Late To The Party: Alien

To kick off Patreon month, we visit Alien (1979) with fresh eyes and honest takes, weighing its slow-burn craft, Ripley’s legacy, and how practical effects still make fear feel real. We compare it to Aliens, examine themes of corporate control and body horror, and share where it lands in our running rankings.

• Pacing as a deliberate tension engine
• Ripley’s competence and the final girl lens
• Xenomorph design and practical effects impact
• Corporate exploitation and bodily autonomy themes
• Sound design and score shaping atmosphere
• Aliens' tonal shift and why the first hits harder

Letterbox'd Synopsis: During its return to the earth, commercial spaceship Nostromo intercepts a distress signal from a distant planet. When a three-member team of the crew discovers a chamber containing thousands of eggs on the planet, a creature inside one of the eggs attacks an explorer. The entire crew is unaware of the impending nightmare set to descend upon them when the alien parasite planted inside its unfortunate host is birthed.

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:12):
This is the Wait for It Podcast.

SPEAKER_02 (00:16):
Hey everyone, welcome back to the Wait For It
Podcast.
I'm your co-host, Phil Barrera,aka Phil the Filipino.

SPEAKER_01 (00:22):
And I'm your other co-host, Mr.
Eric Almighty, and for thisedition of Late to the Party,
well, we are gonna be watching afilm that I know we should have
seen already, but it's a moviethat has eluded us, and we're
going back to 1979 to coverAlien.

SPEAKER_02 (00:38):
Yeah, this really is kind of one that like I would
very much understand, more sothan some of the other ones we
have covered when it comes tolike these classics and talking
about like sci-fi and theimportance of film.
And Alien is definitely one ofthose where it's like, yeah,
that's that's fair.
I understand why you would reactthat way.

(00:59):
So very excited to talk aboutthis film by Ridley Scott and
get into it and how we felt.
And Eric, uh some of theaudience may not know that some
of these older films, especiallythose themed classics,
especially in the horror genre,of course, it's sci-fi horror.
So there's two genres going onhere uh that haven't gone very

(01:22):
hard for us, but hopefully thatchanges for the sake of our
buddy Cory, because I think hemay stop working with us and
speaking to us all together hereif we shit on this movie.

SPEAKER_01 (01:33):
So it's true, it's true.
It's also our Patreon polledepisode.
Uh, this is Patreon month in themonth of October, so our uh
community over there had chosenthis film, and I had seen this
movie about a year ago becauseof Alien Romulus, but I had only
seen bits and pieces of it.
I ended up watching the wholething.

(01:53):
I only recently watched Aliens,so we'll get a little side
conversation on that.
But Phil, this is fresh on yourmind, and uh again, a classic to
many people.
So, yeah, is this gonna end upin the lower tiers where we're
criticized a lot, or is thisgonna end up in the higher tiers
where people think it deservesto be?
I guess you're gonna have tostay tuned to find out.

SPEAKER_02 (02:13):
Yeah, so let's get into it.
Late to the party, Alien, 1979,directed by Rick Scott, famously
starring Siguria Bieber but ahost of characters here in this
film.
We've gotta start with theiconic tagline, of course, in
space.
No one can hear you scream.

(02:34):
During its return to Earthcommercial spaceship, the stromo
intercepts a distress signalfrom a distant planet.
When a three-member team of thecrew discovers a chamber
containing thousands of eggs onthe planet, a creature inside
one of the eggs attacks anexplorer.
The entire crew is unaware ofthe end.

(02:57):
Is gone.
So uh over the last few monthswe have adopted a new format for
these episodes.
We each choose three takeaways.
So, Eric, I will go ahead and gofirst, and we will just go ahead
and start with uh one thing onething that I think maybe some
people could be turned off bythis movie, and I'll give you uh

(03:19):
I'll give you guys my thoughtson it here.
And some people may think thatthis is a smoker.
Maybe people may not like thepacing.
It takes a while for the iconicscene to pop up, which is about
an hour into the film.
I also watched the kill countfor this after I watched the
movie Eric, so hey, I'm doingbetter.
I watched the movie first andthen the kill count.

(03:41):
Same thing, in my opinion.
But some people may not like thefact that it takes a while for
this thing to get going.
There is a lot of essentiallyworld slash team building,
there's a lot of explorationwith not a whole lot of
explanation.
And I gotta tell ya, I thoughtthat was a major positive when

(04:02):
it came to building the storyand the tension of this film
because you just don't know whenit's going to happen.
It's 2025.
And the movie, the name of themovie's Alien.
It's not like there's asurprise.
I can't imagine anybody going tothe movie theater in 1979 and
that happening be like, oh shit,there's aliens in this movie.

(04:22):
Hopefully that didn't happen.
But I think the pacing and theslow build of this film is so
important.
And honestly, when you think oflike some of these monster slash
horror adjacent sci-fi filmsthat come out now, maybe some of
them get to the point a littlebit too quickly.
So, you know, it's no surprisethat Alien Eric Swan, a bunch of

(04:44):
copycats because you know what?
They got it right here the firsttime.

