Fox Announces Alien: Isolation Digital Series!

[Stitch]

May I suggest replacing the stuttering footage with the scenes taken directly from the game?

Lot of effort.  I'm just starting with stitching everything together and putting Sigourney's voice back.  I also re-inserted the beacon shutdown.

Rendering now.  I'll put it on YouTube soon, but I assume it'll get yanked.

Fair enough.

As for it being yanked... Who knows? It's mainly content from the video game, and there are enough clips on YouTube of the A:I cutscenes. If you don't mention 'The Digital Series' you might get away with it.

[The Old One]

@Xenokiller

Missing the point.

The point isn't that
you couldn't but you shouldn't.

[Still Collating...]

So I took the useful bits of footage that were created for Alien: Isolation - The Digital Series and did a super quick edit to turn them into what could essentially be seen as an epilogue to Alien: Isolation, I guess. Pacing is a bit janky, but I think it flows fairly well considering that what I had to work with is essentially a bunch of pieces built to bookend other footage.

https://youtu.be/30W5qfm84BI

Hell yeah. This is all I want to see of the new footage.

When you think about it, Amanda's been through a lot of trauma just counting Sevastopol and this epilogue. And if we take what's going to happen to her in Resistance and Rescue, she might be the greatest survivor in the Alien universe yet.

[XenoHunter99]

@Old one: I addressed the point explicitly. We reached different conclusions.

[Hudson]

Xenohunter> You sure have an interesting watching philosophy. Logical conclusion from a limited lifetime. Yet I'd propose to you the hypothesis you are in fact missing something - movies and series are meant to be watched at a specific rhythm, the pacing won't have the same value if you accelerate it, plus it alters the immersion.

Oh, also the "prologue" parts with Amanda floating in space and telling her story repeatedly kill and bury every trace of suspense (since we know she'll survive) and they are useless, as well as her voiced narration. They make the entire product even more artificial and laborious.

I thought it was a much better way to frame the narrative than merely opening with the ending dialogue from Alien as a voiceover to clumsily transition us into the story, and literally just cutting the thing off to end it. I preferred both the beginning and ending of The Digital Series to what we get in the game.

About the ending, I feel you. It's nice to have some kind of conclusion, yes, and it is actually superior to the weird experimental cut that "concludes" the game.

But about the beginning... Well, the series (and the game for that matter) could have just started with the Samuels/Amanda dialogue. It's a nice dialogue, in media res, quick to get to the point, with great industrial atmosphere, nothing is missing from this beginning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNQcFtDq54I

It's kinda raw, but I like it raw.

To each their own, but I disagree that "in media res" constitutes being dropped into a room with two people talking and no context. If we began the story when Ripley awakens aboard the Torrens, that would've been better than the opening scene we have now.

And I'm basically saying they could've dropped some hint of where Amanda was, what she was doing, and the fact that Samuels is an android. I don't find that we gain anything as an audience by those details being withheld.

The "rawness" of it comes off to me as unfinished.

[Stitch]

Xenohunter> You sure have an interesting watching philosophy. Logical conclusion from a limited lifetime. Yet I'd propose to you the hypothesis you are in fact missing something - movies and series are meant to be watched at a specific rhythm, the pacing won't have the same value if you accelerate it, plus it alters the immersion.

Oh, also the "prologue" parts with Amanda floating in space and telling her story repeatedly kill and bury every trace of suspense (since we know she'll survive) and they are useless, as well as her voiced narration. They make the entire product even more artificial and laborious.

I thought it was a much better way to frame the narrative than merely opening with the ending dialogue from Alien as a voiceover to clumsily transition us into the story, and literally just cutting the thing off to end it. I preferred both the beginning and ending of The Digital Series to what we get in the game.

About the ending, I feel you. It's nice to have some kind of conclusion, yes, and it is actually superior to the weird experimental cut that "concludes" the game.

But about the beginning... Well, the series (and the game for that matter) could have just started with the Samuels/Amanda dialogue. It's a nice dialogue, in media res, quick to get to the point, with great industrial atmosphere, nothing is missing from this beginning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNQcFtDq54I

It's kinda raw, but I like it raw.

