Aliens [recte malmonikered, ^Alien sequel] (eponymous⸮ № 1st < № 2nd supervenient, preciously pluralized ^superordinal, 7-year-late franchisation, see franchise (n.)), directed by James 'Titanic(s)' [sic] Cameron, 1979 Alien Blockbuster: Masterpiece, Sequeless Space Oddity, Decade-Ending Stowaway, H. R. Giger Fright-Flight Singularity!
Aliens [rectemalmonikered, ^Aliensequel] (eponymous⸮№ 1st < №2nd supervenient, preciously pluralized ^superordinal, 7-year-late franchisation, see franchise (n.)), directed by James 'Titanic(s)' [sic] Cameron, 1979 Alien Blockbuster: Masterpiece, Sequeless Space Oddity, Decade-Ending Stowaway,H. R. GigerFright-Flight Singularity!
WORST [TITLED WRITTEN] sequel EVER, 'Alien[s]' Quotes! (1986 SEQUEL TO 'ALIEN'1979, blockbuster of the decade, Sleeper-Sexy, traumatic, Cool)!
ALIENS IS pre-Titanics
genius 'tying up loose ends, entitled sequel equivalent to the Italian
re-titling for the translated and dubbed foreign release to "Crocodile Dundee,' which I saw in Rome with my own eyes.
It read: "Mr. Crocodile Dundee!"
James
Cameron decided that by making the originally-titled surprise
blockbuster, Academy Award winning, Sci-Fi freakout movie of my 16th
year, already traumatic, PTSD-inducing, in an otherwise already large
flock of other awesomely disturbing, groundbreaking, behemoth Box
Office-bankbusters, while critical praise flew-in like Jeans'
Manufactured bad perfume fragrances of those delicious 70s, when
Jordache, Brooke Shields, John McEnroe and little food was new and
exciting.
First-of-their-kind, never-to-be-outdone horror, action, arty (All that Jazz), comedies (Tootsie), Cameron would revive the great sci-fi woman's role with balls and big guns like Arnold S. but in this macho uterine space the likes not seen since 2001, featuringGiger-perfect Alienmulti-use prop sets
whose sheer bitumen, styled sleek horror comes from their Ferrari
attention and depth of starless patina, whose inscintilate yaw Hitchcock
never saw and only Lynch would touch later (but whose black magick
gleem to match that in his eye, Phillip Anger would come closest in his
Candy Apple polished neon bloody Carbon Monoxide Snow White red depths
only morticians and funeral director's know, and only when their
decedent has succumbed accidentaly or otherwise from the 'dead red' so
bright its pearlescent sheen is a lurid lipstick lascivious, clangorous
hued fire engine coruscating Toro to all but the most color-impaired or unprepared bulls whose sword makes them see red death, then forever black.
Cameron's coup de grace
ending the execrable 1970s in his rear-view mirror showing nothing but
7s, then blunders, blindly by bemonikering his big little bagatelle that
could with the most irredeemably insentient insubordinate appelation,
neither exciting nor delivering more than simply notifying a public,
who've now forgotten in eight years, the first success which this
bookends and makes fully fulminate, by slapping a paste-it, throwaway
line, similar to the Beatles' "the movement you need is on your
shoulders, etc." in an over-par-under-80-IQ aptitude low-ordinal,
numbered distinction, giving it all the entitlement as if naming the
sequel to 'the Sting,''the Stings;' only, if at all,plurality for company's sake like the lonely puppy it never was, its original agreement of grammatical tensor, number and story, easy-to-read and understandable as < 2 = 1 formulaic, graspable by everyone on any-sized bus, no matter how small,
in town (one name, like Elvis-perfection, unmistakably, recognizable
... ), both insuring you were probably going to be able to see the
cocaine in the story, the cinematography and the rehashing of 'Rumorses,' which Fleetwood Mac'Nicksed,' instead thinking outside the box without the marching band or prehistoric mastodon-themed unsubtle insuflation befitting its Rumors' borne anticipation, keeping the cocaine very high in the mix, but with variously mailed-in results.
