Quote from: MrSpaceJockey on Feb 18, 2014, 03:45:28 AM
Quote from: Xenomrph on Feb 18, 2014, 03:23:12 AM
There's a ton of problems with the theory. It assumes every single Alien we saw in the movie was at least like 2 days old (despite new Aliens being born right as the movie is taking place), and the molting doesn't address things like the very different hands/forearms/feet, or even the differences in the head.
Not many problems that I can see. I think the differences in the hands, arms, and feet could simply be another part of the growth process.
Also, even though directors' comments aren't always canon, the growth theory isn't just some fan "misconception" - Jim Cameron himself supported it.
My comment was largely tongue-in-cheek (hinted by the smiley I used). It was mostly because the "molting" idea was being stated as a fact, I was commenting that it's just one interpretation.
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But if its hard to believe that every single Alien in ALIENS had to be at least two days old , why is it any easier to believe that Aliens can look different yet every single Alien in ALIENS looked damn near identical?
Because the molting idea falls apart when you look at the other movies. In a bubble, with just 'Aliens', the molting idea works. But when you start factoring in the time-frames of 'Alien3' and 'Alien Resurrection', it stops working.
In 'Aliens', you're assuming that every single Alien is old enough to have molted - that puts the threshold at, like, at least a day or so old where they still have the smooth head before they lose it. So that assumes that every Alien in 'Aliens' is at least a day old, despite us seeing Aliens being born literally on-screen as the movie is taking place.
And then if you factor in the other sequels, they span an even longer timeframe than 'Alien' did and still have smooth-headed Aliens the entire time. Now for the "molting" idea to work, every single on-screen Alien in 'Aliens' needs to all be at least several days old, despite evidence to the contrary.
And of course it goes right out the window if you factor in the AvP movies, because AvPR had ridged-headed ones right from the get-go.
Why do they look consistent within their given movies? It's obviously a stylistic choice on the part of the filmmakers, but the my preferred "in-universe" explanation is "they're Aliens and they do weird and unpredictable shit we can't explain", which has been a cornerstone of the creature's concept since 'Alien'.
