August 20, 2024 • 54 mins
Welcome to Spacing Out With BB and Jason! We’re currently covering the Alien franchise, and this week we’re discussing the 2024 Fede Álvarez film, “Alien: Romulus”. Thanks for joining us!
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Find these episodes and more on our main podcast feed, “Spacing Out with BB and Jason”
https://plinkhq.com/i/1529054920?to=page
Feel free to reach out to us with your thoughts; We may use your comments on an upcoming episode.
Email: spacingoutpod@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SpacingOutPod
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spacing_out_podcast/
X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/Spacing_Out_Pod
#SpacingOut
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Spacing Out with BB and Jason, this week
covering the twenty twenty four film Alien Romulus.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Welcome to space now.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
I'm BB and I'm Jason, and we are discussing the
Alien franchise one movie at a time, and we have
just returned from the theater having watched the newest release,
Alien Romulus.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Whooee.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
This podcast is being released on two different podcast feeds,
so if you found it through the Spacing Out with
Alien podcasts, and I invite you to check out our
main channel, Spacing Out with BB and Jason, where we
have covered things like Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek, Our Flag
Means Debt, over one hundred episodes, plus many more things
to come. And we're also going to continue to put
out Alien content as we work through the rest of
(00:48):
the movies, so we're only focusing on Alien Romulus today.
Since this is a new release, BB, I thought what
we would do is do like a quick spoiler free
vibe checks okay, and then we'll go into We'll sound
the spoiler alarm as we go through the rest of
the movie so we can talk about the actual plot. Yeah,
and any of the other movies as well, because it
(01:09):
does reference a lot of the other movies. I want
to be able to talk about.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
All of them.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Okay, So this is Alien Romulus, which premiered on August sixteenth,
twenty twenty four, written by Fetti Alvarez and Rodo's Sayaguays,
and directed by Feedti Alvarez. In this movie, while scavenging
the deep ends of a dere like space station, a
group of young space colonizers come face to face with
the most terrifying life form in the universe. That is
(01:34):
the spoiler free promotional summary.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Oh okay, ve check.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Did we like the movie overall? How will extend the
Test of Time?
Speaker 3 (01:47):
All right? Without revealing the plot details, how'd you like
the movie?
Speaker 2 (01:51):
I thought it was good. I liked it. I thought
it was interesting, and it definitely had a lot of
like aspects of it that we don't get in the
other films when it comes to like character development that
I really enjoyed. And the twist at the end is
(02:12):
fucking crazy, Like you have to watch it just for
that last twist. That's my spoiler free version of it. Yes,
so I liked it, and I would recommend people watch
it if they're fans of the franchise or if they're
fans of like sci fi or horror.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
I really, I really enjoyed it. I thought like I
was nervous. I'm just like, man, just like, please let
it be decent. But because I mean, we've we've watched
a few of these now we've recorded Aliens and Alien three,
and I'm like, I was really hoping they could just,
you know, get this franchise kind of back on track
from it's been kind of all over the place, and
(02:49):
this was a nice return to kind of thematically to
like the first movie, and it brings in a lot
of elements from all the movies, and yeah, it has
that sort of the vibe of the movie of just
being focused on this small crew of people. And I
don't want to say much more about that, but yeah,
then the third act gets weird.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
And I love it. I love it. I think it's
fucking bizarre, but in the best way. It's like little
like just disgusting, little nibblets of like this idea of
science fiction and like human development, and that's all I'm seeing.
I'm also it's great, it's great. It's weird.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
I don't really know what to make of that final act, but.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
It's great, So go and watch it just so you
can watch the end because it's really good for that part.
And I'm excited for it to come out on streaming
or whatever because things don't go to DVD anymore.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
So I was very happy with it.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Yeah, me too.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
So if you haven't seen it yet, please see it,
whether in the theater or whenever you have an opportunity.
It does. It stands alone. You can watch it without
really any context. You'll definitely benefit from having seen at
least the original movie. And it does pull elements from
believe all the movies. So that is that. So we're
going to go into the trivia section and there's going
(04:07):
to be some little bit of spoilers in there. Then
we're going to go into the whole film. So this
is your time to jump out of the airlock and
then come back after you've seen the movie.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Trivia time. What facts could we uncover for Alien Romulus.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
So, after the acquisition of twenty first Century Fox by
the Walt Disney Company was officially confirmed that the twenty
nineteen Cinema con that future alien films are in development.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Ooh, Disney is really cranking them out with the sci
fi they were like, Okay, you know us for these
family classics, but what if we took over the science
fiction genres? And I'm like, I fucking hate monopolies, Like
I hate when it's just like one entity doing everything,
(04:53):
but they're actually doing a good job, so it's hard
to hate them.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
Yeah, it really seems like they took a moment to
like A says some of these franchises like Predator, an
Alien and see, like how can we move forward with these?
Speaker 2 (05:07):
You know, really like like a more modern and modern way,
Like it's very of its time, which I really enjoy.
That's one of the markers of science fiction that helps
us understand our current like landscape and world. Right, it's
a it's kind of like a looking glass. So it's
(05:28):
very interesting that they're they're moving things along in a
way that's like, let's give these ips a breath of
fresh air.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
Yeah. So various projects were in development, including a story
by Neil Blancamp that picked up with Ellen Ripley after
the movie Aliens ignoring the events of Alien three in Resurrection,
and Sigourney Weaver has express interest in returning to the
role of Ellen Ripley with the right script, so it's
possible she'll be back at some point. Ridley Scott had
planned to make three prequel films, the first two being
(05:58):
Prometheus in twenty twelve and then A in Covenant in
twenty seventeen. It's unclear whether his third prequel film is
actually going to be made at this point, but in
March twenty twenty two, it was announced that Fettie Alvarez
would write and direct the first film after pitching his
own story. And he's a filmmaker from Uruguay who previously
directed horror films Evil Dead in twenty thirteen and Don't
(06:18):
Breathe in twenty sixteen, So I was not familiar with
his name when I saw him attached to this project,
but I'm sure a lot of horror f fans were.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
I haven't seen the new Evil Dead either. I've been
avoiding horror for a while, like a long while. I
think personal life experiences have made the enjoyment of the
genre very difficult because it's so real sometimes that I
just it's uncomfortable for me. But I feel like I'm
in a new era where I'm like open to it
(06:48):
in a way that's kind of exciting. So I might
check out The Evil Dead, and there's this element of
Camp and the Evil Dead the original that I thoroughly enjoy.
It's not a classic horror film in terms of the
way that it was executed when you think of like
other films, but yeah, I want to I like what
(07:09):
he did here, so I'm definitely interested in like his
vision for other films.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Yeah, and screenwriter Roto Seegways is also a longtime collaborator.
He was the writer on those other movies as well.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Oh, I love that. I love when somebody's like not
without my friend.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Yeah, bring the team.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
The film was initially set to be released on Hulu,
but has later changed to a theatrical release. I do
wonder if that does have to do with how successful
the movie Prey was, because that was a released on Hulu.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Oh yeah, that movie was amazing. I would hope that
maybe they could do a theatrical release for that, because
I would pay money to watch it again at the
big in the big screen.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Yeah. Alvarez sought out the special effects crew from nineteen
eighty six is Aliens to work on the creatures and
their physical sets. Practical creatures and miniatures. Were you who
whenever possible to help ground the later VFX work. Actor
Ian Holme, who played Ash in the original nineteen seventy
nine movie, passed away in twenty twenty. Alvarez reached out
(08:11):
to Holme's family, and his widow, Sophie is Simple, gave
her blessing to use his likeness. The family was also
the first to see the rough versions of the scenes,
and the decision was met with criticism as a debate
around resurrecting decease actors on screen continues.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Yeah, that's hard. I think if you have the family's
blessing that that's like a major part of it.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Yeah. I mean, that's really the only thing you can
do at this point.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
I mean you could do it without their blessing and
then just be an asshole.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
Yeah. I mean, I don't know the legal ins and
outs of it, but I feel like permission has to
be granted in some way.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
I'm glad that they asked the family. At least that's
like common courtesy, But corporations don't have to have common courtesy,
and most.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Don't so, as the movie illustrates, Yeah Diddy, Alvarez had
several conversations with Ridley's and James Cameron before and during production,
with Cameron giving notes on the script and the edit,
and Albarez made a point to say that he had
to choose when to follow in their footsteps and win
to Rebel. The movie makes references and homages to every
(09:13):
film in the franchise, as well as the video game
Alien Isolation.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Hmmm. I don't play video games.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
I don't either, so we haven't really talked about that,
but that game is held in like really high regard
within like the fan base, and people put it up
there with the best of the movies.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Oh wow.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
So and I know there is like a web series
that was made somewhat from like the cut scenes of
the game, like an animation oh wow, and like new
scenes as well to complete the story. So we might
check that out at some point because that's out there.
There's also a bunch of short films that were made
in the last decade, so there's a lot more content
if we want to go into them after the movies.
(09:52):
The film was shot largely in chronological order, which is
a rare thing, but they were shooting primarily on a
stage that allowed that to happen. The characters to kind
of evolve over time. Movie is set in twenty one
forty two, which places it twenty years after the movie
Alien and thirty seven years before Aliens.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Oh so it's like in the middle.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Yeah. Oh. The film had an estimated budget of around
eighty million, and it's had a big opening weekend at
the box office and it's on track to be a
financial success.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
Oh that's great, because I haven't heard I don't know
a lot of people, so I haven't heard anybody talking
about the Alien movie. And if I wasn't doing this podcast,
it would go. It would not. It's not on my
radar with my current like consumption of media.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
Yeah, it really wasn't on my radar either, And it
was only like we decided, well, I was looking at
like what should we do next on the podcast, and
it popped up, pulled up Alien and like, oh there's
a new movie coming out and a new TV series
coming up. Yeah. I'm like okay, so yeah, And then
I didn't really see anyone talking about it. I would
occasionally see an ad on like social media, probably because
(11:00):
I have typed in Alien enough times recently.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
They're like, oh, you like Alien, You're gonna love this
new joy we got going for you. It's got everything what.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
I would always scroll past because I went in without
any trailers or anything. Yeah, and reviews for the film
have been largely positive. Lots of praise going to the visuals,
the performances, and the horror elements.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Yeah, you know what I noticed. I think the main
character kind of gave me eleven vibes from Stranger Things.
She kind of gave that like young girl like vibe,
so she's not like overly sexualized, which is really nice. Yeah,
I really like.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
That deep space dive. Let's break down some of our
thoughts on the film. You can share your thoughts with
us through email or social media. We may use your
comments on an upcoming episode.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
One thing like you feel pretty immediately is like this
feels like a new movie, but it also works very well,
like in the world established years ago with the first
Alien Oh.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Yeah, yeah, it even brings a new light to that world,
Like they established this idea of the company and the
way that we are treated as humans within this like
mega corporation, and now we see what these colonies look like.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
Yeah, just like I love that little bit of world
building there at the beginning, and then the rest of
the movie we're isolated with this crew of like six people.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
You know. Yeah, no, I think it was really cool
to see the characters in their day to day like
struggling and living in this world that's full of disease
and poverty and forced work. And god, doesn't that feel familiar?
