was a bug-hunt with a big nod to Heinlein, but they had guns, flamethrower, armored cars, and experience to believe they could handle the situation. 

And little girls tend to scream every time they are frightened -- they don't get used to it real quick. You don't have any kids, do you?

[SiL]

First, you got armed marines who are used to kicking ass an taking names, so they are more of a match than truck drivers who are having to make do for weapons..

Who are patently incompetent and, in reality, no real match for the Alien.

Second, they have an excuse for not carrying all their hardware, you know, that potential atomic explosion and all,

Yes, so crowd around with those flame throwers in the tight spaces.

Plus there is a cororate geek who is working behind their backs.

Yeah, Burke really forced them to act like morons when it came to dealing with the creatures in the first encounter.

Oh, wait...

Better writing,

Highly debatable.

and what got left out was why Ripley had to go back for Newt -- it's in the original script.

Because she needed a Quick Fix Daughter Replacement and Newt was the only person handy.

but they had guns, flamethrower, armored cars, and experience to believe they could handle the situation. 

This makes it any less dumb how, exactly?

Whee, shootybangs! The movie's writing is far ahead of the creeping terror of the original! Look at that debris fly!

And little girls tend to scream every time they are frightened --

Which is my point. How the hell did she survive?

[steveperry]

Fine, let's just get right down to it:

Do you know what an idiot plot is?

Getting beaten by an enemy doesn't necessarily make you an idiot. Whether the marines were a crack fighting force or not, they thought they were, and had enough experience and reason to believe they could deal with the situation. That they couldn't doesn't make them idiots, it just makes them wrong. Somebody always loses the war.

Not always making the right choice is not the same as always making the wrong one.

If the writer had set it up that the marines were unbeatable, there wouldn't have been any movie, now would there? Nuke it from space up front, end of story.

And the writing? Better. No question. You read both scripts? Speaking here as a pro, Cameron's script was better, hands down, across the board, pick a spot.

Hey, you don't like the movie, you don't like what I write, no problem. You are entitled to your opinion, it's sort of a free country. Of course, if you can do better, have at it. I'm sure that the powers-that-be would be happy to see your stuff, given as how it must be so much superior to what's out there. Give it a shot.

Anybody can talk the talk. What else you got?