On Monday, Reverend Scapegoat and I went to Alien Wars at The Arches in Glasgow. As you may know, Alien War has had a major influence on my life and is something close to my heart. However, since it became clear it was opening without license from Fox - outwardly unrelated to the films, I have a healthy cynicism for it; I wanted to play The Alien in Alien War, not some creature in Alien Wars.

I hoped, with advances in technology and knowledge gained from previous Alien War incarnations, that this show would at least be more polished, technically impressive and have plenty of surprises even for people who saw Alien War ~15 years ago. Alas, I was disappointed.

We were asked to wait in the upstairs seating area of the Arches. There was only me, Scapey and a guy that we met at Collectormania who just happened to be there at the same time as us. We were taken downstairs by a member of staff. There was also a young woman who happened to be waiting by the door in the basement ( ). This was 4:30pm, 3 days after the attraction opened. There was no queue; this doesn't bode well for the life of the show ...

HERE BE SPOILERS, PARTICULARLY IF YOU NEVER SAW ALIEN WAR BACK IN THE DAY!

I won't give a blow-by-blow account but if you saw Alien War in Glasgow then all the same set pieces are here. They still have a surprisingly defective elevator, and you'll see all the same misdirections. I didn't expect to be scared by the creatures, but I had hoped that there would be animatronic/mechanical effects that would scare me on a "BOO!" level that would put me in a mindset to be scared. Alas, there wasn't even the minimal effects that featured in Alien War London.

A scientist character was added at the very beginning, but currently he has very little to say other than an introduction that states there was a spacecraft found in the basement of The Arches. He had no "Science Bit". He then handed over to a female soldier who escorted us into the base.

The set is circular and surprisingly short. At the same time, it is very open and much less claustrophobic than it should be. Although at points the lights go out, generally the set is not dark enough. According to Scapey it is virtually identical in size/shape to the original Alien War in Glasgow. The style of the set was interesting, not trying to copy the Alien film sets. Those barrels feature too!

I thought the standard of acting was good, even very soon after the attraction opened. The soldier was believable and forceful. Much better than I expected.

The creatures? Well, it's hard for me to comment on them. If they had looked exactly like Aliens, I would have been pig-sick I wasn't part of it. They don't. Imagine an ADI Alien, short and plump with no back spines or tail that I was aware of, a shorter head and a small mouth. Add a skin condition like Freddy Krueger and you'll be about there. Also, it is hard for me to comment on their performance objectively. In my view, other than the grab of the young lady from the elevator, the creature did little more than stand there or step forward a few steps. He knocked over a barrel, but I dunno if that was intentional or accidental. Additionally, I was right by the door of the lift when the girl was grabbed and saw him release her right after the grab only for them to run away side by side. The costumes aren't detailed on the back.

The creatures weren't helped by the lighting. Although the signs outside warned of strobe lighting, it was either very slow strobes or flashing incandescent lighting. I know from the Alien Encounter: Strobes make the Aliens movements look great! Also, when the creature appeared, it was bathed in too much light.

Additionally, other than the "extract the plant from the elevator" gag, the creatures never got closer than ~15 ft from the punters. I would like to have them "corner" us more. Alas, this is a consequence of the show being open till 10pm on Friday and Saturday night in the nightclub district of Glasgow. I wish there could be a way for the soldiers/scientist to make a judgement call about the temperament of each group and communicate that to the creature so they can be more "hands on" with the low risk groups.

The gunfire was done by "Soundfire" (electronic triggering of sound played from speakers in the set). I was hopeful about it because on the entrance door there was a sign offering earplugs to those who wanted them. However, it was quiet. I dunno if they were having technical problems or if speakers are yet to be installed but it was seriously quiet. The sounds in the AE were much louder. Additionally, I expected the creatures to have some sort of sound, so they could play the "hear them in the darkness before you can see them" gag even. Disappointingly, they didn't do this and the creatures were silent. However, the creature did knock against something before appearing at one point.

After we came out, both the soldier and scientist dropped character and asked us what we thought. They said that they are hoping to add to the show and improve it over time. However, it is only scheduled to run until March so there isn't much time...

Personally, I thought it was a missed opportunity. The loss of the license was regrettable, but I was hopeful they would have advanced the concept enough to make up for the lack of my favourite beasties. As far as I can see, it was a big step backwards from Alien War London. This was especially annoying since Gary Gillies had been bigging-up "surprises and improvements" in press coverage.

