thejediknighthusezni

      Continuing...

      When they arrive, the company-civil leader comes aboard flanked by two Colonial Marines (or militia-men) and some people to help prepare the ship. The Governor lets Newt know that they will not try to reclaim the ship and has/will have a formal, notarized guarantee from the Department of the Exterior stating that they never will try (the old ship would be more trouble than it's worth to them, anyway.) This might be conditioned on helping the refugees and witness against Ripley and Hicks. Part of the agreement transmitted was that Newt agrees to turn them in (the Bitch;)

      There is argument and Ripley cuts Newt off. The corporal gets into it and shows Hicks the unit tatoo on his forearm and tells them how glad he is this scum won't be taking places that could go to refugee children. He could tell Hicks he hopes he survives the aliens so that he could be the one to frag him. They take them along with any crew volunteers and those too questionable to remain. They could be armed as part of the agreement for coming in or they could be shackled and have to earn release down on the colony. 

    ^The hologram thing again? Interacting with Sidius?

        Where I'm at thus far...

        The fantasy film would look as though it was made in '88 (When A3 should have been produced.) Any CGI would look like a practical effect. Film grain and set design all from that era. It would have a "Third Act of the Trilogy" sort of structure. Twin themes of a hyper-aggressive alien nation on a blitzkrieg for lebensraum, and the total alienation of the characters from all humanity.

        The Prologue includes Ripley bombing the derelect from space after some samples were somehow removed by the company and/or military. To cover their tracks, they blame Ripley and Hicks for sabotage of the reactor and loss of the squad. They have reports from Burke and data recorders that make it seem most incriminating. Newt is in danger because she is a witness and they are willing to kill to keep their operation secret. Ripley and Hicks are sentenced to death in absentia by the colonial and company and military authorities.

        They live as fugitves aboard the Sulaco out on the fringe. Maybe the ship was carrying hard currency to support a large military and recovery operation. Maybe they pick up a few other ne'er-do-wells, runaways and rejects possibly including an android escaping slavery and interpreting it's basic imperatives in a very questionable way.

        The political situation is that sectors of space are owned by nations and corporations. They exploit the resources and terreform worlds to colonize. The U.S. sectors are sold to corporations and are run out of the Department of the Exterior, Bureau of Colonial Affairs. The Bureau maintains a federal administration with a military (StarFleet and Colonial Marines) and there is a Colonial Congress to represent the common concerns of the settlers. The corporations have broad authority in their sectors. The United Nations maintains a United Worlds Organization to represent the common concerns of humanity in space.

      After the elimination of the derelect, we could see a "false start." Ripley and Bishop could wake early to prepare the ship for docking. Ripley could hard wire Bishop into the ship and eat while getting ready. She checks the networks for news of the Sulaco and the world? She discovers they are betrayed and asks bishop about the funds on board.

      After the prologue, we see the crew waking from stasis and going for the obligatory meal. Here we piece together the situation from bits and pieces of the conversations. The ship needs maintainance, some of the basic character traits and conflicts. Above all, they want to make things safe for Newt to go to University.

       Newt is about 18. She has been kept in stasis about twice as long as the others who must maintain the ship and business. She is very attached to ship and crew. She has rejected the"regular" society that has rejected them. She's frustrated with being out of the loop. Ripley is an inverted Uncle Owen and Hicks is an uncertain Aunt Beru. They want her to go to school. They want her to denounce them now that she's old enough so that she will be safe. An argument (good-natured and dismissive by Newt, stern and insistent from Ripley.

       We learn (possibly a separate address) they are running low of money. They can't keep on like this forever. We learn that the ship has been put on course to a company owned colony in the company sector. Ripley and Hicks heard there is proof that would exonerate them or at least take most of the heat off. After that, they want to go to High Singapore to purchase registration and licenses.

