Aliens (1986)

Grab your pulse rifles and motion trackers – we're dropping into LV-426! In this adrenaline-fueled episode, we dissect James Cameron's action-packed sequel "Aliens" (1986) and discover why it stands as one of the most successful genre shifts in cinema history.

The conversation explores how Cameron transformed Ridley Scott's slow-burning horror masterpiece into an explosive action thriller without sacrificing the dread and tension that made the original so effective. We dive deep into Sigourney Weaver's Ellen Ripley – her 57-year cryosleep, the trauma she carries, and her evolution from reluctant survivor to determined warrior. That power loader showdown with the Queen? Pure cinematic gold that perfectly culminates Ripley's character arc.

We couldn't stop gushing about the practical effects that still hold up brilliantly today – from the hive's unsettling biomechanical design to the imposing Alien Queen puppet operated by multiple performers. The Colonial Marines receive special attention, particularly Bill Paxton's panic-stricken Hudson ("Game over, man!") and Jenette Goldstein's tough-as-nails Vasquez. Paul Reiser's duplicitous Burke also gets his due as the human villain whose corporate greed rivals the xenomorphs in monstrosity.

Our hosts debate which film reigns supreme – the atmospheric horror of "Alien" or the action-packed thrills of "Aliens" – and examine how the sequel expands the xenomorph mythology with the Queen and hive structure. From face-huggers to chest-bursters to acid blood, we analyze why these creatures remain among cinema's most terrifying creations decades later.

Ready to face your fears and join the conversation? Subscribe now, leave a review, and prepare for our next episode when we tackle the divisive third installment in the franchise. Remember – they mostly come at night... mostly.

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Dakota's Twitter: https://twitter.com/geekritique_dak

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Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome to Aliens Discussion
• 8:04 From Horror to Action: Different Directors
• 17:12 Ripley's Return and Company Motives
• 27:31 Colonial Marines and Bill Paxton
• 36:34 The Queen Xenomorph Revealed
• 45:20 Power Loader Showdown and Practical Effects
• 53:15 Final Thoughts and Alien 3 Preview

Transcript

Welcome to Aliens Discussion

Speaker 1 0:00

Stop your grinning and drop your linen. Welcome back to Project Geekology, episode 132. We're covering aliens Plural, multiple aliens. I started this with a line from the film. I know it's a little crass, but I felt it was in good fun. Guys, I'm really excited to dive back into the world of Alien.

Speaker 2 0:22

My name is Dakota and I am joined as always with Anthony, it's game over, man, it's game over and we are joined, as always, with Rich.

Speaker 3 0:35

I am just so excited to talk about a bad guy, Paul Reiser. Just shocking, shocking information, guys.

Speaker 1 0:41

It had to happen, had to happen eventually, yeah. So this is a very different movie from the last one. Last time the three of us were together we were discussing the almost lovecraftian horror, the fear of the unknown, which is ridley scott's first alien movie. And this is a very different movie by a very different director, but a director that kind of gels well within this universe that Ridley Scott helped create. This one is helmed by James Cameron. I'm a big fan of James Cameron's, this very, very different director, and you know he has his strengths and he has his weaknesses, and I think both of them are on display in this movie. But at the end of the day, I think it's safe to say that James Cameron knows how to show you a good time, no matter what. You're going to be incredibly engrossed in what's happening on screen.

Speaker 2 1:31

Hey everyone. This is Future Anthony, and if you want to skip the what we've been up to discussion, head on over to eight minutes and four seconds, and that is when the main discussion begins, rich what the heck have you been up to lately?

Speaker 3 1:45

well, uh, I would say that last week I kind of uh hit the ground running because I started coaching cross-country track last week and we started school this week, so kind of been taking up a lot of my time, but of course, uh as as we spoke about off-air I'm still continuing my pursuit of finishing smallville as quickly as possible. So I'm in season eight. I will uh just just tell loyal listeners, guys, I still feel that lana's the villain, so one day we'll circle back to this, but lana lang, one day is the villain of smallville. But what have, uh, you been up to this week?

Speaker 1 2:25

I'm gonna just, you know, rebuff that just a little bit, because I think Rich is the only person in existence who has this particular outlook on Smallville. But you know, it's a fresh one. There's no such thing as bad opinions, but there are wrong ones in my book. Anyway, anthony, what are you what?

Speaker 2 2:44

do you think that's the other way around dakota?

Speaker 3 2:48

they're definitely bad opinions listen when you, when you guys get to season eight. All right, come back to me tell me that you don't come back, she's the look, look.

Speaker 2 2:57

I was at season eight at one point in my life. Okay, and season nine and season 10, all right all right, all right enough with the the pissing contest anthony, what have you been up to?

Speaker 2 3:09

I have been up to. What have I been up to? Well, actually, I've kind of been doing some professional stuff. So this week my job is kind of doing a test run, of trying to like prove to our higher ups that we need to like keep some of our contractors on like full time, because if we don't have them then the queue will be gone. So they took five of us out of the queue for this week just to like test that theory and I would say so far, like it's kind of proven them right that we do need them. You know, because if they go, like in january, we'll kind of get, like you know, swamped, particularly, you know, like on like earlier in the weeks, like monday or tuesdays, if we were off for a holiday.

Speaker 2 3:53

But but yeah, so I've been kind of taking this opportunity to kind of work on some certifications that I've been wanting to do. Right now I'm working on one called the AZ-900. It's just like the Azure fundamentals. Azure is a cloud system that businesses use for various different things, for whatever it is that they need, and I know that my job, the bank, we use Azure for various different things profiles and whatnot.

Speaker 2 4:25

But so I've been trying to kind of like work on getting certifications, kind of build up my knowledge base and, you know, kind of bolster up what I know and you know I'm getting the experience. So now I want to get the certifications. I kind of backed that up and you know you can start to command a bit more money when you start getting that stuff in. I mean you know you can start to command a bit more money when you start getting that stuff in. I mean you would know, dakota, like you had worked on something recently, kind of not really in a similar vein, but like you know, just kind of like trying to get to the next level and I know that that that helps out with pay the journeyman right yeah, absolutely, absolutely.

