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[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Paul Arnette

I know it won't. I just wanted to put it out there that not everyone is waited with bated breath for Fox's 'lipstick on pig' Anthology edition. No amount of bells and whistles are going to get me to purchase two films that I think are garbage, so I'll wait. More power to you if you can sit through them though.

I love those last two films. The third one is wayyyy underappreciated IMO as a standalone. The only thing I hold against it is the fact that it basically ruins the ending to 2nd one, but if I watch it as is I find to be very enjoyable. The assembly cut was fun to watch I felt. The sad thing is though at this time if all of the leaked Anthology extras are to be believed it doesn't look like Fincher will be involved like I hoped he would be.

The 4th one is a just a silly film with Aliens.

I had always believed that if Cameron and/or Ridley had made a 5th film it would more or less ignore the 3rd and 4th as bad dreams and would continue to story of Ripley, but thanks to AvP (the real garbage films) Cameron felt there was no way a 5th film could be made.

I watched a little bit of AvP the other day and I was just sick at my stomach a how bad it was. The most offensive thing was the use of slow-mo for the facehuggers.

[Uxi]

I like Alien 3. The dog works better than the Ox or whatever the other cut had, but the rest of the extra material is much better.

Always thought Aliens was overrated. The Marines thing could have been very cool but they were too undisciplined, too poorly planned (boot untested officer who's new to that unit? pre-mission planning should have already uncovered the ammo issue and should have and the numbers never made much sense to me ... that little amount of guys on such a large ship? Usually USMC stuff is in 3's (2 elements/squads active and 1 kept in reserve).

[al cos.]

I seem to remember the 4 Alien films being sold separately very soon after the dvd box came out. (And I knew Alien 3 had just enough frowning and grim 90s poser-ing to become a cult classic!)

[Jeff Kleist]

Always thought Aliens was overrated. The Marines thing could have been very cool but they were too undisciplined, too poorly planned (boot untested officer who's new to that unit? pre-mission planning should have already uncovered the ammo issue and should have and the numbers never made much sense to me ... that little amount of guys on such a large ship? Usually USMC stuff is in 3's (2 elements/squads active and 1 kept in reserve).

What boggles my mind to this day is why Fox hasn't figured out that people want Aliens 2, and WHY THEY EVER THOUGHT MAKING ALIENS VS PREDATOR WITHOUT THEM WAS A GOOD IDEA

After Ridley's done, screw the horror, Colonial Marines damnit.

Always thought Aliens was overrated. The Marines thing could have been very cool but they were too undisciplined, too poorly planned (boot untested officer who's new to that unit? pre-mission planning should have already uncovered the ammo issue and should have and the numbers never made much sense to me ... that little amount of guys on such a large ship? Usually USMC stuff is in 3's (2 elements/squads active and 1 kept in reserve).

Which ammo issue? They lost the dropship that was the main resupply hub.

Why is there so few guys on that huge ship? It's because it's because the thing is virtually all engine and I assume weapons. It could probably support 2 or 3 times that, but those ships run automated for the most part because they put the passengers in hypersleep. Don't forget also that they didn't believe Ripley, and as we all know, giant multinational mineral development organizations always try the thing that's expensive but sure to work first Very likely the plan went "Send marines, if eaten, send a lot more"

[Uxi]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

What boggles my mind to this day is why Fox hasn't figured out that people want Aliens 2, and WHY THEY EVER THOUGHT MAKING ALIENS VS PREDATOR WITHOUT THEM WAS A GOOD IDEA

After Ridley's done, screw the horror, Colonial Marines damnit.

Yes. Marines versus Aliens versus Predators could be pure porn. In fact, I always thought they should do it like modern porn.. don't pretend to give me a plot or vapid characters I don't care about. Just roll the title... and proceed with carnage.

Which ammo issue? They lost the dropship that was the main resupply hub.

Their ammo was explosive so they had to turn it all in rather than set off the reactor (which is an eye roller in itself). If these were really "space Marines" they would have weapons like shotguns or bullets/projectiles that fragment on impact with the hull (similar to what we use in real life on submarines and on ships). In story, they could well have all that on the ship but just didn't take it down with them... but then we're back at the crappy mission planning.

The whole thing smacks of Cameron's politics (with his horrible Vietnam analogy and the distrust of nuclear energy being volatile enough that small arms would set it off).

Why is there so few guys on that huge ship? It's because it's because the thing is virtually all engine and I assume weapons. It could probably support 2 or 3 times that, but those ships run automated for the most part because they put the passengers in hypersleep. Don't forget also that they didn't believe Ripley, and as we all know, giant multinational mineral development organizations always try the thing that's expensive but sure to work first Very likely the plan went "Send marines, if eaten, send a lot more"

Sure. The numbers are more discounted than their inane tactics and complete indiscipline. Besides, in the movie a third squad or other increased numbers of these guys would just get chewed up the same. Realistically employed, though, a third unit could have set up cover with the other(s) withdrew/joined up with them.

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Uxi

I like Alien 3. The dog works better than the Ox or whatever the other cut had, but the rest of the extra material is much better.

Always thought Aliens was overrated. The Marines thing could have been very cool but they were too undisciplined, too poorly planned (boot untested officer who's new to that unit? pre-mission planning should have already uncovered the ammo issue and should have and the numbers never made much sense to me ... that little amount of guys on such a large ship? Usually USMC stuff is in 3's (2 elements/squads active and 1 kept in reserve).

