Text / Wuji Six Beasts Contributing Author: Shenmu Baishu, public number SIXSHOU.
With the recent release of "Alien: Covenant" in domestic theaters, the classic Hollywood sci-fi series "Alien" has continued. This article is divided into three parts, which briefly describe the evolutionary history of Alien, the previous four "Alien" reviews, and the Alien. Introduction and commentary on Prometheus, one of the prequel trilogy.
1. The evolutionary history of aliens.
The first "Alien" was born in 1979. Director Ridley Scott and surrealist artist HR Giger presented the alien image to everyone. Maybe you have watched a lot of horror movies and sneered at such an old movie. However, in those days, when corrosive saliva, fangs and claws were waving, aliens with metallic luster appeared on the screen. On, the once feared "Big Shark" and "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" are no longer endorsements of nightmares. People are often afraid of the dangers that exist in reality, but aliens are beyond the realm of reality.
▲HR Giger Design Draft Alien Egg
It comes from an unknown planet in outer space. It was born from a bunch of inexplicable eggs. This image runs through the entire Alien Collection. It is an alien egg. Don't be fooled by its seemingly underdeveloped appearance. The environment is very sensitive, and the proximity of any organism can catalyze its hatching. In "Alien 1", when Ripley's cargo spaceship was looking for a signal to try to save the "survivor", Kane of the search and rescue team was attacked by Eggy and became the first host.
▲HR Giger's design draft holding face bug
It hatches little monsters that are face-hugging bugs. Although the face-hugging worm is small, it is quick and sensitive. Its saliva and blood are strong corrosive acids and super aggressive. Its only mission is to find a host. Once it is targeted, it will persistently launch attacks again and again. , until it attaches to the host's face, until the injection of the embryo is completed, its mission is not complete, and the face-hugging worm will die and fall off on its own.
The embryo continues to develop in the host's body, and it will burst out of the chest in just a few hours. This scene is very wonderfully shown in the first Alien. As a weak girl who saw this scene in her childhood, I said, there really is such a thing as "childhood shadows"...
▲ The shape of the alien in "Alien 1"
The chest-breaker absorbs the host's DNA to perfect and transforms itself. After the chest is broken, it immediately flees and hides. It sheds its skin in a very short time, fully develops, and grows into a huge adult alien, waiting for an opportunity to launch an attack on any living creature. In the first alien, the alien's host is a human, and its body shape is also similar to that of a human. It has the wisdom of a human. Looking at its big head, it is not white. It is extremely smart and understands the use of the surrounding environment. hide yourself.
In "Alien 1", the monster brutally killed all the crew members, only Ripley survived. She turned on the spacecraft's self-destruction system to prepare to blow it up and escaped in a lifeboat. When you thought it was all over, it was already hidden in the lifeboat, and I was so frightened that I revisited "Alien 1" and quickly glanced at the progress bar. Of course, Ripley defeated the aliens and survived, but it's a wonderful process that you need to experience for yourself.
In the second part, the aliens strike again. Ripley, who had been hibernating for 57 years, was rescued back to Earth by the rescue team. At this time, humans had already migrated to the planet where the aliens were located and may have been destroyed by the group. Ripley was persuaded to go to the rescue with the army.
▲ Alien image in "Alien 2"
▲ The first appearance of the alien queen
In this one, more human beings are parasitized, and the aliens that break out of their chests have more folds on the head and three fingers, which are basically the same as in "Alien 1". But they are numerous and know more about collaboration between teams. And there's an even bigger boss, the Alien Queen, who can not only spawn a lot, but is also extremely smart and entangled. After a difficult life-and-death struggle, Ripley finally escaped with the little girl Newt and the seriously wounded soldiers.
It is worth mentioning that this "Alien 2", which was born in 1986, is also considered to have easter eggs. About the 6th second from the end of the ending song, there is a rustling sound under the shady curtain. I understand it as an alien egg activity. The slight sound, this is probably the director's foreshadowing for the next film.
In "Alien 3", Ripley's spaceship did not return to Earth as he wished. The cryogenic dormancy chamber broke away from the mother ship and landed on the prisoner planet of Berserk 101. Only Ripley survived. As everyone knows, she has been used as a host and implanted. Alien embryos, alien dogs tear apart prisoners, but Ripley is merciful. Finally, after killing the alien dog, Ripley jumped into the lead water and chose to die with the alien who had just broken his chest.
The aliens in this part can fully explain why the aliens are at the top of the food chain. Its host is a dog, and it absorbs the excellent DNA from the dog, making it more responsive, alert, and aggressive. The life force is stronger, and where does this alien come from, it is the egg laid on Ripley's escape boat before the death of the alien queen in "Alien 2".
I thought that with Ripley's death, the Alien series would end here, but "Alien 4" is a new trick. Come out, and bred the Alien Queen from clone No. 8, Ripley also combined the Alien's genes, with sharp nails, and highly corrosive blood.
The alien queen also combined Ripley's genes to become the first alien with a uterus, completing the transition from egg birth to viviparity, and she gave birth to the first alien baby with eyes. But the alien baby seems to have more human genes. He killed the alien queen with one palm and ran to Ripley, who had the same breath as it. Even though Ripley was reluctant to face this "child", she was still sober and rational, using her own blood to dissolve a small hole in the glass of the space capsule, and using vacuum pressure to suck the alien baby into a pool of blood. Looking at it's puzzled face and sad eyes, I still feel that this "baby" is a little pitiful, after all, it also wants to be loved by its mother. In short, in the end Ripley and the other three survived and returned to the long-lost Earth.
2. Brief comments on the four earlier "Aliens".
Throughout the Alien series, it ran for 18 years, and was directed by four famous directors. They injected their own style and ideology into the film, thus establishing a different tone for the film.
