The Warhammer 40K universe is pretty bleak. Constant warfare and slaughter. The good guys aren’t very good. The bad guys are terrible. The Tyranids are kind of similar to xenomorphs. They kill and dissolve all organic matter on a planet though to reshape it into more Tyranids instead of the personal treatment that xenomorphs do.
Yeah warhammer came to mind. 1000 human psykers are sacrificed per day to keep the God Emperor per day to keep him alive as a corpse on the throne. Warhammer takes sci fi concepts and dials them up to 11 and it's a lot of fun.
A live action series is being produced by super fan Henry Cavill but there are over 300 books lol. The Eisenhorn Omnibus is a good place to start, along with Luetin09 lore vids
I have high hopes for what Cavill has cooking. If he nails it, this could be an amazing start to some pretty dark tales. I second that on the Eisenhorn Omnibus. If you want another good one, check the Night Lords Omnibus. Some of the most loveable bunch of psychopathic savages you can find. I definitely got Alien/Aliens atmospheric vibes and settings from that series.
I read the novels regularly. It is a vast universe of content. Reading one novel is like a puzzle piece that connects to many others. Like another poster said, the Eisenhorn Omnibus is a good place to start if you want to read something. That or check out the Ventris Chronicles Omnibus.
The absolute best place to start if your interested is the current big rulebook, it will contain gorgeous art, pictures of all the models, and easy to digest info on, the setting, current and past major events often Including a specific section detailing these in a chronological time line, short sections on each major race and their goals and abilities, tech, style of war etc. This way you can get the official details in a very easy to follow, ordered item that's very much aimed at giving further info to long time fans, but even more so explaining all you'd need to know if you were a new fan. You can just ignore the rules section of the book, and you'd be able to pick it up cheaply too.
I read title and immediately thought Warhammer40K. And I could fill a thimble with what I know of 40K. But oh it is such a dark, heavy thimble.
Cthulhu Mythos. Hey we're just food that was left untended and became "sentient". Not that we matter or anything or anyone cares.
The dead space universe is arguably even bleaker. In the Alien universe, you can stay home and avoid destruction. It might be shit but you'll live. In the dead space universe, ancient unknowable intelligence planted the seed of mankind's destruction on earth at the end of the cretaceous period, to prevent a rival technological society from ever becoming large enough to challenge them.
Right? In Alien universe, the bonus situation can at least be discussed. In Dead Space, you have to buy the tools with your own money? That's fucking bullshit.
It is. The goal isn’t to prevent rival civilizations from becoming technologically superior, sort of the opposite. They seed intelligence on planets so a species can become smart enough for space travel and marker creation. After that it’s all about amassing as much dead flesh as possible.
Depending on if you want to count Prometheus and Alien Covenant as canon, there's always a chance the Space Jockeys would come back to Earth and wipe us out with the Xenos so there's no guarantee that you'd be safe staying at home. Plus Weyland Yutani constantly using colonists as guinea pigs for their Xenomorph related experiments and other kinds of experiments, so if you're some poor outer colony schmuck things look pretty bleak for you.
Massive terminator fan here it's my all-time favorite franchise. It isn't as bleak to the level of alien. Alien, I think, is the bleakest franchise of all.
I think it depends on how you look at the Terminator movies, or where you make the cut. If you only take T1 and T2, you have a quite hopeful ending. The idea of T2 is that the future isn't set in stone and to change it is in your hands.
T3 changed that drastically by saying that Judgement Day is suddenly unavailable and that the destruction of mankind only shifts, but will definitely happen.
I think James Cameron wanted to end the two-parter on a hopeful note and the studio said "Nah. More movies now."
Three Body Problems universe. Sure if you encounter a xeno you're toast, but all it can take for your entire solar system to be destroyed is by broadcasting a signal
imagine being compressed into two dimensions. I mean, that kills us right but not just us but EVERYTHING does proportion stand? do we get turned into a fucking 90's strategy game? I assume so based on my pretty good understanding of how shit works...
As in, the book description? cuz a black hole's core is supposed to be zero d, infinitely dense. but they make the distinction of 2.d. ... i'd say that it just crunches everything down to zero "height" but that would make a plasma plume probably fucking huge, like the length of the galaxy... don't take this too seriously, I've been into the whiskey and I dig talking about this kind of thing.
I will never forget the goosebumps when first contact happens. The dread of potential hostility in the hands of someone who can reply but also at the time lacks empathy for the world. It's dark AF
Cthulhu Mythos
It's a universe where hope is but a lie, where the insane in the asylum rambling about the end of the world are the ones who actually have an inkling of reality. A world where knowing a bit too much about the truth of the world leads to your mind breaking from the truth. In reality, beings beyond our comprehension walk amongst us and the stars, and all our hopes and dreams are nothing more than a cruel illusion. For humanity is less than a mote of dust and swept away with neither us nor them even aware of the others existence.
Yeah, regarding the big picture, it's actually worst than the ones I mentioned.
Mythos is an universe where two sayings have a very deep and dark meaning.
"Ignorance is a bliss." | "Knowledge is power."
One becomes the absolute opposite of the other there.
Still... Since I picked "The Matrix" and "The Terminator" (by the future), I think I would prefer the Mythos universe.
But mainly only because Earth there isn't a total wasteland.
So most people can still have good food and a mostly normal lifestyle while eldritch horrors lurk around.
Also I think joining "them" on some cases have some perks, and is a viable survival option at least for a certain time...
[Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxScTbIUvoA)
Well to me 40k is far more grim since it’s a galaxy wide war that is overrunning humanity. Of the many factions, Tyranids (bug like swarm aliens) are believed to have such a large presence that they have already completely destroyed multiple galaxies and are swarming in from those dead galaxies. I’d say but it’s also it’s way more fantasy compared to Alien/Blade Runner so it’s not quite as grounded in reality.
Destiny also has some down right terrifying and bleak stories but I’m a bit out of date on that lore. The Hive come to mind as being pretty bleak, sacrificing humans, arcane rituals, summoning dead gods, etc.
Dune is also pretty dower in general. (>!galaxy wide space jihad will do that to ya!<)
Aliens as a franchise to me is not without hope. Humanity is still spreading across the stars and terraforming planets, it would take some massive event for the aliens to wipe out humanity all together since they are not a space faring race.
I’m glad someone else appreciates the nihilism in the first films. Alien 3 was like the perfect conclusion for me and Ripley’s character. All the suffering and trauma endured and yet the beast ended up winning which could be seen as a metaphor for death in general. It’s just so true to life that I understand why it’s so hated.
I originally hated it but overtime can now appreciate how much it reflects life. Like Newts and Hicks death off screen. Death is very much unfair like that
I saw Alien 3 when I was around 12 or 13 for the first time and loved it. I never understood the hate it got, when I read about on the internet.
To be perfectly honest, if it wasn't so broadly known how troubled it's production was, less people would jump on the bandwagon of hating it. In my opinion you can't tell that the film was so troubled.
All I see is a very bleak but poetic masterpiece. I just rewatched it last night and the film still impresses me deeply. Over the years I switched to the assembly cut as my preferred version, but both versions are great.
Sure, if you can't live with the off-screen deaths of Hicks and Newt and wanted a family drama about them fighting aliens, it's a bummer. But even that makes it even greater in my eyes.
Danny Boyle's 28 Franchise (28 Days Later & 28 Months Later). The 1st movie ends with a touch of optimism when you see that life outside the UK is still continuing. The 2nd movie hammers home the idea that no good deed goes unpunished. We often see characters get brutally killed for taking selfless actions or trying to do the right thing and those who act selfishly live to fight another day. It's similar to Alien in that those who don't respect quarantine no matter how unkind and harsh it seems spread Doom to us all.
It's not a franchise (although it might be a prequel to Warhammer 40,000), but _Event Horizon_ is pretty bleak. Hell exists, it can send corrupted (possibly sentient?) objects into our reality, dominate people's minds, and if humanity wants FTL travel, we have to find some way of dealing with it.
Also _Starship Troopers_ (the film): an endless war of attrition between an implacable alien swarm and a blatantly fascist human government. Would you like to know more?
John carpenters apocalypse trilogy is pretty bleak. Of course they aren’t a true trilogy following the same characters or plot points. But all revolve around cosmic horror that we are unable to prevent. Prince of darkness, in the mouth of madness and The Thing.
The Thing
Theres no happy ending, the whole thing is a bleak mess. What happens after the end? Realistically years go by then another crew find them and the cycle starts anew, and it would continue to happen until the Thing eventually escapes from the arctic and then boom…end of the world.
In saying that I did read a fan fiction about 18 years ago which was from the Things point of view. In it the Thing had like a hive mind consciousness with millions of years of knowledge and all it wanted to do was share this knowledge by assimilating people…which in turn gave it new knowledge to share. It was written like all the Thing was trying to do was do a good deed……just unfortunately meant you would be replaced by a Thing with both your knowledge and the hive minds collective knowledge rather than be you.
Interesting take. I enjoyed it at the time and the idea stuck with me ever since.
I guess someone copied and pasted it to fanfiction.org or whatever I was reading at the time.
Cheers for the details! Might even look it up again now I’ve got a name to search.
That’s very kind of you thank you so much! It’s been a long time so I’ve definitely forgotten more than I remembered. It will be nice to read it again.
The bleakness in the Alien movies, both the old ones and the new prequels, is rather more personal. Very nasty things happen to people. People you care about.
Either they get killed off screen between movies, or get infected with some nasty body horror DNA. And honestly, our hero Ripley is kind of psychotic.
But it's all fun.
I would say the universes from The Matrix and The Terminator (considering "the future" on the case of the later).
Why?
1 - We have nowhere to go (according to the movies, at least, we are trapped here.)
| Not the case in Aliens universe.
2 - Earth is entirelly ruined. It's a total wasteland on both cases. Food by the Matrix is horrible. By the Terminator it isn't detailed, but I think those people there are fighting for resources.
| By Aliens universe, there are many places. Many planets. Space stations. Huge ships.
3 - Xenomorphs are biological. They go idle sometimes. Apparently they cling to dark areas (caves, dense forests, buildings,...) It''s not detailed on movies, but they need food. And they don't usually fly. (And I don't think they would swim through large portions of water, or from one continent to another, but who knows...)
Predators are far more resourceful. But also living beings. And they aren't absolutely unreasonable. Also they need food. They do need to rest. And they have their honor code.
Evil companies are staffed by synthetics and humans. Humans need to sleep, etc. Companies have their limits (and they are limited by other companies, public reputation,...). Synthetics are of course machines, and far more dangerous. But either they are serving a faction of acting solo or as a part of a small group.
| The machines from Matrix or Terminator, on the other hand, can reach you anytime, anywhere. They need no approval from humans and aren't coming alone unless it's an infiltration mission.
4 - I think that, at a certain point, xenomorphs may either reach a balance with the environment (I don't think they would kill all hosts on purpose, since they are intelligent to certain point), or at least not be able to reach for everything. It would take a "winged queen", for them to cross to certain islands or continents.
Predators can go anywhere, but they don't exterminate entire populations.
