Tales from Development Hell: The Alien

[David Flin]

Comment on this latest article by @RyanF here.

 

[Coiler]

I first thought this was about OTLs Alien franchise, which went through its own interesting shifts. From originally being called Starbeast to having iterations that ranged from the weird (Summoning historical figures to fight the monster) to the obviously budget conscious (the Xenomorph was a contemporary experiment, the Gigership got replaced with a normal one with a dead human "space jockey" ) it could easily be its own article.

 

[Thande]

Well, this was an unexpected and interesting topic.

 

[RyanF]

I first thought this was about OTLs Alien franchise,

I can be as much a carny as those companies that used to release old films to home video with modern cover designs if their was a remake heavily advertised at the pictures.

I first thought this was about OTLs Alien franchise, which went through its own interesting shifts. From originally being called Starbeast to having iterations that ranged from the weird (Summoning historical figures to fight the monster) to the obviously budget conscious (the Xenomorph was a contemporary experiment, the Gigership got replaced with a normal one with a dead human "space jockey" ) it could easily be its own article.

There's a ton that could be done with Alien(s): the variations the original went through you mention (I imagine any TL with a well-known film called The Alien sees Starbeast retained or a different title adopted, if the script is written at all); the different versions of Alien 3; the long-development of Alien vs. Predator; Scott & Cameron collaborating on a prequel; and Blomkamp's sequel. Sure there are many more.

Someone speculated on different directions for the franchise here. I'm sure he's a very charming fellow.

Well, this was an unexpected and interesting topic.

What I enjoy about writing these articles is I often just have a title, name associated, or even just a concept to go on. It's when I start digging deeper I see how things connect in unexpected ways.

Oddly enough, in two of the upcoming three articles in this series I found myself, entirely by accident, referring back to a couple articles because things were happening contemporarily. Superman Lives wasn't the only thing WB cancelled in 1998; nor was At the Mountains of Madness the only property Universal dithered over in 2011.

 

[Charles EP M.]

Bloody gell, did Mike Wilson go on to try and turn a Kolkota community centre into condos?

India becoming a place associated with scifi ala Japan with cyberpunk (and kaiju) would be fascinating. Can easily see later fiction using India and 60s scifi iconography associated with it to show "lost futures" like 50s/60s scifi and spyfi is for Britain