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Newsgroups: alt.cult-movies,rec.arts.sf.movies,rec.arts.movies,news.answers,rec.answers,alt.answers
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From: hobson@bode.ee.ualberta.ca (Darryll S H Hobson)
Subject: MOVIES: ALIEN FAQ part 2/3
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Archive-name: movies/alien-faq/part2
Version: 1.6
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& ALIEN, ALIENS and ALIEN^3 &
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& Information and Frequently Asked Questions &
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& Version 1.6 &
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& PART 2 of 3 &
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7. MEMORABLE QUOTES
In some cases, the circumstances around which these quotes occur will be
given so the reader can get the "full effect" of the moment.
"The entire world revolves around this wretched Alien." - H.R. Giger
_ALIEN_
< Kane starts choking, this starts the scene where the Alien bursts from his
chest>
"What's the matter man, the food ain't THAT bad?!" - Parker
< Ripley asks how long it takes the ship to self destruct >
"If we ain't outta here in 10 minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through
space." - Parker
"You still don't know what you're dealing with do you? Perfect organism.
Its structural perfection is matched only by its hostility [...] I admire
its purity, a survivor; unclouded by conscience, remorse or delusions of
morality." - Ash
_ALIENS_
< Ripley tells the story of why Burke tried to impregnate her and Newt with
alien eggs >
"I say we grease this rat-fuck son-of-a-bitch right now!" - Hudson
"You know Burke, I don't know which species is worse; you don't see them
fucking each other over for a goddam percentage!" - Ripley
< Gorman orders the troops to disarm all their weapons before the first alien
encounter >
"What the hell are we supposed to use man, harsh language?" - Frost
< The dropship crashes >
"Well that's great, that's just fuckin' great man, now what the fuck are we
supposed to do? We're in some real pretty shit now man [...] That's it man,
game over man, game over! What the fuck are we gonna do now? What are we
gonna do?" - Hudson
< After Ripley rescues the remaining troops with the APC and suggests that
they nuke the site from orbit, Burke tries to stop this plan >
"Hey maybe you haven't been keeping up on current events, but we just got
our ASSES kicked pal!" - Hudson
< Hudson asks Vasquez if she's ever been mistaken for a man, to which she
replies... >
"No, have you?" - Vasquez
< Ripley responds to Burke's reservations about nuking the alien-infested
site >
"They can BILL me!" - Ripley
"Dear Lord Jesus, this can't be happenin' man, this isn't happenin..." - Hudson
< Hicks says that there won't be any rescue attempt made for another 17 days >
"17 days?! Hey man, I don't want to rain on your parade, but we're not gonna
last 17 hours against those things!" - Hudson
"I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid." - Bishop
"Another glorious day in the Corps. A day in the Marine Corps is like a day
on the farm. Every meal a banquet, every paycheque a fortune, every formation
a parade. I love the Corps!" - Apone
< After Gorman says, "Hicks, meet me at the south lock. We're coming in." >
[sarcastically] "He's coming in. I feel safer already." - Hudson
< Bishop says "I'm afraid I have some bad news." >
"Well that's a switch." - Hudson
"Get away from her you bitch!" - Ripley
_ALIEN^3_
< Ripley's looking for the alien >
"Don't be afraid, I'm part of the family." - Ripley
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8. TECHNICAL PROBLEMS
_ALIEN_
- The "blurb" on the back of the movie box is wrong. "...the crew of a
commercial spaceship make an unscheduled landing on a barren and desolate
planet for engine repairs." The landing was not unscheduled and they did
not land on the planet to make engine repairs, rather to investigate the
distress beacon.
_ALIENS_
- After the Sulaco arrives at LV-426, a computer screen displays the last
names and first initials of each of the crew members. Hudson isn't on the
list.
- Adding up the estimated time that Bishop makes (for getting the drop ship
down to the planet) gives a total of 180 minutes (3 hours), however the
fusion reactor is not going to blow up for another 4 hours. Ripley says
"It's going to be close..." but they actually have a full hour to clear
the base. [not NECESARRILY a technical problem, but it could be]
- In the LD version of aliens, during those split-seconds the camera is NOT
on the queen during the fight between Ripey and her, pay attention to
bishop. In one shot, you can clearly see the hole that Lance Henriksen is
standing in (to hide the other half of his body) to give the effect of
being ripped in two.
