How does the Alien cinematic universe fit together (and do fans care... about Predator)? How important is Ripley to the series? Is feminism an important part of the series? All this and more as Jaime of [Perfect Organism](https://www.perfectorganism.com/), an Alien Podcast, helps us to better understand the fandom around the Alien films!
## Episode Outline
### Fandom Facts
**History and Origins:**
> Alien is a science-fiction horror media franchise centered on the film series depicting Warrant Officer Ellen Ripley (played by Sigourney Weaver) and her battles with an extraterrestrial lifeform, commonly referred to as "the Alien".
>
> Produced and distributed by 20th Century Fox, the series began with Alien (1979), directed by Ridley Scott. It was followed by three sequels, Aliens (1986), Alien³ (1992), and Alien Resurrection (1997), directed by James Cameron, David Fincher, and Jean-Pierre Jeunet, respectively. Scott also directed a prequel series, composed of Prometheus (2012) and Alien: Covenant (2017).
>
> The series has led to numerous books, comics, and video game spin-offs. The Alien vs. Predator franchise combines the continuities of the Alien franchise with the Predator franchise, and consists of two films as well as varying series of comics, books and video games. A video game called Alien: Isolation was released in 2014 to generally positive reviews.
> — [Wikipedia - Alien](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_(franchise))
**Search Data:**
Interest in the Alien franchise is down a little bit since 2004, [but is relatively stable and oddly periodic](https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=%2Fm%2F095d5f). There have been outsized spikes in search volume starting August 2004 (_Alien vs. Predator_), December 2007 (_Alien vs. Predator: Requiem_), February 2010, February 2013 (_Aliens: Colonial Marines_), October 2014 (_Alien: Isolation_), and May 2017 (_Alien: Covenant_).
The top ten countries, by search volume, are as follows: Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Spain, Peru, Mexico, El Salvador, Paraguay, Germany, Ecuador (Canada is 31st, United States is 34th).
**Fan Demographics:**
[One source, BrandWatch, has some data specifically around online audiences interested in _Alien: Covenant_](https://www.brandwatch.com/blog/audience-insights-alien-covenant/).
- _Gender_: 80% male (49% more likely to be male than the general twitter audience), compared to 20% female (57% _less_ than the general twitter audience)
- _Interests_: 25% Interested in movies (553% more likely than general audience), 21% interested in books (150% more likely than general audience), 19% interested in games (134% more likely than general audience)
**Fanac Fast Facts:**
- Archive Of Our Own has [over 1000 fan works related to the Alien series](https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Alien%20Series/works):
- Top 3 Categories: F/M (35%), Gen (31%), M/M (25%)
- Top 3 Characters: David 8 (34%), Ellen Ripley (19%), Walter (Alien: Covenant) (13%)
- Top 3 Relationships: David 8/Walter (Alien: Covenant) (8%), Daniels/Walter (Alien Movies) (7%), Daniels (Alien: Covenant)/Walter (Alien: Covenant) (6%)
- ...Most of which are only involved with the existing Alien properties
### [Last Episode's](https://fanthropological.com/pinball) Famous Last Words
What did we have to say before doing the preparation for this week's episode?
**T:** What do fans think about Prometheus? Which do they dislike more, _Alien: Resurrection_ or _Prometheus_?
[// Literally asked on reddit. After listening to your episode on fandom toxicity, I don't really want to bring it up (Also, forgot about / haven't seen Alien: Covenant)]: #
**G:** Alien Quadrilogy... What's the deal with that? Is there a sense of which is more beloved, Alien or Aliens?
**Z:** Within the fandom ... is there an enduring love of Metroid?
**Jessica:** If Jonesy had his own spin-off movie what would it be about?
### Main Discussion
**Topics covered in this episode:** TBD
### Spotlight: [Aliens: The Musical](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Noe95IxpsiQ)
You should also check out some of legolambs other works, which includes mini-musicals of other movies.
### Famous Last Words
Our chance (and yours, if you're watching on [twitch.tv/thenickscast](https://twitch.tv/thenickscast)) to have some (in)famous last words about next week's topic before we've done any prep work! Next week, we'll be talking about the fans and fandom of _The Simpsons_!
**T:** What is the fandom like now compared to the beginning? Or in the mid 90s?
**G:** Do Simpsons shitposters tend to be fans of those first few seasons? Have they gone through all iterations?
**Z:** At this point in the Simpsons, what kind of interaction is there between "Simpsons HQ" and the fandom?
**Jaime:** Do you choo-choo-choose me?
## Where can you find us?
Pretty much everything we do is `something/thenickscast`, but in specific...
- If you're looking for this podcast (Fanthropological), you can find it at [Fanthropological.com](https://fanthropological.com) or on different podcatchers including [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/2IVp8MBIUyCqlKyZn79iHn), [Apple Podcasts](https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/fanthropological/id1163621210?mt=2), [Google Podcasts](https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cDovL2ZlZWRzLnBvZGlhbnQuY28vZmFudGhyb3BvbG9naWNhbC9yc3MueG1s) and many others!
- You can join us for the live recording of the podcasts and participate (or catch us when we're playing some games) at [twitch.tv/thenickscast](https://twitch.tv/thenickscast)
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- We also occasionally create extra content about fandom including convention coverage and interviews on [YouTube.com/thenickscast](https://youtube.com/thenickscast)
- We have some fine merchandise available at [shop.thenickscast.com](https://shop.thenickscast.com) (and we'd love your support!)
- If all else fails, you can email us: [
[email protected]](mailto:
[email protected])
## What is "Fanthropological"?
Every week, Fanthropological delivers over an hour of fandom-related "fanalysis" covering a different fandom every week and giving you hard data, history, special guests, and, of course, speculation!
We cover topics spanning the gamut of anime, manga, comics, video games, comics, movies, books, television, and, in general, geek culture.
## Credits
- ["Alien logo b"](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alien_logo_b.png) by [IllaZilla](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:IllaZilla) used under [CC BY SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)
- _Ending_: [ReMix: Contra III: The Alien Wars "Dystopian Future"](https://ocremix.org/remix/OCR02132) by [dannyshock](https://ocremix.org/artist/9511/dannyshock)from [http://ocremix.org](http://ocremix.org/) used under [ocremix.org content policy](http://ocremix.org/info/Content_Policy#If_you.27re_using_our_content_elsewhere_.28.22Terms_of_Use.22.29...)
- All other music and sound for this week's episode were provided by Nick Green!
