Alien: Romulus is here, and I suppose it’s time to shake off the dust.
I know it’s been still waters here at Strange Shapes over the last few years, but there’s been a lot going on under the surface. Here’s a brief, of sorts, of some things I’d like to say.
Unpleasant stuff out of the way first. Strange Shapes had our own plagiarism controversy last year. I won’t say who, but someone took an article or two from Shapes, changed a few words, inserted a sentence of their own here and there, and went and got it published under their own name and without any attribution to myself or the site. They were well-celebrated for it, too. I have heard about Youtube channels reading from fan pages and Wiki entries without attribution, but to see it in print, in black and white like that, with fawning blurbs, made me so uncharacteristically livid. I received an apology from the publisher and some remuneration from the offender, but that book is still out there in print. I have been assured future editions will feature a credit for yours truly.
On to better things. Although the site has been inert for a few years, I never stopped working away at Alien. At one point in the lifetime of this site, I decided I wanted to write a book. The site really started in 2010 at Blogger as a hobby, a distraction from university. It just grew and grew. I wanted to write a book that would supersede all my articles here, that would make the site obsolete (in the best possible way). I started work on that in 2018, imaginatively titling it Strange Shapes: The Making of ALIEN – a biography of the film, from its inception with Dan O’Bannon to its messy afterbirth. Not wanting to take any of my ‘knowledge’ for granted, I decided to research everything again, go back to the primary sources and just re-learn everything about this film. That meant finding old magazines, newspapers, rare fanzines and documentaries, auto/biographies, scripts, call sheets, blurbs, letters… just about everything you could imagine. I even conducted new interviews with cast and crew, from Ivor Powell, Roger Christian, Yaphet Kotto, and Walter Hill. There are some unsung heroes, too.
Some things got in the way, namely Covid and all sorts of economic and family pressures. I took other work, most notably the much delayed but forthcoming Alien Film Franchise Encyclopedia with Joe Fordham. Strange Shapes the book is still unfinished, but I’ve been working away and badgering more people to be interviewed (Veronica Cartwright, please!) I am 385 pages deep and should be done around 400 pages. When can you read it? No promises. I really want to write the best Strange Shapes book that is possible. Let’s aim for before the 50th anniversary of Alien…
One thing that got away from me lately was the tenth anniversary of the publication of The Life of Bolaji Badejo. So far, probably my proudest moment with the site, and something I can say was a good contribution to the fans. Before I wrote that article, information on Bolaji was scant and rife with rumour, some not very nice. It took three years of research to find his family and bring that story to light. Back then, the consensus I saw around the internet regarding Bolaji was that Alien made him depressed, that the production mistreated him and that he later killed himself. Nowadays, people all over seem to know he was very happy on that film, but as a man Bolaji was also unassuming, uninterested in fame, and preferred to focus on his love for the arts. It’s become sort of common knowledge for Alien fans, and I’m thrilled Bolaji now has such a positive legacy (my only grumble? If it’s permissible, Wikipedia credited CNN with all this, but their article was reporting on mine… well, c’est la vie. The Alien fan Wikis credited this site and those are the folks who matter to me. I’m also told J.W. Rinzler gave us proper attribution.)
Finally, there’s a new movie out, Fede Álvarez’s Alien: Romulus. I was able to see that film without exposure to a single trailer, teaser, TV spot, promotional image, synopsis, cast list, nothing, nothing at all. After Prometheus and Covenant, I needed that break from the promotional stuff. My opinion on the film? There were things I liked, and there were things I didn’t like. I think, more importantly, I’ve been enjoying reading everyone’s opinions; good or bad, it’s nice to see old fans buzzing again and new ones filing in. Next year will see the release of Alien: Earth, by the very talented Noah Hawley. Maybe these projects will give the series the breath of life that Scott and Fox tried to impart with their prequels.
Hopefully, it won’t be three years until you hear from Shapes again!
Strange Shapes 
good to hear from you again! im excited to hear about your future books!
Sometimes what makes truly worthwhile content more enjoyable is not having boilerplate filler jammed down your throat every day as a substitute.You keep doing things the way you can, because the results are head and shoulders above 90% of the other utter garbage out there.
Good to see you back in the saddle Seonaidh, albeit for a short ride. You’ve clearly had a rough ride in other ways though, but here’s hoping that’s been straightened out now.
I haven’t seen the latest iteration of what an Alien movie looks like, but have seen the trailers and read comments and reviews. A mixed bag by all acccounts, but I’ll probably succumb to the the BluRay when it is released.
Once all the hype has died down it’ll be interesting to see what the box office tells us with regard to audience interest in the film, and perhaps the franchise itself. It’s a shame Studios don’t release figures for the peripherals, which, as we know, is where struggling movies break-even and sometimes go on to achieve enough profit to justify the enterprise. Maybe Romulus will surpass my ambivalence and prove to be a worthy addition to the stable. We’ll see.
Take care.
John
If you ever got around to seeing it, I’d be interested in your thoughts. I considered writing a review for the site… but I never liked doing subjective pieces like reviews (unless I really love something).
Was hoping Romulus would kick start the site again glad to see it did!
So what’s this publication/print title that we’ll expect in future to see you get credit for your writing in case we’ve bought it or incidentally buy it?
That would be ‘The Art of Ron Cobb’. The Second Edition (which I was assured will be pressed) will carry an acknowledgement for myself and the site. It’s yet to appear though, to my knowledge. So the first pressing going around for sale now has my work but no credit whatsoever.