(Back
to Sigourney) 1986 sees Ms. Weaver tightly-curled mall-hair-permed like
those other avian Weavers whose life depends on badass aesthetics.
She's
trying at reprising the biggest, baddest gun molling, dirt dobbing
wifebeating fashion statement since Edith Head dressed Rosie the
Riveter: Sig's straight Brando without a cause and swinging every bit
the clit he swung and just as oily and ogleable, erect nipply tee poking
through that thin ribbed cotton epidermis, and then she's hitting you
all Chrissie Hynde 'Stick it in,' or Fiona Apple, 'Been a bad, bad
girl;' husky sotto voce sure to have every lesbian bein' not a dry eye
in between the thighs...Who's K.D. Lang?
The
young male hetero-me was already so preternaturally fortified by Bob
Guccione that I needed nothing more than a light breeze and a sneeze to
come around, but everyone I knew, including the old 28-year-old guys I
re-watched with that summer had all found something to fall for in 1979,
and until Jessica Lange became Angelique, Bob Fosse's All That Jazz
first fling with whatever that world was, and how do I say, 'It's
showtime,' like that and fuck that many dancers at once until I can get
up there... to somehow think somehow she was hot.
Until, that is, 1986, when this fucking dog let the dogs
out, sequel with nothing to prove except how many aliens does it take
to cause this rehash to get a diacritical linguistic countable number
agreement pluralization, and how fuckin' many linguists were at that
pre-screen filling out comment cards? Dog just 'did its business,'
which begs the question, still and forever:
IS
IT EVER ALRIGHT TO PLAY A ONE-POINT SCRABBLE TILE WHEN YOU'RE TITLING
THE SEQUEL TO YOUR TRIPLE-WORD SCORE SEVEN-YEAR-OLD HIT OF THE DECADE?
BOTH ADVERTISE ONLY THAT WHICH MAY BE INFERRED, THE ADDITION OF AT LEAST ONE EXTRA ALIEN?
HAVING JUST WATCHED THIS GARBAGE WITH A FRIEND WHO TRIED TO CONVINCE ME AND HALF-SUCCEEDED THAT IT WAS, IN FACT, THE Original 'ALIEN', DESPITE THE FACT THAT NOTHING RESEMBLED
THAT FIRST ITERATION IN TONE, LOGIC, DRAMA, SEXINESS, CREEPINESS,
TERROR, or SURPRISE AT the wrongheaded decision to insert a RIDICULOUS
LITTLE GIRL WHO SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN 'MAD Maxes.'
WE
BOTH DECIDED IT COULD NOT HAVE BEEN AS IT KEPT SUCKING AND SIG'S PERM
GOT TIGHTER AND LESS SEXY, AND AS DOES HALF OF THE INTERNET, MAINTAIN
THAT IN NO WAY COULD THERE POSSIBLY BE A MORE ADVISABLY USELESS
SEQUEL, NOR ONE WHOSE NAME PROMISES NOTHING MORE THAN A CROWD BUT
DOESN'T EVEN PACK A PUNCH!
THIS BE THE ONE, ASPHILLIP LARKIN WROTE IT ABOUT MUM AND DADFIVE YEARS PREVIOUS, 'THEY FUCK YOU UP!'
%0 REVIEW BY DOUG MEET %T James Cameron %A Keller, A. %@ 9781134700141
%U https://books.google.com/books?id=UGd9AwAAQBAJ %D 2014 %I Taylor & Francis
alien (pluralaliens)
A person, animal, plant, or other thing which is from outside the family, group, organization, or territory under consideration.
The Alien (also known as Xenomorphor Internecivus raptus) is a fictional endoparasitoid extraterrestrial species, the eponymous antagonist of the Alien film series.
