before we start, let me follow Kelly’s advice and deliver the hook at the very top:
imagine, some 120 years after the events in Alien Resurrection, Ellen Ripley learns she has a “twin sister”
got it? – good – now back to the original post
okay, so i’m going through one of those shitty, “why even bother” phases
i’ve got two (three? ... no, two) screenplays at a point where the next rewrite should put them in a position where i can send them out to be read by a few, trusted friends ... but “why even bother”
it’s all pointless etcetera and so on ... as pointless as (say) pitching a concept for a fifth instalment in Sigourney Weaver’s Alien saga
but let’s do it anyway (at least i’m writing something)
i made my first notes on this concept way back in 2001 – before Prometheus and the other one – and way before Neill Blomkamp’s failed attempt to get his “sequel” up – and way, WAY before Walter Hill sent Ms Weaver a treatment (which happened earlier this year)
in reference to said treatment, Ms Weaver is quoted as saying “I don’t know, Ridley has gone in a different direction. Maybe Ripley has done her bit. She deserves a rest.”
now obviously i don’t totally agree with Ms Weaver
the fact that “Ridley has gone in a different direction” is immaterial – i mean, is Prometheus and the other one even really part of the Alien universe?
besides, Fox (back in the day) were considering abandoning Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection to make way for Blomkamp’s sequel [1] – so, as far as i’m concerned, Mr Scott can do what he likes because:
the saga doesn’t belong to Ridley Scott, it belongs to RIPLEY – it’s her story
this is one of the recurring themes that i think a lot of fans and those in the industry get wrong – the movies may be called Alien, but it’s Ripley’s story
James Cameron got it, telling Fox while developing Aliens: “ ... it’s all about Ripley.”
QUESTIONS
way back when, while playing around with ideas for Alien 5, i looked at the four previous movies and asked: where to from here?
there were a number of “where to” questions, based on different aspects of the saga – ranging from Ripley to the xenomorphs to the “world(s)” in which the story is set … here’s some of my thoughts
RIPLEY
it was clear at the time (and now) that Ms Weaver is both proud of the character, Ripley and protective of her legacy – and that if you wanted to get Ms Weaver to revisit the role, it would need to be worth her while
but how? (assuming that huge wads of cash aren’t going to do the trick)
the solution is “simple” – all the story needs to do is give Ms Weaver something interesting to do with Ripley – it needs to push Ripley further than she’d gone before – forcing her to confront new circumstances and problems that would test her in ways as yet unseen in the Alien universe … like i said, simple
in addition to the above, the story would also need to allow Ripley to leave the saga (in some suitable manner) while passing the mantle on to a NEW HERO
XENOMORPHS
the three sequels all added more details to our understanding of the xenomorphs
Aliens answered the question of, where did the eggs come from? – by introducing the queen
Alien 3 answered the question of, why is the xenomorph human-shaped? – by giving us a dog-shaped version (because it gestated in a dog) [2]
Alien Resurrection showed us that human-xenomorph hybrids are possible ... strongly suggesting that the xenomorphs were engineered to attack mammals [3]
so the question now becomes: how can we use these ideas in new and interesting ways and what other new and surprising things can we learn about the xenomorphs?
THE WORLD(S)
as i noted at the the time, the story world needed to get outside and meet new people
by the fourth instalment, the settings were becoming a little repetitive – and it was clear that the next story needed to step out of the corridors and ducts of space freighters and industrial complexes, and out into the open air
however, i was not keen to see the xenomorphs overrun the Earth – i mean, we saw what was left of Earth at the end of Resurrection and so i doubt if many people would care too much if the xenomorphs took the place for themselves
in addition to the physical environments, there was also a need to broaden the types of people who populate the Alien universe
to date we’ve met the crew of the Nostromo, company bureaucrats and executives, scientists, marines, criminals and a smattering of others – not really a broad cross-section of human society
ANSWERS
this how i see the setup for Alien 5, and the future of the saga
RIPLEY
set some 120 years or so after Alien Resurrection [4], Ripley lives in an old port city (Nyu Kiro) on the edge of our Moon’s “dark side” – she lives there because it’s one of the few cities that still have actual windows, allowing her to glimpse the Earth “for real” from her small apartment on a crater’s edge
she calls herself “Jones” and lives alone – unable to have a relationship with anyone (her blood is not the only thing that’s acidic) – her isolation is further deepened by her not being able to have the media implants and smart tattoos enjoyed by the rest of the population – to stop people asking questions, she lies, claiming it’s due to religious reasons
for this reason, her coworkers and neighbours refer to her as, The Nun
she works at the docks, removing “barnacles” (various space critters) from derelict spaceships before they’re refurbished or stripped for parts
when we meet her, she’s on a job, teamed up with a newbie, an ex-military guy – soon after, she has to rescue him from a “weevil” – and, soon after that, they come across a HOLE penetrating several decks – the damage is familiar to Ripley, the hole was created by xenomorph blood
freaked out, Ripley sounds the evacuation alarm – BUT there is no xenomorph, and this leads to her getting the sack
returning to her apartment, she is told by the local busybody that there are people in her place – after clarifying that they are not with Immigration, she asks the busybody to send someone to knock on her door in a few minutes
in her apartment she finds the ex-military guy she rescued, and a three other people, one of which is a statuesque woman with a bald head and blue-black skin – the woman addresses Ripley as “Ellen” and introduces herself as “Call” ...
