AVPR

[Itashious_boy]

look i like the originals ALOT even if i didnt grow up with them, and when directers and producers make a new movie like alien or predator or even mashed together in this day and time with the possiblitys you have now, its very hard to stay with the same kinda story that was set in the past, because most of the time you didnt get to see a full body of an alien because it was a man in a costume that didnt cover his whole body, ehy but i like the old ons better though, the new ones are very good because its updated with ya you know what i mean but eh -plops from exaustion-

[Mr. Spencer]

Actually, you got to see the xenomorph quite clearly in the original films. Back then they didn't use computer-generated imagery, everything was done using animatronics, which in my opinion made them a lot more realistic. For example, when you're seeing a couple of xenomorphs leap forward in AvP, just how they move is enough to tell you that they're not real. You can just tell that it's CGI. But with animatronics, it IS real, what you're seeing there actually exists, it wasn't put together on a computer screen.

Another thing to point out is that the xenomorph needs mystery, it needs to be shrouded in shadows so that we can only make out the vague details about it, it adds to the atmosphere. When you suddenly see the entirety of the creature in perfect view, it robs it of its main strength - the fact that it's almost unseen. Sure, in the original film, you do see them but it's often so quick that you can easily miss it if you're not paying attention.

[Project Omega]

What I liked about the xenomorphs was their ability to acquire traits from their hosts to aid in their growth cycle. Initially, it seems as if they are a blank slate when they are in their larval form. Once they latch on to a host though, it seems to pick up some trace genetic patterns from the host which determines the final evolution of the Alien. That's why Aliens that infect humans, result in a xenomorph that is bipedal, Aliens 3 showed an alien that infected a dog and thus created a quadruped alien, Alien Resurrection then showed us a half human/half alien creature which was quite disturbing, and then of course the alien that infected the Predator which created another hybrid...

Interesting stuff...

[Mr. Spencer]

Yeah, I think they expanded upon that with Aliens versus Predator: Extinction. It was a rather bland and average RTS, but the xenomorphs would change depending on what animal they managed to impregnate. For example, if you gestated inside a bovine animal, you would become a "runner" or if you implanted a human, you would become a "drone" or "warrior".