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Alien (franchise)
Encyclopedia
The Alien film series is a science fiction
horror
film franchise
, focusing on Lieutenant Ellen Ripley
(played by Sigourney Weaver
) and her battle with an extraterrestrial life
form, commonly referred to as "the Alien". Produced by 20th Century Fox
, the series started with the 1979 film Alien
, which led to three movie sequel
s, as well as numerous books, comics
and video game spinoffs
.
Related to the franchise are the "Alien vs. Predator" films (Alien vs. Predator
and Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem), based on the related franchise
which combine the Aliens with the Predators
from the Predator film series
.
After completion of the film Dark Star
(1974), executive Dan O'Bannon
thought to develop some of the ideas (especially the theme of "alien hunts crew through a spaceship") and create a science-fiction horror film. It was provisionally called Memory. Screenwriter Ronald Shusett
collaborated with O'Bannon on the project, adding elements from a previous O'Bannon script, Gremlins, which featured gremlin
s causing mayhem aboard a World War II
bomber
and wreaking havoc with the crew. The duo finished the script, initially entitled Star Beast, and O'Bannon noticed the number of times the word "alien" occurred in the script, and so he adopted Alien for the film's title. The writers imagined a low-budget film, but Star Wars
success inclined Fox to invest millions on the production.
In the original script the ship has an all-male crew (though the script's 'Cast of Characters' section explicitly states that "The crew is unisex
and all parts are interchangeable for men or women"), including the Ripley character, who would be played by actor Tom Skerritt
. Later, when producer Alan Ladd, Jr.
, and script-doctor
s Walter Hill and David Giler heard rumors of Fox working on other titles with strong female leads, Sigourney Weaver
was cast as Ripley and Skerritt became Captain Dallas.
Swiss painter and sculptor H. R. Giger
designed the alien creature's adult form and the derelict ship, while Moebius
created visuals for the spacesuits and Ron Cobb
provided most of the on-set design.
, the only survivor of the Nostromo, awakens from hypersleep
57 years later, aboard a new space station. She discovers that the planetoid from the first movie (now known as LV-426) is home to a terraforming colony. When contact with the colony is lost, Ripley accompanies a squad of marines there aboard the Sulaco.
The first film of the series, directed by Ridley Scott
, was successful, but Fox did not consider a sequel until 1983, when James Cameron
expressed his interest to producer David Giler in continuing the Alien story. After Cameron's The Terminator
became a box office hit, Cameron and partner Gale Anne Hurd were given approval to direct and produce the sequel to Alien, scheduled for a 1986 release. Cameron wrote the screenplay from a story he developed with Giler and Walter Hill.
Following the second movie, Aliens
, Weaver was not interested in returning to the series and so producers David Giler and Walter Hill commissioned a third Alien film without the Ripley character. The premise was to return Ripley in a fourth installment, but Fox's president Joe Roth
did not agree with Ripley's removal and Weaver was approached to make Alien 3. Released in 1992, the film was troubled from the start of production; without even a finished script and having already spent a million before then, pop music video director David Fincher
; the third director considered for the film, was hired to helm the project. After production was completed, the studio reworked the film without Fincher's involvement or consent. Giler, Hill and Larry Ferguson wrote the screenplay, based on a story from an earlier script by Vincent Ward
.
While fans and critics did not receive Alien 3 well, the film still made millions worldwide at the box office and piqued Fox's interest in continuing the franchise. In 1996, production on the fourth Alien film, Alien Resurrection, began. Ripley was not in the script's first draft, and Weaver was not interested in reprising the role, though later joined the project after being given a reported million dollar salary and more creative control (including being able to approve director Jean-Pierre Jeunet
). The film, released in 1997, experienced an extended production and was described by screenwriter Joss Whedon
as having done "everything wrong" with his script.
. The film was originally intended as a direct prequel to the 1979 science fiction horror film Alien
, set approximately 30 years before the events depicted in the film. Instead, a revised version of the new film will now explore a more stand-alone mythology based upon the race of giant beings discovered by the crew of the Nostromo in Alien
. Filming began in March 2011, and Prometheus is scheduled to be released on , 2012.
Alien vs. Predator
, James Cameron had been collaborating on the plot for a fifth Alien film with another writer. However, upon learning of Fox's plans for a crossover, he ceased work on his concept. Before he saw the film, Cameron had felt that it would "kill the validity of the franchise", and that "it was Frankenstein Meets Werewolf
" – like "Universal
just taking their assets and starting to play them off against each other". Although he liked Alien vs. Predator, Cameron ruled out any future involvement with the series. In a 2002 interview, Ridley Scott stated that a new Alien project "would be a lot of fun", but that "the most important thing [was] to get the story right". Scott's concept for the plot was "to go back to where the alien creatures were first found and explain how they were created". In late 2008, Weaver hinted in an interview with MTV that she and Scott were working on an Alien spinoff film, which would focus on the chronicles of Ellen Ripley rather than on the Aliens.
IGN
listed Alien as the thirteenth best film franchise of all time. Alien was nominated for two Academy Awards, winning for Best Visual Effects. Aliens received seven nominations, including a Best Actress nomination for Sigourney Weaver
, and won for Best Visual Effects and Best Sound Effects. Alien 3 was nominated for Best Visual Effects. Alien was also inducted into the National Film Registry
of the Library of Congress
for historical preservation as a film which is "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". The American Film Institute
ranked Alien as the sixth most thrilling American movie
and seventh-best film in the science fiction genre
, and in the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains
list, Ripley was ranked eighth among the heroes, and the Alien was fourteenth among the villains.
, VHS
, Laserdisc
, and DVD
, though so far the Blu-ray format has only seen a boxed set of the complete series which houses all the various versions of each film (a total of eight, see Alien Anthology below). The multiple single releases on VHS were generally the original theatrical cuts of each film, though at the very end of the format there was a sole release of the Aliens: Special Edition (see below).