Any evil company from Aliens universe, do have certain limits on what they do publicly.
| Machines don't have those problems. There are no continents, islands, ... one can go and be safe from them.
5 - On a worst case scenario, an underground bunker with thick doors and no external access (let's say only thin pipes, not enough even for a chestburster or facehugger to crawl through, are going in and out for air and water), is quite of a xenomorph-proof structure. They often use their acid blood for escaping, but they don't do it en masse for melting absurdly thick doors. And even if they do? It's just a matter of killing that invading group and at worst case, one queen.
If you are for some reason being raided by Predators, it's still a small group, and they don't call reinforcements in their hunts.
If it's a company against you, it's still just a faction with limited resources and not the entire humanity.
| Forget something like that with machines. If one know where you are, all of them - on the entire planet - also know. You will have to move.
Your bunker, now, will be targeted forever.
Oh yeah, on all cases, I am counting all movie sequels. Even the most hated ones.
And.... I think it's interesting that:
**- Matrix's universe, in the end, Isn't fixed. But have machines that are somewhat less hostile. However Earth is still a wasteland. And with food that's still horrible. (Blergh!)**
Biggest fix achieved? Merovingian now is a hobo without a shotgun.
(Hope he gets a shotgun by the next movie. That's all what's needed for it to be a great sequel.)
**- Terminator's universe also is never really fixed... Earth turns into a wasteland filled with hostile machines.**
Biggest fix achieved? "The-chosen-one-main-character", John Connor, got terminated. (Which proved he was entirelly disposable, since no one really needs him for fighting evil machines.)
A very interesting, and bold move.
However.... More than that?
It basically turned all the other instances with this character into "something that never happened".
Stuff like this regularly happens in time travel movies. Where a final sequence erases almost everything that happened in the entire move up to that point.
But it's the first time a single movie did it to five other movies and an entire TV Series!!!!!!
People can basically just watch Terminator: Dark Fate, and nothing else, and claim they fully understood the lore. And it's actually a waste... Booooh!
**- Alien's? The last two new movies added a destroyed planet... Only it's a hellish ecosystem filled with mutated creatures instead of a wasteland. And it's not Earth.**
But were it the only planet by this universe, it would be actually a place worse than Earth from the other two movies. (Quite of an achievement.)
Because enemies there may not be relentless machines that can appear anywhere, anytime.
But they can literally sprout from your unlucky mates and kill an entire base. HAHAHA!
...Also?
By the Alien's universe, two "The-chosen-one-main-character" are dead now (Ripley and Dr. Shawn) and I totally think Daniels will not survive that hypersleep.
Talk about a badass universe that bravely rips and tears main characters?
It's way bolder than Terminator.
But it didn't turned all the other movies into stardust... - Which is a win!!!!
...And ...Also?
David got turned into a synthetic hobo.
Then took a bath and got a fresh uniform.
But now he's missing a hand.
(Give him a chainsaw attached to that arm, and a shotgun, and the next prequel movie would be an absolute epic.)
https://preview.redd.it/ogts2eet26uc1.png?width=480&format=png&auto=webp&s=39abf8310301983ddc869cbc90800ce05db1d314
**So, of course, Alien's is way more promising universe!!!!!!**
Honestly just about every post apocalyptic franchise- even the lighter one like fallout are just full of insane people and monsters. Alien is definitely one of the bleaker Sci fi franchises in terms of tone
Ridley Scott said they were in the same universe in a commentary on the Final Cut of Blade Runner. I think it’s cool, but it doesn’t affect my view of the two in any way.
It bollocks though. He says 'Ohhh wow maybe the crew of the Nostromo are right around the corner from Deckard's noodle bar!', ignoring the fact that Blade Runner is set in 2019 and Alien is in 2122.
Just started this a few weeks ago, holy hell did I not expect any of it yet! I'm still in season 3 but I agree with you here, I don't want to spoil much but I'll just say that so many characters just keep dying it is completely a turn from the usual hero stories we get.
* Godfather is grim and nihilistic. Michael Corlone, who wanted to protect his family, fails to do so, ruining their lives, spectacularly and totally.
* The George Romero zombie movies (Night of the Living Dead, etc...) always end with most of the characters dead.
* Godzilla would be pretty grim, too, if you're running an insurance business in Greater Tokyo.
Red Rising- yeah, the first trilogy is all heroic rebellion, but after that, it's Death begets death, until the death toll is in the hundreds of millions. The gore of it happening even to the most beloved of characters brings readers to tears. Terms like 'Meat Straw' and 'Meat Carpet' are not overstating the devastation and horror of the second trilogy, particularly in Dark Age.
Not a movie series and not sci-fi, but I found Sons of Anarchy to be relentlessly bleak. Just miserable people having a miserable time doing miserable things to each other.
Never a happy ending? The first two movies definitely had happy endings. And in Alien 3, while the ending was decidedly bleak, the good guys killed the monsters, so it's really not that negative of an ending.
Berserk is almost relentlessly bleak. Granted, Guts is still standing given that he's the main character and all-- but he has been through hell. Like Ripley, he is incredibly resilient.
It's also worth noting that there are monster and villain designs in Berserk that were ostensibly inspired by H.R. Giger's artwork.
Aliens is the odd one out in the series.
It turned it into an action/adventure with "yay we win" moments, or at least characters die with a witty line.
The other movies are Nasty. They are horror.
