Poll

Alien vs The Terminator

Alien (1979)
12 (42.9%)
The Terminator (1984)
16 (57.1%)

Total Members Voted: 28

Voting closed: May 16, 2011, 12:01:25 am

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Topic: Sci FI Poll 8  (Read 5877 times)

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Offline Sirgod

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Sci FI Poll 8
« on: May 09, 2011, 12:01:25 am »
The day the Earth stood still won 10-5 over Forbidden Planet.

This time, we separate the genre by 5 years with these two must have classics. I bet even 762 has seen these great films. ;)

Alien (1979)  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078748/

vs.

The Terminator (1984)  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088247/

Stephen
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Offline ShadowDiver

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Re: Sci FI Poll 8
« Reply #1 on: May 09, 2011, 12:39:03 am »
Humm...

Different time-line, but still....Ripley kicks ASS!!! over Linda Hamilton any day....

now for the antagonist....Arnold is good but I would kinda think he would melt due to the acid for blood issue..

so the Alien still wins..

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Offline marstone

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Re: Sci FI Poll 8
« Reply #2 on: May 09, 2011, 01:57:04 am »
a fairly tough choice again.  I liked both shows but for different reasons. But thinking on it they did have a common base.  Standing against unstoppable odds.  In one a scientist against a giant bug of ungodly ability compared to hers, and in the other against a machine built just to kill from tech beyond ours.

But Alien was a good thriller, terminator was action.
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Offline 762_XC

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Re: Sci FI Poll 8
« Reply #3 on: May 09, 2011, 02:25:14 am »
Finally, movies I know. :P

Tough choice. While I personally found Terminator more entertaining, Alien I think is better sci-fi, mostly because I hate time-travel paradox with a passion.

Alien also had better acting and directing. So, win.
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Offline TAnimaL

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Re: Sci FI Poll 8
« Reply #4 on: May 09, 2011, 11:49:33 am »
hurm. I keep the phrase "sci fi" in mind when taking these polls...

Let's see: a time travel story involving a dystopian , computer-ruled future and an unstoppable cyborg killer, or;

Jaws in Space, set on a space ship that more resembles a water treatment plant.
 
 ;)

Glibness aside, I can't say Terminator is a better film than Alien, but like that other famous Ridley Scott movie, the "sci fi" in it seems tacked on. Just adding flying cars and spaceships doesn't make it science fiction to me, Ridley.  (Why would an android decide to kill someone by shoving a port magazine down their throat?? Extra points for social commentary but minus several hundred for logical there) So sure, Alien has better acting, cinematography and music, but, to me, it loses to Terminator on the sci fi angle.

This one certainly begs the next poll pitting sequel to sequel - Terminator 2 vs. Aliens! Cameron vs. Cameron!

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Offline 762_XC

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Re: Sci FI Poll 8
« Reply #5 on: May 09, 2011, 01:00:02 pm »
Alien has plenty of originality in its conceptualization to be worthy of true sci-fi.

For one it has the notion of an android antagonist among the crew, trying to capture the unstoppable Alien for use of a bio-weapon on orders of the parent company. The parasitic face-huggers were also fairly novel at the time.

It was also the first sci-fi movie I know of to discard the notion that future tech is always clean and spiffy. The Nostromo is a clunky merchant ship, dark and dingy, not a sleek and elegant starship like we'd always seen up to that point.
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Offline knightstorm

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Re: Sci FI Poll 8
« Reply #6 on: May 09, 2011, 03:47:55 pm »
Terminator has Arnold, Alien has an android that vomits milk.  Nuff said.
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Offline FCM_SFHQ_XC

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Re: Sci FI Poll 8
« Reply #7 on: May 09, 2011, 04:05:38 pm »
wow, hard choices, both are spectacular, I guess in the end though I'll go with Terminator as Alien is a bit more in the sifi-horror mix instead of sifi-action
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Offline TAnimaL

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Re: Sci FI Poll 8
« Reply #8 on: May 09, 2011, 04:24:23 pm »
No, no! Resist the siren song! The Emperor has no clothes! Don't feed them after midnight! AAiiieeeee!

Pardon my hyperbole; you're right, "Alien" is a sci fi film, and a good one, but that said, I still feel the "sci fi" part is just window dressing in it. To me it's more like a comic in "Heavy Metal" (and I mean that as a compliment), where things are spacey and cool (space suits like Samurai armor, dark edged frames and rough characters), but in the end, it's more of a horror film really.

