Alien.
Look at me, that's what I am. Stationed on a primitive and remote planet, all alone.
Or so I thought! This week I had the unbelievable good fortune to meet a fellow extra-terrestrial! He isn't from TX4 like me, but he has visited once apparently. Easy to tell an alien from a human really - it's all about the body language. Regular human bodily behaviour is super dull, there is nothing more to it than purely subconscious physical output... it's almost a challenge for me to maintain the sluggish, uninteresting facade. Extra-terrestrials, on the other hand, are positively overflowing with dazzling microexpressions and wondrous little muscle movements. It's funny really - humans understand that body language exists, and yet primarily rely on written and spoken interaction. Schools here on Earth spend hundreds of hours teaching Earthlings how to speak and write in arbitrary languages like English, but don't bother teaching microfacial communication even though it's universal since every human on the planet has a face! Anyway, my point is that it's remarkably easy to spot a non-human just based on the way they use their body. No wonder this species murders itself so often when they overlook the simplest and most profound similarities between beings.
As I was saying... so I met up with another alien this week! My god it was so nice to spend time with someone who has had similar experiences to me. All evening we talked about life back home, and shared stories, and discussed media, and had long conversations about humanity's fascinatingly creative laziness. ZA42 I think was his home planet, I'll have to visit there some day. It was a wonderful evening, but he has his own mission to take care of before next year, so who knows when we will next get a chance to meet up. Nice just to spend time with someone like me - felt lovely and familiar.
Look at me, that's what I am. Stationed on a primitive and remote planet, all alone.
Or so I thought! This week I had the unbelievable good fortune to meet a fellow extra-terrestrial! He isn't from TX4 like me, but he has visited once apparently. Easy to tell an alien from a human really - it's all about the body language. Regular human bodily behaviour is super dull, there is nothing more to it than purely subconscious physical output... it's almost a challenge for me to maintain the sluggish, uninteresting facade. Extra-terrestrials, on the other hand, are positively overflowing with dazzling microexpressions and wondrous little muscle movements. It's funny really - humans understand that body language exists, and yet primarily rely on written and spoken interaction. Schools here on Earth spend hundreds of hours teaching Earthlings how to speak and write in arbitrary languages like English, but don't bother teaching microfacial communication even though it's universal since every human on the planet has a face! Anyway, my point is that it's remarkably easy to spot a non-human just based on the way they use their body. No wonder this species murders itself so often when they overlook the simplest and most profound similarities between beings.
As I was saying... so I met up with another alien this week! My god it was so nice to spend time with someone who has had similar experiences to me. All evening we talked about life back home, and shared stories, and discussed media, and had long conversations about humanity's fascinatingly creative laziness. ZA42 I think was his home planet, I'll have to visit there some day. It was a wonderful evening, but he has his own mission to take care of before next year, so who knows when we will next get a chance to meet up. Nice just to spend time with someone like me - felt lovely and familiar.
Good lord, enough about that, I should probably get on with the mission... which appropriately enough is...
[4/52 Alien]
Alien.
Now this film is a 1979 Sci-Fi Horror directed by Ridley Scott, starring Sigourney Weaver, John Hurt, Tom Skerritt and Ian Holm. It tells the story of an industrial spacecraft responding to a distress signal, and encountering a terrifying lifeform.
My word is this a great film. Everything about it is perfect. Cinematography, sound design, pacing, editing, acting, set design, practical effects and of course the characters - all of these elements are just exceptional, and combine flawlessly to become a nerve-wracking, jaw-dropping, unforgettable experience.
As the film begins, we crawl painstakingly across an image of a planet as the the title ALIEN slowly appears, one line at a time. Lingering on the images for such a long time causes immediate audience investment, and creates an incredibly tense feeling. Long takes (combined with the uneasy, unfamiliar soundtrack) are the main source of tension in this film - not giving the viewer a chance to catch their breath. Expository text reveals that the spaceship 'Nostromo' is an industrial craft used for mining, and carries only seven total passengers. Desolate, dark and lifeless, the inside of the Nostromo is shown (at which point my eyes nearly burst out of my head just appreciating the scale, realism, and the level of detail of the set design - major, major props to the art department), until we reach the bridge, where a noisy transmission blinks through to an empty helmet. Heading through another corridor, the lights begin to turn on, and as we pass through an automated door, seven pods open, and the crew are shown waking up from what is presumably some kind of hypersleep. After a smooth fade to the crew enjoying breakfast and discussing their bonuses, the ship's captain, Dallas, is summoned by the ship's AI, Mother, to be told about the distress beacon that just came through. It quickly becomes apparent that they are nowhere near Earth, and after a short debate, they decide to investigate the source of the transmission. Knowing what I do about space travel, it really is lovely to see a film in which the graceful, slow, steady movement of a spacecraft is captured so elegantly... not to mention the gorgeous, detailed miniatures used for the ships and the hauntingly beautiful sound of violins that accompany the scenes. You know, I just thought it was interesting that this film captures the serene beauty of space travel when humanity has so little experience of outer space! Unfortunately the scouting craft they take to the planet lands awkwardly, and requires the engineers to make numerous lengthy repairs. Unable to contact the source of transmission, three crew members (Kane, Lambert and Dallas) venture out onto the planet's stormy surface, and soon discover a partially destroyed alien spacecraft. While this is happening, we are shown video feeds from the characters' helmets, literally putting the audience in a position of 'seeing through their eyes', which is incredibly effective at increasing the tension. Heading into the alien ship, the three crew members lose contact with the main ship, and discover a giant, dead alien lifeform which appears to have been killed by something exploding from inside it. In the main ship, Ripley deciphers the 'distress' transmission, and realises that it