*The Warlock opens the door to his lair wearing a Colonial Marines t-shirt, blue jeans, white sneakers and Gargoyle shades. He’s holding a silver goblet of Barq’s Root Beer*
W: Welcome to my lair….welcome I don’t think so, but enter. Enter my lair if you dare. I’m your host The Warlock.
*Warlock shoots fire into the sky and shoots lightning down while levitating before entering The Lair*
W: Tonight we not only celebrate the end of Michael Biehn Appreciation Month, but we also celebrate the 300th episode of Warlock’s Movie Realm. To put into perspective, our buddy Emer Prevost took 3 years to get to his 300th episode and we did ours in just under two. Out of the 30 Michael Biehn movies I chose to do this month, I saved the very best for last and in case you haven’t guessed what it is, its one of my favorite movies since I was 3 years old, ALIENS.
*The Grand Wizard is on his throne*
Wi: You can thank me for that…again.
W: Yes, as I explained in the Terminator episode, my dad had a VHS tape of 3 movies which were Terminator, Ghostbusters and Aliens. When I was 3 years old I watched all 3 of them and have been a fan of all three franchises ever since. What is it about ALIENS that’s special? EVERYTHING! The cast, the acting, the special effects, the score, the characters. Its an almost perfect movie from beginning to end. The plot is Ellen Ripley is found by a salvage ship over 50 years after the Nostromo bit the dust. After realizing a colony that had been inhabiting the planet where the original Alien was found has gone dark, Ripley is sent back into the lion’s den to exterminate the menace once and for all. What makes this different from Alien is the directing change. Ridley Scott managed a perfect creepy and claustrophobic setting in Alien, this time James Cameron brings us the action. So its going to be a war folks. So let’s end Michael Biehn Appreciation Month in style with one of the best movies ever, ALIENS.
Written by James Cameron, David Giler, Walter Hill, Dan O’Bannon, Ronald Shusett
Directed by James Cameron
Cast:
Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver)
Newt (Carrie Henn)
Corporal Hicks (Michael Biehn)
Burke (Paul Reiser)
Bishop (Lance Henriksen)
Private Hudson (Bill Paxton)
Lieutenant Gorman (William Hope)
Private Vasquez (Jenette Goldstein)
Sergeant Apone (Al Matthews)
Private Drake (Mark Rolston)
Private Frost (Ricco Ross)
Corporal Ferro (Colette Hiller)
Private Spunkmeyer (Daniel Kash)
Corporal Dietrich (Cynthia Dale Scott)
Private Crowe (Tip Tipping)
Private Wierzbowski (Trevor Steedman)
Van Leuwen (Paul Maxwell)
ECA Rep (Valerie Colgan)
Insurance Man (Alan Polonsky)
Med Tech (Alibe Parson)
Doctor (Blain Fairman)
Cocooned Woman (Barbara Coles)
Alien Warriors (Carl Toop, Chris Webb)
Power Loader Operator (John Lees)
Lydecker (William Armstrong)
Newt’s Father (Jay Benedict)
Newt’s Mother (Holly De Jong)
Corridor Worker (Jill Goldston)
Newt’s Brother (Christopher Henn)
Amanda Ripley-McLaren (Elizabeth Inglis)
Simpson (Mac McDonald)
Salvage Team Leaders (Stuart Milligan, Bob Sherman)
Salvage Team (Tom Woodruff Jr)
*The Grand Wizard reads the tag-line*
Wizard: “Ellen Ripley is rescued by a deep salvage team after being in hypersleep for 57 years. The moon that Nostromo visited has been colonized, but contact has been lost. This time, colonial marines have impressive firepower, but will that be enough?”
W: LET’S ROCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!
*Opening credits*
W: The score is just as creepy as the original Alien.
*The life boat Ellen Ripley is in floats through space containing Ripley and Jones the cat. Its discovered by a salvage ship*
Wi: Ripley!
*The salvage team cuts their way in and sends in a drone to scan the area. The team then finds Ripley and Jones alive in hypersleep. The team leader says “There goes our salvage”
W: How DARE she be alive.
*A space station is shown where a black nurse checks on Ripley. She tells Ripley she’s at Gateway Station when Carter Burke walks in with Jones. Burke says he works for “The Company”*
W: Later known as Way-Yu.
*Ripley asks how long she’s been gone and Burke asks if anyone’s told her. Burke says it may be a shock but she’s been gone 57 years. She drifted through the core systems and a salvage team just happened to be there. Jones starts hissing as Ripley feels something in her chest. Jones runs away as Burke calls for a nurse. Ripley sees a chestburster coming through her skin then wakes up in a cold sweat*
W: Just a dream.