(12:57):
You know what I mean? Like, holy shit, man, Like
you're stuck with the like you think you worked enough
to get out of your situation. You go to the
higher powers, the you know, HR or whatever they like
this this fucking agency, and you tell them, hey, I
want to check on my permit so I can travel
(13:18):
because I did my time, I did my five years,
you know, my contract is up. And they're like, yeah,
so your contract changed something outside of your power. Things
you can't control.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
The goal posts of it moved.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Yeah, And that happens all the time in society.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
You know.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
You think, oh, well, you know, if I get my degree,
I'm definitely going to be out of this, you know,
And they're like, oh, yeah, well, here's like thirty thousand
dollars of debt that you have to pay off. Good
luck with that, and now we prefer a master's degree actually,
And then you're so you're just like chasing this thing
or or being told that you're never going to get out.
(13:57):
You can't get out, and in this world they don't
see the sun. How fucking horrible is that? Yeah, Like
in our current time, in our modern era, right now
we understand how seasonal effective disorder works. You know, if
you don't have access to the sun's like rays, you're
(14:17):
gonna feel depressed. You're not gonna have a good time.
And it's like painting this picture of like this like
perpetual nightlife when she's walking down the street and there's
like hookers and gambling and it kind of gives like
a dirty Vegas And it was very interesting that, like,
(14:39):
you know, what, what do we look like as a
society that is forced to work? How do we find leisure?
How do we find joy? When there is no light?
You can't go hiking, you can't enjoy nature in the
way because it's scary to go out at night. So,
you know, it's it's a very urban, very like desolate
(15:01):
in a way though even though you're full of people,
you're so alone. She's walking by herself with her android
brother and like it's just her and him and it's
so sad, and her android is played by like this
tall skinny black guy that stands out in all these crowds,
and he's like the cleanest guy there too. Everybody else
(15:25):
is kind of dirty, And I thought it was interesting
that they cast a black man to play this role
that kind of switches in between. So at first I
was kind of like, what is going on? Why is
he so like like there's something going on like with
him mentally or like he's like got a disability or something.
(15:47):
And then we find out that he's programmed. His program
is just old.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
Yeah. So I believe they mentioned briefly like he was
pulled out of the trash and her father like reprogrammed him.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Yeah. So it's a very interesting choice to represent a
disability in this way that it's like a coding error.
It's weird. I don't know. It didn't sit well with
me personally, that this is the representation for disabilities that
(16:20):
we have is like this childlike person that has to
be led around. There's a lot of people who are
very high functioning, or even if they're not, they have
to be somewhat independent. Even though they're like not able
to do things, they are capable of doing more than
(16:40):
we give them credit for. And I don't know, it's
just weird. It's some like initially just seeing the representation
of like this black man following and being led by
this little white girl, the imaging.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
The.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Juxtaposition, it just felt weird. And then his one objective
is to do what's right for her. It's so infantilizing.
It kind of gave me Mammy in a way that
like or you know, like like she has her servant
that takes care of her, but because he's like not
(17:18):
intelligent enough to do everything, she has to lead him along.
But he's never going to do anything that's better for
both of them. And throughout the story he is controlled
by other people. There's no agency for him at any point,
(17:39):
and that just kind of sucked, Like I don't know.
That was the one thing that I felt like was
really lacking, Like I wish that there was a way
for him to like take the computer chip that he
was given where he was like hyper intelligent and very
(18:00):
like articulate. If there was a way for him to
cut that in half and keep part of it but
not be a company man or something where he could
have it all.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
I thought there might be something where he was.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Gonna get up after he fell down or do something
to save the day.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
Right, Well, yeah, I thought there's gonna be something where
while he is has that other chip in him, that
like something would happen where he needs to be the
original Andy that looks at their rain to like save
her life, make a decision for her best interest and
not the company. Yeah, that he would kind of override
the right is programming, And maybe that would be a
(18:41):
cliche thing at this point, but like that's kind of
what you're rooting for when you see like their relationship
is disappearing because he's becoming a different person.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Yeah, and that happens, and like it's scary because people
do sell their souls to the devil and they change completely,
you know. But it just felt really hollow that he
didn't have an arc, that his ARC was, Oh, we
took the chip out. Now you're back to being a
dumb old Andy. Yeah, And it's like, well, that's not fair.
(19:15):
He had he had he has to have some agency
and I mean the new directive okay, but girl, you're
still including yourself in that. That's still very selfish. I
was hoping she would say, why don't you do what's
best for Andy? But it's us because you're stuck with me,
and because you belong to me, you're my brother, but
(19:38):
you're also my thing. And it's just weird. I don't know,
it just I feel like they tried to establish that
brotherhood thing, but because Andy doesn't have a larger capacity,
he like the most he does with her is like joke,
he tells those dad jokes. He never says, you know,
(19:58):
I care about you or you know, even though my object,
my prime directive is this, I wanted to be that,
and there is no overriding. There is nothing that says
that his core is about her too. She kind of
does it when she runs back and gets him. I
don't know, it's just it was hard to believe that
(20:19):
they had a deeper relationship than Girl and Android. And
he never got like a satisfying arc, which it just
felt really sad to me because he was such an
interesting character. And I mean he did go from like
dim witted to hyper intelligent to almost evil and then
he just go back, he goes back to dim witted.
(20:41):
It just felt like so unsatisfying.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
Yeah, I agree with that, I've I mean, maybe it
didn't make sense with the rules that they were laying out,
but like I just felt like he should have grown
in some way at the end, that like maybe he
retained some of those motor functions that he recovered, or
he does like intelligence or.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
Yeah something, give him something.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
But I do think, you know, shout out to the
actor David Johnson, because he played it out so good,
really well.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Holy shit, man. When he was the bad guy, he
was scary and he like he the way that he
like his physicality of like the twitching and like bad
android and like haha he he dad joke, dad joke
to oh well, it seems that I'm able to articulate
(21:30):
and notice that the creature is doing this. Oh my god.
That was fucking fascinating and horrifying to go from like
good old Landy to stranger with a mind, like a
mind that we don't understand or really can Like, you know,
he was simple. He was a simple creature with one objective,
(21:54):
and now he's this complicated evil thing.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
Yeah, he went from not threat at all to.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
The most threatening, almost more threatening than the alien itself.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
Yeah, he becomes I mean, so this movie doubles down
on what all the other movies have kind of done
that we've watched so far. We've watched the first three
Alien movies that the company is the main villain.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Yes, they are the true evil because the alien is
just doing what it does. It is it is like,
it does not have language. It is reproducing, and it
is trying to survive in a way. Right, it is
doing what we all are like what a creature is
supposed to do in its life cycle. It's a kind
(22:44):
of like a dumb animal that's just very like good
at what it does. And so the company is an
entity that has plans and objectives and they don't have
They just are doing these things because they want better workers.
(23:06):
They want to exploit this creature.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
Yeah, and so Andy becomes the embodiment of the company.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
And you can't decide if you can trust it or
not because he gives you good information. He's like, well,
you know, the creature sees you because your body temperature
and your sound and homegirls like really quick and she's like, okay,
well let's turn up the heat.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
Yeah. So, like he's like the best suited to protect
them until you know, he does it until you wind
up on the wrong side of a door or something. Right,
He's not going to open it for you, right, So yeah,
he was very complicated character, and it, you know, questionable
as we went through, but it definitely he added so
much to the story.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
Oh yeah, Like I couldn't see it without him.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
And him and his sister Rain. I felt like they
were the only characters that were really all that developed
the rest of the crew. I wish it had a
little bit more, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
A little bit more time instead of them just being
like trailer trash. That's kind of what I got from them,
Like they all live in this trailer and they're all
wanting to steal this thing, and they're like, well, you
can join us because you have an android. You don't
have any other skills, but you have this thing that
can speak to the computer. And it's just like, I
(24:24):
don't know, Like the characters were interesting and they try
to develop them a little bit, but it wasn't It
wasn't as flushed out as the main two.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
Yeah, I wish I understood like their friendship with Rain Moore.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
And how they knew her, like were they working together,
especially the boy that liked her.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
Yeah. So reading this, the cast list I pulled from
Wikipedia says that Tyler is Rain's ex boyfriend. I'm like, oh,
I don't recall actually hearing that. No, maybe they mentioned
it in a flying but yeah, and then the rest
of them are all related. There's Tyler's sister, Tyler and
kay brother and sister, and then their cousin Jorne he
(25:09):
was annoying, and then he was dating the Asian woman Navarro.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
But then it was implied that he got his cousin pregnant. No,
you didn't feel that vibe.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
I don't think so.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
You didn't feel that vibe when when it was the
sister with the curly hair and the cousin and they
were in the ship, there was a moment that felt
a little too familiar. Maybe I'm reading into it too much,
but it felt like maybe he was the baby daddy.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
Oh she said the daddy was just some nobody.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
Isn't that him? I think it's him. I seriously think
it's him. And I think that's why whatever came out
of her looked a little bit like a hillbilly. I'm
just saying there was a moment, and I don't know
if I don't, I don't think you caught onto it.
But I definitely felt like there was a vibe between
(26:02):
them that was a little more than family.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
Okay, well, I'll leave that there.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
I'm just saying I think that was the baby daddy.
I really do, And when your cousin is your baby daddy,
you're gonna have a weird kid. Hopefully not. I mean,
I hope some people, you know, like famous people like
FDR married his cousin. But I just I know that
you know, the closer you are, the more messed up
the kids can get. And it's just like frowned upon
(26:29):
that whole incess thing. But yeah, I think there's something
going on there, and I wish I would have nudged
you or something to indicate to you that that moment
what's happening. And when we watch it again, I will
definitely show you what I mean. Okay, And please, if
(26:50):
you if you agree with me, or if you noticed
it too, let Jason know because I don't want to
feel like I'm crazy. But that's why I thought it
was like, oh my god, he has girlfriend because uh
woo Eileen wu. She was gorgeous. I think she was
the most beautiful actress that I've ever seen in this
(27:12):
genre or in this like film franchise. Gorgeous girl and
even bald headed crazy. And I'm really sad that she
died first, that she was like implanted, Oh horrifying, And
the fact that it happened so fast, and that the
creature didn't die right after that it scurried away.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
Oh yeah. But then what didn't happen fast was the
chest bursting. They like drew that out.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Right until she thought she was safe.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
Well, I mean the actual process of the creature, Oh.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
Yeah, coming out, it was like slithering now, it slithered out.
And this movie had so many vaginal references. It was
crazy how much like vaginal imagery was in this movie.
