Alien TV Series In Development

 

During yesterday's four-hour Disney Investors presentation, it was revealed that Fargo and Legion's Noah Hawley was developing an Earth-based Alien television serial for Hulu.

Ridley Scott is in talks to executive produce.

Raised by Wolves: Sketch to Screen

All Episodes Of Ridley Scott's Raised By Wolves Drop In UK On December 5

Two androids are tasked with raising human children on a mysterious virgin planet. As the burgeoning colony of humans threatens to be torn apart by religious differences, the androids learn that controlling the beliefs of humans is a treacherous and difficult task.

Alien: Modern HBO Max Trailer

Raised By Wolves: Ridley Scott Gives Us A Glimpse into His World

Ridley Scott gives a behind the scenes look into the process of creating the futuristic world featured in Raised By Wolves. Stream the new series now on HBO Max

New Raised By Wolves Trailer Gives Us A Taste Of Ridley Scott's Story

You Could Own The Original Nostromo

The 11-foot Nostromo principal filming model miniature from Ridley Scott's sci-fi horror film Alien is coming up for auction in Los Angeles at the end of the month.

According to the auction catalogue, the estimate is $300,000 - 500,000

Raised By Wolves - Ridley Scott Trailer

Mother was programmed to protect everyone after Earth had been destroyed. When the big bad wolf shows up, she is the one we must trust.

Ridley Scott's American television debut, Raised by Wolves comes to HBO Max next month.

Written by Aaron Guzikowski, and with Scott directing the first two (of 10) episodes, the dramatic new sci-fi follows a pair of androids tasked with raising human children on a mysterious, virgin planet. As the young colony of humans divides over religious differences, the androids learn controlling the beliefs of humans is a treacherous, difficult job.

The cast includes Travis Fimmel, Amanda Collin, Abubakar Salim, Winta McGrath, Niamh Algar, Felix Jamieson, Ethan Hazzard, Jordan Loughran, Aasiya Shah and Ivy Wong.

Raised by Wolves is said not to be part of the Alien franchise... but then wasn't the same initially said of Prometheus?

It sure looks like it could fit the oeuvre, even if only unofficially.

You've Got An Alien In My Traveller

Published in 1980, issue four of the prestigious Journal of the Travellers Aid Society (a source of supplementary material for the original iteration of the grandaddy of sci-fi RPGs, Traveller) included this highly unofficial adaptation, by Chuck Kallenbach, of the creature shown in Ridley Scott's original Alien movie:

Thanks to a very kind fan of this blog - and HeroPress - for drawing this article to my attention.

Aliens: Theatrical Cut vs Special Edition

Xenomorph Size Comparison Videos

Memory: The Origins Of Alien (2019)

Let's clear one thing up right from the start: writer/director Alexandre O. Philippe's Memory - The Origins Of Alien is not a "making of" documentary about Alien, and anyone picking this DVD up thinking that is going to be very disappointed.

The clue is in the title, if people could be bothered to think about it. This hour-and-a-half documentary, released in the UK this week, is a a film studies course thesis on a reading of the influences that fed the original story and shaped - consciously or otherwise - the visual iconography of key moments, which have made the film so enduring in the collective psyche.

Rather than picking apart how the film was made (I'm sure there are plenty of DVD extras dealing with that topic on the many releases of Alien), it traces the development of the script by Dan O'Bannon, movies, authors (such as HP Lovecraft) and comic books that paved the way for the story, the impact of H.R. Giger's work, and then Ridley Scott's aesthetic, cultural and artistic themes that influenced the tone of the piece etc

Then, heightening the thesis approach, we have various readings of the picture, what it meant (beyond the straight horror/haunted house in space angle).

While its doesn't go quite full-on academia, Memory - The Origins Of Alien is not a documentary for the casual horror movie fan who wants to know how much blood they squirted out of John Hurt during the chestburster scene.

Rather it deconstructs subjective readings of what the film could be telling us on a deeper level and how this all ties back into archetypes found in Ancient Greek myths (The Furies), the art of Francis Bacon, and the real-world body horror of parasitic wasps.

Fascinating viewing for someone who likes that sort of thing (such as me, who would have loved to have had this while reading essays during the film studies elements of my university course), but bound to irritate those who mistakenly thought this was something else (just check some of the IMDB reviews).

However, film geeks and aspiring writers could do worse than absorbing this in-depth examination of the roots of the story that, eventually, became one of the most memorable horror/sci-fi films of all time.

If I have a criticism, it's that Memory - The Origins Of Alien is only 95-minutes long. I'm sure there's so much more to discuss on the mythological origins of Alien and what the film "means" (be it in the shot framing or the bio-mechanical design of the central creature).

