The Alien (Xenomorph)

"You still don't understand what you're dealing with, do you? Perfect organism. Its structural perfection is matched only by its hostility."

―Ash, regarding The Alien (from Alien)

The Alien,^[3] nicknamed "Kane's son" by Ash, was a lone Xenomorph Drone^[4] that was born on board the USCSS Nostromo from Executive Officer Gilbert Kane in 2122. The Alien was responsible for wiping out all but one of the Nostromo's crew in just a few hours. It was eventually killed by Ellen Ripley, who ejected the creature into space.

Biography

As an Egg

Facehugger grabbing Kane — Kane being attacked by a Facehugger.

The Alien began its life as one of many Ovomorphs aboard a derelict Engineer spacecraft on the moon LV-426. At some point, this spacecraft crashed on LV-426 under unclear circumstances, while at around the same time the vessel's Pilot was apparently impregnated by a Xenomorph. Before dying, the Pilot set up a warning beacon to deter any other lifeforms from investigating, and this signal was later detected by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation.

Birth

"Kane's son."

―Ash, naming The Alien after its "father" (from Alien)

In the year 2122, while returning from a job in the Solomons, the Nostromo, a commercial towing vehicle, was redirected to LV-426, supposedly in response to detecting the distress signal emanating from the planetoid; in reality, Weyland-Yutani had pre-selected the Nostromo to investigate after detecting the signal themselves, placing a Synthetic sleeper agent aboard to ensure the survival of anything that was discovered.

The Alien as Chestburster — The Alien as a Chestburster.

Three of the ship's crew — Captain Dallas Arthur, Executive Officer Gilbert Kane and navigator Joan Lambert — set off in search of the signal's origin, eventually discovering the derelict ship. While investigating, Kane stumbled across the ship's cargo of Eggs and was attacked by a Facehugger. After he was returned to the Nostromo and the ship took off, attempts to remove the Facehugger failed. Later, with embryo implantation complete, the Facehugger detached and died, leaving Kane apparently unharmed until the Chestburster within him erupted during a meal, with the creature rapidly escaping into the bowels of the ship.

Stalking the crew

Within hours, the Alien had grown into a full-sized Drone and claimed its first victim, technician Samuel Brett, who was ambushed as he searched for the ship's cat Jones; the Alien punctured his skull with its inner jaw before dragging the corpse into the Nostromo's ventilation ducts. When Captain Dallas went into the air ducts in an attempt to flush the creature into the ship's main airlock using a Flame Thrower, the Alien captured him when Dallas descended a ladder next to the Drone.

Eventually, the survivors — Ellen Ripley, Lambert and Dennis Parker — elected to set the Nostromo for self destruct and abandon the ship in its shuttle, the Narcissus, although in order to survive they needed to collect additional coolant for the shuttle's life support systems. The Alien ambushed Lambert and Parker on the lower decks while they collected the necessary supplies. While Lambert froze in fear, the Alien easily overpowered Parker and killed him with a headbite, before returning to Lambert, mutilating her, killing her and hanging her body from the ceiling.

Ripley, now alone with the creature, set the Nostromo's engines to self destruct and headed for the Narcissus, but was cornered by the Alien and cut off from the shuttle. She escaped while the Alien was distracted by Jones, left behind in a cat carrier, but was unable to shut off the ship's self destruct sequence. With no choice, she made for the shuttle again, this time finding the Alien gone and escaping before the Nostromo exploded.

Last stand

The Alien's death — The Alien being incinerated.

After preparing to enter hypersleep, Ripley discovered, to her horror, that the Alien had actually snuck aboard the Narcissus with her and was sleeping in an alcove. After donning a spacesuit, she blasted the creature with steam to lure it out, before opening the shuttle's airlock and ejecting the Drone into space just moments before it could attack her. However, it clung on in the open doorway and began to haul itself back on board; Ripley shot the Alien through its abdomen with a harpoon gun, flinging it out into space. The harpoon became caught in the closing door, tethering the Alien to the ship, and once again the wounded creature attempted to climb back aboard, this time through the shuttle's engines. Ripley ignited them, incinerating the Alien and finally hurling it away into space, killing it.

Director's Cut

In the Director's Cut of the film, the Alien is seen to have created a small Hive in the Nostromo's hold where it cocooned Brett and Dallas, with the former slowly transforming into a new Egg. Ripley discovered the nest during her escape from the ship and incinerated it, and its occupants, with a flamethrower.