I really enjoyed that because usually it's like this phallic
(28:09):
thing that's like pounding you or penetrating you or killing you,
and this time it's like this vaginal wound in your
chest where something is slowly emerging. There's this idea of
pregnancy that's very prominent in this film. It's like one
of the major like plot points I think, or major
(28:32):
arcs or whatever, major focuses or theme. Yeah, theme, I
think that will go with theme. It was a major theme,
this idea of pregnancy and giving birth and the visceral
raden like kind of growth like occurrence of like giving birth,
and I think that's why it went so slow with
(28:53):
the chest opening. She was giving birth and birth hurts,
you know, It's something that's not supposed to be painless
or easy. And I think that was really well visualized
in that chest burst for Navarro, Like as she was dying,
(29:13):
she was giving birth to this creature. And this isn't
the first berth that we'll have this in this movie.
Speaker 3 (29:20):
Yeah, just the like it's such a good twist to
put on like at this point, like we were not
shocked that the aliens burst out of your chest, like
that was a big moment in the first movie, but
to actually like take that and draw it out slowly
like added this whole new element of horror to it.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
Yeah, to like, yeah, I think it's like chef's kiss,
like perfection. Uh, but again it's because there is so
much fear in childbirth and we all know that, like
not everybody survives that experience. And yeah, she died obviously,
but like it was just like very traumatic and slow
(29:59):
and drawn out, and the creature just like came out
and was like gooey and fleshy. And the creature itself
is kind of phallic. It looks like a penis and
it was. It was just very sad that this character,
probably one of the only ones who knows how to
(30:20):
fly this ship, just die. And I mean, like spoiler,
not this bus, this whole podcast is a spoiler. But
we only have two survivors and one of them is
an android.
Speaker 3 (30:32):
Yeah, it's definitely you can feel like the very strong
homage of the first movie and wait, like I said,
it focuses on this crew of like blue collar workers
in an isolated spaceship, but then it comes down to
just like our one main character surviving and you know,
Andy kind of survives. We can presume that he's going
(30:53):
to be recovered if they pick up this storyline again. Yeah,
in the first movie, it was Ripley and the cat
and ends with like her getting into the pod and
recording a log about what happened, Like that's just how
the Alien ended. And then there's tons of references to
the other movies, some of them we haven't watched recently,
so I didn't quite catch them all, but I know
(31:15):
like Alien Resurrection is going to deal a lot with
cloning and like the hybrid aspect of like a human
and alien crossover type thing. And then the prequels Prometheus
and Alien Covenant they have that like black goo stuff
in it that we see near the end of the movie.
Then there were some things that felt a little too
(31:37):
heavy handed of a reference. I will say there's when
Andy in the Elevator Shaft is killing the alien and
he's like, get away from her, you bitch, And that's
a direct quote from Ripley and Aliens. Oh, and it
seemed like weird that he would even say that, So
it just felt forced.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
Oh I didn't notice that. I thought it was like, ooh,
he cursed, ooh, he.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
Cursed, like because that line is pretty iconic, I think
in the franchise, and they even they advertise Alien three
as the Bitch is back. So yeah, there's It definitely
is showing its love for all the movies.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
Yeah, I like that. I like that a lot.
Speaker 3 (32:16):
But at the same time, I think you can watch
this without any context and still enjoy a good movie.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
I mean, it's crazy the fact like this movie is
doing so much visually. It's stunning. I think it's really
good visually too.
Speaker 3 (32:31):
Yeah, like the art direction, the set design, like all
of that is so like thought out, the way it's
shot and lit and the like it leans into that
color red so heavily, Like you can tell that there's
just like a clear vision behind this movie.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
I think that's what happens when you have the writer
and the director be one person. There's an image in
their head when they're writing this that can come to
life when they're finally directing it. And I think that's
just like peak art, Like this is the epitome of
an art form, of an artist showing like this was
(33:06):
what was in my brain and now it is projected
on the screen. It is so iconic.
Speaker 3 (33:13):
But and like us just having come off of watching
Alien three, we've already recorded about so it'll come out
in a couple of weeks. But like knowing what a
shit show that production was and how the studio was
like interfering with everything and the director didn't get to,
you know, have his vision and everything, like this is
(33:33):
such a contrast to that, where, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
I think when you let creative people do what they do,
you are giving yourself a recipe for success, like it
is it is what you want to do is Obviously
you can't give free rein to the creative because the
creative is going to go crazy, but you can lead them.
You can guide them, you can encourage them and make
(33:57):
a space for them to flow. And you know, it's
really hard to do that because creative people are so sensitive.
I mean, we're all sensitive and creative, but when you're
in the middle of this process of making, I think
there's so much like I don't know what it's just
(34:18):
when you're in this process of making, you are in
a very vulnerable state, and to come in and tell somebody, oh, well,
we're going to rewrite everything or we're going to change everything,
it really fucks up the process. And you can see
it in the art and this piece is just it's
(34:39):
very You can tell the person was happy and energetic
and collaborating and that's what you want. And god damn,
this movie is crazy. Like okay, so can we talk
about the birth of the creature?
Speaker 3 (34:55):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (34:55):
Okay. So there's the reason the company is trying to
like get this shit on the road is because they're
doing experiments with its blood and they're like, oh, well, look,
we fucking smashed the rat and then we injected it
with its blood and it's like fucking fine. Now it's
(35:17):
walking fine. But they cut, like they leave before you
can see the rat becoming a weird creature and like you,
they pan over and you see what the rat became,
and it's fucking weird. It's like a tentacle and fur
and nasty, nasty, nasty nasty. And homeboy Andy's got this little,
(35:42):
you know, canister full of blood vials and he's like,
let's go, guys, I have one purpose and one mission.
And they're trying to get to their homegirl that's like
trapped in the room with the creature, and they find
her later, all messed up and they're like, okay, well
she's really hurt, and Andy's like, inject her, do it,
(36:06):
It'll fix her, and you know, uh, Rain is like,
hell no, I don't trust that shit. I don't trust
you right now. Who the fuck are you? We're not
doing that. She can go into the sleepy chamber and
she'll be right as ray when we get there. And
he's like okay, and then they I don't know why
(36:27):
this happens, but the canister full of vials gets transferred
to sick homegirl pregnant girl, and she's on the elevator
with the shit and she's like, well he said it'll
fix me, jab right in the neck. Why did she
listen to her friend.
Speaker 3 (36:44):
I'm guessing she felt like she wasn't going to make
it and she heard that from Mandy, and like.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
She didn't know that Andy was compromised. Maybe she chose
to make that even though he fucking put her in
that situation by not opening the door. That was really
hard pill to swallow that I could not believe, like
that she would not trust her friend over the android
that wouldn't open the door for her. That was like
the only part of the movie that I was like,
is she okay? Like this doesn't feel right, this doesn't
(37:12):
feel logical. If she would have had a line while
he was saying She's like, yeah, give it to me,
give me the shot, you know, anything like that that
showed that she was willing to take it, then then
I would have believed that she would have done it
on her own. But she did it, and somehow she
doesn't become the monster, she gives birth to the monster.
Speaker 3 (37:35):
Yeah. So when I was in college, I used to
do these forty eight hour film festivals where you get
the right shooting at it a short film in forty
eight hours and they're usually horror themed. In October, So
my team made this movie is called terotophobia, and I
don't know who named it, but they thought it had
something to do with being afraid of monsters. But then
(37:57):
when I went back and like looked up that word,
it actually means fear of giving birth to a monster.
Oh so I kind of went down this rabbit hole.
They're like, oh, a lot of women have this fear
of like giving birth.
Speaker 2 (38:07):
To Have you seen Rosemary's Baby? That movie is about
fear of giving birth to a monster.
Speaker 3 (38:14):
So, like I was, you know, disgusted and horrified at
what happened to this woman k in the movie.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
God kay, I can't imagine what.
Speaker 3 (38:25):
It would how horrifying that would be to someone who
has that kind of fear.
Speaker 2 (38:28):
One, Like, you're pregnant, that's scary, yeah, Two, it's a secret.
Three you're suddenly huge within a span of like minutes
because we have that count dot clock that's like reminding
us that there's an impending doom. So she's like bloated
with this child. And then the birth itself is bloody
(38:50):
and gory and scary, and she gives birth to like
an egg.
Speaker 3 (38:54):
Yeah, Like every moment in the sequence was like unexpected.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
Oh my god, it was so fucking horrible baby in there,
and it's like she's like her line of get it
away from me, so real, like please get it away
from her, and like she rips the umbilical cord and
grabs it and starts running with it. And then she
(39:19):
realizes that shit is made of it of acid, and
the baby drops to the cargo bay and it hatches,
and then very rapidly it becomes this long, lanky creature.
I can't call it a man because of the lack
of genitals, so I'll call it a creature. And it
(39:43):
is the most disturbing thing I have seen in a
long time. And they showed it full out. There was
no hiding, there was no like in the shadows. It
was like full out, like pink man creature thing, and
oh it was awful. I hated it. I hated it,
(40:04):
but I loved it so much. I was like, I
can't fucking believe they went there. They fucking did it.
They did it. They made a human Zeno morph. I
kind of wish it had the weird head a little bit,
just a little like a long gated like an elongated head.
It looked like an inside like a guy who doesn't
(40:29):
know how to speak to women who smells a little
odd and maybe he wears a trench coat. But oh
my god, it was good. It was great. I was
like on pins and needles waiting to see what this
creature did. And she tried to vanquish it and could it.
(40:50):
It was like latched onto her. It had a tail. Oh,
oh my god. But it's like every every alien movie.
The way you call this thing is just shooting it
off into space. Yeah, Like obviously there was the sequence
of her killing them with a gun when she had
it in zero gravity, and that was fucking epic.
Speaker 3 (41:12):
Yeah, So that's an element that I really liked that,
Like the physics of gravity played a big role in
the movie. There's a lot of like science fiction space
movies that just ignore gravity. They don't really pay attention
to how gravity works, or like the ship just has gravity.
They never explain why. Yeah, but yeah, this has you know,
gravity generators that seem to have to fluctuate on and
(41:35):
off even though they're turned off. Yeah, but yeah, and
then they use that so well when she can't with
the acid, like go down to the floor, right.
Speaker 2 (41:44):
Because there's a whole breach and then you're.
Speaker 3 (41:46):
Fucked and then like the elevators don't work without gravity.
That makes sense. Yeah, see, I really enjoyed that aspect
of it.
Speaker 2 (41:54):
Very logical because most you're right, most space movies don't
touch gravity. It's expensive to like do that.
Speaker 3 (42:01):
Yeah, although I still wonder with her, like shooting all
these aliens and zero gravity, They're like, none of that's
going to splatter towards you.
Speaker 2 (42:11):
Right, I don't know because usually my from what I understand,
an object in motion stays in motion, and you are
shooting in one direction, so it's like going to explode out,
usually in the opposite direction, and would that's you? You
are in the opposite direction, but instead it goes into
swirly vortex. How convenient. But that's too much thought in physics.
