Welcome to Spacing Out with BB and Jason this week covering the nineteen eighty six film Aliens.
Welcome to spacing Now.
I'm BB and I'm Jason, and we are discussing the Alien franchise one movie at a time, and at the moment of this recording, the second movie is available to stream on Max and this podcast is being released on two different podcast feeds, So if you found it through the Spacing Out with Alien podcast feeds, then I invite you to check out our main channel, Spacing Out with BB and Jason, where we have covered things like Battlestar Galactica,
Star Trek and Our Flag Means Death over one hundred episodes, plus many more things to come. So we are only focusing on Aliens, the second film today, so if there's any discussion of other entries into the franchise, we will save that for a spoiler section at the end of the podcast, So if you haven't seen the other movies yet,
we will shield you from the spoilers. And although our coverage of Alien Romula came out last week, we were actually recording this prior to having seen Romulus, so we definitely won't be speaking about that film at all, but we are talking about Aliens, which premiered on July eighteenth, nineteen eighty six, was written by James Cameron, story by James Cameron, David Guyler, and Walter Hill, and directed by James Cameron.
James Cameron did a lot in this movie.
Yes, it felt very James Cameron. Yes, it did. And BB and I actually watched the extended cut. It was about twenty minutes longer. So there's some extra footage in there, and I'll kind of go through what the difference was here in a moment.
Oh my god, that's why it was so long.
Yes, okay, But for a plot summary, fifty seven years after Ellen Ripley had a close encounter with the reptilian alien Creacher from the first movie, she is called back, this time to help a group of highly trained Colonial Marines fight off against the sinister extraterrestrials, But this time the aliens have taken over a space colony on the
moon LV four two six. When the Colonial Marines are called upon to search the deserted space colony, they later find out that they are up against more than what they had bargained for. Using specially modified machine guns and enough firepower. It's either fight or die is the most Space Marines battle against the aliens. As the Marines do their best to defend themselves, Ripley must attempt to predict a young girl who is a sole survivor of the nearly wiped out space colony.
And also kind of a replet replacement for her lost daughter that we never found out about in the previous movie.
Yeah, and I'll mention that in just the moment, but that's the mention of her daughter was an extended cut thing. But first, let's go through the vibe check.
Vibe check. Did we like the movie overall? How does it stand the test of time?
So I didn't care for this movie as much as I cared for the first one. It's not my favorite so far out of the two ife seen. The graphics were okay, but that first movie, the it was just a maze. I e the set and like they didn't. It just felt this movie felt like hokey pokey compared to the elevated craftsmanship of the first one. Somehow, like this one felt like flashy and more eighties, and I think it lost some of that original artisanal vibe.
Yeah, it's definitely like a more like polished movie.
It's definitely also more mainstream.
Yeah, and it's a different genre really, Like this is an action movie.
Yeah, it was really Yeah, it was super action. And this didn't feel like it was universal like the last one. Like the last one really focused on the characters and this fear of the unknown and and you know, like having these people kind of like figuring out, like how are we going to get out of here? What are we going to do? This one it's just like a bunch of marines who were loud and gross and just like really, I don't think I connected with any one
of them. None of the characters were sympathetic or were endearing or real. They were really hollow and it was just unfortunate.
Yeah, that's fair. It's a definitely a different beast than the first one.
I think, you know who had more character? The fucking uh what's it called, the flamethrower? The flame thrower had more range than some of these characters. I don't know. It just it wasn't for me. It could be very clearly not for me. So I'm not my cup of tea, But I'm glad I experienced it, and I can say that I've seen it, and it's definitely probably like part
of like film history for James Cameron. Like I don't know how many other budget films he'd made before this one, but this one definitely shows his style and his like, I mean, he was on he was on display for sure.
Yeah. It's really his first like big major buster. He had The Terminator right before this, right that was a low budget.
Thing that was a big hit, so they gave him a lot of money.
Yeah, I mean I like it. It did feel I mean maybe it was an extended cut, but it felt like a long movie today, But I like it. I like it as like a pair with the first movie, knowing that it's it's not the same thing as Alien. It's a very different movie and they're like two different
sides to this. I don't know franchise story here, Yeah, but I think I do prefer the way that first movie just felt more like intimate and like the ri And Yeah, because there's a lot of world building in this They really expand to show you more of like their society and.
We learn more about that company and they're interworkings and the military, like everything is everything is bigger in this movie.
Yeah, and there is something about it just being this isolated spaceship in the first movie that.
It really like hits a nerve. Yeah, but yeah, I felt like this one wasn't relatable at all. So I mean, do you think it stands the test of time. I think it does for what it is. Even though I'm not like a fan of it, I can see how it can still be enjoyed by today's audience.
Yeah, I think it's still like a really good action movie. It's got a really good like eighties style action movie. And maybe the casting doesn't hold up in the test of time since there is some brown face going on.
Yeah, dude, I was looking it up, and I've heard rumblings about, you know, because I it shows up like yellow face, and you know, people specifically, usually white people putting on a costume to resemble a different race or ethnicity and vast guess was it.