It's also a shame that Scott's input is only through second-hand footage, but a lot of key people (in-front and behind) the camera of Alien have their say, even those who've passed (such as Giger and O'Bannon) are included via old interviews, complementing the many other commentators involved.

40 YEARS OF ALIEN

Alien - Covenant (2017)

After the risible disappointment of Prometheus and the underwhelming reviews that Alien: Covenant garnered upon its cinema release, I approached the DVD with a great deal of scepticism and low expectations.

And was completely taken aback by how enjoyable it was.

Although a sequel to Prometheus, and yet more backfilling of the xenomorph origin story, the weaknesses of the earlier movie are soon forgotten as we are reminded of how great - on a good day - director Ridley Scott can be at atmospheric world-building.

The crew of the deep space transport ship Covenant are guiding a cargo of 2,000 settlers on the long voyage to potential new home in the stars, when a series of accidents leads them to a 'ghost signal' from a previously unknown planet.

They investigate and discover the remains of a crashed alien spaceship and the soul survivor: the synthetic lifeform David (Michael Fassbender).

To be honest, the Covenant's crew aren't exactly memorable characters - even the wannabe 'last girl', Daniels (Katherine Waterston), is no hard ass Ellen Ripley - but this was a return to the franchise's horror roots, meaning we should be more tolerant of an abundance of chum to seed the water for the sharks to feed upon.

That said, given that they're blue collar working stiffs you have to question the level of training the crew received for such a crucial mission when their default reaction to most problems seems to be immediate panic.

The real stand-out (unsurprisingly) is Fassbender, on whose mighty shoulders the entire enterprise rests.

He is superb as the identical synthetics, the protective Walter of the Covenant's crew and the deranged David, whose programming had allowed him to transform into a terrifying Prospero or Dr Moreau, cultivating his crop of genetically-engineered xenomorphs.

Alien: Covenant isn't quite the Gothic haunted house horror of the original but more the good old fashioned shipwrecked-sailors-trapped-on-an-island-with-a-monster yarn, with a dash of slasher flick mixed in for seasoning.

If it wasn't so beautifully crafted, the film would probably have felt a lot pulpier than it actually does, but it still skates a fine line between serious and gonzo.

The film really comes alive once the stranded crew are rescued from their first encounter with albino xenomorphs by David, and then gradually we learn what he has been up to.

All the elements that initially had me asking 'why has Ridley changed that?' are all gradually explained as David's apocalyptic machinations are made manifest.

I guess, post-Prometheus, I was second-guessing too much and expecting the worst, when in truth the core plot is very tightly scripted.

A worthy addition to the Alien franchise, this has reignited my enthusiasm for more Ridley Scott-helmed Alien movies... something I never thought I'd say again.

It Almost Sounds Like It's Alien: Covenant, But Isn't Really

The Asylum continues to roll out product using its winning, mockbuster, formula.

Yet while Alien Convergence sounds a bit like Ridley Scott's latest addition to the Alien franchise, the trailer for The Asylum's latest makes it look more like another Independence Day cash-in!

This instant classic will be available, in the States, on VOD on June 1 and then on DVD on June 27.

Please Be Better Than Prometheus, Please Be Better Than Prometheus...

The official prologue to Alien: Covenant introduces the crew of the mission as they gather for a final meal before entering cryosleep.

Set aboard the Covenant, a colonization ship on its way to a remote planet to form a new human settlement, the main crew (all couples) and their android, Walter, enjoy their final meal together before cryosleep.

Conceived by Ridley Scott and 3AM, directed by Luke Scott, and produced by RSA Films.

Ridley Scott returns to the universe he created, with Alien: Covenant, a new chapter in his groundbreaking Alien franchise. The crew of the colony ship Covenant, bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, discovers what they think is an uncharted paradise, but is actually a dark, dangerous world. When they uncover a threat beyond their imagination, they must attempt a harrowing escape.

In Theaters - May 19, 2017

Cast: Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup, Danny McBride, Demián Bichir, Carmen Ejogo, Amy Seimetz, Jussie Smollett, Callie Hernandez, Nathaniel Dean, Alexander England, Benjamin Rigby

Alien - Prometheus (2012)

Right, let's get this out the way to start with: Prometheus is a good film, but not great.

There are plot holes (some of which, I guess, can be handwaved as 'the mysteries of an inhuman intelligence and its alien motivations'), there's at least one moment of giggle-stifling silliness (a key character dies under a 'rolling' spaceship like a cartoon mouse under the wheel of a car) and some very Lost-centric weird character reactions.