My dream was to be The Alien in Alien War. Alien Wars has made me appreciate that the Alien Encounter at NSC fulfilled this dream in a concentrated manner better than the official event ever would have: Although we didn't have the budget or the opportunity to dress the set to the standard of Alien Wars, it was claustrophobic. Additionally, the punters were a subset of the NSC visitors and were unlikely to include pissed up Neds. Therefore, as an Alien, I had much more opportunity to get up close and personal with them. Also, for the AE we had much more personnel/characters and this added value for the punters. Alien Wars could have been ran with as little as 4 people as far as I can see.

I am hopeful they can make improvements to Alien Wars soon, but the location and possible demographic makes it hard for the core creature interactions to improve. I hope the other creature performers realise that you have to move rather than just stand there wearing a costume. I can't see additional funding for animatronics and other polish appearing. But they really need to make Soundfire louder.

In short, I'd give it a solid C-. In my mind, the loss of The Alien combined with the lack of surprises/improvements reduces it to little more than a fast paced Sci-Fi version of the "Haunted Houses" that theme parks do once a year at Halloween. Even with my most optimistic head on, I don't see Alien Wars going far after the end of March.

Thanks for that G, confirms what I thought might be the case...

I'll stick to happy memories of 'acting' in the utterly awesome AE at NSC.

Is that what you call your performance

Pretty much what I think a lot of us expected G. Shame they couldn't renew the license and work out a deal. Certainly not one I'll be travelling that far for.

Cheers

Darren

Swine!

At least I didn't trip myself up on the stairs in front of a huge crowd...

Hey ... that was the year before and was at the back entrance you bugger. And anyway, it wan't my fault, it was the doors and anyway, there is no documented evidence of this so therefore it didn't happen, so there

What did u say to em when asked wot you thought? Did you brutally ram the prow of the good ship honesty or sail past with a faint wave?

D, I think he meant when u tripped up the stairs doing the Bug Hunt... in full view of everyone.

SAS

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I was mostly silent - I didn't want to moan at the soldier since she seemed to be the best part of the show. Scapey has a much more optimistic outlook and said he enjoyed it. To be fair, if the original Alien War hadn't existed and I didn't have the emotional baggage riding on it, I would have enjoyed it.

However, it's a pale shadow of the old Alien War (particularly London) and I felt particularly upset the creature didn't seem to give a toss about his job so soon after the show opened.

A production is only as strong as it's weakest link it would seem.

It's a shame that Fox wasn't involved in this one as having their license and use of property would have improved the show quite a bit as Gareth said. Ultimately though it's often down to money - even Alien War London was privately funded; many people think the money came from Fox but they just sold Alien War the license and took a fee I presume.

Harry

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Ahhh, then yes, that did happen, this I can not deny

I did enjoy it - Because I never made it to the Trocadero show, my memories of Alien War are of the original, and of Alien War Zone at the SECC.

The original, 15 years ago, was great for what it was.
I went about 42 times, and saw it change over time - Since I was the first member of the public in, and pretty much the last one out at the end of the run I got to see every little tweak they made.

The biggest change between incarnations was the weapons.
Health And Safety being what it is, I accept that blank firing guns are no longer an option - And the speakers-and-samples approach works better than airsoft guns firing fun-snap BBs as with AWZ.

The set is a VAST improvement on AWZ's metal shipping containers - And indeed is better than the original Arches version.

The walls of V1 were pretty much vertical, with little detailing.
AWZ was, as I said, in shipping containers.
V4 has bloody great gaps along the bottom of the walls, and plenty of "Bugger. Lots of pipework up there!"-space overhead.
Plenty paranoia-inducement there, then!

The lighting was OK, but could indeed be darker in some areas, and more effective in others ( Coloured/strobing ).
**********SPOILERS*********



The one majorly missed trick was a segment that was Ok from my POV - You enter a room, and are told to cross it and get against the wall.
To the right of the group is a brick outcropping, and a large steel gate is visible on the other side... So the people closest to the brick outcropping can see precisely nothing.
I kinda guessed what was going to happen, so leaned forward and got the full effect of the encounter, but poor Greg saw nada!


No eggs... The "hive" from V1 is totally gone, replaced with a lab. Similar encounter inside though. I do feel that a few extra people in this area would improve matters.
Shoelaces or no shoelaces, there's one line from the movie that definitely should be used here.