Not to quibble, but Star Wars had done the "beat-up spaceships" thing a few years earlier; and "Alien" owes more than a tip of the hat to "Dark Star"  5 years prior, with it's "motley crew in space/it's just a job" motif (it had one of the same writers, too) I just have sort of a knee jerk to "Alien," based more on the running argument I have with my wife over which is better, Alien or AlienS. Now, that'll be an interesting poll! Two different films from the same source, and I just think the "sci fi" element is stronger in Aliens, but to each his own (and at least they're better than the other 2 sequels that followed).
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Offline FPF-Tobin Dax

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Re: Sci FI Poll 8
« Reply #9 on: May 09, 2011, 04:29:41 pm »
I voted for terminator as it has better repeat value for me. Alien was a great movie, but I don't care to watch repeats of it while I do with terminator.
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Offline ShadowDiver

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Re: Sci FI Poll 8
« Reply #10 on: May 09, 2011, 05:57:22 pm »
Ok...I'll be the Terminator basher here.....everyone keeps poking Alien..

the base plot of Alien is "a motley crew responds to a remote distress signal in outer space, only to find an alien species hell bent on destroying them and using there body's as a host mechanism for hatching the brood....

1. Ripley, the heroin fighting against all odds to survive a single monstrous beastie..ie.. the / A Brood (Solder)
2. the bad guy....A single Brood
3. the other pest....face huggers..
4. the other other pest...annoying mechanics....
5. the nuisance......the twitchy A2 android....

the base plot of Terminator "a time travel story involving a dystopian , computer-ruled future and an unstoppable cyborg killer" (thanks TAnimaL) hell bent on killing everyone in the phone book with the same name because it's logical...trying to save it's computer "mother" in the future, by killing the mother of the hero in the future Mr John Connor, in the past.

1. Sarah Connor, the heroin fighting against all odds to survive an unstoppable cyborg killer...no real fighting..she ran a lot.
2. the bad guy....The Terminator, cool futuristic cyborg we've seen a million times, cyborgs are over rated....
3. the other pest.....stupid cops......(read as "the red shirts is TOS")..lol I crack myself up..
4. the other pest's big brother.....the police chief....
5. the nuisance.....the Doctor....lame......

I have been reading the post and some of you are trying to compare the T-101 to the A2..why......that's not the movie, it's not the plot...in no way is it even a real comparison...so stop that..

Others have stated that an original movie based in space with aliens, androids, planets and such.. makes the "sci fi" part feel like it's just window dressing...

whereas running around Los Angeles on foot, out running cops, crashing cars, beating up bikers and cutting out an eyeball is real Sci-Fi?  hummm reality check there...

the real character here is the Brood...sure it is a bug but a perfect killing bug "machine" the android said so..
The terminator...it rolled of an assembly line..it is a machine...a futuristic machine...like a car or hoverboard :)
it is an action movie, yes!! not really Sci-Fi...sorta like westworld, futureworld, cyborg cops, and back to the future...not really Sci-Fi..

but to each his or her own I guess.....SirGod should have started the action poll, horror poll, comedy poll, etc..etc..
and here I thought this was the Scf-Fi poll hehehe..

Oh...and how do you connect Heavy Metal to Alien????   if that's what you think, does Terminator = Wizards?
or Robocop = LOTR?? hummm...
« Last Edit: May 09, 2011, 08:03:16 pm by ShadowDiver »
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Offline knightstorm

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Re: Sci FI Poll 8
« Reply #11 on: May 09, 2011, 06:39:03 pm »
The queen wasn't in the first film.
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Offline Sirgod

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Re: Sci FI Poll 8
« Reply #12 on: May 09, 2011, 07:24:26 pm »
Wizards! Best cartoon ever possibly.

'I'm glad you changed your name you son of a Bitch" and promptly pulls the trigger on a .44 mag.

Stephen
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Offline ShadowDiver

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Re: Sci FI Poll 8
« Reply #13 on: May 09, 2011, 07:49:09 pm »
Quote from: knightstorm on May 09, 2011, 06:39:03 pm
The queen wasn't in the first film.

Damn!!!

Your absolutly correct!!!!


my bad!

I will edit my post as to be correct...