Cameron himself said that was his one mistake with Aliens in that he made an error in judgement in how Marines would behave. Admitting that no marine would ever talk to their superior officer the way Hudson did.

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

What boggles my mind to this day is why Fox hasn't figured out that people want Aliens 2, and WHY THEY EVER THOUGHT MAKING ALIENS VS PREDATOR WITHOUT THEM WAS A GOOD IDEA

After Ridley's done, screw the horror, Colonial Marines damnit.

What pisses me off is that they had Ridley, Cameron and Weaver all willing to do it. Throw in Michael Biehn and it would have been perfect. But no, Fox said lets hand it over to Paul W.S. Anderson. (slow-mo facehugger. UGH.)

Nevertheless, making the prequel is a great idea and it will be VERY interesting to see what the company actually knew about the derelict ship on Acheron. I wouldn't be surprised if there is a cameo from Sigourney Weaver as long as CGI deaging works well!



The good news is that since Aliens vs Predator was reportedly successful Sega may indeed renew work on Colonial Marines. Although, Gearbox may be more dedicated to making (exploiting?) more Borderlands games.

To this day it never made sense why Colonial Marines was placed on the backburner.

As I said before if anyone needs an Aliens fix do check out the Aliens Omnibus comic books from Dark Horse Comics. They tell an excellent story and it seems clear to me that these early Aliens graphic novels were a CLEAR inspiration for the Dead Space storyline.
Buy the these 3 first:
Aliens Omnibus Vol. 1
Vol.2
Vol.3

[Uxi]

Originally Posted by merrick97

Cameron himself said that was his one mistake with Aliens in that he made an error in judgement in how Marines would behave. Admitting that no marine would ever talk to their superior officer the way Hudson did.

Wasn't just that... the way they didn't hold a perimeter and devolved to complete chaos when they started coming out of the walls and once Apone was gone there wasn't the slightest semblance of discpline left and it was just a gaggle of brawy goons with guns and no coordination or warfighting ability.

Maybe they're unmotivated, unproficient, drafted dregs of the Colonial Marines... and the mission was set up to be a failure which is why they put an incompetent and inexperienced officer in command (with no subordinate/executive officer... just the NCO Apone?)

Hudson on his own wasn't so bad, though... Even in the Marines there's an element of what we call "the bottom 10%" who are the scumbags who usually get demoted or drummed out alltogether. I would have expected Reese or Apone to slap him down on the spot, though (which is maybe what Apone did after he yelled at him to "come here!").

[al cos.]

I thought the whole point was that it was a future where everyone just exists to do the dirty work of the company, whether it's marines or the truckers in the first film.

[Uxi]

Right, I'm just nitpicking that the Marines weren't realistically portrayed and that the horror of the Aliens would be better expressed if it was disciplined competent Marines chewed up than the gaggle of fools Cameron actually delivered.

[al cos.]

Those marines don't exist anymore in this future. If they did, the company couldn't manipulate them as well.

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Uxi

Right, I'm just nitpicking that the Marines weren't realistically portrayed and that the horror of the Aliens would be better expressed if it was disciplined competent Marines chewed up than the gaggle of fools Cameron actually delivered.

Maybe so, but I felt the bad Marines were part of the point the company was trying to make.

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by Uxi

The whole thing smacks of Cameron's politics (with his horrible Vietnam analogy and the distrust of nuclear energy being volatile enough that small arms would set it off).

I never had the feeling that was anything more than a plot device with the sole purpose of ratcheting up the tension.

[MerrickG]

I love these Alien film conversations. It serves as proof that people want these films on bluray!

DNR free of course. Aliens should look nice and grainy.

[Uxi]

Originally Posted by Doctorossi

I never had the feeling that was anything more than a plot device with the sole purpose of ratcheting up the tension.

The Vietnam thing was explicit in the commentary... you may be right about the nuclear thing, though.

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by merrick97

Cameron himself said that was his one mistake with Aliens in that he made an error in judgement in how Marines would behave. Admitting that no marine would ever talk to their superior officer the way Hudson did.

Also a HUGE flaw in The Hurt Locker.

[al cos.]

When they showed a 70mm print of Aliens, with the cameron q/a at the Aero theater last year, I believe some people felt it actually wasn't as grainy as they expected it to be.

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by Uxi

The Vietnam thing was explicit in the commentary...

Pretty obvious in the movie, itself, as well... to me, at least.

[Jeff Kleist]

Maybe they're unmotivated, unproficient, drafted dregs of the Colonial Marines... and the mission was set up to be a failure which is why they put an incompetent and inexperienced officer in command (with no subordinate/executive officer... just the NCO Apone?)

I think people are making an assumption that the Colonial Marines aren't essentially an arm of Weyland-Yutani. Even if they are attached to government, since all the colonies seem to be owned by corporations, they function essentially as a mercenary group. I'm going to wager that they don't have as stringent admission standards or training. The dialog implies that they're all under some kind of contract (be it standard military or employment) similar to what he later did with Avatar

[Uxi]

Enlistments to this day are under contract. You serve your term and either extend the original contract, reenlist (new contract), or get out. Officer commissions are different, of course. Certainly with the naming and such they were emulating common perception of the USMC down to the stereotypical Sgt Apone who "loves the Corps!"

The situation in Avatar was specifically different in that many of them were former military who are in a Blackwater-style NGO.