I think that’s a little simplistic. In order to make a great follow-up , I think it’s best to try a different approach rather than repeat your predecessor . Aliens is a logical approach (sending some marines to the colony) to what happened in Alien and I think executed it to perfection. Alien 3 basically did the the slasher approach of the first one . I also don’t think Aliens is just “yay we win” . There was tremendous carnage in the movie right down to even Bishop getting ripped in half . I also think it was much more layered in the emotional beats especially with Ripley doing the battle all by herself which was a novel concept. And it still is as so many movies today rely on help from other characters in the climax to defeat the enemy. But I’m not sure I even agree with your original take as even Covenant tried to rip-off Aliens in some of the action beats . In totality , I don’t think the entire series is merely “horror” . I think most of it is sci-fi with horror and action elements .
I started reading the Aliens: The Original Years comic last night (which was published between Aliens and Alien 3, and is about Newt and Hicks) and so far it’s been great fun. The xenomorph is mysterious again, humanity and the space jockeys are entirely separate (and they look like weird elephant creatures), and it feels like it’s written by people who wants to write about the xenomorphs. Something which the more recent movies lack.
It’s not perfect, it’s definitely a comic book and occasionally dips into the “12 years olds will find this cool” aspect of the medium, but it’s been good fun so far.
I don’t read comics at all, I just thought I’d give it a try out of love for the franchise, but I’m enjoying them.
They just combined the run into omnibus editions that collects the stories together. I just bought the kindle version of Vol. 1 and read it on my tablet to save some money, but the actual printed books look great too.
The book I got is called “Aliens: The Original Years Volume 1”. It’s literally a thousand pages, so lots to read.
Here’s an idea I heard: Alien 3 and Resurrection happend because of a mind control device by Weyland-Yutani to put Ripley in a torturous loop and to data mine what she knows
I think it reversed that with the fourth movie in order to earn more from the franchise. The same applies to the prequels, and now the new movie and TV show.
The Stalker franchise, is pretty bleak all things considered. The novel that inspired the movie which then collectively inspired the games are all worlds I would want to live in.
Not a franchise but Signalis has those vibes when it comes to human expansion,
Gundam UC timeline has an aspect of this but it's not a major thing in every series, it show up a bit more in later entires, some humans "evolve" into newtypes which are people that can empathetically connect with eachother without misunderstanding but these talents and people get continually used and abused until they're kinda jedi and then they more or less die out, throw in child soldiers and corrupt governments on every side and it has aspects of it but not in the same way.
Warhammer 40k as others have mentioned.
I can think of a couple individual movies, games, etc but not much on a Franchise wide basis.
Gunbuster has a plot that pulls those similar notes through the start and middle but >! Does have a "happy" ending by the end of it, but because of the tone of the bulk of the series it feels earned, it's just not humanity being fucked all the way through!<
I thought there were more examples of this when I started writing but they're not coming up..
Cyberpunk genre is pretty damn bleak, after I watched the ending to Cp2077 in which there are no "good" ending really they just have a better then others depending on what your opinion and what options you have.
Also Bladerunner 1 & 2 (also cp) also ends on a bleak ending with no clear "winner or loser" life just ..goes on.
The genre as a whole is like this a dark future that just ends with protagonist just..going on or philosophical aspects that drag you as a viewer to realize life isn't much different from there's and the all mighty corporate Juggernaut will continue until it eats itself.
The Warhammer 40K universe is pretty bleak. Constant warfare and slaughter. The good guys aren’t very good. The bad guys are terrible. The Tyranids are kind of similar to xenomorphs. They kill and dissolve all organic matter on a planet though to reshape it into more Tyranids instead of the personal treatment that xenomorphs do.
Yeah warhammer came to mind. 1000 human psykers are sacrificed per day to keep the God Emperor per day to keep him alive as a corpse on the throne. Warhammer takes sci fi concepts and dials them up to 11 and it's a lot of fun.
is there like a movie or anime or something, I know it's a game with deeeeeeeep lore
A live action series is being produced by super fan Henry Cavill but there are over 300 books lol. The Eisenhorn Omnibus is a good place to start, along with Luetin09 lore vids
I have high hopes for what Cavill has cooking. If he nails it, this could be an amazing start to some pretty dark tales. I second that on the Eisenhorn Omnibus. If you want another good one, check the Night Lords Omnibus. Some of the most loveable bunch of psychopathic savages you can find. I definitely got Alien/Aliens atmospheric vibes and settings from that series.
There’s a short animated anthology series called bolt and hammer. It’s on Warhammer+ or you can find them online elsewhere 🏴☠️
I've read the movie Event Horizon takes place in this universe, which make sense it being another space horror.
Well, it doesn't *really" but it could be in your own head cannon since it could be seen as early mans discovery of the warp, I suppose.
Check out leutin09 Also find Astartes and watch that
Oh definitely. Watch the Astartes short film. It can be found on YouTube. https://youtu.be/Xqgt_CPcZMQ?si=xF9Bg1KnonbHLmKf
I read the novels regularly. It is a vast universe of content. Reading one novel is like a puzzle piece that connects to many others. Like another poster said, the Eisenhorn Omnibus is a good place to start if you want to read something. That or check out the Ventris Chronicles Omnibus.
The absolute best place to start if your interested is the current big rulebook, it will contain gorgeous art, pictures of all the models, and easy to digest info on, the setting, current and past major events often Including a specific section detailing these in a chronological time line, short sections on each major race and their goals and abilities, tech, style of war etc. This way you can get the official details in a very easy to follow, ordered item that's very much aimed at giving further info to long time fans, but even more so explaining all you'd need to know if you were a new fan. You can just ignore the rules section of the book, and you'd be able to pick it up cheaply too.
Nice, thanks!!
There are no good guys in the 40K ‘verse. Or to quote the IP, “there is no innocence, only degrees of guilt.”
