*BEWARE SPOILERS* Alien: Romulus

[jaztermareal]

Yea honestly the whole film is disgusting to me. Like the alien films are disgusting yes but that movie was just gross. Like I can’t eat after watching it gross. I think I hate it cause of that. The alien franchise is gross sure but like disturbing kinda scary gross. This was like something different? Idk how to explain but the other films didn’t feel as weird as that one.

Do check the directors other movies. They all have a signature style (but less fleshy wet xenos)

 

[jye4ever]

One call back that DOESN’T bother me is the cycle of women with pulse rifles.

Yes Ripley’s character was forced to be THE MARINE after the marines failed but other females using it doesn’t diminish Ripley’s actions and character arc for me because what else are they going to use to fight an alien, a freaking spatula!

 

[jaztermareal]

One call back that DOESN’T bother me is the cycle of women with pulse rifles.

Yes Ripley’s character was forced to be THE MARINE after the marines failed but other females using it doesn’t diminish Ripley’s actions and character arc for me because what else are they going to use to fight an alien, a freaking spatula!

Maybe Deadpool could dig up her corpse for the acid resistant bones then use them to kill xenos. No pulse rifle needed.

 

[jye4ever]

Maybe Deadpool could dig up her corpse for the acid resistant bones then use them to kill xenos. No pulse rifle needed.

If Ridley was so hell bent on explaining everything he should’ve went all the way and made Shaw the damn queen Alien!

The groundwork was there It could’ve been David that made her into the queen.

But all of a sudden that was one bridge too far I guess lol

 

[jaztermareal]

If Ridley was so hell bent on explaining everything he should’ve went all the way and made Shaw the damn queen Alien!

The groundwork was there It could’ve been David that made her into the queen.

But all of a sudden that was one bridge too far I guess lol

Nah, that wouldn't make sense as the derelict was on a different planet, was ancient and the pilot was not the small engineer with his human proportions but a different looking space jockey with its huge size and long arms.

Having David turn her into the queen makes everything smaller and less alien. It is reasonable to assume the queen was what burst out the Space Jockey in the derelict then laid the eggs. It was just not discovered hybernating until the colony found it and awoke it



Would have been better if Shaw had found the Engineers world only to realise they were a slave race and that there were stranger, more dangerous beings of unimaginable power starting to notice humanity was spreading out. Lovecraftian gods with so many different toys at their disposal.

 

[jye4ever]

Nah, that wouldn't make sense as the derelict was on a different planet, was ancient and the pilot was not the small engineer with his human proportions but a different looking space jockey with its huge size and long arms.

Having David turn her into the queen makes everything smaller and less alien. It is reasonable to assume the queen was what burst out the Space Jockey in the derelict then laid the eggs. It was just not discovered hybernating until the colony found it and awoke it



Would have been better if Shaw had found the Engineers world only to realise they were a slave race and that there were stranger, more dangerous beings of unimaginable power starting to notice humanity was spreading out. Lovecraftian gods with so many different toys at their disposal.

Yeah I totally approve and appreciate your total dismissal and dismantling of Brometheus and Covenant lol

 

[wormlander]

/\MIC DROP/\

/\A VERY FRIGHTENING MIC DROP/\

Or maybe it’s a good thing ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

We as fans want our movies OUR WAY not Kathleen Kennedy’s way so AI might be the solution.

KK is the disease.

AI in the hands of fans is the cure?

I hardly think so. I already have a very strong aversion towards fan fiction in every shape and form and there's no reason to believe the quality of these cheap, "home made" productions are going to improve to a standard that's acceptable (Easy AI access or not). Also, The use of deceased actors and/or IP protected characters is going to be 100% regulated in the very near future (if it hasn't already been done).

I'd say the general quality of movies will very likely continue to dwindle until there's virtually no public interest left. The all powerful political "influencers" (like Black Rock et.al.) are going to continue forcing their ideas of what movies should be about (The looks and perceived "social status" of the actors and craftsmen, rather than their skills and suitability for the characters they're playing).

