S01E03 Frame By Frame Revisit “Alien Saga part 2”

Stephen Radford ♫♪
7 min readMar 29, 2024

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“Alien Resurrection” (1997), “AvP” (2004), “Avp: Requiem” (2007) “Prometheus” (2012) and “Alien Isolation (VG)” (2014)

Once again we delve into the beautiful yet fractured world of the Alien franchise, charting through the uneasiness of Alien Resurrection only to find ourselves in crossover territory with Alien Versus Predator. Then we rush past Alien Versus Predator 2: requiem (simply because we couldn’t even SEE anything happening in it) to find solace in the Ridley Scott adventure, Prometheus. We then go full circle with the amazing Alien Isolation game that takes you back to the original.

Podcast Overview

For every podcast revisit, we transcribed and highlighted time codes and moments from each episode of Frame By Frame. Those with supported revisits will have keys as shown below. You can follow the keys while you listen to the podcast.

00:00:00 — Alien Computer / Music intro.

00:01:45 — We carry on the review with Alien Resurrection.

00:07:20 — Resurrection characters don’t belong in Alien universe.

00:08:20 — What were 20th Century Fox doing: director choice.

00:09:25 — Sigourney’s money went on taxis… taxes

00:09:50 — Newt not Ripley.

00:10:45 — Why bother to clone Ripley? Pointless. Waste of time.

00:12:20 — Who were we rooting for here? Supermarket music.

00:13:14 — The music. The opening theme is the only thing left to like.

00:15:25 — New alien creature had both male and female genitals.

00:17:20 — Gestation period of alien growth is fast.

00:18:30 — Relaxing music and then — AVP: Alien Versus Predator.

00:21:14 — What is Alien Versus Predator (Sonic the Hedgehog music)

00:25:00 — Predator films and Alien Films should be separate.

00:26:00 — What is Alien Versus Predator: Requiem (Sonic again)

00:27:20 — Rip off Alien 3 poster campaign. Waste of time.

00:29:25 — Predators. Not completelyawful.

00:30:00Prometheus. The Space Jockey story.

00:31:10 — Did we get the film we wanted with Prometheus?

00:34:10 — The geologist and the waste of professional experts.

00:41:45 — Medical: procedure allows people to run straight away.

00:45:00 — Ridley Scott: why did he wait until after franchise ruination.

00:46:00Alien Isolation: The film that should have been made.

00:47:25 — The look of this game is pure original 1979. Raw cool.

00:52:55 — The future of Prometheus… 2… 3…

00:57:00 — Liquid Storage Bags!

“ALIEN RESURRECTION” (1997) REVISITED KEYS

HASHTAGS: #alienresurrection #framebyframe #revisted

I started the revisit for this in October 2015 and without knowing, again in January 2016. So there will be two sets in chronilogical order and some might say the same thing. You’d think I’d remember watching this in October and Tweeting about it, but obviously I had no memory. Baby brain. Alien baby brain:

13th October 2015

  • @StephenPRadford : Opening sequence of directors cut: alien bug splatter — makes no sense at all.
  • @StephenPRadford : So let’s talk Alien Resurrection. The first of two cinema visits with my father.
  • @StephenPRadford : Alien Resurrection can be summed up in three words: it’s not Alien.
  • @StephenPRadford : The idea of resurrecting Ripley is meaningless in the universe Alien is set in.
  • @StephenPRadford : Music for Alien Resurrection is however top notch. A worthy OST to own.
  • (note: this varies as later in January 2016, I note that only the Opening theme is good and the rest of the soundtrack is not so good.)
  • @StephenPRadford : Jean Pierre Jeunet is a director of fables. That is exactly what Resurrection turned out to be.
  • @StephenPRadford : JPJ is excellent at bringing larger-than-life characters alive within a spectral world of colour.
  • @StephenPRadford : The Alien Franchise is by nature of Giger’s vision a dark and brooding experience. That’s not A4.
  • @StephenPRadford : What’s good: The Captain Frank Elgyn fits nicely, but is killed off without doing anything.
  • @StephenPRadford : Underwater sequence is great! Hard shoot for Winona Ryder who nearly drowned at the age of 12.
  • @StephenPRadford : Incidentally Ron Perlman nearly drowned while filming underwater sequence. Kids, animals & water!
  • @StephenPRadford : Everybody loves the part when Ripley clone mispronounces fork. I still do it at family events.
  • @StephenPRadford : Best things: Music, fork, underwater, set design, Captain & Gediman. That’s all there is.
  • @StephenPRadford : Two aliens using the weak to break out of their cage. A nice idea.
  • @StephenPRadford : Killing the clones is missing it’s emotional thread in its aftermath. Fine, upset & fine again.
  • @StephenPRadford : Ripley mates with the alien and creates an offspring in no time at all. crazy mindless plot.
  • @StephenPRadford : Alien “hi-breed” looks ridiculous. Credits already!
  • @StephenPRadford : We’ll forget the idea that they arrive at earth, post apocalypse. Not being a Debbie Downer, but who knows.

