Alien: Night Shift - 40th Anniversary Short Film

Started by aliens13, Apr 09, 2019, 05:24:37 PM

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Alien: Night Shift - 40th Anniversary Short Film (Read 28,598 times)

Corporal Hicks

Quote from: Xenomrph on Apr 10, 2019, 04:44:00 PM
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Apr 10, 2019, 03:53:39 PM
I honestly don't know if laser pistols would actually fit in with the feel of the universe.
Kane literally has a laser pistol in 'Alien', he even draws it before he gets facehugged.

I know he does. But he never uses it and I'm referring to the idea of pew pew lasers.

Voodoo Magic

The cat goes meow-meow.

And the laser pistol goes pew-pew.




Xenomrph

LOOKIT the KITTY! Who's a kitty? Kitty is a kitty!

Nightmare Asylum

Closest we've really gotten to seeing "pew pew" in action.


Voodoo Magic

Quote from: Nightmare Asylum on Apr 10, 2019, 05:26:26 PM
Closest we've really gotten to seeing "pew pew" in action.



I think that's technically just a pew.

Corporal Hicks

Quote from: Nightmare Asylum on Apr 10, 2019, 05:26:26 PM
Closest we've really gotten to seeing "pew pew" in action.



Fortunately, it wasn't quite Star Wars pew-pew so that didn't feel too out of place to me. Because it's the 70s, I've just got this notion of Star Wars lasers coming from those Nostromo pistols.  :laugh: Of course, they could just not do that way.

Corporal Hicks


HuDaFuK

HuDaFuK

#37
Definitely more in line with the first one than the last quality-wise.

Interesting but not especially brilliant. The moving-under-the-skin effect was the best bit.

Quote from: Local Trouble on Apr 10, 2019, 04:04:49 PMAs an aside, I still think "phased plasma" is the propellant used by the M-41A pulse rifle rather than some entirely separate weapon that goes pew-pew.

Well tradition states the Pulse Rifle is just a regular projectile weapon with the "pulse" being a pulse of electricity that triggers the ammunition (as opposed to a traditional firing pin). It's tech that actually exists, it's just not widely used. I recall Cameron being particularly adamant that the Pulse Rifles were just a technological evolution of contemporary weapons tech rather than using anything science-fictiony like "phased plasma".

Drukathi

Wow. Perfect!

NOW we have the chestbuster. And this look good. Why they didn's use chestbuster in first short?

Xenomrph

Quote from: Drukathi on Apr 12, 2019, 04:36:53 PM
Wow. Perfect!

NOW we have the chestbuster. And this look good. Why they didn's use chestbuster in first short?
Completely different filmmakers working independently of each other, with their own crews and resources.

Drukathi

Quote from: Xenomrph on Apr 12, 2019, 04:49:29 PM
Completely different filmmakers working independently of each other, with their own crews and resources.

I know this. I meant another.

The Old One

The Old One

#41
Budget, allocated elsewhere.

Neocron

Neocron

#42
Not quite as good as Specimen, but still pretty good.  Not quite sure what the deal is with the chestburster... it looked a bit different than a traditional burster and it rather sedate as it was coming out. 

Xenomorphine

Xenomorphine

#43
What we saw in 'Prometheus' wasn't a laser beam. It was a bolt of something.

Not likely to be plasma, because, well... Weaponising steam is very impractical.

http://stardestroyer.net/Empire/Essays/PlasmaWeapons.html

Maybe it's whatever the hell those Predator shoulder cannons use?

Quote from: Xenomrph on Apr 10, 2019, 04:55:12 PM
I'll admit that my mental image was pew-pew lasers, but I imagine 'Alien' was coasting off the pop-culture recognition of Star Wars in that regard. Like, in the wake of 'Aliens', laser pistols seem less likely, but in 1979 I suspect people would have been okay with it.

Taking 'Aliens' into consideration, I could see laser pistols as being a space-based personal defense weapon that is perhaps designed to be effective against organic targets, but isn't going to risk going through the hulk like a bullet might.

Well, real weaponised lasers are specifically meant for slicing through hardware. Those on warships are intended for melting through drone casings and missile housings, stuff like that, as a defensive countermeasure against missiles, drones and swarming motorboats (whether pirates or the type Iran plans to strap anti-ship missiles to and overwhelm an enemy).

By this far in the future, hand-held stuff would be at least that powerful, if not far more so. Of course, they would probably also have an ability to lessen the magnitude of their energy output (which would be an advantage over kinetic rounds).

Cameron probably just wanted to portray something more relatable for audiences, who, at the time, most likely equated 'lasers' with Buck Rogers-style disco sci-fi.

However, he did have the good sense to have the physical ammunition act as hand-held versions of what helicopter gunships and APCs, circa the 1980s, were using to take out armoured vehicles and tanks. Rounds which penetrate armour and explode when inside, have desirable destructive effects.

Plus, Hudson's speech takes account of energy weapons having definite standardised use.

The Old One

The Old One

#44
^
&
I love the Prometheus weaponry.

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