Alien TV Series From Noah Hawley and Ridley Scott CONFIRMED

[HuDaFuK]

Rather than one storyline throughout the tv series, I'm dreaming but I'd prefer standalone stories per episode across the Alien timeline to reinforce & expand it...

No thanks. You're not going to be able to develop anything nearly enough in the space of, what, 45 minutes? for me to care who lives and who dies by the end.

Long-form is absolutely the way to go.

[Corporal Hicks]

I genuinely wouldn't mind changing stories and characters and setup each season though.

[HuDaFuK]

Yeah, I'd be fine with that. But it absolutely needs to be more than a monster of the week show imo.

[skhellter]

Rather than one storyline throughout the tv series, I'm dreaming but I'd prefer standalone stories per episode across the Alien timeline to reinforce & expand it...

No thanks. You're not going to be able to develop anything nearly enough in the space of, what, 45 minutes? for me to care who lives and who dies by the end.

Long-form is absolutely the way to go.

Damn. Black Mirror and its standalone hour long episodes ain't shit.
Rekt.

If only Charlie Brooker knew long-form was the way to go..

If only the first film had 10 hours to really get us invested in the Nostromo crew. 

Now seriously, Long-form tv, more often than not, ends up feeling bloated with a ton of padding and characterization that isn't really that interesting in the first place.

[HuDaFuK]

For every show that does it successfully in a single episode I could name a dozen that don't. There's a seemingly endless supply of American TV shows that all follow the same villain-of-the-week format, perhaps with hints of some overreaching subplot to try and keep people interested beyond there here and now. Personally, I can't stand that style. It's infuriatingly generic.

Point is, you can generally do a lot more with a story arc longer than one episode.

There's also the fact that if you have a stand-alone story every episode, you're presumably going to have Aliens cropping up literally anywhere and everywhere week-in, week-out to accommodate all those individual stories.

[David Weyland]

I don't see the idea as Monster of the week, more for the thing to skit an episode or how many the particular story deserves per story on key blanks between films that we've got questions to & where we are by default already somewhat emotionally invested via the films.

You could interweave Easter eggs or connections between different stories across the decades of the Alien timeline, would be awesome and much to riff off to get started
Eg) A Peter Weyland story,
The murder of Elizabeth Shaw,
David on the Covenant experimenting on the colonists with a failed escape by one of his victims,
Alien Isolation story,
River of Pain,
Alien 3 egg

[SiL]

Black Mirror
The Twilight Zone
The Outer Limits
Masters of Horror

I eagerly await 48 counter examples.

I'm not saying this show should be episodic but saying you can't get good characters or story in a single episode is demonstrably false.

And let's not kids ourselves that longer form television is inherently better. There are plenty of long running shows that are dull as dogshit, at best punctuated by the occasional good episode. Heaven forbid this turn into The Walking Dead.

[skhellter]

At the end of the day long-form or purely episodic aren't really fireproof FORMULAS that lead directly to great results.

All depends on the story they want to tell and who's telling it.

This goes back to "what's better.. short stories or novels?" Depends.

Alien 3 egg

 

[Necronomicon II]

Only solid writing will tell.

How about this earth setting ol Hicks, should we worry or not about that? So long as it's a cyberpunk hellscape that needs a good hose down, I'd be down. 

[skhellter]

don't think it'll be exactly set on Earth....

probably a space station.

[Voodoo Magic]

The setting? Not as important to me. As long as it has solid writing and casting!

[Drukathi]

-Set on Earth.
-Near future

Enough to kill interest. But "monster of the week" will be a brutal fatality. To finally destroy the story, they will need to make the main character an agent of the secret service or corporation. Like F. Mulder.

[Immortan Jonesy]

And let's not kids ourselves that longer form television is inherently better. There are plenty of long running shows that are dull as dogshit, at best punctuated by the occasional good episode. Heaven forbid this turn into The Walking Dead.

Amen for that. I'd rather have a short but great story than a long but painfully boring series.

Actually, for whatever reason, I don't see an Alien show following a single story season after season. Although I suppose that with good writing and casting they can develop interesting characters and plots that captivate and intrigue the audience to which the show will be targered. And while good characters and writing are necessary in any style or case, in order to have an A+ Sci-Fi TV show with Aliens; I find the format of the monster of the week more interesting, or an anthology where each season is a different story.

And since it is science fiction / horror, I hope for a setting that is actually memorable.

[BlueMarsalis79]

Noah will construct the boat required and save the Alien Franchise from the deep sea known as the Disney vault. Or not.

[Kradan]

I wouldn't get my expectations too high