Laserdisc
saw single releases of all of the films in theatrical versions, as well as two so-called "box sets" which only contained one film (there were two single releases, one each for Alien and Aliens) but had multiple discs and a large amount of supplemental material with a high retail price tag (around $100USD). The Aliens set included a new "Special Edition" cut of the film completed by James Cameron
just for this release, which was a significantly extended version of the film.
On DVD
initially the films were only available as a boxed set (see Alien Legacy below) but were then released separately (and it should be noted that Aliens was only available in its "Special Edition" cut, not its original theatrical cut which did not make it to DVD until the next boxed set). The same pattern was followed when the two-disc special editions of the films came out after the Alien Quadrilogy set (see below), as each film got individual two-disc releases which contained the content of each film from that set. Since then, there have been multiple issues and reissues of the films, in both their theatrical or extended version, though some single releases include both.
In addition to the single releases, there have been seven complete box sets of the series at various points in its history. With the exception of the DVD version of the Aliens Triple Pack, each release contained all of the films that had come out at the time the sets were released. The seven box sets each had unique characteristics and features which were then sometimes reused in later sets or single releases in one form or another, most notably the Blu-ray set which includes a detailed archive of many previous releases, including the rare Laserdisc box sets.
s in other media including a large number of crossovers
within the Alien fictional universe
. These include:
s based on the various films (including Alan Dean Foster
's) there are a number of novel series.
, a game heavily based on Pac-Man
. A strategy game
based on the first movie was released in 1984.
Aliens was adapted into four different video games, a shoot 'em up
arcade
by Konami
, a collection of minigames by Activision
, a first-person shooter
by Software Studios, and a MSX
platformer
by Square
.
Acclaim
released three different games based on Alien 3, two different run and gun platformers (one for various platforms in 1992, another for the SNES
a year later) and a Game Boy
adventure game
in 1993. Sega
also released a light gun
arcade, Alien 3: The Gun in 1993.
The last game based on an Alien film was 2000's Alien Resurrection, a PlayStation
first-person shooter
.
Other Alien games include Mindscape's adventure game
Aliens: A Comic Book Adventure (1995), Acclaim's first-person shooter Alien Trilogy
(1996), the FPS Aliens Online (1998), the Game Boy Color
action game Aliens: Thanatos Encounter (2001), and the mobile phone game Aliens: Unleashed (2003). The latest game released was the arcade game Aliens: Extermination, in 2006.
In 1994, Atari Corporation
released the Rebellion
-developed first-person shooter
Alien vs Predator for the Atari Jaguar
, in which one could play as a Marine, Predator or Alien. Rebellion then went on to develop the similarly themed Aliens versus Predator for PC. This was followed by, among others, Aliens versus Predator 2
and the expansion pack Aliens versus Predator 2: Primal Hunt.
In December 2006, Sega
struck a deal with Fox Licensing to release two games based on the Alien franchise on the PC, Xbox 360, and PS3. Only one of the initial deal will be released, a first-person shooter by Gearbox Software
, Aliens: Colonial Marines
. Its expected release date is Spring 2012. In the meantime, Sega released Aliens vs. Predator
, a first-person shooter also made by Rebellion, and announced Aliens: Infestation, a Nintendo DS
game which was released in October 2011.
author Isaac Asimov
's Three Laws of Robotics
and as a model of a compliant, potentially self-aware
machine. The portrayal of androids in the Alien series — Ash in Alien, Bishop in Aliens and Alien 3, and Call (Winona Ryder
) in Alien Resurrection (1997) — has been studied for its implications relating to how humans deal with the presence of an "Other
", as Ripley treats them with fear and suspicion, and a form of "hi-tech racism and android apartheid" is present throughout the series. This is seen as part of a larger trend of technophobia
in films prior to the 1990s, with Bishop's role being particularly significant as he redeems himself at the end of Aliens, thus confounding Ripley's expectations.
Science fiction film
Science fiction film is a film genre that uses science fiction: speculative, science-based depictions of phenomena that are not necessarily accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial life forms, alien worlds, extrasensory perception, and time travel, often along with futuristic...
horror
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
film franchise
Media franchise
A media franchise is an intellectual property involving the characters, setting and trademarks of an original work of media , such as a film, a work of literature, a television program or a video game. Generally, a whole series is made in a particular medium, along with merchandising and endorsements...
, focusing on Lieutenant Ellen Ripley
Ellen Ripley
Ellen Ripley is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the Alien film series played by American actress Sigourney Weaver. The character was heralded as a seminal role for challenging gender roles, particularly in the science fiction genre, and remains Weaver's most famous role to...
(played by Sigourney Weaver
Sigourney Weaver
Sigourney Weaver is an American actress. She is best known for her critically acclaimed role of Ellen Ripley in the four Alien films: Alien, Aliens, Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection, for which she has received worldwide recognition .Other notable roles include Dana...
) and her battle with an extraterrestrial life
Extraterrestrial life
Extraterrestrial life is defined as life that does not originate from Earth...
form, commonly referred to as "the Alien". Produced by 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
, the series started with the 1979 film Alien
Alien (film)
Alien is a 1979 science fiction horror film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm and Yaphet Kotto. The film's title refers to its primary antagonist: a highly aggressive extraterrestrial creature which...
, which led to three movie sequel
Sequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...
s, as well as numerous books, comics
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
and video game spinoffs
Spin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
.
Related to the franchise are the "Alien vs. Predator" films (Alien vs. Predator
Alien vs. Predator (film)
Alien vs. Predator is a 2004 American science fiction film directed by Paul W. S. Anderson for 20th Century Fox and starring Sanaa Lathan and Lance Henriksen. The film adapts the Alien vs. Predator crossover imprint bringing together the eponymous creatures of the Alien and Predator series, a...
and Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem), based on the related franchise
Alien vs. Predator
Aliens vs. Predator, also known as Alien vs. Predator and Aliens versus Predator , is a science fiction-horror fiction series spanning several media. The series is a crossover between two film franchises about extraterrestrial beings: the Aliens and the Predators...
which combine the Aliens with the Predators
Predator (alien)
The Predator is a fictional extraterrestrial species featured in the Predator science-fiction franchise, characterised by its trophy hunting of other dangerous species for sport, including humans and its fictional counterparts, Aliens....
from the Predator film series
Predator (franchise)
The Predator film series is a science fiction horror film franchise. Produced by 20th Century Fox, the series started in 1987 with the film Predator, which led to two sequels and novel, comic book and video game spin-offs....
