Blank Check — Patreon: Alien 3

Published 2020-11-01; 2:27:28 by the feed.

As extracted (engineer-sonnet-2026-10-13)

The extraction calls the show “Blank Check with Griffin & David (Patreon)” and the episode “Alien 3”.

Hosts: Griffin Newman, David Sims, Ben Hosley. Guests: Ange.

Subject films: Alien 3 (1992).

On the transcript: No speaker labels; many multi-voice exchanges are attributed unknown. Ange is a fourth voice who is neither David nor Griffin nor Ben and is listed as a guest; the transcript names no surname.

Added from the extractor's memory, not said

Corrected the DP name to Alex Thomson, Fincher's Netflix show unnamed in the transcript, and Paul McGann for the mangled 'poem again' are from the speaker's context plus my recall.
The Ghostbusters: Afterlife character surname Grooberson is from memory; the transcript says 'Mr. Grubers'.

Films that came up

Claims (46)

unmapped (shared people): David Fincher → Nine Inch Nails. Fincher directed many Nine Inch Nails videos before Alien 3.
“This is Fincher making his 1st movie after being king of the music video, including doing a lot of Niners Nails video.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 0:15:15 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
people (later collaborator): Trent Reznor → David Fincher. Reznor later scored Fincher's movies.
“And of course, the Trent Rezner eventually does music for adventure movies.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 0:15:22 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
craft (aesthetic): Alien 3 → Nine Inch Nails. The industrial look of the movie feels like Nine Inch Nails and may have been blasted on set.
“It's very possible it was being blasted on set in between takes.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 0:15:45 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
people (same composer): Elliot Goldenthal → Joel Schumacher Batman movies. Goldenthal scored the Schumacher Batman movies.
“did the music for the Joel Schumacher Batman movies.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 0:20:46 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (shared people): Elliot Goldenthal → Julie Taymor. Goldenthal is married to Taymor and works on her movies.
“Yeah, he works on Julie Tamor's movies.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 0:21:17 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
lineage (sequel): Aliens → Alien 3. Alien 3 opens by wiping out the status quo that ended Aliens.
“Seconds of this movie, it literally just burns the status quo established at the end of the last one.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 0:21:41 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (unused draft): Vincent Ward → Alien 3. Elements of Ward's wooden-planet monks draft survive in the finished film.
“But that's where that's the 1st iteration that's that's still represented in there.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 0:25:26 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (rewrite): Walter Hill → Alien 3. Hill came back and turned the monks into prisoners and the wooden planet into a factory prison.
“So then Walter Hill comes back kind of, you know, who produced the 1st one, you know, and he, he kind of like updates it”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 0:26:07 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
lineage (parallel origin story): James Cameron → David Fincher. Both lost control of a first film and reacted by vowing never to lose again; Cameron became a tyrant, Fincher says he will quit.
“He like, I'm never fucking losing an argument ever again.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 0:28:14 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
theme (character function): Charles Dance → Aliens. Dance's doctor combines the helper, enemy and android roles Reiser, Biehn and Henriksen played in Aliens.
“He's kind of Paul Reiser, Michael Bean, and Lance Henrickson from Aliens in one character.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 0:29:45 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (rejected draft): William Gibson → Alien 3. Gibson wrote a space-commies draft that Fox rejected; it later became a graphic novel.
“I just want to point out the William Gibson script has, I believe a year or 2 ago, got adapted into a graphic novel.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 0:31:35 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if): Alien 3 → Neill Blomkamp's unmade Aliens sequel. Blomkamp threatened a direct Aliens sequel ignoring everything after it.
“Neil Blomkamp's, you know, threat for years that he was going to do, an alien sequel that was a direct aliens sequel”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 0:32:21 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
lineage (unmade sequel): Aliens → Neill Blomkamp's unmade Aliens sequel. Blomkamp's unmade film would have followed Aliens directly.
“an alien sequel that was a direct aliens sequel and ignoring everything that came after it”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 0:32:21 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (merchandise): Aliens (toy line) → Alien 3. The animal-aliens toy line sold under the Aliens brand around Alien 3, and the idea of multiple infected animals was once a story premise.
“But there was a point where the premise was that you were going to have multiple face huggers infecting different animals”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 0:36:42 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if casting): David Fincher → Richard E. Grant. Fincher wanted Grant, fresh off Withnail and I, for the Dance role.
“Fincher wanted Richard E. Grant coming off of Whitnail and I for this for the Charles dance role”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 0:38:31 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
industry (changed by studio): Alien 3 (work print cut) → Alien 3. Fox pushed the ox-like creature to become a dog.
“And yeah, the studio was like, it'll be better if it's a dog”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 0:43:25 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (bald-head moment): Alien 3 → G.I. Jane. Weaver's shaved head was a mic-drop moment five years before G.I. Jane did similar.
“especially like, what, 5 years before G.I. Jane, which similarly causes like a big thing to be like, holy shit.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 0:45:07 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
people (repeat casting): David Fincher → Holt McCallany. Fincher cast McCallany in Alien 3 and 25 years later starred him in his Netflix cop show.
“Fincher's like, hey, Holt, I'm doing a cop show for Netflix, like, you should be the star.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 0:46:53 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if): Michel Gondry → Alien Resurrection. Joke: Gondry nearly directed Resurrection with a yarn lookbook.
“My joke is that Gondry almost did it, and it was a look book made out of hell.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 0:48:42 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
people (shared director): Delicatessen → Alien Resurrection. Jeunet's Delicatessen already looks like an alien movie, so he suits Resurrection.
“Instead, they went with June, who, like, if you've seen Delicatessen, which comes out a year before this, that looks like an alien movie.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 0:49:08 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (hiring pattern): Jean-Pierre Jeunet → James Cameron. Jeunet was the Cameron-style pick of a director fresh off a breakout, unlike Scott or Fincher.
