Project Geekology
Embark on an epic journey with Anthony and Dakota as they delve into the vast realms of geek culture, from cherished classics to cutting-edge creations. Join us for an exhilarating adventure of exploration and nostalgia, as we unearth hidden gems and reminisce about the moments that have shaped us. Welcome to the ultimate celebration of all things geeky!
Project Geekology
Alien: Romulus (2024)
A dead station, a desperate crew, and something old that refuses to die—Alien: Romulus pulled us right back into the vent-crawling panic that made this franchise iconic. We unpack why the film’s tighter cast, cleaner objectives, and suffocating design make every footstep louder and every choice sting. From that first breathless stalk to a jaw-dropping zero-G showdown, Romulus plays with darkness and silence like weapons, then detonates them at the perfect moment.
What surprised us most was the heart: Andy, an outdated synthetic whose dad-joke warmth becomes a knife twist once corporate directives take hold. We dig into how that dual performance reframes trust and turns the station into a social minefield. Then we zoom out to the theme that binds the saga together—motherhood. Alien has always been about bodies, creation, and control; Romulus revitalizes those ideas with a pregnancy plot that heightens empathy and horror in equal measure. It’s grotesque, yes, but it’s also purposeful, echoing Ripley’s lineage, Prometheus’s surgical terror, and Resurrection’s tragic offspring.
Lore hounds, we see you. We trace the black goo breadcrumbs, a chilling chrysalis survival mechanic for xenos, and the risks and rewards of a controversial CGI likeness. When does nostalgia enrich the story, and when does it pull you out? We make the case that Romulus mostly uses its echoes to sharpen stakes—acid blood as a structural threat, environmental tricks that hint at how xenomorphs perceive prey, and character beats that hurt.
By the end, we stack Romulus against the greats and ask the big question: did it just earn a place alongside the 1979 original? Hit play to hear our rankings, favorite moments, and spiciest takes. If you enjoy the breakdown, subscribe, share with a fellow sci-fi fan, and drop a five-star review—then tell us your own Alien power ranking.
Romulus discussion starts at 18:48
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Alien (1979) Explained | Timeline, Canon, and Lore: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9nmyTTlMvo
Welcome to episode 137 of Project Geekology, and I am one of your hosts, Anthony, and this week I don't have anything special. My peak was Prometheus and Bob, and that's it. No more special intros from me. Joining us as always is Dakota.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, we're we're we're not talking Prometheus anymore, Anthony. So you have nothing special going on at all. What about Bob? But uh do we have any Bobs in the No, there's no Bob's, there's no Roberts, there's none of that in this episode. Uh we got Andy's though. Anyway, we're discussing Alien Romulus. The most the most recent alien film from 2024 by Fade Alvarez. And yeah, I'm one third of your host, and I'm joined as always with Rich, the guy who has no idea what we're doing anymore.
SPEAKER_02:Uh we're just tumbling down this rabbit hole of Alien, but I'm excited to talk about our pal uh Sid the Synth. Uh sorry, Andy the Android. This is an entry, guys. I think that I uh I have some things to share with everybody out there about our friend Riley.
SPEAKER_00:Anyway, what's fascinating about Alien Romulus? No Riley in this one, no Rigley.
SPEAKER_02:That's not true. I conjecture that I believe you are wrong, sir. I'm gonna continue talking.
SPEAKER_00:Um you can you can conjecture later. One thing that's fascinating about this film is that there are no recurring characters from any previous alien movie. If you think that you've seen a recurring character from a previous alien movie, you're fooling yourself. You're just drawing dots from one film to another. There's no connection to anything alien previously in this movie. So let's let's let's start it there. Let's set that groundwork.
SPEAKER_03:Wait, I don't are you guys messing with me again? I don't understand. I'm pretty sure I saw someone. No, Rodney. Like, I don't understand. I'm pretty sure I saw some things.
SPEAKER_00:I'm all right. We're coming at this a little silly. Episode 137 of Product Ecology will be about alien Romulus. There is at least one person who is recurring in this next entry. And yeah, we will talk about that in short order, but I want to get into what we've been up to this past week. I know Rich, you've had a very exciting weekend last week. How how was Comic-Con?
SPEAKER_02:Oh, I uh so you know, every year it changes. I mean, I've been going since 2007, 2008, or something like that. I I can't don't quote me. It's one of the first years that it opened up or something. The second year, maybe I went with my friend, and I've been going ever since. You know, I won't lie, there was a part of the floor that uh I'm very used to the general layout of how they have everything. You know, they have like a lot of smaller, independent guys in the middle between the two main halls. But at the end of one hall, where normally you have a lot of rows of comic vendors, they were replaced by just large displays and kind of more commercialism. Look, I know the entire event is commercial, right? But I had a joy in like finding a weird comic from my childhood for a couple bucks by sitting under a table and going through some boxes, you know? And I do feel like a little bit of that is gone. I do also get slightly like crowd uh like crowd crazy. So going down to Artist Alley, now I have to preface this by reminding you guys that last year I went on Thursday. This year I went on Friday, and I I forgot. Like I forgot what Friday was like. So going down to Artist Alley, I think my heart skipped a beat when I looked down and saw the entire how many people were down there. And it was a little hectic. I found that it was more difficult to just kind of meander around and have a good time. But uh, we had a great time in the costumes. I went as, of course, the father figure that I am, Vegeta, my lovely despite what everybody may have heard on this podcast about other people being mentioned, like me dressing as Bulma, my wife was Bulma, and my son was Strunks. Alright. So this is another yeah another year where I'm dressing up, one year I dressed up as Iroh, where I don't really know who I am, like as well, you know, as much. Like I learned more about Iroh after I dressed up as him. I vaguely know about Vegeta, like I know you know, and there was one kid in particular, like turned the corner, and I was just like sitting on the floor, like with my son, waiting for my wife to get out of the bathroom. And he goes, Oh my goodness, sick Vegeta cosplay, bro. He's like, Can I take a picture? Like he was so excited, and I was like, Yeah, man, like I don't care. Like, if you ask me for a picture, I'm always willing, you know. Uh one guy did say, What is uh Goku's like nickname or something? It's not Kakarot. Okay, so someone said, like, tell Kakura I said hi. And I'm like, is he telling me what to say? I'm like, Kakarot, say hi, and he was like, What? And he's just like walked away, shaking his head, and I was like, I'm sorry, I didn't know what I was talking about. But I had a really good time, and I think other than that kid with the picture, my wife, we were walking through the city, and she looks at me and she goes, You know what's crazy is she's like, you walk around like you're not wearing a costume. Like that, because I had from the minute we got out of the car, I'm like full wig going on, walking through Manhattan, and she's just like, you don't look like you're in costume. Like other people in costume are like, oh hey, I kind of feel weird walking down the street, and I'm I was just motoring.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, everyone kind of looks like a lanky teenager wearing a costume outside of the con.
SPEAKER_02:Yep.
