This week we dive into the second Alien flick. Highlights: we continue the horror vs. action movie debate, note Ripley’s upgrade from saving a cat to saving a small girl (and Hicks/Reese and about half of Bishop), wonder if Revlon stops aging entirely, love how Ripley continues to personify the strong female sci-fi character without giving up her femininity, visit with our friend BKitty (who attended Comic Con in ‘98 as Vasquez), note Vasquez’ huge upgrade from Mrs. Todd to tough-ass marine, take inventory of Halo’s incredible rip-off of Aliens (Pelican = drop ship, assault rifle = pulse rifle, Pillar of Autumn = Sulaco, Johnson = Sgt. Apone), enjoy Ripley’s wordless negotiation with the Alien queen, discuss the morality (and practicality) of sentient biowar weapons, hear Sean’s Michigan The Frog impression, watch Paxton get his whine on (and yet prove a decent guy), reminisce about choose-your-own-adventure frights, and talk SFX. Next week: Alienses!
I was hoping to get more work done, but now the podcast is out and so it’s GAME OVER, MAN…
Great cast.
First thing:
Vasquez (Jenette Goldstein) was not only in T2. She’s also in Titanic. She is listed as Irish Mommy. She’s noticeable at the end I believe. I haven’t seen Titanic in ages.
Bill Paxton (Hudson) is in the first Terminator. He’s one of the street punks Arnold kills when he asked for clothes at the beginning. Paxton is also in Titanic playing Brock Lovett (I don’t remember him). And, he’s in True Lies (also done by Cameron).
Lance Henriksen (Bishop) plays a cop in Terminator and was in Cameron’s directorial debut Piranha Part Two: The Spawning.
Finally, Michael Biehn (Hicks) was aleady popular from Terminator, but was also in The Abyss.
Cameron reuses actors a lot.
Second thing:
Lance Henriksen and Bill Paxton are the only two actors to face off against a Terminator, an Alien, and a Predator. So, they have a cult following of sorts.
Though Bill Paxton is the only one to have been killed by all three. 
I have to say: thank you so much for doing this podcast arc. I was lucky enough to have a dad that didn’t care what I watched so I got to see some mature classics as a kid which included this series (which I think evolved to my indifference to all household pests).
This series holds a special place in my heart. I hope to call in with some stuff about Alien 3 that I hope will get listeners to watch this flick with an open heart. But again, thank you!
Cheers!
And since you were curious, Audra (this is from IMDB):
During the scene inside the APV preparing for battle, “El riesgo siempre vive!” can be seen scrawled in white across Vasquez’s armor. Literally translated from Spanish this is: “Risk always lives!”; a variant of Cicero’s famous quote “Luck favors the bold.”
Great podcast I just picked the wrong time to eat. 
Lance Henriksen also holds the honor. But technically he was a robot…ahem artifical life form…for one.
I looked up “construction ballet” on youtube. The videos I saw reminds me more of synchronized swimming than ballet. However, that doesn’t away from their efforts and skills in any way. I will admit I’m strange in that I’m imagining they’re Constructicons. ^^
I can’t believe no one mentioned the Aliens Direct TV ad.
You guys might be right about her using that creme from Catwoman. She’s barely aged!
I only so the movies on TV. I found the second movie much more scary. The first one was wonderful for the art. The alien ship etc. I saw some of the original artwork at a show a long time ago.
Oh, link the bkitty pictures please?!
Heavily armed and shining with the power of 1000 suns.
Let’s ROOOOOOCK !!!
Yes, I was going to comment that Bill Paxton and Michael Biehn have been in all three of James Cameron’s good movies, although I haven’t seen True Lies yet.
Oh, and Audra, don’t worry. I get Voldemort and Cuato confused all the time. 
Great podcast!
Speaking of Aliens, the movie was on Spike TV last night. What a coquincidence!
Bkitty - you ROCK! Love the red bandana too. That was the same year (1986) as Platton with Charlie Sheen and his red bandana, too, right?
Awesome! Thanks for posting them TG.
Halo is not the only game to copy a lot of stuff from Aliens. Starcraft takes a lot of the look, espeically of the Terrains. Also I remember the Marines in that game saying “How do I get out off this chicken-BEEP outfight?!”, and the Dropship saying “In the pipe, Five by Five.”
I saw this group of USCM Marines at Shore Leave.
Ironically, I initially thought they were supposed to be troopers from the new Halo game.
Alien Face Hugger Mask. I think everyone we know in NYC should wear these on Halloween with business suit and just walk around bumping into things…
SEAN!!!
You can sing!!
That is all.
Couple of things, the Crew mentioned Halo sampling ships and such from Aliens. Starcraft also borrows lines from the dropship scene for their dropship unit.
“We,re in the pipe 5 by 5” and “We’re in for some chop”
Also, knowing how the crew are fans of Red Dwarf, I was wondering if they noticed Mac McDonald, Captain Frank Hollister from Red Dwarf, as Commander Simpson the director of Hadley’s Hope in Aliens.