- In the battle scene between Ripley and the mother alien where Ripley is in
the loader, we see the alien pull the loader into the airlock when Ripley
tries to drop it. The loader is turned upside down and the cone on top with
the spinning yellow caution light is broken when it slams into the floor. In
the next scene, however, we see the loader lying on the floor of the airlock
with the yellow cone still in one piece. Also, the sharp end of the alien
tails seems to be missing, as if it broke off, but the broken part isn't on
the airlock floor.
- When Bishop gets it from the mother alien, you can see the string
pulling the stinger through the dummy.
- The Pulse rifles are using "standard armor piercing explosive tip, caseless"
[Gorman, Aliens] and yet when one is fired, you see shells flying out of it
if you look carefully.
- In order to take a space ship from Earth, to another planet, the Sulaco MUST
travel faster than light. Given this technology, it seems unlikely that the
military would not use it to make weapons that are better than the
conventional "slug throwers".
_ALIEN^3_
- Many instances where you can see the "outline" created by the blue screening
technique.
- The "furnace" that Ripley falls into at the end is WAY off scale, it was
just too big!
- The Cryo capsules seen in the escape pod in _ALIEN^3_ are the same design
as those seen in _ALIEN_ which is a DIFFERENT design than the capsules seen
in the Sulaco in _ALIENS_.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
9. TRIVIA
_ALIEN_
- _ALIEN_ grossed $ 40,300,000.00
- The first half of the movie was based on original ideas and a script entitled
"Memories" by Dan O'Bannon, the second half originated from the idea of
gremlins on a B-17 bomber, transposed to a spaceship. [source: _ALIEN_ box
set]
- It has been suggested that _ALIEN_ is a rip-off from from an A.E. van Vogt
short story entitled "Discord in Scarlet".
- The ship is called "Nostromo". This is the name of a novel by Joseph Conrad.
Ridley Scott's first major film, _The Duellists_ was based on a Joseph
Conrad short story. [Perhaps Scott's trademark is a subtle reference to
Conrad in all of his films?]
- The alien's habit of laying eggs in the stomach (which then burst out) is
similar to the life-cycle of the tsetse fly.
- The images that the computers display during the Nostromo's separation from
the Mother ship (as well as some images used near the end where Ripley is
setting up the escape pod to blast off) are re-used in _Blade Runner_ (also
directed by Ridley Scott)
- Only John Hurt and the camera crew knew exactly what was going to happen
during the chest-bursting scene. The actors' only clue as to what was
going to happen was from what they read in the script, so reactions are
genuine.
- In the scene from ALIEN where Dallas, Kane and Lambert are leaving the
ship, the actual actors walking past the Nostromo's landing struts are 3
children (two of which were Ridley Scott's children) dressed in scaled down
spacesuits. This has the effect of making the ship look even bigger.
- Watch the scene where Kane gets attacked by the facehugger frame-by-frame.
You'll see (through Kane's eyes) the facehugger jump out of the egg,
attach itself to his helmet, break through the glass shielding and stick
a tube down his throat.
- An over-turned ice cube tray is on the side of Ash's motion tracking device
was an ice-cube tray.
- A sex scene between Dallas and Ripley (!) was in the script, however was
not filmed. [source: _ALIEN_ box set]
- The front (face) part of the alien costume's head is made from a real human
skull. [source: _ALIEN_ box set]
- Although it has nothing to do with _ALIEN_, Sigourney Weaver's real name
is Susan Alexandra. [source: Who is Who in America, 47th Edition]
- A good deal of the music that Jerry Goldsmith wrote for Alien never made it
into the movie. Several tracks on the CD soundtrack don't appear in the
film, and most of them that are in the movie apparently weren't used in the
scenes they were written for, judging from track titles. The movie uses
some classical music, plus music from an earlier Jerry Goldsmith score
entitled "Freud."
