Alien @ MindSay

I showed a relatively new friend of mine a story I had written - one which was very strongly based off of a real experience I had when I was younger, and the character in the story was also based off of myself, or at least who I was at the time, which, admittedly, is different to who I am now. This friend, however, did not know that the story was based off of my own experience.

His response?

"The character seems so... alien."

I'm not quite sure what to make of that. I know I am a little odd, but I've always assumed that my emotions and thought processes were in the realm of normal human experience.

This isn't the first time, however, when I've wondered if there was something different about me. I once was told that "God made you different", and she didn't mean the type of different in that every single person is a unique individual, she meant the type of different that I'm different to other people in a way that other people are not different to each other. At least, that's the impression I got at the time.

But am I really that strange? I've often felt like I was different to others, but I've always assumed that the feeling of being different was a common human experience, too, considering how many people have said that they felt different from everyone else.

Alright, I have to invest some trust into you people whom I do not know. I am not the type of person to make things up, believe in conspiracy or to believe in extra terestrials. BUT, the other day when I was at home in bed sick as a dog, I was looking out the window at my neighbors roof and the blinds were down, so I was looking through the slats...(mind you, laying in bed the whole time). I saw what looked like an antenna or satelite rod ( metal pole type thing) maybe turned over on it's side... I dunno. I thought to myself I did not know they had one of those, whatever that maybe. I studied it for a moment, I looked at it carefully, well, as carefully as I could from the position I was in. The thing seemed to grow before my eyes. It actually lengthened as I was looking at it. It extended beyond my windows frame. I was tired and I thought ohh well and rolled over. After a minute or so curiousity killed me and I got out of bed to look at it more closely and saw that it was gone.

I was seriously shocked! I am telling you that I do not want to make an assumption of what it was or what it could have been, all I am telling you is that is was never there before and suddenly it appeared, then as fast as it came it was GONE!!

I do not know what to think about it, because my beliefs do not readily explain this type of thing, but it really really freaky!!!

 

 

He was told by a high-ranking government official that in 1977 President Carter order the then-director of the CIA George H. Bush to release all the information related to UFOs and extraterrestrial intelligences and the request was denied. Sheehan tried the same with the Vatican and was denied.


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   I know it's after Halloween, but here is a scary story that just has to be told. The names have not been changed because nobody is innocent.

   A few weeks ago I reported that My nephew and his wife are expecting a baby. Well, a few days ago they showed us the first ultrasound pictures. I was very excited at first.................until I saw the pictures. I am not joking. This is what the ultrasound looked like.

   I jumped up and began running around the room yelling, "It's an alien. It's an alien." I was told to calm down. It was not an alien, but I persisted. I grabbed my niece, Jennifer, and began questioning her about when she was abducted, did she remember any details, and what did the aliens look like? "Calm down Uncle Eddie", she said. "This is what all babies look like when they are that little." Eventually they got me to calm down but I wasn't convinced.

    They soon said; "Hey, let's discuss some baby names". I think they were trying to humor me because they asked; "What would you suggest for a name Uncle Eddie"? "How about Galaxor"? I replied. I think it was at that point that David pulled out a ray gun and shot me. I woke up here at the computer.

   OK maybe I didn't tell the story exactly the way it happened, or, what with all of the excitement, maybe it was a dream, but this is my story and I'm sticking to it.

  Alien Sextet

 

Alien (1979 – A1) Ridley Scott

Story: Circa 2097 AD - The space tug Nostromo is returning to earth with 20-million tons of mineral ore, and a human crew of seven.  The crew is awakened from their hypersleep hibernation by "Mother" – the spaceship’s central computer, notifying them that a distress signal is being sent into outer space from nearby planet Acheron.   On the planet, some members of the crew spots a giant derelict spacecraft, and, once inside, discover hundreds of strange looking eggs.   One crewmember, Kane, is attacked by a crablike alien creature (commonly referred to by Alien fans as a “facehugger”) that attaches itself to his face.   

 

Much to Lt. Ripley’s disapproval, Kane is brought onboard the ship.  In the lab, the crew discovers that part of the creature is lodged inside Kane’s throat, and that any attempt at removing it will kill him.    Also, when one of the men try to cut the alien organism, it bleeds acid, which burns through several decks of the ship.   Shortly thereafter, a wormlike Alien larva bursts out through Kane’s chest (killing him in the process) and escapes into the bowels of the ship, thereafter further molting, and getting bigger.  Eventually the creature grows more than seven-feet-tall.   The rest of the crew  prepare to abandon ship in the shuttlecraft Narcissus, but the creature quickly kills them, until only Ripley and the ship’s cat “Jones” are left alive. 

 

Having previously programmed the ship's self-destruct sequence, Ripley succesfully launches the shuttle, and the giant tug blows up behind her.  She prepares for hypersleep, but is horrified to discover that the Alien is now a stowaway and had previously hidden itself from sight.   Mustering enough courage, she dons a spacesuit, and straps herself securely into the pilot’s seat.   The Alien is forced out of its hiding place, and slowly advances on her.  Just  then, Ripley depressurizes the cockpit, sending the Alien flying out into the lifeless vacuum of outer space. 

