it's been a while since i saw this, but i remember thinking that Alien is so close to this film as to be a remake. it even has details like having to go into the air ducts after the alien and killing it finally by opening an airlock. the two films seem as close as the Thing and it's official remake. it's also surprisingly scary for a film of this era.
"an object at rest cannot be stopped."
<<< it's been a while since i saw this, but i remember thinking that Alien is so close to this film as to be a remake. it even has details like having to go into the air ducts after the alien and killing it finally by opening an airlock. the two films seem as close as the Thing and it's official remake. it's also surprisingly scary for a film of this era. >>>
"Alien" is not an official remake because the Alien film-makers did not buy the rights to "IT". On the other hand, Alien is so similar to IT, that the IT film-makers considered a lawsuit against the Alien film-makers!
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Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference. - Mark Twain.
seem to remember reading somewhere ridly scott acknowledging 'it' either having seen it or being influenced by 'it' re alien.
sharePlanet of the Vampires was another influence. Here a ship receives a distress beacon, arrives on the planet and finds an alien spacecraft, along with the giant, freaky fossilized remains of one of it's crew. The same occurs in Alien, only the rest of Alien goes on to follow "It".
shareDuh !!! I'm surprised the makers didn't sue Alien et al.. Maybe this film was in public domain by then.
shareActually I just found this.
" It's also fairly influential in the history of cinema, with a core plotline that's been copied and imitated many times over the years. In fact, I believe at one point, writer Jerome Bixby was involved in a legal dispute with Ronald Shusset and Dan O'Bannon claiming their screenplay for Alien was a direct rip-off. They denied it, of course, but once you've actually seen It!, you really wonder exactly where their inspiration came from."
digitallyobsessed.com
I think that any court case would have probably failed,though Bixby was the screenwriter A E VanVogt is believed to be the original source for "IT"(the voyage of the space beagle) and he successfully sued the makers of Alien for the same reason(they settled out of court)
shareI was thinking it was similar to Queen of Blood with John Saxxon,
which uh,....sucked....a lot more.
Yeah, wasn't there a scene in Alien where Brett (played by Harry Dean Stanton) is smoking a cigarette as he catches sight of the creature? Exactly like Geno in IT!
Honestly this makes me look at Alien in a whole new light, I guess remakes aren't a new fad in Hollywood...
"Remember to believe in magic, or I'll kill you"
I've been saying the same thing for decades!
Almost every time I think I've found a really new movie, it turns out to be "influenced" or "inspired" by a movie I saw — or a story I read — ages ago. (One of the minor problems of growing old.)
See also Cyborg 2087 (1966) and Terminator 2 (1991).
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Have you noticed that in Shakespeare's plays soothsayers said the sooth, the whole sooth, and nothing but the sooth?
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I was pretty shocked by how closely the two films paralleled one another, right down to using an airlock to defeat the creature. To think, if by some miracle this were remade, people would think it was a rip-off of Alien.
shareI think both films were inspired by a novella entitled "Discord in Scarlet" By A.E. Van Vogt.
I don't believe in nihilism
Correct. All of the above are inspired by the Discord in Scarlet part of Voyage of the Space Beagle.
As for drawing ideas from older movies. Thats been common since at least the 40s if not earlier. And if it isnt drawn from a movie then its drawn from a book. Either upfront or on the sly.
Terminator is another SF movie that draws heavily from other sources.
There was a recent movie called The Island that is taken direct from an older movie called Clonus. Several scenes and plot elements being one for one. Yed the writers, etc denied it. Yeah riiiiight.
While on the subject of Terminator, see the Outer Limits episodes "The Man Who Was Never Born" and "Demon With A Glass Hand" and "Soldier".
shareThere is definately alot of the same feel of ALIEN.
I also noticed that some of the lighted shots were VERY similar. Like showing a dark chamber with a single brightly illuminated hatch.
The scenes in the airducts, using fire to keep the creature at bay, blasting it out the airlock... A creature that eats you/absorbs your nutrients. The only thing that diverges is the fact that another creature doesn't sprout from its victim.
Liked the scene with the acetylene torch. Reminded me a lot of Alien.
The movie made me think. On Snakes On A Plane, why didn't the just put on oxygen masks and depressurize the cabin?
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More than a remake, Alien seems (to me) to be a plagiarism
"There's nothing wrong with your mind set. You're just a moron"
O'Bannon admits that he borrowed from this and several other classic movies. I'm not sure at one point 'borrowing' becomes 'plagiarism'. Is 'Dark Star' plagiarism? It has the same 'creature hiding in the ship' concept, but because it is so cheap and is comedic does that count? Frankly, I think O'Bannon just ripped off himself and forgot where he got the idea for Dark Star.
But would you say this movie plagiarized 'By Rocket to the Moon' because it used a tubular rocket that has multiple levels within the passenger compartment that are set parallel to the ground when the rocket has landed? I know that movie is given credit for having the first on-screen occurence of a 'launch countdown'. Does this mean any movie that has a launch countdown is plagiarizing it? I guess what is the threshhold of a plot point where it crosses that line?
Your right pal. More than plagiarism, I´m talking about acknowledgment here. My point is that all those Hollywood directors/writers that use previous used ideas and/or borrows from old-classic-obscure-eastern-europe-asian-other-countries-movies at least should give (explicitly) credit to them. I can´t stand when a filmmaker says that their movies pay homage to vintage ones but they never, NEVER says which ones, in the closing credits for instance. The phrase "with this one I paying homage to X-Y-Z scifi classic movie" is just a farce. Which specifically one? Why the credits to old-classic-obscure-eastern-europe-asian-other-countries-movies-directors-writers never appears in the new ones? Because you're just a jamescamoron, sorry, a plagiarist and dont want to admit it.
For me it would be very nice and gently if the filmmakers just admit when their movies arent original because they are using previously filmed ideas. Take care.
"There's nothing wrong with your mind set. You're just a moron"
"For me it would be very nice and gentlemanly if the filmmakers just admit when their movies aren't original because they are using previously filmed ideas."
I think it's entirely possible that Dan O'Bannon and/or Ridley Scott may have seen "It! The Terror from Beyond Space", "Planet of the Vampires", or "Queen of Blood" in their youths, forgotten them, and then . . . . 15 to 20 years later . . . . viola, some of those story elements come bubbling up through their subconscious and end up influencing Alien.
Remember that Alien was conceived and made way before home video (and imdb) gave us easy access to films of the past.
I would agree with you about most todays films but Alien??? That film was 100x more unique than this one. Where do you see acid blood in this film? Unique life circle??? The acting in Alien was 100x better. You only found a few general similarities and you call Alien a rip-off??
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