This could easily be composed of many, but I wanted to create the perfect organism.
Development
Contrary to popular belief, Alien didn't begin as Project Star Beast.
Memory (1971)
So-called because when peeps land on dead planetoid to investigate source of a mysterious alien transmission, they begin to lose their shit.
29 page treatment included a very sketchy cast.
Bridge:
Jim Hamilton, Captain
Dan Webster, Navigator
Harry Wallberg, Communications
Internal Systems Room:
Eric Hartwig, Ship's Systems
Engine Room:
Roy Fisher, Engine Tech
Concept echoes Simak's Junkyard, a story published in Galaxy Science Fiction, May 1953.
The Original Screenplay (1976)
Characters had different names, computer is nameless, Jones is just called Kitty and there's no Ash.
Chaz Standard, Captain (Dallas)
Martin Roby, Executive Officer (Ripley)
Dell Broussard, Navigator (Kane)
Sandy Melkonis, Communications (Lambert)
Cleeve Hunter, Mining Engineer (Parker)
Jay Faust, Engine Tech (Brett)
Observe this footnote.
The crew is unisex and all parts are interchangeable for men or women.
Graphic novel
Dark Horse published gorgeous five-piece between August-December 2020.
The visuals, design of the ships and the Alien are based on the descriptions in the screenplay, which was written before the involvement of H.R. Giger, Moebius, or Ron Cobb.
Check out Dallas's service record in 1999 DVD boxset The Alien Legacy.
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| Mar 11, 2100 to Jan 09, 2101 USCSS Snark |
Yes, the Nostromo was originally called...
Novelisation (1979)
Alan Dean Foster retained much of TOS and written word can be significantly different to film.
Alien: The Illustrated Story (1979)
Comic was much like the above (albeit to a lesser extent) and Walter Simonson's art was lauded.
In space, we can hear 'influence' scream
"I didn't steal Alien from anybody," screenwriter Dan O'Bannon once said. "I stole from everybody."
And he wasn't fucking kidding.
Films
Ridley Scott's influential classic is essentially a reworking of It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958).
Others on his radar.
20 Million Miles to Earth (1957)
The Angry Red Planet (1959)
Queen of Blood (1966)
Green Slime (1969)
The X from Outer Space (1967)
Forbidden Planet (1956)
Dallas, Lambert and Kane exploring planetoid is eerily similar to Mario Bava's Planet of the Vampires.
Landscape
Pilot in cockpit vs giant skeleton
Spaceship
They can deny it all they want.
Literature
Plague From Space - Harry Harrison
Major Operation - James White
At the Mountains of Madness - H. P. Lovecraft
Time in Advance - William Tenn (pseudonym of Philip Klass)
The Voyage of the Space Beagle (1950)
'Fix-up' compilation is composed of four previously published stories.
Ignoring War of Nerves and M33 in Andromeda...
Black Destroyer (Astounding, July 1939)
Passing itself off as dumb, the Coeurl infiltrates and wreaks havoc aboard ship.
Discord on Scarlet (Astounding, December 1939)
Obsessed with its own reproduction, lxtl kidnaps and implants parasitic eggs inside crew.
So when put together, you've got Alien.
A. E. van Vogt successfully sued 20th Century Fox for plagiarising chapter meat and case was eventually settled out of court for $50,000.
Chestburster
O'Bannon altered H.R. Giger's initial designs and technical elements were added by Ron Cobb.
Production team baulked at Giger's 'plucked turkey', so on-screen result was created by Ridley Scott.
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| Hello! Ma Baby. |
Idea was literally born from forgotten comic book shorts (intended for mature audiences).
Death Rattle #1, June 1972
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| Defiled Two lives break from the body at once, one ending, another just beginning. The "Child" emerges bloody, slippery, hungry. |
Seeds of Jupiter
Poor old Peachpit isn't given time to regret swallowing seed.
