50s Sci-Fi Theme: Aliens would be a threat, evil

JerryKing said:

Not necessarily evil... in the emergence of aliens in the 50s, there was a indeed a herd of dangerous "Things From Another World" on the one side - but on the other, there was a considerable crowd of the benevolent Klaatus and their "Days the Earth Stood Still".

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Benevolently scaring the crap out of the entire world.

sandiegojones said:

Wow! No wonder these people become terrorists! They have to watch this crap. They probably think it's made in America so they want to bomb us for it!

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So, the Turkish are terrorists now? Careful with that casual racism, now....

I now know how this will work, I've seen trailers of old 1950s B-movie sci- Fi and I think I know it will play out in KOTSC. In the B movies they always have a professor in this case it will be Indy who will know all about the monstrosity that awaits him and his friends. Shia will be the young man in midst of the danger. Marion will be tough but probably be the screaming woman that always in these things. It's a wild guess, I know but I think this is the road they are going take. Anybody like to argue is fine with me I like talk more about this interesting element in KOTCS.

Bump.
Should Aliens, rather than the Soviets, have been the enemies in KOTCS?
I think an Alien force could've been both more menacing than the Soviets as portrayed in KOTCS, as when designing something alien you have plenty of room to work with and would've put a new twist on things--For example, it's usually the 'divine' or supernatural that's on Indy's side in the other films. What if the 'divine' or supernatural power was now the enemy?

Or, perhaps, the Aliens could've been the enemy and somehow been defeated in the end by a divine force--call it God or whatever, with Indy's help. Perhaps the Aliens could be defeated with some religious artifact that Indy recovers, which would be the Maguffin, and they could be portrayed as ''Demons'' instead of as straight out aliens in a space ship.

Considering the complaints about aliens when they were only on screen for mere seconds........I shudder to think of what would happen if the aliens had a bigger role in the movie.

The alien plot they went with is very subdued - they made it similar to the other Indy films. I still think it's interesting though, and it's definitely more interesting than another Jewish/Christian artifact.

The fact they made the 'artefact' to be alien and then to see them at the end with a spaceship just didnt sit right with me at all. It just didnt seem to fit into the Indy world. I can accept the fact hes chasing religious artefacts with special powers, but aliens and science fiction in an Indy movie I can't accept.

Couple this with the fact that story and alien macguffin seemed to have no point then the whole movie was on a loser for me.

AndyLGR said:

The fact they made the 'artefact' to be alien and then to see them at the end with a spaceship just didnt sit right with me at all. It just didnt seem to fit into the Indy world. I can accept the fact hes chasing religious artefacts with special powers, but aliens and science fiction in an Indy movie I can't accept.

Couple this with the fact that story and alien macguffin seemed to have no point then the whole movie was on a loser for me.

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And this seems to be a popular opinion, and that's fine..........I just feel very differently, and I don't really "get" the criticism.

For one, archeology is not limited to just religous artifacts - so I liked seeing them branch out. I always appreciated 'Temple of Doom' for being different, and now I appreciate 'Skull' for giving us another different adventure.

This whole concept of aliens, Roswell, and their influence on ancient cultures is a very interesting idea and is very alive and well in our culture and folklore. Ancient ruins and old cultures worshipping aliens as gods seems very appropriate to the series to me.

Complaining becase aliens are on screen for mere seconds just makes very little sense to me.

Cole said:

And this seems to be a popular opinion, and that's fine..........I just feel very differently, and I don't really "get" the criticism.

For one, archeology is not limited to just religous artifacts - so I liked seeing them branch out. I always appreciated 'Temple of Doom' for being different, and now I appreciate 'Skull' for giving us another different adventure.

This whole concept of aliens, Roswell, and their influence on ancient cultures is a very interesting idea and is very alive and well in our culture and folklore. Ancient ruins and old cultures worshipping aliens as gods seems very appropriate to the series to me.

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I agree that they are in folklore and of course there are books and believers that go so far to claim the egyptian pyraminds and the inca temples were built by aliens. I have no problem with the fact that they may appear in folklore. And I know this next statement may sound daft, but considering I can accept an ancient ark with the power of God, a sacred stone and a cup that gives eternal life, I just think aliens are a step too far in believabilty in the Indy world.

Cole said:

Complaining becase aliens are on screen for mere seconds just makes very little sense to me.

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Thats an easy way to dismiss someones critcism of KOTCS that there are aliens at the end. Its more than that which makes me think its not a great movie overall. But the alien skull is on screen a lot, as well as the alien glimpse at the beginning to set the sci fi tone of the film. Also don't forget that the ending of a movie is also where some people will derive their satisfaction from too.

But its a combination of issues for me that turned me off KOTCS, I want to love the film, I really do and I think the first half isnt that bad at all, it just runs into problems from when they go to Peru where there seems no point to the skull or their quest, the story starts to fall apart for me. There is no sweeping scope to the film, poor character development, their relationships dont seem right and too many heros vying for screentime muddling through the final hour. For me the icing on the cake was aliens that appeared from the crystal skeletons and then flew off in a spaceship. To be completly honest I don't get the ending at all and still havent seen a decent explanation for it.

Well, I assume people don't like aliens because the whole alien thing is so drenched in our culture already, and basically has its own sci-fi genre............and people don't think it belongs in an Indy film because it is mixing genres.

Yes, it's a very valid argument to consider. I think it's why Spielberg and Ford rejected Lucas's initial take on the aliens in the mid-1990's. It's treading shaky ground.

BUT.....for the reasons pointed out in my earlier post, I think they dealt with the subject eloquently and in a way that was appropritate for Indiana Jones. And I'm not directing this towards you Andy, but to me, to dismiss the film on account of the aliens is an extremely narrow-minded view.