*The black nurse asks if she wants some meds and Ripley says she’s slept enough. Ripley hugs Jones close*
W: Jones won Best Supporting Actor in Alien.
*Ripley sits on a bench in a holographic setting as Burke says they should worry about her hearing. Ripley wants to know about her daughter and Burke says its not good. Burke says her daughter Amanda Ripley-McLaren was 66 at the time of her death two years ago. The image is Signourney Weaver CGI’d to look old and Burke says she was cremated. Ripley says she promised she’d be home for her 11th birthday*
Wi: Who could have saw that coming.
*Ripley is being interrogated as pictures of the crew of the Nostromo are shown behind her. She’s under fire for blowing up the Nostromo and destroying 42 million worth of equipment and payload. They don’t believe her story about the alien and Ripley says she blew it out of the airlock. ECA Rep says there’s no species like that on LV426. Ripley says it was an alien spaceship to begin with and it. Ripley yells at them and says all it takes is one of them to get down there and they’ll all be dead. Van Luewen gives his decision that Ripley is suspended indefinitely but there will be no criminal charges brought against her. She’s to undergo 6 months of psych eval before she can apply for resignation. Ripley tells Van Luewen to check out LV426 himself and he says he doesn’t have to check it out because there are terraformers that have been there for 20 years without any incident. He says there’s 60 families living there and Ripley says “Jesus”*
W: Dayum.
*Hadley’s Hope is shown with a population of 158 on LV426 as a battle tank rides into the colony. Al is told by Lydecker that the mom and pop survey team wants credit for anything they fine. Al says the company told him to go check out some grid coordinates and not to ask why. He tells a bunch of kids to scram and we cut to the survey team being a family of four. Timmy, Newt and their parents find the derelict ship from Alien*
Wi: I don’t remember this.
W: This is deleted from the original broadcasts. We’re watching the special edition director’s cut with all the deleted scenes included.
*Timmy and Newt are told to stay inside as the parents scout the ship. Suddenly the mother bangs on the door and Newt screams when a facehugger is on her father*
W: That scream.
Wi: Facehugger!
*Ripley is smoking a cigarette when Burke and Lt. Gorman buzz her door. She closes the door in their faces and Burke says they lost contact with the colony. Burke says they’re going to LV426 on a rescue mission and want her to go to. Gorman says his marines can guarantee her safety. Ripley says they don’t need her since she’s not a soldier. Burke says for all they know it could be a downed transmitter but if its not, they want her there. Ripley says she has to go to work and Burke backhand compliments her saying she’s working a low level cargo docks job. Burke says he can get her flight license reinstated and she says her psych evals are not good. Burke says he knows and Ripley says no and she means it. She tells them to leave and she wouldn’t be much use to them. Burke leaves his card and Gorman thanks her for the coffee before they leave. We cut to Ripley waking up from a nightmare*
W: This shit again.
*Ripley calls Burke in the middle of the night and asks if they’re going to destroy the aliens. He says that’s the mission and she says she’s in*
W: Here we go.
*Ripley tells Jones he’s a little shithead and he’s staying here*
W: Why? He was the best supporting actor in the last movie.
*We cut to the Marine spaceship Sulaco. We get a panoramic view of it before the hypersleep tubes are shown. The computer reads out everyone involved before they are awoken. Everyone is stirring and Ripley wakes up next to Drake who says they’re not paying him enough. Dietrich says its not enough to wake up to his face. Drake says Hicks looks like he feels. Apone says a day on the marine corps is like a day on the form. “I LOVE THE CORPS!”
W: Ha!
*Hudson jokes that the floor is freezing and Apone tells everyone to fall in. Frost says he hates this job as Drake and Vazquez work out together. Vazquez asks who Ripley is and Ferro says she’s the consultant. Hudson “Hey Vazquez, have you ever been mistaken for a man?” Vasquez “No, have you?”
W: Hahahahaha
*The marines eat breakfast as Hudson asks what the op is. Apone says they have to rescue colony daughters from their virginity. Ripley scoffs*
W: Locker room talk.
*Frost says he wants more Arcturian poontang and Hudson high fives him. Spunkmeyer says the one Frost had was male and Frost says it doesn’t matter when its Arcturian. Hudson tells Bishop to do his knife trick and Drake holds Hudson down so Bishop can do it to him. Everyone laughs and Bishop thanks him*
W: Hahaha
*Bishop serves cornbread to everyone as Burke says Bishop nicked himself. Ripley spots the white blood and freaks saying they never told him an android was on board. Burke apologizes for it skipping his mind and he tells Bishop the android on her last mission malfunctioned. Bishop asks if it was an old model and Burke says Hyperdyne Systems model 120-A2*
Wi: Hyperdyne.