Speaker 1 5:03

Yeah. I was dragging my head like what did I do? Did you ever hear back from that you never like told us oh, I, I passed, I passed, okay, yeah, yeah, I know you said you felt like you did I passed, yeah, um, and I'm pretty sure I got the score that I thought I got, which I'm happy about sweet so yeah, I've been.

Speaker 2 5:24

I'm kind of like mapping out what I want to do and you know I'm working towards that and my supervisors they said that, like you know, like hey, look, if the director kind of sees that you're working on these different certifications and they see that you're trying to improve yourself, they may actually offer to pay for you to take these certification tests. Because, like you know, some of these tests I don't know if the I'm pretty sure the one that you took probably cost money, but some of these certifications they cost anywhere from you know like a hundred dollars to you know a few or so hundred dollars, a couple hundred dollars, yeah, certifications yeah, so it's no joke.

Speaker 2 6:03

So, yeah, no, I'm, I'm working on that. Obviously, before I actually take the test I'm gonna do example tests and whatnot to kind of feel better about taking the actual test before I spend the money. But it'll be cool if I do get kind of backed by my job to cover, you know, some of the certifications. That'd be awesome. But really that's mostly what I've been working on, aside from just watching aliens. And you know, just on my one piece trek I had taken a couple weeks off of of one piece but I've been hopping back on it again rich is shaking his head.

Speaker 1 6:38

He can't believe anyone would take a break from a tv show right, yeah, yeah. Well, you know, that's why you can't start one piece, otherwise he, he's, uh, you know.

Speaker 2 6:48

Yeah, man, I'm sorry I can't hold on to something like that. I like to go out my. I like to save her. I'm not racing like for what you know. So flash baby, that's my thing, man he's like the flash man.

Speaker 1 7:02

That's awesome bro, but yeah um, this isn't a bad thing. It happens regularly on my job. But I got laid off so I am a free agent for a little while, so I have a little time off of work. As an electrician especially a union electrician this isn't really a big deal. Eventually I'll get picked up by another company. Sometimes it's a longer wait than other times, but, uh, it's a good opportunity for me to catch up on some of my work online, which I've kind of put on the back burner a little bit while I've been at work. So that's a good thing. But because I am off, I am doing an impromptu trip tomorrow morning to Miami, florida, because my grandmother's in the hospital.

Speaker 2 7:43

Oh, thank you. Yeah, I'm sorry to hear that man.

Speaker 1 7:44

Thank you. Yeah, I'm going to be down there for a couple days. It's not going to be like a fun trip, it's just going to be family and stuff. So, anthony, if I have some free time I will hit you up, but if not, please don't feel bad.

From Horror to Action: Different Directors

Speaker 2 7:56

No, no, no, yeah, man. Well, you know, you know, I know how you feel. Absolutely yeah, man, it is Family.

Speaker 1 8:06

It is what it is. But, guys, I think enough time has passed and we better get back, because it'll be dark soon and they mostly come out at night. Mostly we need to talk about aliens. I don't know if you guys caught that, it's one of my favorite quotes from Aliens Newt. Scamander, alien the newt skimander, yep, newt skimander.

Speaker 2 8:28

what are our thoughts on aliens, folks, anthony, let's start with you well, this, this movie, I mean, like you said, it's a lot different you go from we went from a horror movie to an action movie and it's a complete 180.

Speaker 2 8:44

Yeah, right, right, yeah, it's. It's completely different. You go from the, the slow, gradual build-up, to the reveal an alien to, you know, space marines kind of you know just shooting a bunch of these xenomorphs see, and then so this one, that this is where you get the name xenomorph yeah, they actually say they didn't really explain why they called it a xenomorph.

Speaker 1 9:08

I'm reading the novelization now so that I can try to make sense out of how they came up with the name, because it's such a strange name to just start calling this species that nobody except ripley, at least in this like sphere, has seen. You know like I'm very confused about it, so I'm right to see what's what.

Speaker 2 9:27

What well it would make sense down the line when you actually get to the part where you see them. You know, like in other movies where I mean you kind of talked a little bit about it, where you start to see different types of xenomorphs. So that's where it makes sense, you know, because the xeno kind of being like alien, and then the morph, you know, for obvious reasons yeah but yeah, I get what you're coming from.

Speaker 2 9:52

I guess maybe they're saying it because of how they, you know, how they kind of like come from the face hugger to impregnate into a person and I guess they kind of morph into a humanoid type of creature, unless there's knowledge that isn't explained like meta or outside knowledge that is not explained in this movie. But it's interesting. When I was watching this movie I was like, yeah, the movie starship troopers definitely got inspiration from this movie, definitely got inspiration from this movie.

Speaker 3 10:29

The Marines were like the same.

Speaker 2 10:30

You know I was like OK, like I was like man. Why does this feel so like familiar and like that's what. That's where I got it? I was like OK, so they pulled a bit from this. So it was interesting. Man Ripley is just like she's's a badass in all these movies.

Speaker 1 10:50

In pretty much all respects yeah. Rich you were going to say something about the Xenomorph.

Speaker 3 10:54

Didn't, ripley. So I know it was in that dream and I don't believe this was revisited. But when she was in the dream before the xenomorph pops out of her stomach, she's talking to the paul reiser guy and he says that well, you've been asleep for 57 years yeah right, and I know that she snapped out of the dream sequence, but I took it to be that she's been asleep for 57 years.

Speaker 3 11:22

so we do find out that he knows about this alien and wanted to bring it back, essentially for the company again. So I think that they would have developed a name for it, like at least the company has a name for it.

Speaker 1 11:36

Right, I guess the in-film logic I'm trying to understand. By the way, 57 years thing is the canonical time jump between film.

Speaker 1 11:46

Yeah, so it is. That is to be taken as factual. They explore that more in the in the novel and I believe that they explore it more in the special edition which adds, like I think, 15 to 20 minutes oh uh, footage. So I'll watch that and get back to you guys when we cover aliens 3 next. But the in-film logic behind the name xenomorph.

