Predator Question

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Leisher
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Post by Leisher »

If the Predators come to Earth to hunt Aliens in a pyramid located on Antartica, then how did that Predator ever end up in the jungle to fight Arnold? I mean, they like to be tested, and he didn't know The Terminator would be there. So why was he there? The locals were all pussies.

If you respond, please try to do so without spoilers for AvsP. Thanks.
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Post by Malcolm »

Ever played Doom in god mode?
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Post by 71-1085092892 »

At the beginning of the Predator movie, they show a ship dropping the predator off in the jungle. I assumed it was just on a safari. The pyramid in Antarctica... it had a special purpose. I can't recall if I learned this backstory in the movie or elsewhere, so I'll keep it to myself.



Edited By GORDON on 1093708283
Mentat
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Post by Mentat »

I won't spoil movie, but I will talk about the comic some.

The impression given by the original comics is that the Alien hunt is a coming-of-age ritual for the young Predators. A few Aliens are released under controlled circumstances (ie no Queen) and the young Predators hunt them down under the supervision of a veteran Predator. The first two movies were basically veteran Predators looking for trophies.

Of course, that's a bit of retconning, but it's not too bad compared to Star Trek.
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Post by Paul »

I haven't seen the movie yet.

In the original Predator movie, the girl talked about the creature that took humans as trophies. It only came during especially hot summers, and *I think* only during times of conflict. So the Predator was assured a good fight because the humans (Earth's best game) would be well armed.

ANNA: When I was little we find a man... like a butcher. The old ones in the village cross themselves and whisper crazy things. 'Demonio, cazador de trofoes... Only the hottest times of the hottest years... 'Crazy things... This year is grows hot. And we begin finding our men. We find them sometimes without their skin. Sometimes... much, much worse. Cazador de trofoes... means the demon who takes trophies.


In Predator II, the Predator came during one of L.A.'s hottest summers, during a time of intense steet violence (drug wars). At the end of the movie you can see a t-rex skull in the ship, and Danny Glover gets an ancient Spanish pistol. The Predators have been stopping by earth for trophies for a long long time.

In the comic, like Leisher said, the Predators drop alien eggs on a planet so that they'll have something to hunt. At the time there were only cow-like creatures on the planet, which make lousy hunting. The Predators were just giving themselves something to hunt.

I haven't seen AVP yet, so I'm not sure about the significance of the pyramid. My guess is that it's ancient, and was built thousands of years before the climate changed.
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Post by Paul »

On a side note, I found a script to the original Predator film. It has some stuff that never made the movie. It's pretty cool.
http://www.scifiscripts.com/scripts/predator.txt
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Post by 71-1085092892 »

Paul wrote:On a side note, I found a script to the original Predator film. It has some stuff that never made the movie. It's pretty cool.
http://www.scifiscripts.com/scripts/predator.txt
Post the new bits.
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Post by DictionaryDave »

The whole thing seemed to be a right of passage for I am guessing either adulthood or to become future leader.
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Post by Paul »

I glanced through it. They were bits, not long scenes. Basically what the people were supposed to be thinking, descriptions of the scenes, etc.

The bit that prompted me to say that was an interaction with Anna and a chameleom that I don't remember.
A BIRD flutters back to its nest; a CHAMELEON emerges onto a leaf,
directly above Anna's head.

Anna carefully extends her arm, allowing the lizard to crawl onto her, watching, fascinated as it changes colors. She carefully places the chameleon back on the leaf, which changes color again, becoming nearly invisible.


I did some research and evidently that scene was filmed. It shows up in a special edition. There were a couple other scenes in the special edition. I found one of them in the script.
Ramirez seems concerned by this. Schaefer signals him to move on.
Before he follows, Schaefer looks around: there's something dodgy about this. He goes. Over his head is a butterfly on a limb:

EXT. JUNGLE - OVERHEAD - DAY

As the assault team passes below, a BUTTERFLY lands on what appears to be the BARK of a TREE. It fans its wings and flies on.
The impression of the butterfly remains in PERFECT RELIEF, as is imprinted on the bark. The image fades, REVEALING for an instant a gridwork of TINY SCALES on the bark.
The bark moves! Changing colors, like a chameleon, REVEALING for an instant the form of something alive as it flows into the leaves, once again becoming indistinguishable from the surrounding foliage.
TWO EYES, faintly flowing yellow, appear in the foliage. They blink, disappearing, and then become VISIBLE again.