“Janae is like the Cameron pick of like someone who just had a major breakout movie”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 0:49:24 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
craft (aesthetic): Alien 3 → Mad Max (series). The sweaty, mucky prisoners give the movie Mad Max vibes.
“Real Mad Max vibes.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 0:49:57 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (praise): Pete Postlethwaite → Steven Spielberg. Spielberg reportedly called Postlethwaite the best actor in the world around The Lost World and Amistad.
“Spielberg called Postlethwaite, the best actor working”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 0:52:50 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
lineage (callback): Alien → Alien 3. The Bishop remains scene echoes the original film's reactivated-android scene.
“And just kind of a fun throwback to the, uh, original alien thing where you like take the puppet, you kind of get it ready.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 0:58:26 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
craft (visual echo): Alien 3 → Sinead O'Connor. A candle shot feels like an early-90s video, maybe Sinead O'Connor's.
“That's a very 90s video shot.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 1:00:44 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (replaced DP): Jordan Cronenweth → Alien 3. Cronenweth shot a few weeks and left because his Parkinson's progressed.
“Jordan Cronin with shot this movie for a few weeks and then had to retire mid-filming”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 1:05:16 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
people (same cinematographer): Jordan Cronenweth → Blade Runner. Cronenweth is a legendary cinematographer who shot Blade Runner.
“And he's in like a legendary cinematography shot Blade Runner.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 1:05:30 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
people (shared cinematographer): Alex Thomson → Kenneth Branagh. Thomson shot a lot of Branagh's movies and also Legend and Cliffhanger.
“I mean, he did a lot of Branham movies.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 1:05:46 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (father and son): Jordan Cronenweth → Jeff Cronenweth. Jeff, Fincher's DP, is Jordan's son and started on Blade Runner as camera loader.
“like he was like a camera loader on Blade Runner”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 1:06:13 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (shared DP): Jeff Cronenweth → David Fincher. Jeff worked the camera team on Fincher's videos and became DP on Fight Club.
“But then he takes he becomes DP on Fight Club.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 1:06:32 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (first credit): Jeff Cronenweth → Stop Making Sense. Jeff's first credit was assistant camera on Stop Making Sense.
“His 1st credit ever stopped making sense.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 1:06:51 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (creative input): Sigourney Weaver → Alien 3. Weaver's top input was no guns, in reaction to the gun focus of Aliens.
“She was like, Hollywood's 2 gun obsessed.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 1:07:21 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (business context): Ridley Scott → Alien vs. Predator. Reportedly Weaver and Scott asked Fox to cancel Alien vs. Predator in exchange for a new film.
“Sigourney and Ridley went to Fox when they heard that Alien versus Predator was going to happen”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 1:13:23 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (praise): Peter MacNicol → Bill Murray. Murray reportedly says MacNicol was the one good thing in Ghostbusters II.
“Except for Peter McNichol.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 1:19:37 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (creative input): Sigourney Weaver → Alien 3. Weaver insisted on the queen-embryo-inside-her angle.
“It's a decision that Rip Weaver basically insisted on.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 1:32:35 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
programming (pairing): Alien 3 → Resident Evil. Resident Evil should not be programmed next to Alien; wait for in-person sessions.
“Also, you can't put it next to Alien because Resident Evil does, well, not, that will not be good for Resident Evil.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 1:35:21 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (crossover set-up): Rugrats Go Wild → The Wild Thornberrys Movie. Rugrats Go Wild is a crossover that set up the Thornberrys movie.
“Setting up the wild Thornberry's movie, which came out the following year, I think.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 1:36:30 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (ambition): Roc (TV series) → Norman Lear. Dutton's sitcom Roc aimed at a Norman Lear-style tackling of big issues.
“And he was like, I want to do this Norman Lear thing.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 1:42:02 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
theme (set-piece comparison): Alien 3 → Terminator 2: Judgment Day. The molten-metal foundry finale resembles the end of Terminator 2.
“I was going to say, it's very much like the end of Terminator 2”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 1:44:43 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
theme (thematic): Alien 3 → RoboCop. Both franchises have a looming company willing to feed people into the grinder.
“Like, like, alien and Robocop as franchises both have these like big looming companies that are willing to throw like any human beings into the grinder.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 1:54:13 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (creative input): Sigourney Weaver → Alien 3. Weaver would only do the movie if Ripley died.
“She would only do the movie if she got to die.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 2:05:45 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
lineage (sequel undoes ending): Alien 3 → Alien Resurrection. Resurrection brings Ripley back as a clone, which undoes Alien 3's chosen death.
“My nuclear take is bringing her back to life as a clone is more disrespectful than killing, uh, hicks and newt in this movie.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 2:06:26 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
lineage (callback): Alien → Alien 3. The ending coda replays Ripley's tape from the first film.
“You play back her tape from the end of the 1st movie.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 2:07:28 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (shared people): Far and Away → Days of Thunder. Cruise and Kidman fell in love on Days of Thunder, then made Far and Away.
“Very weird that they fell in love, quote unquote, filming Days of Thunder.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 2:12:55 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
people (same composer): Jerry Goldsmith → Rudy. Goldsmith scored Rudy, whose soundtrack the speaker just bought on vinyl.
“Jerry Goldsmith, bang, a ton to bottom, bangers.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 2:18:36 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Beethoven → Beethoven (animated series). The movies keep the dog unreadable while the cartoon makes him a talking dog.
“the Beethoven animated series is Beethoven as a talking dog, which is so bizarre because the movies are all about like, you cannot read this dog.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 2:21:18 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)