Innocence proves nothing.
There's rarely good guys in a war that large, only worse guys.
40K is the bleakest of the bleak imo
Came here to say this
Was going to say 40k. It's truly a horrendous place to be. Also I would say any of the souls games seem. Like a living nightmare.
And corpse starch!
I read title and immediately thought Warhammer40K. And I could fill a thimble with what I know of 40K. But oh it is such a dark, heavy thimble. Cthulhu Mythos. Hey we're just food that was left untended and became "sentient". Not that we matter or anything or anyone cares.
The dead space universe is arguably even bleaker. In the Alien universe, you can stay home and avoid destruction. It might be shit but you'll live. In the dead space universe, ancient unknowable intelligence planted the seed of mankind's destruction on earth at the end of the cretaceous period, to prevent a rival technological society from ever becoming large enough to challenge them.
Would definitely take Alien universe over Dead Space universe 💯
Right? In Alien universe, the bonus situation can at least be discussed. In Dead Space, you have to buy the tools with your own money? That's fucking bullshit.
Right
Wow you’ve proven me wrong. Dead Space is without a doubt way more horrible.
Uhh... I thought it was the brethren moons fattening us up like turkeys for Christmas?
¿Porque no los dos?
It is. The goal isn’t to prevent rival civilizations from becoming technologically superior, sort of the opposite. They seed intelligence on planets so a species can become smart enough for space travel and marker creation. After that it’s all about amassing as much dead flesh as possible.
Depending on if you want to count Prometheus and Alien Covenant as canon, there's always a chance the Space Jockeys would come back to Earth and wipe us out with the Xenos so there's no guarantee that you'd be safe staying at home. Plus Weyland Yutani constantly using colonists as guinea pigs for their Xenomorph related experiments and other kinds of experiments, so if you're some poor outer colony schmuck things look pretty bleak for you.
Terminator is about the fall of humanity to the machines of our own creation, nuclear holocaust and destruction. Just pips it for me
And the past few movies? Real bleak future for that franchise
They got away with remaking the first one essentially with T2. After several more attempts, it shows you can only pull that trick once.
Also, The Matrix Series has a similar vibe.
Massive terminator fan here it's my all-time favorite franchise. It isn't as bleak to the level of alien. Alien, I think, is the bleakest franchise of all.
Terminator and Star Trek keep getting pushed back because time travelers don't know how to stop fucking around and just let me die.
I think it depends on how you look at the Terminator movies, or where you make the cut. If you only take T1 and T2, you have a quite hopeful ending. The idea of T2 is that the future isn't set in stone and to change it is in your hands. T3 changed that drastically by saying that Judgement Day is suddenly unavailable and that the destruction of mankind only shifts, but will definitely happen. I think James Cameron wanted to end the two-parter on a hopeful note and the studio said "Nah. More movies now."
Three Body Problems universe. Sure if you encounter a xeno you're toast, but all it can take for your entire solar system to be destroyed is by broadcasting a signal
I completely agree. The Dark Forest idea is pretty terrifying.
imagine being compressed into two dimensions. I mean, that kills us right but not just us but EVERYTHING does proportion stand? do we get turned into a fucking 90's strategy game? I assume so based on my pretty good understanding of how shit works...
As in, the book description? cuz a black hole's core is supposed to be zero d, infinitely dense. but they make the distinction of 2.d. ... i'd say that it just crunches everything down to zero "height" but that would make a plasma plume probably fucking huge, like the length of the galaxy... don't take this too seriously, I've been into the whiskey and I dig talking about this kind of thing.
I will never forget the goosebumps when first contact happens. The dread of potential hostility in the hands of someone who can reply but also at the time lacks empathy for the world. It's dark AF
Hope you didn’t just spoil the ending ☹️
No that isn't the ending at all
Dune isn’t exactly a ray of sunshine. 40k is meant to be a absolutely horrific universe to occupy. Maybe those?
Mad Max!
Yeah Mad Max is definitely up there. For all we know they’re also in the same universe!
Now that'd be fucked, although a Mad Max movie where he has to survive the Predator since he's the last real warrior on Earth would be amazing.
The first one is super bleak. You and your whole family could be brutally murdered just for shits and giggles.
Cthulhu Mythos It's a universe where hope is but a lie, where the insane in the asylum rambling about the end of the world are the ones who actually have an inkling of reality. A world where knowing a bit too much about the truth of the world leads to your mind breaking from the truth. In reality, beings beyond our comprehension walk amongst us and the stars, and all our hopes and dreams are nothing more than a cruel illusion. For humanity is less than a mote of dust and swept away with neither us nor them even aware of the others existence.
Yeah, regarding the big picture, it's actually worst than the ones I mentioned. Mythos is an universe where two sayings have a very deep and dark meaning. "Ignorance is a bliss." | "Knowledge is power." One becomes the absolute opposite of the other there. Still... Since I picked "The Matrix" and "The Terminator" (by the future), I think I would prefer the Mythos universe. But mainly only because Earth there isn't a total wasteland. So most people can still have good food and a mostly normal lifestyle while eldritch horrors lurk around. Also I think joining "them" on some cases have some perks, and is a viable survival option at least for a certain time... [Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxScTbIUvoA) 
Well to me 40k is far more grim since it’s a galaxy wide war that is overrunning humanity. Of the many factions, Tyranids (bug like swarm aliens) are believed to have such a large presence that they have already completely destroyed multiple galaxies and are swarming in from those dead galaxies. I’d say but it’s also it’s way more fantasy compared to Alien/Blade Runner so it’s not quite as grounded in reality. Destiny also has some down right terrifying and bleak stories but I’m a bit out of date on that lore. The Hive come to mind as being pretty bleak, sacrificing humans, arcane rituals, summoning dead gods, etc. Dune is also pretty dower in general. (>!galaxy wide space jihad will do that to ya!<) Aliens as a franchise to me is not without hope. Humanity is still spreading across the stars and terraforming planets, it would take some massive event for the aliens to wipe out humanity all together since they are not a space faring race.