Speaker 1 12:08

She does explain herself a couple times to, or like plenty of times to that tribunal that they have basically incriminating her for the destruction of the stroma. And they don't believe her. They don't, but that's the thing. They don't believe her about the alien. There's no evidence of this existing so. So in the novelization they claim that someone tampered with the files or, like Ripley believes someone tampered with the files because there should be plenty of documentation of this thing on board, which there was. But whatever, they don't really show that in the movie. Anyhow. That's why I'm a little bit confused about why they suddenly have a name for it, because if they didn't believe her, but then they, I guess they had to have believed her when they went back to the planet. You know, it's just interesting. Yeah, I want to, I want an explanation. I don't currently, I don't know, that's what's eating me away.

Speaker 3 12:53

Good, I wouldn't. I guess you know what it is. I think that I watch so many movies like this that I will for some reason explain away something pretty quickly. I'm like, oh all right, cool, just with these action movies. Like, if you just give me a little nugget, I'll kind of like, because in my head, like paul reiser's character is like part of like the you know r and d or whatever, like he's on a mission from like that not everybody knows about, so I could see how the tribunal would be. Like we don't know what you're talking about, but you know he does. Like they've been doing secret testing or something in the span could be 57 years.

Speaker 1 13:35

Very much could be. Yeah, anthony.

Speaker 2 13:37

Final thoughts on the xenomorph discussion we're gonna see a lot of them in this movie.

Speaker 1 13:42

Yes, we will and a giant queen one yeah, we get a new one, rich. What are your thoughts on this movie overall? I know you talked a little bit about it before we started the show, but what are your thoughts going into this movie as opposed to the last film? I just think that.

Speaker 3 13:59

So ridley scott, did you know? Spoke about how I admired the craft, but it wasn't really my type of movie. This was my type of movie. This was definitely. I'm an 80s action guy. This followed all the beats of my 80s action Like.

Speaker 3 14:18

One of my favorite parts about this movie is so ridiculous. So she becomes like a dock loader right and she starts working those machines right and I and and when she gets on the ship and she's like I can help out, I can do something, and they're like can you? And she goes and she starts working the lift machine right which they those look like these cartoons that I used to watch, these mecha warriors or something. And it was in space and these guys would like get into these suits and like fight in very exos exosuits or something. And it was in space and these guys would like get into these suits and like fight in very exos exosuits or something like that. It was called gundam. No, it was an americanized version of it on channel 11 when I was growing up.

Speaker 3 14:53

I'll have to, I'll have to dig a little deeper, but I was so excited when she got into it and I said in my head, if this is the type of action movie that I love. She's gonna do some bad A stuff With those robots, that mechanism and man. As it's going along I'm like maybe it's not going to happen and then she finally gets to use it. Oh man, that to me wraps up the movie perfectly. That's how I feel about it. I was so happy. There's stuff that annoy me. Why is Newt the only human in the history of interaction with these aliens that doesn't get implanted like just, you know, yeah, we're just gonna store later, you know like like I think she just stayed away from them.

Speaker 1 15:39

She kind of realized what the people who survived a quiet place realized shut up, oh no, I mean stay quiet.

Speaker 3 15:45

I mean when she gets taken by the, oh, like when she gets taken back to the nest. Whatever I'm like, come on I think it's timing.

Speaker 1 15:54

You know, like I think she literally just got placed there and one of those facehugger things hadn't been birthed yet that's, that's my understanding.

Speaker 3 16:02

Okay, accepted, I'm fine with that. Now I really like this one.

Speaker 2 16:05

I know we're only two in, but this is my favorite installment by far okay yeah, no, I think dakota's right, it's not like hours went by, I think there's like minutes, you know, so yeah, because it was.

Speaker 1 16:18

It was something like she had, uh, 19 minutes by the time that you know she realized. Oh, I still have time to go grab this girl, you know, yeah, so it was something like that, yeah yeah, man, this movie definitely.

Ripley's Return and Company Motives

Speaker 2 16:32

They tried to put some of the creepy vibes in it, you know, especially when the and you know, obviously in in true project ecology form. You know we're gonna be bouncing, bouncing around a lot, but the part where the aliens were in the roof and the motion tracker was tracking a bunch of them, so that was the moment where they were trying to add that creepy. They're like, okay, this is alien, we have to have something creepy in here. So I think that was like the attempt for it. And I mean, you know, like it was crazy. When he like opens up the panel up on the roof and you just see all those xenomorphs up there, I'm like, yeah, it's time to go.

Speaker 1 17:15

And they're creepy man, they are just inherently. You know, they're always somehow super juicy, juicy. Speaking of which I'm gonna pause the podcast. You, listener, have not rated our podcast a five-star juicy review, yet you need to give us a five-star juicy review, otherwise we're just gonna stop talking think xenomorph they really are always like. They're always so moist. What's up with this?

Speaker 2 17:47

every surface I was re-watching. It's funny because sometimes it's like running water dude, like what is crazy? Where's it coming from?

Speaker 1 17:56

yeah, I was watching alien one today and there's this scene where she enters the shuttle at the end of the movie and you know, you know, there's just that alien tucked away napping in a corner and there's a slow shot of its hands, like lifting up from the computer terminal, and it's just like this guy was whoever the actor was literally dipped his hand in Vaseline or something and just like smeared it everywhere. It was the craziest amount of fluid I've ever seen for a hand. So anyway, these guys are juicy. They are the juiciest things we've ever encountered. On Project Ecology.

Speaker 2 18:32

Yeah, but it's not the good kind of juicy though it's not.

Speaker 1 18:36

But it could be if you give us a five-star juicy review.

Speaker 2 18:40

Yes, give us the non-acidic.

Speaker 1 18:44

The non-acidic. The non-acidic version yeah, so I have yet to properly like, give my my take on this movie. I really enjoy it. This is the one that I think is kind of the quintessential alien movie in a way, even though you need the first movie to watch this one. This is the adventure. This is where the hobbits finally go to Mordor, this is where it all goes down and it's a totally different vibe.