(42:36):
Let's enjoy it for what it is.
Speaker 3 (42:38):
And then she had that gun, which I think that
gun you kind of homages back to Aliens when they
have all the guns with the soldiers.
Speaker 2 (42:46):
I wonder if it's also any reference to the video game.
Speaker 3 (42:51):
Possibly, right, So she uses most of the AMMA or
the charge on that gun. And then I felt like
that last little bit last a long time because they
used it, used it twice several times. She used it
to like propel her up the elevator shaft, and then
Andy uses it to kill the alien again. Yeah, I
thought there was just like a few shots left in
(43:12):
that day.
Speaker 2 (43:12):
There were four hundred shots on that thing, so maybe
it was more than we thought. But yeah, that creature
freaked me out. I was like horrified. The birth of
it was traumatizing. Like, if you're pregnant or planned to
become pregnant, maybe you should skip this one because it's
so fucked up. But it's so good. It's like great,
(43:33):
Like I think the fears of the fear of pregnancy
is so real and it's so valid, Like there's so
many valid reasons to be afraid of pregnancy. It's just
so nice that a film kind of focuses on that,
because I mean, thinking about it, like the last time
I thought about a film that had to deal with
(43:54):
pregnancy is like Rosemary's Baby giving birth to them, the
Devil's Child. But yeah, I really enjoyed it. I think
there are parts of it that I wish we're more
developed or you know, had a different outcome, But I
think for what it is, it's really good and I
would take it, like I'll take it give me it.
Speaker 3 (44:14):
Yeah, it's also in the movie. At the very beginning,
they they find the original alien from the first movie
from the wreckage of that ship, and that's how they've
cloned the aliens that are in this movie that they've
done experience experiments on. Oh and you see the original
alien like strung up and it still has Ripley's harpoon
(44:35):
stuck through it.
Speaker 2 (44:36):
Oh that's fun. What's from that? What movie?
Speaker 3 (44:39):
Is that from the original alien?
Speaker 2 (44:41):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (44:41):
She harpoons it. She harpoons it, and then the air
locks it.
Speaker 1 (44:45):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (44:46):
Oh yeah, she does harpoon it. Yeah. Harpoon. What a
fun word.
Speaker 3 (44:50):
I feel like I'm saying it wrong, but that's right
hard Yeah. Well I also read that. So there's that
countdown going in on and during the end of the movie,
and it's like a thirty minute count and it actually
is in real time thirty minutes. Yeah, that's awesome. I
love when.
Speaker 2 (45:04):
They do that that because usually it's like five minute countdown,
We're going to watch the sequence for twenty minutes. I
did like the visual of the ship crashing into the ring.
It was really cool. I didn't I didn't ever think
about like a ring being like this like planetary. I
(45:25):
don't know what it is, like landscape or planetary like
thing that could like fuck you up, you know, because
they look so pretty when you draw them. You're just
drying a little a little circle around another little circle,
and you think, to me, it always felt like that's
the planet's halo. But it's like this rocky like thing
(45:49):
going like one hundred thousand miles an hour, just spinning
like a road underneath a car. And holy shit, it
was like a cheese grater, just like shredding that fucking
giant spaceship.
Speaker 3 (46:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (46:04):
Yeah, that's how fucking Rook diesed crazy. It was crazy
to see him in this movie.
Speaker 3 (46:08):
Yeah, that was unexpected to see him pop up.
Speaker 2 (46:11):
I feel like he was a welcomed element though.
Speaker 3 (46:14):
Yeah, and then it wasn't. Once he was like in
the scene, I kind of thought like, Okay, they're gonna
kind of do one scene with him and he'll transfer
that objective to.
Speaker 2 (46:24):
Uh andy Andy and he'll hold the torch.
Speaker 3 (46:27):
Yeah, but they kept him in there.
Speaker 2 (46:29):
As he was Walden. Yeah, so that was interesting. I
don't know, he definitely looked fake, but I think it
helps that he's like an android.
Speaker 3 (46:37):
Yeah, I think that's why like it didn't. I was
okay with the visualization, the visuals of it, because you know,
there's a lot of there's still like elements of Uncanny
Valley when we are recreating actors and or the aging
and stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (46:52):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 3 (46:53):
But he had a little bit of that. But it's
still it worked because he's not actually human right sometimes,
like his mouth seemed almost like jittery.
Speaker 2 (47:02):
But he's also like missing half of his body. Yeah,
so it went well with like his vibe. I don't know,
I feel like there's going to be a sequel. I
don't know how I feel about eleven being in a sequel,
but okay, I'm excited to see Andy. I hope he
gets an upgrade or something because the actor was really good.
(47:22):
He was really good, and I'm really sad that he
didn't get his ARC. But maybe in the future he will.
Maybe he's like playing the long game with this one.
You just never know, though, because they might switch directors,
they might do something different with a sequel, and you
never know. I just you know, who knows. Maybe Disney
will wise up and.
Speaker 3 (47:41):
Be like, hey, well it sounds like this is going
to end up being a big hit. For them, which
you know, if if we're rooting for more like this
or a continuation of this, that's a good sign.
Speaker 2 (47:52):
Yeah. Yeah, I think I think we've been in this
golden age of film and television for a while now,
you know, like West World and all these other shows
that are coming on that are so good, and I'm
really excited to see what else happens with the genre.
And I'm kind of thinking maybe we should watch the
(48:15):
TV series maybe, I.
Speaker 3 (48:16):
Don't know, Yeah, the one coming out, yeah next year. Yeah,
I think that's probably the plan. It's called Alien Earth.
Speaker 2 (48:24):
Ooh, they're on Earth? Oh shit, imagine them like at
the Grand Canyon.
Speaker 1 (48:34):
Astral Queen, who was the standout character in the movie.
Speaker 2 (48:39):
I think my astral queen is Andy for being such
a manipulative queen. I like bad Andy better than I
liked Bad Joke. Andy is that bad? I'm bad. Although
Kay really did the work with that pregnancy scene, Like
that one scene, she was so good. She was so
(49:00):
good and believable, Like I was scared with her. I
don't know, I don't know. Can I give it to
k and Andy? Can I do too?
Speaker 3 (49:08):
No? No, that's the point. We got to pick Oney oh.
Speaker 2 (49:11):
Damn, Okay, who are you picking?
Speaker 3 (49:14):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (49:16):
Okay, I picked k because she slept through most of it,
and then she got up and did her thing. That's
who I pick. I pick Cake.
Speaker 3 (49:23):
That's fair, that's fair, Queen. She did inject herself though,
and cause that whole problem.
Speaker 2 (49:29):
Hey, she didn't know.
Speaker 3 (49:32):
Should I just pick rain?
Speaker 2 (49:33):
She was intelligent and with it.
Speaker 3 (49:36):
She was I mean, like the the guys were stupid.
They were ripping and who was it? Tyler? So they're
doing that scene where they're they're going to cross through
the room with all the face huggers. They've adjusted the
temperature and they're trying to be quiet.
Speaker 2 (49:50):
And then he's on the phone and then he answers
this phone call. Everybody. I know we're supposed to be quiet,
but let me take this phone call and be like, hey, k, hey, sis,
how are you? What's going on? Where are you at?
Speaker 3 (50:05):
Like we're tiptoe in here, trying not to breathe too
loud or sweat or anything.
Speaker 2 (50:09):
But let me answer this phone.
Speaker 3 (50:11):
Whisper on this phone, Hey, you just got to look
around for some keys? You check, checked the floor, check
your pocket, something like.
Speaker 2 (50:17):
Can I text? You would have been so easy. Can
I text you please?
Speaker 3 (50:21):
You can turn the volume off on your radio talk
to her in like sixty seconds when you got through
the room. And then the other guy, Jorn, he was
just so so angry, and I mean they flushed it
out a little bit, like why he was so against
the androids right, and then as Andy started to change,
(50:42):
was kind of confirming what he believed about them. Yeah,
so I don't hold that too much against him, but
he's definitely irrational at times.
Speaker 2 (50:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (50:50):
So yeah, I think I'm gonna pick Rain. I'm picking
in the main character because I'm boring like that. Okay,
and Kaylee Spiney, I think she was good in that role.
Speaker 2 (50:59):
Is well, yeah, she did a good job, but she
really looked like that girl from Stranger Things to me,
I didn't think so she really didn't think so I
thought she did. It was weird. I was waiting for
her to do with some mind tricks, just.
Speaker 3 (51:13):
A backup for a moment. There's one point I wanted
to think there was early in the movie. We see
like these paintings of the They battlefields, I think, and
there's in that painting there's like an infant nursing on
its dead mother's body.
Speaker 2 (51:28):
Oh yeah, so this movie is based Romulus. Romulus is
a twin brother of Remis. Remus, Yeah, and they were
born feral children who were nursed by a wolf and
where they grew up became Rome. And that painting is
(51:53):
a depiction of war of the Roman Empire as a
whole has been built on. Personally, I'm tired of the Western,
the Western aesthetic of like mythology. I'm tired. I'm tired
of like Romulus and Prometheus and all of these Greek
(52:14):
and Roman entities giving us inspiration for what we're tired.
I'm tired. Give us something else. There's so many other
amazing mythological stories and structures that we can tap into.
We are a globe full of mythology. Why always the
(52:37):
Roman Empire? I know why? And I'm tired, so I
chose not to dig into it at all. But it
definitely was foreshadowing for the creature nursing on his mother
who was expelling that black ghool. But he didn't even
(52:58):
nurse on her. He like suck her from her neck,
and I'm like, suck a titty bitch.
Speaker 3 (53:03):
Go there. Yeah, I thought it was going to go
more of that nursing route, which would have been.
Speaker 2 (53:11):
It would have been epic. It would have been epic.
I think it would have been awesome if he like
ripped the titty off, because because give me the fear
of pregnancy, give me the fear of nursing, give me
the real horrible chafing and horrible like pain of motherhood.
Speaker 3 (53:32):
I think they gave you enough.
Speaker 2 (53:35):
They could have gone there. They really could have gone there,
and it wouldn't have been a problem because they already
went there with a baby and the creature. If they
would have just added the titty rip, it would have
been fine, but they wanted to keep it. Pg. Thirteen
or whatever.
Speaker 3 (53:50):
Anyway, sorry to drag us back into that as queens
were Rain and Kay.
Speaker 2 (53:56):
I didn't want to talk about it, but you went there, okay.
Speaker 3 (54:00):
So the next movie coming out on our podcast will
be Aliens from nineteen eighty six. We've already recorded that
episode and we recorded Alien three as well, So that's
what will be next, and then we're going to keep
moving through the other films, probably not going to deal
with the alien versus Predator. Those aren't Cannon and so
(54:20):
I don't know that we'll go there, but We're looking
to watch The Alien Earth sometime in twenty twenty five
right on, and so I think that does it for us.