SPEAKER_00:As soon as you enter the con, it becomes kind of okay. But as soon as you're like on the streets of New York, there's something about wearing a costume that you're just like, don't really look, you know, I'm trying to be cool. I'm not actually this person, you know, this is just a costume. But yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I think they should be normal in New York. Like, I mean, with the random things that happen there, like the least of your issues is somebody dressing up as Pikachu.
SPEAKER_02:There was a super sick, was it Goku, but it was a cat or something? Like someone just came out of like a double door dressed as it wasn't, it was like Naruto or something. It was yeah, it was Naruto. Came out, came out. It was a Naruto giant cat. Like, I mean, you guys can't see what I'm saying because we're Fox.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, you're talking about the Fox Karama?
SPEAKER_02:Yep, that sounds like it would be right. Again, once again, me not knowing the lore, but anyway, I had it. Look, the truth is, I as much as I can I can grumpy old man it, right? My wife for the first time said, Hey, I love that costume that couple's wearing. Can I go ask them for a picture? And like, because of us being asked for pictures in years past, I think she finally was like, I can do this, you know, and that that was a cool moment for me. And my son did the same thing. He saw somebody. There was a very jacked guy from Dragon Ball. I don't know, he was just walking around with no shirt on, really. And a backpack. Yes, and then he got so excited and he ran up to him, he's like, Can I take a picture with him? And we're like, Yeah, and he goes and takes a picture with him. And then that guy was like, Yo, by the way, there's like a Dragon Ball meetup around the corner. And Charlie was like, No! So we ran around the corner and he got to meet those people. So that's cool. I will keep going until that happens, right? Like, even if I'm not getting the same joy anymore, seeing him get it is is all the way.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, no, that's awesome. I mean, if you do regularly dress up every year, you should look up the meetups that are happening.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, we we went to a meetup well, one year with my brother, he didn't have a costume, so it was like his first year going to Comic-Con, and I called my stepmom and I said, My brother is by the way, like he's like 16, 17 years older, I mean younger than me. He's like maybe, I don't know, 10 or 11. I'm like, I call her and I'm like, hey, do you have a leather jacket? She's like, Yeah. I'm like, he's still got those sports goggles, right? She's like, Yep. I'm like, can you put some red cellophane over them? She's like, Yeah. I'm like, okay, let's go. And we showed up and we're walking around and I'm just wolverine, and people are like, yo, sick Mazden cosplay, like for Cyclops. And we went to the meetup because someone told us about it, and they did a video where they included him and they kept like giving him cues to like grab his like lenses and stuff. Oh and then they they they sent it to us like months later, and they actually had put in like the laser beams. So like he you know, and they had um Magneto holding me up, like the issue of X-Men 25.
SPEAKER_00:Like, I'm like very crazy, you know.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, no, that's that's sorry, I was Wolverine for context. So uh it's my favorite probably comic cover comic of all time.
SPEAKER_00:I understand. You're you're currently you you are still rocking, you know, even though you played with Vegeta, you are still rocking the Wolverine hairstyle, face or facial hairstyle. So, I mean, it's understandable.
SPEAKER_01:So, so yeah, like, you know, that that see that that's what I was saying. Like, you know, when you went, I know that you went as Vegeta, but like you could have gone to a DBZ meetup and a Marvel meetup. And just been like, yeah, I was that deleted scene from the you know, Deadpool Wolverine, where I was gonna be the Vegeta version of Wolverine.
SPEAKER_02:Jeez, you know, I we need to talk to you guys about this early. I I am excited because my job said that we're doing a spirit you know, Halloween, and our theme is uh our theme is gonna be superheroes versus supervillains. And someone legitimately looked at me in the eye this morning, who I've worked with for seven years, and said to me, What supervillain are you dressing up as? And I looked around the room and I was like, Is this a bit? Like, I don't understand. And somebody shouted out, He's got like seven versions of Wolverine's costume at home. And I'm like, Yeah, like just my life.
SPEAKER_00:So And and the guy was like, I'm assuming it's a guy, he just he just continued, Again, which supervillain are you going to play?
SPEAKER_02:And he just and he just I'm like, I'm gonna be the you know, war, the the horseman of apocalypse.
SPEAKER_00:Like no, no, you he he was playing Senator Kelly, and he was saying that your Wolverine was the supervillain. You know, like for him, that was what was happening. Yeah, that's you know, it it it it's all it's all twisted about.
SPEAKER_02:Taking us away off track, guys. I'm really sorry for letting me shoot.
SPEAKER_00:Anthony, let me send it over to you. What have you been up to this past week?
SPEAKER_01:Man, at this point I forgot what I did. Same, dude. Um it's the same thing every week. Well, I mean, you know, I have that that that trip that I have going on, so not this weekend, but the the weekend after that, I'll be, you know, flying out to you know to my vacation destination. What have I been going on? What?
SPEAKER_02:Haunting my dreams.
SPEAKER_01:Just really like, yeah, just just like aliens, dude. Like I haven't had anything like crazy going on. Um, I know that there is a convention that's coming up this weekend. I'm not entirely sure if I am going to go at least one of the days. Maybe I might go on that Saturday, we'll see, but you know, we'll we'll we'll uh I'll let you all know if I do do that. It'll be one that I've never been to, but it'll be a little bit more of a travel, so that's why I'm like, uh, I'm gonna do one day.
SPEAKER_00:Fair.
SPEAKER_01:So yeah, I'm not gonna do like a hour and a half drive, you know, three days. Well, it would be two days because I I I work on Friday, but yeah, man, nothing too crazy. How about you, Dakota?
SPEAKER_00:I'm in the same boat, nothing too crazy. I did not get to go to New York Comic-Con this year. I always like the past couple years I've been like neglectful about like, oh, tickets are on sale, I'll get them later. And then I don't get them, you know. But I do want to jump into that again, because I was going regularly for like over a decade. Yeah, I missed it. I have been I haven't been in a while, but that does bother me a little bit, Rich, that they moved the location where the comic book vendors would normally be.
SPEAKER_02:I'm telling you, man, from like if you know if you know like the numbers, yeah, right.
SPEAKER_00:I totally understand what you're saying.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, it's crazy. That whole 31, like I'd say from like row three thousand on, like it was just transformed.
SPEAKER_00:You know, I think that's what became of San Diego Comic-Con. And that was one of like even a decade, two decades ago, that was like the biggest criticism of San Diego Comic-Con was it wasn't about comics anymore, it was just about whatever the vendors were pushing. There's not vendors, but like you know, the publishing.
SPEAKER_02:There was an eBay giant area where somebody was like doing like that's been there for a couple years.
SPEAKER_00:But it I it may not have been in that area, but it was huge.
SPEAKER_02:There was a video where they were doing like live auctions. And I'm like, who doesn't auction anymore? You do buy it now, baby, or that's it.