Yeah, that actor.
Was not of Hispanic descent. Like if you google them, they're going to be a Jewish woman. So they're like, oh, you're vaguely ethnic. We'll just put a little bronzer on you and you'll be all right. And it's really sad because I feel like if they would have hired like a Latina or a Hispanic person and made the same character.
It would have been really powerful to see this kind of queer representation on screen because she's very butch, she's very masked, and she's like, you know, calling Sigurdney Weaver Bonita. So it's just like very queer coded, and it's just like it degrades itself by being a caricature of somebody instead of actually being somebody of that race or ethnicity.
So it's just really unfortunate because there was like a they were they were like testing stereotypes and stuff like they were they were breaking some barriers, but they were also using them in a way that was like problematic. So I'm just like one for one way, like it's like cool queer representation. On the other hand, it's a person pretending to be Hispanic. So it's just like, yeah,
mixed feelings there. Yeah, it's super mixed. Because if if that character, like if I didn't know anything about that character as it as like in real life, like if I thought they were Latino or Latina or whatever, I would have been really excited. But like you can kind of tell, it's just very like it's laid on really thick with the accent and the the like Spanish that's
all thrown in there. And you could argue that, you know, we're in a post race society or whatever, but it was made in the eighties, so there was still definitely race when you look at the context of the writing. So I think Castine did a really poor job in that they could have just had a Jewish woman play, like just be a Jewish woman too.
Yeah, Like if that's who they wanted to cast I don't think they would have to change that much in the script.
No, she could have. She could have used Yiddish.
Do I feel like they just wanted like a woman that was like tough and had that build.
Yeah, and she she met like the criteria for a lot of the like characteristics of that character. But like you know, it just felt inauthentic in so many ways. And I feel bad for that actress because now that's like part of her permanent record, Like she will forever be known as the person who did brown face and alien and it sucks because that rule. I'm sure it was like a big deal for her. But now with our quote unquote PC culture, she's she's not like I
don't no, I don't know when, I don't know. It just felt weird, felt weird. I didn't like it the character. It made me really like disappointed in the character, and I couldn't relate to her in so many ways. Do you want to talk about trivia? I just kind of started doing deep down. I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
We were talking about how it doesn't hold up. So yeah, relevant, Yeah, let's do trivia trivia time?
What facts could we uncover for Aliens?
Discussions of a sequel to Alien began immediately, but twentieth Century Fox was not initially interested, leaving the first film success to be a fluke and the overall box office decline of horror films. James Cameron was asked to write a script treatment in nineteen eighty three after his script for The Terminator was viewed by executives and they originally declined to let him direct the movie until the Terminator release and was a surprise hit, changing their minds.
The studios just keep getting surprised.
Yeah, they're like, oh no.
It's a fluke.
Oh no, They're always like this will never work, and then it does work, Like, well that was a one time thing. Yeah, Sigourney Weaver initially refused offers to return as she was concerned that the movie was being made exclusively for financial reasons.
What I wonder what changed her? Yeah, I wonder what changed her mind. Maybe she read the script or something.
Yeah. Probably. Carrie Hn, who played Newt, did not continue acting after this film, but has remained friends with Sigourney Weaver That Little Girl yep So. Tensions were very high during production. Cameron, a Canadian, had little familiarity with the British film industry to traditions such as tea breaks which interrupted production daily. This was shot in London, Oh and the overall relaxed attitude of the crew compared to American crews frustrated him.
He's Canadian. Why is he so americanized?
He's he's been working in the American film industry. Canadian film industry is pretty small. The crew were also dismissive, dismissive of him for his relative inexperience as a director, and didn't like his hands on approach to this when they had a unionized crew, and the situation deteriorated throughout production until the crew walked out in the middle of
the day. Good for them, negotiations brought most of the crew back, with a crew agreeing to support Cameron him agreeing to support their scheduled working hours.
Why wouldn't be What a bitch? What an eighties bitch to be like, you all can't have a tea break? I would love you know what, Almost every country has some sort of additional break, Like in Mexico, there's this thing called Siesta, and I think it happens in Spain too, where between the hours of two and four the country shuts down and people go home and take a little nap and then they come back to work and they
stay open a little longer. Could you imagine a two hour break in your day for a little nap.
Yeah, now I just have to zone out for a couple hours a day.
Yeah, but a tea break, I would I'm into that. I would love a spot of tea. Sorry y'all, that was my British accent.
Yeah, He's just like, all right, guys, we've got limited time here, so we're going to focus and buckle down. And what do you guys doing drinking tea right now?
What is that a biscuit? I wonder if he's came back to London and was like learned his lesson or Britain or wherever.
Despite the delays, the film was finished on time and on budget. The film once again makes extensive use of miniatures for filming. Despite the hordes of aliens in the film, only twelve suits were made.
That's still way more than the last one. I think they only had two. Yeah, and the suits were way better in this one.
You know a lot of times when they're implying like lots of aliens, it's like they're on the other side of the door and they're just looking at the numbers on the screen.