1950, Frederick Bagemihl (translator), Erich Kamke, Theory of Sets, Dover (Dover Phoenix), 2006, page 137,
For not only do the antinomies a) to e) disappear when we admit as elements of sets only such sets, ordinal numbers,
and cardinal numbers as are bounded above by a fixed cardinal number,
but we see also that paradoxes always arise if we collect into a set any
sets, cardinal numbers, or ordinal numbers which are not bounded above by a fixed cardinal number.
Is there a set that consists exactly of all the ordinal numbers? It is easy to see that the answer must be no. If there were such a set, then we could form the supremum of all ordinal numbers. That supremum would be an ordinal number greater than or equal to every ordinal number. Since, however, for each ordinal number
there exists a strictly greater one (for example, its successor), this
is impossible; it makes no sense to speak of the "set" of all ordinals.
2009, Marek Kuczma, Attila Gilányi (editor), An Introduction to the Theory of Functional Equations and Inequalities, Springer (Birkhäuser), 2nd Edition, page 10,
If is an ordinal number, then by definition any two well-ordered sets of type
are similar, i.e., there exists a one-to-one mapping from one set to
the other. Consequently these sets have the same cardinality.
Consequently to any ordinal number we may assign a cardinal number, the common cardinality of all well-ordered sets of type .
The word is pronounced either way: spē'shēz, or spē'sēz. "The noun species, referring especially to a group of organisms sharing common characteristics, can be either singular (e.g., that species is purple) or plural (e.g., these species are yellow)."Apr 6, 2018
In
taxonomy, the word “species” can be used both as singular and plural.
Additionally, it's a collective noun as it denotes the type, kind or
group of plants and animals having similar appearance.
However,
the word “specie” is an uncountable noun and therefore cannot be
pluralised. Some tend to use it as a singular form of species.
Also, it's pronounced as in the first word you wrote=> “ speesh-eez.
AND its Too-Human Quotes You'll Never Repeat
What is the difference between categorical, ordinal and numerical variables?
In talking about variables, sometimes you hear variables being described as categorical
(or sometimesnominal), or ordinal, or numerical. Below we will define these
terms and explain why they are important.
Categorical
A categorical variable (sometimes called a nominal variable) is one that has two or
more categories, but there is no intrinsic ordering to the categories. For example,
gender is a categorical variable having two categories (male and female) and there is no
intrinsic ordering to the categories. Hair color is also a categorical variable
having a number of categories (blonde, brown, brunette, red, etc.) and again, there is no
agreed way to order these from highest to lowest. A purely categorical variable is
one that simply allows you to assign categories but you cannot clearly order the
variables. If the variable has a clear ordering, then that variable would be an
ordinal variable, as described below.
Ordinal
An ordinal variable is similar to a categorical variable. The difference between
the two is that there is a clear ordering of the variables. For example, suppose you
have a variable, economic status, with three categories (low, medium and high). In
addition to being able to classify people into these three categories, you can order the
categories as low, medium and high. Now consider a variable like educational experience
(with values such as elementary school graduate, high school graduate, some college and
college graduate). These also can be ordered as elementary school, high school, some college,
and college graduate. Even though we can order these from lowest to highest, the
spacing between the values may not be the same across the levels of the variables.
Say we assign scores 1, 2, 3 and 4 to these four levels of educational experience and we
compare the difference in education between categories one and two with the difference in
educational experience between categories two and three, or the difference between
categories three and four. The difference between categories one and two (elementary and
high school) is probably much bigger than the difference between categories two and three
(high school and some college). In this example, we can order the people in level of
educational experience but the size of the difference between categories is inconsistent
(because the spacing between categories one and two is bigger than categories two and
three). If these categories were equally spaced, then the variable would be an
numerical variable.
Numerical
An numerical variable is similar to an ordinal variable, except that the intervals
between the values of the numerical variable are equally spaced. For example, suppose
you have a variable such as annual income that is measured in dollars, and we have three
people who make $10,000, $15,000 and $20,000. The second person makes $5,000 more than the
first person and $5,000 less than the third person, and the size of these intervals
is the same. If there were two other people who make $90,000 and $95,000, the size
of that interval between these two people is also the same ($5,000).
