Alien (franchise)/Trivia

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


The franchise in general:

  • Based on a Dream: Not the film series' premise, but the creatures themselves. Their design is the work of H. R. Giger, who took them from his nightmares.
  • Cash Cow Franchise: Movies, books, comics, video games, toys, etc... Alien is probably only behind Star Wars as 20th Century Fox's one. Directly responsible for the issues that plagued Alien³ , as to keep the cash flowing, Fox set out to make a release date, not a movie.
  • Development Hell: Neill Blomkamp's fifth Alien movie was green-lit by Fox, but put on hold pending the success of Alien: Covenant. Ridley Scott eventually stated that the project has been scrapped by FOX and wasn't much more than an outline to begin with and expressed his intent to retain creative control of the series and make Alien films until he dies, and Blomkamp himself noted in interviews that he was doubtful it would happen.
  • Fan Nickname:
    • Xenomorph: Used once, among many other words, to describe the aliens in the franchise, this word stuck as the standard term used by fans.
    • Other names for the species used in spinoff media are 'Internecivus Raptus' (Murderous Thief) and 'Linguafoeda Archeronsis' (Foul-tongue from Hell, Archeron being also the name of the planet on which the creatures were first encountered in Alien).
    • None of the life cycle stages (i.e. Facehugger, Chestburster, Drone) were ever officially named on-film. They were given Fan Nicknames which simply stuck and wound up being used in some of the expanded universe material and even eventually by the production staff themselves.
    • Some fans insist, tongue in cheek, that the title for Alien³ should have been Alienses, to continue the implied progression of the first two films' titles.
  • Franchise Killer: Not everyone was very happy about how Alien³ or Alien Resurrection turned out, and mashing it up with Predator hasn't done much to restore faith in the series.
  • Franchise Zombie: Sigourney Weaver felt this way about the series. She didn't want to do another one after Aliens so she could move on to other projects. Ripley's death at the end of the third movie was included at her insistence, to make any further sequels starring her impossible. After that, the writers had to resort to cloning the character, but she agreed to reprise the role again when Fox offered her an additional producer credit that would give her an 11 million dollar salary (which was more than the entire budget of the first film[1]), and because she thought the Alien vs. Predator concept which was pitched around at the time sounded awful. They later made this spin-off as well anyway... and even an even more awful sequel to it. Said crossover franchise has had a healthy life in video games though.
  • Hey, It's That Guy!:
  • Image Source: This franchise provides the page image for (those for the other films are listed on their respective Trivia pages):
  • Keep Circulating the Tapes: The "Aliens" Mod for Quake was killed by Fox lawyers (creating the term "Foxed" for that situation), but of course that didn't stop it from being available online for many years afterwards.
  • Limited Special Collectors' Ultimate Edition: The franchise has had various special edition releases with unique items over the years, including a "Facehugger" VHS boxset in 1993 (which had copies of the first two films and The Making of Alien 3, pins, a t-shirt and a pass to the Alien War UK attraction), the "Alien Legacy" boxset in the late 90's (which had special collector cards and a mail-in offer for a bonus DVD), the "Alien Quadrilogy", which included the then-newly restored Assembly Cut for the third film and a boatload of extras, and the "Alien Anthology", which includes almost all the extras from all the preceding special edition boxset releases - with an optional collector's edition packaged in a model case designed by Sideshow Collectibles.
  • Trope Namer:
  • What Could Have Been:
    • There were brief talks of James Cameron's interest in writing a script for a possible Alien 5 with Ridley Scott interested in directing, but Fox chose to focus on Alien vs. Predator instead.
    • Alien³ and Alien Resurrection nearly became Canon Discontinuity during the writing of Alien: Sea of Sorrows, before 20th Century Fox changed their mind and had the author revise the book to reference the events of the films. Rumors proclaimed that the fifth film was going to decanonize them, but Blomkamp himself debunked the rumors, saying his comments were being taken out of context.

The first film:

