Come on, people, assholes and elbows! Today we got HuDaFuk as your guest. Hudson, come 'ere . . . wait, never mind, Hudson's not ready yet. Nobody look behind the bunny.
First up, what is your favorite film in the franchise and why?At the risk of sounding like I'm stealing my answers from Hicks, I love the first three
Alien films almost equally. That said,
Aliens is not only my favourite film from the franchise, it's my favourite movie of all time.
How did you come up with your username?I can't really take full credit. Years ago, I was playing an online shooter and came across someone calling themselves WutDaFuk; their name came up in the killfeed and I mis-read it as "HuDaFuK killed so-and-so", and for some reason it really tickled me. When I got my PS3, I entered it as my username, not really expecting PSN to allow it, but to my surprise it got through. It's been my online handle ever since.
Who are you, and what do you do outside of AvPGalaxy?I'm Leigh (pronounced lee, not lay; it always surprises me how often I get that lol). Currently I'm doing some labouring to hold me over while I search for a long-term job, having lost my previous one when the company went bust. It's good money, but comes with more than its fair share of workplace injuries - I'm currently typing rather slowly thanks to a crushed finger on my right hand
I'm also an admin on Xenopedia, alongside Cruentus. (More on that later!)
How has the franchise, and fandom in general, influenced you?Not really sure how to answer this... My love of all things
Alien has definitely lightened my wallet over the years
But I'm not sure it's really changed me much as I was a fan before I got involved in the online community. It has led me to some new experiences though, like joining in with podcasts or meeting Ridley and some of the cast from
Covenant in London.
Who is your favorite member/best friend out of everyone you've met on these humble forums?I have to say, this is one of the friendliest and most amicable forums I've ever been on, and most of the people on here are really easy to get along with. I could name a few I enjoy chatting with in particular, some of whom I've met outside of the site, but if I had to pick just one it'd be Hicks, if only because we've met a few times now.
Oh wait, I just remembered he didn't give me his spare copy of
South China Sea. Screw that guy.
What are your thoughts on how the Alien franchise has evolved since you became a fan?It's kind of ironic that there hasn't been what you could call a truly classic entry in either the
Alien or
Predator film series since before I was born. Back when the first
AVP came out, I remember it being perhaps the most disappointing movie I'd ever seen - I was
so excited during the buildup, it was the first
Alien/
Predator film I was going to be able to watch in the cinema, and then when I saw it I was honestly crushed. For me personally, the films have never really recovered since. In particular I've been really unimpressed with Ridley's prequels. Much like
AVP, I feel like they've completely squandered their potential.
The only recent stuff I've truly loved has come from the expanded universe -
Isolation and
Cold Forge honestly rank alongside the early films for me, and I thoroughly enjoyed Tim Lebbon's
Rage War trilogy too.
I like how you have Apone's iconic character introduction as your personal text, and as your avatar. What made you choose the Sarge as your digital image?It's partly because he's perhaps my favourite character in the film, partly because I'm partial to a cigar myself (although probably not first thing in the a.m.
)
You mentioned you work with Cruentus on Xenopedia. Was this something you collaborated on from the start?No, he was actually administrating there before I came along (and I believe the wiki itself pre-dates his involvement as well). I basically stumbled onto it one day and started contributing, and eventually he promoted me to admin alongside himself. That was... six years ago now, I think.
In your opinion, what is the most important part of making a film? Is it the script, characters, effects, etc.?Probably the script. I can think of a few films that have overcome flaws in one or other of the major aspects with their quality elsewhere, but I can't think of many that have managed to overcome a fundamentally poor script. Ideally of course, you'd like each of those elements to be on point.
Would you rather see Scott complete David's story, or some type of Alien 5 (regardless of who directs it)?If it was purely down to me and practicalities were irrelevant, I always liked the idea of a continuation of
Resurrection, if only because I think the hybrid Ripley character had far more potential than was realised in the movie. That said, I think too much time has passed now (and by all accounts Weaver wants nothing to do with it).
It would feel a bit silly cutting Scott off mid-run, but I really don't like the direction he seems to be taking things. Realistically, I'd prefer to see them do something like an unrelated story featuring the Alien set in the same universe.
Most importantly--more important than anything I've previously asked--what's your stance on the skull?Will people be upset if I say I don't really mind?
I prefer without, but it's not something that particularly bothers me.
