Original 'ALIEN' ending - Ripley dies? Alien speaks?

[StayFrosty]

I'm sure most of you have heard about what the original ALIEN ending was originally (supposedly?) supposed to be?

Apparently Ripley was going to be killed by the Alien when she boards the shuttle, and then the Alien was going to transmit a message to earth using Ripley's voice. So basically the ending was supposed to say the Alien can copy the voice of someone and speak using their voice.

I believe details for this ending can be found on the IMDB page for ALIEN. I've heard it elsewhere as well.

Apparently this was actually Ridley Scott's idea and the only reason it didn't happen is because FOX wouldn't allow it, and they wanted Ripley to live. I really hope it isn't true though that Ridley wanted this to happen.... I would hope he is a lot smarter than that.

I really think this would have ruined the movie, and the Alien saga in general. There probably wouldn't have been any sequels to it. After all, it implies that the Alien is actually an intelligent species, and it basically contradicts the behaviorisms we saw from the Alien throughout the rest of the movie.

Please say it aint so 

[MrSpaceJockey]

Apparently this was true, and we've had other boards speculating on this "ending" as well.  Not sure if it would ruin the saga - remember, this was the only ALIEN film of its time, and no one knew what the Alien would act like.

It seems to be just for the shocks, not that good in my opinion, but I'm sure more informative members will add on. 

[StayFrosty]

Yes, I'm aware this was the introduction of the Xenomorph in general, and nothing was known about it before this movie. Even if there would have been further movies after it, there's no way those movies could have been anything like the ones we know.

Ripley would be dead, and the Aliens would be a lot different.

Probably the sequel would have been something like.... the Alien lands on earth in the shuttle and begins colonizing/assimilating earth by morphing people into eggs, imitating their voices, or even has the ability to morph into people and pose as them.

Or, another sequel could be a team being sent to LV-426 to find out what happened to the Nostromo, and the team are all infected with face huggers. The aliens are then born and they begin taking over the planet, building technology, or even taking off in the Space Jockey's ship.

Doesn't sound too good either way.

How 'bout a sequel where the Alien lands on earth and morphs into a person. The Alien then adapts to life on earth by working in some office building and getting adjusted to human customs. Or the Alien lands on earth and feels bad for Ripley's daughter Amanda, so it poses as Ripley, pretending to be Amanda's mother? 

Could make for some good sitcom spinoffs...

[chupacabras acheronsis]

it would be a lot like Species.

[Topazora]

Sounds like Fox made a wise choice in this one.  The alternate ending sounded kinda cheesy to me, but with Ridley doing it, he would've made it work- but it doesn't make the idea any better. Nah, I'm happy with the ending the way it is.

[Xenomrph]

Just going to leave this here.

[Sabres21768]

As crazy as it sounds...I still would have liked to have seen this ending put to film.

Not as the ending we see, but at least as an extra in the blu-ray/dvd.

[aliennaire]

I'm sure most of you have heard about what the original ALIEN ending was originally (supposedly?) supposed to be?

Apparently Ripley was going to be killed by the Alien when she boards the shuttle, and then the Alien was going to transmit a message to earth using Ripley's voice. So basically the ending was supposed to say the Alien can copy the voice of someone and speak using their voice...

If I'm not mistaken, I've read, the finale would have been filmed even scarier than that, it had to be showing scene wich is close on Ripley's face, pronouncing her final report, and then as camera drew back and went off her face, picturing larger scape, we would have watched Alien, holding Ripley's torn out head in its paws.

Yes, that would definitely imply, that creatures are intellectual, way far intellectual than humans.

Just going to leave this here.

Nice work, Xenomorph! Kane's and Lambert's lines are my fave! Lastly, revelation has come down on her, there is more in life, than just griping!

[StayFrosty]

Isn't anybody a little alarmed that this idea for the ending came from Ridley, and FOX was the saving grace here?

I sure hope we aren't giving Ridley too much credit, and that he won't make any mistakes with Prometheus.

As far as Sci-Fi goes, could Ridley just be a one hit wonder who got lucky with ALIEN, similar to Chris Carter and The X-Files? Let's just hope he doesn't do the same and bite off more than he can chew...

[SM]

It was just an idea.  Loads of ideas get put out there then ditched while a film is being made.  Not like it was scripted or anything.

As for Riddles being a "wonder" hit wonder - Blade Runner ring a bell?  Maybe not a hit at the time, but widely regarded as one of the most influential films ever made, if not a masterpiece, since.

[chupacabras acheronsis]

someone said he's on a George Lucas phase, he's old and wants to add as much as possible at what he considers his life work.

[StayFrosty]

someone said he's on a George Lucas phase, he's old and wants to add as much as possible at what he considers his life work.

Is that a good thing or a bad thing? O_O

[Nightlord]

someone said he's on a George Lucas phase, he's old and wants to add as much as possible at what he considers his life work.

Is that a good thing or a bad thing? O_O

Bad, very bad.

[SiL]

Except it's crap, because he's not touching Alien, he's making an entirely new film.

Isn't anybody a little alarmed that this idea for the ending came from Ridley, and FOX was the saving grace here?

He claims he was drinking. I see no reason to disbelieve him.

[StayFrosty]

Well...

Isn't it possible Ridley intends to do another ALIEN film after Prometheus? Or maybe the ending of Prometheus entirely leaves another ALIEN film completely desired, or even necessary?

It still seems somewhat possible we could see Xenomorphs in Prometheus. From what I read, it sounds completely possible that there could be a showdown between the "gods", where one of the parties brings in the Xenomorphs as a subplot to use as a weapon against the other.

But I agree, this is insane if either Ridley or JC aren't going to do at least one more ALIEN movie.... but, James Cameron seems beyond that now. The last 4 films that featured Xenomorphs were despicable, or just didn't feel like an ALIEN film.... with that in mind, I don't think anyone should be touching the ALIEN franchise except for RS or JC. This series is quickly becoming a joke, and I think a lot of people either don't realize or don't remember what this series was about.

I still gotta have high hopes.... I just don't want to face the fact that this series ended in 1986 at a mere two movies. Many things can be said about Alien3, good or bad, but the fact is the general public reception of it was not good.