Yeah, Or there's like that screen with all the little lights on it.
Yeah. Improvisation was allowed on a lot of scenes and brought us some of the iconic lines such as game over, Man, game over?
What's another scene line?
I think a lot of Bill Paxston was what else is he?
And his name sounds so f familiar.
He's in the original Twister?
Oh is he one of the main guys in Twister?
Yeah?
Dang, that movie just came out again, huh so.
An extended cut of the film was released on laser disc in nineteen ninety one, and then later on other formats.
Laser disc.
Yeah. The theatrical cut is one hundred and thirty seven minutes. The extended cut is one hundred and fifty seven minutes long, so twenty minutes longer. James Cameron has stated that the extended cut is his preferred version, so some of the differences between the versions. Obviously, the extended cut has some extra scenes in it. So there's a scene revealing that Ripley's daughter has passed away at age sixty six.
With a horribly pixelated picture of an old woman.
Yeah, and that old woman was actually Sigourney Weaver's mother. The court hearing scene is extended with Ripley snapping and throwing the papers, and then there's a scene with Newt's family prospecting the moon before being attacked, so her family is not in the theatrical cut. There's a series of long tracking shots establishing the interior of the empty sou Lake.
Zu Letco ship their ship that they go out there on, similar to the opening of the first film, and then see there's several separate sequences involving the survivor's use of automated robot sentry guns to defend the colony from the xenomorphs.
I hate that name. I like that they call them bugs.
Yeah, they were really like emphasizing that over like I don't know, they're more like reptilian sometimes, but they I.
Mean the hive queen thing.
Yeah, they really dove into that analogy. There's a scene where Ripley and Hicks reveal their first names to each other and it kind of hints at a more romantic interest. Then several other scenes are extended or use alternate takes or alternate dialogue. The budget was eighteen point five million, and the box office revenue was somewhere between one hundred and thirty one and one hundred and eighty three million. Holy crap, another big fluke.
That was random. They didn't think that would happen.
Critical response to the film at the time was generally positive, and over time the critical assessment of the film has grown to be seen as one of the greatest science fiction films of all time and one of the greatest sequels of all time.
Really yeah, wow, you can tell that. I'm very surprised by.
That, So I think you're in the minority of not being that into it.
Yeah.
Aliens has had an enduring influence on filmmaking, being cited by filmmakers and elements of it being repeated in other films. The film also elevated Ellen Ripley to be seen as a postfeminist icon and among the greatest action heroes.
Yeah, I could see that.
Yeah, she's definitely more more of an active hero in this.
She has agency, which a lot of when you think of like science fiction and horror, the female protagonist is usually not in charge of their destiny.
Yeah, she kind of. She comes back in this one, and she's like more on the offensive and she's a tougher and more like Resilien. Yeaheah. She's kind of like Sarah Connor and The Terminator where she comes back in the second movie as a badass.
So this is James Cameron's calling card pretty much.
The film received Academy Awards for Best Sound Effects and Best Visual Effects, and Sigourney Weaver got a nomination for Best Actress, which was the first given for a science fiction film at a time when the genre was given little respect. The film also won several other accolades, including eight Saturn Awards and a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, and the success led to immediate discussions of a sequel, which resulted in nineteen ninety two's Alien three.
So one for each a decade.
Huh yep, Deep Space Dive. Let's break down some of our thoughts on the film. You can share your thoughts with us through email or social media. We may use your comments on an upcoming episode.
All this time around, Sigourney Weaver got top billing, yes, queen, And.
I hope she got her coins too.
I'm sure she did.
I hope she did. You never know with American filmmaking industry. Oh but they shot and London, so maybe it's a little bit different.
Yeah, but I think she had become a much bigger star by this point.
Yeah, good for her.
So we pick up with her being rescued from her ship.
Right Saint Poe's hand by the heart, Kitty on the lap, very angelic. Apparently she's been in outer space for fifty two years, fifty seven fifty seven years.
And I guess when you're in that cryo sleep.
You don't ate iogenically frozen, your hair doesn't grow nothing, You're not even her nails. Yeah, she didn't have like I mean, it's only been what like five years since the last movie.
It's been seven.
Seven, so she aged pretty well. She's not as young as she used to be, but she looks good and I think she still got it. And God, wouldn't it be awful if the first person you met when like you woke up was like a company representative. Right, Oh, that's awful. Where's your family? I guess she didn't have any living relatives.
I guess not when we only mentioned her daughter, which is an extended cut thing.
But yeah, that's awful. I hate this company. I hate this company so much. It's like this idea of profits over people is still a through line from the last movie. And I feel like the guy who plays the company guy, I don't know his name, Burke? Is it Burke? Yeah, Burke? He sucks. He's the perfect guy. He looks like an eighties sleeve bag. Yeah, Like, I wouldn't trust that man with anything. And if he said, oh, like, don't worry
about it. We're definitely going to kill these aliens that are worth millions of dollars to my company.
Yeah, Like, corporate greed is definitely like a theme in these two movies. Yeah, I kind of like that.
