Apollo 18 (2011)

As we all know 1972's Apollo 17 was NASA's last manned mission to the Moon (to date).

Or so we were led to believe.

My latest bargain Blu-Ray purchase, Apollo 18, posits a top secret mission in December 1973 to plant Cold War listening devices on The Moon, but something went wrong and that's why the Americans have never been back.

Then apparently in 2011, a whistleblower dumped 80 hours of video footage from the mission online, from which this 'found footage' style, faux documentary, was assembled.

Now, I thought I was over the 'found footage' craze shortly after the market was saturated with ill-conceived Blair Witch Project knock-offs, but recently I've stumbled upon a couple (this and the superb As Above, So Below) that have made me reconsider my prejudices.

One thing Apollo 18 gets right straight off the bat is that it doesn't hang around. Within minutes of introducing the three astronauts we're going to be following they're in space and then on The Moon.

And the speeding train doesn't slow down. It's not long after they've landed that the weird shit starts happening and, given the speed with which events unfold, you find yourself wondering how director Gonzalo López-Gallego is going to keep Brian Miller's script running for the film's 75-minute duration (it's listed as 86-minutes, but the balance is just the closing credits).

But fear not. The pacing is superb throughout, and, barring a couple of lukewarm jump scares (one's played for laughs anyway), the story is somewhere between a modern Doctor Who and Event Horizon in its atmosphere.

In fact, I would make an argument for Apollo 18's possible inclusion in my unofficial headcanon of the Alien film franchise timeline.

After all, it manages to keep the incident (except for the 2011 'leak') under wraps, with only the Department of Defence being in the know, and takes a very measured approach to the possibility of an extraterrestrial lifeform.

Already plagued by communications interference, the astronauts of Apollo 18 discover evidence of a heretofore unknown Soviet mission to The Moon, but then begin to suspect that there's also something 'inhuman' up there with them as well.

The film's footage looks, for the most part, as though it's aged, period stock, encapsulating López-Gallego's eye for authenticity that - to an untrained, unscientific eye like my own - feels as though the 'found footage' could have been genuine.

Except for the unfortunate fact that - and this is no reflection at all on the actors, who are all wholly convincing - I recognised the men playing the three lead characters: Capt. Ben Anderson (Warren Christie, from Alphas, Batwoman etc), Lt Col John Grey (Ryan Robbins, from Riverdale, Arrow etc) and Commander Nathan Walker (Lloyd Owen, from The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones).

But, let's be honest, the story is ultimately so far into tinfoil hat conspiracy theory land that no one is really going to believe it's real.

That said, it appears to have been convincing enough that NASA felt the need to put out a disclaimer.

Apollo 18 does a smashing job of maintaining its verisimilitude, right up to the denouement where we get the "official" explanation of what happened to the three men.

Within the context of the story, I bought the reason for NASA never returning to The Moon one hundred percent.

If you can accept the movie's premise, of being 'lost footage' from a classified American space mission, then you should love this.

Signing Off!

In a desperate attempt to focus my blogging activities into a single place (i.e. HeroPress), Game Over, Man! Game Over! is going into hypersleep.

However, rather than nuking it from orbit, this blog will remain here, although all the posts have now been exported over to HeroPress (my main blog), and future Alien-themed articles will simply be posted there.

Thus, for the time being, I invite anyone who has been following my occasional posts here to switch their attention to HeroPress, where they will encounter a broader range of geeky posts, but still with the elements of Alien goodness in there.

On the miniscule chance that I somehow get an Alien RPG game going - or even bust out my Aliens boardgame - then Game Over, Man! Game Over! might flicker back into life.

However, for the moment, it is, indeed, Game Over, Man! Game Over!

"Ripley, You've Blown The Transaxle! You're Just Grinding Metal!"

Looking to beef up your games of Aliens: Another Glorious Day in the Corps?

Then you need this detailed model of the iconic M577 APC from the movie, to act as an eye-catching piece of terrain.

Available only direct from the Gale Force 9 webstore, for $50, this is a multi part resin kit, so assembly is required and it doesn't come pre-painted.

Produced to order, and in limited numbers, delivery of the APC may take up to 120 days from the time of ordering.