       We learn from a ruffled looking Bishop that a distress call has gone out from the colony. Why isn't clear. They need every ship in range to come to orbit. Their plan is to evacuate children too young to fight along with their mothers. The Sulaco could sustain more than a thousand in orbit. Once it takes refugees, the ship is effectively trapped in orbit. They can be arrested and put to death. Newt argues that it must be a trick and they'd never tolerate terrible criminals to run the ship with their children aboard. Ripley and Hicks decide to cut a deal and go.

        I got to suggesting things for an ALIEN3 fan-edit and went past what could be accomplished there. This is a more appropriate forum.

        I just couldn't accept A3. It has some interesting concepts, but it descended too deep into the dark. What was done to Newt was downright offensive to me. I don't know what they were thinking, but if I had known that was coming I wouldn't have given a penny.

        A:RES was a valiant effort to pick up from that point, but it was thrown off by half a beat. A:R had the best terror-action sequence (swim) in the franchise, imo. The creature design was the best yet. I thought the concept of the android who loved humanity and despised itself because it was not human was a fantastic subplot. Too bad there wasn't any time to develope it. 

        This thread is for any concept related to rebooting the franchise after ALIENS. How?

         ALIEN: WOW. 33 years later and it remains, by far, the greatest movie in BOTH the true Sci-Fi and Horror genres (SW being more Fantasy.)

         Design was stunning. Nobody to this day has done a starship interior better than the Nostromo (minus that banks of blinking bulbs convention.)

         Pace, tension, characters, mood, everything spot-on.   10/10

        ALIENS: Great fun amidst the terror. THAT'S a follow-on. 10/10

     I'll finish up some thoughts and return your hijacked thread ;)

     I suppose the corporal could have recently completed his enlistment and returned to the homestead. Little brother or sister might give him extra motivation. The other Marines would be unnecessary elements and he could be a militia leader based on his active experience. If he saves Newt after being saved by Hicks, he could be killed-off. Edit: He could have a tatoo on his forearm to show Hicks. He could rig small canisters of compressed air or gas as improvised concussion grenades.

     Another alternative to A3 was having the Sulaco simply met by an outbound ship. They could take on Ripley while she's still in stasis and/or Hicks and/or Bishop or they could have taken over the Sulaco and sent Newt back to Earth in their transport. Ripley and/or the others could wake up back in the sh**. Military and/or company and/or civil government investigators wanting to figure out WTF. They could use threats and/or the promise to help in the adoption of Newt. Maybe the colonists sent some samples somwhere else before being overrun.

     For a more practical fan-edit, Ripley's pod could detect a medical problem and could be ejected towards the nearest help along with the dropship to automaticaly grasp and haul to the help and/or because something wrong was detected in the dropship. The Sulaco could be abandoned with the characters in stasis because of contamination or the powers setting up Hicks to take a fall with no witnesses.  :)

     Thanks, that was interesting.

     It sounds like the typical Engineer's approach to things: "Let's determine the centerpoint of all common aspect ratios and then divide by the mean area of the...." ;)

     Silly me, I'd just ask "Now what would most people want in wide aspect HD?"

     IMHO, nearly all theatrical releases people want these days come from the anamorphic era, nearly all major sports events are best viewed in the widest aspects, nearly all made-for-TV content doesn't really rate small-screen VHS-def 4:3 presentation and the little that does (nature docs, travel docs, historical docs, and high production values dramas) should have a sweeping cinamatic scope.

        I'm sure there's a technical reason for 16:9 being more convenient to broadcasters and manufacturers, but I don't understand why it wasn't 21:9 from the start. I want to see ALL of my movies and ballgames in widescreen HD and NONE of the news anchormen in more than Low-Def 4:3.

Anchorhead said:

FanFiltration said:

"JAWS" DAY!

Indeed it is.  Got it ready for this afternoon.

 

"...shark comes to the nearest man, that man he starts poundin' and hollerin' and screamin' and sometimes the shark will go away... but sometimes he wouldn't go away.