Ritley Scott's "Alien 1" is like a cosmic epic, and it is also the one I have marked the most. At the time when funds and technology were limited, the director controlled the set and art design, and promoted the story. , the creation of terror, and the interpretation of the evolution of new species are perfect. Not only that, the film is full of philosophical thinking: in the film, the biochemical man Ash worships the perfect organism of aliens, the worship of the strong who survive, and the worship of a pure thought that is not controlled by conscience, remorse and morality. , the worship of cold-blooded, cruel, and killing is completely contrary to the universal values of mankind, which is undoubtedly a torture of the meaning of the Cold War at that time and the future of mankind. There are also too many interpretations by fans about reproductive worship, feminism, etc., so I won't go into details here.
"Alien 2" is from the hands of James Cameron, even if it has nothing to do with profound philosophical thinking, just the control of Cameron's firearms, actions, and special effects can make fans hooked. The portrayal of the characters is also further in-depth. As for the role of Ripley played by Sigourney Weaver, the setting is simply invincible, witty and brave, persevering and good at fighting, kind and warm, and can shoot and fly planes. Children, holding children, caring for the injured and escaping. perfect~
Even though David Fincher's "Alien 3" has the lowest rating among these films, it still can't bring down my love for David Fincher. "Alien 3" is a movie with strong religious overtones. The criminals in the movie are both prisoners and believers, and the whole story corresponds to the Book of Revelation in the Bible. When the prisoner leader learned about the existence of aliens, he said: This is the coming of the doomsday judgment. The film also fully deduces the scene of their farewell to their companions. The large-scale recitation of prayers shows that David Fincher intends to make this alien film full of doctrine and humanity, but he is good at logic but lacks emotion. , He did not hesitate to let Ripley die to interpret suffering and redemption. I think he finally killed Ripley to make the Alien series never end, which is also one of the reasons why fans gave low scores.
After all, Jean-Pierre Genet is the French director who made "Amelie" in the future. His "Alien 4" is completely out of the religious theory of "Alien 3", not only "rescue" Ripley, but also "Created" Cole, saying, I picked up the Alien series because I coveted Winona Ryder's face. The director also endowed the alien baby with a pair of longing eyes and a heart that loves his mother, which made people feel some compassion in their hearts. This is the resonance he brings to us, the resonance of ethics and humanity.
3. "Prometheus" in the Alien Prequel trilogy.
The foundation established by Mr. Lei was successively developed by several directors who were little-known at the time with the help of this popular IP. In addition to the box office and word of mouth of the Alien Wars Predator series, he would not be reconciled to the alien series. In 2012, Raider made a comeback with "Prometheus". And this is three, the Alien prequel trilogy. And Mr. Lei is not superficial, he once again gave Alien a grand philosophical theme: the origin of species. What he intends to reveal to you is not only where the aliens come from, but the origin of human beings is also a major proposition. In addition to the important role of biochemical people in the promotion of the plot, he will take us to think about the future of human beings. The awakening of consciousness, where will we go?
In 2089, the archaeological team of the heroine Xiao discovered an alien relic in an archaeological excavation in Scotland. It is evidence that human beings were created by an alien civilization. In order to understand the hidden code of this interstellar map, Welland Company The scientific research ship "Prometheus" was sent to the interstellar space indicated by the map to explore the origin of mankind.
When they took more than two years to reach "heaven", they were greeted by the dreaded "hell". Here, they found the remains of the Creator, most of whom died horribly, in hurried and futile gestures. Soon they confirmed that humans and creators have the same DNA, but also inadvertently opened Pandora's box: black water.
I think these scientists have bugs in their heads. They turned a blind eye when they saw the death of the Creator. They took off their masks casually, acted alone, and touched them casually. Soon, they You will regret your reckless behavior. The butterfly snake catalyzed by the black water quickly killed the two left behind, and one of them became a zombie.
The biochemical man David also experimented with humans. He put a drop of black water into Holloway's wine. Holloway was catalyzed by the black water and turned into a zombie. The night before, he still had fun with his lover Xiao. Happy normal person. What was terrifying when he thought about it was that, under the influence of the black water, he actually made the infertile Xiao pregnant. The "baby" in Xiao's belly was developing rapidly. She was so terrified that she cut the "baby" out. Yes, that's what you see in the picture above - "squid".
The biochemical man David went to the control room of the creator spacecraft and found the creator in a dormant state. He led everyone to wake up the creator. After some communication, the creator was furious and attacked people. They were shocked to realize that the black water was actually a biological weapon, and the target they wanted to attack was the earth.
The heroine Xiao fights with the creator to the death, and releases the "squid" that has grown into a giant. "The baby saved" the mother's life, but it also laid the root of the disaster. Finally, the heroine Xiao took the remaining biochemical people to prepare to set off again to the creator's home...
If you're watching Prometheus for the first time, you might think that's how the first alien ever was born, but I'm guessing it wasn't. Don't forget the mural that Xiao and the others saw when they first came to the creator spaceship. Although it was only for a moment, the amount of information it contained was huge~
Are you familiar with it? Yes, it is the image of aliens. I think aliens are creatures that have already existed. Otherwise, it is not such an uncontrollable monster. Why does the wreckage of the creator in the spaceship show the tragic death that we are familiar with? Are aliens a dangerous weapon cultivated by the creator, or an inadvertent product of the conflict between humans and the creator? Why did the creator go to Earth with such terrifying biological and chemical weapons as black water? Can Shaw and David finally make it to the creator's planet?
Mr. Lei, who is in his 80s, is really naughty. He has dug one big hole after another, waiting for the second or third volume to fill it for me~ Believe me, "Alien: Contract" must be very exciting, if you want to understand it, Be sure to watch Prometheus again~
So, I wish you a happy viewing~
-THE END-
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