Watch This: Alien: Monday

Fan films are a great way for fans to show their love for their favourite franchises. Advances in technology have made them easier to produce, but they remain labours of love. In the case of animated films, perhaps even more so. Alien: Monday is a short film that took an impressive six years to complete.

Directed by Paul "Otaking" Johnson and Claudia "Maki" Montealegre, the film is a tribute to the iconic Alien franchise, just in time for the latest incarnation, Alien: Romulus. The film is intended both as a tribute to the original 1979 Ridley Scott film, and a loveletter to classic 80's sci-fi anime.

It definitely does an impressive job of both. The atmosphere is similar to the original film, effectively creating the mood of a "haunted house in space", with our protagonist pursued by a terrifying Xenomorph. Like in Scott's film- and in many 80s and 90s anime- our protagonist is a lone female. Who doesn't like Mondays, but similarities with Garfield end there.

Sound effects and music are used sparsely- use of silence in the void of space is both more "realistic" and more chilling- living up to the 'horror' half of the sci-fi/horror genre.

As with all of his work, the animation is impressive. It does an outstanding job of paying tribute to the visuals of classic anime such as Bubblegum Crisis, Megazone 23 and Lily C.A.T. It also features some pretty slickly integrated cel-shaded CGI.

Johnson is known for lovingly creating anime-style tributes. His film Retro Arcade Anime: R-Type surpassed a million views and attracted a lot of attention. But he first broke through with his Tie-Fighter short film that wracked up 14 million views, nearly 10 years ago. 

If you enjoy Otaking's work consider becoming a member of his Patreon where you can gain access to behind-the-scenes materials including previews of his next project.