Wonderful to hear new transmissions from a site I feared might have been reduced to a mere acoustical beacon repeating itself at intervals of 12 seconds… 😉
The plagiarism issue is despicable, and disqualifies the ‘author’ in question from any purchase of his work by me (and those I can duly inform of his crimes). I was victim to a similar act of thievery by Allan Bryce over a decade ago, when he openly published huge swathes of Internet film commentary in his ‘The Dark Side’ magazine without any appropriate attribution (and, indeed, had the gall to claim a rogue intern was solely to blame when exposed). I’ve no doubt such plagiarism has only grown worse since.
I await Strange Shapes: The Making of ALIEN with bated breath, but equally anticipate future posts on the Shapes site – which has provided the best ALIEN commentary anywhere ever. Even if I’m a few months late, it’s great to see you back. 🙂
I think I took it for granted that the site had any sort of following. At 440 pages now, I hope Strange Shapes the book satisfies – especially everyone who’s been waiting years for this place to get going again. Honestly I think it’ll blow the site out of the water. A lot of things have gotten in the way, but it will be finished in 2025. Then we’ll figure out publishing, whether I’ll go traditional publishing or some crowdfunded operation (which seems very doable these days, with places like Unbound).
Thank you for coming ’round again and again. It means a lot!
Hi Seoniadh,
Hope you’re well, and count me in for more of your content here as well the book next year. Thanks for inviting me to add some commentary, now I’ve finally succumbed to the BluRay.
A mixed bag, as predicted in one of my previous missives. I thought the performances from Spaeny and Jonsson had conviction and were worthy of an Alien picture, and the treatment of their relationship interesting. The rest of the cast seemed interchangeble and not quite as convincing at times. Which is why the First Act setup did not have the engagement it should have; not helped by some garbled dialogue due to mumbling, and too much juvenile and arbitrary swearing from various characters. I found the cast too young to be credible; but credibility has little sway with Hollywood accountants and their spreadsheets, young actors cynically incorporated to appeal to a new and younger demographic.
The film’s sets and colour palette capture the feel, and are reminiscent, of the first four Alien films (not so much Prometheus and Covenant). The effects are very good for the most part and the movie well executed, or perhaps I should say, well plagiarised. There were very few beats in the plot I thought original, not helped by predictable dialogue that felt forced. No surprise, as too much of it was blatently lifted from characters we know from previous Alien films; ditto scenes we’ve already encountered. (Maybe we should thank Damon Lindelof’s butchery of Jon Spaihts treatment for Prometheus for setting this unwelcome precedent.)
I was reminded of the film ‘Event Horizon’, which, despite moments of engagement, had not an ounce of originality, so did not have anything to say story-wise and is nothing more than a predictable second-rate Haunted House in Space saga. Which is where I see Alvarez’s Romulus pushing the Alien franchise. Of course, opinions will vary according to expectations of an Alien film; perhaps fans of horror and/or F Alvarez may well be enamoured of the visceral carnage whilst forgiving the creaking narrative, gaping plot holes, and the bizarre and wholly unnecessary reincarnation of that dastardly Mastermind and ‘Bond’ villain – Ash. Science Officer Ash – the miscast Robot. This is how Ian Holm’s three-dimentional characterisation becomes a one-dimentional trope.
Some might argue the first Alien picture was itself Haunted House and predictable. In fact ,‘Alien’ soon became much more than that, much bigger than the sum of its parts, with a number of interesting characterisations, unexplored subplots and insinuations that were left hanging, because Scott and Fox thought they were just making a simple scary movie set in space. They got more than they bargained for, much more. . .
Romulus, with a sizeable budget aimed squarely at facilitating the exploitation of tropes, can fairly be summarised as ‘raptors from outta space chase red shirts down a tunnel’. ‘Or two’. The film’s purpose is to stimulate renewed interest in the franchise, and Disney executives clearly believe the best way of achieving success is by delivering yet more fodder to satisfy the Friday night, popcorn, brain-dead experience. Bottom line: Romulus does nothing to re-energise the franchise story-wise, because the Alien(s) are themselves doing little more than monstering ‘fodder’ set before it/them. And too many scenes are just a compendium of remakes of Ripley’s journey with new blood in the leading role.
I also have the distinct impression it gets a free ride from many simply because it’s an Alien movie, and/or they believe what constitiues an Alien movie is predicated solely on chase sequences and gore. The box office receipts suggest this may be the case, and I presume the take from the peripherals will also be significant. If this is what people are prepared to accept, to support with their hard-earned, Disney will only churn out more of the same under the Alien banner.
Personally, I rather I had simply re-read the screenplay I completed back in 2013. It may be fan-fic, it may never be read by anyone else, but it does provide me with a far more satisfying and persuasive story that respects what came before, and expands on unexplored subplots and subtextual narratives; some of which I believed, erroneously as it transpired, might have been addressed and expanded upon after Jim Cameron’s Aliens. More fool me.
John
Just to say I love this blog and come back from time to time to see what’s new; this time as I’ve just watched Romulus and wanted to see if you had anything to say about it! I enjoyed it considerably more than Prometheus/Covenant, which just didn’t really feel like Alien films to me. Romulus was clearly a back to basics homage to the original, for both good and bad. (CGI Ash was terrible). Also loved the Alien Isolation references (the save points lol).
Would love to buy and read your book when its ready 🙂 and sorry to hear about the plagiarism – that sucks.