SPEAKER_00:That you get off of it. I know. Whatever. But yeah, no, I haven't been up to too much geeky stuff. I did write the second part in my Aliens Timeline Companion series. So this one will cover the Aliens film novelization scripts and everything in between. I I basically like did all my notes on that. I wrote down how the canon changed, the timeline was fixed, how this reinforces future films and other titles. And I also found some really, really cool Easter eggs that I don't think anyone has ever found before. Specifically in regards to Alien Earth, which is what we're gonna be covering next week. Specifically in the Alan Dean Foster novelization of aliens, there are concepts in that book that are abandoned. They bring up new ideas in this novelization that as I'm reading it, as I'm listening to it, I'm just like, huh, that's really interesting. Okay, on to the next one. Huh, wait, that's also really interesting. Why don't they expand on that? Okay, huh. That seems like it's the exact premise of the Alien Earth TV series. Wait, that's really weird. So I made a whole section in my video for how I believe my personal theory is that I believe the people who are writing the Alien Earth TV series or conceptualized it, at one point read the Alien Aliens plural novelization by Alan Dean Foster because there are abandoned ideas in that novelization that make their way or get reused or adapted or changed slightly to fit the alien earth TV.
SPEAKER_02:Let's get this straight, my friend. I just want to know something. So I see your tweet. All right, about this. And I and I said, okay, I'm not gonna tweet at Dakota. I'm gonna just wait till tonight because he's gonna give me a little bit of meat. I was hoping that meat was back on the menu, alright? Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. You just that was the most political statement. I have you have not what did you tell me? Give our loyal listeners to this show a little morsel. Alright.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, okay, okay, all right, all right. Little morsel. I'll tell you what I have found. Here we go, baby. There are three specific things that I have found in the Aliens novelization that specifically, I believe, link to what happens in the Alien Earth TV series. In the very first episode, within the first 10 minutes, a ship crashes into Earth. Whatever the ship is carrying, ooh, I don't know, but whatever, the mission length of that ship and that crew is 65 years. I thought that's a very interesting number. In the alien novelization, there's a line that says, no one had ever survived more than 65 years in hypersleep. I wrote that down. Before I watched Alien Earth, I wrote down that line. I was just like, that's a really interesting lore segment. Okay, I'll I'll write that down. Forgot about it. Then later on in the novelization for aliens, there's a line where someone says about Bishop, he's a funny sort of hybrid. Hybrid is a weird word because they never really use that again. And I I did my research. Like I went through every novelization after that. I did all the books, all the films and everything. No synthetic is ever called a hybrid ever again until Alien Earth redefines what a hybrid is. You'll notice in the very like first minute of Alien Earth, they explain what a hybrid is. So no spoilers there, but I'm not saying that I think that Bishop is the hybrid that this Joe is saying. I think they just took the abandoned concept of like he's a funny sort of hybrid and like made a whole like made lore around that concept. And then there's this whole line from the book that never makes it into the movie. Nobody's ever encountered anything like them. You think it'd be dangerous for some germs to get loose from a weapons lab? Try to imagine what would happen if just one of those parasites got loose in a major city with its thousands of kilometers of sewers and pipes and glass fiber channels to hide in. Speaking of that, this is really talking to Burke in the second Aliens movie about like what would happen if you know, like one of those facehuggers got loose in a major city on Earth. And I'm like, that sounds a lot like what would happen in Alien Earth. That single sentence makes up the entire like premise for the show that we're about to watch. So I don't know that for sure. I don't know that these are like absolutely connected material, but it's weird. You know, I did read literally all the novelizations for these films. Only one of these books had connections that were directly paralleled to the show that we're about to watch, and there were three of them. So I I don't think that's a coincidence. You know, I think someone in the writing staff of Alien Earth read the Aliens novelization by Alan Dean Foster and decided to take some abandoned concepts for uh their picking, basically. That's my theory, and yeah. Big fan.
SPEAKER_02:Ripley was asleep for 57 years. 57, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So that was like that's where they put that line. Like shortly after Ripley wakes up, the narration says that nobody has ever survived more than 65 years. Yeah. So just throwing that out there. I I think that whoever wrote Alien Earth also potentially might have read the Alien's novelization.
SPEAKER_02:That's sick.
SPEAKER_00:But yeah, I have a new video coming. That's a little bit longer than my previous timeline video for the the alien film. And it should be coming probably around the time that this podcast comes out. We shall see. Anyway, guys, let's jump into Alien Romulus, which is the final film in this seven-fil series, like a canon seven-film series of alien projects. Uh, and we'll start with Anthony, because I've kind of been talking to Rich for a little bit. Anthony, what are your first thoughts? Because this is the first time that you're seeing Alien Romulus.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, the this is the only movie out of this whole series that I I hadn't seen prior. And honestly, to tell you the truth, like I would say at least like out of all of the current day alien movies, or like the modern alien movies, this is like my favorite. It's really good. Like it I see what you because you had mentioned that it kind of felt like a return to form as far as alien movies, and I felt there was definitely like touches of that original movie in there, with also like influences from aliens in there too.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. By by the modern films, you mean like Prometheus Covenant and Romulus, right? Yes. Okay, yeah. It definitely has strong or original alien, like really Scott Alien vibes, you know, like they're stuck on a ship for most of it, and they're just trying to survive while there's this infestation going. And there there are more than one xenomorphs on the Romulus base that they enter. Yeah. But uh, yeah, no, it it does it it it definitely still has that vibe, and there are clear cues to aliens as well, especially with like the elevator shafts that they go up and down on and stuff. Rich, what are your thoughts on this final film of the series?
SPEAKER_02:So I don't really get scared. I'm not trying to be a tough guy, I don't watch tons of horror, but I used to, you know, when I was younger, I'd watch kind of some outlandish stuff like the um I don't know if you guys ever see the Toxic Avenger movies by Troma. I I was into the Evil Dead stuff. And you know, the only thing that really like ever kind of frightened me essentially was like psychological stuff. Like as a little little kid, Freddie Kruger scared the bejesus out of me because that guy comes to you when you're sleeping. Like so when you fall asleep.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, when when you're when you're most vulnerable.
SPEAKER_02:And my mom used to like play pranks on me, like told me my dad was on the phone, and I ran and I was like, hey dad, and it's like the Freddie Kruger hotline, the terrible things, all right? But anyway, that's all that aside, like body horror doesn't usually frighten me, and and and I I wonder, and I'm gonna ask you guys, I know this is my reaction to it, but I kind of want to ask you guys. So I've seen Isabella Merced in a number of, you know, I've seen her in the Superman movie, I've seen her in Madame Webb, which was unfortunate. I've also seen her in The Last of Us. And there's a couple of things. One, I'd like to point out, there's a a kind of crazy thing here, and and I don't know how the timeline works because I forget when this comes out, but if this movie came out before Last of Us, alright? In It did. Right? It did. It did. Okay, so it comes out before Last of Us. So in Last of Us, she plays a young Last of Us series season two.
SPEAKER_00:It came out before season two.
