Hey all! I am trying to clean up a couple wiki pages and wanted to ask for your help to clarify terminology for pressure suits in the Alien universe.
To my knowledge, the bulky spacesuits that appeared in the 1979 film Alien were unnamed, even in the script, until the release of the novelization where Alan Foster called them "vacuum suits" and "pressure suits."
On the Nostromo there were 3 different types of suits: The three (novel says seven) bulky multi-colored exploration suits Kane, Dallas, and Lambert wore. The bulky white exploration/emergency suit Ripley wore in the Narcissus. And the thin white emergency EVA suits hanging in the emergency storage areas around the Nostromo.
These suits went on to reappear, most notably in Isolation and Defiance.
Years later, Aliens: The Colonial Marines Technical Manual, which gave a detailed overview of military issued gear mentioned an older mk.35 pressure suit, which was described as being was bulky like the suits on the Nostromo, but military issued. Additionally, the mk.50 which was described and illustrated in color as being a skin tight, military issued combat EVA suit. Since both were military issued, I don't believe either suit would have been available on the Nostromo.
Some years later the 1997 AVP card game showed an image of the white pressure suit from the Narcissus with the heading Mk 50 compression suit, which I believe is a mistake taking into consideration what the Technical Manual says about the Mk 50 or mk.50. Also, for what it's worth, this card game was AVP related more than it was strictly Alien related.
Most recently, the Alien RPG Colonial Marines Operations Manual mentions the MK 50 compression suit as an older bulkier suit, but does not show any illustrations to match, which again, goes against what the technical manual says about the mk 50 or mk.50, a skin tight combat suit.
Finally, NECA figures in the Nostromo style suits are sold as "compression suit" figures.
My thoughts:
The suits in Alien/Isolation/Defiance are W-Y issued pressure suits or vacuum suits
The suits in the Technical Manual and the Alien RPG are military issue EVA suits, which should be classified separately.
Side note:
The yellow suits, worn by the crew of the salvage vessel GM28223 that retrieved the Narcissus, were called Bio-Isolation Suits in the script for Aliens.
Does anyone know of ay other instances from releases in the Alien universe where the suits specifically from the Nostromo are given an official or technical name?
Thanks!
