How long has Ridley held this notion of who the Space Jockey really is?

[The Old One]

I definitely agree, it's more interesting indeed but also harder to create believably and discuss within a traditional film narrative.

I hope it is explored though, through the creators of the Engineers perhaps.

[Still Collating...]

I hope so too, Giger's original biomech themes need to be explored more in universe, visually especially.

[Valaquen]

I definitely agree, it's more interesting indeed but also harder to create believably and discuss within a traditional film narrative.

I hope it is explored though, through the creators of the Engineers perhaps.

That's why I'd prefer David Lynch's ALIEN at this point  Seeing Twin Peaks: The Return and Covenant in the same year was, well, you could see which artist was at the top of their game.

[The Old One]

Unfortunately the average audience doesn't appreciate supreme ambiguity as a genre.

[Immortan Jonesy]

I don't know, I think I'd prefer something like the liquid metal guy from Terminator. Maybe I'm going too far with Giger's surrealism and  biomechanoids (what works in a painting, it might not work in a movie). But in all honesty, I never saw the Space Jockey as a bipedal skeleton elephant. I always thought that the thing didn't have legs or that it was a shapeshifting being.

Giger's own conception was that the Jockey was probably 'grown' to pilot the ship and nothing else. The creature had no other function (nor legs, because it never needed them). It's not analogous to human civilisation like the Engineers are. It was something we couldn't get our heads around. There were probably biomechanic platoons grown simply to fight, biomechanic navigators, pilots, god knows what. Maybe the ship had its own brain. Maybe in 'life' the derelict looked alabaster and translucent like some of Giger's other monsters and landscapes, instead of a dark metallic construct. Maybe the ship was an organism unto itself. Maybe instead of wiring and computer chips it had its own nervous system. There were a lot of cool ideas and themes in Giger's art about transcending biological limitations. His biomechanoids were sometimes warped and twisted in appearance but they had adapted to their environment and survived. Back in the 50's and 60's when Giger was young, there was a lot of fears about radiation and nuclear war. The biomechanoids were in part a response to all that.

I just find all of that far more interesting.

So much wasted potential! 

[The Old One]

We'll see, I've got forty more years.
And if the Alien Franchise does, we'll see a "real" Space Jockey, mark my words.

[CainsSon]

Giger's first and second depiction of the Jockey
(this mural was supposed to be in the egg silo in Alien but I think it got cut because of the budget).

Looks like a humanoid in a suit.


Looks the same except the head's bigger, looks less humanand more alien.

Something of profound relevance which I never see anyone note regarding this -

If you're familiar with Giger's work, as many of us are, these albino humanoids interacting with biomechanics are in many of his paintings. A better question may be whether the albino humanoid engineers are actually part of Giger's long term influence.

Compare, for instance, the image of Shaw's dead body to Giger's painting of his dead wife Li. Then consider that David considered Shaw his wife. It's all right there. Too bad the studio wouldn't pay Giger's estate. I think Covenant was deliberately drawing parallels / playing homage between David "creating" the Alien and Giger. 

[The Old One]

Whilst I appreciate the attempt, it doesn't work for me regardless.
And I'll defend the film against unjust critique but it's certainly not perfect.

[Corporal Hicks]

Giger's own conception was that the Jockey was probably 'grown' to pilot the ship and nothing else. The creature had no other function (nor legs, because it never needed them). It's not analogous to human civilisation like the Engineers are. It was something we couldn't get our heads around. There were probably biomechanic platoons grown simply to fight, biomechanic navigators, pilots, god knows what. Maybe the ship had its own brain. Maybe in 'life' the derelict looked alabaster and translucent like some of Giger's other monsters and landscapes, instead of a dark metallic construct. Maybe the ship was an organism unto itself. Maybe instead of wiring and computer chips it had its own nervous system. There were a lot of cool ideas and themes in Giger's art about transcending biological limitations. His biomechanoids were sometimes warped and twisted in appearance but they had adapted to their environment and survived. Back in the 50's and 60's when Giger was young, there was a lot of fears about radiation and nuclear war. The biomechanoids were in part a response to all that.

I just find all of that far more interesting.

I like the idea that there's just a variety of different Giger-esque creatures servicing the ships. The Jockey wasn't going to fit in those corridors Dallas and co. came in through, so I like to think they had some other servant, or technician creatures, that were smaller and used those corridors for moving around and maintenance.

[Drukathi]

Yes, the corridors along which the crew of Nostromo passed to the bridge, are very small for the Space Jockey. Even the Engineer from Prometheus will scratch his head.

[Kradan]

Maybe they were vents?

[Valaquen]

Giger's own conception was that the Jockey was probably 'grown' to pilot the ship and nothing else. The creature had no other function (nor legs, because it never needed them). It's not analogous to human civilisation like the Engineers are. It was something we couldn't get our heads around. There were probably biomechanic platoons grown simply to fight, biomechanic navigators, pilots, god knows what. Maybe the ship had its own brain. Maybe in 'life' the derelict looked alabaster and translucent like some of Giger's other monsters and landscapes, instead of a dark metallic construct. Maybe the ship was an organism unto itself. Maybe instead of wiring and computer chips it had its own nervous system. There were a lot of cool ideas and themes in Giger's art about transcending biological limitations. His biomechanoids were sometimes warped and twisted in appearance but they had adapted to their environment and survived. Back in the 50's and 60's when Giger was young, there was a lot of fears about radiation and nuclear war. The biomechanoids were in part a response to all that.

I just find all of that far more interesting.

I like the idea that there's just a variety of different Giger-esque creatures servicing the ships. The Jockey wasn't going to fit in those corridors Dallas and co. came in through, so I like to think they had some other servant, or technician creatures, that were smaller and used those corridors for moving around and maintenance.

That's how I imagined it too. Maybe it wasn't a tunnel but a vein, artery or capillary. Ah, the imagination is always better.

[Perfect-Organism]

Giger's own conception was that the Jockey was probably 'grown' to pilot the ship and nothing else. The creature had no other function (nor legs, because it never needed them). It's not analogous to human civilisation like the Engineers are. It was something we couldn't get our heads around. There were probably biomechanic platoons grown simply to fight, biomechanic navigators, pilots, god knows what. Maybe the ship had its own brain. Maybe in 'life' the derelict looked alabaster and translucent like some of Giger's other monsters and landscapes, instead of a dark metallic construct. Maybe the ship was an organism unto itself. Maybe instead of wiring and computer chips it had its own nervous system. There were a lot of cool ideas and themes in Giger's art about transcending biological limitations. His biomechanoids were sometimes warped and twisted in appearance but they had adapted to their environment and survived. Back in the 50's and 60's when Giger was young, there was a lot of fears about radiation and nuclear war. The biomechanoids were in part a response to all that.

I just find all of that far more interesting.

I like the idea that there's just a variety of different Giger-esque creatures servicing the ships. The Jockey wasn't going to fit in those corridors Dallas and co. came in through, so I like to think they had some other servant, or technician creatures, that were smaller and used those corridors for moving around and maintenance.

After reading the Rage War series, the one element which stuck out for me that I liked was that alien thing that was on the ship that was modifying it throughout the entire journey.  I could imagine a similar thing doing its work on the derelict.

[Still Collating...]

Yep, that does conjure a nice image.

[SM]

It could be one way to explain the difference between a Juggernaut and Derelict.  The Derelict is a model of Juggernaut that's dead.