Good morning/afternoon/evening, ladies, gents, and aliens alike. I'd like to welcome you all to a renovated interview thread, where we talk to members of the lovely forum and get to know each other without breaking into arguments about what's canon.
Anyways, hopefully we get lots of guests and thoughtful answers. We'll get on with the show once I find a willing vic--I mean, guest.
And we have our first guest. I'm surprised this didn't take three months to get off the ground, and that makes me happy.
Our first guest is one of the administrators of the Xenopedia wiki, the always interesting and somewhat unpredictable Cruentus.
First up, what's your favorite film in the franchise, and why?It varies between Alien and Aliens, depending on what I am in the mood for. Alien is best when it comes to horror, certain aesthetics and its very suspenseful because of the slow build.
Aliens has more action in it but less horror, it does have a lot of tension in it which I like as well and the Alien designs were good too, though just like the movies I like both the original and the sequel designs equally. Character wise, Aliens has probably more memorable characters due to their quotes and behaviour. Interestingly there was a fansite for Wierzbowski, even though the character has less screentime than the others.
How did you come up with your username?It is latin for crimson, bloody and bloodthirstines. I enjoy picking names with imeanings. Latin is full of words that can be used as cool monikors.
Who are you, and what do you do?I am The Cruentus and I am the bureaucrat of Xenopedia, a wikia that aims to document and have as much information on the franchise as possible, However, due to its nature and the ever changing status of the franchise lore, the wikia is forever being changed and reworked to try and reflect the current status. Not everyone agrees with it though, which is why we try and make sure members follow the policy.
The fandom tends to have some member that may be overtly passionate about the franchise and dislike the direction it has been going in, sometimes they try to alter the wiki to reflect their views rather than be objective and using sourced information. Other than that, I work five days a week with shifts that have now reduced my time to do things both on the wiki and other matters but I always manage to squeeze in an hour or so before work and after. Workwise, I have worked as a bouncer, technically I still am though I now prefer to work in other departments of the industry. Always fun to throw out drunk people or I.d generation Zs that think they can get away with it haha.
How has the franchise, and the fandom in general, influenced you?Well, the first two films is what got me into the fandom, but the more recent media has alienated me somewhat, I am still a fan don't get me wrong...but the direction the franchise is going in, both Alien and Predator just me thinking: what the hell is going? what happened to the masterpieces like Alien/Aliens and Predator? I don't know how the franchise will ever get back to its roots, I mean we haven't seen a biomechanical alien on the screens since Alien 3.
Since Resurrection, they went down the organic route which was not bad for resurrection itself because the aliens were hybrids, but in AVP, its sequel and Covenant, the alien just has not been what it once was. Though in the crossover's defence, I believe budget issues affected that. It is not just visuals of course, it is the story of these recent films that I personally find that has altered the lore and not in a good way. Then take into consideration other recent media like the comics and it just adds things that don't make sense, like Alien: dust to dust with
Spoiler
the alien having maternal instincts for its host's son.
Fandomwise, it took me awhile to join this site because I know all too well what forums are like, so I was a guest for a long while. However, its been fairly ok here, you will get the odd member that is fanatical, irrational or hateful, telling others what to believe or what is canon and what is not but that is expected since it is a large fandom. Personally I think we should be getting along because we are all here due to our love for the franchise, it should be something that brings us closer rather than tear us apart. Having different views is no reason to fight eachother.
Who is your favorite member/best friend out of everyone you've ever met on these humble forums?I have respect for quite a few members on here, I am friends with Hudafuk as he is a fellow admin on Xenopedia and I usually chat with him on here. I usually get on more or less with most members on the site. Hicks has done a bang up job and he gets in touch with the folks that are involved in the franchise in one way or another, so its good to hear the thoughts and opinions of people who have worked on the franchise in those podcasts. So I got to give him kudos for that, plus his lore videos have not plagiarised from our wiki, so I respect that.
Dark Horse recently released Aliens: Resistance, and I noticed you were disappointed in how Weyland-Yutani is being treated as the villain. What would be the best way to remedy this, and, if you could, would you create a different villain aside from the Aliens themselves?Yeah, I am not sure if I was being premature in that but it seemed from the look of it that they are going down the evil company road yet again. Now in the first three films, the company is ambiguous and negligent at worst. Burke was acting alone in Aliens, and we will never know if Michael was being genuine in Alien 3. Though in A:CM, they turn Michael and the company into outright evil villians. AVP2010 did the same and even has a world domination audio log from Dr. Groves. I just think its a bit over the top. Such plots are better suited to Austin Powers, batman, Superman or even Bond movies.
AVP 2004 had Weyland in that but he was portrayed fairly decently, it was refreshing to see the company not being evil or plotting. I find it at least as one of better things about that movie. It is only my opinion of course, if people don't see mustache twirling villians as out of place in what was originally a very down to earth franchise then that is fine but I find it has overstayed its welcome, bad enough when it was done once but the franchise has explored this aspect of various companies in different stories a lot now. Maybe they should rename the company to Wolfram and Hart, given that they are now the nemesis to any decent person haha.
How to remedy it? I think simply either going back to making the company just a company, albeit one that is ambigious or have W-Y in a more protagonistic role and I mean that in a "well meaning, trying to the right thing" kind of protagonist, not simply the one who drives the plot. Another way would be just to focus on different things instead of having corporations all the time. Even though fanatics have been done, I would welcome that angle over another evil corp route.
What's the story behind mentioning barbeque sauce in a thread about Predator dogs?I was almost confused then, I think I was making a joke about eating dogs or something. Just add barberque sauce! yum yum.
What are your thoughts on how the Alien franchise has evolved over the years since you became a fan?Not good if I have to be honest. Resurrection added a lot of silliness to the franchise, Prometheus retconned a few things but Covenant really turned things upside I think. Superfast lifecycle, faster than AVP, which was bad enough before. David creating the alien and the engineers just getting destroyed without us ever finding out why they wanted to kill us, I mean we have our theories of course but it would have been good to see Shaw get those answers, I think she deserved to after what she went through. I just personal feel that with each new entry, they are just going to add something that affects the lore and not in the good way, I am cynical to the point of not expecting anything from a sequel, I never even saw Covenant in the theatre.
In your opinion, what is the most important part of making a film? Is it the script, the characters, effects, etc.?I think you got it right in the that order there, having a good script is important, as even a good character can have bad dialogue or making silly decisions, So script should be intelligent and logical, then characters need good development, otherwise you won't care if they died.
Then after you got the meat, you season it with effects. Personally I think they should focus on practical effects unless absolutely necessary. I don't hate cgi but I feel it gets overused in most movies.
Would you rather see Scott complete David's story, or some type of Alien 5 (whether or not Blomkamp directs is optional)?Despite what I think Covenant did to the alien franchise, I would like to see Ridley finish off his trilogy, if only to avoid the cliffhanger of Covenant and to see how Ridley plans on bridging the gap to Alien. I am curious about it regardless if its good or ill.
Afterwards, I would like to see some form of soft reboot where the franchise is taken back to its roots.
Most importantly, because this will kill friendships with some members here, what is your stance on the skull?Honestly, I don't mind either version. Usually you won't see the skull in Alien, Requiem or Covenant unless you are looking for it as it can be easily missed, but it is creepy and its like the creature stole the skeletal structure of its host, mimicking it in a twisted fashion.
Thanks for taking the time out of your day to kick off the new interview thread . . . also, can you link me the Wierzbowski site? I'm legit curious.
