Taliaquin posted:

It would have been better if they'd ever actually finished the backstory, which was mostly done in the ARG. But since that was abandoned, it is pretty useless.

Super 8 has a really great moment for Cloverfield fans. If you take a good look at the alien, its body is very similar to the Cloverfield monster's. That seems to imply that the two creatures diverged from a common ancestor. One creature would become a semi-aquatic giant beast that never developed a need for higher cognitive functions; like any other animal, it just eats and behaves on instinct. The alien, however, evolved similarly to humans, eventually becoming a high-functioning creature with advanced cognitive and technological capabilities. Why one is on Earth and the other is in space isn't clear, but it definitely seems intentional that the Super 8 alien looks so much like Clovey.

EDIT: Apparently, J.J. Abrams is against that interpretation, but his comments seem to really overlook how structurally similar the creatures's bodies are. The Super 8 alien has a very similar cranial shape, including what looks like it could have once been the air sacs that are prominently on Clovey's head; Clovey, meanwhile, has vestigial limbs where the alien's abdominal limbs are developed.