Alien (1979 film)
Hacker ApprovedShares rank 6 of 29 science fiction films by recommenders
Ridley Scott's 1979 science fiction film, praised as a masterpiece and as an entertaining, well-crafted watch that often beats expectations.
Ridley Scott's 1979 science fiction film, praised as a masterpiece and as an entertaining, well-crafted watch that often beats expectations.
22 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 20
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 91%
Recommended in 8 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 20 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 10 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 8 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Widely called a sci-fi masterpiece
“hard to believe two of the most iconic sci fi's were created by the same guy”
Comment from 23 Aug 2026 in “The Art and Beauty of Blade Runner (2015)” “ooze with what must be the absolute pinnacle of science fiction vibes”
Comment from 26 Nov 2025 in “Space Truckin' – The Nostromo (2012)” “Alien and Aliens were masterpieces”
Comment from 26 Nov 2025 in “Space Truckin' – The Nostromo (2012)” - Comment from 30 Aug 2026 in “Memo to Ridley Scott: no one needs more Alien: Covenant movies”
- Comment from 23 Aug 2026 in “The Art and Beauty of Blade Runner (2015)”
Entertaining and better than expected
“story-wise they were simply very entertaining”
Comment from 10 Jul 2026 in “The tech of 'Terminator 2' – an oral history (2017)” “they are surprised how good those movies are”
Comment from 25 Oct 2026 in “America has lost 200k of jobs in media, film and the arts. How much is AI?”
Other science fiction films people recommend
The four most recommended other science fiction films, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blade Runner | 54 | 11 | 83% | 10 | 34 yrs3 owners | Approved |
| Colossus: The Forbin Project | 35 | 2 | 95% | 9 | — | Approved |
| Jurassic Park (1993 film) | 32 | 7 | 82% | 8 | — | Approved |
| The Fifth Element | 24 | 3 | 89% | 5 | — | Approved |
| Alien (1979 film)This page | 20 | 2 | 91% | 8 | — | Approved |
What people said
24 of the 26 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“they are surprised how good those movies are”
“Alien and Aliens were good.”
“his two scifi masterpieces”
“I think Blade Runner and Alien helped destroy mainstream science fiction.”
“hard to believe two of the most iconic sci fi's were created by the same guy”
“story-wise they were simply very entertaining”
“It's one supply chain attack, one vulnerability, one missed code review away from data exfiltration or remote takeover.”
“Alien tracks state at the individual API call level.”
“that resume from where it stopped behavior is a big deal during incident response”
“I've been waiting for a solution like this for too long”
“Super cool product, I’ve gotta try it”
“the full state is durably persisted after each one. If something fails mid-update, it resumes from exactly where it stopped”
“Interesting approach. The managed self-hosting gap is real”
“I like it! I think if we are moving to a world (that is a big if) with more people self-hosting ideas like this one might have a future.”
“RCE into my environment? No, thanks.”
“There's something very special about being locked in a dark room with a big screen to watch Alien”
“It was great. Harry Dean Stanton was perfect in his role, as was Ian Holm in his.”
“It's an early, major example of getting it damn near perfect pretty often”
“You do have to thank Gundam (and Alien) for dragging us out of the John Carter Valley”
“the peak of Hollywood practical effects”
“you get incredible definition without damage to suspension of disbelief”
“Alien and Aliens were masterpieces”
“ooze with what must be the absolute pinnacle of science fiction vibes”
“I prefer the theatrical releases of Alien, The Shining, Fellowship of the Ring, Amadeus”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.