It's very interesting though, because like in the eighties, corporate greed is almost romanticized and like it's like something that a lot of people aspire to think about that movie Wall Street where they say greed is good, or even like the movie American Psycho with Christian Bale, where you know, it's these affluent white men kind of climbing the corporate ladder and doing their best job to make money for
corporations and be active participants in capitalism. So I feel like this movie is going against that grain in the eighties, which is very interesting, very interesting. But the Marines are all for highre Yeah, so it's kind of, I don't know, very mixed signals. I hate the Marines, I'm so sorry, not like as an organ well as an organization or like an entity. I think there's like a lot of respect and being a Marine, and there's like obviously a lot of prestige, but y'all, if this is how you
act for real and like a job, that's horrible. That's horrifying. Especially when they did that thing where they were eating lunch and they got the Android to do that knife thing. That's that's a that's a salt, that's a salt. That was really.
Scary and if anyone should be like following company like HR Policies should be the android, right, Yeah, I mean I think that's kind of part of like another theme of this is just like there's this like arrogance and this like I don't kind of like masculine arrogance of like word tough enough that like it doesn't matter we got They don't want to listen to Ripley or.
That new boss of theirs that's never done anything in his life.
Yeah, I mean, like nobody's listening to rip Here at the beginning of the movie.
They don't take her seriously.
They don't believe her story. They want to like try to hold her accountable for this expensive ship.
Well, they don't hold her accountable because they know they were wrong, but they're like, girl, you don't have any proof. Remember you weren't scientists and you weren't taking pictures or documenting anything. And what happens in the second movie Homeboy from the company, Burke calls up the planet and he's like, hey, check out these coordinates, and some random ass person goes in and they don't have any equipment, they don't have any guns. They obviously encounter the aliens and bring them
back to base, so they no lessons have been learned. Yea, And they compromised a whole colony because they're like, go check it out instead of saying like we're gonna go check it out, We're going to send our top guys. And if they really wanted to extract I would I would imagine they would want to do it safely, but they don't. It's just very like, how do you say it? Like shooting from the hip.
Yeah, I'm not clear how much of Burke's plan was as intended, Like how much was he just like adapting on the fly or was he expecting them to for the aliens to take over the colony and then they go there and like, I don't know how much of this he was making up as he went.
Right, he probably didn't realize how much of a threat they really were.
Yeah, I think that's part of it.
Yeah, And he's such a coward.
Was he always intending to like smuggle them back inside of like Ripley?
No, apparently not. He was happy with them in the jar and just sneaking them across the border and she's like, I ain't gonna let you. I wouldn't have said shit, Yeah, I wouldn't have said shit. I would have been like you do you but okay, yeah, let's just keep it accounted for. And then she became a target.
She's like, she showed her hand there.
Yeah. Wow, she looked really tough, being like, yeah, I'm gonna call you out. I'm gonna let the FCC know that you're bringing in aliens, illegal aliens. And then there was a quip about illegal aliens with Sanchez or Rasquez or whatever they decided to call the non Hispanic person. But it's very interesting that he's ready to smuggle goods into another country for profit.
Yeah, but he does see some sort of need to bring Ripley on this mission and even has like he kind of manipulates her situation where she's working a loading job because she doesn't have her flight license anymore.
Right, she's just like a stock boy.
She's still traumatized by her experience having nightmares, and.
She's like, yeah, she's ultimately manipulated into a green to go back to the sore so her trauma, but she's activated, she's like not passive in that. So it's very interesting to see her willingness to go back since she has nothing left. You know in another world and her plan, it seems like, is eventually to destroy these aliens. So it's crazy though, Like there, I think the alien design
in this was really good. I think they did a really good job with But I think they might have used the same shot sometimes for the closeups on the alien. Did you notice did you notice that it was kind of very similar every time there was a close up and the little mouth came out and they were like showing their teeth, they were very similar. Maybe there might
have been some differences, but I didn't see them. So it felt like every once in a while they used the same shot of the close up of the of the monster.
Or maybe they shot them all you know, like exact.
Yeah, different slightly different angles. Yeah, but the aliens I don't know why, but they weren't as scary as the first one. Maybe the fear of the unknown drove the first one to such a high point that this one it was more like theatrical. There were some jump scares, but it wasn't like this build up of anticipation.
Well, yeah, the first one, like because they know nothing about it and they don't really reveal like the full alien till much later in the movie, whereas you know this one, it takes some time for them to get there. But after like one fake out when they find newt like they pretty much find the aliens after that. So on like a technical level, I think a lot of things looked better in this movie. On like an esthetic level,
I think the first movie still nailed it. Yeah, but like even like the space shots, like it's been a few years and I think, like we'd really figure out how to we figured out how to shoot these models they make these ships, Like you can see that from like the first Star Wars movie to the second one. It's like, oh, they nailed it. Now they know how to do this. So yeah, definitely a yeah.
The tech the there was there was definitely more like computer graphics too, Like I'm thinking of that weird scanner that they used to scan some of the interiors and then some of the electricity surges looked kind of hokey still, but they used graphic like camera editing or CGI. Yeah, they used CGI, and I don't think they used any CGI in the first one. And then you could tell sometimes when they were in front of a blue screen.