< the next two points are quoted from the Blade Runner FAQ with permission >
- Notice that both _Alien_ and BladeRunner have "artificial persons", and
there is ambiguity as to who is/was a real human. _Alien_ and BR are
perfectly compatible, the only problem being that Ash should have been a
replicant, as opposed to a robot.
- When Deckard enters his apartment at the end, the background hum is the same
distinctive hum as in parts of _ALIEN_.
_ALIENS_
- "...It was [Jenette] Goldstein's (Vasquez) outside that needed an
overhaul, largely because blue eyes and Huck Finn-style freckles didn't
quite fit the job description. 'The makeup took an HOUR,' she sighs.
'The makeup woman said I had the most ornery freckles she had ever
seen.'...They also gave her dark contact lenses, and rather
unceremoniously, whacked off most of her waist-length hair."
[from STARLOG #115, Feb.1987]
- "The introduction to the marines, [...], as they awoke from hyper space
and gnawed on breakfast, was filmed at the production's end. That way,
the cast had several months to get acquainted." [from STARLOG #115,
Feb.1987]
- "Loco" is written on the back of Vasquez's shirt. [from STARLOG #115,
Feb.1987]
- Goldstein : "'It's never mentioned in the film, but in the characters'
background, she and Drake are recruited from juvenile prison, where
they're under life sentences.
'Therefore, they were different from the others, who were on a time
limit. Hudson was supposed to get out of the marines in four weeks,
which is what made him flip.'
That also explains the back of Hudson's vest, tailored by actor Bill
Paxton to read, 'Contents under pressure. Do not puncture.'"
[from STARLOG #115, Feb.1987]
- Ferro has "(Fly the Friendly Skies)" written on her helmet.
- On the side of the first drop ship is an insignia of an eagle with big
sneakers on, sort of completing a jump. Just above this is the text "Bug
Stompers" and just below is "We endanger species".
- The second drop ship is called "Smart Ass" and just below is
"We aim by P.F.M." (ie: Pure Fucking Magic)
- "Adios" is painted on Vasquez's smart gun.
- The smart guns used by Drake and Vasquez are mounted on them via set of
hydraulic arms. These arms take most of the load of the guns and keep them
stable. Virtually the same technology is used by camera men on outside
broadcasts, where they are used to keep the cameras steady. The hydraulics
absorb most of the energy created by a camera man running down the road
leaving a very steady picture.
- An ammunition clip for the M41-A pulse rifle holds 95 rounds.
- The mechanism used to make the facehuggers thrash about in the stasis tubes
in the science lab came from one of the "flying piranahs" in one of James
Cameron's earlier movies: Piranah II - The Spawning. It took 9 people to
make the face hugger work, one person for each leg and someone for the tail.
- Hicks was originally played by actor James Remar, but Michael Biehn
replaced him a few days after principal photography began, due to "artistic
differences" between Remar and Cameron.
- Partly as a joke and partly to leave the ending open for subsequent sequels,
James Cameron added the sound of an egg opening/face hugger scuttling about
at the end of the film credits. (different sounds were appended to
different versions of the movie)
- "She thought they said 'illegal aliens' and signed up..." - Hudson
This quote (directed towards Vasquez) was in "inside joke" to the actors
of the movie. (quoted without permission from an interview with Jeanette
Goldstein [Vasquez] that appeared in STARLOG magazine)
''...she answered an ad for a film role in the local trades. It
read simply, "Genuine American actors, British Equity, for
feature film, ALIENS, 20th Century Fox," she relates, over lunch
near the old homestead in Beverly Hills.
"I had seen ALIEN, but I had NO idea this was a sequel.
It had been so long ago, it didn't even occur to me.
"I thought it was about actual aliens, you know,
immigrants to a country. I was wondering why they wanted
Americans. I figured the movie was about lots of different
immigrants to England."
Since she didn't have an agent at the time, she answered
the ad on her own, with rather surprising results. "I actually
came in wearing high heels and lots of makeup, and I had
waist-length hair," she says.
Other auditioners, who had advance notice from THEIR
agents, were decked out in military fatigues --- Goldstein's
first inkling she would be reading for the role of a marine...''
