N.10 - THE "ALIEN" SAGA: HISTORY, SYMBOLISMS AND CURIOSITIES (PART 1 OF 15: PREFACE).

There are many sagas that have made the history of cinema: from "The Lord of the Rings" to "Back to the Future", from "Star Wars" to "Indiana Jones", from "Mad Max" to "The Matrix" and we could go on and on.

Most of them essentially boast two narrative universes: the strictly cinematic one and the one defined as "extended" or "expanded" where the story shown on the big screen is added (or sometimes alongside) literary narration (see books and/or comics) or relating to other media (shorts, video games or TV series).

The “Alien” saga ” (like the Lucasian one of “Star Wars”) falls precisely into this category: to date, 7 films have been shot, starting from “Alien” in 1979 up to “Alien Romulus” in 2024 but there are various books, shorts and video games that need to be added as they seek to expand the story and cover any timelines that were not the subject of feature films.

This is where the concept of “canon or canon” comes from: the set of all the stories that are "certified" as official (by the production or by the director or screenwriter) and which contribute, all together, to creating the so-called "narrative universe" of the saga; it follows that the "canonical" stories must not conflict with each other or logically and narratively oppose the main story under penalty of non-recognition of the "canonical" status.

It must be said, for transparency, that the canon of a saga is often distorted (see that of "Star Wars") by commercial needs or by decisive changes in the production and orientation of the story (it follows that novels that were considered canonical, suddenly become "legends" that is, stories that no longer have a strong adherence to the main narrative but which are considered legends, that is, stories that may contain some element of truth but which, concretely, have never actually happened within the universe of the saga.

Wandering around the Internet it is possible to find everything and more about the saga created by the American screenwriter Dan O'Bannon (but it's not just him the creator of everything), articles and videos that dissect, in all possible ways, every single story and every single feature film, giving explanations and formulating theories regarding every unclear aspect of the films.

Precisely for these reasons , my effort will not go in the same direction but will try to provide, exclusively to those who have not yet approached the saga, useful information to arouse that minimum of curiosity that can determine the viewing of films relating to a story that , concretely, wants to tell the meaning of Existence (biological and ethical), of Man (seen as an individual and as Humanity), of Immortality (biological and transcendental) and of Intelligence (natural and artificial).

45 years have passed since 1979 to today and many things have been written, shown and made to be understood but, still today, they are There are many questions that emerge and there are many obscure points to clarify but we will talk about this later.

The first question that a neophyte who knows nothing about the saga asks himself is the following: “What is Alien about? ".

As has happened with other sagas, in order not to confuse the presumed viewer (between sequels, prequels and spin-offs), it is necessary to clarify how it evolved the narrative universe over the decades:

• In 1979 “Alien” was released directed by Ridley Scott, written by Dan O'Bannon and produced by director Walter Hill and Ronald Shusett (the co-author of the original screenplay), in the years to come it will become a cult and will be considered a true masterpiece of the history of cinema;
• In 1986 “Aliens” was released directed by James Cameron who also wrote the screenplay (together with Hill and David Giler), respecting the characters and the narrative line of the O'Bannon-Shusett duo; the film will prove to be a greater success than its predecessor and will establish, once and for all, the character of Ellen Ripley (played superbly by Sigourney Weaver) as a true icon of the saga;
• In 1992 “Alien³” directed by David Fincher who will be heavily affected by the uncertainty in the writing phase; various screenwriters will alternate, each of whom will heavily modify the previous screenplay and this will cause enormous problems for the director who, to this day, ignores the film due to the enormous cuts made by the production company during the editing phase; only in 2003 with the "Special Edition", released only on blu-ray, spectators were able to see the film that Fincher had made and indeed the final judgment is certainly positive even if the director continues with his denial;
<41 >In 1997 “Alien Resurrection” was released (in Italy “Alien cloning”) directed by Jean Pierre Jeunet (French director already famous for “Delicatessen” and “The Lost City”) and written by Joss Whedon (famous director relating to the saga of Avengers and, at the time, screenwriter of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Toy Story”); film which, to this day, determines the end of the saga from a cinematographic point of view;
• In 2012 “Prometheus” was released directed by Ridley Scott who puts his hands back on the saga and creates the first prequel to the original Alien placing the main plot thirty years before the narrative of “Alien”; written by Damon Lindelof (author of the “Lost” series), the film turns out to be the greatest success of the saga (grossing $400 million) and determines new and large narrative spaces not explored at all in the four previous films;
• In 2017 “Alien Covenant” was released, again directed by Ridley Scott and sequel to “Prometheus”; The screenwriters change but although there is narrative coherence with the previous film, the public shows that they did not particularly like the path that Scott set out to follow. The film, despite grossing $240 million, fails to excite fans too much who, concretely, are waiting for Scott's third and final film which should, inevitably, be linked to "Alien";
< 41>In 2024, “Alien Romulus” was released, directed by the Uruguayan director Federico Alvarez (already director of the remake of “La Casa” in 2013 and “Man in the Dark” in 2016) who also wrote the screenplay and whose production was entrusted to Walter Hill and Ridley Scott. As was easy to predict, the film does not conclude the prequel trilogy by Scott but the story takes place exactly twenty years after the events of "Alien" and thirty-seven years before those of "Aliens", essentially it is a so-called "midquel" (as was "Rogue One" from "Star Wars") ; with $340 million in grosses, it becomes the second most successful film of the saga.

These are, currently, the films that tell the entire story, describing the main events; these should be accompanied by two spin-offs relating to the universe of the "Predator" saga.

In 2004, in fact, "Alien vs Predator" by Paul William Anderson (already director of the masterpiece "Point of No Return" and of “Resident Evil”), written by O'Bannon, Shusett and Anderson, which achieves a dual purpose: on the one hand it links the two sagas and on the other it turns out to be a story that takes place in 2004, 118 years before events of "Alien" while in 2007 "Alien vs Predator 2" was released, a product of such poor quality that it is not worth taking into consideration.

It should however be said that the two spin-offs are not canon ( although the first film would lead to inconsistencies with the rest of the saga) and therefore I will not deal with it here.

In reality there are some absolutely essential media ( “Alien Isolation” above all, 100% canon) which I will deal with in particular, therefore the vision of the two spin-offs can only be motivated by curiosity and nothing else.