As bad as KK is we're still going to need qualified producers in the future, who are willing to challenge the system and prove that the only thing that really matters are good (Star Wars) stories, carefully adapted by the best people in the business. I do hope we'll also see more politically independent production companies emerge, who can prove to the big corporate sellouts what it is people really want to see...

 

[jye4ever]

I hardly think so. I already have a very strong aversion towards fan fiction in every shape and form and there's no reason to believe the quality of these cheap, "home made" productions are going to improve to a standard that's acceptable (Easy AI access or not). Also, The use of deceased actors and/or IP protected characters is going to be 100% regulated in the very near future (if it hasn't already been done).

I'd say the general quality of movies will very likely continue to dwindle until there's virtually no public interest left. The all powerful political "influencers" (like Black Rock et.al.) are going to continue forcing their ideas of what movies should be about (The looks and perceived "social status" of the actors and craftsmen, rather than their skills and suitability for the characters they're playing).

As bad as KK is we're still going to need qualified producers in the future, who are willing to challenge the system and prove that the only thing that really matters are good (Star Wars) stories, carefully adapted by the best people in the business. I do hope we'll also see more politically independent production companies emerge, who can prove to the big corporate sellouts what it is people really want to see...

My sister is an AI programmer.

She said the line that still needs to be crossed with AI creating stuff is the lack of the human emotion and experiences.

She said humans express themselves, their life experiences, feelings and thoughts into their art whereas obviously AI can not be inspired to create anything.

She said the discussion being had is should they cross the line to teach AI how to be creative and that’s where it can become dangerous.

The key word here is inspired.

I mean is it not creepy to make AI automatically be inspired to “create” anything!

She also said it’s much easier said than done and that while we are very far away from Skynet she also said that the rush to accomplish that very difficult task could be what causes a Skynet type scenario to begin with.

 

[Khev]

Spoiling the mystery (and therefore the horror) of the Space Jockey as well as the creation of the xenomorphs themselves was a terrible idea. Just terrible.

I like that Romulus doesn't lean too hard into what was revealed in Prometheus and Covenant. Yes Ash (er Rook) says that the goo is life but it wouldn't be the first time that he embellishes the properties of something he admires or outright lies to push things in the direction he wants them to go. So in my mind Romulus fits nicely with ALIEN and ALIENS in a way that allows you to ignore the other films and therefore preserve the mystery of things that should never be explained.

 

[Khev]

My sister is an AI programmer.

She said the line that still needs to be crossed with AI creating stuff is the lack of the human emotion and experiences.

She said humans express themselves, their life experiences, feelings and thoughts into their art whereas obviously AI can not be inspired to create anything.

She said the discussion being had is should they cross the line to teach AI how to be creative and that’s where it can become dangerous.

The key word here is inspired.

I mean is it not creepy to make AI automatically be inspired to “create” anything!

She also said it’s much easier said than done and that while we are very far away from Skynet she also said that the rush to accomplish that very difficult task could be what causes a Skynet type scenario to begin with.

Speaking of AI I found it interesting that Romulus showed us the limits of androids' directive to "not harm or by omission of action allow to be harmed" a human being. Because what *would* Bishop have done if in order to save one person he had to sacrifice another? Well like a computer he'd be forced to coldly play the numbers just like we saw in Romulus. It makes sense that Ripley wouldn't have been comforted by Bishop's promise with that in mind.

 

[jaztermareal]

Spoiling the mystery (and therefore the horror) of the Space Jockey as well as the creation of the xenomorphs themselves was a terrible idea. Just terrible.

I like that Romulus doesn't lean too hard into what was revealed in Prometheus and Covenant. Yes Ash (er Rook) says that the goo is life but it wouldn't be the first time that he embellishes the properties of something he admires or outright lies to push things in the direction he wants them to go. So in my mind Romulus fits nicely with ALIEN and ALIENS in a way that allows you to ignore the other films and therefore preserve the mystery of things that should never be explained.

