THE SCI-FI PODCAST EP 11: The Alien Universe, Part 2

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Alien Universe Part DeuxWelcome to The SciFi Podcast, a wretched hive of scum and villainy a podcast focused on in-depth discussion of all things Science Fiction. The SciFi Podcast features three hosts—Mattroid, Solo, and Station!—and frequent guests. Each episode we look at a science fiction theme or franchise and take the discussion where no show has gone before.

On this episode of The SciFi Podcast, we welcome back special guest Jalien (aka Jason Pyles of Movie Podcast Weekly and Jay of the Dead of Horror Movie Podcast) for the continuation of our Considering the Sequels-style discussion, the second half of the Alien cinematic universe.

Theme music courtesy of I Hear Sirens, featuring Matt on bass and Liz on keyboard. Hear more of I Hear Sirens ethereal, instrumental, post-rock at BandCamp. Podcast production by Mattroid. Artwork by SpaceWolf.

Show notes at some point, most probably.

73 thoughts on “THE SCI-FI PODCAST EP 11: The Alien Universe, Part 2”

  1. Question about the Teepublic Shop. After I click the link and I’m in the shop, can I wander around outside of the 7 pages of shirts or so that are available? Or do I need to stay there in order for you to benefit from my shopping?

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    • Good question, my friend. As long as you use our link, you can go anywhere on the site and it still counts towards our credit.

      I’ll be updating our options today as well. Thanks!

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      • While I can fully applaud a person for being passionate enough about the franchise to create this list, I’d prefer an intellectual exploration of the movies over a list any day of the week. Most of the time lists like this are cheap ways to grab people.

        I’d know. Every now and then I’ll write one to see how it’ll compare and readership is almost always higher.

        Still, cool link. Thanks galaticpup!

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      • Also, good job on that Alien art. I assume it’s from Alien Isolation? Man, graphics are getting so good they should just make movies using game engines.

        Speaking of videogames, I’m curious if there’s space (ha! see what I did there?) in this podcast for sci-fi in videogames? There’s a very, very rich world out there though I’m afraid most of youse guys (with the exception of Mattroid) aren’t very fluent in the subject. There is also a very rich world of horror, but I know for a fact that the guys over at HMP don’t do games (with the exception of Dr. Walking Dead who actually reviewed one game once: The Last of Us). Anyway, I just think that would make for some fascinating podcasting but being that games are interactive and last a lot more than 2 hours, it would be impossible for anyone to catch up. Alas, one can dream though.

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        • Actually, we’ve got two different fellas lined up to do some game reviews and discussion. It’s been a big year for sci-fi and we are still getting established, really, so it’s all about timing.

          But worry not; it’ll be a part of the podcast soon enough (which may not be soon enough, sorry.)

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  3. Aww, you guys aren’t covering the AVP movies. That makes for a sad me.

    All of the positive love for Alien Resurrection by it’s super fans, Matt and Solo, is tempting me to give it another watch.

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      • Hey, not all traps are bad. I mean, Mouse Trap? A lovable 60’s board game. A TRAPper keeper? You were a loser if you didn’t have one in the fourth grade. The Parent Trap? A fun little movie featuring a young Lindsay Lohan when a bright future ahead of herself.

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        • “Haley Mills > Lindsay Lohan”

          That’s such an old person thing to say, Josh. Get with the times. You’re not a teen in the 60’s anymore!

          If only Lindsay Lohan had a teacher like Miss Bliss though. 🙁

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        • Always go with the better movie, Sal. Come on! Like the remake of Miracle on 34th Street, it looks nice, but the original story is superior.

          Speaking of Miss Bliss without actually speaking of Miss Bliss … Did you see Jimmy Fallon’s Saved by the Bell? I’m so excited! I’m so excited! I’m so … scared.

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MftOONlDQac

          This is all such great Sci-Fi talk. Sorry, Mattroid!

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        • Not that is has absolutely anything to say about the quality of the movie, but I tried re-watching Alien Resurrection last night, but I ended up falling asleep. I’ll give it another attempt when I’m a little more awake.

          I never watched Jimmy Fallon, but when I heard about that Saved by the Bell video, I ended up watching it the very next morning. They nailed all of the biggest moments of that AMAZING TV series. I used to watch that show on re-runs all the time back in the 90’s.

