tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post9135780494258063472..comments2024-03-29T00:32:33.920-04:00Comments on GROGNARDIA: A Traveller CrewJames Maliszewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comBlogger62125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-19627641992273176862011-11-21T21:54:53.191-05:002011-11-21T21:54:53.191-05:00I have recently rewatched Alien. I agree that the ...I have recently rewatched Alien. I agree that the crew oozes Traveller appeal.LawfulGoodNecromancerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02385410215722741913noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-15233951041115769042011-11-19T22:48:22.577-05:002011-11-19T22:48:22.577-05:00"Similarly, if someone is supposed to be a gr..."Similarly, if someone is supposed to be a grizzled war veteran, I prefer he physically look the part. Maybe that's very shallow and narrow-minded of me -- shocking, I know -- but I find the crew of Alien far more believable in their roles than I ever found the Firefly crew in theirs."<br /><br />By and large I agree with James’ sentiment re: the look of Hollywood casts, but every so often reality is stranger than fiction (or stereotype). By the time he was 21 baby-faced soldier-actor Audie Murphy had been wounded three times in combat, suffered repeated bouts of malaria, been promoted from private to first lieutenant in less than two years, and been awarded every US decoration for valour (including the Medal of Honor, the Distinguished Service Cross, two Silver Stars, two Bronze Stars, and three Purple Hearts) plus a host of foreign awards. All that and he still looked like he should be in high school.John B. McCarthyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03351872533598285189noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-14669523906406984122011-11-16T16:41:34.778-05:002011-11-16T16:41:34.778-05:00For those that weren't around at the time, it&...For those that weren't around at the time, it's hard (I think) to<br />appreciate the 'Alien-ness' of Alien...<br /><br />The biomechanical aesthetic was a NEW thing, and at the time, for most<br />cinema-goers downright DISTURBING. Now, if used/referrenced it's<br />purely background colour, an artistic shorthand.<br /><br />Yes, it's ten little indians in SPAAAAAACE, with horror-gore, but the<br />terrifying 'Lovecraftian' atmosphere, particularly in the first part<br />of the movie, is easily dismissed by a modern audience ... the shapes<br />and textures of not only the planet surface, but the derelict evoked a<br />palpable sense of uneasiness and fear. These are all things a modern<br />audience is familiar with having been exposed to the like in video<br />games and film.<br /><br />Oh, and IF they had lasers in the movie, you can be they'd be tied to<br />a power pack by a cable in true Traveller fasion.maxamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17143803116262064891noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-75589760634749990612011-11-16T13:10:07.653-05:002011-11-16T13:10:07.653-05:00'Alien' as filmed strikes me as having mor...<i>'Alien' as filmed strikes me as having more in common with 'haunted castle' stories </i><br /><br />I suppose you're unfamiliar with Hite's assertion that <i>TCoC</i> is a 'haunted universe' story. Or you're missing the whole 'fear of bodily infestation' thing in Lovecraft (what with the cursed bloodlines and fish-man rape and all). <br /><br />Frankly, I don't think Lovecraft's cosmic indifferentness is actually all that prominent in his works as a source of actual, present horror, but rather is a post-hoc way of justifying others' Derleth-baiting. Try <i>The House on the Borderland</i> or <i>The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch</i> for positive examples of cosmic indifference. Lovecraft is primarily important as a vector for gothic horror tropes to transmit themselves into SF; as such, "Haunted Castle in Space" is a precise and total summation of <i>Alien</i>'s Lovecraftian nature.huthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16502682297320819595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-28784184519359270782011-11-16T02:07:38.140-05:002011-11-16T02:07:38.140-05:00Outland, Alien, Total Recall, Firefly, Battlestar ...Outland, Alien, Total Recall, Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, Starship Troopers animated, and Cowboy Bebop all remind me of different aspects/flavors of Traveller.Faust23https://www.blogger.com/profile/00743648278435764848noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-91728439184184331202011-11-15T16:24:20.243-05:002011-11-15T16:24:20.243-05:00"Are there specific stories it reminds you of..."Are there specific stories it reminds you of?<br /><br /><em>No, it's just the general mood of the thing, though Ash's lines where he describes the alien as "unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality" strikes me as very Lovecraftian in its implications.</em>"<br /><br />Hmm...I haven't read any H.G. Wells, but while Lovecraft might be the vector for all that stuff for modern readers...<br /><br />(or premodern readers, ahem, like James! ;v)<br /><br />...that characterization always seems, to me, to give HPL credit for something he actually inherited. For heaven's sake, there's nothing in that line that the phrase 'vast, cool, and unsympathetic' doesn't cover...<br /><br />Indeed, HPL was 8 years old when that particular story of indifferent interstellar rapacity was published. Early in the Golden Age of Science Fiction, right there!<br /><br />Anyhow, I'm not interested in the screenwriter's influences or hobbies, in this case, though normally I'm VERY interested in that stuff. 'Alien' as filmed strikes me as having more in common with 'haunted castle' stories than with <em>'supposedly indifferent cosmic force that's actually, in HPL's treatment, got a weird hard-on for humanity and is less important to his writing than his perfectly human anxieties ABOUT HUMANNESS, irrupts into otherwise mundane lives'</em> stories.<br /><br />The important thing about the alien in 'Alien' is NOT its inscrutability, it's the fact that it bleeds acid and eats faces -- i.e. its monstrosity is quite horror-movie conventional, however those conventions might be complicated by the awe-inspiring OUTER SPAAAAAACE setting and von Daniken background babble.Whttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12215651059418273961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-88293601522142401662011-11-15T08:37:45.035-05:002011-11-15T08:37:45.035-05:00“Traveller [...] gets mired in a discussion of wha...