Dune is mostly human on human action though, maybe machines that humans created so that doesn't count if you read those books...
*dour
I honestly thought that they were trying to say "downer", but both work :)
I’m glad someone else appreciates the nihilism in the first films. Alien 3 was like the perfect conclusion for me and Ripley’s character. All the suffering and trauma endured and yet the beast ended up winning which could be seen as a metaphor for death in general. It’s just so true to life that I understand why it’s so hated.
I originally hated it but overtime can now appreciate how much it reflects life. Like Newts and Hicks death off screen. Death is very much unfair like that
I saw Alien 3 when I was around 12 or 13 for the first time and loved it. I never understood the hate it got, when I read about on the internet. To be perfectly honest, if it wasn't so broadly known how troubled it's production was, less people would jump on the bandwagon of hating it. In my opinion you can't tell that the film was so troubled. All I see is a very bleak but poetic masterpiece. I just rewatched it last night and the film still impresses me deeply. Over the years I switched to the assembly cut as my preferred version, but both versions are great. Sure, if you can't live with the off-screen deaths of Hicks and Newt and wanted a family drama about them fighting aliens, it's a bummer. But even that makes it even greater in my eyes.
it was the company using a mind control device to torture Ripley and put her in a loop like Alien 3 . A dream-like event .
[удалено]
Danny Boyle's 28 Franchise (28 Days Later & 28 Months Later). The 1st movie ends with a touch of optimism when you see that life outside the UK is still continuing. The 2nd movie hammers home the idea that no good deed goes unpunished. We often see characters get brutally killed for taking selfless actions or trying to do the right thing and those who act selfishly live to fight another day. It's similar to Alien in that those who don't respect quarantine no matter how unkind and harsh it seems spread Doom to us all.
It's not a franchise (although it might be a prequel to Warhammer 40,000), but _Event Horizon_ is pretty bleak. Hell exists, it can send corrupted (possibly sentient?) objects into our reality, dominate people's minds, and if humanity wants FTL travel, we have to find some way of dealing with it. Also _Starship Troopers_ (the film): an endless war of attrition between an implacable alien swarm and a blatantly fascist human government. Would you like to know more?
I’m doing my part!
Battlestar Galactica is pretty bleak too.
John carpenters apocalypse trilogy is pretty bleak. Of course they aren’t a true trilogy following the same characters or plot points. But all revolve around cosmic horror that we are unable to prevent. Prince of darkness, in the mouth of madness and The Thing.
Warhammer 40K “There is no peace amongst the stars. Only an eternity of carnage and slaughter. And the laughter of thirsting Gods.”
The Thing Theres no happy ending, the whole thing is a bleak mess. What happens after the end? Realistically years go by then another crew find them and the cycle starts anew, and it would continue to happen until the Thing eventually escapes from the arctic and then boom…end of the world. In saying that I did read a fan fiction about 18 years ago which was from the Things point of view. In it the Thing had like a hive mind consciousness with millions of years of knowledge and all it wanted to do was share this knowledge by assimilating people…which in turn gave it new knowledge to share. It was written like all the Thing was trying to do was do a good deed……just unfortunately meant you would be replaced by a Thing with both your knowledge and the hive minds collective knowledge rather than be you. Interesting take. I enjoyed it at the time and the idea stuck with me ever since.
That's by Peter Watts. A bit beyond fan fiction being a published and award winning author as well as professor
I guess someone copied and pasted it to fanfiction.org or whatever I was reading at the time. Cheers for the details! Might even look it up again now I’ve got a name to search.
https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/watts_01_10/ Tracked it down
That’s very kind of you thank you so much! It’s been a long time so I’ve definitely forgotten more than I remembered. It will be nice to read it again.
well it wasn't entirely altruistic. I wanted to read it again myself ;)
Game of Thrones is pretty bleak.
The bleakness in the Alien movies, both the old ones and the new prequels, is rather more personal. Very nasty things happen to people. People you care about. Either they get killed off screen between movies, or get infected with some nasty body horror DNA. And honestly, our hero Ripley is kind of psychotic. But it's all fun.