SPEAKER_01 (04:48):
Yeah, and as somebody who did watch Alien
Romulus, again, not the biggestalien fan, but I've seen films.
I've seen that.
Alien vs.
Predator, of course.
I think most casual people willsay that.
I did see Prometheus back in theday, and that was a film that I
thought I could just kind of gointo.
Very similar, very similarvibes, slow build, tension

(05:09):
building.
Uh, it doesn't always work inall of these films.
Uh, same thing with for Aliens.
I watched Aliens, very similar,even though there's an S at the
end.
So, you know, there's gonna be alittle bit more going on.
Spoiler here.
You know, you know what the youknow what the first one needed?
More aliens.
Oh my god.
Oh my god.

(05:30):
So, yeah, one of our favoriteletterbox reviews ever.
And um, yeah, for aliens, likeit's uh for alien, it's one of
those things where I think itworks if there are other
interesting dynamics at play.
So that was a really good firstcallout.
We typically call out aboutthree, so my first call out is

(05:50):
gonna maybe be a littledifferent.
So focusing on yours just for asecond, it is a thing that a
beauty when a pacing can be donein a way that it's building
tension and it's escalating thehorror and it's upping the ante.
And this film did that very wellfor a 1979 film.
My takeaway is this movie lookedreally good and honestly iconic.

(06:15):
It has those iconic elementswhen you're watching it, and you
can really appreciate some ofthe set designs and some of the
locations and some of the realthings you're seeing.
I mean, you know, we're a bigfan of like practical effects
and things of that nature, thosethings go a long way, especially
for older films.
So I really liked a lot of whatI was seeing on that end when it

(06:37):
came to my first view of thefilm.
Those stood out to me to make meunderstand, like, oh, this is
why this movie is held up insuch a high regard on such a
pedestal.
Because this movie, like,actually looks good.
As a resident fan of like gameslike Dead Space and other
franchises that have obviouslytaken inspiration or paid

(06:58):
homages to this, it was nice tosee, and I really appreciated
that, even if I'm not thebiggest fan, or I should say
digester of the genre.

SPEAKER_02 (07:07):
Yeah, man.
Practical sets, building thatsense of dread and just kind of
like wonder.
I I watched another video fromuh one of my uh one of my
favorite YouTube channels aswell, and they were talking
about how that big corridor,even that they use, and it's it
looks like this place issomewhere you're going to

(07:28):
revisit quite often, it's goingto be a really important part.
And it's just not, but they justthey they built that.
Like they just don't they don'tmake movies like they used to.
Like that's literally what ishappening here, and that's one
of the benefits of being able togo back and watch some of these
films.
It's like, man, they just don'tdo that anymore.
And yeah, we can, you know, I'msure some of the practical

(07:50):
effects when it comes came tothe actual alien, especially one
part in particular, looked alittle rough uh in a very tight
space, which I'll talk about alittle bit later.
Not as a negative, but justbecause as a funny part, uh,
where I did laugh.
But yeah, you just don't getthat anymore, which is a a real,
real bummer.
But they did that here, and I'mglad you brought up, you know,
like you said, how big a howmuch of a fan we are when it

(08:13):
comes to practical effects.
Uh, you know, very intentionallyfor this Jurassic Park t-shirt
because that's been, you know,there are practical effects in
Jurassic, but like it's just solayered with CGI and crap and
all that stuff, and just doesn'tcapture that same magic anymore.
So uh, but yeah, I agree withyou, Eric, as far as like the
building that atmosphere and thefilm looking great all this time

(08:37):
later.
I recently, I think I've talkedabout this here in the last
couple episodes.
I just saw Jaws in theaters forthe first time, first beacon
experience.
And you know, that shark,obviously, Steven Spielberg,
very aware, the shark didn'tlook great.
So, you know what you do?
You don't show it a lot, and youlet the storytelling do its job,
and that's what happened here.

SPEAKER_01 (08:55):
Yeah, 100%.
I mean, it's one of those thingswhere, like I mentioned, it's
iconic and it does that inseveral different ways.
So, uh really good firsttakeaway is just kind of in
general.
Phil, do you want to go back andforth with your second takeaway?

SPEAKER_02 (09:12):
Yeah, let's do that.
Uh, we'll we'll get to my secondone here, and uh, you know, we
just gotta talk about thesupporting weaver and Ripley.
This was obviously 1979, thingswere very different when it came
to a female protagonist.
We obviously didn't see a wholelot about that, and this is
really a one of the staples whenit comes to Ellen Ripley and

(09:32):
being that kind of like finalgirl trope.
And like, she was a badass man.
She held things down.
She was really the whole likethe smartest person on the ship
the entire time.
There is like a lot of clicheshere when it comes to you know
people making dumb decisions andstuff like that, but uh, you
know, all that is reallyforgiven when you're having uh

(09:53):
an enjoyable time, so thatreally didn't bother me too
much.
So, Eric, I would love to knowwhat your thoughts are on Ripley
as this was gonna be our firstintroduction to that character.
Also, this isn't super related,but like, why is it that all
like a lot of movies from backin this time, 80s or before,
does it did it feel likeeverybody was like whispering
their dialogue?

