Tag: Alien

An Alien: Romulus cameo resurrecting a old character has fans buzzing

An unexpected appearance from an Alien franchise legend.

Moviegoers taking in the new Alien: Romulus were in for quite a few jump scares and surprises as director Fede Alvarez brought one of sci-fi’s best properties back to the big screen on Friday, August 16. One of those surprises came in the form of a cameo from an unexpected character.

[Warning: spoilers for Alien: Romulus follow]

MORE: Ranking all of the Alien franchise movies from Aliens to Prometheus

One of the massive twists of the original 1979 Alien was the reveal that Ash, played by the late Ian Holm, was an android. Not only was he not human, he was also sabotaging the crew in a plot to deliver the titular alien to the nefarious Weyland-Yutani corporation.

An android model — or rather half of one — similar to Ash plays a large part in Romulus. This time going by Rook, the character has Holm’s likeness despite the Lord of the Rings actor passing in 2020. This appears to be done similarly to how Gareth Edwards “brought back” Governor Tarkin, previously played by Peter Cushing, in Rogue One.

The technique seemingly used actor Daniel Betts as the “facial and vocal performance” of Rook, while Ian Holm is listed as the “facial and vocal reference” for the Science Officer. Betts’ performance would then be digitally meshed with Holm’s likeness for the finished product.

It’s likely more will come out about how this was fully executed now that the movie has been released, but the utilization of his likeness has already garnered some criticism (again, much like Cushing’s was for Rogue One). Some fans have wondered why Lance Henriksen — the actor behind Bishop, the synthetic human in 1986’s Aliens — wasn’t used instead.

Alien: Romulus is in theaters now.

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5 things we learned from the new Disney, Marvel and Star Wars film release dates

We’ve got a lot to talk about with Tuesday’s Disney, Marvel and Star Wars news.

On Tuesday, Disney reshuffled its release calendar in a substantial way.

The studio provided brand-new release dates for films in the Star Wars, Marvel and Avatar universes, as well as a live-action remake for Moana and other new projects.

Even one of the biggest media companies on the planet isn’t immune to the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike, as a number of film and television projects have been shut down in wake of the holdouts.

However, Disney fans will still get plenty of new projects in their favorite series in the years to come.

Let’s break down five of the biggest takeaways from Tuesday’s news.

Watch: Curious ‘sea alien’ tries to communicate with diver

An ecotourism operator in Mexico said he seemed to gaze into the eyes of a “sea alien” during a recent close encounter with a false killer whale.

An ecotourism operator in Mexico said he seemed to gaze into the eyes of a “sea alien” during a recent encounter with an extremely curious false killer whale.

The extraordinary footage, captured by Charlie Harmer of Silver Shark Adventures, shows the false killer whale face to face with the guide after he had slipped into the water for a closer look.

Viewers can watch the mammal’s body movements and listen to its peculiar vocalizations as it scrutinizes Harmer from only feet away.

Harmer told FTW Outdoors that the encounter occurred Aug. 17 in the Sea of Cortez off Bahia de los Angeles, after his charter had spent hours observing actual killer whales.

RELATED: Mahi-mahi has no chance under attack by false killer whale

“We spotted a pod of approximately 20 false killer whales after spending five hours with a pod of six orcas,” Harmer recalled. “A few of the false orcas curiously approached our panga and started echolocating around us.

“You could hear the sounds loud and clear topside. After observing them for 15 minutes, one false orca remained around the panga. I got in the water, staying close to the panga and feeling strongly it was going to be curious of my presence.

“It took less than a minute for it to approach, turn to me and produce an array of high-pitch clicks and whistles. There were a few other false orcas below communicating the whole time. The encounter lasted approximately eight minutes, the majority of it with this false orca only a few feet from my face.”

Harmer continued: “It felt like a sea alien was communicating with me, putting me in a trance while I just watched in awe. It was arguably the best connection I’ve ever had with the sea.”

False killer whales, which are dark gray and do not bear a strong resemblance to killer whales, are found in tropical and subtropical waters. In the Eastern Pacific, however, they’ve been documented as far north as British Columbia.

Like wild killer whales, they’re not considered to be dangerous to humans, although swimming with the mammals is not advised and could be illegal if  harassment can be proved.

Robin Baird, who studies false killer whales in Hawaii for the Cascadia Research Collective, told FTW Outdoors: “There are other examples of false killer whales interacting with free divers, and even people in boats, in a way that is quite unusual.”

Two weeks ago the owner of a San Diego-based whale-watching company captured drone footage showing false killer whales passing a freshly killed bluefin tuna among themselves in a behavior known as prey sharing.

False killer whales also have been documented presenting fish to boaters.

Said Baird: “Their behavior of offering fish to people seems to reflect viewing humans as something similar, in a way that is rarely seen in other cetaceans.”

–Video and images courtesy of Charlie Harmer / Silver Shark Adventures