Speaker 1 19:11

But coming at it which is weird that I'm saying this because Aliens was always my favorite one but I'm going to have to actually say coming at it, as an adult that has been critiquing movies for about a decade now, I have to edge out for the original Alien by Rid at it. As you know, like an adult that has been critiquing movies for about a decade now I have to. I have to edge out for the original alien by really scott I. I do believe this has the more exciting story, this has the more engagement. But pound for pound I'm when I watch alien I'm like, oh wow, that's an incredible shot. Oh wow, that was such a cool effect. Oh wow, how did they do that?

Speaker 1 19:47

When I'm watching Aliens I'm thinking, all right, let's get the job done, let's go to the next scene, let's go here, let's go there. It's a totally different vibe and I feel like, yeah, I do think Ridley Scott is the better visual director and that's actually kind of why I like the new film that came out recently, alien Romulus, is because it has the adventure aspects of aliens, but it also has the horror and the dread that you get from Alien 1. And Fade Alvarez, the director of that one, did such a tremendous job in my opinion. I can't wait till we cover that one and, yeah, I'll talk about that more when we get there, but yeah, that's my thoughts that one and yeah, I'll talk about that more when we get there.

Speaker 2 20:27

But yeah, that's my thoughts. Yeah, I kind of agree with you because I feel like alien does need that creep factor right and you don't really get that much in this one, not the way that you do in the first one, and a lot of that has to do with the shots right. You get the close-ups, the utilization of darkness. You know there's darkness in this one, but this one is pretty much a pure action movie. Yes, it is the movie that's a bit more fun to watch because there is a lot going on. And when you think about the Alien series, I think about this one and the third one and there's a couple of shots that always make me think of the series. And the second one it's ripley and that exoskeleton yeah I always think of that.

Speaker 2 21:19

And then the third one is ridley looking away with the xenomorph, like right up on her it's, yeah, there's yeah, yeah, and we'll talk more about that next week, but you know that's what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 21:32

Like you know, when I think of the alien series, I think mostly of aliens and an alien 3 because of some of these shots. But it was nice going back to see that first one and, from what it seems, is like the the director of romulus wanted the best of both worlds when it came to alien and aliens. Because you don't want an almost two hour slog fest, you know you gotta have some sort of like adrenaline, especially nowadays, right, and you do have to. Even with all the shots and stuff, you do go a very long time in the first one with like, mostly dialogue.

Speaker 2 22:13

It's a, it's like dialogue, dialogue, dialogue, yeah yeah, yeah, you know, and and you know so it can be a little bit of a slog in that first one. But once that buildup happens and the stuff starts to happen, that's where the genius really happens in the film.

Speaker 1 22:30

And I think Aliens. The second one I hate the titling structure of these movies. I've always hated them. I feel like it's hard to just. You know, it's so easy to just say Alien or Aliens and miscommunicate which one you're talking about. I'm talking about the sequel, the squeakquel Aliens plural.

Speaker 3 22:50

Is that a reference to the Chipmunks movies? Perhaps?

Speaker 1 22:54

Perhaps Deep cut, deep cut. It's a movie I've never even seen before. I just like the term squeakquel.

Speaker 3 23:00

Oh, I have, I have, sir.

Speaker 1 23:03

I bet you have Rich.

Speaker 2 23:04

That is going to be the movie we are covering next week, that would be amazing. You thought we were covering Alien 3? No, it is going to be Alvin and the Chipmunks, the first movie no, no the squeakquel, we just jump right in. So we're just going to completely jump over the first one we're just going to go straight to the squeakquel.

Speaker 1 23:21

I don't need to.

Speaker 1 23:21

It's not like Aliens where I need the first movie to understand that these talking chipmunks are going to get into some trouble or something. I don't even know what that's about, guys. So what I was saying is Aliens. The second one it requires sorry, it doesn't require it's kind of the movie that the rest of the series kind of anchors on. It helps explain what happens in the first movie and it definitely moves the plot forward towards the third and fourth movies and it definitely moves the plot forward towards the third and fourth movies and I think that that is, you know, a huge role that this movie plays.

Speaker 1 23:53

It gives us a lot of information, tells us what the xenomorphs are, tells us how they, their breeding cycle works, because in the first movie we didn't know that there was another step before the eggs. You know, we just kind of assumed that somehow eggs disappeared. Or, you know, it was like a, like a mono sex species where, like it, was neither male nor female, it just reproduced by itself. We didn't know, we didn't have any answers. Now we have some answers. So I do give James Cameron some serious props. He did expand on the universe quite a bit. We didn't have a name for the planet that they were on. Now it's LV-426. And what else?

Speaker 3 24:38

Did I miss this? So we're supposed to believe that the alien they got to LV in the original got to lv two, two, four two, six yeah they, they land. The alien is actually on a ship, not on the planet itself. Ripley believes that all of them are killed and that's what we see at the end. She wakes up and they've had a colony there and they haven't had any prior incidents to like right after she happens to wake up is so?

Speaker 1 25:12

they don't explain it super well in the film and I don't think they explain it very well so far in the book that I'm reading. But we do know that there were other eggs on the alien ship, the derelict shipped in the. In the first movie we saw that. You know, kane only goes up to one of the eggs and that's the one that has the facehugger pop out and, you know, give him a kiss. We don't know that there are thousands.

Speaker 1 25:39

She claims that there are thousands on this planet in that derelict ship but we only see maybe a dozen from the first movie. But we know that there are others because we only saw the single alien on their ship, the nostromo. So she's worried that you know like these aliens are still out there, they need to bomb the hell out of that place. Whatever they don't believe her. They've already sent a team of people to explore the planet. We don't know how close they are on the planet to the derelict ship, so it's possible they don't ever really encounter it. We don't know how the aliens broke out of that cycle and found like fresh meat you know, like meats back on the menu at this place. But we don't know how that happens, anthony I was waiting.

Speaker 2 26:28

I was waiting for that reference to come up. It was either gonna be dakota or rich.

Speaker 3 26:33

I love it so much how do they even know what a menu?

Speaker 1 26:36

is these aliens are well fed. I'll just put it. They go to the finest uh restaurants this side of lv426 that, yeah, that queen is well fed how did she get that big?

