ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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IMDB has 343 trivia items for this production. I picked some interesting ones from the first quarter of the list.
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~ The blue laser lights that were used in the alien ship's egg chamber were borrowed from The Who. The band was testing out the lasers for their stage show in the soundstage next door.

Note from me: Hey, that was convenient!

~ Shredded condoms were used to create tendons of the beast's ferocious jaws.

Note from me: This is the second time that condoms were used in connection with aliens. The first time was the inflated condoms on the tunnel walls in Invaders from Mars (1953)

~ To get Jones the cat to react fearfully to the descending Alien, a German Shepherd was placed in front of him with a screen between the two, so the cat wouldn't see it at first. The screen was then suddenly removed to make Jones stop advancing and start hissing.

Note from me: Thereby proving that felines are "method actors".

~ The facehugger was planned to be painted green, but Dan O'Bannon, seeing the unpainted facehugger on-set, and noting how inventive its human flesh tone color was, argued for it to remain as is.

Note from me: This was a wise decision. They look much more organic and convincing that way.

~ For the chestburster sequence, Sir John Hurt stuck his head, shoulders and arms through a hole in the mess table, linking up with a mechanical torso that was packed with compressed air (to create the forceful exit of the alien) and lots of animal guts (which, according to Sigourney Weaver, caused the set to smell horribly).

The rest of the cast were not told that real blood and guts were being used, so as to provoke genuine reactions of shock and disgust. Apparently, this worked so well that Yaphet Kotto went home in complete shock afterwards, locking himself in a room and refusing to talk to his wife for several hours.

Note from me: Being a movie star ain't all sex and glamor, eh?

~ It was conceptual artist Ron Cobb who came up with the idea that the Alien should bleed acid. This came about when Dan O'Bannon couldn't find a reason why the Nostromo crew wouldn't just shoot the Alien with a gun.

Note from me: The Alien franchise has made good use of that "acid for blood" idea.

~ In H.R. Giger's original illustrations that inspired the look of the Alien, the creature had eyes. For the movie, Giger insisted that the creature have no eyes, thus giving the bleak appearance of a cold and emotionless beast that hunts by smell.

Note from me: The lack of eyes was smart. But the alien managed to look angry when it extended that inner set of teeth while shaking and drooling.

~ The creature is never filmed directly facing the camera due to the humanoid features of its face. Ridley Scott, determined at all costs to dispel any notion of a man in a rubber suit, filmed the beast in varying close-up angles of its ghastly profile, very rarely capturing the beast in its entirety.

Note from me: Monster fans like me found that a bit frustrating, I think. We wanted a better look.

~ The spacesuits worn by Tom Skerritt, Sir John Hurt, and Veronica Cartwright were huge, bulky items lined with nylon and with no outlets for breath or condensation.

As the actors and actress were working under hot studio lights in conditions in excess of one hundred degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 degrees Celsius), they spent most of their time passing out. A nurse had to be on hand at all times, to keep supplying them with oxygen.

It was only after Ridley Scott's and cinematographer Derek Vanlint's children were used in the suits for long shots and they passed out too that some modifications were made to the costumes.

Note from me: You'd think the folks who made the suits would have enough sense to wear them for while and see if they were designed well. Likewise you'd think Scott would order modifications made after he found he was wasting time on the set while he waited for unconscious cast members to revive!

~ Ron Cobb's explanation of the what happened to the Space Jockeys:

At some point, a cataclysm causes the extermination of the adult Aliens in this unique race, leaving no one to tend and nurture the young. But in a dark lower chamber of the breeding temple, a large number of eggs lies dormant, waiting to sense something warm.

Years later, the Space Jockey race comes to this planetoid. The Jockeys are on a mission of exploration and archaeology, and they are fascinated by this marvelous temple and unknown culture. One of them finds the egg chamber and gets facehugged.

He's rescued, but no one knows what's happened. They take him back to their ship and continue their exploration of the planet's surface.

When the chestburster erupts from the Jockey, it goes on a killing rampage until it is shot and killed. The Alien dies, but immediately decomposes and its acid eats through the hull of the Jockey ship, leaving them stranded on the planet.

The Jockeys radio out a message that there is a dangerous parasite on the planet, that nothing can be done to save them in time, and that no one should attempt a rescue. Then the Jockeys slowly starve to death."

Note from me: This summary seems to leave out some details that would make things a bit clearer.

~ When casting the role of Ripley, Ridley Scott invited several women from the production office to watch screentests, and thus gain a female perspective. The women were unanimously impressed with then-unknown Sigourney Weaver, whose screen presence they compared to Jane Fonda's.

Note from me: Now that I think of it, I can see a similarity between their action styles.

~ The large Space Jockey sculpture was designed and painted by H.R. Giger, who was disappointed he couldn't put any finishing touches on it by the time filming came about for the scene. Also, the Space Jockey prop was burned and destroyed by a burning cigarette left on the model. The unfortunate event was covered by local television news stations that evening.

Note from me: Man, does that suck or what?
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Gord Green]

[Bud Brewster]

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The rock group known as The Who has a list of favorite classic sci-fi movies which include the ones listed below.

There seems to be no common thing which ties these movies together, so it's not clear why this group is so fond of them.
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It Came From Beneath the Sea

They Saved Hitler's Brain

From Hell It Came

Them!

It Came From Outer Space

They Came From Beyond Space

It Conquered the World

The Thing from Another World

These are the Damned

This Is Not a Test

This Island Earth

You Only Live Twice
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[ralfy]

I just found out that they had laser pistols but did not use them.

https://avp.fandom.com/wiki/RXF-M5_EVA_Pistol

Seen in the 2:42-mark of this clip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glzYdm7of_E

[ralfy]

Also, in sc. 46-B, Dallas tells the crew to get out some weapons:

https://www.avpgalaxy.net/files/scripts/alien-1978-10-04.pdf

which means in light of the assumption that they had only cattle prods and flamethrowers, the crew had laser pistols:

https://alienanthology.fandom.com/wiki/Laser_pistol

But according that link, Ash argues that it's dangerous to use pistols against the creature because it has acidic blood which could puncture the hull of the ship.

[Krel]

The Nostromo LASER pistol has been a favorite build on the Replica Props Forum for years. They have documented EVERYTHING the prop is constructed from. There are some beautiful replicas that people have made that look better than the original prop.

The pistol also appeared in "Star Wars". It was used used by one of the cantina patrons that Obi Wan "disarmed". The pistol can also be seen in the hands of a Stormtrooper in some publicity photos.

David.

[Bud Brewster]

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It's tough to get a good look at the pistol in the Star Wars cantina scene, especially from the poor screen shot I got from YouTube.

And the Nostromo Laser Pistol has several variations shown in the Google search I did. I picked one and created the comparison image below. Despite the imperfect image from YouTube, there are enough common features to show that it is indeed the same basic design.

Thanks, David!



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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Krel]

Veronica Cartwright said she had such a strong reaction to the chestburster because she got sprayed in the eyes with liquid.

David.

[ralfy]

Found another issue: Dallas in the shafts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRXyWtv-huc

It's tough for Lambert to give Dallas instructions because the monitor that she's looking at has no direction and level indicators. That's why what she says, i.e., move away, etc., isn't helpful, and Dallas doesn't know what to do. They could have figured that out before he decided to enter the shafts.

[Gord Green]

Here you go! A better look at the pistol.
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There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child.

[Maurice]