Yeah, I think there was like some I mean, there's definitely a lot of trickery going on with like perspectives for the models and stuff. Sometimes it's clear that there is probably a rear projection going on that you can tell. With just like the it was really.
So I was like, I don't know. And then I also just felt like there was like forced like human elements with the little girl and that Hicks guy that felt really forced, like oh, well, you know, she's a woman, so she's got to have maternal instincts, you know, like, okay, great, do we expect like a man to do the same thing or are we okay if a man's like, oh whatever, kid.
It's just very interesting and I you know, maybe I'm just really pushing against the movie because it's so masculine and it's just like the one feminine trait that Ripley shows is this maternal instinct. And I'm like, oh, you know, she could have been a strong woman without the kid. But you know, it's interesting. I don't know. I just I did like the kid. I felt like the kid was strong.
Yeah, I like the kid and I like the but there was just another element of something for Ripley to do other than be facing off these alienses protecting the child. But yeah, it's definitely hitting the motherhood theme very hard. I think even with the as they developed, like the life cycle, these aliens out a little bit more. And how there's the queen mother and then the other ones
are like the workers. Yeah. Yeah, And like we said in the extended cut, they revealed that Ripley has lost her daughter and now she's filmed a replacements, like getting very attached to her. Yeah, calling her mom at the end was weird.
Forced is what I would say, forced, Mommy, shut up. You don't know me. You don't even know my first name.
Right, Like, I get that they're close and they're very bonded now, but that like nothing in their discussions had to do with like family or like, I don't know, like nothing seemed earned about that moment.
I was my mom married my stepdad when I was like thirteen years old. And maybe it's because I was thirteen, but I never called that man dad or daddy. He is my dad, but I don't call him dad. And I don't know. Maybe if she would have been a littler kid, like a littler kid, maybe I would have bought it. But this little girl is what like seven eight and she's obviously a survivor. She's tough. I really like that she was like ready to scram She's like, we gotta go, we gotta leave. I cannot sleep on
this bed. I am exposed. And I just I kind of made it cheap, like their bond at the end there, mommy, fuck, get away from me. And I bet she smelled the whole time, and she like had her head next to her face, and I was just like, little kids stink. If they don't bathe, they stink. And she was living basically in a trash compactor. I think it's a really interesting that the actress never worked again too.
Yeah. I looked at that a little bit. She said like the fame was difficult for her as a child. I can't imagine not understanding whether people liked her or liked her character.
Yeah, I mean, you see how many child actors struggle with fame and access and like there's drug use and I mean abuse, and so I'm kind of glad she kind of got away from all of that.
She's a teacher now and she still has her photo of her and Scoorny Weaver what else. So we have another android that we're very skeptical at first, had a bad experience with the last one.
Yeah, that last one was weird. That guy was we erd, And this one was sus too, because like when he was like dissecting the hand the face, sucker, he was like so interesting.
He was really like one. Yeah, so I think that was a good like misdirect with him.
Yeah, he was cool in the end. And then he got fucking sliced in No, he got ripped in half. That was so epic, and his white blood was all over so gourdiny weaver. I would have been like, I need extra pay for that. I don't know what what is that white liquid? Do you think it's like milk or like colored water or something.
Like like in real life?
Yeah, in real life.
I assume it's some sort of water mixture.
Yeah, something, But it was I would have been so upset to be that wet that day. But yeah, so they fuck uh So it's kind of a shit show. The head marine guy doesn't know what he's doing, and the other marine guys have bad AMMO and they can't even shoot at things yep. And then they're trying to find all these colonists and apparently all these colonists have a chip inserted in them. This is going to be our future, and that chip has a tracking device and
they're trying to figure it out. And then they find that they're all in this one area and they're like, well, let's go, let's go check it out.
Having a party without us, let's go.
Yeah, and before they go, they don't do any research. They don't they don't do anything, and so that's what gives them in the conundrum of having the wrong gammo.
Yeah, and this is where you start to realize that, like, if people will just listen to Ripley, everything would go a lot better. Yeah, just like the first movie.
Yeah, she's the sound of reason. And so they find one of the colony, Well, they find the colonists encased in this goo and then they see the husks of the face suckers, and somehow they're not putting it together, even though they should have watched the report that Ripley did to explain to them what the life cycle of one of these things is. Yeah, so nobody did their homework.
They had report on a disc They told us that.
Yeah, so, and they had a lot of time. They were all in the little sleepy chamber. They could have taken a day off, gotten out of the sleepy chamber and watched the fifteen minute video. So they're just like kicking around the husks and just chilling.
They didn't even let her finish explaining it in.