.
Alien (1979)
The spaceship Nostromo visits a desolate planetoid after receiving an unknown signal from a derelict alien spacecraft. While exploring the ship, one of the Nostromos crewmen discovers an egg-like object, which releases a creature that attaches itself to his face and renders him unconscious. Some time later, the parasite dies and the crewman wakes up, seemingly fine. However, an alien creature later bursts out of his chest and, after rapidly growing into an eight-foot creature, starts killing other members of the crew.After completion of the film Dark Star
Dark Star (film)
Dark Star is a 1974 American comedic science fiction motion picture directed by John Carpenter and co-written with Dan O'Bannon.-Backstory and plot:...
(1974), executive Dan O'Bannon
Dan O'Bannon
Daniel Thomas "Dan" O'Bannon was an American motion picture screenwriter, director and occasional actor, usually in the science fiction and horror genres.-Early life and career:...
thought to develop some of the ideas (especially the theme of "alien hunts crew through a spaceship") and create a science-fiction horror film. It was provisionally called Memory. Screenwriter Ronald Shusett
Ronald Shusett
Ronald Shusett is a motion picture screenwriter and producer, usually in the science fiction genre.He wrote the original story for Alien with Dan O'Bannon....
collaborated with O'Bannon on the project, adding elements from a previous O'Bannon script, Gremlins, which featured gremlin
Gremlin
A gremlin is an imaginary creature commonly depicted as mischievous and mechanically oriented, with a specific interest in aircraft. Gremlins' mischievous natures are similar to those of English folkloric imps, while their inclination to damage or dismantle machinery is more...
s causing mayhem aboard a World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
bomber
Bomber
A bomber is a military aircraft designed to attack ground and sea targets, by dropping bombs on them, or – in recent years – by launching cruise missiles at them.-Classifications of bombers:...
and wreaking havoc with the crew. The duo finished the script, initially entitled Star Beast, and O'Bannon noticed the number of times the word "alien" occurred in the script, and so he adopted Alien for the film's title. The writers imagined a low-budget film, but Star Wars
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, originally released as Star Wars, is a 1977 American epic space opera film, written and directed by George Lucas. It is the first of six films released in the Star Wars saga: two subsequent films complete the original trilogy, while a prequel trilogy completes the...
success inclined Fox to invest millions on the production.
In the original script the ship has an all-male crew (though the script's 'Cast of Characters' section explicitly states that "The crew is unisex
Unisex
Unisex stands for the meaning that either gender or sex will be able to, but can also be another term for gender-blindness.The term was coined in the 1962 and was used fairly informally...
and all parts are interchangeable for men or women"), including the Ripley character, who would be played by actor Tom Skerritt
Tom Skerritt
Thomas Roy "Tom" Skerritt is an American actor who has appeared in over 40 films and more than 200 television episodes since 1962.-Early life:...
. Later, when producer Alan Ladd, Jr.
Alan Ladd, Jr.
Alan Ladd, Jr. is an American film industry executive and producer. He is famous for giving George Lucas the go-ahead to make Star Wars and remained as Lucas' only support at times when the Board of Directors wished to shut down production...
, and script-doctor
Script doctor
A script doctor, also called script consultant, is a highly-skilled screenwriter, hired by a film or television production, to rewrite or polish specific aspects of an existing screenplay, including structure, characterization, dialogue, pacing, theme, and other elements...
s Walter Hill and David Giler heard rumors of Fox working on other titles with strong female leads, Sigourney Weaver
Sigourney Weaver
Sigourney Weaver is an American actress. She is best known for her critically acclaimed role of Ellen Ripley in the four Alien films: Alien, Aliens, Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection, for which she has received worldwide recognition .Other notable roles include Dana...
was cast as Ripley and Skerritt became Captain Dallas.
Swiss painter and sculptor H. R. Giger
H. R. Giger
Hans Rudolf "Ruedi" Giger is a Swiss surrealist painter, sculptor, and set designer. He won an Academy Award for Best Achievement for Visual Effects for his design work on the film Alien.-Early life:...
designed the alien creature's adult form and the derelict ship, while Moebius
Jean Giraud
Jean Henri Gaston Giraud is a French comics artist. Giraud has earned worldwide fame, not only under his own name but also under the pseudonym Moebius, and to a lesser extent Gir, the latter appearing mostly in the form of a boxed signature at the bottom of the artist's paintings, for instance the...
created visuals for the spacesuits and Ron Cobb
Ron Cobb
Ron Cobb is an American cartoonist, artist, writer, film designer, and film director.By the age of 18, with no formal training in graphic illustration, Cobb was working as an animation "inbetweener" artist for Disney Studios in Burbank, California. He progressed to becoming a breakdown artist on...
provided most of the on-set design.
Aliens (1986)
Lieutenant Ellen RipleyEllen Ripley
Ellen Ripley is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the Alien film series played by American actress Sigourney Weaver. The character was heralded as a seminal role for challenging gender roles, particularly in the science fiction genre, and remains Weaver's most famous role to...
, the only survivor of the Nostromo, awakens from hypersleep
Stasis (fiction)
Stasis , or hypersleep, is a science fiction concept akin to suspended animation. Whereas suspended animation usually refers to a greatly reduced state of life processes, stasis implies a complete cessation of these processes, which can be easily restarted or restart spontaneously when stasis is...
57 years later, aboard a new space station. She discovers that the planetoid from the first movie (now known as LV-426) is home to a terraforming colony. When contact with the colony is lost, Ripley accompanies a squad of marines there aboard the Sulaco.
The first film of the series, directed by Ridley Scott
Ridley Scott
Sir Ridley Scott is an English film director and producer. His most famous films include The Duellists , Alien , Blade Runner , Legend , Thelma & Louise , G. I...