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| Preparations for an emergency operation are hastily made! Meanwhile 'Peachpit's' stomach has expanded to a grotesque size... |
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| As the doctor's deft hand wields the scalpel, 'Peachpit's' breathing stops! He is dead! Suddenly... |
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| The hideous creature that the doctor's scalpel has freed slithers to the floor of the laboratory and scurries toward the door... |
We'll never know if Giger took inspiration for facehugger.
Extended universe
Footage of Amanda Ripley-McClaren was first edited back into the heavily censored 1989 TV version of Aliens: Special Edition.
Most of us experienced that (and a whole lot more) either on LaserDisc (1991) or VHS (1992).
Whatever, 25 real-time years later...
Alien: Isolation
Prequel comic (July 2014)
Prior to Amanda arriving on Sevastopol Station, three stories (Pins, A Decent Man and A Warm Place) intertwine.
Video game (October 2014)
2137.
Fifteen years after Alien, Amanda Ripley's search for her mother begins on Sevastopol.
Aboard the Anesidora, Ellen's message left on flight recorder assures she's okay, but stuck on a lifeboat, a long way out.
Eventually, Amanda ejects herself from the Torrens to escape xeno.
Gameplay was frustrating as fuck, but luscious visuals, intense atmosphere and lo-fi distortion demands we brave shit out.
Web series (February 2019)
All seven episodes initially dropped on IGN's channel.
Novel (July 2019)
Largely faithful, but for the sake of simplicity, trims gameplay sections. Also, backstory reveals protagonist had a rocky relationship with stepfather Paul Carter.
Alien: Blackout (January 2019)
Despite taking place just days after Isolation, mobile game is NOT a sequel.
Amanda is stranded aboard the Mendel Station (whose crew rescued her).
When members of the USCSS Haldin are forced to dock to repair their craft, Ripley uses surveillance cameras to guide them to safety.
Aliens: Defiance (April 2016-June 2017)
2137-2138.
Twelve-issue xenothon marks the introduction of Private First Class Zula Hendricks, who along with rogue synthetic Davis 01, are determined to prevent alien samples falling into the hands of Weyland-Yutani, who plan to clone monsters.
Aliens: Resistance (January-April 2019)
2140.
Serving as a sequel to both Isolation and Defiance, we follow Zula and Amanda, as they attempt to scupper xenomorph weapons program.
Along the way, they're briefly attacked by deadly experimental synthetics called Franklin (likely inspired by Working Joes) and rescue Alec Brand on jungle moon.
Aliens: Rescue (July-October 2019)
2140.
Colonist turned marine Alec Brand rendezvous with Amanda and Zula to exterminate xeno infestation on a classified planet.
Alien: Prototype (October 2019)
Set between the novelisation of Isolation and Aliens: Resistance, Zula takes up a job training security recruits at Jericho 3 for Venture's Colony Protection Force.
Following a secret experiment on xeno egg brought by Venture's corporate spy Tamar, Dr. Gagnon selects Hassan for 'medical research', resulting in facehugger doing its thing.
When born, xeno has inherited Hassan's cellular necrosis, giving licence to infect victims with deadly pathogen.
Discovering that creature's mesoskeleton is virtually impervious to gunfire, Zula and her crack team must find another way to destroy 'Necromorph'.
Alien: Out of the Shadows (January 2014)
2159.
While orbiting above LV-148, the Marion's crew dig for trimonite, the hardest material known to man.
But activities awaken something evil hibernating below the planet's surface.
After the Marion's distress signal is detected by the Narcissus, shuttle is rerouted to rendezvous with the Marion.
It's revealed that at some point before Nostromo went boom, Ash uploaded his AI to shuttle's systems.
Well, it never hurts to plan ahead.
Ripley is thrust into a new nightmare with Hoop and co.
Of course it will never happen, but Tim Lebbon's interquel would've made a kick ass film.
Regardless, here's how this leads to Aliens.
Towards the end, Hoop wipes recent events from Ripley's memory. He then carries her unconscious body to the Narcissus and places her back in stasis. Also, Ash is destroyed once and for all with a virus.
Cool.
20 years later, she's found by a deep-salvage team on 16 May, 2179, as established by Ripley's profile in The Alien Legacy and Christopher Golden's River of Pain.