Fun items (22)

fun, about Tuba: Griffin's hot take that the tuba is the funniest of all instruments.
“I think the tuba is the funniest of all instruments.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 0:08:31 · Griffin Newman (0.60 sure it was them)
fun, about Blank Check: Sims's band Roadkill: a drummer who never learned drums and never played a show.
“I decided I was going to be a drums guy and I literally never played drums once”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 0:13:33 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Alien 3: Fincher wanted Richard E. Grant for the Charles Dance role.
“Richard E. Grant probably would have been a little more humorous.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 0:39:06 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Alien 3: The dog alien was originally an ox; Fox thought it goofy and asked for a dog.
“it's not a cow specifically, but it's like an ox like creature that they have on the, on the prison.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 0:43:25 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Alien 3: Tagline struggles: The Bitch Is Back was out, This time it's hiding in the most terrifying place of all, then 3 times the suspense, terror, danger.
“Then they try to go for 3 times the suspense 3 times the terror 3 times the danger”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 0:45:45 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Alien Resurrection: Joke that Michel Gondry's near-miss lookbook would have been all yarn, down to a yarn alien.
“The alien is in a bull of yarn and he comes out and it's a yarn alien.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 0:48:48 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Pete Postlethwaite: Spielberg reportedly called him the best actor in the world.
“I believe he called him the best actor on the planet.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 0:53:00 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Jordan Cronenweth: Blade Runner's DP started Alien 3 but left mid-shoot as his Parkinson's progressed; Alex Thomson finished it.
“had to retire mid-filming because he got Parkinson's disease”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 1:05:16 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Jeff Cronenweth: Fincher's go-to DP began as camera crew on Fincher's videos; his first credit ever was on Stop Making Sense.
“His 1st credit ever stopped making sense.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 1:06:51 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Alien 3: Sigourney Weaver as producer pushed for no guns in the movie, a reaction to how gun focused Aliens was.
“Aliens was so gun focused.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 1:07:24 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Alien 3: Ben looks like he is in heaven during the movie; hosts call him a wheelhouse viewer.
“Like, like any isolated image from this is so in your wheelhouse.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 1:21:49 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Rugrats Go Wild: Released in Smell-O-Vision via a Burger King scratch-and-sniff card.
“But Rugrats Go Wild was released in Smell of Vision.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 1:36:34 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Alien 3: Fincher tested dressing a whippet as the alien and photos exist; the hosts pass them around in the chat.
“Fincher also was interested in dressing up a whippet, you know, the dog, the sort of skinny dog, as an alien”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 1:38:17 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Charles S. Dutton: Dutton did time for manslaughter, joined the Black Panthers, then went to Yale Drama and starred in Roc.
“He said he was a manslaughter.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 1:41:03 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Charles S. Dutton: Dutton on his prison sentences.
“I got 3 years for killing a black man and 8 for punching a white man.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 1:44:03 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Alien 3: A bleak pun: they buried the lead on this one, said after waiting two hours.
“I've been waiting 2 hours to say that, Griffin.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 1:59:25 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Alien 3: The movie opened at number two behind Lethal Weapon 3 and dropped 65% in week two.
“Uh, yeah, it fell off 65% in its 2nd weekend.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 2:09:50 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Pauly Shore: On Rogan, Shore could not explain his career decline, listing his run of flops.
“I took 5 swings.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 2:16:56 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Encino Man: In Britain it was released as California Man.
“In Britain, it was called California, man”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 2:18:45 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Les Mayfield: After Encino Man his career ran from Miracle on 34th Street to Code Name: The Cleaner, then silence.
“He's like Greta Garbo.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 2:20:15 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Wayne's World: It came out on Valentine's Day, February 14th, a date-night choice.
“It was a Valentine's Day movie.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 2:23:15 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Beethoven (animated series): Joel Murray voiced Beethoven and Joe Pantoliano voiced a Jack Russell, in a cartoon that turns the dog into a talker.
“Joe Panteleano as Sparky the Jack Russell Terrier.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 2:23:47 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)