Colonial Marines and Bill Paxton

Speaker 1 26:51

how'd she get that belly? Don't know? Oh, it was. Let's talk about the queen. We've danced around the topic of the queen a little bit. What are crazy concepts? I love the scene where ripley has just saved newt. She's looking around. Actually, your background is that scene where Ripley is in the midst of all of those eggs and she holds all the firepower in her hands. The Queen basically tells all of her grunts to leave because, like she doesn't want Ripley to do anything stupid, ripley goes and could have just made an easy escape. You know, there was some like mutual appreciation of what her firepower was capable of. And then Ripley turns around and just like you know what, nah and just flame blasts. Everything Starts blowing chunks out of the queen to the point where the queen just rips her own abdomen off and starts chasing her up the ship.

Speaker 2 27:48

It's crazy, it's wild yeah, this, yeah, this movie is crazy. Yeah, that's why I picked. I picked that, because that scene it was funny, because, yeah, like she ripley gave like essentially like a warning shot, like you know, look, I have this. Like you know, she sprayed the flamethrower like kind of in the air and the queen kind of yeah, made like that shriek and then waved off the other like xenomorph grunts and, yeah, man, when she she just like turned around, torched it, I was like, yeah, I was thinking the same thing. I was like man, she could have probably gotten out of there, but then again, after she left, you know, the queen would have just sent them right after her. So so she was like, yeah, you know what I'm just going to take some down with me, you know.

Speaker 1 28:30

Yeah, Rich. What are your thoughts on the Queen?

Speaker 3 28:34

It's just so great because it feels like you know, this is only my second one, it's only you know, I've watched now twice for the first one and twice for the second one. You really get the feeling like, oh, it's over, right, like she did it day's over, and then it's like nope, and I just I kind of love that feeling, because it was the same when I was watching the first one. When she gets into the shuttle and I'm I'm so bad about this, I really wish I had better self-control, but I do like to compulsively like check how much time is left in something. I'm not sure if this is because Game of Thrones broke me so much, where I was like you're jibbing us of more content, but I tend, especially if we're going to review something, sometimes I think I, or if I'm going to teach something, I really want to know how much time is left, because I'm trying to figure out what story beats they could possibly do. Next, right, and, and the first one, since I didn't know anything.

Speaker 3 29:30

Sure, she gets in the shuttle and I'm like tapping the screen. I'm just like that's weird. I mean, what exactly is gonna? Oh, so I was waiting after she got nude, right, I was like that was a little too easy. I'm like something's gotta happen and I just I was so happy when I saw the queen and when she rips herself off like in half and runs, it's just insane and I was creeped out by her, although I wasn't. They remind me of like these cave dwellers in the skyrim series, these uh chitlin or something like kind of these uh underground scorpions that attack you and it was kind of very reminiscent of that. And man, I've played enough video games. Like I knew riley was gonna turn around, you gotta torch the eggs, like that's. That's like heroing 101, you know, if you see a batch of bad guy eggs, you gotta burn them. So yeah, it's not exactly the artistic level of the last one, but man, it's just a rip-roaring good time.

Speaker 1 30:31

I oh, it's a fun movie. It is. That is something james cameron is so good at, especially when it comes to, you know, like as soon as there's something to protect, oh, he protects it with his life, you know when paul riser like ends up locking the doors as he's running away, oh, I was like he better get his just desserts.

Speaker 3 30:56

And then, like he gets cornered, I'm like that's what you get. Paul riser, I thought you were a good guy who took care of a girl with another guy, but no it was crazy.

Speaker 1 31:05

He totally turned against everything that he promised. She, in the beginning of the movie, was just like all right, only if you promise that we're gonna blow these things to hell, or something along those lines I don't remember the exact phrase and he's just like you have my word. And then, like midway through the movie, the uh, bishop, the synth or the android, he goes wait a minute, but burke told me to do the exact opposite. He wants to bring us one of the specimens home and she just looks at him like you mfr uh yeah, it, definitely it.

Speaker 1 31:39

It is a really funny betrayal and it's just corporate greed. It's just literal corporate greed to to it's like, to its like late stage capitalism. This is what happens.

Speaker 3 31:50

And I don't want to pigeonhole actors, but did you like Anthony? Have you seen? I don't know about you, but anything else? I've seen this actor in Paul Reiser. He's a good guy, right. So I actually bought into his charisma and shtick. I was like he's a good guy. Am I the only one who didn't see this coming?

Speaker 1 32:09

let's look up some movies that we might have seen him in, because and it's- like it's like you know, here, here we go again.

Speaker 2 32:16

You know we got ian home all over again. Like these people want to bring this freaking creature back home, man. But it's tough because I mean but. But like, honestly, after everything that they've gone through you, you know it's like at that point I'd be like man, forget this. I don't give a dang what the company says. Like these things are insane. Like why would I bring this back?

Speaker 2 32:40

You know, but like still no, oh oh, duty is duty, duty is duty. Honestly, to tell you the truth, bro, I'm the kind of person that, like if I saw something that was like insanely like, insanely crazy, that was gonna get me killed, I don't care if I get fired, I'm gone, I'm out of there.

Speaker 1 32:55

I'm blowing these things up yeah, yeah, it's pretty crazy and I think that's just a running theme throughout all of alien it's just like dude, there's gonna be guys who they want the money. They for some they need it for this weapons program man.

Speaker 2 33:10

I mean, what's that money going to do if you're dead? And that's what happens.

Speaker 1 33:15

Anthony, you brought something up that I find really interesting. Just on a lore and almost like a theological or thematic level, you called it the company. Because they call it the company. You know everyone is owned by this company. They never say the name aloud in the movie, but we do see that. You know it's again so like they have Weyland-Yutani all over the first movie and now they have Weyland.

Speaker 1 33:45

They've added a D for some reason in this movie, Weyland-Yutani's all over the the background of that movie and they've got a new logo and everything and that's the logo. That is continued throughout the rest of the series. But they don't ever name the company wayland yutani out loud and it's it's just almost like a reverent the company capital c. You know like they're all beholden to the company. You know everything that they do is for the company or, you know, against the company and ripley's case, um, and another thing that they still don't do is in the theatrical cut. I don't believe they ever call her ellen ripley. I think she's still ripley throughout the entire movie, even the credits.

