io9 
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San Francisco, 12:13 PM
Mon Dec 21
19 posts in the last 24 hours
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12/08/09
The social structure of the aliens was something I got early on. This was handled very well! Some of the aliens are so coarse in their behavior and limited in their comprehension of English, while Christopher was very knowledgeable about the eviction notice legalese, for example. I also appreciated the care that was taken in making the "skin" tone of the different aliens vary from one to the other. Some of them were rust-colored while others were bluish.
If you couldn't tell, I adored this movie. I really hope Christopher comes back for Wikis in a sequel! (while exacting revenge for the aliens used for vivisection).
12/07/09
12/08/09
PS BTW where is your work @riotnrrd ? In Vancouver? Are you working on Blomkamp's 2011 'Untitled Project'?
12/08/09
12/07/09
It's hard to think outside our anthropomorphic box, and they succeeded. Yeah, they are bipedal, but who's to say that from a bioengineering standpoint, it isn't the best overall design for gravity based exolution?
12/07/09
In the pantheon of possible exobiological evolutionary adaptions common with humanity, bipedalism is one of the least-far-fetched.
12/08/09
12/07/09
The only disgusting animals were the Mercenaries. When he shot that one alien through the head I really wanted to hurt the bastard!
12/08/09
So awesome though toward the end where the lead mercenary tried to shoot down the escaping shuttle with Christopher and Jr. on board, and Wikis, strapped into the robotic armor, reaches up and plucks the rocket from its path!
12/08/09
District 9 was just a masterwork all around.
12/08/09
The things they did were a bit disgusting like eating cat food and the way they lived. But I think that was a by-product of how they were treated rather than there actual apperance.
Why couldnt we give them each a normal house or some regular food. Granted it was like catnip to them, im sure we could have found a nicer alternative!!
12/07/09
Haha, yes! I very much approve.
12/07/09
12/07/09
12/07/09
Fancy words for someone who thinks the word "revolting" translates to "vagina."
I imagine Freud would have a field day with the concept art for this flick.
12/07/09
12/07/09
12/07/09
"Boss wants us to make the creatures revolting."
"Easy. Make the mouth a vagina."
There are millions of revolting things in this world, but it says something that the first thing that comes to mind is something as innocuous as a vagina.
For a movie that hides behind the ever increasing guise of "social commentary" you would think they would make that connection. And maybe they did. Maybe that is why it stayed on the drawing board.
Know this, I am no way arguing or disputing your point. In fact, I whole-heartedly agree. I guess I am just lamenting the truth behind a statement like " most people have a visceral (and often unpleasant) reaction to genital-like structures in unexpected places". Personally, I would drop those last three words.
12/07/09
12/07/09
12/07/09
I am only commenting on the use of genitalia though. The way Hollywood ascribes gender in a non-sexual way is an entirely different matter that I will gracefully decline to talk about right now.
Keep in mind this is all just Monday flavored conjecture though. Hence the long posts.
P.S. - I love vaginas. Don't hate them...one...bit. ;)
12/07/09
12/07/09
12/08/09
I'll leave you with this since I can't say what I really think in any great detail on this site (and you probably wouldn't take it very well).
12/08/09
12/08/09
Also, thanks for responding to the issue at hand. Great work!
12/08/09
12/08/09
12/08/09
12/08/09
12/08/09
I think that @Mike Caprio's
"Why is it always a vagina?"
Is just the most fantastic 'on-the-point-of-dying, after being-shot(sic)' running-joke catchphrase, for a future science fiction film ....
12/08/09
12/08/09
12/08/09
Made me laugh.
12/10/09
PS, that wasn't very nice of her. If she wants an example for her class of what not to do, she should just show 'em a picture of the monster from 'Cloverfield.' Snap!
12/10/09
She was a terse girl, I'll say that much but in her defense, my troll was absolutely atrocious. And not in a good way.
12/11/09
12/07/09
I wish we saw more Alien Queens and less Cloverfield monsters in modern film these days.
12/07/09
Also: The wolves in Day After Tomorrow? Gag me.
I will say that D9's aliens looked fantastic given that they were purely CGI, though.
12/07/09
the wolves in Day After Tomorrow were badly animated based on direction to (and this is almost an exact quote) "make them more cat-like"
12/08/09
I thought this film was frigging amazing even though I felt the creatures weren't anything groundbreaking in terms of design. But it almost didn't matter, because the tone was so excellent and the storytelling so compelling.
12/07/09
12/07/09
Did you see me escaping? I was all... Whoopwhoopwhoopwhoopwhoop!
12/07/09
09/21/09
09/21/09
09/21/09
08/23/09
Though it does seem that Neill here is still trying to figure out the whole plot so let's assist!...
- Christopher had been working on the fuel pod for 20 years (fact) so he is already a different classification of alien, much like ants or bees, worker, soldier etc. He must be 'Tech' and most likely the pilot of the ship who broke away from the mother ship at the very beginning - so he already was/is sentient and there was no transformation going on there
- I'm not too sure how long it takes for the 'prawns' to reach maturity but Chris's kid is smart, now is this because of education or he has the Johnson genes? Or are all the newborn prawns 'smart' and the drones were actually 'created'?
- Wikus's transformation was pretty quick and if an alien race needed 'workers/slaves' to do whatever it is they need done then it would make sense to invade a planet and convert the species into 'bugs'. I mean why all the weapons on the ship?
Something sinister about these prawns gentlemen, don't be fooled by their sad expressions......!
08/19/09
But then why was Christopher Johnson so smart? Some could say it took him twenty years to evolve into the leader role in his species etc. etc. But none of that was explained or even hinted at. I could very easily fill in the cracks for myself and make it into an awesome movie. Some people don't want to do that.
All in all I was entertained and it was most certainly original. Plus, the guns and the mecha armor and all of the other effects will instantly push the pure sci fi pleasure centers in your brain.
08/19/09
One of the interviewees explained that most of the aliens seemed to be worker bees and that the intelligent ones had all been killed off. No one knows why and I'm glad they dont explain every damn detail. I don't like being spoonfed.
08/19/09
Anyway, it didn't bother me as much as it seems to for others. But if they did explicitly establish that it would have answered many of people's questions. Whether or not that is to the film's detriment is certainly open for debate/a matter of taste.
08/19/09
MNU was actively preventing people from learning about the aliens. They didn't even have proper names, for pete's sake.
08/18/09
08/18/09
08/19/09