- One track of music from Goldsmith's CD for _ALIEN_ appears near the end of
_ALIENS_, during one of the big scenes of the Queen stomping around the
colony. Even though this music was used in _ALIENS_, Goldsmith's name was
not mentioned in the closing credits.
_ALIEN^3_
There were at least 12 "scripts" for _ALIEN^3_ (derived from the May 1992
issue of PREMIERE) :
1. William Gibson wrote his based on a brief treatment given to
him by Walter Hill, David Giler and Gordon Carroll. It was set
in a Soviet space station ("It was sort of like a Cold War in
space, with genetic manipulation of the alien replacing nuclear
war," says Gibson). The 1987 writers strike interrupted the
process, so Gibson went back to work on a novel. "Only one
detail survived. 'In my draft, this woman has a bar code on the
back of her hand,' he says. 'In the shooting script, one of the
guys has a shaved head and a bar code on the back of his head.
I'll always privately think that was my piece of ALIEN^3.'"
2. Eric Red was hired for a "five-week" job to convince Fox to
dole out more development money. He collaborated with Renny
Harlin. According to Red, "HE came up with the gene-splicing
idea. 'In the third film, you needed a new alien. I suggested
doing genetic experiments on the alien.' Red says that Hill and
Giler were disorganized and irresponsible. 'They had no story
or treatment or any real plan for the picture,' he says. Hill
and Giler say the problem was Red's script; when Harlin read it,
he quit the project."
3 - 4. David Twohy had a draft set in a penal colony in space
without Ripley in it (since Hill and Giler planned to bring her
back in the fourth film). But Joe Roth (head of Fox) insisted
that he wouldn't make the film without Weaver. Twohy had just
started to write Ripley into the script, when "one of the most
transparent bits of studio treachery I've ever heard of" took
place. At the same time Twohy was working, Fox hired Vincent
Ward to collaborate with John Fasano to develop the script
involving a community of monks (remember the seven dwarfs?).
When a Los Angeles Times reporter called Twohy about "competing
drafts of Alien^3", Twohy dumped the script and went off to do
his own film. Fox insisted that Ward's script was for Alien 4.
Twohy: The old adage is true: Hollywood pays its writers well
but treats them like shit to make up for it.
5 - 9. Greg Pruss was hired next to rewrite Fasano's script (he
had to leave to cowrite ANOTHER 48 HRS). Pruss did "five arduous
drafts". Everyone moved to London where the crew was already
beginning to design and build sets even as the script was being
written. But the studio began having trouble with Ward, "who
was less interested in Ripley or the alien than in his monks.
'The movie's called ALIEN because it's about the alien,' says
Pruss. 'I couldn't get that across to Vincent.'"
10. Pruss quit and Ward was fired. Once David Fincher signed on
as director, Fox hired Larry Ferguson(Beverly Hills Cop II) to
do a "four-week emergency rewrite." Ferguson continued more or
less with Ward's ideas and hence, the horrible idea with the
seven dwarfs and Ripley as Wendy. Weaver and Fincher hated the
script and the movie "almost fell apart".
11. Hill and Giler were paid to do another emergency rewrite.
They moved the story back to Twohy's prison and the religious
element evolved into what exists in the final draft. The studio
and Weaver liked the script but Fincher had a few reservations.
12. After much bureaucratic bickering over the budget and
schedule plus the firing of key participants, Rex Pickett was
hired to collaborate with Fincher for yet another rewrite. This
occurred when Hill and Giler were going on vacation. "It all
blew up when Pickett wrote a memo salvaging Hill and Giler's
script."
- Prior to its release, _PREDATOR II_ came out in the theaters (which had an
almost identical story to the original idea for _ALIEN^3_) near the end of
_PREDATOR II_ we see a trophy case of different skulls, one of which is the
skull of an alien.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10. PLOT PROBLEMS AND LOOPHOLES
This section contains plot problems that are SO BIG that there is no plausible
explanation for it. If a good theory comes along, the point will be moved to
section [11] frequently asked questions (at my discretion of course).
