There is no denying the significant place the first two Aliens films has in the history of Science Fiction. They were two very different films that were completely amazing for two different sets of reasons (personally I liked the second one the best). But after the first 2 movies, the franchise sort of begun to get bastardized a bit. In the first film, the Aliens were grim objects of horror… something straight out of a nightmare. But in the most recent incarnations, like the AVP series, the Aliens have become almost like bad keystone cop cartoon characters. Kinda like how Ninjas lost their mystique of mystery and dread somewhere around the mid nineties and just became standard canon fodder for the good guys to fight. Glorified and dispensable henchmen really.
But has it gotten so bad that we could be looking at an Aliens movie without any Aliens? Sort of.
In a recent interview with MTV, Aliens star Sigourney Weaver dropped a hint that they could be looking at doing another Ripley movie, but without any Aliens in it. How strange would that be?
“We’d have to go back to the drawing board on [the alien],” she said. “Ridley said that right away when we first talked about [a fifth film].” And finally, the quote that’s gotten me mighty curious, “What we’re interested in is taking the character of Ripley and seeing what other science fiction story we can tell about someone who has lived several lives.”
Really? On the surface it sounds like a horrible idea to me. But after thinking about it a few minutes, I conceed that it MIGHT have some potential. After all… Ripley is a pretty cool character in and of herself, so maybe there could be a story there to tell. But could a Ripley movie apart from any “Aliens” have any appeal? Would you want to see it?
I think this movie is a dumb idea come on a aliens movie with no aliens that will only bastardiz the aliens franchise more
Why not ditch Ripley, create a new and even more intriguing character and tell a new Sci-Fi story? There are thousands of talented film folk out there just waiting for the chance at a potentially big project – work the farm, work it.
well to be fair… the movie was never called Xenomorph… it was called Alien… therefore if a good enough design is put on the table for a new alien… im all for it….Lord knows the aliens have been dragged over the coals enough times….ask giger for a new design… through in Ripley, add in Sigourney and Scott and I’m sold…..
it makes the story better when the aliens origins are kept a mystery
I’d prefer if the series stopped, Alien is a great trilogy that continues to be raped by terrible additions. The AVP format is geared towards Predator fans and mindless teenagers. Yes I’m basically saying predator fans have the same tastes as mindless teenagers.
The worst thing another alien film could do (besides existing) would be to try to explain the origins of the alien, do some sort of backstory on the spacejockey. The beauty of the alien series is the mystery behind them.
No
As long as Ridley Scott and Sigourney are down so be it.
However, I’d rather them do something original. Or maybe they could remake Outland with Ripley as the O’Neill character (Connery) this time…
ya ripley is through….they pretty much took all the hard work dark horse did and screwed it all up with the latter ….there are so many great stories in the series that literally u could pick just about anyones story and make it happen with out ripley….personally fanboys like me are in agreement with phill gee….and the space jockey concept is great but the fact is they are pretty much a dead race do to infection and that earth would need to be in it….think blade runner with aliens 2
Phil Gee said:
“there are only two things that people want to see from an Alien 5:
1. Aliens on Earth
2. The Alien Planet
Either way, ALIENS are required i’m afraid.”
To that I must say, DAMN RIGHT!
Most Alien fans (that is fans of the universe not just movie critics that liked the first two movies) really wanted to see Aliens on Earth in Alien 3. It was hinted at in the original Press as well. But alas, dissapointment ensued when it was yet anohter small band of people chased in coridoors, with no weapons and then they killed Ripley.
Yeah, dissapointment is a soft word for it.
There is so much rich story telling to do that fans would like to see:
1) As mentioned, Alien homeworld
2) What role do the Predators have in the Alien/Aliens timeframe?
Have we gone to war with the Predators? Do we know of their existence?
3) Why are the Colonial Marines there? Did they have to put down colonial civil unrest? Did they actually fight another alien race? How about some of thier stories of “bug hunts”?
4) What is the origin of the “Space Jockey”?
5) More on the corporation and how it interferes with government and people’s lives.
6) Why does the government want Aliens so bad? I mean really, if they have all this technology, who cares about Acid for blood unless they want to use it as a covert way to wipe out a colony or perhaps an enemy/other alien race?
What fans don’t want are:
1) more Aliens in our timeframe movies.
2) More cloned Ripley stories
3) More coridoor chase movies
Frankly I wouldn’t mind seeing an Alien movie (Alien/Aliens timeframe) with Colonial Marines going up against Predators and throw in some Aliens for good measure. In fact just like the video games.
And for me, Ripley has done her part. I don’t need a 60 year old Ripley to make me watch an Aliens movie.
@Darren J Seeley
I’m aware that in Aliens the word “Xenomorph” exists.
It is uttered by Lt. Gorman during his attempt to come off as a strong character and leader. He came up with the word, in actuality the term “xenomorph” is far more vague than the word “alien” and simply because an idiot like Gorman chooses to throw some random word towards his solders does not mean it is the chosen word for the creatures.
In the film “Aliens”, Andys, the aliens are called Xenomorphs.
Which, in my view of this (which will never happen, more on that in a sec) could be “no aliens”:
* Ripley herself is the alien. She is, after all, half alien now.
* the aliens themselves are mutations of the SpaceJockey, a small error on AvP’s part. Hence…let’s not bring in “aliens” but NEW “aliens” which could be slightly related to the ‘alien’ we know.