Thank you knight.
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Offline FPF-Tobin Dax

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Re: Sci FI Poll 8
« Reply #14 on: May 10, 2011, 09:34:31 am »
Alien heavy metal connection? A promotional connection at least. I first found out about alien through reading heavy metal. The movie was promoted through the magazine in an advanced series of cartoons following the movie story line.

there are references on line to a heavy metal mag influence:

Ridley Scott (who directed last year's mega-hit Gladiator) took the grimy, lived-in look pioneered by such movies as Star Wars, and mixed it with the gritty punk feel of Heavy Metal magazine to create one of the most celebrated movies of all time.  Alien is hailed as a masterpiece in two genres - science fiction and horror.  At its core, Alien is just a respinning of the slasher flick.  One hapless victim after another is taken out by a largely unseen menace.  But the movie also introduced us to two new icons of science fiction film - the Alien, with its complex reproductive cycle, acid body chemistry and unstoppable predation; and Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), who is lucky enough (and smart enough) to survive humanity's first encounter with this vicious threat.  Little did we know that Ripley would become the can-do super-heroine of the later movies.  The movie also brought us one of the most memorable moments in cinema history - the "explosive" first appearance of the alien itself (if you haven't seen the movie yet, I won't give it away).

http://www.scifidimensions.com/Apr01/alien.htm

so we have a slasher flick versus an action flick?

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Offline TAnimaL

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Re: Sci FI Poll 8
« Reply #15 on: May 10, 2011, 12:40:05 pm »
Stephen, re: Wizards.

Best.
Line.
Ever!

Seriously, did not see it coming.. Although, if memory serves me, it was a German Luger ;)

For the record, I was making a comparative remark about "Alien" and Heavy Metal mag, not cause-and-effect, just both as icons of 70s sci fi. THere was a graphic novel of Alien published by Heeavy Metal tho...

C'mon, they're both scifi! Time travel, spaceships, cyborgs and aliens! Whatever their approach (suspense vs action), gotta call 'em sci fi...

Now to go check amazon for Wizards!
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Offline Grand Master of Shadows NCC37385

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Re: Sci FI Poll 8
« Reply #16 on: May 10, 2011, 01:39:28 pm »
Gotta go with Alien here. While both movies contained some crappy acting, Terminator came with extra cheese. Sarah Connor whines and whimpers throughout the movie. The scene where the Terminator, sans flesh, walks though the flames looks like a flipbook I created as a kid with color pens.

Also, the scene where Ripley crawls into the space suit was truly appreciated by 12 year old me.

As for Terminator, I did like the fact that Michael Biehn, Reese, also played Cpl. Dwayne Hicks in Aliens two years later. I really would have a hard time deciding between Aliens and T2.
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Offline Lono

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Re: Sci FI Poll 8
« Reply #17 on: May 10, 2011, 02:22:32 pm »
Quote from: Sirgod on May 09, 2011, 07:24:26 pm
Wizards! Best cartoon ever possibly.

'I'm glad you changed your name you son of a Bitch" and promptly pulls the trigger on a .44 mag.

Stephen

Heh Heh - just re-watched Wizards for the first time in a decade - classic!

That is a weird ass rambling mess of a movie but I still love it!

I wonder if a remake could modernize it a bit and still do it justice?


Also - I voted Terminator - but that was one difficult choice!

(If it had been Aliens it would have beat T2 - even though I still enjoy T2 to death)

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Offline ShadowDiver

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Re: Sci FI Poll 8
« Reply #18 on: May 10, 2011, 08:03:46 pm »
Quote from: TAnimaL on May 10, 2011, 12:40:05 pm
For the record, I was making a comparative remark about "Alien" and Heavy Metal mag, not cause-and-effect, just both as icons of 70s sci fi. THere was a graphic novel of Alien published by Heeavy Metal tho...

Thanks for the Clarification....Sorry I didn't mean to come across as brash as it might sound....
I never new about the article in Heavy Metal Mag.......I was totally under the impression you were compairing Heavy Metal the movie to Alien...

So..So.. My BAD!!

Sorry.
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Offline Riskyllama

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Re: Sci FI Poll 8
« Reply #19 on: May 10, 2011, 08:35:48 pm »
Quote from: 762_XC on May 09, 2011, 02:25:14 am
Tough choice. While I personally found Terminator more entertaining, Alien I think is better sci-fi, mostly because I hate time-travel paradox with a passion.

I think 762 you might've voted for Terminator if it had ended with some more time travel paradoxes.
Terminator - How It Should End

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