So thanks for spacing out with us, and remember that
your well being is never in the best interest of
the company that's try.
Speaker 1 (54:37):
Thank you for spacing out with BB and Jason. You
can help us out by subscribing and leaving a positive
rating or review. Next time we will cover the nineteen
eighty six film Aliens. We hope you will join us
Welcome to Spacing Out with BB and Jason, this week
covering the twenty twenty four film Alien Romulus.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Welcome to space now.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
I'm BB and I'm Jason, and we are discussing the
Alien franchise one movie at a time, and we have
just returned from the theater having watched the newest release,
Alien Romulus.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Whooee.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
This podcast is being released on two different podcast feeds,
so if you found it through the Spacing Out with
Alien podcasts, and I invite you to check out our
main channel, Spacing Out with BB and Jason, where we
have covered things like Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek, Our Flag
Means Debt, over one hundred episodes, plus many more things
to come. And we're also going to continue to put
out Alien content as we work through the rest of
(00:48):
the movies, so we're only focusing on Alien Romulus today.
Since this is a new release, BB, I thought what
we would do is do like a quick spoiler free
vibe checks okay, and then we'll go into We'll sound
the spoiler alarm as we go through the rest of
the movie so we can talk about the actual plot. Yeah,
and any of the other movies as well, because it
(01:09):
does reference a lot of the other movies. I want
to be able to talk about.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
All of them.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Okay, So this is Alien Romulus, which premiered on August sixteenth,
twenty twenty four, written by Fetti Alvarez and Rodo's Sayaguays,
and directed by Feedti Alvarez. In this movie, while scavenging
the deep ends of a dere like space station, a
group of young space colonizers come face to face with
the most terrifying life form in the universe. That is
(01:34):
the spoiler free promotional summary.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Oh okay, ve check.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Did we like the movie overall? How will extend the
Test of Time?
Speaker 3 (01:47):
All right? Without revealing the plot details, how'd you like
the movie?
Speaker 2 (01:51):
I thought it was good. I liked it. I thought
it was interesting, and it definitely had a lot of
like aspects of it that we don't get in the
other films when it comes to like character development that
I really enjoyed. And the twist at the end is
(02:12):
fucking crazy, Like you have to watch it just for
that last twist. That's my spoiler free version of it. Yes,
so I liked it, and I would recommend people watch
it if they're fans of the franchise or if they're
fans of like sci fi or horror.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
I really, I really enjoyed it. I thought like I
was nervous. I'm just like, man, just like, please let
it be decent. But because I mean, we've we've watched
a few of these now we've recorded Aliens and Alien three,
and I'm like, I was really hoping they could just,
you know, get this franchise kind of back on track
from it's been kind of all over the place, and
(02:49):
this was a nice return to kind of thematically to
like the first movie, and it brings in a lot
of elements from all the movies, and yeah, it has
that sort of the vibe of the movie of just
being focused on this small crew of people. And I
don't want to say much more about that, but yeah,
then the third act gets weird.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
And I love it. I love it. I think it's
fucking bizarre, but in the best way. It's like little
like just disgusting, little nibblets of like this idea of
science fiction and like human development, and that's all I'm seeing.
I'm also it's great, it's great. It's weird.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
I don't really know what to make of that final act, but.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
It's great, So go and watch it just so you
can watch the end because it's really good for that part.
And I'm excited for it to come out on streaming
or whatever because things don't go to DVD anymore.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
So I was very happy with it.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Yeah, me too.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
So if you haven't seen it yet, please see it,
whether in the theater or whenever you have an opportunity.
It does. It stands alone. You can watch it without
really any context. You'll definitely benefit from having seen at
least the original movie. And it does pull elements from
believe all the movies. So that is that. So we're
going to go into the trivia section and there's going
(04:07):
to be some little bit of spoilers in there. Then
we're going to go into the whole film. So this
is your time to jump out of the airlock and
then come back after you've seen the movie.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Trivia time. What facts could we uncover for Alien Romulus.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
So, after the acquisition of twenty first Century Fox by
the Walt Disney Company was officially confirmed that the twenty
nineteen Cinema con that future alien films are in development.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Ooh, Disney is really cranking them out with the sci
fi they were like, Okay, you know us for these
family classics, but what if we took over the science
fiction genres? And I'm like, I fucking hate monopolies, Like
I hate when it's just like one entity doing everything,
(04:53):
but they're actually doing a good job, so it's hard
to hate them.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
Yeah, it really seems like they took a moment to
like A says some of these franchises like Predator, an
Alien and see, like how can we move forward with these?
Speaker 2 (05:07):
You know, really like like a more modern and modern way,
Like it's very of its time, which I really enjoy.
That's one of the markers of science fiction that helps
us understand our current like landscape and world. Right, it's
a it's kind of like a looking glass. So it's
(05:28):
very interesting that they're they're moving things along in a
way that's like, let's give these ips a breath of
fresh air.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
Yeah. So various projects were in development, including a story
by Neil Blancamp that picked up with Ellen Ripley after
the movie Aliens ignoring the events of Alien three in Resurrection,
and Sigourney Weaver has express interest in returning to the
role of Ellen Ripley with the right script, so it's
possible she'll be back at some point. Ridley Scott had
planned to make three prequel films, the first two being
(05:58):
Prometheus in twenty twelve and then A in Covenant in
twenty seventeen. It's unclear whether his third prequel film is
actually going to be made at this point, but in
March twenty twenty two, it was announced that Fettie Alvarez
would write and direct the first film after pitching his
own story. And he's a filmmaker from Uruguay who previously
directed horror films Evil Dead in twenty thirteen and Don't
(06:18):
Breathe in twenty sixteen, So I was not familiar with
his name when I saw him attached to this project,
but I'm sure a lot of horror f fans were.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
I haven't seen the new Evil Dead either. I've been
avoiding horror for a while, like a long while. I
think personal life experiences have made the enjoyment of the
genre very difficult because it's so real sometimes that I
just it's uncomfortable for me. But I feel like I'm
in a new era where I'm like open to it
(06:48):
in a way that's kind of exciting. So I might
check out The Evil Dead, and there's this element of
Camp and the Evil Dead the original that I thoroughly enjoy.
It's not a classic horror film in terms of the
way that it was executed when you think of like
other films, but yeah, I want to I like what
(07:09):
he did here, so I'm definitely interested in like his
vision for other films.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Yeah, and screenwriter Roto Seegways is also a longtime collaborator.
He was the writer on those other movies as well.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Oh, I love that. I love when somebody's like not
without my friend.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Yeah, bring the team.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
The film was initially set to be released on Hulu,
but has later changed to a theatrical release. I do
wonder if that does have to do with how successful
the movie Prey was, because that was a released on Hulu.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Oh yeah, that movie was amazing. I would hope that
maybe they could do a theatrical release for that, because
I would pay money to watch it again at the
big in the big screen.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Yeah. Alvarez sought out the special effects crew from nineteen
eighty six is Aliens to work on the creatures and
their physical sets. Practical creatures and miniatures. Were you who
whenever possible to help ground the later VFX work. Actor
Ian Holme, who played Ash in the original nineteen seventy
nine movie, passed away in twenty twenty. Alvarez reached out
(08:11):
to Holme's family, and his widow, Sophie is Simple, gave
her blessing to use his likeness. The family was also
the first to see the rough versions of the scenes,
and the decision was met with criticism as a debate
around resurrecting decease actors on screen continues.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Yeah, that's hard. I think if you have the family's
blessing that that's like a major part of it.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Yeah. I mean, that's really the only thing you can
do at this point.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
I mean you could do it without their blessing and
then just be an asshole.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
Yeah. I mean, I don't know the legal ins and
outs of it, but I feel like permission has to
be granted in some way.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
I'm glad that they asked the family. At least that's
like common courtesy, But corporations don't have to have common courtesy,
and most.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Don't so, as the movie illustrates, Yeah Diddy, Alvarez had
several conversations with Ridley's and James Cameron before and during production,
with Cameron giving notes on the script and the edit,
and Albarez made a point to say that he had
to choose when to follow in their footsteps and win
to Rebel. The movie makes references and homages to every
(09:13):
film in the franchise, as well as the video game
Alien Isolation.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Hmmm. I don't play video games.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
I don't either, so we haven't really talked about that,
but that game is held in like really high regard
within like the fan base, and people put it up
there with the best of the movies.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Oh wow.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
So and I know there is like a web series
that was made somewhat from like the cut scenes of
the game, like an animation oh wow, and like new
scenes as well to complete the story. So we might
check that out at some point because that's out there.
There's also a bunch of short films that were made
in the last decade, so there's a lot more content
if we want to go into them after the movies.
(09:52):
The film was shot largely in chronological order, which is
a rare thing, but they were shooting primarily on a
stage that allowed that to happen. The characters to kind
of evolve over time. Movie is set in twenty one
forty two, which places it twenty years after the movie
Alien and thirty seven years before Aliens.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Oh so it's like in the middle.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Yeah. Oh. The film had an estimated budget of around
eighty million, and it's had a big opening weekend at
the box office and it's on track to be a
financial success.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
Oh that's great, because I haven't heard I don't know
a lot of people, so I haven't heard anybody talking
about the Alien movie. And if I wasn't doing this podcast,
it would go. It would not. It's not on my
radar with my current like consumption of media.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
Yeah, it really wasn't on my radar either, And it
was only like we decided, well, I was looking at
like what should we do next on the podcast, and
it popped up, pulled up Alien and like, oh there's
a new movie coming out and a new TV series
coming up. Yeah. I'm like okay, so yeah, And then
I didn't really see anyone talking about it. I would
occasionally see an ad on like social media, probably because
(11:00):
I have typed in Alien enough times recently.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
They're like, oh, you like Alien, You're gonna love this
new joy we got going for you. It's got everything what.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
I would always scroll past because I went in without
any trailers or anything. Yeah, and reviews for the film
have been largely positive. Lots of praise going to the visuals,
the performances, and the horror elements.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Yeah, you know what I noticed. I think the main
character kind of gave me eleven vibes from Stranger Things.
She kind of gave that like young girl like vibe,
so she's not like overly sexualized, which is really nice. Yeah,
I really like.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
That deep space dive. Let's break down some of our
thoughts on the film. You can share your thoughts with
us through email or social media. We may use your
comments on an upcoming episode.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
One thing like you feel pretty immediately is like this
feels like a new movie, but it also works very well,
like in the world established years ago with the first
Alien Oh.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Yeah, yeah, it even brings a new light to that world,
Like they established this idea of the company and the
way that we are treated as humans within this like
mega corporation, and now we see what these colonies look like.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
Yeah, just like I love that little bit of world
building there at the beginning, and then the rest of
the movie we're isolated with this crew of like six people.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
You know. Yeah, no, I think it was really cool
to see the characters in their day to day like
struggling and living in this world that's full of disease
and poverty and forced work. And god, doesn't that feel familiar?