7th January 2016

  • @StephenPRadford : So here we go again. A revisit to episode 003: starting with a big slap in the face.
  • @StephenPRadford : Incidentally, this was made in response to fans being unhappy with alien 3. Fish slapped!
  • @StephenPRadford : I prefer the theatrical opening credits. No stupid alien fly cross breed. No reason for it.
  • @StephenPRadford : As we said in the podcast, these characters don’t fit in the alien universe. Nobody works.
  • @StephenPRadford : Theme is great. Rest of the music is bleh!
  • @StephenPRadford : I was sad that this movie made Ripley unsympathetic.
  • @StephenPRadford : Winona Ryder does act like a tantrum prone toddler in this movie.
  • @StephenPRadford : Should have ended on alien 3. At least that ended.
  • @StephenPRadford : It’s hard to watch this without wondering why it got made. Then again AVP topped that.
  • @StephenPRadford : Under water scenes contain humans who can really breathe under water for a long long time
  • @StephenPRadford : If you hire Jean Pierre, you get Amelie with aliens.
  • @StephenPRadford : Danny Boyle would have done a better alien film. But would the story have been the same?
  • @StephenPRadford : I wonder if I can stop the movie revisit before Ripley’s offspring is born.

The answer is: YES!

  • @framebyframe78 : When you happily check your Twitter feed to find 14 notifications. It has to be @StephenPRadford

“PROMETHEUS” (2012) REVISITED KEYS

HASHTAGS: #Prometheus #framebyframe #revisted

It doesn’t feel like going back. Everything is so clean and clear. Once again we are treated to exceptional visual effects which completely take you out of the alien universe. Performances from several, Shaw and David stand out but the rest are just hollow forms moving in and out of shot exchanging dialogue which doesn’t make us care anymore, but forces us to reckon with what is less of a movie than we ever dreamed it would be:

  • @StephenPRadford : Rewatching a movie that had potential to be remarkable. Visually: yes, story: almost, characters: nope.
  • @StephenPRadford : Noomi Rapace and Michael Fassbender are great however they are lost in a sea of nonsensical characters
  • @StephenPRadford : For a trillion dollar mission, the so-called experts are far from top of their class.
  • @StephenPRadford : Love the sets. I kind of wish they were more lived in. Science fiction is often absent of ketchup stains.
  • @StephenPRadford : Charlize Theron is very good at the stoic personality but I don’t get her place here. It’s superfluous.
  • @StephenPRadford : These grunts have too much privilege lifestyle on ship. Too much luxury. Let them struggle and work.
  • @StephenPRadford : Stunning visuals… but with the characters chit-chat, it’s like putting peanut butter on your steak.
  • @StephenPRadford : Strange that the “pups” method of mapping is similar to the ghost visuals of the engineers.
  • @StephenPRadford : Sorry I meant geologist. But he likes rocks even though he never looks at anything with any sense of awe.
  • @StephenPRadford : David says “organic” when touching black ooze as if the audience had to know, But he could only guess.
  • @StephenPRadford : Sandstorm: So if they were a day late, they wouldn’t have been able to find anything without digging.
  • @StephenPRadford : So in around 2000 years, this planet hasn’t had anything resembling such a violent sandstorm. Yeah right.
  • @StephenPRadford : With the exploding head… makes you wonder if these experts really know what steps to take before doing.

NAP BREAK

  • @StephenPRadford : So back to Prometheus. The scientists played with their new creature and died… boyfriend bit it too…
  • @StephenPRadford : Oh but not before we learn that she can’t have children, and then she has an alien inside of her.
  • @StephenPRadford : Rock man back crazy symbiosis. You’d think i’d be happy that he gets run over, shot and set fire to.
  • @StephenPRadford : Shaw is able to run down a corridor after an operation. Yeah. She’s completely okay with this.
  • @StephenPRadford : Shaw is still okay after the operation. No need to rest… throwing things at the monitor is not healthy.
  • @StephenPRadford : Shaw finally acts as though she is struggling. Eating the items that I had intended to throw, for now.
  • @StephenPRadford : It all goes to pot when the revive the engineer. Happens too quickly. No time to care.
  • @StephenPRadford : Chair, engineer and piloting seat. suddenly it becomes unreal CGI before our eyes.
  • @StephenPRadford : The Prometheus school of running away from falling objects… in a straight line of zero safety.
  • @StephenPRadford : The secret to a ham and cranberry port, orange sandwich is to add a base layer of sun dried tomato paste.
  • @StephenPRadford : Oh wait… an alien burst out of the engineer… roll credits? Wait a minute, I want THIS movie! Where is THIS movie?

LINKS TO “FRAME BY FRAME PODCASTS”

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  • STEPHEN RADFORD

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Stephen Radford ♫♪

Author, writer Editor, and Story Developer. Podcast, Radio, Film, Music, and Performance — workshop tutor and professional writing mentor.