(10:13):
Why is everyone so quiet inolder movies?

SPEAKER_01 (10:17):
Because you're in in outer space, no one can hear you
scream.

SPEAKER_02 (10:20):
Oh, that's true.
Yeah, Sotter, shout out toDonald.
Uh, that would be very bad.
Donald probably hates thismovie.

SPEAKER_01 (10:26):
Probably how much noise was made in space.
That will let you know how angryDonald got, uh, friend of the
show.
But yeah, I don't want to keepgoing back to the same word, but
again, iconic is what's comingto mind this morning, Weaver.
Everybody talks about it.
It's a performance that youdon't expect to see from a film
of this age.

(10:46):
It's not like there were a lotof leading ladies in these type
of very strong femaleperformances.
So to see this and the fact thatshe was such a staple in the
franchise is really nice to see.
You know, back in thisparticular time, she really had
a strong hold on this character,what this character stood for,

(11:07):
and it was a very interestingcharacter among I would say
maybe less interestingcharacters.
Although I would bring up uh,you know, Ian Holmes'
performance specifically, Ithink is also as the android uh
there, also a pretty goodperformance uh alongside
everything and a nice conflictin addition to the xenomorph.

(11:28):
But I mean, yeah, she'sfantastic, and the xenomorph is
gonna be kind of my call out topair with Segorna Weaver because
the Xenomorph is something thatlike is iconic, is great, is
awesome to look at.
This movie, I think, they'vetried to replicate this so many
times, and just it's somethingabout the first one.

(11:51):
It's something about the firstone that makes it special.
You've seen the stuff coming outof the chest, the memes with the
face huggers.
You know what I mean?
Like, you know this movie if youknow pop culture, but when you
actually watch it, there's stillsomething very impactful about
this being the first one.
You kind of mention again someof the pacing, I mentioned some

(12:11):
of the environment, and thenCigordin Weaver, opposite, this
creature.
Like, there are so many thingsthat I think elevate this to be
one of the biggest draws in thisgenre, and they've tried to
replicate the success.
Some people would argue theyhave had success.
I would say, just from myviewpoint, it never really got

(12:33):
much better than this, andthat's not supposed to be a
knock.
That's really just a kudos tothe first one being able to pull
it off so well.

SPEAKER_02 (12:41):
Yeah, and once again, I will bring up Jurassic
Park.
Uh, and you also have some ofthese thoughts when it comes to
some of the older Star Warsfilms, right?
Like, we are when it's donebasically perfectly the first
time around.
It's like, man, how can thisreally be replicated?
And um, I'm very interested tohear your thoughts about aliens

(13:02):
uh once we get to that here injust a little bit, but yeah,
man, um again, a uh greatperformance from Super Weaver
paired with an iconic movievillain.
Uh and one, as far as a design,like no notes, you know what I
mean?
Like it just looks so cool, evenwith the restrictions of the

(13:23):
time.
Uh like the image of it, like uhwhen it when it first pops out
of the chest, just like scootingaway, like really fast, it's
really funny.
And then also, like, again, as II wanted to bring up here a
moment ago, like in the in thetiny corridor, and it's like
reaching his arms out, which I'msure back then, fucking
terrifying, probably at a movietheater in 1979.

(13:44):
Watching it in my bedroom, Ilaughed because I thought it was
just a really funny image of abeing like like reaching out to
grab him.
Yeah, other than that though, itwas pretty terrifying, but that
that moment was funny.

SPEAKER_01 (13:57):
Yeah, no, I mean it's there's definitely some
things about the age of thesefilms that are hard to see and
not like you when you try toappreciate it.
Like, I remember when theandroid's head is like off of
his body.
Yeah, like it's the practicalstuff.
Like, I appreciated it, but someof the things, you know, some
things you can tell are justlike a little goofy of its age,

(14:19):
of its era, and those I thinkadd to the charm on a watchback,
unlike other older films thatwe've watched that are kind of a
chore to go through.
The shining.
So, not any movie in particular,but yeah, that's my thought.

SPEAKER_02 (14:34):
What if the Waywatchers had voted for us to
re-watch The Shining?
We should have put that onthere.

SPEAKER_01 (14:40):
You know, we were talking about stuff to do for
Patreon.
Doing a vote to re-watch a movieand regrade it.

SPEAKER_02 (14:46):
Like some of the bottom 20 or something like
that.
We're like 40 into this seriesfor y'all that don't know.

SPEAKER_01 (14:51):
So, I mean, we could do that as like a Patreon
exclusive, even.