Why does it matter whether a variable is categorical, ordinal or numerical?
Statistical computations and analyses assume that the variables have a specific levels
of measurement. For example, it would not make sense to compute an average hair
color. An average of a categorical variable does not make much sense because there
is no intrinsic ordering of the levels of the categories. Moreover, if you tried to
compute the average of educational experience as defined in the ordinal section above, you
would also obtain a nonsensical result. Because the spacing between the four levels
of educational experience is very uneven, the meaning of this average would be very
questionable. In short, an average requires a variable to be numerical.
Sometimes you have variables that are “in between” ordinal and numerical, for
example, a five-point likert scale with values “strongly agree”,
“agree”, “neutral”, “disagree” and “strongly
disagree”. If we cannot be sure that the intervals between each of these five
values are the same, then we would not be able to say that this is an numerical variable,
but we would say that it is an ordinal variable. However, in order to be able to use
statistics that assume the variable is numerical, we will assume that the intervals are
equally spaced.
Does it matter if my dependent variable is normally distributed?
When you are doing a t-test or ANOVA, the assumption is that the distribution of the
sample means are normally distributed. One way to guarantee this is for the
distribution of the individual observations from the sample to be normal. However,
even if the distribution of the individual observations is not normal, the distribution of
the sample means will be normally distributed if your sample size is about 30 or
larger. This is due to the “central limit theorem” that shows that even
when a population is non-normally distributed, the distribution of the “sample
means” will be normally distributed when the sample size is 30 or more, for example
see Central limit theorem demonstration .
If you are doing a regression analysis, then the assumption is that your residuals are
normally distributed. One way to make it very likely to have normal residuals is to
have a dependent variable that is normally distributed and predictors that are all
normally distributed, however this is not necessary for your residuals to be normally
distributed. You can see
NOW HERE ARE THE WORST SEQUEL'S WORST QUOTES IN THE VEIN WITH WHICH THEY ARE INTENDED TO NOT BE, EITHER QUOTABLE, nor REPEATABLE!
Aliens(1986)Quotes
Private Hudson: Hey Vasquez, have you ever been mistaken for a man?
Private Vasquez: No. Have you?
Ripley: [when the alien queen threatens Newt] Get away from her, you bitch!
Ripley: You know, Burke, I don't know which species is worse. You don't see them fucking each other over for a goddamn percentage.
Ripley: They cut the power.
Private Hudson: What do you mean *they* cut the power? How could they cut the power, man? They're animals!
Private Hudson: [after the drop ship crash] Well, that's great. That's just fuckin' great, man! Now what the fuck are we supposed to do? We're in some real pretty shit now, man!
Corporal Hicks: [grabs him by the shirt] Are you finished?
Newt: I guess we're not gonna be leaving now, right?
Ripley: I'm sorry, Newt.
Newt: You don't have to be sorry. It wasn't your fault.
Private Hudson: That's it, man. Game over, man. Game over! What the fuck are we gonna do now? What are we gonna do?
Burke: Maybe we can build a fire, sing a couple of songs, huh? Why don't we try that?
Newt: We'd better get back 'cause it'll be dark soon and they mostly come at night. Mostly. 87 of 89 found this interesting | Share this
Ripley: Well, somebody's gonna have to go out there. Take a portable terminal, go out there and patch in manually.
Private Hudson: Oh yeah, sure! With those things runnin' around? You can count me out.
Corporal Hicks: Yeah, I guess we can just count you out of everything, Hudson.
Bishop: [speaking under Hicks] I'll go.
Private Hudson: That's right, man.
Bishop: I'll go.
Private Hudson: Hey, why don't *you* go, man!
Bishop: [more loudly] I'll go.
Ripley: What?
Bishop: I'll go. I mean, I'm the only one qualified to remote-pilot the ship anyway.