SPEAKER_02:So she plays a young woman who is at some at some point becomes pregnant during an apocalyptic thing, right? Sure. And then they also in you know, in Alien, she becomes pregnant during this kind of terrible time. And I just found it like interesting. But the timeline, yeah. Like I wonder if there was any kind of like, oh man, like, you know, this kind of idea from I don't know, but I do know this. I'm not sure if it's her as an actress, because I've obviously seen other actors in this franchise look terrified when they're about to die or when they're being tracked down by the alien. But when she's on that walkway and she can't look up, like the xenomorph is is over her and ends up exiting to the left in that scene. Yeah. Her terror, like the look on her face, not the xenomorph, just I was gripped with fear. I've never wanted anybody to survive more, right? Like when she couldn't even look back to see if it had left. Like she was just like, and I was like, oh my god, it might be what if it's behind you? What if it's behind you? Like, that hasn't happened to me the entire franchise. And I'm assuming that some of the directors in this franchise were hoping that people would have that kind of reaction. And it took to this one, but I finally got to a point where I cared enough about a character, I didn't think that character had plot armor for me to actually be as scared as the character. And I gotta say, that's a freaking tribute. 43 years, and I don't think I've ever felt that for any character other than maybe watching Groot, like, you know, what have like I I'm gonna spoil it. I don't care. If you haven't seen Guardians 3 and you're listening to this podcast, like Up Yours, like the you know, that scene when when Groot dies, right? You know, that I mean I lost I lost my marble. I lost everything, like I couldn't keep it together. That but her performance in this movie really, really drove home how good this movie is for me. Best of the franchise. I mean, after resurrection, best of the franchise.
SPEAKER_00:Like this is like get out of here, Anthony, moving back to you.
SPEAKER_01:No, well, I well, I I was gonna I was gonna say that I think the reason for that is that they upped the stakes by making her pregnant.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:And you kind of like wanted her to make it. I mean, in all honesty, like you you're like, you know, I don't want to see this pregnant woman get killed savagely by an alien. Because we've been watching all of the alien movies and we've seen nothing but savage deaths, right? People getting killed savagely. So like we know the potential of the series, and so we don't want to see that happen to a pregnant woman. So yeah, no, no, I would say the stakes. I really do like that they brought, you know, like it was dark, like the first one, like literally dark, where there was like very little lighting, and like when they needed lighting, like I felt like they were really good about it, like you know, n right, yeah. They made it dark when it needed to be, and then they lit it up, you know, so that you could see the scene, but like still maintain the illusion of darkness, you know?
SPEAKER_02:Like when the xenomorphs I it really felt like a throwback to Aliens 3 when the three xenomorphs are like kind of like prowling together, right? And it kind of reminded me of that scene where they looked up at the ceiling and saw like all the xenomorphs scurrying towards them. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. Somehow they made it scarier in this one. I'm not sure if it's because Anthony's right because of the lighting, but I was like, oh snap! Here they come. I'm sorry, I'm gonna keep doing this this show, but no, that's dude.
SPEAKER_00:I'm happy. I'm happy to hear that you've been terrified. You've gotten your boots shaken.
SPEAKER_01:Um you know what made me laugh? So this was like one of those parts with Isabella where she's like trying to get through that door and like the xenomorph emerges from like that husk. I started laughing because when it emerged from that husk, it immediately was just dripping.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, so much juice. It was just like pouring water. Can can we get something out of the way, gentlemen, so we can discuss the rest of the show without having to mention this?
SPEAKER_00:Sure, sure, yeah. No, guys, aliens are very juicy. I'm gonna bring up some adult stuff, guys. Like, okay, no, I I think it's important that we do bring up some adult stuff in this because some adult stuff is definitely hinted at in this movie. But before we jump into any of that, that aliens are very juicy, and I also hope that your reviews for this podcast are likewise very juicy. You know, I we we always uh request five-star reviews for you listeners on this podcast, wherever you listen to your podcasts, because it helps bring new listeners to our show, and we we do appreciate that. So please, five-star juicy review, just like the xenomorphs, guys. Rich now has to segue into more adult territory. This is a rated art segment.
SPEAKER_02:This is fantastic. So, anyway, this kind of feels like when I'm talking about a book in class that I don't want to discuss. Alright, so here we go. My goodness, the amount of references to female organs in this movie is they even changed the they even changed the face hugger like underside to look more.
SPEAKER_00:Everything is just I'm just gonna say it.
SPEAKER_02:Everything's very vaginal. It's a very it I won't lie to you, it seemed like a little heavy-handed, right? It seemed like somebody was like, hey, you know what we should do? Like, let's make these look like vaginas. And then like some guy was like, uh, yeah. And then they did it once, but they're like, Do you think anybody will notice if we make like 17 ref like when the guy takes the prodder and he's like, Oh, I'll take care of this, and he's just like jamming it in. I'm just like, what are we watching here? If I was with my wife, I would have taken my phone and looked at my phone because I would have felt awkward, which is what I do whenever there's nudity or sex in a movie. Alright, like I I don't I don't know. What do you guys think? Anthony, like, were you unc I was uncomfortable and I watched it alone. I don't know if it's my Catholic sensibilities from Catholic school as a small child, but holy shnikes.
SPEAKER_00:Holy shnikes. Anthony, what are your thoughts?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I thought it was like wild, yeah, when they pulled a face hugger off of uh I don't remember her name, the pilot's face. I was like, oh wow, that's interesting. Like, I mean, it makes sense that that's how it would like implant, you know, the parasite. It would oh yeah.
SPEAKER_00:It was it was very palic. Yes.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it w it I was just like, I was like, that that was yeah, it was just weird. But it it it made sense, you know, when you think about it. I guess outside of that, like I wasn't trying to think too much into that stuff. I was just enjoying a really good aliens movie, like it just didn't feel I think the first time I watched it, I noticed that a lot more.
SPEAKER_00:Versus the second time that I watched it for the podcast, I wasn't paying attention to it as much. You know, like I knew that it existed, so I was just kind of like, alright, but what does it mean for the aliens? What does it mean for the people on board? That's where I kind of sat. Going back to Isabella Merced, she has one scene just after the chest burster where she like the music just stops and she has a blood curdling scream. It's the only one in the alien franchise that actually like kind of like shakes me. You know, like it they the editing on this, the directing on this is phenomenal. Like it actually is Is really strong authorial intent with this movie. And I think that's part of why I like this movie so much. It's that you actually feel something. You know, like you can I I think the ideas behind certain other movies, like Alien 3, Alien Resurrection, Prometheus, the the ideas behind those movies are strong. Like it's really cool concepts, but they don't always land perfectly or even well. And I think with this movie, the ideas that they strike are always really particularly strong. I want to bring something up. The main actress that plays our lead, the actress's name is Kaylee Spainy. C-A-I-L-E-E S-P-A-E-N-Y, which is an anagram. Hold on, people. This is an anagram for Yee Space Alien. I'm not lying. Her name is an anagram for Y E Space Alien. Like, how how did you get this rolled? Like I thought that was so funny when I found out. And it's it's it's legit. Like it's like a like her name is literally an anagram of E Space Alien. Alright. Let's let's roll this whole discussion back to the bare bones of the film. We begin on this mining world. I think it's called Jackson or something, like Jackson something. And we have hold on, I forget what the main character's actual name is. Rain Carradine is our main character. She's followed by Andy, which is a synthetic, an outdated synthetic at this point. You know, he's he's kind of gone through the motions. He is now almost childlike, and is basically like a low IQ dad joke generator. You know, like he just follows Rain around with dad jokes. And I think that that's genuinely very charming. You know, it's a it's a very charming relationship that they have. What are what are our thoughts on Andy and Rain at the beginning of the movie?