SPEAKER_02 (14:54):
We gotta do something big 50 or 10 episodes
away.
It's gonna be crazy.
But that'll be like July, Augustof next year.

SPEAKER_01 (15:02):
It'll be number 50.
And we just gotta make sure it'snumber 50, because we're just
going off the letterbox list.
There might be one or two thatcouldn't get added.
But we're close, yeah.
We gotta do something real big.
There are still a ton of moviesthat we have not seen.
Maybe that's what it's gonna dowith the godfather.

SPEAKER_02 (15:15):
I did not care for The Godfather.
Listen.

SPEAKER_01 (15:23):
You gotta pick one.
It's two big commitments there.

unknown (15:26):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (15:26):
Oh, Aaron Brockovich.

SPEAKER_02 (15:28):
For number 15.
You are not gonna be able to nottalk about Aaron Brockovich
between now and August 2026.

SPEAKER_01 (15:35):
No, we might do some bonus episodes between now and
then.

SPEAKER_02 (15:38):
We're actually just a Julia Roberts podcast now,
according to Aaron.
So he made this decision on hisown.
I had no I had no creativecontrol over it.
Uh not mad about it.
Uh, Schindler's List.
I don't think we should watch.
I don't think we have watchedsome very important films on
this podcast.
I don't think Schindler's Listis one that we should discuss.
I'm open to watching it and justhaving a discussion about it

(16:01):
one-on-one.
But I don't think we shouldwatch Schindler's List and cover
it off.

SPEAKER_01 (16:04):
You didn't want to watch Fruitville Station with
me.
You don't want to watchSchindler's List.
I feel like I feel like you'retrying to say something.
Listen, I don't know if you'renot sure.

SPEAKER_02 (16:11):
There have been some mistakes.
Like Taxi Driver is one weprobably shouldn't have don't.

SPEAKER_01 (16:17):
I mean, how could we have known?
How could we have known?

SPEAKER_02 (16:19):
Maybe we could have read some Letterboxd reviews
from like 2020 and on.

SPEAKER_01 (16:23):
Yeah, they're all positive apparently.

SPEAKER_02 (16:26):
Anyway, alien.
To get you my third takeaway,and just the the final one is
just kind of combining a coupleof things when it when you're
talking about like the thematicsuh of what's going on here.
In this movie, there's a wholelot happening.
Uh corporate uh exportation, uh,gender politics.
They're cheating Ripley likeshit.

(16:46):
Uh they're treating her, eventhough she is in charge for a
lot of this, you know, peopleare still disregarding her on
the shit.
Uh I saw I saw someone makingmore of like body violation
thing, things of that.
It gives the movie like a weightthat's not just this is a nice
this is a monster movie inspace, and and upon like a
re-watch, I'm very interested toreally hone in on some of those

(17:09):
themes and like see the thingsthat I missed out on for the
first time around.
So uh yeah, definitely somethingI'll be re-watching, and um,
yeah, just the again the layersof that, like all of our
favorite horror films really,really have their they're not
just a monster movie.
Joss isn't just a shark movie,Jurassic Park isn't just a
dinosaur movie, Star Wars isn'tjust a space movie, all these

(17:30):
things are layered in theirthemes, and yeah, it is no
difference.

SPEAKER_01 (17:36):
Yeah, and I mean I agree with a lot of that, so I
mean my third takeaway is alittle conflicting, but like
it's it's it's hard because likeI don't disagree with anything
that you mentioned.
This is the type of uh movie youwould want to go watch a
breakdown of like Easter eggs ordetails you missed.

(17:58):
But what I will say, and this ismore of a complaint of the alien
franchise in general, why I'venever really gotten into it, is
that while it does tackleseveral different thematics and
topics, and whether those areunderlying or very forefront up
to the forefront of the movie,sometimes with the lore, it

(18:20):
doesn't exactly hit as anaudience member.
Like, I typically tend to walkaway from a lot of these
viewings for this franchise,being a little bit more confused
about like the grand schemathing, the timeline of things.
And maybe for the first one,again, it's not as bad.
There were doing a lot with likethe mother thing and in all of

(18:42):
these aspects.
Like, some things don't need tobe explained, but also it would
be nice.
And I think that's wheresometimes the film would kind of
lose me if I'm having to do toomuch exploratory digging.
I feel like I'm lost in that andI'm not paying attention to the
film.
So I felt that a couple times,but really I feel that just in
general with this franchise.
Whenever I watch an alien film,I'm like, okay, I learned

(19:05):
something new about the lore,and there's now three more
questions.
And then when I go to watch likea video breaking that down, it's
not really clearly stated in thefilm.
It's like through some othercatalog of information or like a
datalog that they readsomewhere.
You know what I mean?
Yeah, maybe it's the tie-ingame.

SPEAKER_02 (19:24):
Yeah, I would go see there's video games, there's
comic books for this thing now.
There's so many differentaspects of what's happening
here.
And if you had told me that likeAlien 1979 was the first movie
that did like post-creditscenes, I'd have been like,
yeah, I know there's three moreof these.
Technically, I'd love to knowwhat you know.
There's there's more aliensshowing up.