(12:57):
You know what I mean? Like, holy shit, man, Like
you're stuck with the like you think you worked enough
to get out of your situation. You go to the
higher powers, the you know, HR or whatever they like
this this fucking agency, and you tell them, hey, I
want to check on my permit so I can travel
(13:18):
because I did my time, I did my five years,
you know, my contract is up. And they're like, yeah,
so your contract changed something outside of your power. Things
you can't control.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
The goal posts of it moved.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Yeah, And that happens all the time in society.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
You know.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
You think, oh, well, you know, if I get my degree,
I'm definitely going to be out of this, you know,
And they're like, oh, yeah, well, here's like thirty thousand
dollars of debt that you have to pay off. Good
luck with that, and now we prefer a master's degree actually,
And then you're so you're just like chasing this thing
or or being told that you're never going to get out.
(13:57):
You can't get out, and in this world they don't
see the sun. How fucking horrible is that? Yeah, Like
in our current time, in our modern era, right now
we understand how seasonal effective disorder works. You know, if
you don't have access to the sun's like rays, you're
(14:17):
gonna feel depressed. You're not gonna have a good time.
And it's like painting this picture of like this like
perpetual nightlife when she's walking down the street and there's
like hookers and gambling and it kind of gives like
a dirty Vegas And it was very interesting that, like,
(14:39):
you know, what, what do we look like as a
society that is forced to work? How do we find leisure?
How do we find joy? When there is no light?
You can't go hiking, you can't enjoy nature in the
way because it's scary to go out at night. So,
you know, it's it's a very urban, very like desolate
(15:01):
in a way though even though you're full of people,
you're so alone. She's walking by herself with her android
brother and like it's just her and him and it's
so sad, and her android is played by like this
tall skinny black guy that stands out in all these crowds,
and he's like the cleanest guy there too. Everybody else
(15:25):
is kind of dirty, And I thought it was interesting
that they cast a black man to play this role
that kind of switches in between. So at first I
was kind of like, what is going on? Why is
he so like like there's something going on like with
him mentally or like he's like got a disability or something.
(15:47):
And then we find out that he's programmed. His program
is just old.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
Yeah. So I believe they mentioned briefly like he was
pulled out of the trash and her father like reprogrammed him.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Yeah. So it's a very interesting choice to represent a
disability in this way that it's like a coding error.
It's weird. I don't know. It didn't sit well with
me personally, that this is the representation for disabilities that
(16:20):
we have is like this childlike person that has to
be led around. There's a lot of people who are
very high functioning, or even if they're not, they have
to be somewhat independent. Even though they're like not able
to do things, they are capable of doing more than
(16:40):
we give them credit for. And I don't know, it's
just weird. It's some like initially just seeing the representation
of like this black man following and being led by
this little white girl, the imaging.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
The.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Juxtaposition, it just felt weird. And then his one objective
is to do what's right for her. It's so infantilizing.
It kind of gave me Mammy in a way that
like or you know, like like she has her servant
that takes care of her, but because he's like not
(17:18):
intelligent enough to do everything, she has to lead him along.
But he's never going to do anything that's better for
both of them. And throughout the story he is controlled
by other people. There's no agency for him at any point,
(17:39):
and that just kind of sucked, Like I don't know.
That was the one thing that I felt like was
really lacking, Like I wish that there was a way
for him to like take the computer chip that he
was given where he was like hyper intelligent and very
(18:00):
like articulate. If there was a way for him to
cut that in half and keep part of it but
not be a company man or something where he could
have it all.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
I thought there might be something where he was.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Gonna get up after he fell down or do something
to save the day.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
Right, Well, yeah, I thought there's gonna be something where
while he is has that other chip in him, that
like something would happen where he needs to be the
original Andy that looks at their rain to like save
her life, make a decision for her best interest and
not the company. Yeah, that he would kind of override
the right is programming, And maybe that would be a
(18:41):
cliche thing at this point, but like that's kind of
what you're rooting for when you see like their relationship
is disappearing because he's becoming a different person.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Yeah, and that happens, and like it's scary because people
do sell their souls to the devil and they change completely,
you know. But it just felt really hollow that he
didn't have an arc, that his ARC was, Oh, we
took the chip out. Now you're back to being a
dumb old Andy. Yeah, And it's like, well, that's not fair.
(19:15):
He had he had he has to have some agency
and I mean the new directive okay, but girl, you're
still including yourself in that. That's still very selfish. I
was hoping she would say, why don't you do what's
best for Andy? But it's us because you're stuck with me,
and because you belong to me, you're my brother, but
(19:38):
you're also my thing. And it's just weird. I don't know,
it just I feel like they tried to establish that
brotherhood thing, but because Andy doesn't have a larger capacity,
he like the most he does with her is like joke,
he tells those dad jokes. He never says, you know,
(19:58):
I care about you or you know, even though my object,
my prime directive is this, I wanted to be that,
and there is no overriding. There is nothing that says
that his core is about her too. She kind of
does it when she runs back and gets him. I
don't know, it's just it was hard to believe that
(20:19):
they had a deeper relationship than Girl and Android. And
he never got like a satisfying arc, which it just
felt really sad to me because he was such an
interesting character. And I mean he did go from like
dim witted to hyper intelligent to almost evil and then
he just go back, he goes back to dim witted.
(20:41):
It just felt like so unsatisfying.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
Yeah, I agree with that, I've I mean, maybe it
didn't make sense with the rules that they were laying out,
but like I just felt like he should have grown
in some way at the end, that like maybe he
retained some of those motor functions that he recovered, or
he does like intelligence or.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
Yeah something, give him something.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
But I do think, you know, shout out to the
actor David Johnson, because he played it out so good,
really well.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Holy shit, man. When he was the bad guy, he
was scary and he like he the way that he
like his physicality of like the twitching and like bad
android and like haha he he dad joke, dad joke
to oh well, it seems that I'm able to articulate
(21:30):
and notice that the creature is doing this. Oh my god.
That was fucking fascinating and horrifying to go from like
good old Landy to stranger with a mind, like a
mind that we don't understand or really can Like, you know,
he was simple. He was a simple creature with one objective,
(21:54):
and now he's this complicated evil thing.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
Yeah, he went from not threat at all to.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
The most threatening, almost more threatening than the alien itself.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
Yeah, he becomes I mean, so this movie doubles down
on what all the other movies have kind of done
that we've watched so far. We've watched the first three
Alien movies that the company is the main villain.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Yes, they are the true evil because the alien is
just doing what it does. It is it is like,
it does not have language. It is reproducing, and it
is trying to survive in a way. Right, it is
doing what we all are like what a creature is
supposed to do in its life cycle. It's a kind
(22:44):
of like a dumb animal that's just very like good
at what it does. And so the company is an
entity that has plans and objectives and they don't have
They just are doing these things because they want better workers.
(23:06):
They want to exploit this creature.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
Yeah, and so Andy becomes the embodiment of the company.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
And you can't decide if you can trust it or
not because he gives you good information. He's like, well,
you know, the creature sees you because your body temperature
and your sound and homegirls like really quick and she's like, okay,
well let's turn up the heat.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
Yeah. So, like he's like the best suited to protect
them until you know, he does it until you wind
up on the wrong side of a door or something. Right,
He's not going to open it for you, right, So yeah,
he was very complicated character, and it, you know, questionable
as we went through, but it definitely he added so
much to the story.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
Oh yeah, Like I couldn't see it without him.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
And him and his sister Rain. I felt like they
were the only characters that were really all that developed
the rest of the crew. I wish it had a
little bit more, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
A little bit more time instead of them just being
like trailer trash. That's kind of what I got from them,
Like they all live in this trailer and they're all
wanting to steal this thing, and they're like, well, you
can join us because you have an android. You don't
have any other skills, but you have this thing that
can speak to the computer. And it's just like, I
(24:24):
don't know, Like the characters were interesting and they try
to develop them a little bit, but it wasn't It
wasn't as flushed out as the main two.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
Yeah, I wish I understood like their friendship with Rain Moore.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
And how they knew her, like were they working together,
especially the boy that liked her.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
Yeah. So reading this, the cast list I pulled from
Wikipedia says that Tyler is Rain's ex boyfriend. I'm like, oh,
I don't recall actually hearing that. No, maybe they mentioned
it in a flying but yeah, and then the rest
of them are all related. There's Tyler's sister, Tyler and
kay brother and sister, and then their cousin Jorne he
(25:09):
was annoying, and then he was dating the Asian woman Navarro.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
But then it was implied that he got his cousin pregnant. No,
you didn't feel that vibe.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
I don't think so.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
You didn't feel that vibe when when it was the
sister with the curly hair and the cousin and they
were in the ship, there was a moment that felt
a little too familiar. Maybe I'm reading into it too much,
but it felt like maybe he was the baby daddy.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
Oh she said the daddy was just some nobody.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
Isn't that him? I think it's him. I seriously think
it's him. And I think that's why whatever came out
of her looked a little bit like a hillbilly. I'm
just saying there was a moment, and I don't know
if I don't, I don't think you caught onto it.
But I definitely felt like there was a vibe between
(26:02):
them that was a little more than family.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
Okay, well, I'll leave that there.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
I'm just saying I think that was the baby daddy.
I really do, And when your cousin is your baby daddy,
you're gonna have a weird kid. Hopefully not. I mean,
I hope some people, you know, like famous people like
FDR married his cousin. But I just I know that
you know, the closer you are, the more messed up
the kids can get. And it's just like frowned upon
(26:29):
that whole incess thing. But yeah, I think there's something
going on there, and I wish I would have nudged
you or something to indicate to you that that moment
what's happening. And when we watch it again, I will
definitely show you what I mean. Okay, And please, if
(26:50):
you if you agree with me, or if you noticed
it too, let Jason know because I don't want to
feel like I'm crazy. But that's why I thought it
was like, oh my god, he has girlfriend because uh
woo Eileen wu. She was gorgeous. I think she was
the most beautiful actress that I've ever seen in this
(27:12):
genre or in this like film franchise. Gorgeous girl and
even bald headed crazy. And I'm really sad that she
died first, that she was like implanted, Oh horrifying, And
the fact that it happened so fast, and that the
creature didn't die right after that it scurried away.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
Oh yeah. But then what didn't happen fast was the
chest bursting. They like drew that out.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Right until she thought she was safe.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
Well, I mean the actual process of the creature, Oh.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
Yeah, coming out, it was like slithering now, it slithered out.
And this movie had so many vaginal references. It was
crazy how much like vaginal imagery was in this movie.