Speaker 3 34:30

Actually I looked, I I wanted to pay attention to that and the credits others have two names. She's still just ripley she's still just ripley.

Speaker 1 34:40

It's the most bizarre, like it's this one. I actually don't really understand, because in the novelization and the special edition they do call, call her Ellen a couple times, but for some reason they kept that out of the theatrical cut and maybe that's just an homage to how she's like, utilized in the first movie or you know the role that she plays, the character that she plays. Another thing that I didn't even touch in this movie is that Ellen Ripley had a daughter on Earth and that was a big plot of the special edition. She was really hurt that she missed out on the entire life of her daughter because she was in cryosleep for Wait, does her daughter die while she's in cryosleep?

Speaker 3 35:20

Just? Shortly before she wakes up. That's really bad luck.

Speaker 1 35:25

I know it's almost as if it's hitting that way.

Speaker 2 35:28

Well, maybe because Ripley just sounds cooler.

Speaker 1 35:31

Ripley does sound. I mean, yeah, Ripley's really cool, ripley.

Speaker 2 35:33

I mean like and that's exactly what she does she Ripleys them a new one, you know.

Speaker 1 35:40

Believe it or not, she Ripleys.

Speaker 3 35:43

I was waiting. I was waiting for the next pause.

Speaker 1 35:47

Sorry, I was waiting. I was waiting for the next pause. Sorry, oh my gosh. Sorry, I'm taking all the good quotes today. Guys, I'll hold back from now on. Yeah, let's talk about the Marines, because there's a lot of fun that is to be had with the Marines. I think the actor who clearly had the most fun was Bill Paxton. It's game over man. It's game over this. It's game over this guy was throwing a fit the entire movie as soon as anything happened for the next hour and a half, this guy was sweating bullets, crapping his pants. He was jumping all over the place. He was the most fun person to watch and you hate him because he's such a loser. He's all talk, no walk, basically. See, I held him up as a.

The Queen Xenomorph Revealed

Speaker 3 36:31

I was like, if I had signed up to be a Marine, sure Okay. And then that happens Uh-uh, uh-uh. I'm here to fight people, you know, space cannons, whatever this was. I mean, oh, I don't play. I love the actor.

Speaker 1 36:49

He's I know I love he's great in weird science.

Speaker 3 36:52

I love him. I think he's yeah he brings the levity to it. You know, he's like the only guy who could have, I'm sorry, the, not proximity, but the, the tracker, whatever that they had, the motion detector, you know I kind of like that he was in control, like he was in control of that.

Speaker 3 37:08

That was his role. I like, when you kind of need an analog for the audience and a little bit of safety valve, I agree, you know, and he's like the because in the first one I mean, yeah, they, you know, obviously you have the issue with mr robot over there sneaking everything on and he's kind of pulling the strings behind. But this is more of obviously a trained military unit. You know that they signed up for this. But I still feel like when there's something completely out of the ordinary, you know, like if a cop gets called to an accident and shows up and there's a dragon there, like I don't blame him if he pieces out, and it's like I'm not doing this, like I signed up to be a cop.

Speaker 1 37:48

I don't deal with dragons, that's fair. There's a line that I love by Newt where Ripley tries to comfort her and say it's okay, we have trained Marines now and she goes that's not going to make any difference. And it's true, it doesn't make any difference. They were no better off than the crew members of the Nostromo. What are your thoughts on that?

Speaker 2 38:14

I would say that, like you know they weren't, it didn't make any difference due to, like, sheer volume, but they did kill quite a few. True, they were like I would say that they were trained well. But, like, how do you train to fight against something you've never fought before? You know it's, it's different. And then you know they kill a few, and then it's like you also don't win when you kill one because, like, if you get sprayed by their juices, you start to burn.

Speaker 1 38:47

you know it's I think half of all the injuries in this movie were burns yeah, self-inflicted burns from, you know like, being too close to them when you popped one? Yeah, no, it's. It's also like we're not really sure if they kill the aliens even. You know, like we assume that headshots are headshots and that's gonna down them, but we don't actually ever see the bodies after the fact. So it's entirely possible that these are just getting back up.

Speaker 3 39:15

They're juicy man, like they just turn into juice. It's like if you shoot a watermelon, you know.

Speaker 1 39:21

That's a good point.

Speaker 2 39:24

You know, what they do is that they melt down and then they become a part of other xenomorphs and then just make them juicier.

Speaker 1 39:32

Is that what happened with the queen?

Speaker 2 39:34

Yes.

Speaker 1 39:35

I just see Anthony excitedly lean into his mic.

Speaker 3 39:38

Yes and I thought the original commander of the unit. He's just so deliciously ridiculous and caricature-like. All right, we're going to move out. No wasting time, ladies, I just love that drill sergeant-y thing and, uh, I think his second in command isn't that like john connor's dad from terminator, like they, like they just had a great cast here. Second in command yes actually you know.

Speaker 3 40:07

So I was like whoa guys, I couldn't. I couldn't figure out vasquez. I know she looked she's been like a tough chick in another movie, but I couldn't figure out which one.

Speaker 1 40:16

But the casting I thought was really good, that might be terminator as well. Wait a minute.

Speaker 3 40:20

Wait a minute, vasquez aliens oh, wait a minute, is she in terminator?

Speaker 1 40:26

she might be the mom who gets taken over, like the, with the, like the trailer park mom oh my god, don't tell me hold up, hold up, hold up the world is incredible wait, I can't find it, maybe I'm wrong. Oh no, terminator 2, judgment day. Yeah, no, you're dude. So that's that's the. That's the great thing about, uh, james cameron. He's one of of those directors that when he finds people he likes, he's going to bring them on for the next project, and that's what he did. He brought the parents of John Connor right into Aliens.

Speaker 3 40:58

It's amazing.

Speaker 1 40:59

And they play entirely different characters. Vasquez is so crazy.

Speaker 3 41:03

Insane.

Speaker 1 41:05

She's such a powerhouse for no reason. She's the juggernaut a powerhouse? For no reason. She's the juggernaut. She's literally like in the front of the line with a machine gun, basically, and she's towing the line.