_ALIEN_
- The shuttle on the Nostromo only had one hypersleep chamber; there isn't
enough capacity for the entire crew. If we are to assume that the Narcissus
is only a shuttle, then why is there no form of "escape" from the Nostromo?
_ALIENS_
- What infantry platoon in its right mind would enter an enclosed space
carrying flamethrowers?
- What kind of pilot would leave her aircraft wide open and unguarded in an
unsecured area? (referring to the first dropship)
- Several times we see aliens spewing acid that does not seem to damage the
"sets" (or at least doesn't damage the "sets" as severely as the few drops
that eat through 3 layers of the Nostromo in _ALIEN_)
_ALIEN^3_
- How did the eggs get on the Sulaco? (refer to section [12])
- Why is the escape capsule so poorly designed? It gets ejected and then
FALLS to the nearest planet. The capsule crashes on the planet and Hicks
is impaled by a SAFETY beam?!
- How could Ripley hold on to the chestbuster AFTER it tore through her
chest?
- Why did it take so long for the chestbuster to come out of Ripley? It only
took a few hours for it to come out of Kane in _ALIEN_. Even though Ripley
was carrying a queen, the chestbuster itself was STILL the same size as the
one that came out of Kane.
- Why is that bloody autopsy necessary? As we see later in the movie, that
nice diagnostic scanner in the EEV's cryo-tube is still working quite
fine (and Ripley knows about it). The autopsy is obviously very
unpleasant for her, so it is hard to see why she didn't figure out the
easier way?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
This section has been extended to allow for theoretical answers, the responses
that aren't based on solid facts (yet provide a plausible answer) start with
"[possibly]". If you believe you have a better explanation, don't hesitate to
say so. Any questions that seem to have more than one plausible answer will
appear in section [12] frequently discussed topics.
_ALIEN_
Q: Is there a fan club I can join?
A: Depending on when you read this FAQ, these clubs may have dissolved:
The British Aliens Fan Club The Dropship
PO Box 11 19 Compton Crescent
Liskeard, Cornwall Northolt, Middx
PL14 6YL UB5 5LS
England England
Q: What is the "Narcissus" ?
A: The Narcissus is the name of the shuttle Ripley uses to escape from the
Nostromo.
Q: Who is the "Space Jockey"?
A: This is the name given (by the technical staff) to the remains of the
creature found on the derelict space craft.
Q: What is written on Brett's cap?
A: USCSS NOSTROMO 180286
Q: Why is there a "self-destruct button" on the Nostromo?
A: [possibly] the "emergency destruct system" exists to protect company
secrets in case the Nostromo is hijacked by a competator. (this would be
a similar principle to espionage: when an enemy spy gets caught, he takes
poison to kill himself so he cannot be tortured into giving away secrets).
Or, a 20 million ton ship flying through space at very high speed tends to
become a great danger when it gets off course by some malfunctions. If it's
on collision course to some space station or colony, and there is no
possibility of redirecting or stopping it, it would be very reasonable to
put it on self-destruct and get away with the small shuttle.
Q: The crew is awakened early out of their hypersleep to explore the planet
from which the beacon is being transmitted, HOW early are they awakened?
A: 10 months as indicated by Lambert (after the shuttle returns to the
Nostromo)
Q: Did the entire crew go down to the surface of LV-426?
A: Yes. The Nostromo is a towing device for the 20,000,000 tons of ore.
The entire crew went down to the planet's surface in the Nostromo (which
detached itself from the cargo it was towing).
Q: After the Nostromo blew up, and Ripley discovers that the alien is on board
the escape capsule, why does the alien take SO long to attack her?
A: [possibly] the alien was coming to the end of its life cycle, when Ripley
happened to disturb it. It was slow to attack because it was dyig. This
theory is supported by an older version of the _ALIEN_ script where Ash
reveals that the alien had made a nest and ensured the continutation of its
species (cocooned Dallas and transformed Brett into an egg) at which
time the alien itself would approach the end of its lifecycle; curl up and
die.
Q: Does the alien have eyes? How does it see?
A: No. The alien was designed (by H.R. Giger) to "see" entirely by instinct.