, was successful, but Fox did not consider a sequel until 1983, when James Cameron
James Cameron
James Francis Cameron is a Canadian-American film director, film producer, screenwriter, editor, environmentalist and inventor...
expressed his interest to producer David Giler in continuing the Alien story. After Cameron's The Terminator
The Terminator
The Terminator is a 1984 science fiction action film directed by James Cameron, co-written by Cameron and William Wisher Jr., and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Biehn, and Linda Hamilton. The film was produced by Hemdale Film Corporation and distributed by Orion Pictures, and filmed in Los...
became a box office hit, Cameron and partner Gale Anne Hurd were given approval to direct and produce the sequel to Alien, scheduled for a 1986 release. Cameron wrote the screenplay from a story he developed with Giler and Walter Hill.
Alien 3 (1992)
Due to a fire aboard the Sulaco, an escape pod is released. It crash-lands on the refinery/prison planet Fiorina "Fury" 161. Ripley is the only survivor. Unknown to her, an egg was aboard the ship. The creature is born in the prison and begins a killing spree. Ripley later discovers there is also an alien queen growing inside her.Following the second movie, Aliens
Aliens (film)
Aliens is a 1986 science fiction action film directed by James Cameron and starring Sigourney Weaver, Carrie Henn, Michael Biehn, Lance Henriksen, William Hope, and Bill Paxton...
, Weaver was not interested in returning to the series and so producers David Giler and Walter Hill commissioned a third Alien film without the Ripley character. The premise was to return Ripley in a fourth installment, but Fox's president Joe Roth
Joe Roth
Joe Roth is an American film executive, producer and film director. He co-founded Morgan Creek Productions in 1987 and was chairman of 20th Century Fox , Caravan Pictures , and Walt Disney Studios before founding Revolution Studios in 2000.-Life and career:Roth was born in New York, New York,...
did not agree with Ripley's removal and Weaver was approached to make Alien 3. Released in 1992, the film was troubled from the start of production; without even a finished script and having already spent a million before then, pop music video director David Fincher
David Fincher
David Andrew Leo Fincher is an American film and music video director. Known for his dark and stylish thrillers, such as Seven , The Game , Fight Club , Panic Room , and Zodiac , Fincher received Academy Award nominations for Best Director for his 2008 film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and...
; the third director considered for the film, was hired to helm the project. After production was completed, the studio reworked the film without Fincher's involvement or consent. Giler, Hill and Larry Ferguson wrote the screenplay, based on a story from an earlier script by Vincent Ward
Vincent Ward
Vincent Ward, ONZM is a film director and screenwriter.-Biography:Vincent Ward was awarded an Order of New Zealand Merit in 2007 for his contribution to film making. He was born in Greytown, New Zealand. He was educated at St Patrick's College, Silverstream and trained as an artist at the...
.
Alien Resurrection (1997)
Two hundred years after the events of the previous film, Ellen Ripley is cloned and an Alien queen is surgically removed from her body. The United Systems Military hopes to breed Aliens to study on the spaceship USM Auriga, using human hosts kidnapped and delivered to them by a group of mercenaries. The Aliens escape their enclosures, while Ripley and the mercenaries attempt to escape and destroy the Auriga before it reaches its destination, Earth.While fans and critics did not receive Alien 3 well, the film still made millions worldwide at the box office and piqued Fox's interest in continuing the franchise. In 1996, production on the fourth Alien film, Alien Resurrection, began. Ripley was not in the script's first draft, and Weaver was not interested in reprising the role, though later joined the project after being given a reported million dollar salary and more creative control (including being able to approve director Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Jean-Pierre Jeunet
-Life and career:Jean-Pierre Jeunet was born in Roanne, Loire, France. He bought his first camera at the age of 17 and made short films while studying animation at Cinémation Studios. He befriended Marc Caro, a designer and comic book artist who became his longtime collaborator and...
). The film, released in 1997, experienced an extended production and was described by screenwriter Joss Whedon
Joss Whedon
Joseph Hill "Joss" Whedon is an American screenwriter, executive producer, director, comic book writer, occasional composer and actor, founder of Mutant Enemy Productions and co-creator of Bellwether Pictures...
as having done "everything wrong" with his script.
Prometheus (2012)
Prometheus is an upcoming science fiction film directed by Ridley ScottRidley Scott
Sir Ridley Scott is an English film director and producer. His most famous films include The Duellists , Alien , Blade Runner , Legend , Thelma & Louise , G. I...
. The film was originally intended as a direct prequel to the 1979 science fiction horror film Alien
Alien (film)
Alien is a 1979 science fiction horror film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm and Yaphet Kotto. The film's title refers to its primary antagonist: a highly aggressive extraterrestrial creature which...
, set approximately 30 years before the events depicted in the film. Instead, a revised version of the new film will now explore a more stand-alone mythology based upon the race of giant beings discovered by the crew of the Nostromo in Alien
Alien
Alien or Aliens may refer to:* Alien , a non-citizen inhabitant of a country* Extraterrestrial life, defined as life that does not originate from Earth* Introduced species, a species living outside its native distributional range...
. Filming began in March 2011, and Prometheus is scheduled to be released on , 2012.
Future films
Whedon had written an Earth-set script for Alien 5, but Weaver was not interested in this setting, and sought to return the story to the planetoid from the first film. She has remained open to a role in a fifth installment on the condition that she likes the story. Before 20th Century Fox greenlitGreenlight
To green-light a project is to give permission or a go ahead to move forward with a project. In the context of the movie and TV businesses, to green-light something is to formally approve its production finance, thereby allowing the project to move forward from the development phase to...
Alien vs. Predator
Alien vs. Predator (film)
Alien vs. Predator is a 2004 American science fiction film directed by Paul W. S. Anderson for 20th Century Fox and starring Sanaa Lathan and Lance Henriksen. The film adapts the Alien vs. Predator crossover imprint bringing together the eponymous creatures of the Alien and Predator series, a...
