So I watched the original Space Jockey Scene last night...

[ChrisPachi]

I always took Lambert's line to be ominous in the regard that something killed 'em all due to some calamity, not morphing (in O'Bannon's concept, they starved).

Her asking "what happened to the crew?" just before finding the egg chamber is very suggestive though. I have no idea if it was intentional, but considering that Scott went to the trouble of showing the transformation aspect it could easily have been. IMO Scott could well have intended the suggestion that the crew were 'appropriated' by the creatures.

[duckman5150]

I think that Scott's decision to edit out the egg transformation of Dallas and Brett was a good one. Obviously, he or someone else could tell ift didn't fit the story right. I tend to believe the eggs were being transported in the derelict as weapons. This makes more sense when you consider the containment field and the warning message.

It will be interesting to see how much of the derelict back story they tie up. I think they will give us clues but no neat and tidy answer and maybe that is a good thing.

[Some Mothers Do Have Em!]

The egg morphing makes one xeno that much more lethal IMO.

[RoaryUK]

Dallas & Brett were NOT both being transformed into alien eggs, this was only happening to Brett while Dallas was the intended host of the face-hugger. For clarification, here's how to find out more in the U.K. version's Bonus Disk (U.S. version probably differs) from the Alien Quadrilogy Boxset.

Look up Alien_154>A1 in the Main Menu, goto Laser Disk Archive_445>LDA then Table of Contents. 

Scroll through the contents to Part III: Post Production/Chapter 17: Editing and Music. This section contains pages from a booklet for the laser disk version, featuring various pictures and quotes about the films post production, including several deleted scenes it calls out-takes.

Continue through these (NOTE: it may take a while as you have to start each out-take).

Go past several production stills, then an interview with Scott about why the Cocoon scene was removed from the film, after which there are 4 more production stills relating to the cocoon scene.

Immediately after the 4th still is a page reading:

Since the concept of the sequence was that brett was being transformed into an egg containing a new face-hugger, with dallas as the intended host, one of Gigar's finished eggs was used to complete the construction as filmed.    

After that is another still of Brett in the cocoon then the uncut sequence itself.

[SM]

Dallas not turning into an egg doesn't make much sense in the context of the film it's from and even less in the series as whole.

[RoaryUK]

Dallas not turning into an egg doesn't make much sense in the context of the film it's from and even less in the series as whole.

Depends how you look at it I suppose. Since we don't know how those eggs on the derelict came about, if it's a case of survival it makes perfect sense the alien infects one host to breed from the other, plus if it's intention was to turn Dallas into an egg why kill off Parker and Lambert? 

[SM]

Same reason it killed Brett.

The real question is why it left them.  Maybe it knew Ripley was coming with a flamethrower so it did a runner.

survival it makes perfect sense the alien infects one host to breed from the other

Not if there's no more hosts and it follows the Riddles intention of only having a 24 hour lifespan.

Make more sense to morph all of them into eggs, which will be free to infect the boarding party when the Nostromo gets home.  They can then spread.

[Deuterium]

Dallas not turning into an egg doesn't make much sense in the context of the film it's from and even less in the series as whole.

Why?  I thought RoaryUK's information cleared up a puzzle, at least for me.  I always wondered why the ALIEN would convert both Dallas and Brett into eggs/facehuggers...since the whole purpose of creating the egg/facehugger is to have a live biological host available, with which to continue the next stage of it's life cycle.  Interestingly, the adult ALIEN klled it's very first victim, but deliberately left it's next victim alive.  RoaryUK's info provides an answer for this motivation.  It allowed Brett to become organic material from which it could make a new egg/facehugger, while keeping Dallas alive to serve as the next host.

Edit:  Oops, corrected to replace "Kane" with "Brett".

[SM]

And then what?  Like I said, he births another Alien, and that's dead 24 hours later.  If Parker got egged for Lambert to host, another Alien that's dead 24 hours later.  And Ripley survives anyway simply be avoiding it for 24 hours.

Again, better for the whole crew to be egg morphed (like, potentially, the Derelict crew) and then when the ship gets home, you have five eggs to infect five new people.  Those resulting Aliens then have a ready supply of hosts to egg morph and impregnate.

That aside - Kane wasn't a babbling barely coherent mess in order to be impregnated, so why was Dallas?  He'd only been down there an hour or two tops.  Brett wasn't a fully formed egg yet, so Dallas wasn't carrying at that point.  So why couldn't Ripley save him (like she ultimately did for Newt)?  Obvious answer is he was being turned into an egg.

[OpenMaw]

Yep. He was in such agony because the alien had done something horrible to him, there's a reason why when he moans, Ripley says something like "what did it do?" And then she looks at what's left of Brett and says to herself (thus telling the audience) "Brett..." and then Dallas says "Kill me."

