Alien

"In space, no one can hear you scream." Those were the words emblazoned across posters in 1979 when Ridley Scott's sci-fi horror, Alien, debuted in theatres; birthing more than 40 years of terror. And that's what we're here to discuss on today's podcast as Dan, Ethan, and first-time host Quinn gather together to talk all things xenomorph. The discussion this week includes diving deep into the themes of Alien, why it is such an iconic film in both sci-fi and horror circles, the iconic production design that created such a unique environment for the Nostromo crew to be hunted through by the titular alien, and some fun bits of trivia from filming. We also dig into James Cameron's equally iconic Alien follow-up, Aliens. This includes regaling Dan with the legendary story of Cameron's original pitch to 20th Century Fox and how the title became pluralized. There's also talk of the new characters introduced in Aliens, including the deeply missed Bill Paxton's Hudson, the corporate asshole Burke, and the beloved android Bishop. Following on from Aliens, we look at the unfairly maligned Alien 3, why it secretly rules, and is well worth a reappraisal. There's also discussion on the series' first time grappling with religion and how someone can hold their faith in the face of an alien presence. Then we briefly touch on the fairly maligned Alien: Resurrection and how a film this…not great gets made (hint, it's got something to do with the creator of Firefly). To close off, we dive into Ridley Scott's return to the franchise he kicked off with his one-two punch of prequels Prometheus and Alien: Covenant. This includes talk on the relationship between creator and creation, more exploration of faith in the Alien franchise and how science and faith co-exist or more often don't, and why Michael Fassbender's David is not just the best character in the franchise, but maybe one of the best creations of the last decade. So make sure to listen in as we join up with a squad of marines on a black ops operation run by the Weyland-Yutani corporation for a feature-length bug hunt.