Expanded Universe

[Xenomrph]

In what way is it tonally not right?  Every artist is going to bring their own style.

That's exactly why I'm okay with a lot of the EU, even the movies have different "tones" (even the ones made by the same director). Does all of it work 100% of the time for me? No, but I appreciate that different people take a crack at it in different ways.

[SuperiorIronman]

In what way is it tonally not right?  Every artist is going to bring their own style.

You pretty much hit the nail on the head. I haven't read it, but at a glance the style just doesn't really work for me and it clashes with the atmosphere of the films. You can move out of those sort of things (not everything has to be or look like Alien or Aliens) but without dialogue boxes I could just as easily be looking at something out of Witchblade than Alien. I might have some unflattering panels which is entirely possible, but if you would've just told me she was a mutant I've sooner believed it was an X-men crossover.

[Kenner_Alien_Kaste]

You pretty much hit the nail on the head. I haven't read it, but at a glance the style just doesn't really work for me and it clashes with the atmosphere of the films. You can move out of those sort of things (not everything has to be or look like Alien or Aliens) but without dialogue boxes I could just as easily be looking at something out of Witchblade than Alien. I might have some unflattering panels which is entirely possible, but if you would've just told me she was a mutant I've sooner believed it was an X-men crossover.

Even still, I can understand why some people may like other things, regardless of how they may not always tonally fit into the Alien theme or canon.

[Xenomrph]

You pretty much hit the nail on the head. I haven't read it, but at a glance the style just doesn't really work for me and it clashes with the atmosphere of the films. You can move out of those sort of things (not everything has to be or look like Alien or Aliens) but without dialogue boxes I could just as easily be looking at something out of Witchblade than Alien. I might have some unflattering panels which is entirely possible, but if you would've just told me she was a mutant I've sooner believed it was an X-men crossover.

Even still, I can understand why some people may like other things, regardless of how they may not always tonally fit into the Alien theme or canon.

The movies themselves vary from each other tonally and thematically.

[Whiskeybrewer]

Lovesick for me is the most left turn story tonally

[The Old One]

I appreciate a good EU story outside the Alien series usual wheelhouse,
but most I prefer not actually as part of the continuity.

[Kimarhi]

You pretty much hit the nail on the head. I haven't read it, but at a glance the style just doesn't really work for me and it clashes with the atmosphere of the films. You can move out of those sort of things (not everything has to be or look like Alien or Aliens) but without dialogue boxes I could just as easily be looking at something out of Witchblade than Alien. I might have some unflattering panels which is entirely possible, but if you would've just told me she was a mutant I've sooner believed it was an X-men crossover.

Even still, I can understand why some people may like other things, regardless of how they may not always tonally fit into the Alien theme or canon.

The movies themselves vary from each other tonally and thematically.

Yes.  But even the movies that go so far out of left field that I find them pretty much unwatchable.  Resurrection for instance. 

I don't mind different tones but when they feel so far removed from the rest of the franchise I don't like it.

Resurrection is a movie that doesn't take itself seriously, and I hate it in relation to the rest of the franchise.  It's an ok standalone movie. 

[Xenomrph]

You pretty much hit the nail on the head. I haven't read it, but at a glance the style just doesn't really work for me and it clashes with the atmosphere of the films. You can move out of those sort of things (not everything has to be or look like Alien or Aliens) but without dialogue boxes I could just as easily be looking at something out of Witchblade than Alien. I might have some unflattering panels which is entirely possible, but if you would've just told me she was a mutant I've sooner believed it was an X-men crossover.

Even still, I can understand why some people may like other things, regardless of how they may not always tonally fit into the Alien theme or canon.

The movies themselves vary from each other tonally and thematically.

Yes.  But even the movies that go so far out of left field that I find them pretty much unwatchable.  Resurrection for instance. 

I don't mind different tones but when they feel so far removed from the rest of the franchise I don't like it.

Resurrection is a movie that doesn't take itself seriously, and I hate it in relation to the rest of the franchise.  It's an ok standalone movie. 

Where do you draw the line at "the rest of the franchise", when each movie is different from the last in appreciable ways?

I think it's an interesting idea, since different people have different thresholds. I've seen people where "the franchise" starts and ends with the first movie, and anything that strays from that isn't something they enjoy (including 'Aliens').

[Kimarhi]

Indeed.

Xhanoid from what I can remember who was one that only cared for Alien.


My personal threshold is Resurrection.  To me the problem has been that it pokes fun at itself which I personally find unacceptable in what had been a serious sci fi series up until that point. 

[SM]

When does it poke fun at itself?

[Kimarhi]

Its complete runtime. 

[SM]

Any specific examples?

[Local Trouble]

Just the parts written by Joss Whedon?

[Kimarhi]

See above.


It's a ridiculous funhouse version of an Alien movie.

Almost every reaction to every event is caricature.  I'm always immediately reminded of Perez pulling out his brains and looking at them when I bring this up.

Even what many people has viewed as the best scene in the movie (Ripley 8 finding her previous clones) I've always seen as a direct representation of a person walking through a freakshow display at a carnival.

Scifi had a cut of the film that edited out all the gore that shortened it by about fifteen minutes and actually made it a more watchable movie.  I wasn't sitting there rolling my eyes through it.

It has moments.  It takes a HUGE step backwards when compared to the first three. 

[Kenner_Alien_Kaste]

I've been doing some digging into some Alien Comics, and I've always found the ones where we see the Xenomorphs interacting with other Alien species or having an entire ecosystem-It kind of adds a new depth to them or allows for one to really get into their biology and morphology, and it doesn't necessarily have to reduce the Aliens to mere 'bugs', at least in my opinion. Aliens:Reaper, comes to mind personally at least.