(19:47):
Like, I would love to know howthat happened.
So, uh, you know, and then youeven talk about like you
mentioned with Prometheus andstuff like that.
And then of course the mostimportant ones, which is Alien
vs.
Predator, which uh Eric agreeswith.

SPEAKER_01 (19:58):
Yeah, no, I mean top tier.
Top tier.
I've also seen vs.

SPEAKER_02 (20:04):
Predator is that I have not seen this.

SPEAKER_01 (20:06):
It's not though.
I think a lot of people, Ireally think a lot of casual
people went to that.
Uh it's very much like uhFreddie versus Jason.
I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_02 (20:16):
Right, it was a spectacle.
Like it was a oh shit.
Yeah, they're gonna fight.

SPEAKER_01 (20:21):
You know how many people watch Batman versus
Superman and watched Mana Steel?
How do you know that name?
Martha Fucking dumbass film,dude.
Man, we're bringing up a lot ofbad films here.
We should probably get back ontopic.
Alien, guys.
Uh, very good.
Aliens that's a different story.

SPEAKER_02 (20:42):
Uh-oh.

unknown (20:43):
Uh-oh.

SPEAKER_02 (20:44):
I didn't I did not care.
Did not care for aliens.
You know what the problem is?
The xenomorph insists uponitself with this.

SPEAKER_01 (20:53):
It's so when I was watching Aliens, obviously this
one instead of Ridley Scott isJames Cameron.
You can immediately feel theshift in direction.
So it's it's already got that.
And if you like that, that worksout.
But like, I don't know, it feltlike a lot of like cliche James
Cameron stuff.
Like, you know, it's umSigourney Weaver now is kind of

(21:16):
playing this motherly role to achild situation that that is
kind of brought upon her andthis team.
There are more aliens, cool, sothere's some more action.
There's also more attempts atCGI and stuff like that,
especially when it comes to likespacecraft and those look of
their age, of their time.
And then the bigger thing isthat this is a movie that tries

(21:40):
to take its time.
So there are more aliens, yes.
But it doesn't feel like thatuntil the end.
So you're watching this again toabout two-hour film, the first
hour is like building, building,building, and it loses some of
that lust because the first onedid it already, and then it
loses some of that lust because,again, not really interesting

(22:02):
characters.
Bill Paxton is really funny init, like he's really great in
that.
There's a couple differentstandout characters, I would say
more enjoyable supporting castin this one, a little bit more
goofy, a little bit moreunserious.
But it just, I don't know, Phil.
It didn't hit the same beats.
I still liked it as a movie, andI could appreciate it.

(22:22):
But yeah, compared to the firstone, a lot of people say that
people believe it's a 1A, 1Bsituation in the alien
community.
I just don't see how that's thecase.
I think Alien is clearlysuperior than aliens.

SPEAKER_02 (22:36):
Yeah, I will definitely be sitting down and
watching aliens eventually.
Uh certainly, I didn't thinkalien school by aliens.
And you're definitely in theminority, so as far as some of
our brands as well.
The second film.
So, yeah, it also came sevenyears later, uh, which were I
mean, when you talk aboutturnaround time sequels back

(22:58):
then, they usually weren't thatlong.
Like, there wasn't usually thatmuch space in between them.
So I wonder if that led to thedisconnect, obviously when
you're at happening projectors,and especially a director whose
really good film might beterminated.

SPEAKER_01 (23:09):
So as a fan of the Avatar films, I'm not gonna I
don't know.

SPEAKER_02 (23:15):
Oh sorry, and Piranhas 2.
Really?
Oh.
Did he direct this?
Yeah, 1982.
Late to the party, November.

SPEAKER_01 (23:28):
Have I seen that?
Oh my god, I don't know.
I've definitely seen the firstwhy did he not do why does he
keep doing the sequels?
Why why didn't he do the firstpiranha?

SPEAKER_02 (23:37):
Yeah.
He's like, you know what, I goteverything I wanted out of the
Piranha sequel.
Let's make six avatars.

SPEAKER_01 (23:42):
You know, I would I clicked on James Cameron's
filmography, and I felt likethis should be longer, and it's
not.
Yeah, because the movies arefour hours long each year.

SPEAKER_02 (23:51):
It takes 20 years to make one of the James Cameron
movies.

SPEAKER_01 (23:55):
That's what I'm saying.
Like, out of the films that arehere, especially listed by
popularity, this isn't all ofthem, obviously, but it's
Avatar, Terminator, twoTerminators, one Titanic, one
aliens.
That's pretty much it.
Like, there's true lies inthere.
Oh, just yeah, but but yeah,there's like uh there's true

(24:16):
lies in there and stuff likethat, but like those are mainly
his films.
Like, this man is old.
This man's old.
Like, did he start late?
I don't know.
I've never put that togetherlike mainly done like major
franchises.

