Favorite Space and/or Alien movie

[KarinaFabian]

Trouble with Alien is that all the real SF readers knew what to do from the first: get in your suits, open the air locks.

Took Ridley Scott 90 minutes to get there.

You know, I discuss that in Discovery–they watch Alien and that’s the first thing they think of. Capt. Addiman nixes the idea for their ship–the Edwina Thomas is too big with too many hidden, airtight pockets. A small enough creature just might be able to survive. It’s SOP on cruiseliners like the ET to expose the entire thing to vacuum on a regular basis. Once they did that, then found a rat that survived.

Their answer–It never goes onto the ET. And if something an egg-like object starts opening in front of you, run like fun.

 

[CWBetts]

I’m writing a sci-fi novel, Discovery, where the characters are going to explore the first-ever-discovered alien ship. they are traveling on a decommissioned luxury cruise liner that has an old-fashioned movie theater. One guy got the brilliant and fun idea of doing a weekly movie of sci-fi films with the purpose of analyzing them for the mistakes the characters make. They’d then use that to make better plans for when they explore the ship they’ve found.

Alien is a simple one–always have 2-man, never bring anything potentially alive onto their own ship…

What other movies have phenomenal tactical mistakes they could learn from? Give me the movie name and the error. If you want to make up a movie and an error, I’ll consider them, too.

Star Wars: Episode IV: The Death Star is Under Attack. Rather than scrambling all available fighters, Tarkin simply assumes his space station is impregnable. The moral of the story: When under attack, hit the attaqckers with everything you’ve got.

 

[KarinaFabian]

Star Wars: Episode IV: The Death Star is Under Attack. Rather than scrambling all available fighters, Tarkin simply assumes his space station is impregnable. The moral of the story: When under attack, hit the attaqckers with everything you’ve got.

Ah, yes, the Evil Overlord mistakes. There’s a whole list of them on this site: eviloverlord.com/lists/overlord.html

For Discovery I’m looking more for hero mistakes when dealing with aliens, but this one is a classic. Thanks!

 

[a_priori]

The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell

She is an atheist so I obviously disagree with many of her conclusions but she is pretty much on target with some of her observations.

It begins with:

"The only thing more dangerous than an idea is a belief. And by dangerous I don’t mean thought-provoking. I mean: might get people killed.

Take the Reverend John Cotton. In 1630, he goes down to the port of Southampton to preach a farewell sermon to the seven hundred or so colonists of the Massachusetts Bay Company. Led by Governor John Winthrop, a gentleman farmer and lawyer, these mostly Puritan dissenters are about to sail from England to New England on the flagship Arbella and ten other vessels in the Winthrop fleet.

By the time Cotton says amen, he has fought Mexico for Texas, bought Alaska from the Russians, and dropped napalm on Vietnam. Then he lays a wreath on Custer’s grave and revs past Wounded Knee. Then he claps when the Marquis de Lafayette tells Congress that “someday America will save the world.” Then he smiles when Abraham Lincoln calls the United States “the last best hope of earth”. Then he frees Cuba, which would be news to Cuba. Then he signs the lease on Guantanamo Bay.

Cotton’s sermon is titled “God’s promise to His Plantation.” …

What Cotton is telling these about-to-be-Americans is that they are God’s new Chosen People. This they like to hear. In fact, they have been telling themselves just that. The Old Testament Israelites are to the Puritans what the blues was to the Rolling Stones- a source of inspiration, a renewable source of riffs…

And like the Old Testament Jews, God has printed eviction notices for them to tack up on the homes of the nothing-special just-folks folks who are squatting there."

She makes the case that this was the beginning of American exceptionalism.

Regardless of one’s worldview, this is a thought-provoking treatment of the Puritans at the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

 

[chewchoo]

close encounters
the last starfighter
starman

 

[brotherhrolf]

I saw Alien when it first came out. On the way driving home back to my apartment, I had to slam on my brakes. I had my socket wrench set on the back seat of my car. It flew forward and broke open. I was so hyped, I screamed.

I also liked Aliens when it first came out. They brought in these special sub-woofers (no big deal today but back then…). Awesome.

I also liked Independance Day.

As far as series go: Well, I grew up on Star Trek but I far prefer the Next Generation. Our all-time favorite series is Babylon V. Gotta love the monks in space!