Spoilers Alien: Earth Spoiler Thread

[Snarf Zagyg]

About as subtle as naming the ship the Maginot.

I was, quite literally, just thinking about this.

Maginot.
Boy Kavalier.
Wendy & The Lost Boys.
etc.

I mean, it could be worse. I kept hoping that the Cyborg would be paged. "Paging Morrow. Paging Mr. Tom Morrow."

ahem

But here's the thing. Sometimes the things that are so obvious to some people just aren't to other people. It's weird, like that.
I mean ... Bob De Niro's character in Angel Heart is named Louis Cyphre.
....and, for that matter, Joey Pants' character in The Matrix is named Cypher.

Or is something so stupid it's clever. Truman, in The Truman Show, is ... quite literally, the single True Man in the entire (TV) world.


As always, there's a fine line between clever and stupid.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

I understand the reference, but I don’t get the relevance to the ship in Alien: Earth. Everybody keeps saying ‘it’s a bit on the nose’ and I feel a bit dumb because I’m simply not seeing the metaphor. I don’t see how the spaceship is in any way analogous to a line of defense.

It's an example of hubris and failure. And most importantly- a false sense of security.

Seems appropriate to me.

 

[Mallus]

As always, there's a fine line between clever and stupid.

And artists like Hawley dedicated to running at that line with reckless abandon.

You can almost imagine the exact moment he hit on Peter Pan as his way into the Alien mythos (or franchise, whatever), his synapses lighting like lightning, the snap decision to include a character reading from the damn book in the first episode, that character's name being 'Boy Kavalier'. To be clear, I'm glad Hawley received what sure looks like an inordinate amount of money to film this.

Also, funny story. While describing the show to my wife and getting to the gloriously ridiculous name Boy Kavalier, she reminded me Palmer Luckey exists.

 

[Morrus]

It's an example of hubris and failure. And most importantly- a false sense of security.

Seems appropriate to me.

I still don't get it. How is collecting alien specimens related to a false sense of security?

 

[Vael]

I still don't get it. How is collecting alien specimens related to a false sense of security?

That they could keep them under control. Perhaps if the ship had been called Isla Nublar?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I also have a soft spot for Ressurection, though I always feel it could have been so much more. Isn't it set 400 years in the series' future? How cool would it have been if they had set it in a baroque, dune-esque universe that only vaguely recalls what came before? Jeunet writing it gave me hopes for something along those lines back then ...

I think the big problem with Resurrection is that it never got as crazy at the filmmakers clearly wanted it to be, nor as traditional as the studio clearly wanted. Picking a lane would have resulted in a better movie, I think.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Next ... okay, this will be unpopular. There's a lot I don't like about the next one. But I do like the ambition. I do like a lot of the specific scenes. I do like the cinematography. I do like the atmosphere. And to me, that more than makes up for the absolutely bizarre choices (too many to list, but ... don't run straight ahead, you can literally jump to the left or the right!). And ... some questionable lore. Questionable is a good word for it, right?

2. Prometheus

Prometheus also has a great soundtrack, elements of which have already been heard in A:E.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

A:E hasn't been as good as Fargo consistently is yet, but every season of Fargo, even ones where I feel like a given season isn't living up to its potential early on, has me climbing the walls by the end of the season. I trust Hawley to get there with this show.

 

[Vael]

I need to watch Fargo ... I really enjoyed Legion. Any other Noah Hawley that should be on my radar?

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

I need to watch Fargo ... I really enjoyed Legion. Any other Noah Hawley that should be on my radar?

Legion and Fargo are (IMO) both masterpieces.

The only other filmed work that he was fully responsible (other than A:E, which we are discussing) is a movie- Lucy in the Sky. It's not terrible, but ... I wouldn't say that it works. It's my understanding that it suffered from some ... well, Alien3 issues. The film was bought and everything was set up as one thing, and then Noah Hawley did a different thing, and then the studio wanted the original thing, and those two things didn't mesh at all, and it clearly shows. It's kind of a mess, with occasional good bits.