W: Like Cyberdyne in Terminator.
*Bishop says the A-2’s were twitchy. His model can never do that with his behavior inhibitor. He offers cornbread to Ripley who knocks the tray over and says to stay away from her. Frost “Guess she don’t like the cornbread either”
Wi: Hahahaha
*Everyone gathers for a meeting. Gorman introduces himself as Hudson says “Hudson sir, he’s Hicks.” Hudson asks if its a stand up fight or a bug hunt. Gorman says a xenomorph may be involved. Apone “A what?” Hicks “A bug hunt. What exactly are we dealing with here?” Ripley explains what happened on the Nostromo when Vasquez says all she needs to know one thing, where they are. Drake “Kick ass Vasquez.” Vasquez “Anytime anywhere.” Hudson “Right, somebody said alien she thought it meant ‘illegal alien’ and signed up” Vasquez “Fuck you man.”
W: That’s a true story. She thought the movie was about illegal aliens and that’s why she took the role.
*Gorman barks orders to get everyone to get everything set up. Apone “You heard the drill, assholes and elbows. Hudson, come here. COME HERE!”
W: Hahahaa
*Everyone works on something as Ripley asks if she can help. Apone asks what she can do and Ripley says drive the loader. He says to be her guest and Ripley drives it perfectly much to his and Hicks’ delight*
Wi: Wish I had one of those.
*The marines all get geared up for combat with a military score. Apone gives a pep talk before telling them to move it. “MOVE IT OUT MOVE IT OUT MOVE IT OUT….arrrrrgh, absolutely BAD ASSES!*
W: Loved that line.
*Hudson locks everyone in and is pumped up. He high fives Vasquez as Ferro the pilot says they’re about to drop. Hudson “We’re on an express elevator to hell, going down.”
W: Love how he’s excited at this point.
*Hudson yelps as they drop as Hicks falls asleep. Ripley asks how many drops Gorman’s had. He says 38 simulated and Vasquez asks how many combat ones and he says 2 including this one*
Wi: He’s a rookie.
*Frost says he has a bad feeling about this drop. Crowe says he always has a bad feeling and Frost says when they get back without him, they’ll tell his folks. Drake’s camera is glitchy and he knocks it right. Hudson then calls himself the ultimate badass and tells Ripley she’s got nothing to worry about. He says they got smart missiles, plasma rifles, knives and Apone tells him to knock it off. “Somebody wake up Hicks!”
W and Wi: Hahahaha.
*Ferro lands in Hadley’s Hope and Burke says they manufacture those. Gorman looks at the cameras and there’s no visible activity at all but Ripley notices they still have power. The marines exit the APC and get to work. The marines break up into two squads to search the place. Apone, Hudson, Vasquez is on one squad with Drake Hicks, Dietrich on the other. They all enter the compound and the place is completely destroyed with debris everywhere. Apone says hits from small arms fire and seismic survey charges*
W: Yeah, they’re terraformers, not soldiers. They had no defense for the xenomorphs.
*Hudson and Hicks use motion trackers to spot any movement. Hicks “Nothing, not a goddamned thing.” Bishop, Ripley, Burke and Gorman are still on the APC as the team splits into twos to search the compound. Drake and Hicks go one way, Hudson and Vasquez go another. Hudson and Vasquez detect movement and barge into a room where there’s a lab mouse moving around*
W: Ah lovely.
*Ripley tells Hicks to back up and spots a hole that’s been eaten by acid. Hicks “Somebody must have bagged one of Ripley’s bad guys here.” Hudson says they’ll love this as entire floors are eaten by acid. Apone says the place is dead and the area is secured. Ripley says its not secured but Gorman says it is. He tells Hudson to get the CPU online and he’s coming in. Hudson sarcastically says he feels safer already. Vasquez says “pendejo jerkoff”
W: Is she saying that about Hudson or Gorman?
Wi: Gorman.
*Burke, Bishop, Gorman enter but Ripley stands outside. Hicks asks if she’s alright before she says she is and walks inside. Gorman, Ripley and the others check out a barricade that’s broken. Drake says no bodies were discovered and Frost says it was the last stand of a hell of a fight. They enter the lab era and Ripley spots three tubes containing facehuggers*
W: There they are.
