La saga Alien It is a must for every self-respecting movie buff. Yes indeed, combines masterpieces with a bunch of mediocre movies and others, directly, forgettable. That's why we bring you one complete guide to the saga Alien, with its history, the films that compose it and in what order you should see them. Grab the flamethrower we started.
If there is a movie saga that has caused real terror, as well as sorrow and lazy laughterit's Alien. It would have been the perfect story if they had stopped after the first two movies, but no.
However, let's forget about the sad history of the franchise's evolution for a moment and go back to the beginning.
The fascinating history of the Alien saga
Like many things in life, we owe the movie Alien to a curious coincidence already something you don't expect. In 1977, Ridley Scott was in Los Angeles to present his first film, The duelists.
By then, Scott was already thinking about his next film, Tristan and Isolde. However, a friend of his and producer, David Putnam, invited him to the premier of a new movie. Scott kept the appointment, saw the movie and was so impressed that he became depressed for 3 months and gave up on the project at hand.
that movie was Star Wars.
Yes really. We have Alien because Ridley Scott, by pure chance, went to see Star Wars, as he himself recounted to The Hollywood Reporter. Basically, he was so fascinated that he wondered why he was even thinking about movies like Tristan when there were others doing something like Star Wars.
The Duelists it won the Best First Film award at Cannes, but failed to get initial theatrical distribution.
And then, also out of nowhere, Ridley Scott fell into the hands of another movie script, Alien Someone in Cannes saw The duelists and, who knows why, he thought he would be the right one to direct a science fiction movie, with which Fox wanted to repeat the success of Star Wars.
The rest is history and these are its pieces.
All movies and their synopsis
We could say that there 8 official films within the saga, but in reality there should only be 2. However, since my wishes never come true, these are all the pelis of Alien that are part of the franchise.
Alien the Eighth Passenger (1979)
The mother of the lamb, the first and best of all. They wanted to make a "Shark in Space" and they came up with a film for the story, a masterpiece of science fiction and horror at the same time.
The ship Boatswain captures a sign of life on an unknown planet that is supposed to be uninhabited. When they try to find out what it is, they will have to face a terrible alien life form and a secret hidden in the womb of the MOTHER computer.
The amazing designs by HR Giger would create nightmares for multiple generations, Sigourney Weaver would devote herself and Alien it would be one of the most honored (copied) films in history.
Aliens, the return (1986)
James Cameron directs the sequel and does something unheard of. The film goes from pure terror to fast-paced action and it doesn't matter, another masterpiece is marked. Two out of two and fans are still debating whether the first or second part is better.
In this case, Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) accompanies an unforgettable group of marines who come to investigate the loss of communications with a colony. Things, of course, are not going to turn out well.
We recommend you to see, in any case, Aliens Extended Version published by James Cameron years after the premiere, where they revealed a lot of unpublished footage that it showed scenes with the settlers who will later be annihilated and, above all, a greater context in certain sequences that lead to the end of the film, with the Space Marines looking for a way to escape from LV-426.
Alien 3 (1992)
I'm a big fan of David Fincher (Fight club, Seven…), but his directorial debut in Alien 3 isn't good, although he's not to blame either, because several directors and screenwriters went through it during a shooting full of problems.
The movie is not bad, but pales before two masterpieces and is a harbinger for what is to come. There will be no more good movies in the saga.
Ripley accidentally ends up on some kind of prison planet and she's not going alone, because a facehugger had slipped into the ship while escaping from the planet of Aliens.
Yet another spin on the old plot of being locked up with a monster, but with mediocre execution.
Alien: Resurrection (1997)
French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amelie), he tries a change of third, but it doesn't work out. Sigourney reprises her role, but this time 200 years after the action of the previous films and in the form of a clone.
Wynona Rider gives the reply and the Jeunet aesthetic does not save anything. Delusional and forgettable.
Alien vs. Predator (2004)
Once the premise is exhausted, nothing better than trying to make money by mixing with another successful alien, Predator. Those things never go well.
Pyramids buried in Antarctica without much sense and, above all, quite boring. What could have been an epic confrontation remains in a mediocre attempt to get the money, breaking the myth of both monsters.
Alien vs Predator 2 Requiem (2007)
More of the same, but this time with less means and imagination.
There's some kind of mixed spawn of Alien y Predatorbut instead of fear causes yawning.
Prometheus (2012)
Ridley Scott returns to the legendary saga with a prequel that tries to explain the origins de Alien and its mythology.
The start is promising, Scott proves he's the best at creating worlds that look like aliens (sorry Nolan), but the film deflates at a forced march and ends in disappointment.
It's not as bad as the films that I just named, but it's not good either.
Alien: Covenant (2017)
Scott tries to repeat and misses the cliffhanger in which he left Prometheus (or rather, he solves it in a bad way) to go the other way and focus on the adventures of the most useless scientists in history. They just make stupid decisions so the movie can keep going.