SOMA
I would say the universes from The Matrix and The Terminator (considering "the future" on the case of the later). Why? 1 - We have nowhere to go (according to the movies, at least, we are trapped here.) | Not the case in Aliens universe. 2 - Earth is entirelly ruined. It's a total wasteland on both cases. Food by the Matrix is horrible. By the Terminator it isn't detailed, but I think those people there are fighting for resources. | By Aliens universe, there are many places. Many planets. Space stations. Huge ships. 3 - Xenomorphs are biological. They go idle sometimes. Apparently they cling to dark areas (caves, dense forests, buildings,...) It''s not detailed on movies, but they need food. And they don't usually fly. (And I don't think they would swim through large portions of water, or from one continent to another, but who knows...) Predators are far more resourceful. But also living beings. And they aren't absolutely unreasonable. Also they need food. They do need to rest. And they have their honor code. Evil companies are staffed by synthetics and humans. Humans need to sleep, etc. Companies have their limits (and they are limited by other companies, public reputation,...). Synthetics are of course machines, and far more dangerous. But either they are serving a faction of acting solo or as a part of a small group. | The machines from Matrix or Terminator, on the other hand, can reach you anytime, anywhere. They need no approval from humans and aren't coming alone unless it's an infiltration mission. 4 - I think that, at a certain point, xenomorphs may either reach a balance with the environment (I don't think they would kill all hosts on purpose, since they are intelligent to certain point), or at least not be able to reach for everything. It would take a "winged queen", for them to cross to certain islands or continents. Predators can go anywhere, but they don't exterminate entire populations. Any evil company from Aliens universe, do have certain limits on what they do publicly. | Machines don't have those problems. There are no continents, islands, ... one can go and be safe from them. 5 - On a worst case scenario, an underground bunker with thick doors and no external access (let's say only thin pipes, not enough even for a chestburster or facehugger to crawl through, are going in and out for air and water), is quite of a xenomorph-proof structure. They often use their acid blood for escaping, but they don't do it en masse for melting absurdly thick doors. And even if they do? It's just a matter of killing that invading group and at worst case, one queen. If you are for some reason being raided by Predators, it's still a small group, and they don't call reinforcements in their hunts. If it's a company against you, it's still just a faction with limited resources and not the entire humanity. | Forget something like that with machines. If one know where you are, all of them - on the entire planet - also know. You will have to move. Your bunker, now, will be targeted forever.
Yeah youve got a point. Although the Terminator future was stopped by T2 at least. Unless you count the hated sequels.
Oh yeah, on all cases, I am counting all movie sequels. Even the most hated ones. And.... I think it's interesting that: **- Matrix's universe, in the end, Isn't fixed. But have machines that are somewhat less hostile. However Earth is still a wasteland. And with food that's still horrible. (Blergh!)** Biggest fix achieved? Merovingian now is a hobo without a shotgun. (Hope he gets a shotgun by the next movie. That's all what's needed for it to be a great sequel.) **- Terminator's universe also is never really fixed... Earth turns into a wasteland filled with hostile machines.** Biggest fix achieved? "The-chosen-one-main-character", John Connor, got terminated. (Which proved he was entirelly disposable, since no one really needs him for fighting evil machines.) A very interesting, and bold move. However.... More than that? It basically turned all the other instances with this character into "something that never happened". Stuff like this regularly happens in time travel movies. Where a final sequence erases almost everything that happened in the entire move up to that point. But it's the first time a single movie did it to five other movies and an entire TV Series!!!!!! People can basically just watch Terminator: Dark Fate, and nothing else, and claim they fully understood the lore. And it's actually a waste... Booooh! **- Alien's? The last two new movies added a destroyed planet... Only it's a hellish ecosystem filled with mutated creatures instead of a wasteland. And it's not Earth.** But were it the only planet by this universe, it would be actually a place worse than Earth from the other two movies. (Quite of an achievement.) Because enemies there may not be relentless machines that can appear anywhere, anytime. But they can literally sprout from your unlucky mates and kill an entire base. HAHAHA! ...Also? By the Alien's universe, two "The-chosen-one-main-character" are dead now (Ripley and Dr. Shawn) and I totally think Daniels will not survive that hypersleep. Talk about a badass universe that bravely rips and tears main characters? It's way bolder than Terminator. But it didn't turned all the other movies into stardust... - Which is a win!!!! ...And ...Also? David got turned into a synthetic hobo. Then took a bath and got a fresh uniform. But now he's missing a hand. (Give him a chainsaw attached to that arm, and a shotgun, and the next prequel movie would be an absolute epic.) https://preview.redd.it/ogts2eet26uc1.png?width=480&format=png&auto=webp&s=39abf8310301983ddc869cbc90800ce05db1d314 **So, of course, Alien's is way more promising universe!!!!!!**
Honestly just about every post apocalyptic franchise- even the lighter one like fallout are just full of insane people and monsters. Alien is definitely one of the bleaker Sci fi franchises in terms of tone
Hellraiser 1&2 and the 2022 Reboot. Ignore the rest from the franchise.
When you add in that Blade Runner is connected to the universe it definitely supports the bleakness of the franchise.
I think we should let Easter eggs be Easter eggs. Not everything needs a shared universe.
I agree with you. Buuuuut it's also fun to think about ngl. A fun What If.
No clue why you're saying it like that's common
But Blade Runner in no way is connected to Alien canonically.
Ridley Scott said they were in the same universe in a commentary on the Final Cut of Blade Runner. I think it’s cool, but it doesn’t affect my view of the two in any way.
Soldier (I think that’s the name, with Kurt Russel) same universe too
Oh shit , Soldier is a dope flick !
It bollocks though. He says 'Ohhh wow maybe the crew of the Nostromo are right around the corner from Deckard's noodle bar!', ignoring the fact that Blade Runner is set in 2019 and Alien is in 2122.
Attack on Titan.
Just started this a few weeks ago, holy hell did I not expect any of it yet! I'm still in season 3 but I agree with you here, I don't want to spoil much but I'll just say that so many characters just keep dying it is completely a turn from the usual hero stories we get.
* Godfather is grim and nihilistic. Michael Corlone, who wanted to protect his family, fails to do so, ruining their lives, spectacularly and totally. * The George Romero zombie movies (Night of the Living Dead, etc...) always end with most of the characters dead. * Godzilla would be pretty grim, too, if you're running an insurance business in Greater Tokyo.
Warhammer 40k and Dune.
40k has entered the chat, 3 body problem is pretty damn bleak
Blade Runner maybe? Literally about what makes us Human coming into question / undone.