*Burke asks if those are them and Ripley says yes. Burke gets too close to one and it springs to life. Hicks “Looks like love at first sight to me.” Bishop says two are alive the rest are dead. They killed the guy named John taking it off. Frost then says they got movement and Gorman asks if Apone’s team is where they are, he says and no. Frost takes point as Hicks, Frost, Ripley, Gorman and Bishop follow close behind. They get closer to the movement and a little girl runs across the room. Drake opens fire and says “fuck!”. Ripley finds Newt holding a doll’s head and Hicks smiles and reaches for her*
W: Can he look any creepier?
*Ripley and the others chase Newt and Ripley follows her into an air vent where all her stuff is. Ripley says its okay and not to be afraid. Newt runs for it but Ripley catches her and says its okay until she calms down. Ripley picks up a nearby plaque honoring Rebecca Jorden for graduating second grade. We cut to Dietrich trying to check Newt’s status while Gorman interrogates her. Ripley “Gorman, give it a rest.”
W: Hahaha.
*Dietrich says she’s malnourished but no permanent damage. Ripley gets her to drink hot chocolate and wipes her face off. Ripley says she doesn’t talk much as Hudson looks for PDTs, every colonist has one so they can track them. Hudson says he can’t find anything yet as we cut to Ripley saying Rebecca is a brave kid. Newt says to call her Newt, only her brother calls her Rebecca. The doll’s head is Casey*
W: Casey won Best Supporting Actor.
*Ripley asks where Timmy is and Newt doesn’t answer. Ripley asks where her parents and Newt defiantly answers they’re dead and she wants to go. Newt says she won’t be safer there as Ripley says they’re soldiers. Newt says it won’t make a difference as Spunkmeyer asks Bishop if he needs anything. Bishop stones him and says the facehugger is magnificent. Hudson then says he found the colonists at the processing station on sub-level 3 under the cooling towers. Hicks says its a god damned town meeting and Apone says to gear up*
W: Alright, finally we get to the action.
*Apone, Hicks, Hudson, Vasquez, Drake, Dietrich, Wiezbowski, Crowe and Frost search for survivors with Gorman, Ripley, Newt and Burke in the APC. Their transmission is breaking up the further they go. The marines find that the aliens have set up camp down there as Gorman has no idea what that is. Apone says to watch your fire since they’re looking for civies*
Wi: They have another problem.
W: The cooling towers.
*Apone “Nobody touch nothin!”
Wi: Nice double negative.
*Hudson says “its a dry heat” and Apone tells him to knock it off. Ripley asks what the pulse rifles fire. Ripley says if they hit the heat exchangers the whole place will blow up. Burke says you’re talking about thermonuclear explosion and adios muchacos. Gorman “Oh great, wonderful.”
W: Ha!
*Gorman tells everyone to give up their magazines and to use flame rounds only. Vasquez and Drake give up their magazines but Vazquez has two spares for her and Drake. Frost has to hold all the magazines as Hicks pulls a shotgun “I like to keep this handy for close encounters.” Frost “I heard that.”
W: He basically disarmed them.
Wi: Yes he did, biggest mistake he could make.
*The marines find the colonists all cocooned and dead. Ripley tells Newt not to look as Hicks find an open egg and a dead facehugger*
W: Do you believe Ripley now?
*Apone says to finish their sweep and keep it moving. Dietrich finds a survivor but she says to kill her. The woman convulses and a chest burster busts through. Apone fries it with a flamethrower but the force awakens the xenomorphs warriors. Hudson says they have movement all around. Frost “I don’t see shit.” Hicks “He’s right, there’s nothing back here!”*
Wi: The force awakens.
*A warrior from out of nowhere grabs Dietrich and she accidentally fries Frost with the flamethrower who goes over the railing dead. The bag he was holding burns as Hicks says “Come onnnnn!” while grabbing Wierzbowski. The bag blows and Crowe is killed int the explosion. Wiezbowski is also taken in the confusion and Vasquez shouts “LET’S ROCKKKKKKK!” before opening fire*
W: My favorite line.
*Vasquez and Drake open fire as Hudson says they’re coming out of the goddamned walls. Gorman barks orders but Apone can’t hear him. Suddenly a warrior captures Apone and he’s gone. Gorman freezes as Hicks opens fire with the shotgun. Gorman tells Ripley to shut up and Ripley yells at him. Hudson says to get the fuck out of there as Gorman freezes again. The team scrambles as Ripley says to do something. Ripley then pilots the APC to go get them. Drake, Vasquez, Hicks and Hudson fall back as the score plays*
W: Love this score.
