An R-rated sci-fi/horror classic, James Cameron's Aliens might not seem a natural candidate for a kids cartoon series, but one almost happened. Surprisingly enough though, especially during the wild decade of the 1980s, Hollywood was not at all averse to adapting gory, foul-mouthed films into animated shows suitable. RoboCop was so bloody its original cut got an X-rating, but it became a cartoon. Rambo got one too and even Troma's jaw-droppingly politically incorrect The Toxic Avenger got a cartoon.

Said cartoons met with varying degrees of success and aren't nearly as common now, but it's not hard to understand why studios go this route. To kids, the latest R-rated franchise might seem like the epitome of cool, and something they aren't supposed to watch. By creating a cartoon, those younger viewers can get a taste of those franchises' worlds without being subjected to the R-rated content. This can even be true for video games, with Mortal Kombat's kid-friendly Defenders of the Realm cartoon.

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In the 1980s, Alien and Aliens were both regarded as excellent films, and both were big hits. Aliens took things into a more action-heavy direction and introduced space marines and pulse rifles, priming it for merchandising and toy opportunities as well as its own animated tie-in. Oddly, such a show wasn't actually pitched to Fox until two decades later in the mid-2000s. Sadly, Aliens: War Games never made it past the development stage, denying fans a cartoon bug hunt.

Aliens: War Games - The Cartoon That Never Happened

Aliens 1986 Ellen Ripley Back Alien Queen

In 2007, a company called Bluefields Creative developed and pitch an idea for a cartoon show called Aliens: War Games. The plot centered on Newbie, a new recruit to the Colonial Marines in a future where the threat of Xenomorphs is no longer under wraps, and they're considered a clear and present danger to humanity. The first season would've focused on Newbie's ever crazier training exercises, which would involve him squaring off with captive Xenomorphs in a semi-controlled environment. By the end of the season, he would've graduated and been sent to the frontlines of the war.

Aliens: War Games was planned to employ a similar animation style to Cartoon Network's Star Wars show Clone Wars, which aired from 2003 to 2005. While Cartoon Network itself was eventually said to have been interested in picking up Aliens: War Games, apparently Fox wasn't keen on the idea and put the kibosh on the project before it could get off the ground. Notably, this was not pitched for Adult Swim, but Cartoon Network's normal line-up, suggesting it would indeed be toned down for general consumption. No reasoning has ever been publicly offered for Fox's decision, but they quite possibly weren't comfortable with the idea of watering down one of their biggest franchises for kids, but that said, they did force a PG-13 rating on Alien vs. Predator. It's also possible Fox simply wasn't sure where to take the Alien/Aliens franchise next, as following the 2007 release of Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, another movie wasn't released until 2012's Ridley Scott prequel Prometheus.

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