, James Cameron had been collaborating on the plot for a fifth Alien film with another writer. However, upon learning of Fox's plans for a crossover, he ceased work on his concept. Before he saw the film, Cameron had felt that it would "kill the validity of the franchise", and that "it was Frankenstein Meets Werewolf
Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man
Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, released in 1943, is an American monster horror film produced by Universal Studios starring Lon Chaney, Jr. as the Wolf Man and Bela Lugosi as Frankenstein's monster. This was the first of a series of "ensemble" monster films combining characters from several film...
" – like "Universal
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
just taking their assets and starting to play them off against each other". Although he liked Alien vs. Predator, Cameron ruled out any future involvement with the series. In a 2002 interview, Ridley Scott stated that a new Alien project "would be a lot of fun", but that "the most important thing [was] to get the story right". Scott's concept for the plot was "to go back to where the alien creatures were first found and explain how they were created". In late 2008, Weaver hinted in an interview with MTV that she and Scott were working on an Alien spinoff film, which would focus on the chronicles of Ellen Ripley rather than on the Aliens.
Box office
| Film | Release date | Grosses | Rank (All time domestic) |
Budget | References | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | Foreign | Worldwide | ||||||
| Alien Alien (film) Alien is a 1979 science fiction horror film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm and Yaphet Kotto. The film's title refers to its primary antagonist: a highly aggressive extraterrestrial creature which... |
May 25, 1979 | $80,931,801 | $24,000,000 | $104,931,801 | #617 | $11,000,000 | ||
| Aliens Aliens (film) Aliens is a 1986 science fiction action film directed by James Cameron and starring Sigourney Weaver, Carrie Henn, Michael Biehn, Lance Henriksen, William Hope, and Bill Paxton... |
July 18, 1986 | $85,160,248 | $45,900,000 | $131,060,248 | #567 | $17,000,000 | ||
| Alien 3 | May 22, 1992 | $55,473,545 | $104,340,953 | $159,814,498 | #1,035 | $50,000,000 | ||
| Alien Resurrection | November 26, 1997 | $47,795,658 | $113,580,410 | $161,376,068 | #1,233 | $75,000,000 | ||
| Total | $269,361,252 | $287,821,363 | $557,182,615 | N/A | (E) | N/A | ||
List indicator(s)
|
||||||||
Reviews
| Film | Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance... |
Metacritic Metacritic Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,... |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | Top Critics | ||
| Alien | 96% (83 reviews) | 81% (16 reviews) | 83/100 (22 reviews) |
| Aliens | 100% (48 reviews) | 100% (7 reviews) | 87/100 (9 reviews) |
| Alien 3 | 39% (41 reviews) | 57% (7 reviews) | |
| Alien Resurrection | 54% (65 reviews) | 53% (17 reviews) | 63/100 (21 reviews) |
| Average Ratings | |||
IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
listed Alien as the thirteenth best film franchise of all time. Alien was nominated for two Academy Awards, winning for Best Visual Effects. Aliens received seven nominations, including a Best Actress nomination for Sigourney Weaver
Sigourney Weaver
Sigourney Weaver is an American actress. She is best known for her critically acclaimed role of Ellen Ripley in the four Alien films: Alien, Aliens, Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection, for which she has received worldwide recognition .Other notable roles include Dana...
, and won for Best Visual Effects and Best Sound Effects. Alien 3 was nominated for Best Visual Effects. Alien was also inducted into the National Film Registry
National Film Registry
The National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Board's selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. The Board, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992, 1996, 2005, and again in October 2008...
of the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
for historical preservation as a film which is "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". The American Film Institute
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
ranked Alien as the sixth most thrilling American movie
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Thrills
Part of the AFI 100 Years… series, AFI's 100 Years…100 Thrills is a list of the top 100 heart-pounding movies in American cinema. The list was unveiled by the American Film Institute on June 12, 2001, during a CBS special hosted by Harrison Ford....
and seventh-best film in the science fiction genre
AFI's 10 Top 10
AFI's 10 Top 10 honors the ten greatest American films in ten classic film genres. Presented by the American Film Institute , the lists were unveiled on a television special broadcast by CBS on June 17, 2008....
, and in the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains is a list of the 100 greatest screen characters chosen by American Film Institute in June 2003. It is part of the AFI 100 Years… series. The series was first presented in a CBS special hosted by Arnold Schwarzenegger...
list, Ripley was ranked eighth among the heroes, and the Alien was fourteenth among the villains.
Home video releases
There have been dozens of stand-alone releases of the individual films on various formats, including BetaBeta
Beta is the second letter of the Greek alphabet. Beta or BETA may also refer to:-Biology:*Beta , a genus of flowering plants, mostly referred to as beets*Beta, a rank in a community of social animals...
, VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
, Laserdisc
Laserdisc
LaserDisc was a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially licensed, sold, and marketed as MCA DiscoVision in North America in 1978, the technology was previously referred to interally as Optical Videodisc System, Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Optical...
, and DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
, though so far the Blu-ray format has only seen a boxed set of the complete series which houses all the various versions of each film (a total of eight, see Alien Anthology below). The multiple single releases on VHS were generally the original theatrical cuts of each film, though at the very end of the format there was a sole release of the Aliens: Special Edition (see below).
Laserdisc
Laserdisc
LaserDisc was a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially licensed, sold, and marketed as MCA DiscoVision in North America in 1978, the technology was previously referred to interally as Optical Videodisc System, Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Optical...
saw single releases of all of the films in theatrical versions, as well as two so-called "box sets" which only contained one film (there were two single releases, one each for Alien and Aliens) but had multiple discs and a large amount of supplemental material with a high retail price tag (around $100USD). The Aliens set included a new "Special Edition" cut of the film completed by James Cameron
James Cameron
James Francis Cameron is a Canadian-American film director, film producer, screenwriter, editor, environmentalist and inventor...
just for this release, which was a significantly extended version of the film.
On DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
initially the films were only available as a boxed set (see Alien Legacy below) but were then released separately (and it should be noted that Aliens was only available in its "Special Edition" cut, not its original theatrical cut which did not make it to DVD until the next boxed set). The same pattern was followed when the two-disc special editions of the films came out after the Alien Quadrilogy set (see below), as each film got individual two-disc releases which contained the content of each film from that set. Since then, there have been multiple issues and reissues of the films, in both their theatrical or extended version, though some single releases include both.
In addition to the single releases, there have been seven complete box sets of the series at various points in its history. With the exception of the DVD version of the Aliens Triple Pack, each release contained all of the films that had come out at the time the sets were released. The seven box sets each had unique characteristics and features which were then sometimes reused in later sets or single releases in one form or another, most notably the Blu-ray set which includes a detailed archive of many previous releases, including the rare Laserdisc box sets.
- Alien Triple Pack (VHS version), released on VHSVHSThe Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
in 1992 containing the first two films in the series and a third cassette with a 23-minute preview of the then upcoming theatrical release of Alien 3. (Not to be confused with the 2008 DVD set of the same name, see below.) - Alien Trilogy, released on VHSVHSThe Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
in 1993, a three-cassette packaging of the original theatrical cuts of Alien, Aliens, and Alien 3. - Alien Saga, a Japan-exclusive LaserdiscLaserdiscLaserDisc was a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially licensed, sold, and marketed as MCA DiscoVision in North America in 1978, the technology was previously referred to interally as Optical Videodisc System, Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Optical...
pack containing the first three films was released in 1999 (a planned U.S. version was canceled as DVDs were quickly taking over the much smaller domestic Laserdisc market in that country). - Alien Legacy, a four-volume set released on both DVD and VHS in 1999, containing the 1991 LaserdiscLaserdiscLaserDisc was a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially licensed, sold, and marketed as MCA DiscoVision in North America in 1978, the technology was previously referred to interally as Optical Videodisc System, Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Optical...
"Special Edition" cut of Aliens (for the first time on another format), the theatrical versions of the other three films, and on DVD had various supplemental materials that were either re-used from Laseridsc or newly created. - Alien Quadrilogy, released only on DVD in 2003, considered one of the most exhaustive box sets of the DVD era in terms of content and special features, is spread over nine discs : four discs (one disc each) for the theatrical and extended cuts of each film (new "2003" cuts of Alien, Alien 3, and Alien: Resurrection and the previously released 1991 "Special Edition" cut of Aliens), four discs containing special features specific to each film, along with an extra disc of documentaries and other supplemental content.
- The films were later re-released as 2-disc individual titles as part of 20th Century Fox's Collector's Series.
- Alien Triple Pack (DVD version), released on DVDDVDA DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
in 2008 is a 3-disc package including the theatrical cuts of Alien and Alien 3, as well as the "Special Edition" of Aliens, reusing the name of the 1992 VHS set (this was an unusual release in that Alien: Resurrection was not included, making this the first franchise box set it had not appeared in since its release). - Alien Anthology, a 2010 Blu-ray DiscBlu-ray DiscBlu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
exclusive six-disc release, which features two versions of each film (theatrical, and the same new cuts used in the 2003 Alien Quadrilogy DVD set - with the exception of additional work done on the 2003 Alien 3 "Workprint" version which included having some of the original voice actors come back to re-record poorly captured dialogue in newly inserted extended scenes) and virtually all of the special features and supplements from the previous releases (including an archive of the special edition LaserdiscLaserdiscLaserDisc was a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially licensed, sold, and marketed as MCA DiscoVision in North America in 1978, the technology was previously referred to interally as Optical Videodisc System, Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Optical...
box sets with all their image galleries and other unique content). As with the Quadrilogy DVD, the two versions of each film are housed on a single disc each, while the storage capacity of Blu-ray means the previous five discs of special features are included on the remaining two discs in the set, which hold approximately 60 hours of bonus video content and over 12,000 still images.
Spin-offs
There have been a number of spin-offSpin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
s in other media including a large number of crossovers
Fictional crossover
A fictional crossover is the placement of two or more otherwise discrete fictional characters, settings, or universes into the context of a single story. They can arise from legal agreements between the relevant copyright holders, or because of unauthorized efforts by fans, or even amid common...
within the Alien fictional universe
Fictional universe
A fictional universe is a self-consistent fictional setting with elements that differ from the real world. It may also be called an imagined, constructed or fictional realm ....
. These include:
Novels
As well the novelizationNovelization
A novelization is a novel that is written based on some other media story form rather than as an original work.Novelizations of films usually add background material not found in the original work to flesh out the story, because novels are generally longer than screenplays...
s based on the various films (including Alan Dean Foster
Alan Dean Foster
Alan Dean Foster is an American author of fantasy and science fiction. He currently resides in Prescott, Arizona, with his wife, and is also known for his novelizations of film scripts...
's) there are a number of novel series.
Comics
Numerous comic appearances include:- AliensAliens (comic book)The Aliens comic books were first published by Dark Horse Comics in 1988 and set in the Alien fictional universe.Some stories often feature the company Weyland-Yutani and the United States Colonial Marines. Originally intended as a sequel to James Cameron's Aliens, the first mini-series features...
- Alien Loves PredatorAlien Loves PredatorAlien Loves Predator is a webcomic written by Bernie Hou. It spoofs the Alien vs. Predator franchise. Reversing the adversarial relationship depicted in the comics, games, books and movies, ALP presents an Alien and a Predator as friends and roommates in modern-day New York City.The first issue...
, a spoof webcomicWebcomicWebcomics, online comics, or Internet comics are comics published on a website. While many are published exclusively on the web, others are also published in magazines, newspapers or often in self-published books.... - Aliens vs. Predator
- Aliens vs. Predator vs. The TerminatorAliens vs. Predator vs. The TerminatorAliens versus Predator versus The Terminator is a comic published by Dark Horse Comics about fictional characters from three separate movie series: Alien, Predator, and The Terminator. The series was in four parts, with parts 2-4 having a tagline on their cover.-Part 1:The story begins in a...
- Batman/AliensBatman/AliensBatman/Aliens is a crossover between the Batman and Aliens comic book franchises. It was published in 1998. A sequel was released in 2003.-Batman/Aliens:...
