59: Aliens

59: Aliens

From 99 Cent Rental by Bryan and Dave White

May 25, 2026 · 2h 1m · Episode 59

About this episode

The episode discusses James Cameron's film 'Aliens' and its impact on the action genre following the original 'Alien'.

Last week we took on the landmark Ridley Scott movie, Alien, a movie that closed out the 1970's with a bang. This week we're taking on James Cameron and his follow-up to the explosive 1985 smash hit, The Terminator, Aliens. Cameron knew he wanted to make an Alien sequel the moment he first saw the original movie and when the opportunity arose he had to fight tooth and nail, struggling against 20th Century Fox's bad business and legal woes, against apathetic executive who had no interest whatsoever in making another Alien movie, against a production crew that couldn't stand him or his producer Gale Anne Hurd. When all was said and done and the movie hit theaters, Cameron proved to everyone what absolute losers they all were with his clear vision of an explosive action movie that set the pace for the second half of the 80's and set an extremely high bar for action movies to come. Hollywood would never be the same and with the inclusion of the Colonial Marines, Cameron set the entire Alien legacy on a new path. Following the tragedy of the Nostromo disaster Ellen Ripley finds herself waking up 57 years in the future. Her bosses are pissed that she blew up one of their space ships…

People in this episode

Hosts: Bryan White, Dave White

Topics covered

  • film analysis
  • sci-fi movies
  • action movies
  • Alien franchise
  • James Cameron
  • Ellen Ripley

Keywords

  • Aliens
  • James Cameron
  • Ellen Ripley
  • sci-fi
  • action
  • film analysis
  • Alien franchise

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Weyland Yutani, 20th Century Fox

Books & works: Alien, Aliens, The Terminator

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