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Quote:

Zombies are the middle children of the otherworldly family. Vampires are the oldest brother who gets to have a room in the attic, all tripped out with a disco ball and shag carpet. Werewolves are the youngest, the babies, always getting pinched and told they're cute. With all that attention stolen away from the middle child zombie, no wonder she shuffles off grumbling, "Marsha, Marsha, Marsha."

- Kevin James Breaux

Thursday, July 16, 2015

"Rants & Ravings About Horror" - Week 25: "ALIEN 5 - WHY!?!"

Week 25: "ALIEN 5 - WHY!?!"
I want to be excited about another ALIEN film but the idea that yet another franchise is getting a reboot in the form of Neil Bloomkamp's ALIEN 5 which takes place after James Cameron's ALIENS just doesn't sit well with me.  Personally I think that the Ellen Ripley story is over.  It is done and everyone needs to move on.  There are a million different stories out there to tell that have nothing to do with the Ellen Ripley character.  Dark Horse Comics has made it its life's mission to present fans with new and creative stories and yet the stories are so dumb out of ideas they decided it was a good idea to go back and do it again with the same characters.  Bloomkamp has so far had an amazing career with original sci-fi ideas from DISTRICT 9 (2009) to ELYSIUM (2013) to CHAPPIE (2015) so why waste his time going back to a well tapped out of story.

Ripley's story was done in ALIEN 3 and despite the stylistic change which ALIEN RESURRECTION bringing Ripley back as a clone wasn't exactly a great idea.

After having read a different version of the events after the movie ALIENS in the original 3 Dark Horse comics (ALIENS/ALIENS II/ALIENS: EARTH WAR) Dark Horse had the great idea to split off into a multitude of different ideas because the possibilities are endless.  One of those ideas was the ALIEN Vs. PREDATOR comic books not to mention the long running ALIENS: COLONIAL MARINES.

In the current climate of Hollywood's let's just bring back all our dead franchises (see JURASSIC WORLD, MAD MAX: FURY ROAD, TEXAS CHAINSAW 3D, THE X-FILES, TWIN PEAKS, STAR WARS, STAR TREK, FULL HOUSE, the list is now endless) why are we really wasting our time.  Despite the lukewarm reception of ELYSIUM and CHAPPIE there is no denying that BloomKamp is a director with a unique vision and that's what the sci-fi genre really needs.  What it doesn't need is yet another "reboot" of something that doesn't need a reboot or start over again.

Like I said, I want to be excited about ALIEN 5 but I have absolutely no interest whatsoever.  I'd rather just wait for PROMETHEUS 2 which despite all its many confusing ideas wanted to tell something new and fresh in the same world yet not try to "reboot" anything (which is actually slightly debatable considering how the comics did the origin of the Xenomorphs verses how director Ridley Scott decided to ignore the comics and do his own thing).

I'll always remain an ALIEN fan and I'll continue to read Dark Horse's comics which are superior in every way to the films (just pick up the 4-Part graphic novel series "FIRE & STONE" cross-over series between ALIENS/PROMETHEUS/ALIEN VS. PREDATOR/PREDATORS as Dark Horse tries to link the Prometheus films to the comic book world).

Here's a little something for you fans looking forward to Bloomkamp's "vision":

http://www.scified.com/site/alien5/neill-blomkamp-releases-new-alien-5-concept-art-says-production-is-going-very-well