Hello Forum!
Whilst I was bored out of my mind I came to think about aliens and spaceships in todays movies and how similar they are.
For example all spaceships have they're engines running at the back, yes logical placing but illogical use since you only need the engines to gain speed and possibly avoid getting trapped by gravity. But there are exceptions like the spaceship in the movie "The Fountain" where the spaceship is a basic spherical biome. I like the spaceships that differ from the normal, conventional sci-fi style because they show creativity and not recycling.
The same goes for aliens. I felt more sympathy for the shrimp aliens in "District 9" than the cat people of "Avatar". Which I think shows that the aliens doesn't need to be "cute". And from what I can see nearly all of them have the same models. 2 arms, 2 legs, a centerpiece (chest, stomach) and a head on top. Like humans.
I don't know what else to write now so please leave you're thoughts in the comments.
The movie "Battle: Los Angeles" had some original spacecrafts. It possessed various thrusters around its chassis to provide movement to all directions. And various ships of the same design could attach to one another to form this ring like shape to share fuel to one another. Although Battle LA is far from being the best alien invasion movie. It still had some interesting ideas.
As for aliens. I am a fucking alien designs fanatic xD. I like to doodle this weird ass creatures that resemble to almost nothing that we see outside in the garden. But the thing is. Aliens always look like regular people but whit something extra or something less for three main reasons:
Number one: If you go back a few years. Back in the what we now call the retro sci fi era. People used to imagine aliens as rather similar to us. They did not yet had imagine forms other than the ones they were used to. for example lizard people. or bug eyed people. or little green men. etc... Imagination on the subject had not yet fully developed.
Number two: Some years ago. Around the time Star trek and Star wars started to rise. Aliens and their stories have gotten even more complex and intriguing. However. Aliens in movies still had a major flaw. Someone had to dress like them. No big special effects were used at the time which renders impossible an incredibly large amount of creature designs impossible to replicate for a movie. Therefore when designing one. They had to remember someone had to wear those lizard masks and makeup. (and don't forget the budget limitations...)
And finally number three: the most modern reason to why aliens in movies look so human is actually due to human like eye contact. People need to see some humanity on aliens so they can relate to them. The bugs from district 9. might look less human then the blue cats from avatar. But they still posses similar body structure and big human like eyes. Like those from a sad puppy. Instant affection even though they seem a lot like Cuthulu's offsrping. If we made a story similar to D9 but whit creatures similar to these:
It would be a lot harder to make the general public to reflect themselves on to this jelly like creature.
Its a matter of the most effective way to tell a story and make the people care about or see themselfs on to these offworld creatures.
(01-08-2013, 12:10 AM)Danny Boy Wrote: [ -> ]Although Battle LA is far from being the best alien invasion movie. It still had some interesting ideas.
Are you kidding? It's unbearable. I don't think it had any interesting ideas at all either.
(01-08-2013, 12:19 AM)Bridge Wrote: [ -> ] (01-08-2013, 12:10 AM)Danny Boy Wrote: [ -> ]Although Battle LA is far from being the best alien invasion movie. It still had some interesting ideas.
Are you kidding? It's unbearable. I don't think it had any interesting ideas at all either.
I meant in the visual department (including the direction of some shots... the tension and complete confusion mementos at the beginning were actually shot pretty good.). As for story its almost literally nothing.
I'm a huge fan of
The Thing from 1982. The alien doesn't really have an appearance except for what other life forms it has assimilated. Here's a clip from early on in the movie.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_piYJAGQImc
I'm a huge fan of the original The Thing, more then the 1982 version.
I always liked the Borg cubes from Star Trek. I mean, most spaceships have a somewhat aerodynamic shape, probably because that's what we're used to seeing when it comes to crafts from real life (planes, cars, boats...). But in the vacuum of space, air resistance doesn't matter anymore, so you can imagine the collective saying to itself "f*** it, cubes are faster to build and fly just as well!"
I just think the whole ship design reflects the mentality of their creators quite well. Not only does it show a machine-like efficiency and a strictly structured way of thinking, you can also imagine those cubes being easily connectable to form bigger structures (not sure if they ever actually do that in the series though...), reflecting on a bigger scale how the collective, too, is made up of billions of small units. It's just an example of a well-rounded overall design concept is what I'm saying.
(01-08-2013, 11:15 AM)failedALIAS Wrote: [ -> ]I'm a huge fan of the original The Thing, more then the 1982 version.
Never saw the original... But I absolutely love the first remake <3 It inspires me to draw my failed abortions :3... the second "remake" however.... bah... not even worth mentioning.