“<b>Traveller </b>[...]<b> gets mired in a discussion of what it is not - as opposed to the game that it could be.</b>”<br /><br />True. People will tell you that you can’t do a <i>Star Wars</i> style game with <i>Traveller</i>, but I’ve seen it done multiple times.<br /><br />“<b>The thing in Outland that always bugged me was the idea that placing lighting inside the helmet on your spacesuit was a good idea.</b>”<br /><br />That always bugs me in films, but I try to ignore it. It’s all about making sure the actors’ expressions can be seen. (Or, more cynically, because the producers feel that if they’re paying money for that particular face, the audience should see it whenever possible.) Of course, there are other ways to do that...<br /><br />(I’ve never seen <i>Outland</i>, though. Do they actually <i>say</i> that it’s a good idea?)Roberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16733274876782876659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-83999890158999814472011-11-15T08:04:40.771-05:002011-11-15T08:04:40.771-05:00The thing in Outland that always bugged me was the...The thing in Outland that always bugged me was the idea that placing lighting inside the helmet on your spacesuit was a good idea. For comparison, try driving at night with the lights inside your car on but the headlights off and see how good your visibility is...Ian Mageehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06156995293439922576noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-23361998206602275282011-11-15T05:46:25.112-05:002011-11-15T05:46:25.112-05:00I found The Thing (´81) to be the better Alien.I found The Thing (´81) to be the better Alien.Nerzenjägerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02682799127301890341noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-43451139152885180812011-11-15T04:49:56.129-05:002011-11-15T04:49:56.129-05:00James if you or anyone else is interested I have a...James if you or anyone else is interested I have a scifi blog at businessofthefuture.blogspot.com. It's only sporadically updated but it's accumulated a modest bit of content over the last couple years. feel free to check it out.JDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07468586709952502011noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-89205443727661860832011-11-15T03:56:07.515-05:002011-11-15T03:56:07.515-05:00Yes, Outland is also quite good, though some facts...Yes, Outland is also quite good, though some facts are totally wrong, e.g. the lack of pressure does not make you explode like in the film; instead your blood starts slowly boiling, and the peripheral blood vessels explode, giving you the aspect of a severely-beaten man (before you die from lack of oxygen, that is.)Antoniohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17258180992723371727noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-55158534486962509092011-11-14T23:53:53.689-05:002011-11-14T23:53:53.689-05:00The second movie - Aliens - was far more influenti...<i>The second movie - Aliens - was far more influential on gaming. It is essentially the inspiration for every modern Space Marine video game ever made.</i><br /><br />Well, it was one of the inspirations for Doom; everything else just ripped off *that*. :)<br /><br />I think the Stallone/Arnie action movies of the 80s are a bigger inspiration, though. After all, the main thing the space marines of Aliens do is get their butts handed to them. The whole "one-man army" thing that defines most first person shooters owes a lot more to Rambo than to Hudson and Hicks.Revenanthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11374515200055384226noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-80086619876357652262011-11-14T23:46:45.365-05:002011-11-14T23:46:45.365-05:00There's an interesting thread running in the T...There's an interesting thread running in the Traveller forums over at Mongoose Publishing about Grunge SF - the science fiction movies of the late 1970s and early 1980s that combine classic SF tropes with an indistrial visual aesthetic. Alien and its sequels is mentioned a number of times as the film that established the look, but there are a number of other examples (Outland, Saturn 3, The Abyss). There is some argument about whether Blade Runner is part of the subgenre. It's the first time that I've heard anybody try and separate out these films as a distinct form of SF based upon their visual style.Ian Mageehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06156995293439922576noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-1154725789778650752011-11-14T23:21:44.098-05:002011-11-14T23:21:44.098-05:00Outland is awesome. The shotguns, the sleazy bar,...Outland is awesome. The shotguns, the sleazy bar, Doogie Hausers dad, racquetball - this seemed like space colonization as it might have turned out. Think about it.ligehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00652431558688176341noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-24684810031678524702011-11-14T23:07:26.342-05:002011-11-14T23:07:26.342-05:00Just glad to see Outland get mentioned too - that ...Just glad to see Outland get mentioned too - that was another of those "realistic" SF films of that same period. Real-looking clothes and gear and shotguns in spaaaace.Blacksteelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16289298640828309072noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-62828575930621274182011-11-14T22:33:36.518-05:002011-11-14T22:33:36.518-05:00Ridley Scott claimed that one of his big inspirati...Ridley Scott claimed that one of his big inspirations for the tone and look of Alien was the used-future concept from Star Wars. Only he decided to take it further and make a "truck drivers in space" film.<br /><br />That is from an interview somewhere on the massive Alien Quadrilogy box setAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-42740822627001020182011-11-14T22:12:07.065-05:002011-11-14T22:12:07.065-05:00Re: Finch
I should have said I think the link is ...Re: Finch<br /><br />I should have said I <i>think</i> the link is mistaken. I could well be wrong, but the guy on the far right looks like Hurt to me rather than what I've seen of Finch as Kane.James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-11593526189531314462011-11-14T22:07:07.227-05:002011-11-14T22:07:07.227-05:00I dunno. Is that in fact John Hurt?