I agree with most of what G says in factual terms, but I've been getting hyped up about Alien War revivals for over a decade now, so I'm kinda used to an end result of absolutely nothing - So what we do have now is still a marked result for me!
On a personal note, I had hoped to be allowed/asked to help out, if not as a marine then at least with PR and the like... I'm disappointed that Gary has chosen not to accept the help of the Legacy and I think that an opportunity was REALLY missed with Collectormania at the weekend.


But as I said to Gareth - I think we should see this as an opportunity.
Alien Wars has chosen to split from Fox.
Fair enough. that's their call.

To my mind, that means that the Alien Encounter, which DOES (*Edit : "kinda" ) have Fox's blessing - Is now it.

Colonial Marines, Facehuggers, Predators.
Alien Wars might take the risk of throwing them into the mix later, as they did with V1 - But we've got all the tools in our box from the beginning.

I do think if any of you are up here, it's worth a visit.
Give me a phone, I'll come with!
It's short for a tenner, but we're promised extensions and changes down the line.
Time will tell on that note.

Overall:
B-.
Room for improvement, but an OK start to build on.

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What was the human costuming/weapons like?

You guys didn't nab pictures??

Russ

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Lol. It's not the kind of event where you take photos - you'd be likely to drop the camera for a start! Also, the organiser is quite rightly very secretive.

Examples of soldiers here: http://alienwars.com/assets/images/aw101.jpg

Guns used in the event appeared to be resin casts of airsofts, with the Soundfire kit in them and blue LEDs on the front. The uniforms didn't really show up very well in the dark ... I dunno if that is a bad or good thing.

Like I said, I was impressed by the human actors. I'm likely to be a harsh critic of the creatures, and it would probably be different if I had to do it 6 days a week, nine hours a day. But 3 days after opening, I expected them to still have some passion in their jobs. Alas, they probably have some rather restrictive rules to play by.

The Website has been fleshed out here: http://alienwars.com/

I still stand by what I said at the top of the page, but I've warmed to it somewhat. In retrospect it's a very hard event to stage and one that is heavily constrained by H&S and economic considerations. At the same time it has to hide these constraints and appear "no holds barred". On the whole, it managed this. Still not happy that it is a carbon copy of the original though...

I'll definitely be going back up to Glasgow early next year to see what they do to improve it, and I hope it manages to gain momentum. If, by some miracle of venture capital insanity, it does open in London I will at least attend the auditions.

Great review G,

I don't think I will be going to this! £10 for a ticket with limited numbers going through it is pants!

FOX should have aloud them the licence!!

Ah well!

Bri

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so am i to understand that this attraction has not to do with aliens franchise? cuz i think along time ago i saw a tv spot of the original on some traveling channel years back, and i really wnated to go! but if this has nothing to do with our beloved xenomorph, then isnt it jst like a glorifed huanted house attraction? i mean still a sweat idea but if it not xeno, i dont see the big deal. my apologies if i seem rude or something, but im just not getting it.

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Wow. I thought I was the most cynical person in the country when it comes to Alien Wars. You have to go, you're in Glasgow! If nothing else, it will bring back memories. I will be travelling back up to Glasgow in the next few months primarily to go again, provided it hasn't folded by then. Maybe we can meet up then and go as a group?

Alien Wars isn't ideal, and even before I went there I had a lot of negativity towards it. It's the reason why I ended up living in stinking London. Alas, it hasn't turned out quite how I'd dreamt. However, there has to be a place in the world for something like Alien Wars. Everyone who can should go to it just to experience it before public liability issues kill it off for good.

It's not great at the moment. But like Scapey says: it can only get better. And Alien or no Alien, I want it to be successful.



The original run in Glasgow and later London in the nineties featured Xenomorphs and the London soldiers were a close approximation to USCMs. It was licensed from Fox.

The current one is unlicensed and the creature is quite unlike the Xenomorph. However, it is still something more than the average Haunted House, featuring back story, guns, combat and more than a little running.

ah i see. sounds kool, but i dont think id travel across the ocean for it, epecialy if there arent even xenos...

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I'm a year late in replying to this... but I just joined the forum. However I had visited the attraction just not long after you Pug50 (wow a year already has passed!) and I was too VERY disappointed.