- Green Lantern Versus AliensGreen Lantern Versus AliensGreen Lantern Versus Aliens is a four-issue comic book mini-series published jointly by DC Comics and Dark Horse Comics monthly from September 2000 to December 2000...
- Judge Dredd vs. AliensJudge Dredd vs. AliensJudge Dredd vs. Aliens is an intercompany crossover, featuring Judge Dredd and the Alien from the Alien franchise. It was published weekly in 2000 AD in 2003.-Plot:...
- Superman vs. AliensSuperman vs. AliensSuperman vs. Aliens is an American comic book limited series about a battle between the superhero Superman and the aliens created by H. R. Giger , from the Alien film series...
- Superman & Batman vs. Aliens & Predator
- WildC.A.T.s/AliensWildC.A.T.s/AliensWildC.A.T.S/Aliens was a one-shot comic book and intercompany crossover event, published by Wildstorm and Dark Horse Comics in 1998. The comic was written by Warren Ellis, pencilled by Chris Sprouse, with Kevin Nowlan inking and Laura Depuy as the colorist.-Overview:The story is set between the...
Video games
The first game based on the franchise was Alien (1982) for the Atari 2600Atari 2600
The Atari 2600 is a video game console released in October 1977 by Atari, Inc. It is credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor-based hardware and cartridges containing game code, instead of having non-microprocessor dedicated hardware with all games built in...
, a game heavily based on Pac-Man
Pac-Man
is an arcade game developed by Namco and licensed for distribution in the United States by Midway, first released in Japan on May 22, 1980. Immensely popular from its original release to the present day, Pac-Man is considered one of the classics of the medium, virtually synonymous with video games,...
. A strategy game
Strategy game
A strategy game or strategic game is a game in which the players' uncoerced, and often autonomous decision-making skills have a high significance in determining the outcome...
based on the first movie was released in 1984.
Aliens was adapted into four different video games, a shoot 'em up
Shoot 'em up
Shoot 'em up is a subgenre of shooter video games. In a shoot 'em up, the player controls a lone character, often in a spacecraft or aircraft, shooting large numbers of enemies while dodging their attacks. The genre in turn encompasses various types or subgenres and critics differ on exactly what...
arcade
Arcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
by Konami
Konami
is a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...
, a collection of minigames by Activision
Activision
Activision is an American publisher, majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA. Its current CEO is Robert Kotick. It was founded on October 1, 1979 and was the world's first independent developer and distributor of video games for gaming consoles...
, a first-person shooter
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...
by Software Studios, and a MSX
MSX
MSX was the name of a standardized home computer architecture in the 1980s conceived by Kazuhiko Nishi, then Vice-president at Microsoft Japan and Director at ASCII Corporation...
platformer
Platform game
A platform game is a video game characterized by requiring the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles . It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps...
by Square
Square (company)
was a Japanese video game company founded in September 1983 by Masafumi Miyamoto. It merged with Enix in 2003 and became part of Square Enix...
.
Acclaim
Acclaim Entertainment
Acclaim Entertainment was an American video game developer and publisher. It developed, published, marketed and distributed interactive entertainment software for a variety of hardware platforms, including Sega's Mega Drive/Genesis, Saturn, Dreamcast, and Game Gear, Nintendo's NES, SNES, Nintendo...
released three different games based on Alien 3, two different run and gun platformers (one for various platforms in 1992, another for the SNES
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
a year later) and a Game Boy
Game Boy
The , is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on , in North America in , and in Europe on...
adventure game
Adventure game
An adventure game is a video game in which the player assumes the role of protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and puzzle-solving instead of physical challenge. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media such as literature and film,...
in 1993. Sega
Sega
, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...
also released a light gun
Light gun
A light gun is a pointing device for computers and a control device for arcade and video games.Modern screen-based light guns work by building a sensor into the gun itself, and the on-screen target emit light rather than the gun...
arcade, Alien 3: The Gun in 1993.
The last game based on an Alien film was 2000's Alien Resurrection, a PlayStation
PlayStation
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...
first-person shooter
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...
.
Other Alien games include Mindscape's adventure game
Adventure game
An adventure game is a video game in which the player assumes the role of protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and puzzle-solving instead of physical challenge. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media such as literature and film,...
Aliens: A Comic Book Adventure (1995), Acclaim's first-person shooter Alien Trilogy
Alien Trilogy
Alien Trilogy is a 3D first-person shooter based on the first three movies in the Alien film series. It was released for the MS-DOS, PlayStation, and Sega Saturn platforms.-Plot:...
(1996), the FPS Aliens Online (1998), the Game Boy Color
Game Boy Color
The is Nintendo's successor to the 8-bit Game Boy handheld game console, and was released on October 21, 1998 in Japan, November 19, 1998 in North America, November 23, 1998 in Europe and November 27, 1998 in the United Kingdom. It features a color screen and is slightly thicker and taller than...
action game Aliens: Thanatos Encounter (2001), and the mobile phone game Aliens: Unleashed (2003). The latest game released was the arcade game Aliens: Extermination, in 2006.
In 1994, Atari Corporation
Atari Corporation
Atari Corporation was a manufacturer of computers and video game consoles from 1984 to 1996. Atari Corp. was founded in July of 1984 when Warner Communications sold the home computing and game console divisions of Atari to Jack Tramiel. Its chief products were the Atari ST, Atari XE, Atari 7800,...
released the Rebellion
Rebellion Developments
Rebellion is a British computer games company, based in Oxford, who are most famous for the first Aliens vs. Predator computer game. It has published comic books since 2000 and launched its own book imprint, Abaddon Books, in 2006.-History:...
-developed first-person shooter
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...
Alien vs Predator for the Atari Jaguar
Atari Jaguar
The Atari Jaguar is a video game console that was released by Atari Corporation in 1993. It was the last to be marketed under the Atari brand until the release of the Atari Flashback in 2004. It was designed to surpass the Mega Drive/Genesis, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and the Panasonic...
