If you don't have 20 hours to view the entire Alien saga, or simply need a quick refresh, here it is: the only recap you need before Alien: Romulus -- it's the only way to be sure.
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00If you don't have 20 hours to view the entire Alien saga, or simply need a quick refresh,
00:06here it is, the only recap you need before Alien Romulus. It's the only way to be sure.
00:12First and foremost, if you have yet to see Ridley Scott's horrifying masterpiece Alien,
00:18head to your nearest television, flip on your streaming platform of choice,
00:22and let the good times roll. No one should walk into Romulus without seeing this jaw-dropping
00:26piece of cinema, the one that started it all. From a storytelling perspective, Alien keeps
00:32things simple. Think Jaws in space, albeit with an eight-foot extraterrestrial that bleeds acid,
00:39blends with its environment and either eats its victims, or transforms them into eggs capable
00:45of breeding more baddies, though you'll only see that in scenes that got axed from the theatrical
00:50cut. Ultimately, the Alien sneaks aboard a commercial spacecraft called the USCSS Nostromo
00:57and spends the next 24 hours stalking and killing the ship's seven-member crew,
01:03until only one remains, Ellen Ripley, the badass protagonist played by Sigourney Weaver.
01:09Ripley destroys the Nostromo only to meet the deadly creature on the escape craft,
01:13leading to a terrifying confrontation that ends when our brave heroine blasts it into outer space.
01:20James Cameron's action-packed Aliens remains one of the best sequels ever made,
01:25and a thrilling action classic in its own right. Picking up 57 years after Ridley Scott's film,
01:31Aliens follows Sigourney Weaver's Ripley back to the moon where the crew of the Nostromo first
01:35encountered the xenomorph. Except, this time, our tough-as-nails heroine arrives with a
01:41raucous band of colonial marines, armed with state-of-the-art weaponry.
01:45Check it out. I am the ultimate badass. State-of-the-badass art.
01:52The problem is that a human terraforming colony called Hadley's Hope
01:56discovered the derelict spacecraft housing thousands of eggs, unleashing in a massive
02:02alien force. Ripley must head into the darkness once more to protect others,
02:06especially a young girl named Newt, ultimately facing off against a xenomorph queen.
02:13In 2014, Creative Assembly unleashed Alien Isolation for video game consoles.
02:19The game has it all — incredible visuals, compelling story, and terrifying gameplay.
02:25The first-person survival horror game captures the essence of Ridley Scott's original film
02:30better than any of its big-screen counterparts, delivering the claustrophobic chills that made
02:35Alien an unforgettable experience. Set 15 years after Alien, and thus five years before Romulus,
02:42Isolation allows gamers to step into the shoes of Ellen Ripley's daughter Amanda,
02:46as she deals with a xenomorph on the Sevastopol space station,
02:50all while investigating her mother's sudden disappearance.
02:54You're still looking, aren't you?
02:56Initially, a single alien stalks Amanda, but she later stumbles upon a nest. Her journey
03:02leads to Sevastopol's destruction, and we last see Amanda floating through space,
03:07though a brief shot of flashing lights — not to mention her appearance in a deleted scene in
03:11Aliens — suggests she survived the encounter.
03:15"...Amanda Ripley McLaren. Married name, I guess. Age 66. And that was at the time of her death."
03:24One unique aspect of the Alien series is the constant presence of the mysterious
03:29Weyland-Yutani Corporation, an overarching villain hellbent on acquiring the xenomorph
03:35for military purposes. According to Alien Lore, the company is a multinational conglomerate
03:41consisting of Weyland Corp. and Yutani Corporation. Together, the two powerhouses
03:47manufacture androids, spaceships, and computer technology, and contribute mightily to space
03:52exploration.
03:54"...The company knows everything that happened on the ship. It all goes into the computer
03:59and gets sent back to network."
04:02Unfortunately, they are also prone to putting their interests ahead of their subordinates,
04:07and seemingly threaten humanity more than the deadly alien organism.
04:11In Alien, the company sends Ripley's crew to investigate the derelict spacecraft on LV-426,
04:17knowing they'll encounter a specimen. In fact, they program Ash, the android,
04:22to ensure safe passage for the alien, even at the expense of his shipmates.
04:27"...You still don't understand what you're dealing with, do you?
04:33Perfect organism."
04:36In Aliens, Carter Burke directs the Hadley's Hope colonists to the same derelict spacecraft
04:42at the behest of Weyland-Yutani, leading to the deadly outbreak, all for a percentage.
04:48"...You sent them out there and you didn't even warn them. Why didn't you warn them, Burke?"
04:53Ridley Scott produced Romulus, so some of the ideas presented in his divisive prequels,
04:59Prometheus and Alien Covenant, might make their way into the new film.
05:05"...I'm sorry."
05:06"...That's quite all right."
05:09Prometheus, for all its flaws, is one of the boldest science fiction movies in recent memory,
05:14even if the picture makes the critical mistake of over-explaining its lore.
05:18You may or may not remember the mysterious space jockey from the original Alien movie.
05:24"...Alien life form. Looks like it's been dead a long time."
05:30Well, Prometheus uses this plot element to craft a wild backstory about engineers,
05:36giant albino humanoids responsible for creating life on Earth.
05:40Thousands of years later, however, they decide to eliminate their creation,
05:45presumably due to our hubris, and manufacture a biological weapon,
05:49the Xenomorph, to execute their nefarious plan.
05:54"...Big things have small beginnings."
05:58Scott and his writers never fully reveal the Xenomorph's origin,
06:02but heavily infer that engineers designed the necessary ingredient, a strange black goo,
06:08required to bring them to life. Michael Fassbender's android, David,
06:12then unlocks the formula, creates the perfect organism,
06:16and uses it to unleash his wrath upon humanity.
06:19"...How far would you go to get what you came all this way for, your answers?"
06:26After destroying the crews from Prometheus and Alien Covenant, he gleefully ventures
06:30into the vast unknown of space, meaning he could potentially pop back up. Stay tuned.
06:36It's a great time to be an Alien fan.
06:40"...Are you sure about this?"
06:42"...Only one way to find out."
06:44First, there's Romulus, and in 2025, Hulu will release the first season of Noah Hawley's TV
06:51series, Alien Earth. We don't know much about the mysterious project, except that it takes place 30
06:57years before Alien. According to Deadline, it'll be the first project in the franchise to take
07:03place on Earth, and has been reported to deal with the emergence of the story's infamous
07:08Weyland-Yutani corporation, and the race between corporations to create new android life.
07:13As for Romulus, the hope is that Faddei Alvarez's film will reinvigorate the franchise.
07:19Word is that the latest Alien installment sticks with the winning formula,
07:24including practical sets and creature effects, a straightforward storyline,
07:28and, of course, terrifying xenomorphs.
07:32"...It's gonna be properly scary."
07:34Alvarez has shared some fantastic behind-the-scenes photos on his X
07:38account, and if the trailer is any indication, the director appears to be on the right track.
07:44With any luck, he'll stick the landing and deliver a worthy sequel to Alien and Aliens.