Private Hudson: Yeah right, man, Bishop should go.
[Vasquez looks at Hudson with disgust]
Private Hudson: Good idea!
Bishop: Believe me, I'd prefer not to. I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid.
Ripley: Did IQs just drop sharply while I was away?
Private Hudson: Stop your grinnin' and drop your linen!
Ripley: How long after we're declared overdue can we expect a rescue?
Corporal Hicks: [pause] Seventeen days.
Private Hudson: Seventeen *days*? Hey man, I don't wanna rain on your parade, but we're not gonna last seventeen hours! Those things are gonna come in here just like they did before. And they're gonna come in here...
Ripley: Hudson!
Private Hudson: ...and they're gonna come in here AND THEY'RE GONNA GET US!
Ripley: Hudson! This little girl survived longer than that with no weapons and no training.
[to Newt]
Ripley: Right?
[Newt apes a salute]
Private Hudson: Why don't you put *her* in charge?
Newt: My mommy always said there were no monsters - no real ones - but there are.
Ripley: Yes, there are, aren't there?
Newt: Why do they tell little kids that?
Ripley: Most of the time it's true.
Private Vasquez: Look, man. I only need to know one thing: where they are.
Private Drake: Go, Vasquez. Kick ass.
Private Vasquez: Anytime, anywhere, man!
Private Hudson: Right, right. Somebody said "alien" she thought they said "illegal alien" and signed up!
Private Vasquez: Fuck you, man!
Private Hudson: Anytime, anywhere.
Sergeant Apone: [after the briefing] All right sweethearts, you heard the man and you know the drill. Assholes and elbows! Hudson, come here! Come *here*!
Ripley: How many drops is this for you, Lieutenant?
Lieutenant Gorman: Thirty eight... simulated.
Private Vasquez: How many *combat* drops?
Lieutenant Gorman: Uh, two. Including this one.
Private Drake: Shit.
Private Hudson: Oh, man...
Burke: [about the facehuggers] Look, those two specimens are worth millions to the bio-weapons division. Now, if you're smart, we can both come out of it as heroes and we'll be set up for life.
Ripley: You're crazy Burke, you know that? You really think that you can get a dangerous organism like that past ICC quarantine?
Burke: How can they impound it if they don't know about it?
Ripley: Oh, they *will* know about it, Burke, from me. Just like they'll know that you were responsible for the deaths of 158 colonists here.
Burke: Wait a second...
Ripley: You sent them to that ship.
Burke: You're wrong.
Ripley: I just checked the colony log. Dated 0-6-1-2-7-9, signed Burke, Carter J. You sent them out there and you didn't even warn them. Why didn't you warn them, Burke?
Burke: Okay, look. What if that ship didn't even exist, huh? Did you ever think about that? I didn't know! So now, if I went in and made a major security issue out of it, everybody steps in. Administration steps in, and there are no exclusive rights for anybody; nobody wins. So I made a decision and it was... wrong. It was a bad call, Ripley. It was a bad call.
Ripley: Bad call?
[Ripley grabs Burke by his vest and shoves him against a wall]
Ripley: These people are *dead*, Burke! Don't you have any idea what you have done here? Well, I'm gonna make sure they nail you right to the wall for this! You're not gonna sleaze your way out of this one! Right to the wall!
[Ripley lets go of Burke]
Burke: Ripley...! You know, I... I expected more from you. I thought you'd be smarter than this.
Ripley: I'm happy to disappoint you.
[Ripley leaves]
Lieutenant Gorman: Any questions?
[Hudson raises his hand]
Lieutenant Gorman: What is it, Private?
Private Hudson: How do I get out of this chickenshit outfit?
Sergeant Apone: You secure that shit, Hudson!
Ripley: These people are here to protect you. They're soldiers.
Newt: It won't make any difference.
Private Hudson: [puts his rifle against Burke's head] I say we grease this rat-fuck son-of-a-bitch right now.