SPEAKER_02 (24:32):
When two of your movies, to be fair, are top five
all-time softest gross in thehistory of Bill.
You can chill, you can relax.
They also re-released Titanicand Avatar like once every five
years, so yeah, I guess that'strue.

SPEAKER_01 (24:47):
Yeah.
Alright.
Yeah, no, I I guess I shouldhave known this, but yeah, that
just really caught me off guard.
I'm sorry.
James Cameron derailed thispodcast.

SPEAKER_02 (24:56):
I think he's derailed some of the other
things.
Anyway, Alien.
Really, really enjoyed Alien,and glad that we finally got to
sit down and watch it.
So we will get to scores here injust a moment.
Eric, were there any one-offs oranything that we you think we
missed that we should discuss?
I do want to just throw out hereas far as like sound design,

(25:17):
score, excellent.
That goes into just setting thetone of the film.
All that is very, very good.
So yeah, and and then there waslike just a nice kind of I the
moment where like right beforeshit hits the fan and they're
all sitting around and justeating, you know, having a meal
and everything, like you reallyfeel like a sense of familiar
familiarity with with all thosecharacters, even though we don't

(25:39):
really spend a whole lot of timewith them.
So they did a good job at thatin, you know, in in a uh in an
hour where everyone wastogether.
You know, they got they startcutting people off pretty
quickly.

SPEAKER_01 (25:49):
Pretty pretty quickly.
And I would just say that thisis a movie that is clearly
groundbreaking.
You don't need us to tell youthat.
So I don't think there's anyone-offs that you probably
haven't already heard in thewhat over 40, 50 years that this
movie's been out, whatever thenumber is.
So yeah.
I uh I don't have any one-offs,but I do have a score, and I

(26:09):
believe you do too.
And uh if the episode has toldyou anything, I think they're
both gonna be positive.

SPEAKER_02 (26:14):
Unfortunately, Eric, it's not up to me as I bring in
the horses.

SPEAKER_01 (26:18):
Don't bring in the horses, don't bring in the
horses.
You guys unfortunately will haveto catch a future what did I
miss episode for that.

SPEAKER_02 (26:27):
Jesus.
Uh let's get to the scores here.
Rotten Tomatoes, 93% certifiedfresh, 94% popcorn and either
score.
Over on IMDB.
It is sitting at an 8.5.
Very, very good for IMDB.
It's on course various lists forbest and most influential films

(26:49):
of all time.
Uh, Eric, there is no way that Ithink anyone should really be
giving this less than a four outof five, which is what I gave
it.
And honestly, I could see itgoing to at least a 4.5 upon a
rewatch.
We have some of the praises ofthis film from uh beginning to
end in this episode, and uh,it's iconic.
It has earned its place inhistory, and uh rightfully so.

SPEAKER_01 (27:11):
Yeah, I mean you said it perfectly, so I don't
feel like we should delay itmuch longer.
Uh mine is also a Here's thehorses.
Oh, okay.
Did you do the Rotten Tomatoesas well?
I did, yeah.
That's the first I did.
I I I zoned out there after thehorse to be honest.
Yeah, no, but uh Alien is a fourout of five for me.

(27:33):
It's a film that, like Philmentioned, has everything you're
looking for uh from a film likethis.
You're looking for that in thisone.
You go in with expectations ifyou know about it in pop
cultures, and I think you know,pop culture circles, and I think
you really can walk into thiswith confidence that you will
walk out, at least enjoying it.
I couldn't imagine anyone givingthis less than a.

(27:56):
So maybe not a four, but youknow, I could be a little bit
more gracious or lenient becauseit is an older film, but I think
it's hard to believe that.
And Phil, I think this probablyended up in the top half of our
list, maybe even further thanthat.

SPEAKER_02 (28:09):
Yeah, here's the thing as far as where it breaks,
because if we talk about thisevery single month as we add a
new film to this list, becausethis is going to seem low.
Actually, I gotta change it forone second, I gotta put one of
this down.
Uh, which is still very good,but I certainly enjoyed this
much more space down.

unknown (28:32):
Okay.

SPEAKER_02 (28:32):
So I'm adjusting my score here on the fly.
Uh it's our podcast I'm gonnado.
Uh so right now I have itlisted, Eric, at 15.
Um, it's behind, I could not putit above for sure, but just
because it's just love prettywoman.
Uh behind you behind PrettyWoman and Indiana Jones and The
Last Crusade, which is mypersonal favorite Indiana Jones

(28:54):
of the of the trilogy that wewatched.
And then it's just in front ofPaddington 1, uh The Whale,
Temple of Doom, things likethat.
So uh yeah, still number 15.
Um, but again, just because the14 films in front of it are so
strong.

SPEAKER_01 (29:08):
Yeah, I think we're pretty much on the same page.
I actually put it just in frontof Indiana Jones and the uh The
Last Crusade and uh The Whale aswell, first Paddington.
Uh and it's underneath filmslike Spirited Away, The Devil
Wears Prada, and John Wick.
So it's marked at 13 here forme.