SPEAKER_02:I mean, I I literally stored some of those jokes away. I I actually They were good, they were good jokes. The one uh the specifically like I just started reading a book on gravity, I can't put it down.
unknown:Ha!
SPEAKER_02:That that kind of killed at dinner. I I I literally went to dinner after I watched the movie with my family and just dropped almost all of Andy's jokes. I didn't even tell them that I got them from the movie. I I just pretended that they were my jokes because they're so bad that they fall in line with all of my jokes.
SPEAKER_00:Like I can't I I want to be a dad one day just so I can tell Andy.
SPEAKER_02:I won't lie, like when Andy goes, you know, full whaley New Tani, I was very sad. And then when he reverts again, you know, towards the when she gets to like kind of fix him, and he starts with the dad jokes again, I was legitimately warm inside. You were ver clamped. Yes, I love that. I really I don't know if you know, and the thing is, this one is not because I know the actor, you know. I can say that the Isabel Merced stuff, I like the actress, I've seen her in other things, so I I kind of have more of an attachment here. I don't know this actor from a hole in the wall. I don't know if he's ever been in anything else, and I'm gonna tell you that I loved the portrayal. Awesome.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, no, I I was really touched by the Andy portrayal as well. Just like from the beginning, you know, it's it's hard to see someone who's clearly not fully cognizant of their presence be bullied by those around them. I think that that's a hard thing for anyone to watch, anyone with any conscience anyway, to watch, and not be able to take something meaningful away from that interaction. So, yeah, I I I think that I'm looking at the actor's name now. His name is David Johnson. He did a fantastic job as Andy. What are your thoughts on Andy, Anthony?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I liked I liked Andy a lot, and I I kind of follow or I kind of fall into the same camp that you know when he received that upgrade for the credentials, yeah, that you know, yeah, it it it made me sad to see him with his upgraded directive and whatnot, and you know, I I just but I I had a feeling though that directive would be overrode and that he would maybe sacrifice himself for rain, or that uh rain would find a way to get rid of the chip and it you know it ended up being the ladder, yeah. So but yeah, it was yeah, I I I liked him a lot. I think he did a really good job. I think he really did well in giving off kind of that childlike innocence when he was, you know, in downgraded Andy mode, and then the fact that he was able to swap to this robotic android when he was upgraded, you know, the way that he was able to swap between both.
SPEAKER_00:He played two characters, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:He did a really good job.
SPEAKER_00:I think in the beginning, like the first half of the movie, he is being bullied by Bjorn, and Rain's like, Why is he being so mean to this guy? And we find out that Bjorn's mother or father died in a mine where a synthetic decided that the lives of the many are greater than the lives of the few, and made some sacrifices for the good of the many, basically. And that's a very computational choice to make. It's a very hard thing for a human to choose to do something like that. It's so cold, but it is the logical thing to do when multiple lives are at stake. So Bjorn was butthurt, and rightly so, because someone he loved died because of the cold calculations of asynthetic. So he was taking that out on Andy, and I feel so bad for Andy because he had nothing to do with Bjorn's parents, whatever happened to them. But I find it so amazing that the actor and the actors in general were able to just convey such a a disparate just disparate levels of cognizance. One was a synthetic who barely knew what was happening in the moment, versus another person who understood multiple layers of what an android was and is capable of and hates them for it. It was such a good writing dynamic that I almost didn't hate Bjorn because I thought it was so well written. It was such a strange thing. But yeah, anyway, yeah, Andy does get that chip installed in him, and he becomes almost not dissimilar to Ash from the first movie, you know, especially in the second half of that movie where Ash is actively working against the crewmates on the Nostromo. Speaking of which, we do get a returning face. What are your thoughts on Ian Holm being ghoulishly brought back to life via CGI? What are your thoughts?
SPEAKER_01:He came back to life, man. He they they somehow built a time machine and brought him back to life, dude. But yeah, no, it was interesting, and it it's it's crazy how I feel like this this movie kind of connects with like every film in some kind of way, you know?
SPEAKER_00:Um they had the black goo yeah, right alien.
SPEAKER_01:See, see, I noticed that like I know that that that they weren't supposed or or that like none of the characters from those previous movies were used, but the Prometheus was talked about. We had the Black Goo.
SPEAKER_00:They played the Prometheus theme song. Oh like the Star Trek theme that we we talked about a couple episodes back, they brought that back just for that little little like 10-second like tune. Yeah, no, it's it's it's like they brought kind of like everything back, basically.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. So like even though it's a movie that it's a sequel and a prequel at the same time, you know, it's technically a sequel to Alien because it takes place after Alien, and then like it's before Aliens, but obviously it's a separate group of people, so the placement's interesting, you know. It's almost like what they did with the Clone Wars.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. Speaking of it being a sequel to Alien, the very first couple shots of this movie showcase the destruction of the blown-up Nostromo. We saw the the destruction of the Nostromo after Ripley, you know, blew it up. She she said it for self-destruct and it blew up. Now, this is about 20 years after the first alien movie, and we see that the company is actively searching for something in the wreckage of the Nostromo, and we find that the xenomorph that Ripley blasted off into space somehow cocooned itself in like like fossilization form to withstand twenty years in the void. Or uh maybe it was dead. Who knows?
SPEAKER_02:It might have actually been in I did some research on this. And it seems that basically the new thing that we found out in this movie is that the aliens don't die in the vacuum of space, they can actually wrap themselves in a chrysalis-like state, kind of like a caterpillar or whatever. And yeah, so they can survive that the those conditions the entire time. That's creepy ass. And uh, you know, you spoke about the the wreckage and what they were looking for. I'm not sure if you guys caught this, it's a little bit of an Easter egg, but when you're watching the space station crash down, there's a little pops up out of the wreckage before it goes down, supposedly supposed to be Riley's ship. I I saw something come out of it and I paused it and I started googling stuff, and basically Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, hold on, hold on, hold on.
SPEAKER_00:You're suggesting that Ripley's ship was in the wreckage?
SPEAKER_02:No. The narcissist. The narcissist actually breaks, like as the wreckage is happening, the narcissist breaks away.
SPEAKER_00:But we know that the ship already broke away because she had to get away from the ship it literally like was a nuclear bomb. Like it exploded several times. Like the narcissist had to be away from the ship for it to have survived. I'm telling you, if you look it up. I have to look it up. I have to look it up. I'm gonna don't worry. I'm gonna do my my research on it, and we will get back to it perhaps next week or so.