Sometimes that shark he looks right into ya. Right into your eyes. And, you know, the thing about a shark... he's got lifeless eyes. Black eyes. Like a doll's eyes.

When he comes at ya, doesn't seem to be living... until he bites ya, and those black eyes roll over white and then... ah then you hear that terrible high-pitched screamin'."

 

 

       This talk about JAWS has got me to thinking about the way Spielberg was the master of the tease. Sometimes it was a false alarm, sometimes it was moving in close and then moving away, and sometimes....

      Newt could decide to head off to college as Ripley had wished in a full resolution. Alternatively, she could head off in an unregistered ship. The President could (in the novelization;) issue a full pardon to the crew for all crimes related to the seizing of the Sulaco and vow that the government won't try to recover the ship. Maybe both. She goes off with the corporal on his G.I. Bill and the surviving crew takes care of the ship.;) 

      The other android is an ambiguous and ambivalent character. We don't know which way it's going to turn. It interprets it's basic imperatives in it's own questionable way. Robot means slave. Shades of ST, SW, AI, IR.... 

      For interest in the colony, there could be a political divide. On the one side is the Libertarian sort of colonists backed by the company sponsored government as long as all are kept dependent on the company store, on the other are some Neo-Marxists fed up with it. Both sides make some good points and both represent grave errors. The Libertarians look the other way from company abuses and drugs and prostitution surrounding their families for the sake of their "get away from it all" ideology. The Neo-Marxists want to tear down without thinking about what would enevitably follow as going that way produces a horrifying totalitarian machine dedicated to stamping out any deviation from the central plan. The libertarians are too trusting of the company. The N-Ms hate the company and militarism and try to believe that it's possible to live in peace with any system. They admire the Marxist nature of the hive and try to make peace and co-exist.

       Of course, every message must serve the story and never the story serve the message. Popular entertainment and all that. :)

       Edit: Yeah, uncluttered and haunting is probably best. I'm a little anxious that everything be easily understood;) Newt could be encouraged to denounce them in order to finally protect herself. There's the same problem Cameron faced with prologue. Drop in ALIEN style? More time to establish the situation before introducing the Great Dilemma?

       Edit: As has been pointed out around here, the passage of time is relative with stasis pods. Newt might be kept in hibernation longer than the others who must tend to the ship and problems.

       Edit: Yeah, get things up front and let the audience connect the dots. It might look like they will be allowed to stay with the ship. Once the first wave of refugees are on with the authorities they could be arrested. A message was sent ahead and they have an agreement that Newt will run the ship and denounce them in a witness statement now that she is 18 (the bitch;)  An arguement with Ripley cutting things off and they go down in shackles where they have to earn their release? They would have to be away from a place where they could just jump ship when they get the call.

       Ripley nukes the derelect from orbit?

       "I don't know what that "Logistics" is, but I want some of it." ;)

       I've got some A3 imaginings. I'll post here since your main thread is off-site. Might be some small thing to be gleaned.

       Initially, I had a happy ending. I grew less certain as things went on.

       Now I'm working from the haunted ending version:

        ...Private Jonathan Hicks has received a posthumous promotion to Warrant officer of the highest grade and is recommended for the Colonial Congress Medal of Honor...and Captain Ellen Ripley...has been nominated to receive the United Worlds Medal of Humanity... for her selfless... The government has vowed that it will not attempt to reclaim this ship... We have set course for High Singapore in the hope of purchasing quasi-ligitimate registration and liscensing. This is ___ Newt ___, Acting Captain of the Rogue Ship Sulaco.... 

      Twin themes of a hyper-aggressive alien nation on a blitzkrieg for lebensraum, and the complete alienation of the characters not only from the company or military, but all humanity.

      It could be that they discover their betrayal towards the end of the film and have to ride off into the sunset. Alternatively, a distrustful Ripley might have programmed to come out of hibernation before reaching their destination and learned that the colonial, company, and military authorities have, in an act of frontier justice, sentenced them to death in absentia after assuming they fled deep.