The chase scene in _ALIEN^3_ would appear to contradict this as it shows
the chase through (what would appear to be) the alien's eyes. However,
it is likely that this cinematic technique was used to show the chase, not
through the aliens eyes, but through its "perception". (it is also likely
that this alien, being so different from the ones we've already seen, has
some kind of eyes)
Q: I want a longer version of the movie, dammit!
A: Easy. You'll need a laserdisc player with frame advance, a 4-head VCR with
frame advance (frame advance allows for nice editing), the _ALIEN_ box set
(on laser disc of course) and a 160 min tape (130 min might work too).
Now, all you need is to know where the "extra" scenes (on the 3rd disk) can
be re-added into the movie:
- Kane prepares breakfast - don't bother, there's a fade between the
hypersleep chamber and the breakfast scene... this is where you'd
place the scene, but the fade makes it impossible to do a good job.
- Crew listens to alien transmission - right after Parker agrees to going
down to the planet's surface, and right before the shot of the ship
approaching the planet.
- Lambert confronts Ripley - some of the scene already exists, just cut
THAT part out, and replace it with the longer scene.
- After the acid - add this scene right after Dallas tells Brett to get
back to work, and right before the scene where Parker and Brett are
repairing the ship.
- Ripley radios Parker - Add this right after the "post-acid" scene.
Place it right before the scene where Parker and Brett are repairing
the ship.
- Discussion of what to do (after Kane's death) - originally, this scene
was right before Kane's funeral, but it makes alot more sense to put
it in immediately AFTER Kane's funeral.
- Brett's death - difficult to place, you have to replace some of the
film, all you miss out on is a few cuts back to Jones. (if you're
really skilled, you can re-integrate them). Put it right before the
scene where Parker is drinking coffee. [WARNING: the suspense
building music is not present in the longer death scene]
- Alien in the airlock - don't bother with these two scenes, they don't
fit in the movie very well.
- Ripley talks to Lambert - add it as Ash walks out of the room (after
Dallas's death). But before Ripley looks at Lambert (you'll have to
cut that bit out.)
- Lambert's death - too bad, there's no sound, don't add it in.
- Cocoon scene - originally, it was after Ripley started running for the
shuttle (no wonder it created a pacing problem). If you add it in
after she discovers Parker and Lambert's bodies, but before she starts
running, then it doesn't affect the pacing.
That's it. The movie is now about 2 hrs and 8 minutes long. I added on
the original movie theater trailer at the end, just for kicks.
Q: I recall seeing extra scenes in the movie when I saw it in the theaters, am
I imagining things?
A: Probably. However, during December 1978 a rough cut of _ALIEN_ was
screened in London, England (it was 2 hours & 45 minutes long) and it
included ALL of the completed "cut" scenes (as described earlier in the
FAQ).
_ALIENS_
Q: What does "Sulaco" mean?
A: "Sulaco" was the town in which most of Joseph Conrad's book entitled
"Nostromo" took place.
Q: Is LV-426 also called "Acheron" ?
A: There doesn't seem to be any evidence of this in the movie, the name was
given to the planet in the Alan Dean Foster novelization, the movie-comic
as well as the RPG.
Q: What IS the name of the company?
A: The Weyland-Yutani Corporation. It can be seen, mirror-reversed, on a
blast shield after the discussion of the atmosphere processor blowing up.
It's also on all beer cans in _ALIEN_ but is too small to see. In _ALIEN^3_
it is written on a computer screen in an extreme close-up near the end. In
the director's cut of _ALIENS_, during the additional footage of the colony
(prior to the alien infestation) we see a logo of the company which reads:
Weyland-Yutani
\ /\ /
\ / \ /
\/ \/
Building Better Worlds
Q: What is the name of the colony?
A: Hadley's Hope (as revealed in the director's cut of _ALIENS_)
Q: Why don't the colonists on LV-426 pick up the derelict SOS?
A: In a cut scene from ALIENS, the derelict ship has been damaged by volcanic
activity and, as a result, the beacon was rendered inoperable. [James
Cameron, STARLOG #125, DEC 1987]
Q: How did the colony get infected?
