ike an egg lying dormant, Aliens fandom keeps a relatively low profile on the Web, but underneath the calm surface, the
movement is active, even seething. A good number--but by no
means all--of the fan-maintained Aliens Web sites are organized into the Aliens Ring. Following the ring from site to site,
users can see, hear and re-experience all the Aliens highlights:
Ripley, the Nostromo, chestbursters, Colonial Marines, and
more. To navigate the ring, users can simply click on the "previous" and "next" links included on participating Aliens pages, moving from site to site as they go. Or visitors can use the ring's main index and pick destinations from a list.
The average Aliens site houses a plethora of pictures and
clips from the three movies in the Alien franchise, as well as sound bites of the dozens of eminently-quotable Alien one-liners ("Game over, man!"). The majority of the material is taken from Aliens, the second and apparently most popular film in the series. In fact, so much of Aliens is digitized
that the entire movie is probably available online, albeit scattered into a
thousand .JPG and .WAV files.
Further exploration of the ring turns up all
sorts of Aliens material and ideas. There are sites
dedicated solely to the comics, for instance; there are
Aliens-only chat rooms, role-playing game rules, collectibles
swap meets, bulletin boards, and, of course, a number of sites
created in anticipation of the upcoming fourth film in the series,
Alien Resurrection.
Where can I buy an M41A Pulse Rifle?
The ring is a casual conglomerate, so quality varies, ranging
from a handful of grainy pictures slapped on a starry
background to some very sophisticated endeavors. One highlight
is a site that poses as the Weyland Yutani Corporation's ("the
Company") official Web presence. It drips with ironic
corporate-speak that tells the company's "side" of the story, and it also
features a catalog of fine W.Y. products, such as the M41A Pulse
Rifle (don't miss the job opportunities). "Gateway Station" is
another very professional offering with its own chat room, an
interactive game, and even a chapel. For the ultimate niche site,
check out "The Official Carter Burke Hate Page"--a site dedicated
solely to the condemnation of one of the (human) villains in
Aliens.
Across such a profusion of sites there's bound to be a few
broken pages here and there, which is no biggie. But a few of
the sites are out-and-out gone, essentially breaking the ring. Quite a
disappointment. Thankfully there's the index, but it's only a
list of titles. If the sites' owners would include a short
description of what they have, it would be more useful.
Especially because at least half of the sites have names like "My
Aliens Page," or "Fred's Aliens Page." This said, half the fun
of a Web ring is exploring: clicking "next" blind and
not knowing if the upcoming site will hold beauty or horror, Winona
Ryder or an acid-spewing face hugger.