SPEAKER_02:So my girl Riley's back. Riley's I'm telling you, I I'm very I've done a good amount of research, and I uh even Fetty.
SPEAKER_01:No, at that point it's not Riley though.
SPEAKER_02:Fetty Alvarez. No, yeah, no, it's Fetty Alvarez, sorry, I get the two confused. But he actually said my logic was at some point if Willy Utani could find the Xenomorph floating around the debris of the Nostromo, to find the narcissist, the shuttle that Riley escaped in, is in the easiest part. It's a lifeboat, it's a beacon. And it says, Yeah, you'll find her, right? It has a place to figure out the research of what's going on. You should go get her. So I'm sure they did, right? So I was like, at some point, the narcissist has to be inside the renaissance station somewhere. Not only that, I wanted to give an explanation of why Ripley. I almost I'm reading it and I almost correct autocorrected.
SPEAKER_00:Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. That's different. What do you mean? The Renaissance station is not the Nostromo. So it's not the debris. The Renaissance station is the station that they enter that has the both the Roman's half and the remote.
SPEAKER_02:Sorry, I got confused. That's that's what I thought you were for like that when you were talking about the wreckage, that's when it happens. So when the station is crashing down, the narcissist escapes.
SPEAKER_00:No way. Yes, yes. Oh my god. So they had they had Ripley all this time, and they were just like, We'd rather we'd rather play with the alien. That's crazy. Okay, alright, alright, alright. I I will have to do my research on this, guys, and I will report to you back next week.
SPEAKER_01:Uh yes, Dakota, we expect a three-page paper.
SPEAKER_00:Please. Yeah, if if yeah. Riley's back, baby. You guys didn't see it coming, but I did my research. Didn't did not see it coming. Let's talk about Elizabeth Merced's baby. Oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_02:So, first of all, can you stop Anthony? Anthony keeps moving off screen, and his background is the haunting alien. Haunting. The eight-foot-tall alien. It just makes me so sick. Alright. Is he there? Is he just doing this to like freak me out? Because it's working. He's back.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, I'm sorry, did I do that? I was there the whole time.
SPEAKER_02:Alright, I'm not gonna lie to you. I love the reference to what is it, resurrection? I know that we all love resurrection, right? You know, you kind of assume that the offspring is going to not want to do anything to the mother. And we are surprised, ladies and gentlemen. What a great job by everyone responsible for that scene. Because I I was like, oh, well, I just she's you know, plot armor, she's gonna be safe. She's the mom, nothing's gonna happen. And I was like, oh no, like she's secreting stuff, and things don't go well for her there. It's not the best of pregnancies. Talk about postpartum.
SPEAKER_00:This takes us to a whole nother level. It reminded me of like there's certain like spiders who will eat their mom after their birth. Yeah, no, it's truly grotesque.
SPEAKER_01:This was one of those like body horror scenes that had me like, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Oh brother.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, for real. Yeah, like so, so like, and this is where I'm saying, like, the the like it just feels like it touches upon like every single film because that creature is grotesque, very similar to the one in Resurrection. Yeah, yeah, it it's it's but it's it's almost and then you saw that like it was trying to like cozy up with like his mother for a moment, yeah. And then like I don't know, like since she was like kind of rejecting him, maybe that's why he killed her.
SPEAKER_00:I don't even think it was that. I think it was like like you said, Rich, she was kind of like oozing out some sort of like black fluid that he clearly needed potentially for growth or for life, and basically sucked her dry. I don't think they they don't show her after that point, so it's hard to say what actually happened or what became she's she's no more. Very, very clearly, she's no more. But yeah, no, it's it's a truly horrific birth. But it I again it also kind of evokes what happens in Prometheus, right? Where she you know does a uh a c-section just before giving birth, basically, because obviously something bad is gonna happen, and thank goodness she did, because like a squid bees coming out of I forget Ellie Ellie is her name? Yeah, I think it's Ellie. Yeah, it would have been a horrific thing, and that's one of the best scenes in Prometheus, is just like her taking the agency away from the creature. I love with this. I'm sorry, go ahead. With this, it's kind of the opposite. Like Elizabeth Merced's character gets put into a cryo chamber or like f for hypersleep and something goes terribly wrong. Clearly, she produces a baby very quickly after like injecting herself with that black goo, which is like synthesized black goo that they had come up with from the alien's DNA, which just kind of goes to show that these aliens were at some point all from the same lineage of DNA replication, or it was it was clearly always a bioweapon that you know evolved over thousands of years into the perfect organism, which is the xenomorph. But they were able to trace back those bioweapon mechanics that David was playing with in Prometheus and Covenant to fix the rats that they were testing on. And if it worked on rats, it would work on humans. We're 25% related to rats or something. 25% is nothing.
SPEAKER_02:Um, it's like your fake uncle, right? Like who's just your dad's friend. That's nothing.
SPEAKER_01:That that that's that that percentage is too low for me to chance, you know? Like I'm just I'm not putting I'm not injecting anything into me.
SPEAKER_02:Anthony, did um I want to ask you, because I you're more of a predator guy. Did you that scene where Andy leads them into the room and they change the thermostat essentially, right? Did you get like I just felt like it was a little hint, a little hint of like the link with the predator, right? Because I just thought about like the heat-seeking.
SPEAKER_00:I I I was thinking similar. I I knew that the predators do hunt via thermometer, basically, or he his signature. So I thought that that was very interesting. Because, you know, throughout all the novelizations, every single one says they don't have an eye, or they don't, you know, like the xenomorphs don't have an eye, they don't have like noses. How do they notice you're here? You don't see their ears or anything like that. So this kind of answers that question a little bit.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Yeah, that that that part did kind of give me a little bit of a predator vibe with the you know, heat signature that like they they hunted by sound and heat signature. So yeah, it did give me a vibe. You know, something that I I'll say about the alien movies is that whether you you like them or dislike them, they're consistent. Like they're really consistent. They all have like this like female action hero kind of lead, you know? Whereas like it starts with Ripley, you have Daniels in the last one. Who was the one in Prometheus? Ellie? Elizabeth Shaw. Shaw, yes, yes. And then you had Rain in this one. So like I mean, they're consistent, man. But I will say that they're mostly like in in the positive as far as movies.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I I I agree with that. Do you think it has to do with like the fact that they model the xenomorphs after I still think it's very insect brood-like, no matter what kind of things they like try to throw her away. And in that structure, right, the queen is the literally the queen bee, right? Right, she's the top. So in every movie in the franchise you have a strong female protagonist that is kind of the human queen, not in producing and and and propagating the species, but in terms of like we're gonna go head to head, it always comes down to you know, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So one thing that I'm really coming to terms with in the timeline companion series that I'm working on on YouTube, by the way, you can check out you know links to that in the show notes down below. Is that there's a a very strong theme of motherhood that goes throughout every single one of these movies. When it comes to the ship's interface in the first movie, it was called mother. In the second movie, you have Ripley kind of adopting Newt as a surrogate mother. You have Ripley's foil in the Alien Queen, the Xenomorph Queen, who is the queen of all of these, you know, evil beings. You have that foil of motherhood in that second film. In the third movie, you have the literal impregnation of Ripley, and at the very end, she almost cradles the chestburster as it comes out and kills it, almost as if it's it's her own daughter or child, whatever. And in Resurrection, Ripley is basically the grandmother of this weird mutation, an abomination almost, of like human and xenomorph DNA. The xenomorph clearly treats Ripley as its mother, which is a very strange thing. And it keeps going, even until Romulus. We have this character played by Isabella Merced, who is a literal pregnant mother who ends up giving birth to another abomination, you know? And I think that it is all part of it. I don't know if the necessary ingredient is that the protagonist be a female lead, but it it is a female lead series. 100%. Like there's there's no way around that, you know, like I don't think there is any film, yeah, there's no film that is that necessarily like not led by a female. And I think that that's a really frankly, it's novel. It's a fresh idea, you know. Like, I don't I don't know of any other franchise that without you know, it doesn't have to say it either. You know, like there's no alien film where you're where it's like female power, but every movie is female power because that's the protagonist. It just is it just is, it's just part of the DNA of alien.
