Summary
Alien: Romulusmade me loveStar Trekeven more. I thought Fede Alvarez’sAliensequel was a tremendous return to form for the franchise. To me,Alien: Romulusis a remarkable achievement considering it’s the 9thAlienmovie. While Ridley Scott’sPrometheusandAlien: Covenanthave their supporters, both left me cold despite some intriguing ideas both films presented. For my money,Alien: Romulusis the bestAlienmovie since James Cameron’sAliensin 1986, and is in the top three along with the original 1979Alien. Even better for me,Alien: Romulus' bleak horror was a reminder of whyStar Trekis so great.
Set in 2142,20 years after the events ofAlien, Alien: Romulussees a group of twentysomethings, including Rain Carradine (Cailee Spaeny), desperate to escape the Jackson’s Star mining colony they’re indentured to. Rain and her friends raid the derelict Romulus and Remus space station looking for cryobeds to take them to a planet far away from the Weyland-Yutani corporation they work for. Of course, the station is infected by Xenomorphs. Rain, her synthetic"brother"Andy (David Jonsson), and their friends fight to survive against scores of aliens, while uncoveringa horrifying secret about Weyland-Yutani’s plans for the Xenomorphs' DNA.
LikeAlien,Star Trekhas its own artifical people and synthetic androids, most prominent of whom is Data (Brent Spiner) fromStar Trek: The Next GenerationandStar Trek: Picard.
Alien: Romulus Cast & Character Guide
The cast of Alien: Romulus features some of Hollywood’s biggest rising stars and could be a big break for other young members of the cast.
Alien: Romulus Is A Perfect Reminder Of Why Star Trek’s Optimistic Future Is So Great
Alien’s future has few positives
Beyond theAlienfranchise’s trademark chest-bursting gore and heartstopping horror,Alien: Romuluspresents a relentlessly bleak future. InAlien: Romulus'22nd century, humans attempting to colonize distant worlds are all essentially enslaved to the Weyland-Yutani corporation. Jackson’s Star is a dying mining colony where everyone forced to work the mines is essentially condemned to die from disease, like Rain’s parents.Life under Weyland-Yutani is hopeless even without Xenomorphs feasting on humans, and it’s understandable why Rain wants to escape a future that is essentially rigged against her ever getting the chance to live long and prosper.
Which future would I want to live in; Star Trek’s or Alien’s? The answer is a no-brainer.
Star Trekpostulates a hopeful and aspirational future that’s the opposite ofAlien: Romulus'. Yes, there are still problems, enemies, and wars to fight in the final frontier, butStar Trekenvisions humanity leading a union of hundreds of worlds and coexisting peacefully with myriad aliens.Alien: Romulusgrimly calls humans"too weak"to colonize outer space, butStar Trekbelieves humans to be capable of achievable greatness. Starfleet bonds humans and aliens alike in a shared duty to explore strange new worlds and seek out new civilizations. WatchingAlien: Romulus, I aked myself which future would I want to live in;Star Trek’s orAlien’s? The answer is a no-brainer.
Star Trek’s Optimistic Future Is Unique In Science Fiction
Star Trek is the futrue we want to live in
Gene Roddenberry’s vision forStar Trekhas always stood out compared to other sci-fi properties' concepts of what the future will be like.The Matrixsaw humans as power sources for machine overlords.Children of Menpostulated a dying human race where no new children are born.A Quiet Placesees Earth conquered by alien monsters. The world is a frozen wasteland inSnowpiercer,whereas apes rule what’s left of humanity inPlanet of the Apes. Look beyondStar Trekand you seesci-fi futures where there is little to look forward to.
Alien’s movie saga spans from 2004 inAlien Vs. Predatorto 2381 whenAlien: Resurrectiontakes place, whereasStar Trekhappens from the 22nd century ofStar Trek: Enterpriseto the 32nd century ofStar Trek: Discovery.
Cynics scoff atStar Trek’s proposed Utopia, citing that other science fiction reflects the real problems of the world. Gene Roddenberry’s belief that Mankind can solve hunger, overpopulation, the climate crisis, and our reliance on money and material possessions can be seen as unachievable due to human nature. ButStar Trekargues that humans should attempt to be their best selves, and the only way to prevent the terrible outcomes ofThe Matrix, Snowpiercer, orAlien: Romulusisby working together toward a common good. As much as I enjoyedAlien: Romulus,it only reaffirmed whyStar Trekmatters as a counterpoint to such a fearsome and dreadful future.
TheAlienfranchise has laudably been inspired by the bridge of the Starship Enterprise.
In theAlienmovies' defense, Ridley Scott’s sci-fi horror franchise does depict humans of various ethnicities working together. Ellen Ripley (Signourney Weaver), Rain, andAlien’s various female protagonists have been surrounded by men and women of all nationalities, and some are even religious.Star Trekpremiered in 1966, 13 years beforeAlienhit movie theaters in 1979 (the same year asStar Trek: The Motion Picture), and theAlienfranchise has laudably been inspired by the diversecast ofStar Trek.Alien: Romuluscontinues this diversity with Caucasian, Asian, Latina, and Black main characters.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Has Its Own Version Of Alien’s Xenomorphs
The Gorn in Strange New Worlds is inspired by Alien
Star Trek: Strange New Worldscertainly took inspiration fromAlienwhen it revamped the Gorn. Originally introduced inStar Trek: The Original Seriesseason 1’s"Arena," where a humanoid Gorn fought Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner), the Gorn was an obvious man in a rubber suit moving in slow motion that had been mocked for decades.Star Trek: Strange New Worldsseason 1introduced a new vision for the Gorn as the deadly main enemies of Captain Christopher Pike’s (Anson Mount) USS Enterprise, and the new-lookGorn are clearlyStar Trek’s stand-ins forAlien’s Xenomorphs.
Lt. La’an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong) survived a Gorn kidnapping.
InStar Trek: Strange New Worlds,the Gorn are still a highly intelligent race with their own starships and culture. Yet the Gorn infect human hosts likeAlien’s Xenomorphs, and the Gorn’s young incubate in those hosts before bursting out horribly. The Gorn are cannibalistic and relentless killers who also abduct their prey. As a child, Lt. La’an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong) survived a Gorn kidnapping after her family was consumed by the alien reptiles.Star Trek: Strange New Worldsseason 2’s finalesaw several members of the USS Enterprise crew, including La’an, taken prisoner by the Gorn.
Star Trek’s enemy alien species, the Romulans, hail from the planet Romulus.
Unlike the Xenomorphs inAlien: Romulusand theAlienfranchise, the Gorn can presumably be negotiated with inStar Trek: Strange New Worlds. After all, the Gorn spoke to Captain Kirk inStar Trek: The Original Series.Alien: Romulus' Xenomorphs are so-called"perfect organisims"but theAliens are nothing more than remorseless, inhuman killing machines, which makes them ideal horror movie monsters. But the Gorn inStar Trekare capable of more than dealing death, which is another example of howStar Trekhas loftier ideals and ambitions than theAlienmovies.