was actually a warning signal. Climbing down into the lower part of the alien ship, Kane investigates some dark, leathery objects which appear to be eggs, and as he narrates what he is seeing to the others over his radio, a creature suddenly leaps out of an egg and latches onto his helmet. He falls back, and we immediately cut to Lambert and Dallas pulling him back to the ship, where Ripley attempts to stop them from bringing him abord due to quarantine protocols (mentioning that by bringing the lifeform on board they are risking everyone's safety) but Ash, the science officer, opens the airlock and brings them on board. After that, we see Kane on an operating table, with a horrifying, brown spider-like creature clinging to his face, with a boney tail wrapped tightly around his neck. Cutting the creature causes pale acid blood to erupt from it, which nearly melts through every deck of the ship, but after examining an X-ray it appears that the creature is feeding Kane oxygen and keeping him alive. They decide to leave Kane and observe him, with Ash showing a particular interest in the organism, but Ripley is angry at and suspicious of him for letting it in. Unexpectedly, the next day, the creature has disappeared from Kane's face, and after an incredibly nail-biting search of the infirmary (no music - total fear of the unknown), they find it dead, and shortly afterwards, they disembark from the planet and return to the Nostromo. After they dock, Kane wakes up, and appears fine, but as they are eating their meal before hypersleep, Kane starts coughing violently, choking, spasming, writhing around, and suddenly something bursts out from his ribcage, killing him - a small yellow alien creature with a long head. Lambert, Ripley, Dallas and Brett stand in shock, Parker attempts to kill it with a knife, but Ash stops him, and the creature shrieks and scuttles away into the ship. Looking up some facts about this film, apparently the two actresses in this scene were not told what was going to happen, so their reactions to this gruesome and shocking scene were entirely genuine. Yet another thing about this film that just adds to the richness of the experience! Collecting all the weapons they can find, and using a motion tracking radar, the crew splits into two groups to search for the creature in the enormous, dark ship. Ripley, Parker and Brett have a close encounter when the motion tracker accidentally identifies the ship's cat (called Jones), and also demonstrates the terror of knowing there is something there but not being able to see it - in fact the motion tracker idea has apparently been used in many subsequent horror films, so it truly is an iconic concept! In the panic, Brett lets the cat run off, and while he tries to find it again, he encounters the alien (which has shed it's skin, become a dark black colour, and grown to the size of a human) and it drags him into an air shaft. Extra credit should be given for the design of the alien, a glistening, detailed and unnerving costume which is never really shown clearly, leaving the audience with a terrifying impression of what it looks like, but not actually revealing it. Dallas and the crew make a plan to force the alien into the air lock by having him climb into the vents and use a flamethrower to corner it. Watching on the motion tracker, Lambert guides Dallas through the vents in a claustrophobic and unbearably tense scene, but just as Dallas gets close, they lose the signal, and he is suddenly jumped on by the alien. All the remaining crew are incredibly scared and anxious at this point, but agree that they need to kill the threat, and Ripley goes to talk to the AI, Mother, to ask for help. Talking to Mother, she discovers a secret mission that only Ash knew about, which was to collect the alien as a live specimen for their company and disregard everything else, including the lives of the crew members ("crew expendable"). Confronting Ash, Ripley is attacked by him, and he appears to have superhuman strength, but at the last moment Parker and Lambert show up, hit Ash with a metal canister, and he his revealed to be an android!! He sprays white fluid everywhere, and is incapacitated, but the three remaining crew members reanimate his head briefly so they can question him about the creature. It seems that the lifeform is a highly evolved killer, with no weaknessess, so Ripley decides the best course of action is to set the Nostromo to self-destruct, and have the three of them leave in the small evacuation shuttle. Nervously, the three of them split up to do different jobs - Ripley prepares the escape shuttle, searches for the cat, and goes to set the self-destruct sequence, while Lambert and Parker retrieve coolant necessary for the journey - but things go bad when the alien attacks Lambert and Parker with their screams echoing through the radio. Guess I would also like to point out how much I like the way the self-destruct system is handled - it's not just a button, there is a whole lengthy sequence of levers and codes and instructions, and it sets off announcements and alarms throughout the Nostromo which really adds to the realism, and indeed, the tension. In the following scenes, the atmosphere is incredible, as Ripley sprints around the wailing, claustrophobic, industrial spaceship, desperately scared of the alien, trying to make it back to the escape shuttle (dear god the lighting and sound design are astounding), and finally... she makes it. The Nostromo is mere seconds away from exploding, but Ripley (with Jones thank goodness) just barely manages to escape from the blast in the shuttle, and everything is resolved... or is it!? Taking off her space gear, she makes her preparations to enter hypersleep, but suddenly... notices the alien hiding in the wall of the shuttle!! Obviously terrified, she quietly puts on a nearby space suit, creeps over to the shuttle's seat, and straps herself in. Depressurising some vents near the alien, she causes it to climb out of the wall, and as it moves closer and closer to her... she quickly opens the air lock and the alien goes flying out - into the path of the engine's fire, finally killing it. As the film ends, Ripley records a radio broadcast explaining what happened to the Nostromo and the crew, and settles down into a peaceful hypersleep.
Yeah, so like I said, this film is an absolute masterpiece of both Sci-Fi and Horror - tense, awe-inspiring, well paced and not overly long, this film is faultless. How they managed to create such an authentic feel to the set, the technology, the lighting, even the alien itself is beyond me... it's a triumph of practical effects and incredible set design. Alien is certainly tied with Terminator 2 for me in terms of the sheer skill of the craft, and the wonderful end result. Heaven knows this film is a revolution, a classic, a culmination of amazing individual elements, and a delight (unless you get scared easily), and in my opinion deserves to be in the top 52 without question.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this review, until next week, this is MuiXViuM signing off.