SPEAKER_01:You know, it works like it's not like something that's being questioned, it's just it's like okay, this is a alien. You kind of become conditioned, and I'm and it and it starts off strong. I mean, you have Sigourney Weaver that's like her character, Ellen Ripley, is absolutely like a beast in these movies, you know? And so like it it follows suit with all equally pretty compelling characters after her, and you know, they offer their own dynamic, you know, it's not the same character over and over, which I also appreciate. Like, I don't feel like they're trying to rip off Ripley, you know? They're not trying to Ripley off.
SPEAKER_00:Yes. Now, with Romulus, did you guys ever find that like it strode too close to themes or nostalgia from previous movies that it like bothered you a little bit? Or that it took away from some of the uh so the story?
SPEAKER_02:Right. So this Ian Holm that we see is His name is is Rook in this movie, but it's the same basic model. It's the same model, but it's not it's not the same character. Alright, so I don't I mean I understand the mo knowing that I thought I knew it, and now you just confirmed it for me. I love nostalgia, like I'm I'm you know, I'm a memberberry's guy. Like it definitely, you know, I definitely like Force Awakens, and I know that I like it because it has a very similar plot structure to New Hope, you know? I get that. Sure. I don't see a reason why we needed to have Ian Holmes' visage, you know, like it could have just been somebody who looked very much like him and it was just slightly different, and they could just this model is released seven months afterwards, you know.
SPEAKER_00:Like I I Yeah, because it at this point, like all of the models well, not all of the models, like the David and the Walter models looked very similar, but like the bishop model looked different from the Ash model, and then the the the Auton character played by uh Win on the Ryder and Resurrection was very different, and now you have the N D model.
SPEAKER_02:Like if the guy's alive, then cool. You know, and like Anthony and I were talking about this before the show, you know, usually we do about three hours of pre-show, but uh we we got to do a slight bit to Anthony Chagrin. Um but we did I had looked up the fact that Ian Holmes' granddaughter apparently like approved it, you know, like oh yeah, it's okay and signed off on it. And people were like, okay, well, since the granddaughter signed off, you know, it's okay. And I look, if you came to me and were like, hey, can I put your grandfather's picture in a movie? We'll give you a bunch of money, like, are you okay with it? I'd be like, Yeah, cool, you know, appreciate it. Like, hand over that dough. Like my grandfather, I mean, I don't mean to be morbid, but my grandfather just died this past year, and I'd still be like, Yeah, let's sign me up, you know. Like, it's not that I don't respect him, but I think I'd have a very different view of it. And I don't think it brought anything to the movie, other than like, um, remember that guy? Like, I other than that, yeah, it was it was clearly a memory. Yeah, it doesn't it doesn't get like okay, if it were somehow Ash, which is impossible, but if it were somehow Ash, okay, cool. But it's not so then why do it? And that's probably one of the only things that the biggest thing I think that bothered me, and it's not because I care so deeply about the actor's wishes. I'm sorry to be so callous. I'm not like that, you know. Sure, okay. It's just I don't think that narratively it needed to be there.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, okay. There were a couple other things in the movie that I also felt the same way about. There's a point where Rain is about to be killed by a xenomorph, and Andy basically stops the xenomorph and goes, get away from her. You bit you know, and it's very clearly a callback to Ripley when she enters the mech armor, you know, in aliens.
SPEAKER_02:The loader armor.
SPEAKER_00:Which is a fantastic scene, but like it doesn't even like if you had not watched that movie, that line wouldn't make any sense. You know, like how do you know its gender?
SPEAKER_02:Does he get called that by Bjorn though? Did Bjorn call him maybe I feel I feel like I feel like look, I'm not denying you, I think that they did it on purpose, but I I Yeah, of course they didn't. I I I think that I think that Bjorn may have called Andy use that. You're right. I think I think I think So like they only did that obviously to set this up so that it's a throwback.
SPEAKER_00:It's still what you're saying it is, but I think that in this movie they did give it to us so that you know, I mean Were there any scenes, Anthony, that you felt like took too liberally from other films or were like too trying like trying too hard to be callbacks, or did you just roll with it?
SPEAKER_01:I kind of just rolled with it. Like my my gripe, you know, like for me, like that that right there for me is like more of a nitpick rather than a gripe. I kind of understand where you guys are coming from with Ian Holm a little bit.
SPEAKER_00:That's what everyone was kind of complaining about when the movie first came out.
SPEAKER_01:That I I would understand. I mean, at least they made him a decent enough villain, like if you were gonna use him, you know, like he was still you know, his d a directive was pretty much still the same thing to preserve these samples, and like he kind of passed it along and was like brainwashing Andy, and that was like pretty much like that whole dynamic. And it kind of set up with I guess like if it weren't really for him, then you wouldn't have like that whole heartbreak with Andy swapping over to like you know, from Andy to Andy, you know. Um and then finally, you know, getting to the place where you know we have the Andy that we started the movie with, you know, the one because you know, I don't like the way he portrayed that character, man. Like, I don't know. Like I I I really had like it really, you know, broke my heart. I was like, man, I hope he survives by the end, you know?
SPEAKER_00:When they first put that chip in him and they're in that chamber with all the face huggers, and he just like kind of like freezes and like his eyes roll back. Dude, it's such a cr it's such creepy imagery, but it's so powerful, like it's such good visuals, you know. Like there's there's so many great shots in this movie. Like when the ship starts crashing into the rings, and I'm just like, oh my gosh, cinema. Like, this is cinema. This is a very like I'd imagine that this is probably one of the lower end budget-wise alien movies, because this I think there's only like five or six characters. No, I think there's six characters in the entire movie, you know, including Andy, or maybe seven, including the other android, Rook. But it's the smallest cast of any alien movie to date, you know? And I think they do such a good job with it.