The other special edition scene has to do with Major Alan "Dutch" Schaefer prepating to battle the Predator. I didn't bother looking it up.

Ok... I looked it up. It's just a more elaborate version of Dutch preparing to fight Mr. Predator. He uses piano wire from his machete to make the bow, makes poison tipped arrows, and there's more detail about his "boom stick" spear bomb and shizzle.

Compare this to what you remember in the "Dutch prepares to kick ass" scenes:
EXT. CLAY BANK - NIGHT

Using his MACHETE he carves MAGNESIUM SHAVINGS from a fire block into a pile of KINDLING. He removes a match from the hollow handle of the machete, also containing a coil of PIANO WIRE, GREEN TAPE and MEDICAL SUPPLIES. He lights the shavings which burn with a brilliant white light. Schaefer shelters the fire with a banana leaf until the flame dies down. He feeds the fire with more kindling, fanning it with a leaf.


SCHAEFER - BOW AND ARROW MONTAGE - NIGHT (LATER)

Holding a three foot section of FIRE-HARDENED sapling between his feet and shoulder, he scrapes the char from the seasoned wood with his machete.

He bends the bow and attaches a long piece of PIANO WIRE to one end, carefully wrapping it for strength, using strips of green tape to cover the sides of the wire where the nock of the arrow will fit.

He attaches split quilled FEATHERS with fishing line to an ARROW, its tip fashioned into a series of barbs, rubbing them to a polished hardness against a smooth stone. When finished he places the arrow on the ground next to three other identical arrows.

SCHAEFER
One chance, that's all.


EXT. CLAY BANK - NIGHT

Schaefer is pounding a peeled root between two stones. He pauses to drool saliva into the pulpy mass. He scrapes the milky substance onto a BANANA LEAF, mixing it with a sticky SAP, holding it over the coals until the mixture steams.

Schaefer coats the arrow tips with the sticky poison, holding them over the coals until the sap bubbles and smokes. He spins the arrows in his hands, blowing on the tips to cool and harden the mixture.

Using the tip of his machete, he pries open the casing of one of the 40MM grenades, discarding the warhead. He dumps the PROPELLANT POWDER from the shell onto a leaf, mixing that with a mound of MAGNESIUM SHAVINGS.

He opens the narrow, tight roll of GAUZE taken from the first aid kit of the machete handle, fluffing it into a large, loose BUNDLE, the size of a baseball. He pours the powder-mixture into the gauze, mixing it into the fabric.

He transfers the ball of explosive ladened gauze to a pliable DRY LEAF, closing it into a bundle, binding it at the top with a long strand of jungle-grass.

He twists the remaining gauze around a MATCH, leaving the head exposed, forming a self-striking FUSE.

He coats the fuse with SAP and then thickly covers it with more powder from the 40MM grenade. He pokes the fuse down into the leaf. Taking a long strand of JUNGLE GRASS he makes a large loop, tying it onto the grenade, slipping the loop and grenade over his head.

Finally, using several sections of BAMBOO of differing diameters, he fashions a crude, anti-personnel SPEAR-BOMB, a BANG-STICK like weapon, using the sharpened TONGUE from his belt buckle for a FIRING PIN and a 40MM GRENADE from his belt pouch as an explosive charge.
Leisher
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Post by Leisher »

The special edition DVD has 4 scenes you've never seen before.

I only bothered watching two of them before getting distracted. One was the chameleon scene with Anna, the other was Arnie hiding from the Predator and the Predator jumping around in the studio (the effects weren't done).
"Happy slaves are the worst enemies of freedom." - Marie Von Ebner
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell
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Post by Paul »

I watched Predator on TV a month or two ago, and they had DVD extras which they talked about after returning from commercial breaks.

My favorite extra was what the original Predator design looked like. It was terrible! If they stuck with that design I wouldn't have liked the movie.
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Post by GORDON »

So I bought the bluray so I could introduce my son to the Predators.

Blu ray transfer is HORRIBLE. I had heard they fucked it up, but seriously... they fucked it up. Looks like shit.

But we watched it.

During the early assault on that village, Jesse Ventura gets Ol' Painless out and my kid says, "He's the Heavy Weapons Guy." One of the other guy is using the grenade launcher and he says, "There's the Demoman."

I was so proud.

After the movie, I ask what his favorite line of the movie was: "I aint got time to bleed."
"Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid."
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