          “This is all such great Sci-Fi talk. Sorry, Mattroid!”

          Hey, I’m currently at the 1:56:41 mark in the podcast. So I’m still sorta on topic.

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        • AHH! I never even heard about the French Prince one. Fun one, although it would have been nice to see more cameos.

          Any time I saw the original opening, I couldn’t shake the feeling that Will was super drunk at the end when he just won’t stop moving around and having fun at his uncle’s front door. It’s like…chill out, homie.

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  4. Hate to say this alien 4 is a hot mess . It so bad off that fox is going back and making alien5 that will get rid of 3 and 4 . 4 is a comedy act that I don’t want to see in an alien movie . To me that only true alien movies is 1 and 2 . Am so happy they are kicking them to crib . Jay and station done lost your ever loving minds . I done lost my faith in you jay 🙁 great show .

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  6. All the talk of pizza, and now it’s what we are having for dinner tonight. I have been really enjoying the Alien franchise discussion. I have seen everything but Alien: Resurrection (including Prometheus), and based on this episode, I will be checking it out. I love City of Lost Children and somehow hadn’t known that Jean-Pierre Jeunet was the director of Resurrection. I am intrigued by the descriptions of all the strangeness. I suspect I might like it. I am pretty good at separating a movie from a series universe if it effects the viewing too much.

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  7. Hey guys, awesome talk about “Prometheus.” Love the look of that film and am excited for sequel. I was also one of those who saw “Alien Resurrection” in the theater back in ’97 and it was a blast! Also, that concept art for “Alien 5” looks amazing. I really hope they bring back Hicks, scarred face and all! Mattroid, you’ve kick-started my excitement for this potential movie. For the VHS tapes, I’ve seen two of these if you are interested…

    “Creature” (1985) – I did watch this on Halloween a few years ago while taking a bath (Ha – random!). It was streaming on Netflix for a while I think. It was a standard “Alien” rip-off, much like “Leviathan.” It’s funny to see Wendy Schaal (“American Dad” voice) in a serious role. Also the great Klaus Kinski is in this! Typical over-the-top weirdo crazy acting. This was not a bad flick; plenty of gore and 80’s slimy effects for you.

    As for Kill Bill Solo Junior Rowan… “Arena” (1989) is a fun movie also! We had a movie channel called Prism in the Philly area back in the day. There was at time when this movie would play regularly on this channel. I watched it so many times. It’s about a blonde guy named Armstrong who fights in this intergalactic MMA/boxing tournament against various aliens (guys in rubber Star Wars reject costumes). It was kind of like a sports movie set in space. Good guy becomes successful, turns into a prima-donna, learns humility, then overcomes great challenge at the end – you know the script!
    This movie features exciting montages, bad acting, and some great cheesy fighting sound effects if I remember correctly. A younger Claudia Christian also is in this as Armstrong’s promoter. I would love to see this one again, although it seems to be hard to find.

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    • Nice! Thanks for expanding on the VHS tapes. I plan on putting together a special “user content” episode in the future with listeners providing their own VHS Tapes experiences. I have a feeling you’d have some great tales.

      Also, mega high-five for the Prometheus love. Make sure you enter the contest for the blu!

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      • my first VHS tape that I owned myself was Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, the second was Legend (you know, with Tom Cruise). The only cool stories I have is that I watched them until they broke…I have no cool stories.

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      • Oh, man. VHS tapes stories…

        Growing up, before I was old enough to stay at home by myself, I would go to my mother’s work after school. Right across the parking lot from her business was a video rental store… not a Blockbuster-type place, but just a small mom-and-pop shop where the horror section took up about 2/3s of this place. It was a small space, but still, that’s not bad.

        JOTD (or, Jalien, I suppose) over-share time: I have a bit of an obsessive personality, so I spent a lot of my time in this video rental store just looking at and reading all of the VHS tape covers. Obsessing over them, if you will. Of course, I was too young to actually watch any of these movies at the time, so I would spend some time imagining what I thought the movie would be like. Then I would rent one of the WWF special event tapes they had, and go watch it in the break room of my mother’s place.

        Anyway, back to VHS tapes… the covers that captured my attention the most back then were ALIEN, FRIDAY THE 13TH, PART 4: THE FINAL CHAPTER and FACES OF DEATH. There were certainly others that I obsessed over, but those are three that I remember the most.