(29:29):
But again, I mean, late to theparty, we've had good ones and
we've had some not good ones.
But the good ones really areharder and harder each time we
add to like that top 15 list.
It's harder and harder, and someof these things do need to get
moved around and shuffled aswell.
For Indiana Jones and The LastCrusade, because I think we are

(29:50):
in the very vocal minority forthat being the best one, right?

SPEAKER_02 (29:55):
We are, yeah, it's like our favorite one because
it's just so funny.

SPEAKER_01 (29:59):
I know it's It's a good time.
I had it at 10 before I addedAlien.
I had to reshuffle from like 10to 15 to make that work because
I was like, I don't know that Ilike it that much, but I do
really enjoy it.
And then I thought about itmore.
I was like, yeah, no, I kind ofenjoyed Alien a little bit more
for just like from a filmperspective.

SPEAKER_02 (30:17):
What movies in the top 10 do we share?
I'm gonna guess Interstellar,Chernobyl.
Yeah.
Shawshank?
Is Shaw Shank in your top 10?
Okay.
Yeah.
Perfect Blue?
Yes.
And Top Gun Maverick?
Are those the five?
Yeah, Top Gun Maverick andPaddington 2.
Because the ones I assume aredifferent would be Goodfellas,

(30:37):
Devil Works Prada, Klaus for Me,I have Perfect Blue, and then
Big Sick in my top ten.

SPEAKER_01 (30:44):
Yeah, so I have Perfect Blue as well, but the
films that I have in the case.

SPEAKER_02 (30:48):
So we have six out of ten.
So we have six out of ten.

SPEAKER_01 (30:50):
Okay, that's out.
Yeah, uh Mad Max Fury Road is inmy top ten.
That's number 11.
Um Midgels versus the Machinesand Spirited Away.
Oh, and Pretty Woman.
Oh yeah, that's right, PrettyWoman.
Yeah.
Again, uh Criminal is uhCriminal E2 a little bit lower
for me.
A little bit.
It's like the one bigdiscrepancy in like our list.

(31:11):
Our lists are pretty consistent.
Like, I don't not like the BigSick or Klaus or the Double
Girls Prado or Goodfellas.
Like, those are still prettyhigh in my list, but like
Spirited Away for you, hugedifference.
Huge difference, but yeah,Spirited Away is at 10.
It will fall out at some pointwhen we add another film into
this.
So probably Aaron Brokovich.

SPEAKER_02 (31:33):
Yeah, we have a few uh big deal with something.
Something racks the top 10.
Uh we doing uh a more like this?

SPEAKER_01 (31:43):
We we are so we do a little series on the podcast
called More Like This, where Ilook at Letterboxd and I look at
IMDB, and we go into it lookingat the films, bringing them up,
and seeing which one would werather watch.
So, Phil, this might be hardbecause I feel like a lot of

(32:04):
these films are not your jam.
So if you don't did not watchthis movie, that's okay.
Pretty much not gonna bring upany of the aliens for you.

SPEAKER_02 (32:14):
Yeah.
Predator's rough too.

SPEAKER_01 (32:17):
Alright, I gotta scroll down quite a bit.
Oh, okay, we can start here.
Phil, would you rather watchAlien or A Quiet Place?

SPEAKER_02 (32:29):
We just did a whole episode about atmosphere and how
atmosphere is good.
I'm gonna I'll give Alieninterest back, but it's close.
Love that first Quiet Placemovie.
Uh you know the only Quiet Placemovie.

SPEAKER_01 (32:44):
Would you rather watch Alien or Terminator 2?

SPEAKER_02 (32:49):
Alien.

SPEAKER_01 (32:54):
Would you rather watch would you rather watch
Alien or The Matrix?

SPEAKER_02 (33:00):
Alien.
The Matrix confuses the fuck outof me.
I don't want to watch TheMatrix.
I've never- I haven't wanted towatch The Matrix since I saw it
as a kid and didn't understandit, and I don't want to watch it
now.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (33:10):
Would you rather watch Alien or The Silence of
the Lamps?

SPEAKER_02 (33:13):
Silence of the Lambs, come on, man.
We're Hannibal lovers here.

SPEAKER_01 (33:17):
Would you rather watch Alien or Back to the
Future?

SPEAKER_02 (33:22):
Back to the Future for different reasons, Scott,
because that's just it's justtotally such a different shit's
a good night, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (33:29):
Uh would you rather watch Alien or Nope?

SPEAKER_02 (33:33):
Alien, but it's close because Nope, upon looking
back at it, I think I was toofar song.
So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (33:42):
Would you rather watch Alien or Alien versus
Predator?

SPEAKER_02 (33:48):
Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_01 (33:50):
Okay.
I don't know if you've seen thismovie, but because it's an awful
movie, I just assume you have.
Would you rather watch Alien orAfter Earth?
The movie with Will Smith andJamie Smith.

