Brett being transformed into an Egg.
"Eggmorphing" is a process by which Xenomorphs are capable of transforming non-Xenomorph organic material into a viable Egg. It is in essence an alternate means of reproduction that does not require the presence of an Egg-laying Queen. The concept originates from a deleted scene in Alien, and despite the fact all reference to it was removed from the theatrical release of the film, Eggmorphing has gone on to be a noteworthy aspect of the Alien franchise.
Overview
While the mechanics of the process are unknown, essentially it involves the Xenomorph cocooning a victim and subsequently converting them into a new Egg containing a Facehugger. Notably, the victim does not need to be alive for this process to be successful — deceased matter is equally viable, as was the case with Samuel Brett.[1] Typically, a second, live victim would be cocooned alongside the Eggmorphing subject, thereby providing a viable host for the Facehugger, once it has developed.
Behind the Scenes
Alien
Eggmorphing was originally to be witnessed during the climax of Alien, when Ripley discovers Dallas and Brett cocooned in the Nostromo's hold, with Brett being transformed into an Egg. The entire sequence was cut as director Ridley Scott felt it slowed down the final act of the film.[2] However, the scene did appear in the movie's novelization,[3] and was referenced in the novelizations of the sequel films.
The Book of Alien, which first revealed the existence of the Eggmorphing scene.
Unlike many deleted scenes from movies, especially from the time period, the lost Eggmorphing scene actually became fairly well known following the film's release, and not just as a result of its inclusion in the novel. The existence of a filmed version of the scene was first confirmed in the behind the scenes book The Book of Alien,[4] published to coincide with the release of the movie. Several other publications from the same year also mentioned the cut sequence, including the Officially Authorized Magazine of the Movie and two articles in the monthly magazine Famous Monsters of Filmland (issues 158 and 159), both of which were produced by Warren Publishing.[5] In 1992, the actual footage of the scene was released to the public for the first time, along with several other deleted scenes from the movie, as part of the LaserDisc release of Alien.[5] The scene was subsequently discussed in numerous sources, including the book Giger's Alien and an issue of Aliens magazine,[6] while the footage went on to appear on various other home video releases, as well as in documentaries on the making of the film, starting with The Alien Legacy. Finally, in 2003, the Eggmorphing scene was reinstated (albeit partially) into the film for its Director's Cut.
With the removal of the Eggmorphing scene, the manner in which the Xenomorph Eggs were originally created was left unclear in Alien. When James Cameron came to make the sequel Aliens, he devised the Queen as a means to fill the Xenomorph's reproductive gap. Even before the release of the Director's Cut of Alien, the Eggmorphing scene was fairly well known, and fans have for many years debated whether the two differing means of Xenomorph reproduction can co-exist, or whether Eggmorphing should be disregarded as a retconned curio, given that it was originally deleted from the first movie. The issue of these differing methods of reproduction has largely been ignored in official sources, the only notable exception being the novelization of Alien3, which states that both forms of reproduction are typical of the species, and that either can be used to create more Xenomorphs, dependant on the situation.[7]
Later appearances and references
Despite its removal from Alien, the process of Eggmorphing appeared in several of the unproduced scripts written for Alien3, most notably Eric Red's unproduced script. A similar scene was included in early versions of the final shooting script for the third film, but was again cut from the movie, this time before filming.
Following the release of Alien: Isolation, it was theorized that Eggmorphing may have been responsible for the Eggs seen in the Hive aboard Sevastopol Station. However, the game's developers later confirmed that a Queen was in fact the source of the Eggs, she merely remains unseen in the game.[8]
Trivia
- Some have theorized that Eggmorphing could be the means by which Xenomorphs create a Queen.
- Quotes from Ridley Scott seem to imply that Eggmorphing actually involves the human 'host' serving simply as a source of nutrients or 'yolk' for the growing Egg, rather than physically becoming the Egg itself, as is typically assumed.[9]
Appearances
- Alien Director's Cut/novel
- Aliens (novel) (mentioned only)
- Alien3 (novel) (mentioned only)
- Alien vs Predator (1993 video game)
- Alien vs Predator (1994 Jaguar video game)
Gallery
Behind the scenes
References
- ↑ Dan O'Bannon, Ronald Shusett (writers), Ridley Scott (director). Alien Director's Cut (2003), 20th Century Fox [DVD].
- ↑ Ridley Scott, Dan O'Bannon, Ronald Shusett, H. R. Giger. The Alien Legacy (1999), Sharpline Arts [DVD].
- ↑ Alan Dean Foster. Alien, p. 272 (1979), Warner Books.
- ↑ Paul Scanlon, Michael Gross. The Book of Alien, p. 97 (1979), Heavy Metal Press.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Weyland-Yutani Archives - Alien: The Special Edition That Never Happened". Retrieved on 2015-09-11.
- ↑ Dave Hughes, Lee Brimmicombe-Wood. Aliens, Vol. 2 #18, p. 35 (1993), Dark Horse International.
- ↑ Alan Dean Foster. Alien3, p. 213 (1992), Warner Books.
- ↑ "AVP Galaxy - Interview with Alien: Isolation Writers Will Porter and Dion Lay". Retrieved on 2015-02-03.
- ↑ "Strange Shapes - Egg-Morph". Retrieved on 2014-09-03.