Spoilers Alien: Questions

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

That Prometheus, Covenant and any sequel to this series was a huge mistake and has been proven to be a huge mistake. It changed the theme of the entire Alien series from cosmic horror to a ridiculous anthropocentric religious story made by an overconfident old boomer who took too much cocaine and should have retired a long time ago.

Prometheus still fits pretty squarely within cosmic horror. It just expands the number of things out in space that -- if they become aware of you -- want you to die.

 

[pukunui]

Prometheus wasn't great but I actually kind of liked Covenant. I don't remember Aliens, not having watched it in 20-odd years, and I've never seen Alien 3. I did watch the original Alien more recently, and it just felt agonizingly slow and kind of boring actually.

What was with 70s sci-fi movies being so bloody tedious? Think like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Are they better if you're high or something?

The original Star Wars is probably one of the few 70s sci-fi films I know of that isn't painfully slow and boring.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Prometheus wasn't great but I actually kind of liked Covenant. I don't remember Aliens, not having watched it in 20-odd years, and I've never seen Alien 3. I did watch the original Alien more recently, and it just felt agonizingly slow and kind of boring actually.

What was with 70s sci-fi movies being so bloody tedious? Think like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Are they better if you're high or something?

The original Star Wars is probably one of the few 70s sci-fi films I know of that isn't painfully slow and boring.

Every 1970s movie was slow, including Star Wars.

 

[pukunui]

Every 1970s movie was slow, including Star Wars.

I honestly don't find Star Wars as slow as just about every other 70s sci-fi film. Nor do I find it any slower than the more modern Star Wars films. Whereas the original Alien just feels unbearable to watch compared to Prometheus and Covenant. I haven't seen Romulus yet, but the trailer makes it look like it's essentially a reboot of the original - but presumably faster-paced.

And there are 70s films that aren't slow -- some of the Pink Panther films, for instance, have a decent pace.

 

[TiQuinn]

I think they only appear slow because they don’t have the frenetic fast cut style of modern movies. They linger on shots longer, they have characters talking over one another in a realistic way, rather than one after the other for easy consumption. 2001 and Star Trek definitely like to linger over their special effects a lot. I think Close Encounters and Alien are just wonderfully plotted films that function as mysteries first. The audience doesn’t know what’s happening at times, same as the characters, and the movie’s not in a rush to let them in on the secret.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Kids in my extended family all begged to watch the prequels instead of Star Wars because "it's soooo sloooow" by 21st century standards. Their Generation X elders were mortified until we realized how far we were into the movie and everyone's still dicking around on Tattooine.

And the Pink Panther was a zippy, zany film by 1970s standards -- which makes it about normal paced today.

 

[pukunui]

I think they only appear slow because they don’t have the frenetic fast cut style of modern movies. They linger on shots longer, they have characters talking over one another in a realistic way, rather than one after the other for easy consumption. 2001 and Star Trek definitely like to linger over their special effects a lot. I think Close Encounters and Alien are just wonderfully plotted films that function as mysteries first. The audience doesn’t know what’s happening at times, same as the characters, and the movie’s not in a rush to let them in on the secret.

I don't think you can say they only appear to be slow. The fact that they linger on shots longer and don't have the fast cut of modern films is what makes them slow. Interestingly, of all the ones I named, Alien is the shortest, clocking in at just under 2 hours. The rest are all between 2 and 2.5 hours long.

Also, if you think about 2001: A Space Odyssey, during its 2+ hour runtime, there are less than 40 minutes of dialogue. And a lot of that dialogue is spoken slowly and calmly (like with HAL and his hypnotic voice).

Speaking of HAL and his hypnotic voice ... that's what makes me wonder if these films were meant to be watched while high. I mean, it was the 70s after all, right? But like, I watched the director's cut of Apocalypse Now once, and I definitely felt like I would have enjoyed it more if I'd been high.

Kids in my extended family all begged to watch the prequels instead of Star Wars because "it's soooo sloooow" by 21st century standards. Their Generation X elders were mortified until we realized how far we were into the movie and everyone's still dicking around on Tattooine.

Interesting. I don't think any of my Gen Z / alpha children have ever complained about the first Star Wars feeling slow, and they like pretty much all the Star Wars films. I will admit that if you watch Rogue One then A New Hope back-to-back, then the latter does feel a bit slow in comparison, but still not as slow as those other 70s sci-fi films.

I don't think I could ever sit through Close Encounters again (having only watched it as a teen), and I'm an elder millennial with Gen X siblings.

And the Pink Panther was a zippy, zany film by 1970s standards -- which makes it about normal paced today.

I think you could argue that the first one is slow, but the rest of them are pretty zippy.

A slow sci-fi / fantasy movie by modern standards would be the first Hobbit movie. Man, that thing drags, especially in the first half.

 

[MGibster]

Movies were definitely paced differently in previous decades. One of my favorite ghost stories, The Changeling, stars George C. Scott and was released in 1980. It's a well made film and pretty much every scene either advances the plot or gives us a better understanding of the characters, but it's paced much slower than what modern audiences are used to. I've got Alien in my top 10 horror movies of all time and I don't think it's slow at all.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Modern films are to be watched whist high on a sugar rush. Otherwise they just give you a headache.

 

[Morrus]

What was with 70s sci-fi movies being so bloody tedious?

Everything is relative. Somebody in the 70s encountering a 2024 movie would no doubt ask why it's so frenetic and rushed. Like most things in life, it's just about what you're used to. Like when you switch from full fat to skimmed milk.