SPEAKER_02 (34:00):
Alien, Jesus Christ.
I thought you were gonna bringup 45 with uh Adam Driver, which
and I love Dinosaurs.
I couldn't get through 45.
Uh that's what that's what it'scalled, right?
45?

SPEAKER_01 (34:10):
It's 65?
65.
For 65.

unknown (34:13):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (34:14):
You said 45, I thought of that shine now.
So I'm staring down.

SPEAKER_02 (34:19):
45! God, 65 is a 2.1 letterbox.

SPEAKER_01 (34:23):
Yeah, it's uh really Is this why Adam Driver doesn't
like to talk about movie season?
Maybe because really interestingpremise.
You don't know what this movieis, but uh there's this movie
called Red Planet that Ispecifically remember.
It had Val Kilmer in it.
And yeah, Red Planet, underratedmovie.
It's got a 2.6 on letterbox, sodon't listen to me.

(34:43):
Yeah, uh, I used to watch that.
Oh yeah, this is when they wentto Mars.

SPEAKER_02 (34:46):
When they went to Mars.

SPEAKER_01 (34:50):
Yeah, and then the robot like turns on them.
Alright, just uh a couple lastones.
So you already said 65, that'sgood to know.
Uh would you rather watch Alienor Cloverfield?

SPEAKER_02 (35:00):
I love Cloverfield, yeah.
I'm a Cloverfield.
And I'll style uh Alien's abetter movie, but I'd watch
Cloverfield first.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (35:07):
And then last one, would you rather watch Alien or
the Shiny?

SPEAKER_02 (35:13):
You cut out?

SPEAKER_01 (35:14):
Oh, okay.
No.

SPEAKER_02 (35:16):
I think you went through a tunnel.

SPEAKER_01 (35:18):
No, it's fine.
I said I was done.
Okay, that's what I thought.
Yeah, that was it.
But uh yeah, uh, I'm really gladthat we didn't have to
disappoint anybody and that wedidn't have to let anybody down
with our scores.
Uh again, we tend to do thatfrom time to time.
I'm glad tonight was not one ofthose nights.
It's the extra five.

SPEAKER_02 (35:37):
We're gonna have to add that.
We're gonna add it next time.
Was that the face sucker?
I don't know what it was.
Also, we didn't even talk aboutthe fucking moron falling into
the eggs.
Like, I don't think any he justslipped like like a jackass.

(35:58):
The girl, too, was like, we needto turn around.
Second smartest person, probablyon that ship.
So, yeah, guys.
Smart ladies.
Yeah, always listen to the womenin your life, man.
That's that's what we'velearned.
But Alien, 1979, late at theparty, there it is.
To kick off Patreon month, shoutout to our Wait Watchers again
for voting.
Uh, and if you want to uh knowhow you can get involved as far

(36:20):
as our content, Eric will letyou know about that here in just
a moment.
But if you want to keep up withthe Wait for a podcast, make
sure you click the Link Treelink in the show notes of this
and each and every singleepisode.
You can follow us on socialmedia, Instagram, TikTok, join
our thriving Discord community,follow us on Twitch where we are
streaming a ton.
And also uh make sure to uhlike, share, subscribe on
YouTube.
You guys know the drill.

(36:40):
Follow myself and Eric on ourpersonal pages as we navigate
our content creation journeys.
And if you want to support theshow, head on over to Apple
Podcasts Spotify, whereveryou're listening, give us five
stars is one of the best waysyou can support the show.
But as I teased there a momentago, if you want to have a hand
in the content that we create aswell as getting these episodes
early, Eric will let you knowall about that before wrapping

(37:02):
us up.

SPEAKER_01 (37:03):
Yeah, so Alien was brought on by one of several
films that we added to ourPatreon poll for this edition of
Late to the Party, where patronsof the show were able to vote on
what movie we were gonna watch.
We've done the same for severalepisodes in the month of
October.
And if you want to be a part ofthat, get behind the scenes and
early access to episodes likethis one, come join our

(37:23):
community over on Patreon wherepatrons of the show, Briar, T3
Kato, Vintage Macaroni, Coreyfrom the World's Margaret, Nick
Casbaro, the author of theVitalarium series, and Bodder
from the Shortbox Podcast, aresupporting us monthly in
exchange for some of thosebenefits.
We're also now beyond one of ourconventions that we do every

(37:44):
single year, and we typicallyhave interviews that you're
gonna get first access to onthat platform.
So please make sure to supportus there if you'd like to go
above and beyond for the show.
But all the free stuff that Philmentioned goes a long way and
only takes a moment of yourtime.
With all that being said, myname is Mr.
Eric Almighty, that is myco-host, Phil the Filipino.
And please don't forget that werelease new episodes every

(38:05):
Wednesday for the podcast, andall you gotta do is wait for it.

SPEAKER_00 (38:15):
This is the Wait for It Podcast.