Corporal Hicks: It just doesn't make any goddamn sense.
Ripley: He figured that he could get an alien back through quarantine, if one of us was... impregnated... whatever you call it, and then frozen for the trip home. Nobody would know about the embryos we were carrying... me and Newt.
Corporal Hicks: Wait a minute, now... we'd all know.
Ripley: Yes. The only way he could do it is if he sabotaged certain freezers on the way home... namely, yours. Then he could jettison the bodies and make up any story he liked.
Burke: This is so nuts. I mean, listen - listen to what you're saying. It's paranoid delusion. How - It's really sad. It's pathetic.
Ripley: You know, Burke, I don't know which species is worse. You don't see them fucking each other over for a goddamn percentage.
Corporal Hicks: All right, we waste him. No offense.
Ripley: No. He's gotta go back. 23 of 23 found this interesting | Share this
Private Frost: Hot as hell in here.
Private Hudson: Yeah man, but it's a dry heat! 23 of 23 found this interesting | Share this
Private Hudson: Hey, maybe you haven't been keeping up on current events, but we just got our asses kicked, pal! 23 of 23 found this interesting | Share this
Private Vasquez: You always were an asshole, Gorman! 23 of 23 found this interesting | Share this
Private Vasquez: [after barely surviving the alien surprise attack] All right. We got seven canisters of CM-20. I say we roll them in there and nerve gas the whole fuckin' nest.
Corporal Hicks: It's worth the try, but we don't know if that's gonna affect them.
Private Hudson: Look let's just bug out and call it even, okay? What are we even talking about this for?
Ripley: I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
Private Hudson: Fuckin' A!
Burke: Hold on, hold on just a second. This installation has a substantial dollar value attached to it.
Ripley: They can *bill* me.
Burke: Okay, I know this is an emotional moment for all of us, okay? I know that. But let's not make snap judgments, please. This is clearly... clearly an important species we're dealing with and I don't think that you or I, or *anybody*, has the right to arbitrarily exterminate them.
Ripley: [laughs feebly] Wrong.
Private Vasquez: Yeah. Watch us.
Private Hudson: Hey, maybe you haven't been keeping up on current events, but we just got our asses kicked, pal!
Burke: Look. I'm not blind to what's going on, but I cannot authorize that kind of action. I'm sorry.
Ripley: Well, I believe that Corporal Hicks... has authority here.
Burke: *Corporal* Hicks has...
Ripley: This operation is under military jurisdiction and Hicks is next in chain of command. Am I right, Corporal?
Corporal Hicks: Yeah... yeah, that's right.
Burke: Yeah... Look, Ripley, this is a multi-million dollar installation, okay? He can't make that kind of decision. He's just a grunt! Uh, no offense.
Corporal Hicks: [coldly] None taken.
Corporal Hicks: [into headset] Ferro, do you copy?
Corporal Ferro: [on comms] Standing by.
Corporal Hicks: Prepare for dust-off. We're gonna need immediate evac.
Corporal Ferro: [on comms] Roger. On our way.
Corporal Hicks: I say we take off, nuke the site from orbit.
[looks to Ripley]
Corporal Hicks: It's the only way to be sure.
[Ripley smiles]
The Alien franchiseshould have stopped at Aliens.
One original film, one sequel. Yes, Sigourney Weaver appeared in the
next two; yes, Ridley Scott directed the last two. But those first two
films represent the original and sequel into a
cohesive, amazing story.
There was never a need to see what happened
next. The only desire was to make more money.
I don’t need to break down why Ridley Scott’s 1979 original Alien
is so good.
Scott’s first foray into science fiction not
only has increasingly fast pace, it also thrills when it needs it, as characters and cool effects work.
The marines are one part of why Aliens is so good.