I mean, look at him. He looks like he's melting for God's sake.

And it does make more sense for the Alien to kill or convert all threats/hosts and then go somewhere to die. (As that was the original intent, short life span.) Why? Because that's what many insects do. They procreate as much as possible, and then they die, leaving the next generation to tend for themselves. This is very common with the wasp species that was the inspiration for some of the Alien's life cycle. Also I think Praying Mantis have a similar habit of breeding and then leaving the young to fend for themselves. It does make bilogical sense with a short life span. it ensures the longevity of the species.

[fiveways]

Love the original transformation idea.  Hate the Queen.  I also love the 24 hour lifecycle.

And Ridley himself has said he cut the transformation because it threw off the pacing.  I think if it was moved to before parker and lambert were killed it would have worked better.  The flow would have went better and I think it would have fit the story better.  Though I need to watch it again and see if I still think that way.

[Gash]

Dallas & Brett were NOT both being transformed into alien eggs, this was only happening to Brett while Dallas was the intended host of the face-hugger. For clarification, here's how to find out more in the U.K. version's Bonus Disk (U.S. version probably differs) from the Alien Quadrilogy Boxset.

Look up Alien_154>A1 in the Main Menu, goto Laser Disk Archive_445>LDA then Table of Contents. 

Scroll through the contents to Part III: Post Production/Chapter 17: Editing and Music. This section contains pages from a booklet for the laser disk version, featuring various pictures and quotes about the films post production, including several deleted scenes it calls out-takes.

Continue through these (NOTE: it may take a while as you have to start each out-take).

Go past several production stills, then an interview with Scott about why the Cocoon scene was removed from the film, after which there are 4 more production stills relating to the cocoon scene.

Immediately after the 4th still is a page reading:

Since the concept of the sequence was that brett was being transformed into an egg containing a new face-hugger, with dallas as the intended host, one of Gigar's finished eggs was used to complete the construction as filmed.    

After that is another still of Brett in the cocoon then the uncut sequence itself.

Whoever wrote those notes didn't do their homework and is simply speculating. A nest of new eggs makes far more sense. Plus Ripley asks Dallas what the Alien did to him, if it hadn't done what it had done to Brett she could have saved him.

The real question to me has always been why do the colonists in Aliens need to be cocooned? Especially when the facehuggers are shown as more than adequate at hiding and making jump attacks. The chestburster is an inescapable horror, and it's no more effective if imprisoned. It's really just a half hearted attempt to re-instigate the notorious cocooning sequence of ALIEN, without the more imaginative and horrifying aspect of it.

[Deuterium]

That aside - Kane wasn't a babbling barely coherent mess in order to be impregnated, so why was Dallas?  He'd only been down there an hour or two tops.  Brett wasn't a fully formed egg yet, so Dallas wasn't carrying at that point.  So why couldn't Ripley save him (like she ultimately did for Newt)?  Obvious answer is he was being turned into an egg.

Yep. He was in such agony because the alien had done something horrible to him, there's a reason why when he moans, Ripley says something like "what did it do?" And then she looks at what's left of Brett and says to herself (thus telling the audience) "Brett..." and then Dallas says "Kill me."

I mean, look at him. He looks like he's melting for God's sake.

All these are good points.  If the source RoaryUK cites is not mistaken, then perhaps Dallas felt he was in too much pain, perhaps felt mortally wounded, and didn't wish to live.  His body is contorted in a strange position, and at the very least his arms are broken.  Perhaps his back has been broken, and he is paralyzed?  Another possibility comes to mind.  Perhaps he was unconscious for a certain period after the intial attack.  When he woke up, he may assume he has already been "impregnated"...which is why he asks Ripley to kill him.  As a character, in the context of the film, he didn't necessarily have knowledge as to how the ALIEN made the eggs/facehuggers.

But again, I concede that the writer's may have not had this all thought out, and your points are valid.  The info. provided in the source RoaryUK cited may be in error.  I agree that Dallas also looks to be at the beginning stages of morphing into an egg.

[SM]

When he woke up, he may assume he has already been "impregnated"...which is why he asks Ripley to kill him. 

Pretty big assumption.  I don't know what's going on - so you better kill me.

[OpenMaw]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dS5MtzrW1vU#

Here's the cocoon scene. This is the original cut of the scene, not the DC version which has different sound and is abridged a bit. I think this version has much more suspense and horror in it.

Dallas is really, really messed up. I get why people want to try and make this fit into the canon with "Aliens" but it doesn't have to. This is an entirely different line, and it stands on it's own as a great untraveled road of horrors.