Some minor spoilers ahead for Aliens and Alien: Earth. You have been warned.
Hi. Brian Joseph Johns here. No, I'm not Neil Blomkamp, though from what I gathered of his planned Aliens sequel, it would have been the front runner to many the ideas that have come forth to carry the story forward from that point in that particular time line.
So lets just say that there are some questionably "off" people who'd assume my interest in making an attempt to write an Aliens sequel could be explained by my being "possessed" or "inhabited" or even more appropriately so "impregnated" by a Blomkamp, or Noah Hawley facehugger.
However, I can assure you that isn't the case, but there are many people who'd attempt to take your soul from you, using colour symbolism and a variety of other techniques if they thought you had a good chance of success in such a creative endeavor. Our world is rife with such people now unfortunately. Our individuality and consciousness is no longer sacred to some predatory people in this world, but I want to stick with the matter at hand rather than ranting about something that I can't change with a few words.
Here we are on winter's front doorstep, or possibly another six weeks of summer if a groundhog see's its own shadow, or something to that effect that would explain the bizarre weather we've been receiving during the
SAPCHoP time of the year.
Those of you who've read the majority of Tales of the Sanctum: A Lady's Prerogative stories will know exactly what that acronym stands for. If not, you can figure it out by following the provided link and doing a bit of reading, or glancing over the story casually to find it.
Some Background To My Experience With Alien and Aliens
Now for the real reason I decided to put this post up and put it before my readers. As many of you likely are, I am a big fan of the Alien films, though when the first (Ridley Scott/Dan O'Bannon/Ronald Shusett/HR Giger) film was released with a restricted to 18 and under rating, I was only 11 years old at the time. However, my (real) parents (whom I'll refer to by their first initials as R&D), were major film buffs and so blown away by the movie, that my father came home with the Heavy Metal graphic novel version of the film, which released at very close to the same time as the theatrical release of the film from which it was adapted.
As a result of this ingenious move by my parents, I got to read the movie in graphic novel format long before I'd have had to wait to see it (another eight years before I'd have been of age). I even lent the graphic novel to my best friend (whose first and last name initials are SM, and whom some of you may have heard of, seeing as he designs props and practical effects for film and television).
Here's the dinger though. When I was finally of age to see a restricted film at a movie theatre, was almost the exact same date and time that the sequel Aliens was released (in 1986). I even recall having a few drinks with my friend RW, with whom I went to see the film Aliens for the first time, and perhaps a few years after having seen the original Alien on VHS.
Its hard to explain what a phenomenon Aliens was, though the front doors to such fanfare and success were initially opened by the very first blockbuster films, such as Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Star Wars. However, none of those films dared to journey into the genre of horror, but thankfully Ridley Scott did with the first film, Alien. You could say that Alien was the first blockbuster sci-fi horror film to have fanfare close to its nearest contemporaries in cinema (Close Encounters and Star Wars), despite the film being so uniquely different than anything that had come until that point.
Aliens, took that setting and gave it an incredible premise involving Ripley's return to the horrific site of the derelict ship from the original film, which was being terraformed by the dystopian company Weyland-Yutani, although she wouldn't be returning to the planet of her first encounter with the xenomorph alone. She'd be joined by the most well armed and trained bad-asses that the Earth had to offer: enter the Colonial Marines, undoubtedly an hommage to the work of writer Robert A. Heinlein, whose book Starship Troopers was the inspiration for the Colonial Marines, James Cameron even placing many obvious tips of his hat to the writer.
The genius of the writing in this film was that Ripley doesn't decide to return because she has a bunch of Marines with her, though don't get me wrong, rhey're as much at the center of this film as her character arc. She returns to LV-426 because by the start of Aliens, its clear that she's lost everything, including the last surviving members of her own immediate family due to natural causes given the plot of the film. She returns because the planet where she'd first encountered the xenomorph, was being terraformed by 260 engineers and their families. She went because she hoped there was a chance to save them before the inevitable.
By the time the main action sequences in the film arrive, we've already become familiar with the most prominent Marines, who've been sent to accompany her. These are an outfit who've very obviously never met their match in conflict, and most of whose encounters with alien life was basically insectoidal in one form or another, hence the Marines' lines in the film:
Corporal Hudson
"Hey Sarge, is this going to be a stand up fight, or another bug hunt?"
Lieutenant Gorman
"According to Lieutenant Ripley's report, what we may be dealing with here is a xenomorph,"
Private Frost
"Excuse me Sir, a what?"
Lieutenant Gorman
"A xenomorph,"
Corporal Hicks
"Its a bug hunt..."
This part of the pre-combat drop briefing really sets the tone for their attitude towards this mission, with Ripley being the only person concerned about the imminent threat the xenomorph represents given her experiences. However, this also underlines the immense courage the character has, for she's returning to face off against something that has taken everything from her life. Its this that Hicks, being the only Marine who takes her seriously latches onto, when he asks her with a very serious and compassionate tone during the briefing:
Corporal Hicks
"What exactly are we dealing with here?"
Ripley's response is fraught with anxiety, as she suddenly has to face the memory of this thing and recall it for a room full of people who've demonstrated that they don't take her or her report of the xenomorph seriously, all the while Hicks listens to her, realizing that she's truly harbouring something of horrific proportions. This sets up the fact that Hicks decides to catch a snooze during the drop ship sequence, feeling that given the risk of what they might be facing, they might not get another chance to rest for a while.