Yes, it is. Th...<i>I dunno. Is that in fact John Hurt?</i><br /><br>Yes, it is. The link is mistaken. If you poke around the Net, you can find a few stills of Finch as Kane and he looks nothing like Hurt, who is definitely pictured above.James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-53769649659735757532011-11-14T21:58:52.083-05:002011-11-14T21:58:52.083-05:00This link suggests the person on the right *is* Jo...This link suggests the person on the right *is* Jon Finch:<br /><br />http://aliensandpredators.tumblr.com/post/186397871/cast-publicity-shot-for-alien-note-the-presence<br /><br />I dunno. Is that in fact John Hurt?Todd A. Gibsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16177477114706281373noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-42950122733731742602011-11-14T21:30:53.535-05:002011-11-14T21:30:53.535-05:00"The only other serious contender for "t..."The only other serious contender for "the best Lovecraft film ever made" is, I think, The Thing."<br /><br />It hadn't occurred to me but I think you're right, there is something very Lovecraftian about Carpenter's THE THING.<br /><br />In that youtube clip I posted above O'Bannon has some interesting thoughts on why it's so hard to make a good Lovecraft film -- he says that you need a visual style that's as atmospheric and eerie as Lovecraft's prose was. And a good Lovecraft story is really all about atmosphere, and more what you don't see than what you do. <br /><br />The wonderful thing about ALIEN is that it feels like you've stepped into Lovecraft's universe from the very first few seconds -- that opening image of the planet with the eerie-as-all-hell music gets me good and terrified almost instantly. The sense of a vast, cold, hostile universe hiding a horrible and inevitable doom grabs you by the throat right out the gate.cherryfunkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14813128543861436476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-3976737823442312452011-11-14T20:57:57.631-05:002011-11-14T20:57:57.631-05:00@anarchist:
Since the WW2 movies of late 40's...@anarchist:<br /><br />Since the WW2 movies of late 40's (and possibly earlier) the Hawaiian shirt has been the official uniform of the grizzled old but extremely competent naval engineer* who keeps things running through spit, baling wire, and sheer 'ornery cussedness (and who keeps a hip flask of high-proof liquor on him so he can lean out the fuel mixture when that extra little bit of performance is needed).<br /><br />Of course in <i>Firefly</i> that was changed to a pretty floral print dress. Not that I'm complaining. <i><grin></i><br /><br />And I have always held that <i>Traveller</i> is what you make it. I've always preferred games where characters never muster out (even in the official Marc Miller version), so my games aren't as anarcho-syndicalist as most peoples.<br /><br />[* Rumours that there have been naval engineering conferences where the dress code for the cocktail party has been "Hawaiian shirt (the louder the better)" will be strenuously denied. Although I am now colour-blind.]Reverance Pavanehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01217657347160811310noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-50792775379215481782011-11-14T20:34:23.319-05:002011-11-14T20:34:23.319-05:00I have heard so many Fantasy fans claim this. It d...<i>I have heard so many Fantasy fans claim this. It doesn't make any bloody sense whatsoever.</i><br /><br>Why not?James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-45336725881787708862011-11-14T20:33:39.927-05:002011-11-14T20:33:39.927-05:00"Plus, as a genre, fantasy is so much more ex..."Plus, as a genre, fantasy is so much more expansive than sci-fi, so it can scratch a lot of different itches simultaneously, whereas SF has splintered into dozens of hermetically sealed sub-genres that make it a more difficult sell in the abstract than fantasy."<br /><br />I have heard so many Fantasy fans claim this. It doesn't make any bloody sense whatsoever.Captain Rufushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00296697477771399357noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-81023734909781723452011-11-14T20:26:50.732-05:002011-11-14T20:26:50.732-05:00"According to Mal, their physical beauty is d..."According to Mal, their physical beauty is directly linked to their survivability. God won't let them die because they're too damn pretty."<br /><br />Ew. That's horrible.Jon Hendryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18270477004436129556noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-39881714589979564802011-11-14T20:11:20.955-05:002011-11-14T20:11:20.955-05:00ALIEN is, quite simply, the best Lovecraft film ev...<i>ALIEN is, quite simply, the best Lovecraft film ever made. Quite possibly the best horror film as well.</i><br /><br>The only other serious contender for "the best Lovecraft film ever made" is, I think, <i>The Thing</i>.James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.com