Her in her initials. Yeah, yeah, So when they were meeting her, they were really undermining her. And then as they were loading up, she's like, how can I help? I feel like like like a bump on a log, like what am I doing? And they're like, well, what can you do? And I thought that was the perfect question. They're like, She's like, I want to volunteer. Okay, what can you do for us? And I love this? She's ready. She's like, oh, I can drive one of those big things,
those fucking avatar robots. Yeah, and she like gets in it, fucking messes around with the knobs and she's like where do you want it? And that must have been an iconic line because even the guys reacted to it, like the characters. They were like laughing, They're like, oh shit,
she's for real. I think this establishes her as not just a pretty face or like a nerd or you know, like because she's a consultant or whatever, and they there's like, she's not one of them, so this helps her kind of them, They're they're warming up to her not a lot, And I feel like it could have been done better to like introduce her to the crew or something, or show the barriers that she was facing more to feel integrated, like more of her getting shut down stuff, maybe especially
by that that uh, the military guy, the sergeant or whatever. If he would have like snapped at her a little bit more like even like if he would have been like, you need to shut up or something. He tried to do it when they were but she like said, fuck you, I'm gonna rescue these guys, and she got on and started driving the cyber trucky truck. Yeah, that's but I feel like they could have pushed him to be more demeaning,
you know, like really push. But I don't know if they wanted to make him the bad guy, right.
Yeah, they just seem to one who make him.
Useless competent, Yeah, useless, So I guess that that's all right. But yeah, she drives the cyber truck and they figure out that these aliens are no joke.
I do like how they they set up the loader thing, the forkliff machine that she drives.
Yeah.
I like how they were able to establish that so we could get that final act of the.
Yeah, before she comes back with that. Yeah she had guns. Yeah, but it did have a little flamethrower. Was that to light cigars or something?
Because it's not like a military thing, it's it's a load thing.
Yeah, okay, a knife though to open boxes or something. I don't know, but yeah, that was a good setup. They introduced a new machine and they introduced that she could manage to drive it or whatever. But it was also giving Transformers And I'm like, James Cameron, I see your future. That's not him whatever, it's the same guy to me. It's all the same guy who is the Transformers.
Guy, Michael bay Ah. But he does have those things in Avatar.
Yeah. Oh is that James Cameron?
Yeah?
Oh okay, well still that is in his future. He really likes those robot things. Do you think do we have things like that now and in a practical use in real life? I feel like most of those types of things are automated the most, Like, I mean, we have forklifts. I don't think if it's ever going to
advance from forklift. I feel like in the loading and unloading field, they've already made the perfect machine with the forklift, and it feels like a forklift is probably a little safer in terms of like putting your body like so close to the load.
Yeah. I'm just trying to think of, like what's what's the practical use of having it have legs that you walk with as.
Most of wheels, unless it's like, let's think of it in an exterior not plane surif. Yeah, that would be the only application that I could see. And those little leggies didn't look like they would be good for gripping the floor. They need to be like built like like a hiking boot, you know, with tread and stuff, and that thing looks slick.
Yeah, it just seems really dangerous because like a small move of your arm waves this big metal thing, right.
And there were people walking in the front.
I know when they first showed it, the guys like backing up and then like people aren't giving him.
Enough room, no, And then the one guy passed in front of the forks. I was like, you never do that usually. Like there's like a beeping sound, there's like noises, lights, something to alert you to get out of the way, because that's a liability issue for the company that's given
you permission to operate this machine. So for as like money conscious as this company claims to be, apparently in the future there is no workmen's camp, And I feel like Sigourney Weaver would have been due some workmen's camp or at least a retirement or some sort of severance for her fifty two years of working, right or fifty seven? I'm sorry, that's what I would have been, like, Hey, so I've been with this company for fifty seven years. If anything, I have seniority over all of y'all.
Also, how's my four h one k doing?
Right, it's gotta be great. But her kid probably got it when they didn't find her after a couple of years, right, probably damn uh oh. Yeah. So Sigourney Weaver like rolls up in the cyber truck and scoops them up, and they lose a couple of them in the fight, and one of them gets acid blown on their face and they like he's a goner, let him go. And Vazquez is like, now, now.
Yeah, these marines got their asses kicked and really like knocked down there.
They got a reality check.
They're military, like masculine arrogance that they have had the first part of the movie.
Yeah, all of that cockiness and wit is gone. They're running their treating with their tails between their legs.
And even though Michael Bain's character Hicks is in charge now, like I feel like Ripley's pretty much calling the shots.
Yeah, he just repeats what she says. It's a puppet. It's it's definitely got a lot of explosions and gunfighting and the aliens explode, and it's like very action forward.
Yeah, just like a war movie than it is this Haunted House movie. The first one was.
Yeah, I'm just like sometimes I'm having a hard time keeping up with all of the action. It's just like I get like a whiplash. It's like it's like, oh now we're over here. Oh now we got to do this. Now we got to do that. Now we're welding the door shut. Oh my god.
And honestly, like once some of those marines died, it was kind of a relief because I'm like, Okay, now there's few enough of them that I can kind of keep track of who's the character here. We've Vesquez and Henderson.
He was a cry baby bitch.
Yeah. Is that his name, Hudson, Hudson, Hudson, Yeah, him being just like, what do we do now, man, we're.
