Sci-Fi Bulletin: Exploring the Universes of SF, Fantasy, Horror and Spy-fi!

The new trailer for Predator: Badlands released a few days ago and it’s full of stuff, all of it fanged and hungry. Here’s what Alasdair Stuart spotted…

0.09 – The Pod

Weyland Yutani Bioweapons Division

Field Unit Reboot

Mu/Th/Ur

All sorts of fun things are written on Thia’s (medical? hypersleep?) capsule. Weyland Yutani Bioweapons Division is pretty self explanatory and the fact she’s listed as a Field Unit suggests they’re aggressively seeking out ‘useful’ creatures. But the Mu/Th/Ur link is the fun one. That’s the Nostromo’s central computer and also the central computer aboard the Beagle in Alien: Earth. That, oddly, feels, like one of the strongest ties between the franchises yet.

019 – Ship. Dek’s dad watching it go

The opening scene was played at SDCC this week and reports suggest it ends with Dek being thrown in a ship by his father and sent off to die on this impossible hunt. This shot looks a lot like that.

0.25 – Dek’s cool bow

Look at Dek’s cool laser bow! And in a few seconds, let’s see how little good it does him!

0.32 – Murderous Plants

This planet HATES you. And Dek. And also, if you pause at this moment, you’ll see Dek’s weirdly adorable ‘OH SHIT, WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!’ facial expression.

0.50 – Stabbing and Wet Sounds

What an introduction! I love how perky she is! And also terrifying!

0.56 – Dek stands alone

This is one of our first hero shots of Dek and it looks a lot like this is his ‘Well, here I go’ moment when he first arrives.

1.12 – ‘Well, good luck with your JOURNEY’

She sounds so snippy! I love her.

1.17 – Enormous spine! Four headed god!

Where are we in this shot?! It’s not the rainforest style locale we see elsewhere and there’s a ton of interesting stuff. That’s an enormous spine in the bottom left, an ocean on the horizon and what seem to be 3–4-armed god statues. Is this some sort of Yautja sacred hunting ground? If so what’s with the extra limbs?

1.17 – Ripped up synthetics?

The first time I saw this, it looked like Dek and Thia were making their way through a wreck. The second time I noticed the bodies, all torn apart and all surrounded by what strands. It looks like this was a Synthetic group who got hit by whatever the monster is.

1.19 – Cannonball

Thia’s signature move of hurling the remainder of her body through the air with murder in her heart is seen again here.

1.22 – No really, that looks like an ID4 Alien

It really does! Specifically, the encounter suits the aliens wear. Also, Thia is standing in this sequence, suggesting it’s an early scene, she gets repaired or as we’ll touch on in a moment, this is a different Thia.

1.25 – Dad?

There’s been a lot of discussion coming out of SDCC of the fact that the opening of the movie is a 20-minute sequence all from the Yautja point of view, giving us a look at Dek’s family and why he ends up on world. This looks a lot like Dad once again.

1.30 – Synthetics

Every member of that unit has the same face. It seems likely that Weyland Yutani have sent a team of Synths on this particularly dangerous mission. I wonder how happy they are about it? It also lends some extra credence to the discussion of Elle Fanning playing two people. Presumably two of the same model?

Also the facility they’re in looks more than a little like the Jackson’s Star mining colony from the opening scenes of Alien: Romulus. I don’t think it is, but it’s a nice moment of visual commonaity.

1.32 – Menagerie Fight

This goes fast very quickly, but Dek puts one of the Synths through the window of a specimen case and the thing inside it drags the Synth inside. Given Thia’s presence on this ‘most dangerous world’ are Weyland Yutani harvesting specimens? If so it’s interesting how similar this beat is to the inciting incident in Alien: Earth. I’m not expecting an overt crossover at all, but it’d be interesting to see a reference to the Beagle, and if we do, I’m guessing I’ll be here.

1.33 – ‘I AM PREY TO NONE!’

Is this the most dialogue we’ve ever had from a Yautja? And what a line it is, suggesting so much about Yautja culture and how they view others.

1.40 – Dek using a very human looking weapon

That’s Dek firing a very human looking blaster as he runs to a ship. Interesting, especially as this is during daylight and what seems to be the final fight takes place at night.

1.45 – Optical Scan

This is a quick one but Thia jams her eye up against an optical scanner. Or Thia IS jammed up against an optical scanner by someone off shot. Hard to tell.

1.55 – Double Power Loader?

That looks a lot like a power loader but more…steroidal? The double width cockpit suggests multiple crewmembers too. Although it would make a lot of sense if Thia was driving. Also an obvious ‘Get away from him, you BITCH’ moment which, oddly, leads me to suggest they won’t go there. The Trachtenberg Predator movies, so far, have been anything but obvious.

Predator: Badlands opens on 7 November