*Burke moves Gorman out of Ripley’s way and says he had his chance. Ripley hits the gas as Hicks carries Hudson out of there*
W: 9 went in, 4 came out.
*Drake shoots at anything that moves as Hudson, Hicks and Vasquez get in the APC. A warrior pops up and Vasquez shoots it, Drake is doused in the acid blood and falls with his flamethrower going. Hicks says Drake is gone but Vasquez says he’s not. Hicks “Forget him he’s gone!” An alien tries to pry open the door and Hicks blows it away with the shotgun, but the blood sprays onto Hudson’s arm*
W: These idiots forget they have acid for blood.
*Gorman is knocked out cold by luggage in the APC*
Wi: There goes Gorman.
*A xenomorph hops on the windshield but Ripley hits the brake to knock it over then crushes it by running it over. Ripley plows through the door and Hicks has to calm her down because she’s blown the transaxle. Ripley stops and the marines regroup. Vasquez wants to kill Gorman for getting Drake killed as Hudson notices Apone and Dietrich are still alive. Vasquez says to go get them and Hudson says fuck that*
W: Not so cocky anymore is he?
*Vasquez says they can nerve gas the whole place and Hudson says they should just leave. Ripley says just to nuke it from orbit, the only way to be sure. Burke says no way, the place is too valuable to destroy. They don’t have a right to exterminate them. Vasquez “Yeah, watch us.” Hudson “We just got our asses kicked pal!” Burke says he can’t authorize this but Ripley says its up to Hicks since this is a military operation. Hicks says he’s next in chain of command and Burke says he’s just a grunt, no offense. Hicks “None taken.” He calls for Ferro to pick them up and says to nuke it from orbit*
W: 70 minutes left, can’t be that easy.
*Hicks sets a flare as Ferro tells Spunkmeyer to move it. He gets up the ramp but his hand catches in slime. He closes the ramp but doesn’t answer when Ferro calls for him. The door opens and Ferro looks to see a xenomorph there. Ferro is killed and the ship goes out of control. Ripley tells them to run as the plane crashes and explodes. Hudson “Where’s the real pretty shit now man?” Hicks “Are you finished?” Newt says they won’t be leaving. Hudson “That’s it man, its game over man, its game over”
W: The iconic line.
Wi: What’s plan B?
*Hudson asks what they should do now and Burke says to build a fire and sing some songs*
W: Haha, “shut up Hudson”
*Newt “They mostly come out at night, mostly.”
W: South Park shit on that line.
*Back in operations Hicks goes over everything they could salvage from the wreckage. They have four pule rifles, 15 grenades and a half-filled flamethrower. Hicks says they have four robot sentries. Ripley says how long will it take to send a rescue and Hicks says 17 days. Hudson says they don’t have 17 hours. Ripley tells him to shut up and Newt lasted longer than that with no weapons and no training. Hudson says to put her in charge and Ripley tells him to man up and find the blueprints so they can figure out where they’re coming from*
W: Now she’s taking charge.
*Ripley tells Hudson to relax as Vasquez looks menacing. Bishop says he’ll be at med lab working on the facehugger. They cue up the blueprints as Hicks brings Newt up so she can see. Ripley and Hicks say to repair some barricades and station the sentries. Hicks “Now all we need is a deck of cards.” Hudson “Affirmative. Newt “Affirmative.” Hudson and Vasquez set up the sentries and they work just fine. Meanwhile Newt and Burke find stuff to eat before Hicks and Ripley repair the barricades. Hicks gives Ripley a locater so they can track her and Hicks says it doesn’t means they’re engaged or anything*
W: Glad they didn’t go that route.
*Ripley brings Newt to the med lab so they can take a nap. Newt says she has scary dreams and Ripley says Casey doesn’t have bad dreams. Newt says she’s just a piece of plastic*
Wi: Kid is not stupid.
*Newt says there are real monsters and asks why her mom told her there aren’t any. Newt asks how babies are born and Ripley tells her she had a baby once. Newt asks if Ripley had a baby and figures out Ripley’s child died. Ripley hands Newt the tracker and says the marines can see her on the cameras. Ripley says she won’t leave Newt and she promises. Ripley tells Newt to go to sleep and not dream*
W: Wait till the shit hits the fan again.
*Bishop tells Ripley how the facehuggers and the xenomorphs work. They say there’s a lot of parasites but they need eggs for that. Ripley asks who’s laying the eggs and Bishop says something they haven’t seen yet*
W: Love that line.
