Ep. 13 - A Look at the Alien Movie Franchise

HunterWick Slow Burn Podcast

Where we discuss the five major flicks in the Alien movie franchise: Alien (1979), Aliens (1986), Alien3 (1992), Alien: Resurrection (1997), and Prometheus (2012). The AvP movies get the occasional mention, but we decline to discuss them in-depth. We start out the show covering some upcoming and imminent genre stuff, such as Marvel's Doctor Strange, and TV shows like the new season of Supergirl.

Show Notes: First, the Nerdly News 01:10 - The upcoming Dr. Strange Marvel movie, and the need for the character to be American. 05:20 - The new golden age of television continues. 06:34 - Bill and Ross give a report of their viewing of Star Trek: The Motion Picture on the big screen at TIFF, accompanied by a lecture by effects master Douglas Trumbull. 10:28 - A look towards Blade Runner: 2049. 13:21 - The big DC TV show 3-episode Supergirl, Flash, Legends of Tomorrow musical crossover. 17:04 - Alien franchise talk starts. 19:40 - How the first Alien movie came to be. 23:45 - Alien screenwriters’ Dan O’Bannon's and Ron Shusett’s work on the animated film Heavy Metal. 26:50 - Bill: Alien is a sexual movie without any sex in it. 28:24 - The influential grotesqueness of H.R. Giger 30:11 - How smart really is The Monster of Alien. 36:12 - The challenged expectations of the original Alien. 37:18 - More on the sexual allegory of the Alien movies. 39:36 - The shocking Chestburster scene. 44:12 - The iconic “Space Jockey” imagery. 47:18 - A huge, breakout role for the great Sigourney Weaver. 49:48 - Aliens talk starts. 56:05 - Medical Bay scene, Ripley and Newt. 57:44 - James Cameron and how the Alien sequel came about. 1:00:53 - Bill Paxton and Fishheads. 1:02:15 - Cameron’s great difficulties filming in England. 1:03:29 - The mother/daughter dynamic of Aliens. 1:04:12 - Why Aliens is one of the perfect movies. 1:08:40 - Random Aliens trivia time. 1:15:50 - Alien3 talk starts. 1:17:50 - Poor David Fincher. 1:23:44 - Alien Resurrection talk starts. 1:30:08 - The merchandising of the Alien films. 1:38:20 - Prometheus talk starts. 1:41:45 - An example of the incredibly stupid things that characters do in this film. 1:45:45 - Run to the side, morons! 1:47:58 - Prometheus does have the best gross-out scene next to the original’s chestburster. 1:51:22 - The movie also does some interesting fill-in of the mythology of the alien race. 1:55:35 - Alien v Predator v Highlander?

Your Nerdstalkers:

Bill Hunter - writer, and creator of video game history website The Dot Eaters

Chad Wick - writer, musician and creator of the Canadian Culture Thing

with Special Geekspeaker Duh Boss