All goners, We're all goners. How did he pass like a fortitude test to be in the Marines?
I don't know because I keep boasting about how like they're like the best of the best, and like these guys can handle anything, and like he can't handle much at all.
Right, one ounce of pressure and he's over it. He's like on the floor on his back with his feet up, surrendered.
So then, yeah, Burke is evil.
Burke is evil, and he gets his just desserts. But he really tries to pretend he's the good guy for the longest time. Yeah, and then uh, he is revealed to be a company man at heart.
Yep. There is monetary value.
Here, right, and that is you know, human capital is less than capital capital. So he was trying to sneak. I can't believe he was willing to sacrifice Ripley and the girl like, what a bastard. And I'm I thought she brought the gun in with her and put it on the bed. Nope, So that was her bad. Yeah, so because if she had a gun, she would have killed that motherfucking thing.
Yeah. Remember to bring your guns to bed with you guys always.
But they so like there's they're like numbers are dwindling.
Yeah. I think that might have been one of the more like tense scenes in the movie, is them like trapped in that room, right, knowing that those face suckers are in there, right.
Yeah. I think another good tense point was when they finally get through the door where Burke was and they're in between spaces and the alien is like trying to knock down the door and the little girl rescues them by like redirecting them through the air ducts.
Yeah.
So I don't know why she wasn't in charge sooner.
Yeah, she does know like the lay of the land.
Yeah. I feel like if they would have just hoarded up where she was the whole time, they would have been safe.
Yeah, they could have stayed for the seventeen days or whatever.
Yeah. But then the android's like, well there is another alternative. Twenty years later, he's like, oh, yeah, I can remotely navigate this ship from base. Why didn't you say that in the beginning, you bitch? Why did why was that plan? See what the hell it took their atmosphere conductor like failing for him to be like, oh, yeah, I can do this. I can crawl through this little poo you know tube and you know, redirect and navigate the ship.
Why didn't you say that initially as soon as that first ship exploded.
Bitch, bitch? Maybe he was evil after all, he was.
Just trying to save the specimens.
It's always the specimens with those guys.
Yeah, it was freaky to see them too. I think they did a good job at like showing how gross they were and how they worked those face suckers with their dicks for mouths. I wouldn't scream in front of one of those. I shut my mouth with my teeth clenched.
What else I mean, the whole like end of the movies just action packed. They lose they got to.
Oh yeah, they lose her in the water, and I thought that was the end of her. I was ready to say goodbye, so long, farewell.
No, Ripley says like they're going to keep her alive to.
Yeah, that's disgusting. But she was right and I was wrong, and I'm really sorry for that. But you know. I was ready to just be like, oh, well, that's the last of that little girl. And so when she went back, I was like, why is she going back? I was so confused. It's like they're gone, They're done. Why is the movie not over? But little did I know that in the third act she had to rescue a little girl and murder the mother. And oh my god, what
a mother it was. I don't know if you watch Futurama, but you know how they make that drink surge, that's what it gave. It was giving goo, big booty judy goo. And I think it looked great, like in terms of like alien reproduction, So they must reproduce asexually, right, because we didn't see anybody like impregnating her or inseminating the eggs or anything like that. So this is a society of drones and bees.
And I mean, I don't know the males that are breeding with the queen.
Oh you think so the model children, and that.
Would be the case, right, probably.
Yeah, bees or i ants or whatever. But it was I thought that the visuals are really good, disgusting but good, right, I'm very believable. But then when she starts lighting all the things on fire. That thing rips itself from its body and like chases her with her little claws, and I'm like, I don't believe that.
Yeah. Well, at first I was like, well, the queen's got that big, you know, eggsack attached to her. It's not gonna be a threat. You can't move around.
But then she's like, oh, actually, I just zip this off and my pants become short. So she's like she is giving Kunti with their little movements. She's like I could see her in like little heel stilettos running around waiting for the elevator. Oh my god, this queen is iconic. And she finds herself on their evacuation and in the big ship and Ripley does it again. She's like out the airlock.
Yep, the freaking Cylon.
And I wish they would do more with the space aspect of it. When it's like floating out in space like a little bit of like freezing or something.
I just want to see what happens.
I want to see an accurate depiction of what happens when you're exposed to space. I think that would have been cool, Or if she would have exploded, that would have been cool too, but like a freeze. I think you freeze in space because it's so cold. I don't know, maybe it's not. I don't know about space. But Ripley's strong. And her shoe, she lost her shoe. Those shoes were so stylish, they were very eighties.
Yep.
And then they finally get that little girl cleaned up, and she looks so different. She needed a.
Bath so bad. Yeah, bath before bedtime for however many years.
Yeah, we'll see how long the next one. Yeah, the next one's in ten years, so we'll see how long their staces is or if that little well, the little girl won't be in the sequel because she's quite acting.
True. True, I guess I get that away.
Yeah, spoilers.
Yeah, I don't see anything else you need to cover talked about We talked about it all fatherhood and masculinity and war and trauma and corporate greed.
And then the representation of queerness and brown face.
Yep.