Ridley Scott’s Masterpiece ‘Alien’: Nothing Is as Terrifying as the Fear of the Unknown
If it weren’t for the calamity of the ill-fated Alexander Jodorowsky’s Dune
project, in all likelihood the world would not have known one of the
greatest horror science fiction classics of all time, at least not in
the form we’ve all become familiar with. Dan O’Bannon wanted to write
and shoot a horror movie with aliens ever since he worked with John Carpenter on Dark Star back in his University of South California days. O’Bannon wanted to use a similar premise to Dark Star, but replace the humor with genuine terror. But only after he went to Paris to spend six months working on Dune
did his ambition get on the right track. It was in France that he met
the Swiss called H. R. Giger, an artist whose work astonished and
terrified him at the same time.
“I ended up writing a script about a
Giger monster,” he confessed later. The screenplay, based on a story he
wrote with Ronald Shusett, was soon pitched to numerous studios who
found it interesting, but the original idea of making a low-budget
little thriller fell through because of Star Wars box office
success. Science fiction was the hottest merchandise on the market, and
joining hands with Brandywine Productions, a company started by Gordon
Carroll, David Giler and Walter Hill, O’Bannon’s project suddenly became
a heavy hitter worth eight million dollars. Due to Brandywine’s
connections with 20th Century Fox, the future of the film seemed bright,
but in order to appease their patrons, a series of rewrites was needed.
Giler and Hill added several key plot elements, and after the eight
draft made upon O’Bannon’s original script, the material was ready to be
filmed. Since Hill was too busy to shoot it, directing fell upon the
shoulders of a young English filmmaker who made only a single film up to
that point. Ridley Scott would helm Alien and its crew into history books.
The significance of Alien for the history of film cannot be
overstated, for it directly influenced and visually shaped a whole
gallery of science fiction movies that were to come upon its release in
1979.
The story is relatively simple, the space is confined, the film’s
power to frighten has been occasionally disputed over the years, written
off as a typical, cliché-ridden haunted house flick unnecessarily
staged in space. But almost four decades since it came out, Alien
is still a fundamentally enjoyable experience to watch. What makes it
so effective and so determined to withstand the test of time many
similarly-themed efforts inevitably fail when re-watched today is its
intelligent execution and groundbreaking visuals. H. R. Giger was
responsible for designing everything extra-terrestrial in the film, and
his haunting depiction of the eponymous villain in the story was so
imaginatively and craftily executed that it’s impossible to find a more
famous alien image in the whole history of the movies. The creature’s
head was constructed by the Italian special effects artist Carlo
Rambaldi, while concept artists Chris Foss and Ron Cobb did a splendid
job designing the interiors and exteriors of the spaceship that carried
the unsuspecting crew right into the claws of their demise. The visuals
are fascinating, but they alone would not have resulted in a brilliant
horror flick had the pacing been any different. Scott deliberately let
the story unfold slowly, gradually, respecting Hitchcock’s regard for
the crucial importance of suspense. It is the waiting that’s killing us,
it’s the feeling of being isolated and helpless that overwhelms us,
it’s the silence and uneventfulness that bring about the feeling of
upcoming horror, it’s this patience and restraint that makes the
elements of pure terror so damn effective. By keeping the alien hidden
from sight through the majority of the picture, Scott allowed the
viewers to speculate, guess and project what the antagonistic creature
might look like. Because nothing is so powerful a generator of fear as
human imagination, and nothing is so terrifying to people as the
unknown.
Shot by cinematographer Derek Vanlint,
carried on the restrained notes of composer Jerry Goldsmith, edited by
the great Terry Rawlins, who would later work with the director again on
Blade Runner, and told by a great set of actors such as Tom
Skerritt, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm and, of course, the
irresistibly charismatic Sigourney Weaver, the first true action heroine
of cinema, Alien is one of the most important films ever made, still as disconcerting and petrifying as it was when it came out.
The SMART Thesaurus cloud shows the synonyms,
related words and phrases you can find in the Cambridge Dictionary that
make up this topic. Click on a word to go to the definition.
is an ordinal number, then by definition any two well-ordered sets of type 