*Hudson says these things are like ant hives. Vasquez says bees are hives, not ants. Hudson says there must be something big laying it and Bishop says the queen. Ripley says to destroy the specimens and Bishop says Burke gave him strict orders not to. We cut to Burke saying these things are worth millions as bio weapons to the company. Ripley figures out Burke gave the orders to the colonists to find the ship and he’s responsible for the deaths. Burke says if they found nothing it wouldn’t have mattered, he made a bad call. Ripley pushes him against the wall and says she’s going to make him pay for this because they’re all dead. Burke says he thought she was smarter than this and Ripley says she’s happy to disappoint him*
W: What a snake.
*The alarm goes off as the sentries fire at the xenomorphs. The xenomorphs drain the guns dry and Hudson says they’re wall to wall in there. They’re at the pressure door as Bishop says he has bad news. The emergency venting blows as Ripley says so what. Hicks asks who long until it blows and Bishop says they have four hours to live. Hudson says four more weeks and he was out, now he’s going to buy it on this rock.”
W: What?
Wi: Its military time, he had four weeks to go and he was out.
*Ripley says they have to get the other dropship from the Sulaco. Hudson says they’re fucked and Hicks says to shut up. Ripley says someone has to manually go and use the colony transmitters to get the ship to drop. Hudson says hell no and Bishop says he’ll go. He says he’s synthetic but not stupid. Vasquez and Ripley send Bishop off after he says it;ll take him 40 minutes to crawl to the area then 2 hours for everything else
W: He’s going to crawl 40 minutes in that? Yeesh.
*We cut to the alarm going off and the other two sentries are almost drained by the xenomorphs. The sentries have 10 rounds left and Hicks says they must have fled. Next time they can walk right in and Ripley says they don’t know that. Hicks tells Hudson and Vasquez to stay frosty and sweep the area because they can’t let one of them through. Ripley says to kill her before the aliens get her. Hicks says he’ll do them both. He introduces his friend the M41A Pulse Rifle*
W: I just remembered. The original actor for Hicks was supposed to be James Remar aka Ajax from The Warriors.
Wi: What??
W: Yeah, he got fired for doing drugs or something and they replaced hum with Michael Biehn. The heart on Hicks’ chestplate was designed by Remar I think.
*Gorman is awake and wants to apologize but Ripley says to forget it. Vasquez stares a hole in Gorman as Ripley checks on Newt. She lays with Newt under the bed as Hadley’s Hope begins to blow. Bishop makes it to the transmitter and sends for the dropship*
Wi: He completed the crawl.
*Bishop gets the the other ship to move as Ripley wakes up, She notices the containers carrying the facehuggers are broken open and she tells Newt to wake up. Ripley reaches for her rifle but its gone*
Wi: He took it, the prick.
*Ripley waves to the camera but Burke turns off the monitor as Bishop says he’s made it and the plan is working*
W: Oh you sonofabitch.
*Ripley tries to break the class but its bulletproof*
W: Where’d the facehugger go?
Wi: Its around.
*Newt says she’s scared and Ripley says she is too. Ripley uses her lighter to hit the smoke alarm, flooding the room with water. Hicks rallies the troops to the med lab as Ripley says they’re coming. The facehugger attacks Ripley and she runs from it. Newt screams and another goes to attack her but Newt traps it with a table. Hudson shoots out the glass and saves Newt from the facehugger. Hicks, Gorman and Vasquez pull the other one off Ripley and Vasquez blows it away*
W: That was tense.
*Ripley says Burke did this and we cut to them all interrogating him. Hudson says to kill him now as Hicks says it doesn’t make sense. Ripley says they can get an alien through quarantine if one of them was pregnant. No one would have known. Hicks says they’d all know but Ripley says he could have sabotaged their freezers and come up with any story he wanted. Hudson calls him dog meat as Burke says they’re sad and pathetic. Ripley says she doesn’t know which species is worse since the aliens don’t fuck each other over. Hicks goes to kill Burke but Ripley says they need him alive. The power is cut and the emergency lights are on. Hudson asks how they could cut the power since they’re just animals*
W: They’re smarter than you think.
*Gorman cocks his gun and says he’s got Burke as Hudson and Vasquez sweep. Hudson says they got movement and Vasquez confirms it. Hudson says they’re everywhere as Hicks calls them back. Ripley readies her rifle and Hicks says its game time*
W: 40 minutes left.