Speaker 2 41:17

It's crazy I feel like the only thing that was missing was like her carrying two of them, two of the machine guns, just like mowing them down, like she does at some point.

Speaker 1 41:27

She carries the big gun and the uh, the like pulse rifle yeah, no, she's she has the motion tractor in.

Speaker 2 41:37

Oh yeah, and so it looks like she's you know double fisting weapons, but like it's crazy, yeah, dude it really is like you know when you watch this movie and it really is a classic 80s like action movie.

Speaker 2 41:50

I mean just that over the top like action. It fits so well for the time period that it came out in, you know, and it's just it. It's a fun watch. Man like you just see them, just over the top, just you know. Just saying all these lines that you would, you know, you would never really hear in a movie. Nowadays, I think the only thing that I think that's a james cameron thing.

Speaker 1 42:13

I think those corny lines are staples of james cameron because even even up to the avatar, the way of water, like that's the one thing that people like really had to gripe about was james cameron still has those corny one-liners but like that's, that's what make movies movies, man.

Speaker 2 42:30

You know, what's funny is that there's a game and I know it's just a digression, but it kind of like it fits in with this. There's a game called hell divers 2 and the characters in the game they say nothing but corny. One liners all the time, like one of one of the the lines that they'll say and it always makes me laugh because how corny it sounds but, like you know, say you're shooting down some of these, like you know aliens or like you know whatever's robots, and they'll say like how about a cup of liberty? Isn't that a james cameron like line that you would hear?

Speaker 1 43:04

yeah, yeah, yeah, oh man, yeah. So another j, another James Cameron thing that I'd be remiss to leave out is the fact that he loves putting like military types in his movies, whether it be the Abyss, the Terminator movies, avatar, definitely like fronting the, the workforce of the rda. These are company marines paid for by the company. So he loves this visual energy of a military workforce and he uses them very often and I think that's part of what makes his movies stand out as his movies. It's just part of his visual storytelling and I love that I love 80s action movies.

Speaker 3 43:51

Sometimes what I love about them is like the little thing that I told you guys earlier with the exoskeleton, right, they do tend to have those moments that do pay off. There's like a reward for you paying attention and wanting to see what's going to happen with that and they do those little kind of easter eggs. I, I just the the one-liners. I love this. Just this just was really great.

Speaker 3 44:11

I like Jim Cameron movies. I mean Terminator 2 is one of my fondest memories as a young child. I think was like I remember being amped for when that came out, like so amped. And that epic, you know rhythm is even translated to wrestling where there was a group that they used to set up this big move where they do double dives on the outside and they would like both like four. You know two guys are banging on the ring and they're just like boom, boom, boom, boom. There's something timeless, I think about those movies with those one-liners that it's entertainment, it's fun, it's not supposed to be completely real life and people don't need to sound like they do in real life. It's okay if they say corny stuff.

Power Loader Showdown and Practical Effects

Speaker 2 44:54

That's why david caruso has a career I think a lot of people have careers because well, you could, you could sum up the 80s with pretty much the 80s cinema, with movies like this, like the action movies and, uh, like john hughes movies and you know just a couple other things that like really like kind of age it, this movie. You know you could tell that it's an 80s movie just because of the feel of it, but you know, and, and that's not like you know a wise crack on it, it's just, you know it's a product of its time and it's still. It's still like it amazes me, the xenomorphs still look really good in this movie like you know, I love the practicality of it, man, the practical effects.

Speaker 2 45:41

I understand why people want more of it and I understand that it's tough because it costs more money. You know you actually have to have a physical thing and, depending on the size of it, the bigger it gets, the more it costs, right? So I understand why cgi has taken over. But just seeing the giant alien queen, yeah, and it looked really cool. Oh, did you see, like some of the scenes and I laughed when I noticed it? There was a lot of scenes where that airship was coming down. You could tell that they were running away from a screen.

Speaker 2 46:20

Yeah, you could see that there was like a screen in the background and they were running away from that screen. But I just think it's so smart man, they use what they have and also, I guess you know, because they did create like an explosion like that, but that's like you know, to keep the actors safe and whatnot. You know, you don't want to have like a explosion with your actual actors right there. I just thought it was funny when I noticed the screens.

Speaker 1 46:46

I didn't notice the screen, to be honest. I'm going to have to check that out on rewatch. But yeah, no, like you said, I love the practical effects. I think a big issue with practical is that you have to account for so much error. You know like there's you're going to have strings.

Speaker 1 47:02

You know, like I saw a couple aliens that were like being held up on strings and stuff. They were like one second shots, if that, you know, it's just like the strings are there but they do the best with what they can in a pre-CGI world. And one of my favorite shots in all of the Alien movies is when the alien comes out of the water behind Newt and it just looks so sinister, you know, and the tail comes up first. But you can tell the tail is being pulled up by a string. You know it's a gorgeous scene, it's a gorgeous shot, but you could tell, like, put your thinking cap on for a second. You can understand how this is being done on screen and I think that is a good thing. And a bad thing when it comes to practical is that, like it's harder to hide your mistakes, whereas CGI you can engineer exactly what you want.

Speaker 2 47:55

Basically, Right, right, and I think that's the big draw. I feel like nowadays, with the technology that is available, I think it would be easy. We've come a long way, especially with practical effects.

Speaker 2 48:09

I do think that we could get away like it wouldn't look corny nowadays, like we would make it look really good and we yeah yeah, and wires, because there are instances where wire and harnesses are used but there's a way that they do it to where it's edited out or they're using something that's green so that they can just make it disappear in the background or whatever. But I do believe that practical effects. I think it boils down to not so much the error but the cost, maybe back in the day, but it's hard now, like the way that you know people are professionals now mean. Not that they weren't back then, but you know, it's just we've gotten better at the craft since back in the day.

Speaker 2 48:59

And when we do see practical effects on the screen nowadays, it usually looks really good.

Speaker 1 49:05

I don't disagree Really quick. I was looking up that actress that played Vasquez. Her name is Jeananette goldstein. She's not latina, oh uh, she's not.

Speaker 2 49:18

She is jewish her man, she, she could have like fooled, like she had like that, like new york there's one line where she says a spanish word and I'm like she said that kind of weird it was.

