Best pic of an Alien

[Corporal Hicks]

Also the Alien was anything but fast in the original movie, it seems very slow and deliberate in every shot. The creatures speed didn't really show up until later installments.

For me it was the slowness that always made it so horrific.  It felt like the Alien stood over Brett for about 8 seconds before it took him down.  It literally enjoyed his fear. Later films lost this element, one might argue to their detriment.

We project so much onto this creature. Nothing indicates it enjoyed anything. What ALIEN did allow for is interpretation, it let your mind do a lot of the work. I don't think there was room for that in the sequels, really. Once it's been done it's been done. O'Bannon claimed you should only see the original movie once for the same reason. I don't agree with that but he's on point that you can't really replicate those feelings without being derivative.

It's funny because that's something Creative Assembly talked about when they did Isolation. There's so many impressions people have of the Alien in Alien that just doesn't fit with what is actually on screen when you dissect it.

[Valaquen]

Also the Alien was anything but fast in the original movie, it seems very slow and deliberate in every shot. The creatures speed didn't really show up until later installments.

For me it was the slowness that always made it so horrific.  It felt like the Alien stood over Brett for about 8 seconds before it took him down.  It literally enjoyed his fear. Later films lost this element, one might argue to their detriment.

We project so much onto this creature. Nothing indicates it enjoyed anything. What ALIEN did allow for is interpretation, it let your mind do a lot of the work. I don't think there was room for that in the sequels, really. Once it's been done it's been done. O'Bannon claimed you should only see the original movie once for the same reason. I don't agree with that but he's on point that you can't really replicate those feelings without being derivative.

It's funny because that's something Creative Assembly talked about when they did Isolation. There's so many impressions people have of the Alien in Alien that just doesn't fit with what is actually on screen when you dissect it.

I mean some people believe the Alien somehow lured Brett into the leg room to his death. Really, most of the characters except for Dallas just bump into it.

[Vermillion]

It was lightening fast when it took out Parker.

I saw Parker rush over only for the alien to swing around and knock him down with his tail, then it hovered over him for a drawn out head bite. None of that came across as speed IMO, powerful yes though.

Um.  The swing around was speed.  Not power. 

Plus. The head bites are always drawn out too long. 

[426Buddy]

The swing around wasn't that fast, the impact sent Parker flying back... powerfully.

Going to have to agree to disagree on this one me thinks. Personally I didn't see any real speed from the Alien in the 1st film, certainly nothing "lightning fast".

[Vermillion]

It's all in the reflexes.

[426Buddy]

It's all in the reflexes.

Okay you got me there, very fast reflexes. 

[RidgeTop]

Curious, how do you enter screenshot mode and get rid of the HUD?

[Elmazalman]

I thought the original Alien moved fast enough.Graceful as well as vicious and would strike unerringly like a snake-never missing it's target.

[windebieste]

Curious, how do you enter screenshot mode and get rid of the HUD?

You need 2 pieces of software:  Cheat Engine and a prepared Cheat Table that configures it specifically to the desired game.  I don't have links to either of these items but I'm sure the Great Sage, Google can help you there.

We get some indication of how fast the Alien can move when it is being monitored on the motion tracker.  Dallas is hunched over and he's what, 6ft tall inside a vent that barely accommodates him.  The Alien is almost 8' tall and moves around with at least as much ease, maybe even faster.  So if it can move with that speed in a severely restricted space, in the open it would be even faster.

It just chooses to savor those moments where it's prey is trapped and cannot escape.  It's like that final moment in Chess when the checkmate has been reached and both parties stare at the board, knowing "Oh... it's all over now."

-Windebieste.

[426Buddy]

Good point windebieste, that does give a better indication of its intended speed.

While I was at work today I also thought about when it took Brett up the chains, that had to have been pretty quick.

[Vermillion]

It's a scary-ass unpredictable Mofo. 

And a bit sexual-tyrannosaurus

[Perfect-Organism]

It's a scary-ass unpredictable Mofo. 

And a bit sexual-tyrannosaurus

Ha ha!  So true.  It's really Giger's influence that makes it so frightening.  I read a story about Giger getting a human skull when he was a boy and pulling it along on a string...  In fact, I just took a break from typing and found the article as per below:

http://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/dark-star-hr-gigers-world/Content?oid=4278768

as a boy he was given a human skull by his father. The grisly present terrified little Hansruedi, but he learned to conquer his fright by tying a string to the skull and pulling it down the street with him, to show he was unafraid of death.

What I got from this, is that the human skull became a vehicle of sorts with a morbid forward motion.  I can see how the Alien head may have come from this inspiration.  I mean it is in a way a stylized speed-form of the skull.  Also, the Skull train from Species had a similar effect.  What makes it scare is how deep is the psychological root of the monster.

[Corporal Hicks]

Happy birthday to Brad Dourif.

as a boy he was given a human skull by his father. The grisly present terrified little Hansruedi, but he learned to conquer his fright by tying a string to the skull and pulling it down the street with him, to show he was unafraid of death.

What an insanely odd gift that goes a long way toward describing why Giger is Giger.

[426Buddy]

Brad dourif is great, has so many lil roles he made memorable. I always grin when he pops up in a movie.

[Corporal Hicks]

Paul Johnson's gorgeous cover art for #202 of the Aliens Magazine. Thanks to XenoZipper for sharing his scan.

Brad dourif is great, has so many lil roles he made memorable. I always grin when he pops up in a movie.

I do love Dourif. I do think he was misused in Resurrection though. Same as Leland Orser. They could have done some really interesting things with those characters.

Some pictures from the ADI Facebook today -










And a lovely one here