Completed 160mm x 65mm x 60m model shown with figures for scale

In Space No One Can Hear You Moving Around A Board Avoiding The Alien

Due for release in August, Alien: Fate of the Nostromo is a new co-op game from Ravensburger that allows players to take the roles of the Nostromo crew as you try to rewrite their fates, trapped on the cargo ship with the seemingly unstoppable alien lifeform.

Designed for one to five players, the game includes six miniatures (see below), a board depicting the Nostromo, and assorted illustrated cards.

In Alien: Fate of the Nostromo, players take the role of Nostromo crew members Ripley, Lambert, Parker, Brett, or Dallas.

Over the course of the game, they collect scrap, craft items, and fulfill different objectives. The crew will lose and gain morale as they encounter the Alien and other situations.

If crew morale reaches zero, players lose the game.

Each turn has two phases. In the Crew Action phase, players creep through the Nostromo’s halls, gathering scrap, crafting items, trading scrap and items with other players, and using items and their special abilities. Brett, for example, can craft items with one fewer scrap than other players.

If the Alien is within three spaces of the player with the incinerator, that player can use the incinerator to send the Alien back to its nest.

In the Encounter phase, players draw and resolve an Encounter card. The Alien could be lurking behind any corner…

Once the players fulfil their initial objectives, they face one of five final missions, each with a unique set of requirements.

Players must fulfil the final mission’s requirements simultaneously to win the game.

Players can also introduce Science Officer Ash for a more challenging game. Ash moves through the ship, removing scrap and forcing the crew to lose morale.

Alien #1 Trailer From Marvel

Predators Hunt Marvel Heroes on May Variant Covers

With Fox now being owned by Disney, allowing Marvel to play in the Alien and Predator universes, we've already seen the Alien-themed variant covers for several superhero titles, but now Marvel has unveiled a series of Predator variants for its May titles.

These are, of course, simply artistic flights of fancy and aren't any indication (yet) of actual crossovers between the Yautja of Predator fame and any particular Marvel superheroes.

That said, for my money, I reckon they would be a better fit in the Marvel Comic Book Universe than Alien's xenomorphs.

Birth

Bruce Is Back In Space

Bruce Willis and Frank Grillo star in the new epic sci-fi adventure set in the year 2524, four hundred years after humans started colonizing the outer planets.

Retired Military General James Ford (Willis) is called back into service after soldiers on a remote planet are attacked by a hostile alien fleet.

The threat against the human race escalates into an inevitable interstellar war. General Ford teams up with

General Eron Ryle (Grillo) and a team of elite soldiers in a race to stop the imminent attack before it is too late.

Not to be mistaken for Breach (although easily done as that was written by the co-writer of this), Cosmic Sin is due for a digital release on March 12.

Seemingly a bit too pulpy to fit with the Aliens oeuvre, and obviously the timeline doesn't fit at all, I share this trailer mainly for its seeming overlap with Breach (including the vague Asylum 'mockbuster' vibes).

Decommissioned

Could Korean Sc-Fi Space Sweepers Fit In The Alien 'Verse?

Set in the year 2092 and follows the crew of a space junk collector ship called The Victory. When they discover a humanoid robot named Dorothy that's known to be a weapon of mass destruction, they get involved in a risky business deal.

2092 was the year Ellen Ripley was born and a year before the Prometheus disaster, so Space Sweepers - based on this trailer alone - could fit in your Alien 'verse headcanon.

Guess we'll see when the Korean sci-fi drops on Netflix on February 5.

In Comics, No One Can Hear You Squee

Main cover by Inhyuk Lee

The first, new, Alien comic from Marvel - new custodians of the franchise's comic book universe - arrives on shelves in March.

Gabriel Cruz gave his life to Weyland-Yutani - in the case of an alien attack he barely survived, almost literally!

Recently retired, Cruz is trying to patch things up with his abandoned son with the help of his friend, a Bishop-model android, but his re-entry into civilian life is not going smoothly... and his encounters with the deadly Xenomorph are far from over.

Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Salvador Larroca team up to tell an all-new tale of the titan of horror and science fiction that has scared audiences for decades.

No one is safe. No one is innocent. And no one can hear you scream.

Issue one is scheduled to dock on March 24.

Variant cover by Patrick Gleason

Variant cover by Peach Momoko

Variant cover by Ron Lim