To be fair though I don't think Prometheus and Covenant actually show the creation of Xenomorph or the nature of the Space Jockeys, too many elements within then contradict those. I think a single movie could tie it all together and restore mystery to nature of the Jockeys and origin of Xeno

 

[Khev]

To be fair though I don't think Prometheus and Covenant actually show the creation of Xenomorph or the nature of the Space Jockeys

Prometheus literally revealed that a Space Jockey is just an Engineer in a suit. I don't think we *ever* should have seen those guys again.

 

[jaztermareal]

Yeah I totally approve and appreciate your total dismissal and dismantling of Brometheus and Covenant lol

Prometheus I love knowing full well it is an absolute mess but Covenant I hated.

 

[Khev]

Prometheus I love knowing full well it is an absolute mess but Covenant I hated.

What ruined Covenant for you? I agree that it isn't great and I don't count it as "canon" but it's still a bit of a guilty pleasure just for the gory monster action.

 

[jaztermareal]

Prometheus literally revealed that a Space Jockey is just an Engineer in a suit. I don't think we *ever* should have seen those guys again.

Not quite. The suit shape/proportions and size don't match the Jockey, plus the Engineers were genetically human so came from Earth, so weren't the alien visitors therefore Engineers had to be people taken from Earth by the gods).

 

[jaztermareal]

What ruined Covenant for you? I agree that it isn't great and I don't count it as "canon" but it's still a bit of a guilty pleasure just for the gory monster action.

It undid all setup from prometheus and went dumb monster kill kill when it could have done more. I liked some elements but like prometheus the writing was bad and characters did insanely stupid things, but unlike promeus it lacked the sense of wonder and amazing visuals. It just felt stale.

 

[Khev]

like prometheus the writing was bad and characters did insanely stupid things

Oh my gosh yes, especially after having been set up as some of the most brilliant minds on Earth. Good lord, lol.

 

[Rotfish]

Not quite. The suit shape/proportions and size don't match the Jockey, plus the Engineers were genetically human so came from Earth, so weren't the alien visitors therefore Engineers had to be people taken from Earth by the gods).

Isn't the premise that humans are genetically engineers? They came to Earth and made us?

 

[ScoutingForToys]

Spoiling the mystery (and therefore the horror) of the Space Jockey as well as the creation of the xenomorphs themselves was a terrible idea. Just terrible.

100% agree. Round of applause.
I really hated the engineers and black goo. Crushing disappointment.
If only Ridley had left Alien alone.
The worst thing though, is that we're not allowed to move on from it. It gets shoved into current Alien projects. The last 3 movies!
I seem to be in the minority that hates that crap. Every Alien discussion invariably leads to discussion of it. Its been retrospectively rammed into the mythos and we're now stuck with it.

It took me a long time to accept what has happened to Star Wars and to walk away from it, stop caring about it (I'm still in the process of selling off/throwing away a substantial collection that I now feel nothing for)
Same with Star Trek, Terminator, Dr Who and so so many other franchises.
I'll probably have to do the same with Alien because it seems everything Alien has to include Ridley's brain farts.

I feel like Tommy Lee Jones in No Country for Old Men.

I see all these people cheering for black goo and hybrids. Cheering their love for the likes of Filoni. I just feel so ******* old.

 

[wormlander]

My sister is an AI programmer.

She said the line that still needs to be crossed with AI creating stuff is the lack of the human emotion and experiences.

She said humans express themselves, their life experiences, feelings and thoughts into their art whereas obviously AI can not be inspired to create anything.

She said the discussion being had is should they cross the line to teach AI how to be creative and that’s where it can become dangerous.

The key word here is inspired.

I mean is it not creepy to make AI automatically be inspired to “create” anything!

She also said it’s much easier said than done and that while we are very far away from Skynet she also said that the rush to accomplish that very difficult task could be what causes a Skynet type scenario to begin with.

There is already enough evidence what kind of (potential) damage AI will cause if given enough freedom to be "creative" on a moral/political level. It has to be strongly limited and regulated to avoid causing serious harm to people acting as "human consultants". Also, since everything AI needs to educate itself/mimic behavior is copyright protected information from the Internet, we're already seeing lawsuits being launched at the biggest AI-feeding platforms such as Facebook. I don't believe we should make our own version of "Skynet" any more powerful than it already is...