SPEAKER_01:They put everything everyone through the ringer. You know, is it me or man? I don't know what it was, but like I got these the crew kind of gave me these vibes, but like a bit older, I was just like, bro, is this the skeleton crew? Yeah, kind of had vibes of the skeleton crew, yeah. Except obviously they're not kids, they're adults, but like, you know, because it was such a it was a small cast of characters, you know, they're trying to, you know, hijack this the station so that they can or like I guess get enough fuel so that their ship could get to the place that they were trying to get to.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I forget the name.
SPEAKER_01:And so and so, yeah, like, you know, that that that kind of like I don't know, that kind of reminded me of that a little bit, but I would say aside from like, yeah, the the questionable Ian Home call, I would say overall the movie was really good. I enjoyed it thoroughly, and I think that. Yeah. You know, it's my top five Star Wars films. You know, I put Rise of Skywalker above it. Just, you know, it's just under Rise of Skywalker. You know?
SPEAKER_00:I love it. Yeah, no, I get it. I I totally get that ranking as well.
SPEAKER_02:I actually like I think it's like for me, it's like Book of Boba Fett, and then I can't even continue the sentence.
SPEAKER_00:Attack of the Clones, you know, like it's it's it's just it's just above Attack of the Clones for me. No, yeah, no, I I really love this movie. I'm really happy that we did this Alien Marathon because I think watching these movies in this format is so fun to discuss. Yeah. Because we are developing a collective thought over the course of several weeks where we actually get to dissect things that we saw previously and try to like make sense of what we're seeing this week. And I I'm excited to do that again next week with Alien Earth. But what did you before we before we close out, what did you guys think of the Zero G xenomorph scene? I thought that was so cool.
SPEAKER_01:That was awesome, and very much so something you would see in an aliens movie.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and it's never been done before, but yet, you know, like it fit perfectly.
SPEAKER_01:I I loved it because they were like, oh, I loved the awareness that, like, oh, we have to be careful with the xenomorph blood because it'll melt through the hole. That was that was that I thought that that was really cool, you know, and like that's not an awareness that was like ever really used. Like they knew that it would melt you, but like, you know, they never thought, like, oh, if I shoot a bunch of these and they you know, they might melt through the metal of the ship and cause a breach. And you know, that's exactly what was happening.
SPEAKER_02:Was a guy in a wheelchair somehow floating through it and avoiding the acid altogether.
SPEAKER_00:Are you talking about Peter Whalen?
SPEAKER_02:No, uh who's the there's the crew member who gets the alien Oh god, in in uh alien. Because that's my favorite movie, guys. Alright, that's the best one in the franchise.
SPEAKER_00:Oh my gosh. I I need you to rewatch all of these movies right now and like tell me that with a straight face. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Um I saw that guy, I knew things were gonna go bad for him. I was like, oh, I don't know, buddy.
SPEAKER_01:I actually I'm glad that you bring that up because I I I know last week Rich was really digging Covenant a lot. Now that you've seen Romulus, where do you put the two?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, because this is the first one that you said that scared you.
SPEAKER_02:That's that's different than like Yeah, see, that's the it's a completely different man. I really love Danny McBride. And like the fact that he was in the last one, like really jacked that one up a thousand percent. Sure. Yeah, no, I get it. But okay. For what I thought I was supposed to feel after watching all these movies. I hate saying this out loud. Romulus is probably number one. Alright, alright, like that's what you get. Alright, like I think that Mommy, you gotta be objective, you know.
SPEAKER_00:I think I I Yeah, I don't I don't see like you're not like hurting.
SPEAKER_02:I'm hurting myself because I'm I'm I'm taken away from resurrection. And of course, but really I really liked Covenant. But I think that I liked Covenant so much now looking back on it because I was so angry at Prometheus for not being what I thought it was gonna be, that I thought that Covenant was what I thought Prometheus should be. So Romulus just like up the ante. Like it was like, ah, you liked Covenant? Alright, buddy. And I was, you know, as you guys know, I was very upset at the end of last week when I found out that we weren't finishing that trilogy. I'm not as upset now. Like this made me feel good, and I'm I'm honestly excited to get off the show and just watch like seven episodes of Earth.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, actually, there's eight episodes. There's eight episodes of Alien Earth that we're gonna be covering next week. Anthony, last thoughts on Romulus?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, no, I'm with you. Like Romulus is just too good, especially with uh like the modern day alien movies. It's hard to like put it underneath like another movie. It was good. I love that it was giving like respect to like the older movies, and it's like you know, this is how I envision the older movies being like the intensity, the fear factor, and like bringing it to like a modern audience. So that's what I was getting out of it, and so that's why I really enjoyed this. You know, there was a little touch of a nostalgia, but I think it was more out of respect rather than trying to rip it off. I I would do two thumbs up, man. Yeah, two thumbs up. How about you?
SPEAKER_00:I think this might be my favorite alien movie. Um it is hard to rank classic with new because it has an edge that the classic doesn't necessarily get. I think it's it's right up there with the first movie for me, and maybe a little above Aliens, Cameron's sequel, and then it would be like probably Covenant and Prometheus, and then Alien 3 and Resurrection. I know Rich, I know it's hard to believe. But I'm very confused. No, it's okay.
SPEAKER_02:Do you not remember when she dribbles the ball behind his head?
SPEAKER_00:Like that's oh, my bad, my bad. Sorry. Alien Resurrection and then then Alien Resurrection. Okay, thank you. Yeah, Alien 3 is clearly the worst. Yeah. No. What I will say is it's probably in my top three MCU movies currently. Right up there with Winter Soldier and Quantum Mania. I thought it was gonna be like around 6'7, but I'm surprised you went that high.
SPEAKER_01:That's actually kind of crazy because Winter Soldier was actually not bad. I actually like it.
SPEAKER_00:No, Winter Soldier is fantastic. What are you talking about? It's in my top three of this.
SPEAKER_01:You can't put it in with Quantum Mania.
SPEAKER_03:I can't. I can't. It's my favorite part of every show.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, God. All right. Guys, thank you so much for listening to us here for our 137th episode. Next week, 138. We're covering the first season of Alien Earth, the FX and Hulu series that you can watch now on Disney Plus or Hulu if you're still on that streaming service for whatever reason. Thank you again for listening, and if you want to check out any of our socials, be sure to click down into our show notes. Don't forget to give us a juicy five-star review, and Anthony, it looks like you have something else to say.
SPEAKER_01:I have an updated directive. Oh god, no. Not you. My directive says that you must rate us at five stars because it is for the good of the company. The company being Project Geekology. Not Wayland, Utani.
SPEAKER_00:I love it. Yep. Please be sure to do that, guys. Alright, we will see you next time. Bye bye.
SPEAKER_01:Bye.
SPEAKER_00:Get away from her, you
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