A: In my [James Cameron] version of the Alien life cycle, the infestation of
the colony would proceed like this :
1. Russ Jorden attacked, they radio for rescue.
2. Rescue party investigates ship...several members facehuggered...
brought back to base for treatment.
3. Several "chestbursters" free themselves from hosts, escape into
ducting, begin to grow.
4. Extrapolating from entomology (ants, termites, etc.), an
immature female, one of the first to emerge from hosts, grows to
become a new queen, while males become drones or warriors.
Subsequent female larvae remain dormant or are killed by males...
or biochemically sense that a queen exists and change into males
to limit waste. The Queen locates a nesting spot (the warmth
of the atmosphere station heat exchanger level being perfect for
egg incubation) and becomes sedentary. She is then tended by
the males as her abdomen swells into a distended egg sac. The
drones and warriors also secrete a resinous building material to
line the structure, creating niches in which they may lie dormant
when food supplies and/or hosts for further reproduction become
depleted (i.e. when all the colonists are used up). They are
discovered in this condition by the troopers, but quickly emerge
when new hosts present themselves.
[STARLOG #125, DEC 1987]
Q: Is Ferro's first name "Mira" ?
A: No, according to the on-board computer on the Sulaco, Ferro's first name
starts with a "C". The confusion with her name is caused by Vasquez when
she says (to Ferro): [...hey mira, who's Snow White?] However, in
Spanish (Vasquez is Mexican), "mira" means "look", so Vasquez is actually
saying, "hey look, who's Snow White?".
Q: How many colonists are there?
A: There were 158 colonists on LV-426 [...you were responsible for the deaths
of 157 colonists... Ripley (Aliens)] plus Newt. This number is also
visible on a sign that was on-screen during the scene where Newt's parents
are going out to the derelict craft (director's cut only).
Q: How many aliens where on LV-426 when the marines arrived?
A: [possibly] around 156. (Newt was still alive and at least one of the other
colonists hadn't been chest-busted yet) There has been some suggestions
that the colonists had livestock that the aliens could've infected as well
(raising the number of aliens to an indeterminant amount) however there is
no evidence of livestock anywhere in the movie; furthermore, the planet
does not seem to be a habitat in which live stock could survive (there was
no vegetation on the planet).
Q: Why did Ripley risk life and limb to save Newt, but didn't give a second
thought to Dietrich and Apone?
A: In the theatrical version of the movie, it can be said that Ripley knew
exactly where Newt was because of the locater band she was wearing, thus
making rescue of Newt plausible.
A better reason exists, however it was cut from the theatrical release; the
scene where Ripley discovers that her daughter has died of old age (refer
to section [4] on cut scenes) reveals to us that her daughter was relatively
the same age as Newt the last time Ripley was with her. We can see the
parallels between Newt and the daughter that Ripley had lost.
Q: How can Ripley hang on during violent vacuum decompression while the much
stronger alien queen can't?!
A: Ripley had her arm wrapped around a step in the ladder where as the queen
only had a finger-hold on Ripley's boot, when Ripley's boot slipped off
her foot, the queen had nothing else to hold onto.
Q: Why does Ripley attempt to climb out of the pit after the queen has been
"vacuumed" out of the Sulaco? Why doesn't she just close the doors?
A: [possibly] Ripley thought that the lower door in the pit would be damaged
with the acidic blood of the queen alien, so she had to close the top doors
in order to seal up the breech. (this explanation is from the
novelization)
Q: Why doesn't anyone stay on board the Sulaco?
A: [possibly] the Sulaco is so automated that it would be unnecessary. If
another dropship was required, the station on LV-426 was equipped to
remote-pilot it down. (however, they had no idea that the equipment had
been ruined by the aliens)
Q: How has Newt survived all this time? The aliens seem to have no problem
getting around in the air ducts?
A: She can crawl through the air ducts that the aliens can't fit into. This,
combined with her knowing the air ducts so well, could keep her out of the
aliens' grasp (perhaps the aliens knew about her, but just couldn't catch
her). In the director's cut, Newt boasts to her brother that the reason
she wins their version of "hide-and-seek" is because she can get into all
those tiny crooks and crannies where no one can reach her.
