Memory: The Origins of Alien

First half includes good insight on and from the people that worked on the film. The second half is a journey into demented minds of those that did not have anything to do with the film. Probably escaped from a mental hospital.

There is some nice observations from O'Bannon's wife and scene set-up, but the garbage talked by the critics who you have never heard of are laughable. Once again it's all about man repressing women WTF!!! It's about male rape, what are these people watching? Quite frankly you have to wonder if these people are sane or have serious issues of their own to see such things or simply have they watched the movie. The strongest female character that has ever been on screen is somehow repressed, good grief. The critics just want sound bites that will hopefully give them airtime and validity that they know what they are talking about. If you can get past people talking twaddle and looking for allegorical examples etc give it a go, if you are realistic in your thought process though you have been warned.

How is this happening without Sigourney Weaver? Was she not available or the money wasn't right? This seems to just a documentary that she didn't want no part of. Maybe too many terrifying memories that she want to forget.

Please be skeptical of reviewers who can't spell, or who appear to be "triggered" by any political discussion in film theory. As a lifelong fan of Alien, who has seen every single documentary ever made, and read every single book about this film, "Memory: The Origins of Alien" is a truly excellent retrospective of this classic piece of history. It is packed with fresh information about the film, it's creators, and it's underlying themes. For context: 95% of the documentary focuses specifically on the journey of the films creation. So if that's your motivation, I think there's plenty here for you to enjoy. And to that end, a generous selection of the creative talent behind it's inception are interviewed here - from Ron Shusett, to Roger Christian to Veronica Cartwright and several more. The remaining portion is devoted to speculation around the film's "window into the collective subconscious" of society in 1979 - why it both appealed to, and shocked, the audiences of the day. What it said about us as a society - and continues to say. Credit is given to it's use of a female heroine, in an era when the film industry greatly objectified women. While a similar portion looks at the potential meaning behind how shots are staged and framed. As well as the dynamics of how a group of blue collar working class "space truckers" are depicted, and how they deal with their "expendability". This documentary therefore serves as both a fresh "making of" (even dispelling several myths about the production perpetuated by previous documentaries - and adding several facts even I had never heard about before!). And an intelligent speculative discussion about why Alien continues to resonate, over 40 years after its release. I cannot imagine why a true fan of the film, who appreciates cinema and science fiction for more than mere gore and thrills, wouldn't find this essential viewing and a valuable addition to their Alien collection. I went into it with low expectations based on some of the inasane rantings here on IMDB. And I was pleasantly surprised. 8/10.

As a massive Alien fan, I couldn't wait to see this. I was expecting genuine, deep insights into the movie, coupled with all-new cast/crew interviews and analysis. I was sadly disappointed. Quickly skipping over the irrelevant and pretentious opening sequence, if you're an Alien fan, you will have already seen virtually all of the behind the scenes footage, so no surprises there. I guess that is to be expected. But by far the worst aspect of this documentary is... the interviews. They can be divided into two groups. 1) People who were involved in the movie 2) People who were not. In group 1 we have a handful of original cast and crew, saying pretty much the exact same things we have heard them say since they started being interviewed about Alien, forty years ago. Such a missed opportunity. Now we get to the crux of why this documentary fails. Group 2. A bunch of embarrassing nobodies giving us their "opinions" about the movie. As trivial as these opinions are, some of them actually border on the ridiculous and nonsensical. The worst offender in this regard is the neo-feminist commentator. I honestly cringed so much, I had to turn away from the screen. Having someone invent their own interpretation of Alien is completely irrelevant. We may as well ask a religious fundamentalist what their idea of the subtext is in Alien, then listen as they rant on about what they personally decided Alien means to them. Maybe they think the Alien is actually symbolic of Christ? Maybe they feel Kane is the Virgin Mary? WHO CARES? That would be a personal opinion that is a subjective interpretation, and not REALITY. So why then, do we have a fanatical feminist spouting her own personal opinion as to what she thinks Alien is about? Why is that relevant to a documentary that should be talking about what Alien is ACTUALLY about? The people behind this documentary should be ashamed of giving a platform to morons like this. Do yourself a favour. Rewatch the official DVD/Blu-ray commentaries and interviews, and give this failure of a documentary a miss.