*Ripley asks how they got in after they barricaded everything and Hicks said they didn’t miss anything. Hudson says they’re 8 meters and closing. Ripley says that’s impossible because that’s inside the room. Hicks says he’s not reading it right. Ripley then looks up*
Wi: Up above.
W: That’s how they got in, you didn’t check the fucking vents.
*Hicks sees a colony of warriors in the vents and screams. A firefight breaks out and Gorman runs for it. Ripley says to fall back to medical. Burke shuts Ripley and Newt in as the marines shoot at anything that moves. Hudson “Die motherfucker!” Hudson goes apeshit before he’s captured by the aliens and dragged off-screen*
W: I was so mad when I first saw this that he didn’t make it.
*Hicks and Vasquez retreat and Hicks tries to cut open the door Burke locked. Vasquez holds off the Aliens as they get the door open. Vasquez seals the door as Burke is attacked by a xenomorph and captured*
W: Bye bye asshole.
*Ripley and Newt find a vent to crawl in as Gorman and Hicks go in after them. Vasquez stays behind to shoot at them. Newt guides Ripley as Hicks asks Bishop where he is. Bishop says ETA 16 minutes*
W: Too late for Hudson.
*Newt gets too far ahead as Vasquez runs out of amo and is attacked. She wrestles with a xenomorph and shoots it with her sidearm. The acid sprays on her leg and she’s out of ammo. Gorman tells Hicks to go forward and he goes back for her. He grabs her and shoots at an alien until he runs out of ammo too. Hicks, Ripley and Hicks make it to a rotating wheel as Gorman and Vasquez use a grenade that takes out themselves and two warriors*
W: Just lost 4 of them in 5 minutes.
*The blast sends Newt down a vent into the sewer and Hicks says they can track her. Hicks and Ripley find her and have to cut open the grate to get to her. Hicks motion detector goes off and Ripley tells him to cut faster. Suddenly a warrior appears and takes Newt away screaming. They kick open the grate and all they see is Casey’s head sinking*
W: Casey didn’t make it either.
*Ripley wants to go after her but Hicks says they’re out of time. Hicks and Ripley make it to an elevator but a xenomorph attacks. They kill it but the acid burns through his chest plate and the side of his face. Ripley gets his plate off before it eats into him and carries him to the dropship where Bishop is. She asks how much time do they have, he says they got 26 minutes. Ripley says they’re not leaving. Bishop “We’re not?”
Wi: Ha!
*Bishop flies the ship into the processing station and Ripley rigs a flamethrower to a fully loaded pulse rifle. Hicks shoots himself up with painkillers as Ripley tapes the locator to her pulse rifle as well as loads grenades*
W: This is gonna be a hell of a finish.
*Bishop says she’s got 19 minutes. She tells Hicks they’re not leaving and Hicks says they’re not going anywhere. He says his name is Dwayne and Ripley says “Ellen” Hicks “Don’t be gone long Ellen.”
Wi: How did she know exactly where to go? The complex is enormous.
*Ripley packs for battle*
W: She says she’s not a soldier and now she’s the only one left….again.
*Ripley searches for Newt and finds her locator but no Newt. Ripley cries as Newt wakes up cocooned. An egg hatches and Newt screams. Ripley shows up and blows the facehugger away just in time. Ripley blows away a few warriors and frees Newt. The place begins to blow*
Wi: Oops.
*Ripley runs right into the nest where the Queen is finally shown laying eggs*
Wi: Oh look, a shitmload of them.
W: Look at the size of that motherfucker, ho ho ho.
*Queen growls at Ripley and she threatens to nuke the eggs. The Queen calls off her warriors*
W: The two mothers protecting their young.
*Ripley and Newt slowly back away*
W: The place is gonna blow anyway, the Queen doesn’t know that.
*Ripley then goes apeshit on the nest with her flamethrower before blowing away the two warriors with the pulse rifles. She blows away the eggs until the rifle is empty then uses the grenade launcher to nuke the rest of the nest and the Queen’s egg sac*
W: This was kind of unnecessary, she could have just left.
*Ripley throws the rest of the grenades and runs out of there. The Queen rips herself from the sack and chases after them*
W: Now you pissed her off.
*Ripley uses the flares she left behind to retrace her steps. She makes it to the elevator but it isn’t there yet. The Queen shows up just as it opens and Ripley and Newt get in. Ripley wards it off with the flamethrower as it gets to the exit. Bishop isn’t there yet and Ripley says “Bishop, god damn you.” Ripley is out of ammo and flame so she throws the rifle down. Ripley holds Newt as the place is blowing*
Wi: Look at all that destruction.