It would have been so iconic if they would have just made a queer character who wasn't putting on Browie's. I don't know, Well, it's not my movie. I didn't write.
It wasn't mine either. I wasn't alive, but.
Apparently it's a critically acclaimed film with lots of tropes that have been present in many other films. So and it's one of the most successful sequels, which kay.
Yeah, if you look at Rotten Tomatoes, Alien ninety three Aliens ninety four percent.
Wow, I feel like this movie was made for men though, even though it's got a strong female character, I just I.
Don't know, it has that vibe. It feels like a Rambo Terminator Diehard type.
Yeah, it's very masculine, very male, and not that women can't be attracted to that, but it just doesn't speak to the female experience in a way that feels authentic. And I mean a man wrote it, so it.
Won't be You want to go to the next section.
What is it?
The astral Queen.
Astral queen who was the standout character in the movie?
Stand out character, I'm gonna give it to.
Newt Oh really.
Yeah. She was like, I don't feel safe around these people. I don't I don't feel safe.
Yeah, Like, don't you think you'll be safer with us? And she's like, no, no, I.
Didn't have a gun. I didn't have any of the equip you have, and I survived for longer than seventeen days here by myself.
I've got snacks in my room. I'm good.
Yeah, I got snacks, jewelry and pictures. What do I need? What do I need? And she did it all without a comb? So who do you give it to?
I think I'm going to go with Ripley again.
It's the main character energy.
Yeah. I mean, she's the one that came in with the knowledge and no one listened to her, and then she had to save the day multiple times and yeah, so it's all.
In a day's work for a woman. Jason, It's typical Wednesday. Nobody listens to you until they're fucking in trouble and then they're like, oh, well, you get me out of this bind because they don't listen. They don't listen, but they'll hear that. They're definitely gonna hear I told you.
So they will listen to the good ideas and then repeat them louder and.
Take credit for this. Just like, uh, when she's like we should get out of here and nuke the planet and the guy did that, Hicks repeated, It's like, yeah, that's what we're going to do.
All right, well, that wraps up the main part of our episode. We will go to the spoiler section. The next episode coming out will be on Alien three.
Or Alien cubed.
Yeah, alien cubed. Not sure why stylized like that, but I think we're again gonna watch the extended version, which is called the Assembly Cut.
Who directed this one, same guy? No, thank god, no offense to James Cameron, but I don't think i'm his target audience. Who was the first one? Ridley Scott? Yes, okay, I like Ridley Scott. I can respect his approach.
Oh, David Fincher did Alien three, he has he did not enjoy his experience on that. We'll talk about a next episode.
Doesn't sound like Cameron enjoyed this one either, with the tensions with him and the crew.
Ridley Scott does come back to do Prometheus and Alien Covenant. But yeah, for they do different directors every movie for the most part. So yeah, Alien three Assembly Cut. If you can find that version, it's generally considered to be a lot better than Alien three theatrical. Oh so we're going to go into the spoiler section, and I think I'm definitely going to spoil something from Alien three. So if you don't want that, then now is your time
to skidatle get out the airlock. Let's put our living stereo stylus in this group.
Brace for impact. Spoilers ahead. If you haven't seen the whole film series, now is the time to say goodbye. Remember you can contact us at Spacingoutpod at gmail dot com, find us on social media, share your thoughts and be a part of the discussion. Spoilers in five four three two one.
So what's the spoiler?
Well, in Alien three there's.
Another alien, like a different type.
I don't remember. Actually, what I wanted to spoil was so it picks up right after this movie. They I think they crash land on a planet and it's like a prison planet. And Newton, the other guy, die right at the beginning in the crash. Great, so this whole movie where it's about like saving Newt, the whole end of the movie is about the rescue of her, only to be undercut by the next movie.
She dies. Yeah, and they're in a prison planet.
Yes, Okay, don't remember many details beyond that.
And so Gourney's still in it then, yes, she's locked in.
Yeah. I think that is like the biggest issue that everyone had with the movie that new wasn't in it. Well, just that they discarded her like that and really like there's just kind of a slap in the face of this movie.
But the little girl didn't want to act.
They carote a story that didn't pick up right where this ended.
Right, Yeah, that would have been nicer. So Gourney could have been.
Her job back on the loading dock. Yeah, or she probably gets fired from that job because they don't believe her. Again, Yeah, that.
Would have been cool. But yeah, no, okay, so bad writing already off the bat, Alien thirty. Why didn't they just hire James krameron to do the screenplay again?
I don't know. Probably because he was doing Terminator two. Probably had a terrible time on this movie in order to go back.
But he didn't have to direct it. He could have just written the screenplay, true, because he did a good job, a good enough job. All right, Okay, Well, we'll see you next week with Terminator cubed No No Alien three point zero Alien three.
Thanks for spacing out with us, and remember there were some places in the universe you don't go alone. That's another tackline.
Thank you for spacing out with BB and Jason, you can help us out by subscribing and leaving a positive rating or review. Next time, we will cover the nineteen ninety two film Alien three. We hope you will join us