 

Aliens (1986 – A2) James Cameron

Story: Circa 2154 AD - Sometime after the Weyland-Yutani Corporation recovers their Narcissus and its slumbering occupants, Lt. Ellen Ripley must now undergo a legal trial for having blown up the Nostromo, and its precious cargo.  Nobody believes her seemingly preposterous story.   During trial we discover that a human colony has long been established on the planet – now known as Planet LV426 – that Ripley said was infested with Alien eggs.   After the colony mysteriously stops sending transmissions to earth, Ripley is ostensibly pardoned of her crimes, and called back to active duty.  The Corporation sends a band of Marines to the planet to investigate, with Ripley accompanying the troops as advisor.   The USS Sulaco now begins its long journey to the planet.   When they arrive on LV426, tragedy greets the troops...  Apparently, there are no humans left on that planet.   Worse still, the search party stumble into a nest of Alien eggs and a swarm of adult Alien "warriors."   The Aliens use and exterminate most of the troops as host for more Alien progeny.    Ripley, in saving the planet’s erstwhile sole human survivor (a little girl nicknamed “Newt”), stumbles into the giant Queen Alien's birthing lair; the Queen, Ripley discovers, is in the process of laying even more eggs.   Eventually, Ripley dispatches the Queen in much the same manner she got rid of the solitary drone in A1—death by depressurization.   Ripley, Cpl. Dwayne Hicks, Newt and Bishop are sole survivors.  The story ends with their hypersleep journey back to earth.

 

Alien³ (1992 – A3) David Fincher

Story: During their trip back to earth, Hicks, Newt, and Bishop die in the Sulaco shuttle’s crash landing on a penal colony planet - here called 'Fiorina "Fury" 161.'   Ripley is sole survivor.   Fiorina's prisoners are all male, worshipping God with a vow of celibacy.  Their heads are shaved bald because the planet is infested with lice, and soon Ellen too is shorn of locks to prevent infestation.  It turns out that Ellen was infected by a facehugger enroute to earth, and is now carrying a gestating Alien  lifeform, as is one inmate's mascot; a Rottweiler that quickly ‘gives birth’ to an Alien/canine hybrid.  This quadrupedal Alien breed proceeds to kill all the humans in the facility, except Ripley and the inmate that helps her kill the Alien by luring it into a pit of molten lead.   When a Weyland-Yutani rescue team finally arrives to save them, Ripley discovers a conspiracy -- the team is actually there to take back the Alien specimen  (still gestating inside Ripley's body) to earth for further study in the name of biological warfare.   But Ripley will have nothing to do with their nefarious plot, and instead suicides by diving into the pool of fiery metal, taking her Alien ‘child’ with her.

Alien Resurrection (1997 – A4) Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Story: 200-years after events in A3 - The Auriga (a large medical research vessel travelling through outer space) has hired a rogue team of human body snatchers so that the scientists can breed more Aliens for warfare purposes.  The team commandeers their own smaller pirate vessel The Betty.   Among the variety of creatures created in the lab are an Alien-human hybrid cloned from cells taken from Ripley's bloodspill in A3.  

 

Once the incubating Ripley clone quickly reaches adult age (an impressive time-lapse shot using morphing digital-FX that take only seconds onscreen), the Alien Queen incubating inside her is surgically extracted and kept alive by the scientists.   Likewise, the Queen quickly grows to adult size and begins laying eggs.   Soon, about a dozen Alien drones infect the sedated human cargo, then escape from their containment pods to kill off most of the Auriga and Betty crewmembers. 

 

Ripley, of course, along with some Betty survivors, escape in the smaller ship and make it back to earth safely... but not before Ripley vanquishes another Alien-human hybrid - in this case, a newborn specimen that is more Alien than human in size and appearance. 

 

Alien vs Predator (2004 – A5)

Paul W. S. Anderson 

Story: October 10, 2004 - On planet earth, a subglacial pyramid is detected buried miles beneath Antarctica.   A Weyland Corporation search team is sent to investigate, but soon the human explorers discover themselves caught in a war between Alien and Predator species that use each other and humans as quarry in their hunting games.  The story ends with a promise of a sequel involving an Alien/Predator hybrid. 

 

So far, this is the first Alien movie that does not feature the Ripley character nor actress Sigourney Weaver.   Actor Lance Henriksen, however, appears here as Charles Bishop Weyland, the founder of the robotics Company that, years later, merged with John Yutani's Company and became corrupt.   During pre-prodution, actors Peter Weller and Gary Busey were considered for the character of John Yutani, the fictional Company's other half.

 

Note: None of the previous two Predator films are reviewed here.

 

Alien vs Predator: Survival of the Fittest

(Scheduled Release - December 21, 2007 – A6)

Alien and Predator species are loose in Midwestern United States.  

A6  is the upcoming sequel to  A5.   Filming begins September 23, 2006 in Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada).   Tom Woodruff Jr. and Alec Gillis from Amalgamated Dynamics will handle special effects, as they did for A5, and Daniel Pearl will be director of photography.   The script is written by Shane Salerno.     

 

 

Recurring 'Alien' Themes & Props

1. Facehugger and Chestbursters (an Alien, in its larval stage, that bursts out of a human host's chest) is featured at least once in every Alien movie - up until A5.  In A2, two facehuggers try to 'impregnate' Ripley and Newt.

2.  Reigning Queens - From A1 to A5, the lead female character eventually spars  against and manages to defeat a formidable alpha Alien species - two of these being Queens (the lead female in A5 helps a Predator drown the Queen in icy water).  In toto, there have been three separate Queens featured in A1 through A5.

3.  Androids - Ash is the villainous android in A1.  Friendly android Bishop surfaces in A2, Bishop II shows up in A3, and the original human template Charles Bishop Weyland is introduced in A5.

4.  Martyrdom - Initially Ripley devotes herself entirely to the Corporation, even follows their rules to the letter.  Often, she sacrifices her own personal interests in the name of humanity and mankind's better welfare.  In A3 she performs the act of ultimate sacrifice through immolation. 

 

Note: This blog entry is a work in progress.  Check back periodically for revisions and additions.