A Return to Giger's Alien Design?

[Corporal Hicks]

I can't recall a single scene in Alien where you could see the skull behind the dome.  One can only make that connection after seeing some of the concept art in various books.

The skull was never visible in the film. Personally, I've always loved the empty skull. I think it looks creepier for the fact that where you expect eyes to be, there is literally nothing. I'm of the opinion that the Newborn should have just been the cowl-less Alien with some other changes.

Just because they might put it in, doesn't mean we'll actually see it under the lighting. Predalien Queen had a translucent dome but you'd have never been able to tell.

That's a fair point. However, I'd think since it would be visible in the comics and don't want it being used that it might be because they intend to make it visible in the film too.

It doesn't have to be massively obvious but the original Spaihts' script referenced it quite nicely:

"For one moment Downs's flashlight beam illuminates the Alien. A nightmare image, a translucent white goblin. Backlit, it shows the strange shape of a human face inside its fleshy skull. A mockery of Holloway."

Disclaimer for that quote: it's O'Bannon's recollection; Giger said (if I remember correctly) in his diary that he made a cast of a real skull that he owned. Since he was cutting it into pieces I don't think he wanted to use the real one. I will absolutely have to double-check that, though. There are plenty of real animal bones in the suit, though.

I was thinking about this last night too. They had multiple heads made for the film too and it's unlikely all of them would be real skulls. I look forward to seeing what you find.

[irn]

Maybe they'll retcon and finally realise Dan O' Bannon's vision. 

[whiterabbit]

Maybe they'll retcon and finally realise Dan O' Bannon's vision. 

http://i.imgur.com/LKvAYHZ.jpg

haha, maybe it'll make a cameo at the very least.

However, even though you couldn't see the skull under the aliens dome, it was there right?

[NickisSmart]

It was there. I think because of the way they lit it, it's hard to see, however, except in certain production stills. It kind of reminds me of Brigitte Helm as Maria, in Metropolis! when she is inside the suit. We can't see her but know she is there, or at least, the director did.

[Corporal Hicks]

You can't see it in the film but you can see it plenty in the behind the scenes still. It was just the way it was filmed that made it not show up.

[Perfect-Organism]

If it's not in the films then it didn't happen canonwise.  Now mind you Ridley could change all that if he wants to, but I stand with my position that one of the greatest features of the Alien is it's lack of any perceptible vision apparatus.  That's what makes it so Alien, and unrelatable.  Give it eyes or eye sockets and it implies a level of interspecies communication that the Alien IMO shouldn't have.  Don't forget the Newborn.  It was mostly the eyes that ruined it...

[Corporal Hicks]

Eyes would ruin it. Eye sockets - I disagree. They're literally empty, void, dead holes in the head where you would expect sensory organs to be but there are none. That is just as creepy as we see it in the film, if not more, to me.

[426Buddy]

I agree on the empty sockets, they are a very creepy image.

I was always really big on the Alien being so very alien to me. Unfortunately when you think about it, they facehugger itself is practically designed for a human head, not a Jockey. Also now with Prometheus, Ridley has linked both the Alien and the Engineers directly to humanity, now sadly much of that "alien-ness" is now lost for me, probably forever.

[Corporal Hicks]

If we're going down the route of the Jockey's creating a lot of sentient life in the universe, that might suggest there'd be a design template. If we're also supposing that the Engineers themselves have been created by another race (the true Space Jockeys?) that are just emulating their creators, it would be possible that the Engineers also follow that template to a degree. Perhaps the facehuggers are designed as the red button for any of those creations?

[426Buddy]

I can get behind a lot of those ideas, still, perhaps inevitably, it does wipe away the eldritch and alien-ness of the whole thing.

It doesnt ruin the series for me, not by a long shot, but it is a bit of a bummer.

[Stolen]

Maybe they'll retcon and finally realise Dan O' Bannon's vision. 

http://i.imgur.com/LKvAYHZ.jpg

This would be perfect in a new Tremors movie!

The only one

[whiterabbit]

Eyes would ruin it. Eye sockets - I disagree. They're literally empty, void, dead holes in the head where you would expect sensory organs to be but there are none. That is just as creepy as we see it in the film, if not more, to me.

I agree with this.

If we're going down the route of the Jockey's creating a lot of sentient life in the universe, that might suggest there'd be a design template. If we're also supposing that the Engineers themselves have been created by another race (the true Space Jockeys?) that are just emulating their creators, it would be possible that the Engineers also follow that template to a degree. Perhaps the facehuggers are designed as the red button for any of those creations?

The orrery had what appeared to be 7 star systems. An original concept of Alien was that there were 8 types of eggs that each held a different type of Alien.

So perhaps they engineer the red button solution before creating a particular type of life. Just shooting into the wind here. 

[oduodu]

I really like the facehugger red button idea. The goo being the liquid packaged version.

Yes eyeless soulless eye sockets. Like on the pyramid in Prometheus.