Ridley Scott Presents A TED Talk From 2023

Yep, another Wednesday means another TED talk from Barrett; sun follows moon follows sun ad infinitum. But much like how today is an anomalous day whose existence doesn’t make any sense, today’s TED talk is a perfect storm of awesomeness that only comes around very often.

My love of TED talks is well documented on this site. As is my love of Mashups and the ethos behind mashup culture in general. What’s a bit less well-known (unless we know each other personally) is my love of the ALIEN franchise. Since this isn’t film school I won’t go into the reasonings behind that (Confined/Claustrophobic filmmaking as a source of constant unease and tension! Parallels with childbirth and motherhood coupled with disturbing sexual imagery!) but suffice to say that a good way to kill an hour or four is to buy me a beer and ask “Barrett, tell me what ALIEN is really about.”

So why is today special? Because today we get a mashup of TED and ALIEN. More specifically, today we get a TED talk from 2023 as imagined by ALIEN director Ridley Scott, in support of his forthcoming film PROMETHEUS, supposedly set in the ALIEN universe. I don’t even care that it’s viral marketing; it’s well made, well acted, fully supported and promoted by TED itself (How did they pull THAT one off Funny you should ask…) and it represents one of my favorite directors of all time returning to a franchise he launched. I honestly cannot think of a more awesome video to post today.