      After any necessary prologue, we see the gang coming out of stasis and going for their meal (everyone gets a bad case of the munchies shortly after waking from stasis). Their computer woke them after recieving a distress call. A ruffled looking Bishop, with too many patches with adapted parts and losses of vital fluid, goes to investigate.

      At the meal, we get to meet the crew of the R.S. Sulaco (formerly U.S.S. Sulaco.) Maybe a few other ne'er-do-wells and possibly another android escaping slavery.  We learn of various motivations and the difficulties of keeping the ship in commission (now the ship has a 3D printer that produces parts and fittings that must be replaced too often.) We meet 18-20 Newt. She is girl-next-door pretty under tangled hair and patched overalls. Captain Ripely is an inverted Uncle Owen and Hicks is an uncertain Aunt Beru. An argument ensues. Ripley is very anxious to find a way to safely send Newt to University (authorities are afraid she is a witness.)Newt has rejected "regular" society and is very attached to ship and crew. Newt argues that she would only go to commercial pilot academy and then return to the ship anyway, so why bother? 

       Bishop returns and we learn of the great dilemma. A colony world of hundreds of thousands has sent a distress signal. They are not specific, but it sounds like Earnest T. Doublesmiles. Their plan is to evacuate all children too young to fight with their mothers and they require all ships within range to come to orbit. Newt argues it must be a trick. The moment they take on refugees they will be trapped in orbit. The Sulaco could sustain more than a thousand refugees in orbit. If they go to the planet, the phoney case is so strong against them that they will be arrested and put to death. Ripley and Hicks decide to answer the call on condition that they be allowed to go to the surface with weapons and help the colonists and that the Sulaco will remain under Newt's control with any crew that decides to stay with the ship. 

        When they reach the surface they discover that the planet has only a loose militia to discourage small raids, some police, a couple of Marines manning a communication post or something, and no hunting weapons because there is nothing to hunt. Maybe it's the moon of a gas giant going into eclipse or has slow rotation or they build underground to hide from cosmic rays or something. They get a rough welcome. The Marines want to frag Hicks. A young corporal alot like Hicks stops it because he doesn't have time to train the civies but vows to frag him when it's over. 

        The usual festivities. We learn that the Aliens have a way to escape and spread like wildfire if not stopped here. It's a company owned colony. Newt and Bishop show up in the drop ship. Bishop downloads info on the company plan to spread the aliens. More fighting. Hicks sacrifices himself to save Newt and the corporal. Ripley sacrifices herself to stop the spread to other worlds. Newt and the corporal must face whats left.

       That's it in broad strokes. :) 

      EDIT: A cylander or generation ship are alternatives to a planet.

         I've been thinking about the 3Ds.

         I went to see TPM3D out of curiosity for the conversion process. TBH, I'm not sure about going to the time, money, or trouble for AOTC3D or ROTS3D. I understand what the conversion process looks like now. I'm sure I'll go to OT3D, but the time, trouble and money there is enough to seem a bit daunting. 13+ hours in movie seats, 6 seperate excursions, $80 dollars just for the tickets, and all that for films I own and have seen several times.

         I've been wondering about an alternative approach:

         Could official fan-edits be created of the saga? Some deleted scenes and new FX incorporated for a substantialy different experience? Made consistant with each other? About 90 minutes each for ANH, ESB, and ROTJ with a TG style cut of 2 and 3 that is as consistant as possible with the new EU? More than that, could ANH and ESB be shown in one go and then ROTJ and the preq together also? There could be a 20 minute intermission between 4&5 and preq&6 to boost concession sales and make it easier for the kids. $18 for each double feature? 2 trips out? New material for a future box-set? Set up for commercial TV?

        TITANIC was 3 hours for a ship to sink. People are accustomed to going to ball games for 3 hours with a halftime intermission.