, in which one could play as a Marine, Predator or Alien. Rebellion then went on to develop the similarly themed Aliens versus Predator for PC. This was followed by, among others, Aliens versus Predator 2
Aliens versus Predator 2
Aliens versus Predator 2 is a science fiction first-person shooter computer game developed by Monolith Productions. It was published by Sierra Entertainment, and released through Fox Interactive for PC and Apple Macintosh computers in 2001...
and the expansion pack Aliens versus Predator 2: Primal Hunt.
In December 2006, Sega
Sega
, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...
struck a deal with Fox Licensing to release two games based on the Alien franchise on the PC, Xbox 360, and PS3. Only one of the initial deal will be released, a first-person shooter by Gearbox Software
Gearbox Software
Gearbox Software, LLC is an American video game development company based in Plano, Texas.-History:Gearbox Software was founded in January 1999 by five members of the content team from the defunct developer Rebel Boat Rocker: Randy Pitchford, Brian Martel, Stephen Bahl, Landon Montgomery, and Rob...
, Aliens: Colonial Marines
Aliens: Colonial Marines
Aliens: Colonial Marines is an upcoming video game in development by Gearbox Software and is to be published by Sega for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation 3, Wii U and Xbox 360...
. Its expected release date is Spring 2012. In the meantime, Sega released Aliens vs. Predator
Aliens vs. Predator (video game)
Aliens vs. Predator is a science fiction first-person shooter video game, developed by Rebellion Developments, the team behind the 1999 original PC game, and published by Sega for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The game is based on the Alien vs...
, a first-person shooter also made by Rebellion, and announced Aliens: Infestation, a Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
game which was released in October 2011.
In academia
The Bishop character has been the subject of literary and philosophical analysis as a high-profile android character conforming to science fictionScience fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
author Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...
's Three Laws of Robotics
Three Laws of Robotics
The Three Laws of Robotics are a set of rules devised by the science fiction author Isaac Asimov and later added to. The rules are introduced in his 1942 short story "Runaround", although they were foreshadowed in a few earlier stories...
and as a model of a compliant, potentially self-aware
Sentience
Sentience is the ability to feel, perceive or be conscious, or to have subjective experiences. Eighteenth century philosophers used the concept to distinguish the ability to think from the ability to feel . In modern western philosophy, sentience is the ability to have sensations or experiences...
machine. The portrayal of androids in the Alien series — Ash in Alien, Bishop in Aliens and Alien 3, and Call (Winona Ryder
Winona Ryder
Winona Ryder is an American actress. She made her film debut in the 1986 film Lucas. Ryder's first significant role came in Tim Burton's Beetlejuice as a goth teenager, which won her critical and commercial recognition...
) in Alien Resurrection (1997) — has been studied for its implications relating to how humans deal with the presence of an "Other
Other
The Other or Constitutive Other is a key concept in continental philosophy; it opposes the Same. The Other refers, or attempts to refer, to that which is Other than the initial concept being considered...
", as Ripley treats them with fear and suspicion, and a form of "hi-tech racism and android apartheid" is present throughout the series. This is seen as part of a larger trend of technophobia
Technophobia
Technophobia is the fear or dislike of advanced technology or complex devices, especially computers. tech·no·pho·bi·a n. Fear of or aversion to technology, especially computers and high technology. -Related forms: tech'no·phobe' n., tech'no·pho'bic adj."— "tech·no·pho·bi·a - Show Spelled...
in films prior to the 1990s, with Bishop's role being particularly significant as he redeems himself at the end of Aliens, thus confounding Ripley's expectations.
Further reading
- Alien Woman: The Making of Lt. Ellen Ripley (by Ximena Gallardo C. and C. Jason Smith, Continuum, 272 pages, 2004, ISBN 0-82641-910-0)
- The Book of Alien (by Paul Scanlon and Michael GrossMichael Gross (actor)Michael Gross is an American television, movie, and stage actor who plays both comedic and dramatic roles. His most notable roles are as the father Steven Keaton from Family Ties and the Graboid hunter Burt Gummer from the Tremors franchise.-Early life:Gross was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son...
, Star Books, 112 pages, 1979, ISBN 0-352-30422-7, Titan BooksTitan BooksTitan Publishing Group is an independently owned publishing company, established in 1981. It is based at offices in London, England's Bankside area. The Books Division has two main areas of publishing: film & TV tie-ins/cinema reference books; and graphic novels and comics reference/art titles. The...
, 2003, ISBN 1-85286-483-4) - Making of Alien Resurrection (by Andrew MurdockAndrew MurdockAndrew Murdock, also known as Mudrock, is an American record producer specializing in the rock and metal genres.He is best known for producing Godsmack's Godsmack and Awake albums...
and Rachel Aberly, Harper PrismHarper PrismHarper Prism was launched by John Silbersack, Publishing Director, in 1993 as the first science fiction and fantasy imprint of HarperCollins Publishers in the U.S...
, 1997 ISBN 0-06-105378-3) - The Complete Aliens Companion (by Paul Sammon, Harper PrismHarper PrismHarper Prism was launched by John Silbersack, Publishing Director, in 1993 as the first science fiction and fantasy imprint of HarperCollins Publishers in the U.S...
, 1998, ISBN 0-06-105385-6) - The Alien Quartet: A Bloomsbury Movie Guide (by David Earl ThomsonDavid Thomson (film critic)David Thomson is a film critic and historian based in the United States and the author of more than 20 books, including The New Biographical Dictionary of Film.-Career:...
, Bloomsbury Publishing, 208 pages, 1999, ISBN 1-58234-030-7, as The Alien Quartet (Pocket Movie Guide), 2000 ISBN 0-7475-5181-2) - Beautiful Monsters: The Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to the Alien and Predator Films (by David A. McInteeDavid A. McIntee-Biography:McIntee has written many spin-off novels based on the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who, as well as one each based on Final Destination and Space: 1999. He has also written a non-fiction book on Star Trek: Voyager and one jointly on the Alien and Predator movie franchises...
, Telos, 272 pages, 2005, ISBN 1-903889-94-4)