Most of the other Marines were too busy clowning around, or involved in bouts of what amounts to battles of alpha male and female if you get my drift (penis envy perhaps). They didn't take the situation seriously, nor did they respect the civilian who'd accompanied them to act as a consultant. These first words between Ripley and Hicks, cement the bond between the two of them, which becomes a focal point of the film with the arrival of the third character in their trio: Rebecca "Newt" Jorden.
I'll end my recollection of the film Aliens here, just to avert revealing any more spoilers to those who have not yet seen the film.
Regardless, the importance of that trio to the film, is at the very core of the plot continuity between the first film and the second film, and by the end of the second film, one could say that Ripley in a roundabout way, had found another family. Those remaining truly knowing the threat of the xenomorph, hence she finishes the film for the first time, with two others who can relate to her in ways that nobody else in the universe can, except for those whose lives have already been taken by the xenomorphs, the propensity for moving up in Weyland-Yutani, or the greed of those whom the company seems to attract.
The real question is then: where does this new family find themselves, in the next chapter of the threat of the xenomorphs?
The importance of this question is insurmountable, as now, Ripley has much more than her own life to lose. She had a new family, and they too have her. However, together and knowing the imminent danger the xenomorph poses, they also have a responsibility to humanity, to prevent the xenomorph from ever reaching Earth or the populous center of humanity, whatever place that might be. Keeping the xenomorph from our source and origin, which when compared to the life cycle of the xenomorph, seems incredibly fragile when considering all of the elements of humanity's flaws that would contribute to the xenmorph's success against us.
I have a great idea for where this story could go, even with the arrival of Alien: Earth, and my interest in writing this story wasn't because of it being an opportunity for some publicity at all.
In a way, I can relate with Ripley in ways that few other people can, as I've been targeted by the same kind of greed that the corporate climbers that Weyland-Yutani seems to attract have with regard to my creative and intellectual property, my identity and my skills as well, as if all of those things were the xenomorph that they've been pursuing for so long. By these statements, I'm not claiming that I am greater than any. I am just citing the fact that I seem to attract a lot of abusive interest to those ends, and that gives me a lot of insight into the character Ripley.
Ripley is a victim of corporate rape, as much so as she's a victim of the xenomorph, though of the two, the xenomorph is only following its survival programming, while the corporate climbers are following their sense of greed and the opportunity to move up in the company. To cosy up with the big wigs and to wield their power. There's even a moment of important symbolism in Alien: Earth, when the xenomorph literally eradicates an ongoing costume party in the building that the Maginot crashes into, whose guests are all wearing big wigs from 1700s, perhaps costumed versions of the bourgeois, which is likely a reference to the founding fathers (complete with red coats and blue coats). They are all quickly dispatched by the Alien: Earth xenomorph, which has a decidedly brown and black shell and exoskeleton. I am however not here to speak about Alien: Earth. More so to speak on the possibility of my pursuing my own version of the sequel to Aliens.
Recently, I've been given the cold shoulder quite a bit, especially with regard to anything related to Disney, and have decided to keep my distance from as a result. In a way I thought that Disney might be the place where those of us who are misfits, that have through one form of another, lost their ties to family and friends as a result of abusive ideologies or other trying social circumstances, that they might be a harbour in the storm for other similar creatives, hence why for a time I pursued the possibility.
I thought naively, that Disney, although it represents family in the sense most are familiar with, it is truly made up of people who have been by one means or another, fragmented from their own families, through difficult times as creatives and artists, who eventually, like Ripley, Hicks and Rebecca, find a new family with people who are all too familiar with the sometimes volatile and predatory nature of the modern world. I even thought this particular insight gave me a key to something that might eventually allow me to open that door, despite the fact that I am now 57 years of age, a little over a month away from turning 58.
Very recently however (over this weekend), that hope was dashed and I've decided to pursue other avenues and to keep my content as distant as I can from any properties close to Disney's.
There has been an effort to erase or disconnect me from my fav.inbox@gmail.com Google account, which basically is the email I used to create everything that eventually became Shhhh! Digital Media, hence its tied to a lot of things that tie my identity to being that of the creator of those things, hence the effort of an abusive ideology to make it seem that email account belongs to a different person other than myself. Like splitting my identity in half. A sort of gnostic bifurcation of the soul, that abusive ideologies might use to take something of value from someone.
Its unfortunate to see that there are many people whom I once trusted actually helping these groups achieve those ends. Hence, my decision to not pursue the idea, hoping that I don't have situations where like I'd stated, that people who'd attempt to take your soul from you, using colour symbolism and a variety of other techniques if they thought you had a good chance of success in such a creative endeavor, would seek to use these ends to achieve those goals to take such ideas from you. Ironic how someone who always gives credit where its due, can be targeted by such ideologies, but once again, I'd rather focus on something a bit more constructive, though I won't be turning my attention to other creative properties such as Terminator.
I'd prefer to focus on my own. Maybe however, if there's enough interest expressed, I'll reconsider my choice and start as soon as I can on writing this Aliens sequel idea I have, between other episodic stories I'm currently working on.
Once again, thank you for reading my content if you did manage to stick with this post for this long. I'll probably be back this week with something new, and possibly a new audiobook or two.
Have a great day if you're not already.
I'm an Atheist that leans toward Buddhism and Taoism. I'm not Marty Shea, or a hell's angel or a panther for that matter.
I am Brian Joseph Johns and this is Shhhh! Digital Media at https://www.shhhhdigital.com or https://www.shhhhdigital.ca in Toronto, Ontario, Canada at 200 Sherbourne Street Suite 701.