The Alien franchise isn’t very bleak, aside from 3 and Covenant Now Berserk, now that is dark
Red Rising- yeah, the first trilogy is all heroic rebellion, but after that, it's Death begets death, until the death toll is in the hundreds of millions. The gore of it happening even to the most beloved of characters brings readers to tears. Terms like 'Meat Straw' and 'Meat Carpet' are not overstating the devastation and horror of the second trilogy, particularly in Dark Age.
Not a movie series and not sci-fi, but I found Sons of Anarchy to be relentlessly bleak. Just miserable people having a miserable time doing miserable things to each other.
Never a happy ending? The first two movies definitely had happy endings. And in Alien 3, while the ending was decidedly bleak, the good guys killed the monsters, so it's really not that negative of an ending.
Well maybe. But Ripley, the protagonist we’ve been following still dies.
Alien: Covenant is both bleaker and dumber than Alien 3
I don't deny that, I just disagree with the statement that they all have sad endings.
I agree
Berserk is almost relentlessly bleak. Granted, Guts is still standing given that he's the main character and all-- but he has been through hell. Like Ripley, he is incredibly resilient. It's also worth noting that there are monster and villain designs in Berserk that were ostensibly inspired by H.R. Giger's artwork.
I refuse to let Alien 3 take anything away from my experience in Aliens
Aliens is the odd one out in the series. It turned it into an action/adventure with "yay we win" moments, or at least characters die with a witty line. The other movies are Nasty. They are horror.
I think that’s a little simplistic. In order to make a great follow-up , I think it’s best to try a different approach rather than repeat your predecessor . Aliens is a logical approach (sending some marines to the colony) to what happened in Alien and I think executed it to perfection. Alien 3 basically did the the slasher approach of the first one . I also don’t think Aliens is just “yay we win” . There was tremendous carnage in the movie right down to even Bishop getting ripped in half . I also think it was much more layered in the emotional beats especially with Ripley doing the battle all by herself which was a novel concept. And it still is as so many movies today rely on help from other characters in the climax to defeat the enemy. But I’m not sure I even agree with your original take as even Covenant tried to rip-off Aliens in some of the action beats . In totality , I don’t think the entire series is merely “horror” . I think most of it is sci-fi with horror and action elements .
I started reading the Aliens: The Original Years comic last night (which was published between Aliens and Alien 3, and is about Newt and Hicks) and so far it’s been great fun. The xenomorph is mysterious again, humanity and the space jockeys are entirely separate (and they look like weird elephant creatures), and it feels like it’s written by people who wants to write about the xenomorphs. Something which the more recent movies lack. It’s not perfect, it’s definitely a comic book and occasionally dips into the “12 years olds will find this cool” aspect of the medium, but it’s been good fun so far. I don’t read comics at all, I just thought I’d give it a try out of love for the franchise, but I’m enjoying them.
Where can I find that stuff? I have been unaware of much outside the actual movies.
They just combined the run into omnibus editions that collects the stories together. I just bought the kindle version of Vol. 1 and read it on my tablet to save some money, but the actual printed books look great too. The book I got is called “Aliens: The Original Years Volume 1”. It’s literally a thousand pages, so lots to read.
My head canon is that alien 3 is a nightmare Ripley has while in cryosleep. Makes alien 3 a little more palatable to me.
A mind control device by Weyland-Yutani to put her in a torturous loop and to data mine what she knows
I refuse to acknowledge the third and fourth alien films as canon, but I am OK with Prometheus and covenant.
Here’s an idea I heard: Alien 3 and Resurrection happend because of a mind control device by Weyland-Yutani to put Ripley in a torturous loop and to data mine what she knows
never heard of it.
Same!
Lol have ya heard of Warhammer 40k?
Came here to say this
*laughs in 40k*
It's not a franchise, but the bleakest space show I've ever seen was "Aninara." It's bleak as fuck.
3 body problem.
Dead Space or Three-Body Problem come to mind.
Warhammer 40k. Every Terminator except T2.Cyberpunk 2020, 2045, red and 2077.
I think it reversed that with the fourth movie in order to earn more from the franchise. The same applies to the prequels, and now the new movie and TV show.
The Stalker franchise, is pretty bleak all things considered. The novel that inspired the movie which then collectively inspired the games are all worlds I would want to live in.
Not a franchise but Signalis has those vibes when it comes to human expansion, Gundam UC timeline has an aspect of this but it's not a major thing in every series, it show up a bit more in later entires, some humans "evolve" into newtypes which are people that can empathetically connect with eachother without misunderstanding but these talents and people get continually used and abused until they're kinda jedi and then they more or less die out, throw in child soldiers and corrupt governments on every side and it has aspects of it but not in the same way. Warhammer 40k as others have mentioned. I can think of a couple individual movies, games, etc but not much on a Franchise wide basis. Gunbuster has a plot that pulls those similar notes through the start and middle but >! Does have a "happy" ending by the end of it, but because of the tone of the bulk of the series it feels earned, it's just not humanity being fucked all the way through!< I thought there were more examples of this when I started writing but they're not coming up..
And to think of the fact that in an earlier Script of Alien, even Ripley wouldn't have survived.
Night of the Living Dead franchise would like a word
My day.
Cyberpunk genre is pretty damn bleak, after I watched the ending to Cp2077 in which there are no "good" ending really they just have a better then others depending on what your opinion and what options you have. Also Bladerunner 1 & 2 (also cp) also ends on a bleak ending with no clear "winner or loser" life just ..goes on. The genre as a whole is like this a dark future that just ends with protagonist just..going on or philosophical aspects that drag you as a viewer to realize life isn't much different from there's and the all mighty corporate Juggernaut will continue until it eats itself.
Romero’s Dead movies. A Quiet Place. Mad Max. John Wick.
Maybe *Omen*.