naturally, Ripley has some difficulty with this – the woman convinces her by imitating Call’s voice: “I'm the new asshole model they're putting out.”
Call has not just got herself a new, hardcore chassis, she’s also changed inside – of course this doesn’t come out immediately, but is revealed over the duration of the movie
Ripley is not interested in anything Call has to say: “If you’re not here to kill me, then leave” – Call tells her that she has news
HERE, there’s probably a cutaway, back to the busybody observing some nasty-looking heavies trying to look inconspicuous and headed in Ripley’s direction
long story short: the Tech (one of Call’s people) tells how they hacked into the old Military network and found all the files related to Ripley’s resurrection deleted ... BUT! the deletions left a distinctly-shaped ‘hole’ in the data
(he demonstrates this concept by lifting a large conch shell from a side table to reveal the dust-free shape beneath – when told he’s holding the shell of dead sea creature, he drops it in disgust – ewww! – the Tech’s disgust and fear of all things “natural” is a running gag in the story)
the thing is, they found four additional “data holes” – four other resurrection attempts set-up in parallel, but separate – the Military were playing it smart, not putting all their eggs into one basket – none of the staff at the five sites had any idea that the others existed
they learned that two of the experimental sites failed to create a xenomorph Queen – but the other two did – one was set to self-destruct, killing all aboard – and the fifth ... disappeared
the news hits Ripley hard
Call tells her that they’ve been searching and think they’ve found where the fifth ship touched down over 100 years ago – Ripley wants nothing to do with it: “Why tell me? Glass the planet from orbit. You don’t need me.”
Call tells her that there are innocent people on the planet – Ripley can’t believe it – after this much time the whole planet would be overrun – everyone would be dead
Call tells her this not the case – that the xenomorphs are being controlled by something ... something above the Queen
Ripley starts to see where this going and tries to deny it: “Maybe the genotype wasn’t stable and they all died ...”
Call tells her there have been reports from the planet, rumours of strange creatures that could only be xenomorphs – acid for blood
Call tells her that she believes there’s another “Ripley” out there – and somehow she’s keeping the xenomorphs on a tight leash – Call wants to take Ripley and find out why
they are still arguing when the door chimes – she goes to send the kid at the door away, but the kid tells her about the nasty-looking heavies
Call and her crew overhear and suddenly they all have weapons out and ready (except the Tech guy) – there’s a gunfight and the Dome breaks – during the depressurisation emergency they escape, but one of the ex-military types doesn’t make it ... etcetera and so on
SO THERE’S THE HOOK: RIPLEY HAS A “TWIN SISTER”!
while in Resurrection, Ripley’s loyalties were somewhat tested, here it will be FAR HARDER
here Our Ripley and Empress Ripley are the only ones of their kind in existence – sure Empress Ripley can’t pass for human (she’s a little more xenomophy in appearance), but she literally shares the same DNA and memories! – how can Our Ripley be expected to go against her sister?
a scene from the movie – except, okay, you’ll need to imagine the bull being more xenomorphy – and the kid would be wearing something like what Mongolian nomads do, but with hi-tech embellishments
XENOMORPHS
given that a xenomorph’s configuration is determined by the mammal in which it gestated, this sequel can have any number of cool-looking new xenomorph warriors
like a huge one that looks like that Wall Street bull statue – or a pack of smaller xenomorphs that gestated inside capybaras – the giant South American rodents that the locals on Gyre have domesticated in place of goats – mmm, rat milk!
add to this, the fact that we have never seen xenomorphs after the’ve been exposed to an environment for decades
up until now, xenomorphs have been like Model T Fords, all black and all shiny – but after some time, maybe they would be able to change their colouration … and even the protuberances on their exoskeleton?
couldn’t an alpine xenomorph be white and shiny? – virtually invisible against the snow
or imagine a broad prairie, grass waving in the wind – someone is skewered by a blade of grass, only to discover it’s a quill … Ripley licks it and identifies it as coming from a xenomorph – BEAT – they look from the yellow-brown quill across the miles of yellow-brown grass surrounding them ... chills!
