posted
He had time to set the ship down and record a warning signal, at least IIRC. Does anyone remember, exactly? Was the alien problem only discovered after the ship set down?
-------------------- "This is why you people think I'm so unknowable. You don't listen!" - God, "God, the Devil and Bob"
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posted
The warning signal might have been activated on the pilot's lifesigns terminating. He was the only occupant of the ship after all. I wonder what happened to the Alien that got the pilot.... You'd think it would be pretty big. On the other hand, the derilect may have been there for hundreds of years (assuming the laser barrier thingie over the eggs kept them in stasis.)
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
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posted
Doesn't it take longer than a few hundred years for organic matter to fossilize?
Also, I don't believe the Space Jockey was alone in there. If the team had had time to search the ship floor-by-floor, something more ought to have turned up.
What I don't get is why the team acted so blas� when finding the first sign ever of extraterrestial intelligence. They should've been a bit more happy and anxious, IMO. :-)
One really strange thing is that although the derelict ship sits in a very strange angle in the bedrock, the floors are levelled normally in the Space Jockey room and the egg chamber. So what the heck did this thing look like when it flew? Has there ever been an attempt at drawing it intact? Any sketches from HR Giger?
[ September 23, 2003, 10:00 PM: Message edited by: Nim ]
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posted
A company called Horizon made a model of the Derilict ship from the studio models and Geiger's designs. Kinda irregular horseshoe shaped and very organic.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
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posted
Interesting stuff. I did wonder why the ship looked a little different in Aliens. Now if only there was a similar letter from Ridley Scott.
As for the shape of the derelict, there is a shot of the original artwork by HRG on which the ship's design is based in the Alien DVD. Basically those protrusions we see sticking out are the tail ends of a 'U' shaped vessel. From dialog in the novel those are theorised as being the engines.
Regarding the circumstances of the ship's infection and subsequent landing, I agree with Cameron. Sometimes it's best not to know. However it's not too hard the theorise a believable scenario, it's not like an intelligent audience needs to be spoon fed every conceivable plot-point.
quote: Doesn't it take longer than a few hundred years for organic matter to fossilize?
I'm not sure exactly, I think it depends on the chemistry involved. However I am slightly curious just what the organic material would be replaced by in the environment. Still the timescale doesn't really matter, it could have been there 1,000 years or 1,000,000. Either way the results are the same.
quote: Also, I don't believe the Space Jockey was alone in there. If the team had had time to search the ship floor-by-floor, something more ought to have turned up.
If it was as organic on the inside as it was on the outside then I don't believe it had 'floors' per-say, at least not in the naval sense. More likely just a set of interconnected chambers and passageways. Still the possibility of other crewmembers is there, however if that were the case then surely a hive would have been established. If that were so then I don't think the queen would have left all those eggs unattended.
quote: One really strange thing is that although the derelict ship sits in a very strange angle in the bedrock, the floors are levelled normally in the Space Jockey room and the egg chamber.
If the beacon and the 'stasis field' was still opperational then it's reasonable to assume that the artificial gravity still worked too.
posted
Yeah, if only a chestburster could have gotten them both...
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
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That page combines several magazine interviews with the writers, Ridley Scott and HR Giger, along with snippets from the DVD commentary plus bits from the novelization and other sources. It covers everything, except the parts they intentionally left unexplored and confusing. Mmm...
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-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
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quote:To connect things further, in the silo the Alien Life Cycle Hieroglyphics had been changed in terms of the appearance of the victim, which was at first an anonymous astronaut but soon Giger altered it to resemble a member of the Space Jockey's race, and this frieze was filmed but left out of the final film.
I wonder if that will make it in the Halloween show.. I don't recall it in the director's cut.
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posted
At 200 meters across, that's be a lot of unseen space in the derilict. The egg-chamber thing could be in that seperate prong like structure towards the "aft". Or anywhere, really.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
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I believe Ripley speculated that the alien in #1 was making a nest possibly to make a queen. I also believe the #3 book had Ripley talking about a dream of being raped. Which explains why the queen wasn't in her chest, but abdomen. As for the alien ship, it reminds me of my airbrush crossed with a cinnamon role. I think its better that we didn't see it all at once.
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