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PaperclipPerfector  4mo ago (text post)   2244 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for March 1, 2026

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And the Alien series. "Oh man one of these things was terrifying. How about HUNDREDS of them?"

Where to do you go from there without being derivative?

Alien Resurrection showed one possible way to do that. Unfortunately the movie fucked up in so many other ways, probably not helped by the setup from (equally fucked up if in other ways) Alien 3.

I think it's a mistake to think that you necessarily have to escalate. There are many other ways to add a twist. Sure, Aliens added a whole lot more aliens but it also transformed the movie into a different genre and made Ripley into one of the most badass female film characters of all time (an excellent example of how to show an actually badass female character instead of telling someone is supposed to be one).

I agree.

Some of my favorite series of all time basically just advance the plot in interesting directions, let the characters have meaningful development, and then, (key point) put those characters in situations that actually, believably challenge them.

The Bourne Trilogy (I generally don't acknowledge anything that came after) was incredibly tight on scripting, never let the scope grow too big. Add likeable characters here and there, and then ratchet up the tension on them.

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