THE WORLD(S)
the world of the MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX of the first four movies is now in decline
but this doesn’t mean that a socialist-utopian-paradise now exists – the old structures still cling to power where they can – and the new systems are still evolving – which means that wider world of the Alien universe is a patchwork of both good and bad
much like the planet of GYRE
Gyre is a small dense planet with Earth-like gravity and a 14-hour day – the locals have adapted to this by calling a 28-hour cycle a “day” and taking a long siesta halfway through
Gyre also has a very active magnetosphere – let's say this is due to its rapid rotation, combined with an extremely dense core – and this makes telecommunications very difficult
(the planet's core is probably rich in some unobtainium-like, stable, super-heavy element which attracts the attention of some nasty corporate types that want to destroy the planet for its minerals ... more drama!)
Gyre was terrformed back in the early days (way before LV-426), but was “over-cooked” and now suffers from a greenhouse effect that creates massive storms and tornadoes
the tornadoes are so strong that they can rip the rails of an anti-grav track out of the ground and twist them up into weird, sculptural shapes – in fact, tornadoes throw so much stuff into the sky that death and injury from falling debris (sometimes days after the tornado has passed) is not uncommon
the short days, the extreme weather, the communications issues and the fact that it’s far from the established trade routes, has helped ensure that Gyre has remained a rustic backwater
this was made official about 90 years before the time of the story, when the planet was classified as a kind of "national park" for various religious and cultural groups that wanted to live the simple life ... and who no one else wanted on their planet
with atmospheric flight (always dangerous at the best of times) banned – all access to the planet’s surface is now via one of three space elevators
a new family
it is on Gyre that Ripley, Call, the Tech and the ex-military guy team up with a small FAMILY OF NOMADS – they have a stake in the story, as they lost a child when he was herding their flock(?) of capybara, to what they now believe to be was a xenomorph
the surviving kid, who is suffering from brain damage after being hit on the head by falling debris from a tornado, was the only witness (the brain damage is treatable, but it would mean an unaffordable trip off-planet)
while generally suspicious of off-worlders, the family accept the newcomers – although Ripley has hard time “dealing” with the kid, wanting nothing to do with them
ENOUGH OF THIS POINTLESSNESS
this ramble has gone on way too long
so i won’t bore you with my “cool” set pieces, or detailed notes on the various people and communities they meet along the way, or the betrayals and plot twists ... these are all secondary to the MAIN QUESTIONS:
• what is EMPRESS RIPLEY up to?
• can we trust OUR RIPLEY to do the right thing? and
• what is CALL’s plan for the Ripleys and the xenomorphs?
if anyone’s still reading this, wtf?! … and, thanks for your time, i guess – i don’t know if this has been of any interest, but at least i’ve written something
hopefully tomorrow i’ll be out of my shitty, “why even bother” phase and back to writing stuff that has a slightly higher chance of being produced than ALIEN EMPRESS
[1] i wasn’t a huge fan of Mr Blomkamp’s desire to ditch the two sequels after Aliens – rebooting the story with Hicks and Newt alive, just seemed wrong – i mean, i get it, who doesn’t love Hicks and Newt? (okay my partner is less than enamoured with Newt) – but to hear people say that Hicks and Newt “deserved” to live, was just weird
i was also surprised that Fox would seriously consider "disowning" two movies for the sake of creating a third – to go back to a trilogy when they could’ve been building a pentalogy ... maybe this isn’t a concern anymore, i guess Blu-ray boxsets just aren’t worth what they were
[2] this is also a nice example of a sort of “retcon” that explained-away the real world issue in the first movie, the old problem of the humanoid xenomorph – of course, at the time it was done for practical and budgetary reasons, but it did risk falling into the “dude-in-a-rubber-suit” trap – thankfully the design, cinematography and editing mostly avoided this issue
[3] by using the word “engineered” i am not referring to the Prometheus’ Engineers and their related mythology – rather, i’m saying that an extraterrestrial species could not have naturally evolved to exploit mammalian physiology – and so, something must have designed them for this purpose
who? you ask – i don’t know – i don’t think the answer is important – who made the old landmine that exploded and maimed a farmer? – does he care? or is he more worried about how he and his family are going to survive, now that he can’t work?
and again, it’s Ripley’s story, not the xenomorph’s and their creators – fuck the creators – they’re probably a cowardly species who perceived that humans may be a threat way back when our ancestors were still roaming about the Great Rift Valley – and so the creators scattered xenomorphs across the galaxy as protection – the creators are probably extinct now – and good riddance to them
[4] being engineered, i assumed the xenomorph DNA wasn’t programmed to self-destruct and so Ripley doesn’t age at the normal rate