Who's talking

Griffin Newman (host): Loves the Alien series enough to have made a weeks-long VHS triple feature of it as a kid, and defends Alien 3. Hates it when studios replace classic logos. A sucker for toy lines, chains, and bits that run on wordplay.
David Sims (host): Defends Alien 3 as moody and Fincher-flavored but admits it is unrelentingly bleak. Loves the mythos of the Weyland-Yutani company and Sigourney Weaver. Cares about box-office history.
Ben Hosley (host): A producer and first-time viewer here; already steeped in industrial, chains, toxic waste barrels, and Nine Inch Nails. Has strong nostalgia for the Aliens toy line. Liked the movie a lot.
Angela Ferragudo (guest): A first-time viewer who knew only that Ripley shaves her head. Played drums briefly as a kid and tried guitar. Curious about plot logic of the aliens' dormancy.

The show's recurring bits

Names the transcriber got wrong

Rip Weaver / Sigony Weaver / Courtney Weaver → Sigourney Weaver
Michael Bean → Michael Biehn
Lance Henrickson / Lance Hamilton → Lance Henriksen
Holt McAlaney / Hold McAlaney → Holt McCallany
poem again / Palm again → Paul McGann (a guess from context: the prisoner who was cut in the theatrical version)
Pete Possle-wade / Posslethwaite / Apostle Thwaite → Pete Postlethwaite
Jordan Cronin with / Jeff Kronamworth / Cronin with → Jordan and Jeff Cronenweth
Alex Thompson → Alex Thomson
Branham → Branagh
Charles Stutton / Dylan → Charles Dutton / Dillon (character)
Julie Tamor → Julie Taymor
Gontry → Gondry
June / Janae / Jhene → Jeunet
Pearlman → Perlman; Pignon -> Pinon
Prana 2 → Piranha II; camera -> Cameron
Whitnail and I → Withnail and I
Niners Nails → Nine Inch Nails; Rezner -> Reznor
Neil Blomkamp → Neill Blomkamp
Wayland / Whalen Utani → Weyland-Yutani
the centric entertainer → Cedric the Entertainer; Nicolette -> Nicollette Sheridan
Island of laws → Island of Dr. Moreau
Vince single → Vin Diesel's single
Davidson mini series → The Corner
Hideia (2:25:48) → unclear
Grubers → probably Grooberson (Ghostbusters: Afterlife)

Blank Check — Patreon: Alien 3

As extracted (engineer-sonnet-2026-10-13)

Added from the extractor's memory, not said

Films that came up

subject (1)

passing (69)

compared (9)

anecdote (12)

recommended (1)

Claims (46)

Fun items (22)

Who's talking

The show's recurring bits

Names the transcriber got wrong