  • Ability Over Appearance: The script was written so that any character could be played by either a woman or man. The filmmakers originally wanted a guy for Ripley, but Sigourney Weaver owns the role.
  • Deleted Scene:
    • From near the end of the film, as Ripley comes across Dallas while setting up the ship's destruction, going through the process of being turned into another egg and finishing the explanation of the alien's life cycle. Ridley Scott loved the idea, but found that the scene was too much of a speed bump in the middle of the climax.
    • One where the alien sneaks up on Lambert as she cleans some machinery.
  • Enforced Method Acting:
    • The cast knew the general details of what they were shooting for the Chest Burster scene, but they didn't know they were going to get sprayed with real animal blood and entrails. Veronica Cartwright's shocked scream is entirely real.
    • Veronica Cartwright really slapped Sigourney Weaver. That wasn't just a sound effect, and Weaver's recoil and look of shock is genuine. According to the actress in the DVD commentary, she was fed up with Sigourney, who at that point had acted only on the stage and so was not used to pretending to get hit, instinctively flinching away from the slap and so, after numerous failed takes, faked the first slap and then properly hit her when she flinched.
    • Ridley Scott placed a veiled cage with a German Shepherd in front of Jones the Cat, and unveiled it when he shouted "Action!!". Hence when the Alien rose up behind Brett like a phallic gargoyle, the menacing hissing of fear from the poor kitty cat was real.
  • Fan Nickname: Space Jockey - the alien pilot aboard the derelict ship -- extended to the rest of his race, as well. Derived from a name used by the film crew; in the canon, it's never named. In Prometheus, they're called the "Engineers".
    • The alien is sometimes dubbed "Kane's Son", after a line used by Ash.
  • Star-Making Role: For Sigourney Weaver. She hadn't been in cinema for long, but one can argue that she does a good job of portraying Ellen Ripley.
  • Throw It In!: There is a long-shot late in the film during the confrontation between Ash and Ripley where the camera tracks with Ash. The camera actually knocks into some of the chimes hanging from the ceiling before Ash passes by them, and the sound and visible swinging of them is clear in the final cut. That take gives a sense of Ash projecting menace beyond the confines of his own body.
  • What Could Have Been:
    • Harrison Ford turned down the role of Captain Dallas. Of course, considering he portrayed Indiana Jones and Han Solo, it would be pretty ironic to see him take on the alien by himself and fail horribly.
    • Ridley Scott wanted to cast Meryl Streep as Ripley. However, Streep's boyfriend John Cazale had just died, and it was felt it would be inappropriate to approach her about the part.
    • Helen Mirren auditioned for a role (most likely Ripley).
    • Sigourney Weaver was originally cast as Lambert, while Veronica Cartwright was going to play Ripley. At the last minute, their roles were switched.
  • Working Title: The first film was known as Star Beast in its earliest stages. When the writer went through the script, he saw characters constantly referring to the Alien, and then the title came out at him, noting that is both a noun and an adjective.

Aliens

  • Actor-Shared Background: Al Mathews plays Sgt Apone. In real life, he was the first black Marine to be promoted to sergeant during the Vietnam War.
    • Lance Henriksen is a US Navy veteran.
  • Awesome, Dear Boy: Sigourney Weaver had turned down offers to do sequels to Alien for years, afraid of Sequelitis. However, once she saw the script (particularly the motherly bond between Ripley and Newt), she signed on immediately.
  • Beam Me Up, Scotty: Ripley doesn't say "Nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.", she says "I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.". What's worse is that the line is often attributed only to Hicks instead, who was repeating it in concurrence with Ripley.
  • Cast the Expert: For his Vietnam allegory, James Cameron cast Al Matthews, an actual Vietnam veteran.
  • The Danza: All the actors playing Marines in Aliens (except Michael Biehn) used their real first names for their characters.
  • Development Gag: Hudson teases Vasquez by saying "When they said 'alien', she thought they said 'illegal alien' and signed up." Vasquez' actress actually did make that mistake, and showed up to the auditions dressed as a migrant worker.
  • Dyeing for Your Art: All the actors who played the Marines attended a two-week training session with S.A.S. officers, except Michael Biehn, who was a last-minute addition. The other main actors, Sigourney Weaver, Paul Reiser and William Hope, were deliberately excluded from training, to generate a sense of detachment between their characters and the Marines.
  • Enforced Method Acting: The scenes on board the Sulaco were filmed last, so that the actors playing the Colonial Marines would have had time to build up a realistic rapport with one another over the course of shooting.
  • Executive Meddling: The film had many scenes cut from it (though they were restored later in the home video release of the film) that expand upon many plot points in the film. Though some were legitimately dropped (giving away the likely existence of the Queen, for example, or the sentry gun scenes), removing the parts dealing with Ripley's daughter subtracts a major emotional element from the film.
  • Fake American: Played with. Newt is meant to be American, and Carrie Henn is likewise American. However, her family had lived in England for a while, and she had picked up a hybrid between the two accents... which is audible in a few scenes.
  • Fake Nationality: Jenette Goldstein, who plays Vasquez, is NOT Hispanic.
  • Image Source: This film provides the page image for:
  • The Other Marty: James Remar was originally cast as Cpl. Hicks in Aliens, but James Cameron had him replaced with Michael Biehn shortly after shooting began. A few shots of Remar, mostly from behind, still made it into the movie.
  • Real Life Relative:
    • The picture of Ripley's daughter Amanda was of Sigourney Weaver's real life mother Elizabeth Inglis.
    • Newt's brother Timmy was played by Carrie Henn's actual brother Christopher.
  • The Red Stapler: Many businesses wanted to buy Power Loaders as forklifts; sadly none were to be bought, since it's a combination of a stunt man sitting in the loader behind Ripley moving the limbs, wires holding it up, and some miniatures work.
  • Romance on the Set: James Cameron and Gale Ann Hurd married during production.
  • Throw It In!: The "Game over, man!" line was improvised.
  • Wag the Director: The special edition was a result of this. After Sigourney Weaver saw the finished cut (which deleted the subplot about Ripley's daughter), she threatened to never do another Alien film. Thus the edition was released.
  • Word of God: According to James Cameron, Drake and Vasquez are childhood friends who grew up in a slum together... and they're serving in the marines as an alternative to prison.