* Yeah, Ron Pearlman’s character survived. So did Ryder’s Call. Be careful in your wishes, Omguy. Just sayin’…
Alien homeworld? No!
Aliens on Earth? No!
And yet take a -close- look at my last two blurbs. That’s why “Alien 5” with or without aliens or Ripley, or Call, or Joyner, will never never ever happen. In AVP2 we got a glimpse of the Predator homeworld; in the last two AvP films we had aliens on earth- set in our century (and a backstory of centuries past, no less)
I’s damned if you do and damned if you don’t here: we could have said as a collective, we want more “Alien” pictures. But Fox, and Tom Rothman specifically (and anyone is free to rebut me), greenlights the AvP films. If we support the films, are we supporting the AvP films, not a solo ‘Alien’ or ‘Predator’ film. But if we don’t they (Fox) won’t make another solo film with either sci-fi monster.
So will Fox listen if Ridley wants to do Alien 5? Weaver? Anyone?
Did they listen to Mister Scott the last time-with Cameron no less?
Still waiting for that movie?
@ Formless
You’re seriously going to use a site like Wikipedia to back your argument? That link like a lot of the pages on Wikipedia based on media is nothing more than fan interpretation and not correct.
@Andys: You sure about that?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenomorph_(Alien)
@Karmicmonk
btw they’re not called Xenomorphs
:)
For all of you responding about how great it would be if Alien5 took place on earth or showed the alien homeworld you clearly are not true Alien fans and should stick to the AVP format since people like you are the reason it continues.
This film could float like a fat man in the dead sea. There’s backstory aplenty, puck Xenomorphs, we’ve seen enough of them, how about a corporate owned spacefaring people’s raping the galaxy for resources, and the consequences that ensue. Not to mention Ripley’s early career (and daughter/husband) and adventures that gave her the moxy and intelligence to be the only survivor of the Nostromo from the first film.
Scott does sci-fi, this will rock.
I want Ron Perlman to be in the fifth film since his character Johner survived the last film, too. That would be sweet.
who cares.
Predator 3 now, right now, please.
uhhh HELL NO!!
the movie is called “Alien!” not “ripley!”
its like making a porno w/o the sex
It’s like making a Pirate movie without Pirates. It CAN’T be done
Yeah, I like the third one. It’s the fourth film I can’t stand.
For what it’s worth, it’s probably a better idea than that Nightmare on Elm street prequel I heard some talk about a while ago. That’s not saying too much though. My main problem with this is that I’m not certain Ripley is capable of carrying an interesting story without her nemesis, or nemesis spechies as the case may be, in the picture. Also, I think Alien 3 did do occasional things right, for example, it did its best to put a definite and worthy end to a series that had gone on just about long enough. Of course, like in the American Pie films, the franchise doesn’t wanna die quite so easily.
Reminds me of Riddick, I remember before the film came out David Twohy said he wanted to take the film in another direction after Pitch Black. He wanted to give it an epic feel….Well some things ya’ just shouldn’t screw with. Honestly, the character will need to be in the “Alien Universe” otherwise we will have another Riddick that just strayed too far from the source. So, we have a corrupt government or company to base the story on hum, I don’t know, Bring back Scott or let it die.
if it gets riddley scott back in sci-fi/horror, i say go 4 it.
and i like #3 a ton.
nasty nasty idea at best!!
Alien 3 is actually my personal favorite of the series, David. It’s the only one that really scared me when I was a kid, and that ending where Ripley kills herself, and the music playing during that scene, is nothing short of fantastic.
Am I the only one that enjoyed 3? Don’t get me wrong I love 1 and 2 but I thought was a great and different perspective to the franchise.
Ridley Scott has a good idea. I liked his old idea of visiting the ALien home world and seeing the other aliens beside the warlike ones we have seen so far.
I would never underestimate Ridley Scott. However, and correct me if i’m wrong, but there are only two things that people want to see from an Alien 5:
1. Aliens on Earth
2. The Alien Planet
Either way, ALIENS are required i’m afraid.
It could work. They could simply call it ‘Ripley’.
I would see it for sure. a) Sigourney Weaver is hot…always has been and probably always will be. b) any movie that has her really flex her acting muscles (like Death And The Maiden) would be good to see and I think exploring the character of Ripley has the potential to offer that.
I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for more info on this. Thanks for the heads up John.
An interesting idea and more tales of Ripley could be a good watch as we’ve already spent 4 movies with this character i’d personnally like to see more of her story, it would definatly need to be called something other than Alien 5 though.
I think the one thing most fans of this fanchise can agree on is that we want more Marines V Aliens :)
Intresting concept, I would be game for it. It would be tough to find a good story for her other than the ol “lets tell about her backstory” type of film. I be more intrested to see her life after Alien 4. How she has to travel in space to escape the powers that be from trying to make her into a weapon. It sounds boring but its a logical step in the franchise.
That’s a big MIGHT when it comes to potential. There can always be a side-effect to all the stuff done to Ripley over the franchise which could carry a film, but the aliens are always half the fun. That’s like a Rocky movie without boxing, or a James Bond movie where Bond sits at home and has to deal with an angry ex-wife and landlord (actually, I’d watch that one.)
I’ll wait and see where they’re going with this.
It would have to be the superhuman Ripey clone with acid blood though. Could kind of work maybe, but I think its a bad idea.
come on john you of all people should know this is a bad idea