I really enjoyed that because usually it's like this phallic
(28:09):
thing that's like pounding you or penetrating you or killing you,
and this time it's like this vaginal wound in your
chest where something is slowly emerging. There's this idea of
pregnancy that's very prominent in this film. It's like one
of the major like plot points I think, or major
(28:32):
arcs or whatever, major focuses or theme. Yeah, theme, I
think that will go with theme. It was a major theme,
this idea of pregnancy and giving birth and the visceral
raden like kind of growth like occurrence of like giving birth,
and I think that's why it went so slow with
(28:53):
the chest opening. She was giving birth and birth hurts,
you know, It's something that's not supposed to be painless
or easy. And I think that was really well visualized
in that chest burst for Navarro, Like as she was dying,
(29:13):
she was giving birth to this creature. And this isn't
the first berth that we'll have this in this movie.
Speaker 3 (29:20):
Yeah, just the like it's such a good twist to
put on like at this point, like we were not
shocked that the aliens burst out of your chest, like
that was a big moment in the first movie, but
to actually like take that and draw it out slowly
like added this whole new element of horror to it.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
Yeah, to like, yeah, I think it's like chef's kiss,
like perfection. Uh, but again it's because there is so
much fear in childbirth and we all know that, like
not everybody survives that experience. And yeah, she died obviously,
but like it was just like very traumatic and slow
(29:59):
and drawn out, and the creature just like came out
and was like gooey and fleshy. And the creature itself
is kind of phallic. It looks like a penis and
it was. It was just very sad that this character,
probably one of the only ones who knows how to
(30:20):
fly this ship, just die. And I mean, like spoiler,
not this bus, this whole podcast is a spoiler. But
we only have two survivors and one of them is
an android.
Speaker 3 (30:32):
Yeah, it's definitely you can feel like the very strong
homage of the first movie and wait, like I said,
it focuses on this crew of like blue collar workers
in an isolated spaceship, but then it comes down to
just like our one main character surviving and you know,
Andy kind of survives. We can presume that he's going
(30:53):
to be recovered if they pick up this storyline again. Yeah,
in the first movie, it was Ripley and the cat
and ends with like her getting into the pod and
recording a log about what happened, Like that's just how
the Alien ended. And then there's tons of references to
the other movies, some of them we haven't watched recently,
so I didn't quite catch them all, but I know
(31:15):
like Alien Resurrection is going to deal a lot with
cloning and like the hybrid aspect of like a human
and alien crossover type thing. And then the prequels Prometheus
and Alien Covenant they have that like black goo stuff
in it that we see near the end of the movie.
Then there were some things that felt a little too
(31:37):
heavy handed of a reference. I will say there's when
Andy in the Elevator Shaft is killing the alien and
he's like, get away from her, you bitch, And that's
a direct quote from Ripley and Aliens. Oh, and it
seemed like weird that he would even say that, So
it just felt forced.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
Oh I didn't notice that. I thought it was like, ooh,
he cursed, ooh, he.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
Cursed, like because that line is pretty iconic, I think
in the franchise, and they even they advertise Alien three
as the Bitch is back. So yeah, there's It definitely
is showing its love for all the movies.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
Yeah, I like that. I like that a lot.
Speaker 3 (32:16):
But at the same time, I think you can watch
this without any context and still enjoy a good movie.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
I mean, it's crazy the fact like this movie is
doing so much visually. It's stunning. I think it's really
good visually too.
Speaker 3 (32:31):
Yeah, like the art direction, the set design, like all
of that is so like thought out, the way it's
shot and lit and the like it leans into that
color red so heavily, Like you can tell that there's
just like a clear vision behind this movie.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
I think that's what happens when you have the writer
and the director be one person. There's an image in
their head when they're writing this that can come to
life when they're finally directing it. And I think that's
just like peak art, Like this is the epitome of
an art form, of an artist showing like this was
(33:06):
what was in my brain and now it is projected
on the screen. It is so iconic.
Speaker 3 (33:13):
But and like us just having come off of watching
Alien three, we've already recorded about so it'll come out
in a couple of weeks. But like knowing what a
shit show that production was and how the studio was
like interfering with everything and the director didn't get to,
you know, have his vision and everything, like this is
(33:33):
such a contrast to that, where, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
I think when you let creative people do what they do,
you are giving yourself a recipe for success, like it
is it is what you want to do is Obviously
you can't give free rein to the creative because the
creative is going to go crazy, but you can lead them.
You can guide them, you can encourage them and make
(33:57):
a space for them to flow. And you know, it's
really hard to do that because creative people are so sensitive.
I mean, we're all sensitive and creative, but when you're
in the middle of this process of making, I think
there's so much like I don't know what it's just
(34:18):
when you're in this process of making, you are in
a very vulnerable state, and to come in and tell somebody, oh, well,
we're going to rewrite everything or we're going to change everything,
it really fucks up the process. And you can see
it in the art and this piece is just it's
(34:39):
very You can tell the person was happy and energetic
and collaborating and that's what you want. And god damn,
this movie is crazy. Like okay, so can we talk
about the birth of the creature?
Speaker 3 (34:55):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (34:55):
Okay. So there's the reason the company is trying to
like get this shit on the road is because they're
doing experiments with its blood and they're like, oh, well, look,
we fucking smashed the rat and then we injected it
with its blood and it's like fucking fine. Now it's
(35:17):
walking fine. But they cut, like they leave before you
can see the rat becoming a weird creature and like you,
they pan over and you see what the rat became,
and it's fucking weird. It's like a tentacle and fur
and nasty, nasty, nasty nasty. And homeboy Andy's got this little,
(35:42):
you know, canister full of blood vials and he's like,
let's go, guys, I have one purpose and one mission.
And they're trying to get to their homegirl that's like
trapped in the room with the creature, and they find
her later, all messed up and they're like, okay, well
she's really hurt, and Andy's like, inject her, do it,
(36:06):
It'll fix her, and you know, uh, Rain is like,
hell no, I don't trust that shit. I don't trust
you right now. Who the fuck are you? We're not
doing that. She can go into the sleepy chamber and
she'll be right as ray when we get there. And
he's like okay, and then they I don't know why
(36:27):
this happens, but the canister full of vials gets transferred
to sick homegirl pregnant girl, and she's on the elevator
with the shit and she's like, well he said it'll
fix me, jab right in the neck. Why did she
listen to her friend.
Speaker 3 (36:44):
I'm guessing she felt like she wasn't going to make
it and she heard that from Mandy, and like.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
She didn't know that Andy was compromised. Maybe she chose
to make that even though he fucking put her in
that situation by not opening the door. That was really
hard pill to swallow that I could not believe, like
that she would not trust her friend over the android
that wouldn't open the door for her. That was like
the only part of the movie that I was like,
is she okay? Like this doesn't feel right, this doesn't
(37:12):
feel logical. If she would have had a line while
he was saying She's like, yeah, give it to me,
give me the shot, you know, anything like that that
showed that she was willing to take it, then then
I would have believed that she would have done it
on her own. But she did it, and somehow she
doesn't become the monster, she gives birth to the monster.
Speaker 3 (37:35):
Yeah. So when I was in college, I used to
do these forty eight hour film festivals where you get
the right shooting at it a short film in forty
eight hours and they're usually horror themed. In October, So
my team made this movie is called terotophobia, and I
don't know who named it, but they thought it had
something to do with being afraid of monsters. But then
(37:57):
when I went back and like looked up that word,
it actually means fear of giving birth to a monster.
Oh so I kind of went down this rabbit hole.
They're like, oh, a lot of women have this fear
of like giving birth.
Speaker 2 (38:07):
To Have you seen Rosemary's Baby? That movie is about
fear of giving birth to a monster.
Speaker 3 (38:14):
So, like I was, you know, disgusted and horrified at
what happened to this woman k in the movie.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
God kay, I can't imagine what.
Speaker 3 (38:25):
It would how horrifying that would be to someone who
has that kind of fear.
Speaker 2 (38:28):
One, Like, you're pregnant, that's scary, yeah, Two, it's a secret.
Three you're suddenly huge within a span of like minutes
because we have that count dot clock that's like reminding
us that there's an impending doom. So she's like bloated
with this child. And then the birth itself is bloody
(38:50):
and gory and scary, and she gives birth to like
an egg.
Speaker 3 (38:54):
Yeah, Like every moment in the sequence was like unexpected.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
Oh my god, it was so fucking horrible baby in there,
and it's like she's like her line of get it
away from me, so real, like please get it away
from her, and like she rips the umbilical cord and
grabs it and starts running with it. And then she
(39:19):
realizes that shit is made of it of acid, and
the baby drops to the cargo bay and it hatches,
and then very rapidly it becomes this long, lanky creature.
I can't call it a man because of the lack
of genitals, so I'll call it a creature. And it
(39:43):
is the most disturbing thing I have seen in a
long time. And they showed it full out. There was
no hiding, there was no like in the shadows. It
was like full out, like pink man creature thing, and
oh it was awful. I hated it. I hated it,
(40:04):
but I loved it so much. I was like, I
can't fucking believe they went there. They fucking did it.
They did it. They made a human Zeno morph. I
kind of wish it had the weird head a little bit,
just a little like a long gated like an elongated head.
It looked like an inside like a guy who doesn't
(40:29):
know how to speak to women who smells a little
odd and maybe he wears a trench coat. But oh
my god, it was good. It was great. I was
like on pins and needles waiting to see what this
creature did. And she tried to vanquish it and could it.
(40:50):
It was like latched onto her. It had a tail. Oh,
oh my god. But it's like every every alien movie.
The way you call this thing is just shooting it
off into space. Yeah, Like obviously there was the sequence
of her killing them with a gun when she had
it in zero gravity, and that was fucking epic.
Speaker 3 (41:12):
Yeah, So that's an element that I really liked that,
Like the physics of gravity played a big role in
the movie. There's a lot of like science fiction space
movies that just ignore gravity. They don't really pay attention
to how gravity works, or like the ship just has gravity.
They never explain why. Yeah, but yeah, this has you know,
gravity generators that seem to have to fluctuate on and
(41:35):
off even though they're turned off. Yeah, but yeah, and
then they use that so well when she can't with
the acid, like go down to the floor, right.
Speaker 2 (41:44):
Because there's a whole breach and then you're.
Speaker 3 (41:46):
Fucked and then like the elevators don't work without gravity.
That makes sense. Yeah, see, I really enjoyed that aspect
of it.
Speaker 2 (41:54):
Very logical because most you're right, most space movies don't
touch gravity. It's expensive to like do that.
Speaker 3 (42:01):
Yeah, although I still wonder with her, like shooting all
these aliens and zero gravity, They're like, none of that's
going to splatter towards you.
Speaker 2 (42:11):
Right, I don't know because usually my from what I understand,
an object in motion stays in motion, and you are
shooting in one direction, so it's like going to explode out,
usually in the opposite direction, and would that's you? You
are in the opposite direction, but instead it goes into
swirly vortex. How convenient. But that's too much thought in physics.
(42:36):
Let's enjoy it for what it is.
Speaker 3 (42:38):
And then she had that gun, which I think that
gun you kind of homages back to Aliens when they
have all the guns with the soldiers.
Speaker 2 (42:46):
I wonder if it's also any reference to the video game.