I'll point out a few things I didn't like:

The scientist at the beginning was a girl wearing a lab coat and who couldn't act (she was actually reading ALL from a notepad in her hands... man, 1 minute acting can easily be learned by heart).

The "marine" (I'll call them like that but you know they are not USCM marines... they were called SUBs or something) was a tough Glaswegian, he was very good. One thing bothered me though... during the initial speech (before the power was cut) he coughed, and he paused to say "sorry"... that broke the atmosphere reminding us that it was just an actor. Aside from that he was good.

During the show, there must have been a "missed gag" or something. After the first scare we were asked to squat along a wall... someone was spotted in distance (looked like a zombi scientist), the marine went after him leaving us for an eternity. I thought the alien would have jumped out any time but no... the marine just came back after a long wait and said to move on. We were VERY puzzled.

Sound should have been louder, with some alarms going on. The only part were it was loud was at the very beginning while the marine was giving us instructions... very smart, I didn't hear a thing.

The whole thing lasted about 10 minutes, of which: 1-2 minutes was the scientist poor introduction, 3-4 minutes we squatted along a wall without anything happening... it felt like we spent £10 for an extremely short show.

My girlfriend was even more disappointed than me, she was an Alien War Glasgow original survivor from the 90's, during which she had witnessed fathers stepping over their children to run away from a grabbing alien in the elevator.

However, I came back in Glasgow months after and Alien Wars was still on so I decided to give it another chance. My girlfriend decided she would save herself from another pricey disappointment and waited for me outside.
The second time was different, clearly they had improved a lot. The marine this time introduced us while walking to the assembly area. He was swearing every two words (along the lines of "Follow my instructions or f*ck off, I don't give a d**n") which added some spice. Funnily enough it was the same guy from the first show. Probably they had fired the bad scientist actress.
The settings also seemed to be very different from the first time. Some more alien appearances were added (including a prop-head popping from above). We were never left for more than half a minute and then again running away from the incoming Alien. This time those 10 minutes really felt like 10 minutes, there was hardly a moment of break.
When we were running to the end of the tunnel a soldier with a gasmask and a rifle kept the door open shouting to move... it was realistc to the end.

This was my brief experience with Alien Wars Glasgow. The first one VERY disappointing, the second one more entertaining but still too short for the price paid. I think the creators were living more on the fame of the previous successes but didn't do enough to make another great attraction.

I hear it's now in Liverpool, any reviews from it?

the liverpool one closed down recently. dunno why.

So any chance of pulling this off in the United States with help from The Aliens Legacy? I read all of the above comments. Someone mentioned something about it being too bad Fox didn't accept any help from The Alien Legacy page? Can anyone elaborate on that? Has this group tried pushing attempts at buying rights from Fox to perform this attraction again? Perhaps offering Fox a cut of the profits would sweeten them a bit?

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"Is this gonna be a stand up fight sir or another bug hunt?"

It's been done - Mantroon and Gman666 were among those involved IIRC...
The biggest hurdle is getting a suitable venue with an appropriate audience.

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Not Fox, Gary Gillies (the guy behind Alien War). That's what Scapey was saying. Of course that was seven years ago...

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Perhaps timing is another variable as well. Perhaps, and pending on how successful Blomkamp's Alien 5 ends up, next year could be potentially a better time for resurrecting such an attraction. After all, it was (in part) the still fresh buzz from Alien, Aliens, and the (at the time) recent release of Alien 3 that fueled the success of the original Alien War attraction, and the damage of the 3rd and 4th films as well as the first AVP film hadn't yet set in yet until some years before the attraction of 08 had started. Another thing to note might be the lack of promoting it all. I myself only knew of Alien War due to finding an article about it in an old issue of Aliens this time it's war magazine in 1995 at the LA County fair. Whenever I asked fans over the years, (and I mean over the past two and a half decades or so,) about the attraction, they were excited about the idea of it all, but nearly none of them had ever heard of it. It wasn't until years into the youtube age that I finally found out about the later versions of it. You can't really expect much success from something if it's not promoted enough.

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"Is this gonna be a stand up fight sir or another bug hunt?"

I'd say a major city (like London or L.A.) stands a better chance of sustaining an attraction like this. Honestly the pop-up version if you will (like Alien Encounters UK and US) just makes so much more sense, but then can't have permanent sets. I agree that next year could be a great time to approach Fox.

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