Speaker 1 49:29

It was vamonos, yeah, but like she said it a little bit anglicized and it was, it was a weird moment for me. I was just like she looks so spanish but she said that weird. She said vamonos or something like that and yeah, now, now I understand. So she, she does have the ethnic look to her because her family is from brazil and morocco, but but yeah, she's jewish, she's not latina. I've been fooled same fool me once.

Speaker 2 49:54

Shame on you we'll give it to her with the. I mean, you said brazil, you know that's south america, you know that's that's close yeah, I mean, I know they speak. You know portuguese down there, but yeah, it's close enough, guys.

Speaker 1 50:09

Final thoughts on aliens. Unless you have something else you want to talk about, anthony yeah, man, this was.

Speaker 2 50:15

I was excited to come back to this movie because I remember it being pretty fun and that's exactly what it is. I remember it just being crazy, action-packed, like. I didn't remember every single scene, but I just remember a lot of like shooting and explosions. And that's exactly what it was a lot of shooting and explosions and, yeah, no, it was a fun time. So, yeah, I'm glad that we're doing this series because it's giving me a chance to kind of go back and watch some of these movies that I haven't seen in a long time. Like I said, I've seen two and three more than I've seen the first one. So going back to see the first one it was, it was definitely a treat. But, yeah, it's a fun movie. If you haven't seen it, go and see it. I would. I would suggest watching the first one just so that you have like the foundation and then come to this. But yeah, no, it's, it's fun. I, I enjoyed it rich throwing it over to you.

Speaker 3 51:10

You know I going to say something crazy and maybe offensive, but I almost think that you could jump into Aliens without seeing the first one and almost just kind of ride with it and be okay. I think that they give you enough of Ripley saying like hey, this is a terrible idea. You know we shouldn't do it and that's very much a kind of 80s action movie tropey thing. You know, even like predator, like yeah, I don't know, it sounds like a bad idea. You know, like so many of these movies start with like people going into that that I think that you could be okay.

Speaker 2 51:42

Obviously you're better served watching the first one, uh, but I love this one well, there is definitely be some holes for you there, like why is she being tried? You go into this movie like why is she in trouble? Why was she in crowd sleep for 50 years?

Speaker 1 51:56

you know what was that? What happened? Nightmare that she had, yeah, what is that nightmare that she has? Why is she having?

Speaker 2 52:02

yeah. So yeah you, I would say, go watch this movie. If you haven't seen the aliens movies at all, definitely go watch that first one, because if you go into the second one you might be a little confused you know why she's so reluctant to. You know, go to these creatures. You know like that. You know like you definitely want to have that foundation. You know dakota says that it is like the foundation for the entire series. But this movie is the foundation or kind of like the template for the rest yeah yeah no, I really enjoy this movie.

Final Thoughts and Alien 3 Preview

Speaker 1 52:33

It's a top five mcu movie for me. Um, I think I'm gonna side more on anthony's perspective with this one in terms of I don't think this is one where you can just listen. You can pick up and watch whatever movie you want and you can. You'll a little lost and you'll find your way and I think this is one of those movies where you will find your way. It's not the most mind-bending movie you'll ever watch. You can figure it out. But you are going to miss out on much of Ripley's arc, which I think is important, because her character from the start of the first movie to the end of this movie is an entirely different beast, and I am it's. I think ripley as a character is just such a fun person to follow because she was never meant to be an action hero but action hero was thrust upon her and you know she acquiesced uh, especially with the exoskeleton scene.

Speaker 1 53:31

Man like that like you can't say that that was an action hero-esque when she threw down on the alien queen with that thing I thought she was gonna rip it in half for a second. You know, for the exoskeleton was super cool, like I don't know why we don't have those in real life. That looked like a functional, like power lifting suit, like am, I am I wrong, it looked real yeah, yeah, no, it did look real.

Speaker 2 53:55

I think that it yeah like. Why does that not like exist? Because that definitely would help with heavy lifting with different things. Like you could, and it seemed like you could. Um, you know, like you could make it. You don't have to always use like the big pinchers as like kind of like the smaller ones. On the inside it looks practical.

Speaker 1 54:17

It looked practical.

Speaker 3 54:18

By the way I looked it up it's, if anybody is interested, you guys can like search up some images. It's called Exo Squad and that was a cartoon show with a line of toys where basically I mean I look the timing of it, I want to say, is it's got to be right after, because it's so similar, like these exoskeletons are super so wait, when did?

Speaker 1 54:42

when did exo squad come out?

Speaker 3 54:44

because this came out in 86 all right, so exo squad comes out in 1993 okay, so this is totally the like you know coded into exo squad interesting I don't think I've, maybe I have. The toys are particularly of interest to anybody interested. They are just so sweet. You have a figure that goes inside the suit, obviously, and then everyone has a different kind of suit, different color, different functions, beautiful. You know great stuff for your dog to chew up when you shoot on the floor perfect.

Speaker 1 55:18

That's exactly what I need is plastic chunks that I can cut into my foot when I walk out of the room guys throw some legos down it'll be cheaper. I know right, she'll probably chew that too. Guys, thank you so much for listening to us here for our 132nd episode. Next week we got another fun show Alien 3. They're finally doing a proper titling structure for this series Alien 3. But it's actually stylized it's Alien to the Third Power. I don't even know how to type that, so let's just call it Alien 3.

Speaker 2 55:55

They should have put the 3 where the E is. Oh, Alien 3N.

Speaker 1 56:02

Yeah, that would have been really really smart, but anyway, we're covering Alien 3.

Speaker 1 56:07

We're going to see what becomes of the remnants of the Sulaco. We have Ripley, we have Newt, we have Corporal Hicks and who else? We got half of Bishop that's who survived on this week's Project Ecology, and I'm sure they have a lot of adventures. All four of them come next week. Guys, if you want to check out any more of our socials or find out anything else that we're cooking up, please be sure to click into the show notes down below to figure out what we're doing there. Go, follow us on all of our socials and, again, please be sure to give us a five-star review. Make it crunchy, make it juicy. Whatever you got to do, just get it done. And yeah,