To each their own, but I disagree that "in media res" constitutes being dropped into a room with two people talking and no context. If we began the story when Ripley awakens aboard the Torrens, that would've been better than the opening scene we have now.

And I'm basically saying they could've dropped some hint of where Amanda was, what she was doing, and the fact that Samuels is an android. I don't find that we gain anything as an audience by those details being withheld.

The "rawness" of it comes off to me as unfinished.

Yeah. I've not played AI in a long time and I forgot about Samuels. The 'reveal' in the series came off with no real emotional payoff, because we didn't know much about him from the get go.

If it was extended to give it a bit more pacing, and had more care and attention paid to the new animations, it could've been really good.

[Hudson]

Is it mentioned at all in the digital series that he's an android?

[Xiggz456]

Although not perfect, I enjoyed the series. Specifically, I liked the drifting through space scenes and how those scenes set the stage for the retelling of events to come. This leads to two other elements I like which is the Amanda Ripley narration which allows you to get to know the character better and how the space scenes help structure the episodic narrative.

During my first watch through all I could focus on was "what's missing" and that kind of ruined it for me as it made everything feel rushed and choppy. On my second watch through I tried to only focus on the narrative given and "forget" about the full experience, this ultimately gave me an appreciation for this adaptation and made it more enjoyable.

Of course the animation could've and should've been more polished and that unfortunately detracts from the overall presentation. I'm secretly hoping that this project is an indication that the future of Alien can include a live action 7-12 episode series. Looking forward to the novelization coming out in July.

Is it mentioned at all in the digital series that he's an android?

Ya Waits says he's an android so it'd be easier for him to access Apollo.

[Stitch]

Is it mentioned at all in the digital series that he's an android?

Ya Waits says he's an android so it'd be easier for him to access Apollo.

I must have completely missed that

[PsyKore]

I'm late to watching this, but I have to say this is pretty awful. It's so choppy and messy. Doesn't convert well to a series at all. They say this series is to benefit anyone who didn't play the game, but I'd argue if you haven't played the game, this would be hard to follow on initial viewing.

[Nukiemorph]

It definitely doesn't stand well on its own and works much better as a recap.

[Corporal Hicks]

I'm not sure why they were in such a rush to get this up online. Alien Day would've made a lot more sense, and they could've had more time to polish it.

Impatience on our part. "Where's the #Watch component?!" Then the leak happened, set some expectations that weren't accurate to what they were actually doing.

I don't see venom, but genuine criticism.

For what it's worth, Fox actually considers our community to be the most honest and genuine - but more importantly to me, civil - of the Alien/Predator groups out there. Even in our criticism and dislike of this series. So for that, I am proud of everyone who takes part in this community. That's exactly the kind of environment I'm trying to foster with my draconian laws.

[HuDaFuK]

To each their own, but I disagree that "in media res" constitutes being dropped into a room with two people talking and no context.

The definition of in media res is starting somewhere in the middle of the story before flashing back to the events leading up to it.

If it started with Samuels and Ripley meeting, that's the start of the story, so by definition it's not in media res.

Is it mentioned at all in the digital series that he's an android?

Yeah, but quite late on.

In the game it's obvious from his comment about "not needing as much sleep" (or something along those lines) as soon as you wake up on the Torrens. The series omitted that conversation entirely.

For what it's worth, Fox actually considers our community to be the most honest and genuine - but more importantly to me, civil - of the Alien/Predator groups out there. Even in our criticism and dislike of this series.

That's nice to hear.

[Corporal Hicks]

In the game it's obvious from his comment about "not needing as much sleep" (or something along those lines) as soon as you wake up on the Torrens. The series omitted that conversation entirely.

One of the things I loved about Isolation was how much it didn't focus on Samuels being a 'droid. I wasn't truly sure until later on.

[HuDaFuK]

Yeah.

I twigged he was a synthetic from that line at the start, and I kept waiting for him to turn out as the villain, especially when he battered that Joe to death. Was pleasantly surprised when they didn't go down that route.