The Forgotten Failures Of Alien

For years, there’s been a debate among fans about whether Ridley Scott’s «Alien» or James Cameron’s «Aliens» is the better film. Following the 1986 sequel, the franchise was generally promoted as «Aliens,» with the logo from Cameron’s sequel prominently displayed on comic books, video games, etc. One potential continuation of the saga came in the form of the «Operation: Aliens» campaign, which toy mogul Kenner hoped to use to push some plastic on young minds. In the same vein as the «Rambo,» «Terminator,» and «Predator» action figures marketed to kids (despite the hard R ratings), Kenner hoped to do the same with «Aliens» after it proved a success at the box office.

According to Comics Alliance, Kenner teamed up with an unnamed Korean animation studio to develop «Operation: Aliens,» an animated series that would coincide with the company’s latest toy brand. While action figures, board games, handheld video games, trading cards, school supplies, and comic books were all created for «Operation: Aliens,» the animated series never saw the light of day. Not a single episode made it to American airwaves — and it’s unclear why. What we can tell from the toys and the accompanying Dark Horse comics, the show would’ve centered on Hicks, Bishop (who looked more RoboCop-ish), and Ripley, now a lieutenant in the Colonial Marines, as they joined a new team in tackling the Xenomorph threat. It sounds like this show would’ve been a blast.