Not so long ago, the long-awaited blockbuster of the cult director Ridley Scott's “Alien: Testament” was released on wide screens around the globe. Presumably, the story will be final in the popular franchise. The premiere of the picture is an excellent occasion to once again recall the chronology of films about Aliens. Indeed, it was this large-scale saga that at one time completely changed the canons of science fiction.
How did it all start?
Let's start looking at the chronology of Alien films from the very beginning. As often happens in cinema, initially the project was not foreshadowed the most successful outcome. In the 70s, aspiring screenwriter Dan O'Bannon, an ordinary film school graduate, wrote a seemingly unremarkable story called Starbucks. The pillar of the plot was the battle of space pioneers with the evil disgusting alien. The young man decided to earn extra money on the script and offered it to the director Roger Corman, who had the glory of an experienced producer of low-budget films. It is easy to guess that the “meter” considered the topic mediocre and rather worn out.
As a result, Dan O'Bannon trusted the producer and director Walter Hill. The latter was completely cold in the genre of science fiction, intending to turn history into a regular horror movie.
Perhaps we would not have been able to consider the chronology of the films “Alien” if the script did not eventually migrate to Ridley Scott. The authoritative director managed not only to form the image of one of the most recognizable monsters in the cinema, but also to fill a series of adaptations with various philosophical and religious meanings.
“Alien” (1979)
So, we begin to consider the chronology of films about the Alien. As the author of the franchise Ridley Scott himself has repeatedly admitted , the first picture in the series was conceived in the form of an ordinary horror movie like a mysterious hut in a forest or a haunted house. The picture did not claim to be a serious science fiction creation. The tape only aimed at creating an atmosphere of terrible horror, in which a group of people fights for survival in conditions of complete isolation and hopelessness.
In Alien, the image of a maniac was replaced by a bloodthirsty alien monster, and the confined spaces of the Nostromo spaceship became the battlefield. A scene that was traditional for that time was played on the screen. A group of space laborers is engaged in the transportation of minerals, hoping to quickly get to their home planet in pursuit of premiums. Only an evil android is knocked out of the general row, hiding to the last the true motives of its presence on board.
A team of astronauts responds to an alien radio signal and then gets acquainted with the very creature, who was subsequently dubbed a xenomorph. It is this simple story that gives rise to one of the most protracted and spectacular epics in the field of science fiction.
“Aliens” (1986)
After the resounding success of the first part of the space saga, James Cameron took over, who replaced Ridley Scott. With a fairly modest budget for the film “Aliens”, the author managed to bring to the attention of the audience a fairly high-quality action film with elements of horror. The bulk of the funds went not only to create all kinds of models of armored vehicles and equipment, but also to design a new character - the Queen of Aliens.
The results of painstaking work were not long in coming. The film "Aliens" has won a number of prestigious awards. In particular, the picture was nominated for an Oscar and a BAFTA for an outstanding visual component. To this it is worth adding even more than a dozen different nominations in certain categories, as well as simply rave reviews from critics and moviegoers.
“Alien-3” (1992)
We continue our conversation about the development of the series. Examining films about strangers in chronological order, it is worth saying a few words about the third part of the franchise. The development of the cinema universe in the early 90s was taken by director David Fincher. Sigourney Weaver was invited to the main role, as before.
It is immediately worth noting that the director managed to turn the picture into the most serious and gloomy part of the epic. The real drama unfolded already in the opening frames, when the author of the film decided to “kill” the girl Newt and Corporal Hicks, who, in fact, became the new family for Ripley. As a result, the picture turned out to be a kind of reference to religious motives about self-sacrifice.
The film was received hostile by franchise fans and shattered by film critics. Despite this, the director was able to fully convey the style of the true horror and reflect the specific atmosphere, which so delighted the audience after the release of the first part of the story.
Alien 4: Resurrection
Finally, let's talk about the last (until recently) part of tetralogy. Filming decided to do the French director Jean-Pierre Genet. Due to financial constraints, as well as the original view of the author on the development of history, the picture was received most coldly by the viewer. And this is not surprising.
Attention is already drawn to the fact that the main character in the film is the Ripley clone, removed from the test tube. As a result, the script of the tape turned out to be filled with a considerable number of logical inconsistencies and a whole mass of rather strange twists.
Let's see, perhaps, the next part of the Alien: Testament franchise will bring something new to the series and give a good start to restarting the space epic.