Xenomorph Origins

[Corporal Hicks]

That was one of the most interesting aspects of Labyrinth. I'd love to see that kind of intelligence in a film.

[Valaquen]

I remember in the original O'Bannon script that the eggs were originally described as urns with strange markings

They were always eggs in O'Bannon's script. They were simply mistaken for urns. Melkonis says: "At first I thought they were jars too, or artifacts anyway. But they're not. They're eggs, or spore casings."

[SiL]

That was one of the most interesting aspects of Labyrinth. I'd love to see that kind of intelligence in a film.

Doesn't even go against people who like Aliens to be space-ants. Certain ants "farm" aphids.

[Xhan]

I found this while going thru some of my Starlog magazines.  I'd rate this as goofy.

I laugh every time I see that.

so bad.

[Kel G 426]

I like Spaihts idea that the Aliens were designed specifically to destroy ancient humans.  It makes sense to me.

[meshuggah]

I remember in the original O'Bannon script that the eggs were originally described as urns with strange markings

They were always eggs in O'Bannon's script. They were simply mistaken for urns. Melkonis says: "At first I thought they were jars too, or artifacts anyway. But they're not. They're eggs, or spore casings."

Yeah I knew that, hence why I said they were originally described as urns, not that they were actually urns. That early description in the script obviously influenced Prometheus. Anyway, I think it's easier to think that the engineers simply created the eggs to incubate the facehuggers they extract from female wombs, obviously they would have to extract them at an early stage. I came to this mostly because Ridley wanted the interior of the engineer's helmet to be molded from stomach lining, much like the interior of the eggs. Ergo, I surmise that the flight suit is made from the same material. Also, there were different sized urns in the ampule chamber, I think each urn contains a different "mix", if you will, where the large urns are the big daddies, our classic xenos. I think Darkhorse are going to shed more light on this stuff with their final comic in the Fire and Stone series.

[Valaquen]

I remember in the original O'Bannon script that the eggs were originally described as urns with strange markings

They were always eggs in O'Bannon's script. They were simply mistaken for urns. Melkonis says: "At first I thought they were jars too, or artifacts anyway. But they're not. They're eggs, or spore casings."

Yeah I knew that, hence why I said they were originally described as urns, not that they were actually urns.

Sorry dude.

Also, in early scripts by Giler and Hill, they describe the egg silo as being piled up with "urns" in a manner that's also reminiscent of the stockpiles in Prometheus. I don't know if that's a coincidence or not.

[Elmazalman]

I remember in the original O'Bannon script that the eggs were originally described as urns with strange markings

They were always eggs in O'Bannon's script. They were simply mistaken for urns. Melkonis says: "At first I thought they were jars too, or artifacts anyway. But they're not. They're eggs, or spore casings."

Yeah I knew that, hence why I said they were originally described as urns, not that they were actually urns.

Sorry dude.

Also, in early scripts by Giler and Hill, they describe the egg silo as being piled up with "urns" in a manner that's also reminiscent of the stockpiles in Prometheus. I don't know if that's a coincidence or not.

Like poor Yorick's head in Prometheus?

[Doktor Wunderbar]

So it seems to me that there are two possible interpretations of the information we have.

1.  The Engineers created xenomorphs as a weapon, and created the black liquid as another weapon.  Somehow, the two are related enough that there's a xenomorph mural in the urn room, and related enough for a series of black liquid contamination events to ultimately produce something like the Deacon.

2.  The Engineers found the xenomorphs, whose unique and essentially impossible biology became the foundation for the Engineers' technology ("new alloys, new vaccines," to echo Gediman).  Their ability to borrow the genetic characteristics of their hosts became the basis for the Engineers' black liquid, which manipulates DNA and which can apparently transfer Engineer DNA to lower lifeforms.  Their structural biology became the basis for Engineer architecture and shipbuilding, explaining the Gigeresque designs of Engineer construction.  The mural in the urn room was an expression of reverence for the creature which gave them their technology, and the Deacon was either a product of the re-emergence of xenomorph traits following serial black liquid contamination events, or a product of xenomorph DNA in the "weaponized" black oil on LV-223, as opposed to the terraforming/species building black oil used in the opening sequence.

Personally, I prefer the second option.  As others have mentioned, it makes the xenomorph seem much more eldritch - it predates the Engineers, who are already billions of years old, and it is a product of the cold, unfeeling processes of the universe itself rather than a product of mere tinkering.  It also gives a bit more meaning to the title of the latest film.  The titan Prometheus gave man fire, which is both incredibly useful and incredibly destructive.  Hypothesis 2 would have the Engineers finding the xenomorph an incredibly useful gift from the cosmos, but the Jockey on LV-426 would have found it incredibly destructive as well (and at least until the next film comes out, I like to imagine that the entire species learned the same thing).

[Chris!(($$))!]

Been a long time since I posted and I do agree with what Doktor said with option 2.

BUT I also think they hand intents to create a species of Xenomorphs that could be used as weapons. The "stasis fields" on the Derelict were used to alter the Xenomorph coding so that they would die after wiping out their target similar to ideas in ALIEN. These Xenos were also weaker.

I think we have yet to see a Xenomorph at it's full potential. Unrestricted by a Engineer, people, etc. Then again the idea of the chicken or the egg is even more dominant and unanswerable if the Xenomorphs are a natural species... what would the true original Xenomorph look like.  As cliche and campy as it sounds I'd like to see a character in a future movie find this original Xenomorph and mistake it for God or perhaps Satan. It would actually sorta fit in with the symbolic ideas Prometheus has and its sequels will have I'm sure.

I really wish a good creative team of writers could team up with a director (Preferably someone who clearly respects and loves the original 2... or 3) to continue the franchise. I trust Ridley Scott's direction and his ideas but his choice of writers seems to be pretty poor.

[Local Trouble]

I prefer to believe that the engineers used the aliens to depopulate inhabited worlds of potentially dangerous natives and pave the way for colonization.  In other words, they would serve the engineers in much the same way as the USCM served the company.

[magical_boy]

I like Spaihts idea that the Aliens were designed specifically to destroy ancient humans.  It makes sense to me.

That does sound interesting...and we don't go to waste either!

[hfeldhaus]

I prefer to believe that the engineers used the aliens to depopulate inhabited worlds of potentially dangerous natives and pave the way for colonization.  In other words, they would serve the engineers in much the same way as the USCM served the company.

that would be the route i'd go down. it would give a film a nice juxtaposition. as far as the alien's origin i couldn't care. i dont want to see them being created by engineers or an attempt at their homeworld. leave that for the EU

[Local Trouble]

I like Spaihts idea that the Aliens were designed specifically to destroy ancient humans.  It makes sense to me.

That does sound interesting...and we don't go to waste either!

Too anthropocentric for my tastes.  I prefer the idea that the aliens can breed within virtually any animalistic organism so long as they're within a certain size range that the facehuggers are capable of attaching to.

And then, for the purpose of depopulating an ecosystem of any species too large to breed within, the adult alien soldiers could swarm and kill them outright like a pack of hyenas taking down a water buffalo.

[Space7Horror]

The way I have always looked at it was that the Alien species is naturally occurring and the engineers found it which led them to study it. They realize it is too dangerous and uncontrollable and harvest its DNA to create a better weapon which is the black goo. 
Im hoping that this is what they go if they touch apon the topic in a sequal because saying that the engineers created us and the Alien is just too much.