This latter I'm blaming totally on the unsubtle footprint of co-scriptwriter Damon Lindelof - who, of course, wrote a lot of Lost.

There are some leftfield plot twists along the way, at least one is very obviously foreshadowed, but no-one seems at all phased by these revelations and, much like on the old TV show, no-one talks about the twists and what they mean to the crew of the ship.

For instance, no-one ever addresses the fact that one of their number, the android David (Michael Fassbender), can recognise and operate the alien technology when the crew first encounters it. This is more than just knowing the creature's language given that their "interfaces" appear to be just runes carved into rock.

However, Prometheus does raise some interesting questions about the creation of life and the relationship between "creator" and "created", father and off-spring - the need for children to replace their parents etc, although I'm not convinced it deals with them in any kind of profound way.

At its heart this is a solid sci-fi flick, and under the guidance of Alien and Blade Runner's Ridley Scott it looks incredible, making no bones about being set in the same universe as the Alien franchise - from the importance of the Weyland corporation to the horseshoe spaceship found by the crew of the Nostromo back in the original Alien, along with its "space jockey" pilot.

Scientists Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) have discovered a series of pictograms on Earth that suggest that we were visited by aliens millennia ago. They hypothesise that these "engineers", as they call them, created life on Earth (although that's quite a leap from a few cave paintings of giants pointing at the stars) and see the pictograms as an invitation to come and meet our makers.

An expedition, funded by the Weyland corporation, represented by the frosty Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron) and her android assistant David, takes the science team to a distant planet where a landing strip and a large, pyramidal building is found.

Exploring the "pyramid", the team come across a number of stone vials, the body of a dead "engineer" and a large stone head, and it becomes clear that what they have found is not the source of human life but something far more terrifying.

Thankfully, for those not following along, ship's captain Janek (Idris Elba) gives a very heavy-handed info-dump monologue at one stage summarising the backstory... which is convenient.

Let's be clear, although set in the same universe, this is not an "Alien" film. It has a very different vibe to it, but it is impossible to divorce Prometheus from that well-loved franchise (especially the first two movies).

There are clear nods though, like meeting the crew of the Prometheus around the ship's mess table and David the android - a spectacular performance from Fassbender - does become increasingly creepy as the plot progresses.

Outside of Fassbender and Theron though the acting is nothing really to write home about, largely because the character's aren't that well developed. Try as she might Rapace can never turn Shaw into another Ellen Ripley, and a large problem I had with the film was that none of the central characters were strong enough to gain my empathy.

The script also suffers from more clichés than you would hope and much of the dialogue (as exemplified by Janek's dialogue mentioned above) teeters on the mediocre.

I was impressed by the visuals, but I really couldn't care two hoots for the characters - which runs totally contrary to the emotions generated by the protagonists of both Alien and Aliens. For all the running, screaming, explosions and CGI creatures, Prometheus feels quite hollow and, like David, soulless.

That said, the very final scene is pure fanservice for those who've come to the movie out of their love for the established Alien mythos and is almost worth the price of a ticket alone for the questions it raises...

A lot of reviews I've read state that you shouldn't go into this film with your expectations too high, and not to expect it to be of the quality of Alien, but Ridley Scott has had over 30 years to hone his cinematic craft since then.

He would be the first to tell you how brilliant he was and so, while the film's main flaws lie in with its script, Scott cannot be wholly excused and must share some of the blame for not delivering a more substantial story.

Prometheus is a triumph of spectacle over substance. With some expansion and development of the plot and characters, it could have been a classic, but nevertheless it's an enjoyable, exciting adventure that certainly paves the way - as Ridley did back in 1979 - for a whole new mythology.

Prometheus: Ridley Scott's Vision...

Prometheus Has Landed!

Got my ticket to see Prometheus (in 2D) on Friday and I'm very excited. More so even than going to see The Avengers because, as awesome as that was, it was a known entity whereas Prometheus - despite its obvious Alien overtones - is pretty much a mystery to me as I've done a good job of avoiding spoilers.

Rachel isn't coming to see Prometheus as it's not her sort of thing - and she's worried that it'll scare the heck out of her! So I'm flying solo.

The following clip is an interview with Logan Marshall-Green about his character, Holloway.

Ridley Scott, director of Alien and Blade Runner, returns to the genre he helped define. With Prometheus, he creates a groundbreaking mythology, in which a team of explorers discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, leading them on a thrilling journey to the darkest corners of the universe. There, they must fight a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race.

Prometheus: Charlize On Vickers...

Charlize Theron talks about Meredith Vickers, her character in Ridley Scott's forthcoming Prometheus.