Q: How does the queen know how to use an elevator, and how does she know what
floor to get off at?
A: The elevator returns automatically to the level of the platform Ripley got
off at. When she leaves the elevator (to find Newt) you see it returning
up. She comes back (with Newt) and calls both elevators. Ripley takes
the first one that arrives and it starts going up. The queen gets in the
second elevator and it automatically goes up.
Q: Are those power-loaders real?
A: Based on the Collectors Version of Aliens on Laserdisc, which comes with a
disk that shows some of the secrets of the making of the movie, the loader
is part real, part fake. The actual loader is real, but has an external
power supply. Since the loader is extremely heavy, it is supported by
cables which are masked out for the final print.
_ALIEN^3_
Q: What is the "dreaded" seven-dwarf concept for the _ALIEN^3_ script?
A: One of the earlier stages of the _ALIEN^3_ script received alot of
heat:
''...Back in New York, [Walter] Hill saw "The Navigator : An Odyssey
Across Time", a stunning but esoteric art film by an obscure New Zealand
director named Vincent Ward. But Ward said he didn't like [David]
Twohy's script. No problem, said Fox. "So I hopped on an airplane,"
says Ward," and during the flight, I had an idea that was totally
different: Sigourney would land in a community of monks in outer space
and not be accepted by them." The monks would live on a wooden planet
that looked like something out of Hieronymus Bosch, with furnaces and
windmills -- and no weapons...
FINCHER : In the draft Larry [Ferguson, Beverly Hills Cop II] was
writing, she [Ripley] was going to be this woman who had fallen from
the stars. In the end, she dies, and there are seven of the monks
left --- seven dwarfs.
Q : You're kidding?
FINCHER : Seriously. I swear to God. She was like...what's her name
in Peter Pan? She was like Wendy. And she would make up these stories.
And in the end, there were these seven dwarfs left, and there was this
fucking tube they put her in, and they were waiting for Prince Charming
to come wake her up. So that was one of the endings we had for this
movie. You can imagine what Joe Roth said when he heard this. "What?!
What are they doing over there?! What the fuck is going on?!" ''
[PREMIER magazine, May '92]
Q: How did the face-huggers get on the Sulaco?
A: The truly factual answer is that the audience wasn't supposed to question
it. Use your imagination. (several theories exist, some of which are
stated in section [12] frequently discussed topics)
Q: Did the little face-hugger critter actually do so much damage to the
Sulaco that the ship decided to EJECT the hypersleep capsules?
A: Shown at the start of the movie was a face hugger jumping on a cryo-tube,
cracking the glass and dripping some acid on the floor. The acid manages
to eat its way into the electrical system and cause a fire. The Sulaco
then ejected the hypersleep capsules (probably because it couldn't put
out the fire).
Q: I remember seeing a trailer for _ALIEN^3_ that was really different than
the movie?
A: This is true. Quite awhile before _ALIEN^3_ was finally released, there
was a "coming soon" trailer shown in several theaters. This trailer
indicated that some aliens made it to Earth and there was going to be a
massive encounter. Later on, the writers ditched the movie idea upon
release of Predator II (due to the similarity in plot) and decided to find
a new story for _ALIEN^3_.
Q: There's a prison planet: is anyone really going to spend money on
hideously expensive space travel in order to send these guys to some far-off
solar system?
A: [possibly] Historically, extremely dangerous and/or subversive-to-the-
government criminals have been shipped off (at great expense) to a new
location quite often. England regularly shipped off prisoners to
one of the American colonies (Georgia? South Carolina?) which was a
designated prison colony, as well as Australia -- a prison
*continent*. The progression of the Western legal system has been to
appeal numerous times (at great expense) to avoid death penalties.
The Company in the Alien series is a reasonable outgrowth from the
rest of Western business, why not the legal system, too? They avoid
the massive cost of incarceration and court and lawyer fees from
appeals by not having a death penalty, but shipping the prisoners off
to a "prison".
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