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        • VHS tapes stories…

          The last VHS I remember buying was Jurassic Park: The Lost World. It sticks out in my mind because it had one of those holographic (or whatever they’re called) cards on the cover that was really cool.

          As far as covers that captured my attention, there were two that used to make my mind go wild: Child’s Play and Child’s Play 2. I was afraid of those movies long before I saw them and yet I loved seeing images of Chucky. Just as important for me was the back of the VHS tape. Reading about the movie and try to put it together on my mind using that information and the image stills on the back was a lot of fun. The possibilities were endless!

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        • “Then I would rent one of the WWF special event tapes they had, and go watch it in the break room of my mother’s place.”

          For so many years, the only tapes I would rent were WWF ones. There’s a lot of childhood memories tied into renting those old WWF VHS tapes. For instance, one time when I was six or so and I was walking down my block to go back home to finish watching Royal Rumble 1991 and a bunch of crows attacked me. It seems as if they wanted my animal crackers that I was holding. I can remember my mom yelling for me to throw the crackers and run off, but like…I clearly remember out box of animal crackers were almost out. I’m not giving up no sticking animal crackers.

          Needless to say, I was eating animal crackers back in my home while watching Hulk Hogan throw Earthquake over the top rope to win the ’91 Royal Rumble match.

          Young Sal Roma: 1 Crows: 0

          Then again, this was many, many years ago, so I may be repressing memories of the crows beating me up.

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        • Sal, anyone who watched WWF special events on VHS back in the day is alright in my book. I don’t care what Juan says…

          Have you mentioned the crows story in the past, maybe on HMP? It sounds vaguely familiar. Those crows are nefarious!

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  11. That was a spirited RESURRECTION discussion. Good for Station! and Jalien for putting forth a solid argument in support of the movie.

    The PROMETHEUS discussion was the tops. Really good job with that, TSFP crew. It was refreshing to hear a well-thought out reading and defense of the movie as something more than just a soulless special effects joint. Maybe I mostly turn my brain off when watching it, or maybe I’m just dumb, but I did not get a lot of the sub-text you discussed. Of course, it all makes sense and is present in the movie, so thanks for opening my eyes. Makes me like the movie even more than I did to begin with.

    I’m with Sal, though – super-bummed there was no AVP or AVPR talk.

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  12. So, some cool giveaways coming up: Star Wars toys, Art prints and more.

    We will announce the winners of the Alien Quadrology in the next full episode; the winner(s) of the other alien stuff the episode after.

    We will announce the winner of the first Star Wars giveaway on our Facebook page next week.

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  13. “Sal, anyone who watched WWF special events on VHS back in the day is alright in my book. I don’t care what Juan says…

    Have you mentioned the crows story in the past, maybe on HMP? It sounds vaguely familiar. Those crows are nefarious!”

    Those old Coliseum Home Videos were my jam. These days, I mostly just like them for their incredibly cheesy segments between the matches with the likes of Sean Mooney and Lord Alfred Hayes. Coliseum Home Videos and those old Hasbro WWF action figures sum up my early 90’s childhood.

    I don’t believe I’ve ever shared the crow story online. Crows are dicks though, so I imagine others have dealt with them in a similar manner.

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  15. I loved this discussion on Prometheus. Despite it’s warts, what it tried to do with it’s story was phenomenal. At least it was for me. I love movies that aren’t afraid to dig deep into existentialist space and Prometheus goes about as deep as you can go for a blockbuster. I was hoping you guys would draw some of the parallels to Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness story and how Prometheus follows that particular narrative quite heavily. So much so, that after Del Toro saw it he decided to shelve his proposed AtMoM film. Which is unfortunate as I feel there’s lot’s of room in film to explore this concept (where do humans come from). But whatever the case, I can’t wait for Alien: Covenant to arrive to see where this story goes.

    I’m not overly excited about Blomkamp’s entry. He’s very hit or miss with me. I liked District 9; hated Elysium and have heard nothing but negative reviews on Chappie (which I admittedly, haven’t seen yet). But I will see his Alien film, none the less. I’m just prepared to be disappointed. I give Prometheus a 9 Chestbursters and recommend a solid buy.

    Eric

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