To top it off, destroy the mythology Alien to absurd and confusing explanations that take away its halo of mystery and threat. So much so that it is not uncommon for people to search for an explanation at the end in Google -a very fashionable practice lately with any tape, by the way.
I left the cinema annoyed, it was not successful and it meant a break in the plans to continue with the franchise.
The future of the series
Ridley Scott insists that Alien He still has a lot of rope left in the cinema or on some streaming platform, and it seems that he is not lying because there is an idea being promoted by Fede Álvarez, the Spanish director responsible of Do not breathe. Although there is not much data, it seems that the project could be slightly supported (it seems grudgingly) by Scott himself and that he will have a good budget to carry it out. It won't be crazy like The Rings of Power where Amazon has spent a million dollars, but it does have the ideas set on returning to the essence of the saga with Alien: The Eighth Passenger of 1979.
In the same way that el Alien 5 by Neill Blomkamp was canceledFor now we will have to settle for the future tv series which, we hope, will come directly to Disney + on a date yet to be confirmed.
Its director, Noah Hawley, affirms that one of the basic themes will be something that resonates now: "eat the rich" and for now the initial plans have been maintained, with the start of filming in the month of March 2022, so it won't be ready until at least 2023, by which time we could have it released on Disney+ if the arrivals schedule isn't too saturated.
Remember that only for productions related to Marvel or Star Wars (and other less relevant franchises) the platform adds news every two or three months.
https://twitter.com/VanityFair/status/1410589780929351685
Anyway, Ridley Scott, father of the creature in the late 70s with Alien the Eighth passenger, does not seem to be helping too much since of the few times that he has lavished himself in the media to talk about this series project on Disney +, the only thing he has been able to say is that "when you have a wonderful beast, you do not wear it out and you have to think of something new. Be that as it may, and whoever does it, the series of Alien It will never be as good as the first movie. That's all I'll say."
In what order to watch the Alien movies?
Sincerely, the order doesn't matter much. The ideal is to see Alien y aliens, the return and stop there. However, there are those who want to see the saga in chronological order as the events happen in the movies.
In any case, there are several ways, so we are going to explain them:
Chronological order
This order is based in telling the relationships between xenomorphs and humans from the beginning. It is not the ideal way because it leaves nothing to the imagination. In addition, the jump between the styles of some films and others can shock the viewer quite a bit. That, and before you get to the good stuff, you're going to have to watch four movies that are far from perfect.
I'm not going to be the one to criticize other people's fetishes, but if you haven't seen anything, doing it in that order doesn't make sense and you're going to get fed up before you get to the good movies. But, just in case, this would be the correct temporary arrangement:
- Alien vs Predator
- Aliens vs Predator Requiem
- Prometheus (chronologically located 90 years after Requiem)
- Alien: Covenant
- Alien: The Eighth Passenger
- Aliens: The Return
- Alien 3
- Alien: Resurrection
release order
It's the way most people have seen these movies. It is also the most chosen among people who want to hit a good marathon. The order is established as follows:
- Alien: The Eighth Passenger (1979)
- Aliens: The Return (1986)
- Alien 3 (1992)
- Alien: Resurrection (1997)
- Alien vs. Predator (2004)
- Alien vs. Predator Requiem (2007)
- Prometheus (2012)
- Alien: Covenant (2017)
Advantage of this method? It begins with the two good ones, that is, with the two great masterpieces of this franchise (and the hyping rises through the clouds). Then, if the work excites you, you can continue watching other films that are not as up to par, but expand the universe a lot more. Obviously, it also has its negative point, which is to finish watching a masterpiece and, immediately afterwards, start watching the third installment. The decision is up to you.
canceled projects
With all that this saga has been able to give of itself, you will understand that some projects that were going to get on the bandwagon but that finally did not see the light of day also fell by the wayside. Within these we have, on the one hand, two prequels that Ridley Scott he was going to direct and which would in turn be sequels to Alien: Covenant. However, the poor results of the latter in movie theaters caused the outside thing to stretch out in time and become complicated to such an extent that, after the purchase of 21 Century Fox by Disney, they were definitively discarded.
On the other, it was also raised, as we have already referred a few lines above (and with much more probability of succeeding), a Alien 5 which was to be directed by Neill Blomkamp. Ridley Scott was again involved as a producer and Sigourney Weaver would reprise the role of Lieutenant Ripley. The tape was to be the continuation of Aliens: The Return, disassociating himself from Alien 3 y Alien: Resurrection, but finally it did not come to an end since the producer preferred to give priority to Alien: Covenant that it was already underway and that it did maintain the thread within the franchise.
As you see, the saga Alien It has more history than it seems and, if you are a fan or want to enter the saga for the first time, now you know everything you need.