YMMV / Species

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • The alien species that sent the message with the information to create Sil. Was it all an evil plan to exterminate the human population over the Earth and replace it with Sil's offspring as it looks, or it was a genuinely friendly attempt to share biotechnology that got screwed because Fitch and company couldn't handle it the right way? (Expanded materials state the former, but the films themselves leave it open.) Sara from the third film being a 'purer' hybrid and as a result lacking the urge to mate with humans (or eviscerate those she doesn't find suitable) and Eve being far more benevolent than Sil provides more fuel to the fire.
  • Sil vs Fitch. To what extent was Sil killing people instinct, and how much was self-defense? Was Fitch the real villain for having Sil Raised in a Lab and then resorting to killing her when she outlived her apparent usefulness? Would Sil have been less lethal and more well-adjusted if she grew up in a loving home? How much is the first film a tragedy simply because Sil never had a chance at being normal?
• Best Known for the Fanservice: The Species films are mainly known for one thing: Natasha Henstridge (or her equivalents in the third and fourth movies) taking her clothes off a lot. It's probably not a coincidence that there's a cue on the soundtrack called "Milky Way Breasts".
• First Installment Wins: Even if Species has quite its share of dissers, it is considered relatively well-done and serviceable, in contrast to the increasingly worse sequels.
• Heartwarming Moments: It's bad news for humanity, but when Sil feels the conception and growth of her child, she just looks so awestruck and delighted. She even shares the sensation with Arden when he doubts her, just wanting to share this moment with the man who made it possible. She kills him immediately, but that's because he immediately puts two and two together and realizes what he's done.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: One of Sil's victims in the first was named John F. Carey. The 2004 Presidential candidate was John F. Kerry, who was a well-known senator at the time of the movie.
• Paranoia Fuel: See Fan Disservice.
• Retroactive Recognition: Michelle Williams as the young Sil.
• Sequelitis: The third and fourth films came about by the two-picture deal with Syfy. The third pretty much comes off more like you would expect a scifi TV show to. Which to some was a far cry from the first two, while others appreciated it. While the director of the third had plans for the fourth, it instead tried to examine a different What Happened to the Mouse? and most would probably agree made a film that made the second and third less bothersome.
• Special Effect Failure:
  • The aliens' prosthetics in Species III are vastly inferior to what was seen in the two previous films. The Awakening has similarly bad effects, but for the most part it does a better job of working around them.
  • In the first film, the "mist" in the woods outside the hot tub guy's house is patchy, obviously from a smoke machine. Also the CG in the final scenes, while ambitious at the time, are very dodgy and weightless (which H.R. Giger complained about, saying that unlike the animatronics they weren't worthy translations of his design). The offspring alien is exceptionally bad, even for 1995.
• Strawman Has a Point: Dr. Xavier Fitch says he made the alien female because he assumed she'd be more docile, which Preston finds funny and is actually untrue as female members in Earthly predatory species tend to be more aggressive than males (it's mostly mammals who buck the trend). But by doing so they actually may have bought themselves more time, considering a female only can have one partner and reproduce more or less one by one while a male can have multiple ones at once and impregnate all of them. And considering what we see of the clearly more dangerous male hybrid in the first sequel, he turns out to be pretty close to being entirely accurate. Basically, Right for the Wrong Reasons.
• Unintentional Period Piece: The 1994 Northridge earthquake and the damage that was still left over from it is briefly mentioned near the start of the first film. Normally this wouldn't be that big of a deal, but near the end of the story Sil hides away in a cavern to give birth, and Laura says that the entrance to the cavern "must have been created by the earthquake". Modern-day viewers who don't remember the Northridge earthquake (or don't get that it's what Laura's referring to) will likely be left scratching their heads and wondering "what earthquake?"
• Visual Effects of Awesome: The original has impressive prosthetics, and well done morphing effects (specially in contrast to the dodgy CG in the climax). The sequels, less so.

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