Speaker 3 (42:51):
Possibly, right, So she uses most of the AMMA or
the charge on that gun. And then I felt like
that last little bit last a long time because they
used it, used it twice several times. She used it
to like propel her up the elevator shaft, and then
Andy uses it to kill the alien again. Yeah, I
thought there was just like a few shots left in
(43:12):
that day.
Speaker 2 (43:12):
There were four hundred shots on that thing, so maybe
it was more than we thought. But yeah, that creature
freaked me out. I was like horrified. The birth of
it was traumatizing. Like, if you're pregnant or planned to
become pregnant, maybe you should skip this one because it's
so fucked up. But it's so good. It's like great,
(43:33):
Like I think the fears of the fear of pregnancy
is so real and it's so valid, Like there's so
many valid reasons to be afraid of pregnancy. It's just
so nice that a film kind of focuses on that,
because I mean, thinking about it, like the last time
I thought about a film that had to deal with
(43:54):
pregnancy is like Rosemary's Baby giving birth to them, the
Devil's Child. But yeah, I really enjoyed it. I think
there are parts of it that I wish we're more
developed or you know, had a different outcome, But I
think for what it is, it's really good and I
would take it, like I'll take it give me it.
Speaker 3 (44:14):
Yeah, it's also in the movie. At the very beginning,
they they find the original alien from the first movie
from the wreckage of that ship, and that's how they've
cloned the aliens that are in this movie that they've
done experience experiments on. Oh and you see the original
alien like strung up and it still has Ripley's harpoon
(44:35):
stuck through it.
Speaker 2 (44:36):
Oh that's fun. What's from that? What movie?
Speaker 3 (44:39):
Is that from the original alien?
Speaker 2 (44:41):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (44:41):
She harpoons it. She harpoons it, and then the air
locks it.
Speaker 1 (44:45):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (44:46):
Oh yeah, she does harpoon it. Yeah. Harpoon. What a
fun word.
Speaker 3 (44:50):
I feel like I'm saying it wrong, but that's right
hard Yeah. Well I also read that. So there's that
countdown going in on and during the end of the movie,
and it's like a thirty minute count and it actually
is in real time thirty minutes. Yeah, that's awesome. I
love when.
Speaker 2 (45:04):
They do that that because usually it's like five minute countdown,
We're going to watch the sequence for twenty minutes. I
did like the visual of the ship crashing into the ring.
It was really cool. I didn't I didn't ever think
about like a ring being like this like planetary. I
(45:25):
don't know what it is, like landscape or planetary like
thing that could like fuck you up, you know, because
they look so pretty when you draw them. You're just
drying a little a little circle around another little circle,
and you think, to me, it always felt like that's
the planet's halo. But it's like this rocky like thing
(45:49):
going like one hundred thousand miles an hour, just spinning
like a road underneath a car. And holy shit, it
was like a cheese grater, just like shredding that fucking
giant spaceship.
Speaker 3 (46:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (46:04):
Yeah, that's how fucking Rook diesed crazy. It was crazy
to see him in this movie.
Speaker 3 (46:08):
Yeah, that was unexpected to see him pop up.
Speaker 2 (46:11):
I feel like he was a welcomed element though.
Speaker 3 (46:14):
Yeah, and then it wasn't. Once he was like in
the scene, I kind of thought like, Okay, they're gonna
kind of do one scene with him and he'll transfer
that objective to.
Speaker 2 (46:24):
Uh andy Andy and he'll hold the torch.
Speaker 3 (46:27):
Yeah, but they kept him in there.
Speaker 2 (46:29):
As he was Walden. Yeah, so that was interesting. I
don't know, he definitely looked fake, but I think it
helps that he's like an android.
Speaker 3 (46:37):
Yeah, I think that's why like it didn't. I was
okay with the visualization, the visuals of it, because you know,
there's a lot of there's still like elements of Uncanny
Valley when we are recreating actors and or the aging
and stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (46:52):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 3 (46:53):
But he had a little bit of that. But it's
still it worked because he's not actually human right sometimes,
like his mouth seemed almost like jittery.
Speaker 2 (47:02):
But he's also like missing half of his body. Yeah,
so it went well with like his vibe. I don't know,
I feel like there's going to be a sequel. I
don't know how I feel about eleven being in a sequel,
but okay, I'm excited to see Andy. I hope he
gets an upgrade or something because the actor was really good.
(47:22):
He was really good, and I'm really sad that he
didn't get his ARC. But maybe in the future he will.
Maybe he's like playing the long game with this one.
You just never know, though, because they might switch directors,
they might do something different with a sequel, and you
never know. I just you know, who knows. Maybe Disney
will wise up and.
Speaker 3 (47:41):
Be like, hey, well it sounds like this is going
to end up being a big hit. For them, which
you know, if if we're rooting for more like this
or a continuation of this, that's a good sign.
Speaker 2 (47:52):
Yeah. Yeah, I think I think we've been in this
golden age of film and television for a while now,
you know, like West World and all these other shows
that are coming on that are so good, and I'm
really excited to see what else happens with the genre.
And I'm kind of thinking maybe we should watch the
(48:15):
TV series maybe, I.
Speaker 3 (48:16):
Don't know, Yeah, the one coming out, yeah next year. Yeah,
I think that's probably the plan. It's called Alien Earth.
Speaker 2 (48:24):
Ooh, they're on Earth? Oh shit, imagine them like at
the Grand Canyon.
Speaker 1 (48:34):
Astral Queen, who was the standout character in the movie.
Speaker 2 (48:39):
I think my astral queen is Andy for being such
a manipulative queen. I like bad Andy better than I
liked Bad Joke. Andy is that bad? I'm bad. Although
Kay really did the work with that pregnancy scene, Like
that one scene, she was so good. She was so
(49:00):
good and believable, Like I was scared with her. I
don't know, I don't know. Can I give it to
k and Andy? Can I do too?
Speaker 3 (49:08):
No? No, that's the point. We got to pick Oney oh.
Speaker 2 (49:11):
Damn, Okay, who are you picking?
Speaker 3 (49:14):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (49:16):
Okay, I picked k because she slept through most of it,
and then she got up and did her thing. That's
who I pick. I pick Cake.
Speaker 3 (49:23):
That's fair, that's fair, Queen. She did inject herself though,
and cause that whole problem.
Speaker 2 (49:29):
Hey, she didn't know.
Speaker 3 (49:32):
Should I just pick rain?
Speaker 2 (49:33):
She was intelligent and with it.
Speaker 3 (49:36):
She was I mean, like the the guys were stupid.
They were ripping and who was it? Tyler? So they're
doing that scene where they're they're going to cross through
the room with all the face huggers. They've adjusted the
temperature and they're trying to be quiet.
Speaker 2 (49:50):
And then he's on the phone and then he answers
this phone call. Everybody. I know we're supposed to be quiet,
but let me take this phone call and be like, hey, k, hey, sis,
how are you? What's going on? Where are you at?
Speaker 3 (50:05):
Like we're tiptoe in here, trying not to breathe too
loud or sweat or anything.
Speaker 2 (50:09):
But let me answer this phone.
Speaker 3 (50:11):
Whisper on this phone, Hey, you just got to look
around for some keys? You check, checked the floor, check
your pocket, something like.
Speaker 2 (50:17):
Can I text? You would have been so easy. Can
I text you please?
Speaker 3 (50:21):
You can turn the volume off on your radio talk
to her in like sixty seconds when you got through
the room. And then the other guy, Jorn, he was
just so so angry, and I mean they flushed it
out a little bit, like why he was so against
the androids right, and then as Andy started to change,
(50:42):
was kind of confirming what he believed about them. Yeah,
so I don't hold that too much against him, but
he's definitely irrational at times.
Speaker 2 (50:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (50:50):
So yeah, I think I'm gonna pick Rain. I'm picking
in the main character because I'm boring like that. Okay,
and Kaylee Spiney, I think she was good in that role.
Speaker 2 (50:59):
Is well, yeah, she did a good job, but she
really looked like that girl from Stranger Things to me,
I didn't think so she really didn't think so I
thought she did. It was weird. I was waiting for
her to do with some mind tricks, just.
Speaker 3 (51:13):
A backup for a moment. There's one point I wanted
to think there was early in the movie. We see
like these paintings of the They battlefields, I think, and
there's in that painting there's like an infant nursing on
its dead mother's body.
Speaker 2 (51:28):
Oh yeah, so this movie is based Romulus. Romulus is
a twin brother of Remis. Remus, Yeah, and they were
born feral children who were nursed by a wolf and
where they grew up became Rome. And that painting is
(51:53):
a depiction of war of the Roman Empire as a
whole has been built on. Personally, I'm tired of the Western,
the Western aesthetic of like mythology. I'm tired. I'm tired
of like Romulus and Prometheus and all of these Greek
(52:14):
and Roman entities giving us inspiration for what we're tired.
I'm tired. Give us something else. There's so many other
amazing mythological stories and structures that we can tap into.
We are a globe full of mythology. Why always the
(52:37):
Roman Empire? I know why? And I'm tired, so I
chose not to dig into it at all. But it
definitely was foreshadowing for the creature nursing on his mother
who was expelling that black ghool. But he didn't even
(52:58):
nurse on her. He like suck her from her neck,
and I'm like, suck a titty bitch.
Speaker 3 (53:03):
Go there. Yeah, I thought it was going to go
more of that nursing route, which would have been.
Speaker 2 (53:11):
It would have been epic. It would have been epic.
I think it would have been awesome if he like
ripped the titty off, because because give me the fear
of pregnancy, give me the fear of nursing, give me
the real horrible chafing and horrible like pain of motherhood.
Speaker 3 (53:32):
I think they gave you enough.
Speaker 2 (53:35):
They could have gone there. They really could have gone there,
and it wouldn't have been a problem because they already
went there with a baby and the creature. If they
would have just added the titty rip, it would have
been fine, but they wanted to keep it. Pg. Thirteen
or whatever.
Speaker 3 (53:50):
Anyway, sorry to drag us back into that as queens
were Rain and Kay.
Speaker 2 (53:56):
I didn't want to talk about it, but you went there, okay.
Speaker 3 (54:00):
So the next movie coming out on our podcast will
be Aliens from nineteen eighty six. We've already recorded that
episode and we recorded Alien three as well, So that's
what will be next, and then we're going to keep
moving through the other films, probably not going to deal
with the alien versus Predator. Those aren't Cannon and so
(54:20):
I don't know that we'll go there, but We're looking
to watch The Alien Earth sometime in twenty twenty five
right on, and so I think that does it for us.
So thanks for spacing out with us, and remember that
your well being is never in the best interest of
the company that's try.
Speaker 1 (54:37):
Thank you for spacing out with BB and Jason. You
can help us out by subscribing and leaving a positive
rating or review. Next time we will cover the nineteen
eighty six film Aliens. We hope you will join us
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