List of Known Victims

Behind the Scenes

"Eggmorphing"

Main article: Eggmorphing

The canon status of the Alien's attempt to reproducing by turning a victim into a new Egg, dubbed "Eggmorphing" by fans, is hotly debated to this day. Owing to the fact the scene in Alien showing this was not officially released until the Director's Cut in 2003, it is not clear whether both forms of Xenomorph reproduction (Eggs laid by a Queen, as seen in Aliens, and Eggs created from captured victims, as seen in the Director's Cut of Alien) are typical of the species. Many fans postulate that Xenomorphs use the Eggmorphing tactic as a secondary means of reproduction in the absence of a Queen, and possibly to create a Queen in the first place. This theory is backed up by the novelization of Alien³, which claims that both methods can be used, depending on the situation, and the latter is capable of creating a Queen.^[5] To date, the Alien³ novel is the only official source that attempts to ratify both methods.

Despite being cut from the film, the Eggmorphing scene was fairly well-known at the time of Alien's release. Notably, the idea of victims being turned into Eggs in such a manner resurfaced in several of the unfilmed scripts for Alien³, chiefly Eric Red's screenplay. In fact, early shooting scripts for the film that was ultimately made featured a scene where the survivors discover a small Hive constructed by the Dragon, inside which the creature has cocooned several of its victims and is apparently turning them into new Eggs. However, the sequence was cut before filming.

Prototype translucent suit

Alien-PrototypeSuit6 2. — The suit as it looks today.

The prototype translucent suit was created during pre-production as was one of the first (if not the first) suits to be struck from the original Alien sculpted by Giger. One of their original concepts for the creature was to be almost translucent, allowing viewers to see the eerie internal workings of the body, but the special material was particularly rigid and proved to be too inflexible for the film's requirements and the concept was scrapped in favor of the opaque skin creating the dark, mysterious 'barely seen' look.

Crafted from a special latex, today the suit is in a delicate condition and consists of a torso, left arm and hand as well as a pair of legs and solid translucent resin head. Due to the sheer age of the suit it has begun to display signs of deterioration showing cracks and missing sections that have become detached over the years, most notably the right arm, neck, dome and part of the right side of the skull. It appears that the tail and dorsal tubes were never made for this suit, as neither of the two are seen in any behind the scenes pictures of the suit. To ensure maximum longevity the Prop Store had the suit professionally treated and placed over a perfectly fitted display model using a combination of special adhesive and cream latex, which all help support the suit.

The suit was acquired by the Prop Store from the personal collection of line manage Ivor Powell and the suit was sold by the Prop Store with bespoke base that incorporates the movie title, and the overall ensemble measured over 2m (79“) tall, by approximately 53cm x 85cm (20“ x “33.5). Due to the suit's delicate condition and size a specialist shipping service was required and customers would request a quote before ordering.^[6]

Trivia

Many fans have given the Alien in Alien various nicknames to differentiate it from other Xenomorphs, such as "Big Chap", "Kane's son" (a phrase actually spoken in the movie by Ash) and "Giger's Alien" after it's designer, H. R. Giger.
- "Giger's Alien" is also the name of a book by Giger describing his experiences working on Alien.
Following Alien's release, one reviewer stated that the titular creature "made the shark in Jaws look like a goldfish", such was its horrifying impact and presence.^[7]
The fully grown Alien in the novelization of the movie is quite different to that in the film. It has an alarming ability to regenerate after sustaining injury, possesses large eyes,^[8] and notably does not have an inner jaw, instead using its bare hands to kill its victims.
While the Alien does not have eyes in the film, it does have human eyesockets in its skull under its domed carapace. While they are difficult to discern in the movie, they are quite visible in production stills of the suit.
According to the book Alien Vault: The Definitive Story of the Making of the Film, the Alien originally had a four-day lifespan and the reason it hid within the Narcissus was because it was looking for a perfect place to die alone.
The American Film Institute ranked the Alien as the fourteenth best villain in American film history in their list of the 100 greatest heroes and villains.
The Lurker caste seen in Aliens: Colonial Marines is obviously inspired by the Alien's design.
The Alien has a small barb on the tip of its tail, whereas other Drones have typically been portrayed as having more Warrior-like blades. Its head is also more transparent and if one is to look closely, they will be able to see the Alien's skull.
The Alien will make an appearance as the primary antagonist in the Alien: Isolation DLC Crew Expendable and Last Survivor