        OTOH, think of the terrible controversy.   :)

       I like the Engineer dissolution as the first image. The Weyland addressing the crowd in the 2020s would work great after that, imo. ALIENS had an unavoidable prologue to account for Ripley that worked quite well, but I believe the true opening of the movie was the SULACO and the waking from hibernation.

       PROMETHEUS would have done well (if a bit confusing) as the first in the franchise. With no annoying fanboy expectations, everyone could settle down and enjoy the set-up to take us to the great mysterious beyond. PROMETHEUS seems meant to transition between ALIEN and what came before and long after. The first of this series seems to be more related to what came before and after rather than to ALIEN.

       I would say I need to choose one from each genre. But, going by to OP rules...

       STAR WARS. Cinema is, above all else, popular entertainment. SW would provide future film makers with the greatest material from the Epic, Historical Drama, Adventure, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Western, and War Movie genres with some Comedy, Slasher, and Monster Movie elements to boot.

       For Best Movie To Influence Popular Entertainment: STAR WARS

       For Best Movie With A Message: 1984

       For Best Movie Speaking To The Human Condition: GROUNDHOG'S DAY (with an Honorable Mention to BEDAZZLED)

        If your still thinking about the title...

        I checked, and it seems possible that FOX might hold enough of the rights to ALIEN_NATION that it might be altered to ALIE^vATION, with a script color and possibly font change half way through the N. It could create a memorable controversy;)

        I haven't tried imagining a fan edit of GENERATIONS. I tried to imagine THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK. David could live!(If someone hasn't done it already.) It would take some fancy additions to the coms to establish that the world is breaking apart because it was made of protomatter or out of a nebulea. (The klingons could go down after changing some of the subtitles.) David and New Savik could be cut out entirely. The Klingons could find Spock just as he is turning into the adult. Most of the opening stuff with the Ambassador could be cut as it's recapitulation of the previous ep. :)

       These were SW movies and not intended to win the Oscars. The whole cast was terrific, but MH carried the entire OT.

         Maul is shown racing clear of the scene on his speeder bike or alternate transport?

          For those who would like Maul to live on:

          I suppose that there could be a swipe and a miss, we could see Maul from the back duck or stumble down and roll into a vent or under a grate, he could get away while his opponent is distracted helping his buddy or something.

          Obviously, I don't know how the CW handled that.

       THE RING:   An odd little horror film that manages to maintain a high creepy quotient without providing many jumps. They might have done more to explain the haunting. How does it work? Why was she doomed? Why does her boyfriend Noah have his image dissolve in pictures? Maybe a visit and talk with a seemingly kook paranormal investigator could have filled in some missing pieces.

       If you like lots of skin-crawling spookiness, it might be worth a spin.

     In the best of the TOS tradition. Sulu's daughter is a first rate actress.

   Saw it. Liked it.

    I would have shamelessly done the 'Out of oxygen, choking, staggering, barely crawling in' thing.

    I would have shamelessly done the 'Chick unleashes hell on the monster and gets caught up with it' thing, as well :)

        ^I think of a "Nation" as a subdivision of a single planet. "Imperial" just seems to have a more cosmic sweep.

       ^   Huh....I much enjoyed LC.

             I thought it was a great example of giving the audience exactly the sort of thing they want- only much more of it.

        The Biggs at Toshe station scene could be used to make things a bit more clear. The dialogue could be altered to state that Owen has a "Moisture Farm" with condensors. The situation could be more clear, earlier. Maybe change "Nationalize" to "Imperialize". The scene could begin with the gang viewing the battle.

         I think someone mentioned turning Jabba into a hologram. Maybe the ROTJ footage could help with that. Greedo-Han and Jabba-Han could be recut to be more consistent and less repetitive.        

         I suppose the Jedi would have excellent reasons for concealing their active use of The Force.  They wouldn't want anyone developing those abilities outside of their discipline, they wouldn't want to provoke extreme fear and envy among the general populace and they'd like the advantage of surprise if they were so vastly out numbered and outgunned.

         Of course, that's not entirely consistent with the prequels.