*The Queen shows up in the elevator but Bishop finally makes his appearance*
Wi: Here I am Moeeeeeee
*Ripley and Newt get in and the ship takes off. The whole site blows*
W: If Hudson was still alive, he ain’t now.
*Newt says she knew Ripley would come*
W: 12 minutes left, this ain’t over.
*Hicks is out cold and Bishop says they need a stretcher to carry him to medical. Bishop apologizes for being late and Ripley says he did okay.
*Acid burns next to Bishop before he’s impaled by a tentacle, he pukes white milk. The Queen was hiding in the drop ship*
W: How the hell did that survive the trip to outer space?
Wi: Must have hung on to the bottom of the ship.
W: I know but that doesn’t explain the space trip.
Wi: Just go with it.
*Bishop is cut in half as the Queen drops down. Ripley draws Queen’s attention away*
W: Round 2….fight.
*Ripley runs for it and hides in a closet where there’s a loader. Bishop watches the Queen as it chases Newt*
W: Can’t kill him that way.
*The doors open and Ripley walks out in a loader. “Get away from her you BITCH!”
W: Another iconic line. Although to be fair, Queen’s probably saying “You started it, you killed my family.”
*Queen and Ripley go one on one. Queen uses her tail to try to impale Ripley.
Wi: A big right hand.
*Ripley opens the blast doors and Queen drags herself and the loader down the shaft. Ripley exits the loader and climbs up, but Queen grabs her. Ripley opens the door into space and shit is sucked in. Bishop almost gets sucked in but grabs a grate. Ripley kicks The Queen off into space*
W: Bye bitch!
*Newt is sucked down but Bishop grabs her just in time. Ripley gets out of the grate and hits the switch to close the doors*
W: Now its over.
Wi: What’s she gonna do with half a synthetic?
*Bishop “Not bad for a human.”
W: Hahaha
*Bishop and Hicks are loaded into sleeping tubes as Newt watches*
W: They’re not having a good day.
*Ripley tells Newt to sleep tight. Newt “affirmative.”
Wi: Now how the hell are they gonna get home?
W: Autopilot….but they don’t.
*End credits*
W: That was EPIC!
*Deleted scene shows Burke cocooned grabbing Ripley and saying its inside him. Ripley hands him a grenade and walks off*
Wi: Why’d they keep this cut but not the rest of the stuff that was originally cut?
W: It didn’t make sense. He couldn’t have possibly been cocooned, facehugged and woke up THAT quickly. After all, Hudson got dragged away just like he did
The Grand Wizard has no assessment
The Warlock’s Assessment: How can I give it anything but a 10 out of 10? I was entertained from start to finish. They took a while to establish the characters which is what you need to do to establish rapport, then thrust them into action. Once the action hit, it was a thrillride. The acting was amazing and it showed everyone’s range. Hudson went from cocky to pussy to apeshit, Gorman went from stoic to frozen, Burke went from tag-along to asshole….it was all done right. The special effects were amazing, the story was easy to sit through and the action was amazing.
Final Grade: 10 out of 10 – Perfect
*Warlock rises from the couch*
W: That was ALIENS and good fucking god Michael Biehn Appreciation Month is over. I saved the very best for last and it did not disappoint. ALIENS is one of the best action movies ever made due to not only the action, but the story, developed characters, score, special effects and the dynamic. The final battle essentially is two matriarchs protecting their young. Just like with the original Alien, you can identify with the Queen just trying to exist and start a colony. Yes its aliens vs humans but its not a typical “good vs evil” scenario with the aliens just trying to survive themselves. That dynamic makes for a damn good movie that makes you think as much as it was entertaining. The one liners were great, the acting was superb, the special effects were amazing, James Cameron did a tremendous job and the score was perfect. There’s really not many bad things you can say about ALIENS. When all is said and done can I recommend ALIENS? What the hell do you think? Its been one of my favorite movies since I was three years old, of course I can recommend it. That was a fun month wasn’t it? We had 30 Michael Biehn movies, well technically anyway, and more often than not I was happy after them. The Ride was awesome, Silver Wolf was pretty good, Take Me Home Tonight was a barrel of laughs and Planet Terror was pretty cool. That’s not counting the final 8 movies from Jade to ALIENS that entertained. Technically Grease and Terminator 2 weren’t really Michael Biehn movies but dammit they were good anyway. All good things must come to an end and the ride ends here for Michael Biehn Appreciation Month and our 300th episode special. Have a pleasant evening.
Warlock's Movie Realm 