Alien³

  • Cash Cow Franchise: Fox's attempt to keep Alien as this led to all the difficulties noted in Executive Meddling and Troubled Production, as the "Wreckage and Rage" documentary notes "they set out to make a release date, not a movie."
  • Creator Backlash: David Fincher disowned the film due to all the Executive Meddling he had to endure during the movie's production.
  • Development Hell: The tale of Alien³'s development is the stuff of industry legend, and a prime example of Executive Meddling in full force. A rotating lineup of directors who all got shunted aside by FOX, a lineup of writers working on screenplayers concurrently with no idea other writers were involved, delays, reshoots, disastrous test screenings, tensions between FOX and (then-newbie) director David Fincher, a "pay-or-play" deal between the studio and Sigourney Weaver, Fincher getting locked out of the editing room, executives and writers at odds as to how the story would play out, months spent building sets that had to be shoehorned into a completely different script... it all added to a giant mess in its development.
  • Dyeing for Your Art: Zigzagged in case of Weaver. She initially agreed to shave her head for the filming. However, as the Troubled Production stretched on, reshoots were done months later, and Weaver refused to shave her head again, which meant spending some thousands of dollars more for a custom-made authentic-looking bald cap.
  • Fan Nickname:
    • Alien3 tends to be jokingly referred to as Alien Cubed among the fandom due to the inexplicable superscript use of the number 3 in the movie's title. It's also occasionally called Alienses, on the basis of the logical progression Alien -> Aliens -> Alienses.
  • Image Source: This film provides the page image for:
  • Looping Lines: Averted in the Assembly Cut. Some of the restored scenes were cut before the ADR was recorded, and since they didn't do any re-recording for the DVD, it can be difficult to hear the dialogue. Thankfully, subtitles are available.
  • Money, Dear Boy: By Alien³, Sigourney Weaver was respectable enough an actress to be able to accept and refuse any role she wants, and point in fact hated how Newt was callously killed for banal drama. Why did she come back for another two films? To quote Krusty The Klown: "Oh, they drove a dumptruck full of money up to my house. I'm not made of stone."
  • The Other Darrin: Carrie Henn was too old to play Newt, so Danielle Edmund acted as a Fake Shemp for her in the opening titles. For the autopsy scene, a cast mould of Carrie Henn was made.
  • Playing Against Type: Charles Dance usually plays stern or intimidating authority types. Here, he plays a bitter medic who's the Non-Action Guy of the bunch.
  • Reality Subtext: Charles S. Dutton (Dillon) is a real life former convict who cleaned himself up before getting into acting.
  • Wag the Director: Sigourney Weaver pushed for the lack of weaponry in the film, as she was very anti-gun in real life. As a result, Ripley does not handle a single weapon in the whole film.
  • What Could Have Been:
    • The film went through several writers, including William Gibson, Eric Red, David Twohy and Vincent Ward, before the final shooting script was thrown together using parts of all the previous drafts (mainly the latter three). Summaries of each can be found at The Other Wiki.
    • Gibson's script would have, ironically, focused on Hicks and Bishop, while Ripley remained in a coma and Newt would be shipped off to Oregon to live with her grandparents. They would join up with a USSR-analogue that wants to use the Xenomorph to fight the corporations, continuing on from the second film's Vietnam-allegory. For interested parties, the full version of Gibson's draft can be found here. Gibson notes that the only part of his script that made it into the final film was his use of the Scannable Man trope.
    • Richard E. Grant was considered by David Fincher for the role of Clemens, who hoped to reunite him with Withnail & I co-stars Paul McGann and Ralph Brown.
    • There was a scene that showed Newt's autopsy in more detail than the theatrical cut, and was very graphic; and by that, not scary-graphic-like the other gore in the movie, but just disgusting-graphic. Test audiences found it revolting, a few even leaving the theater due to nausea. Visual effects artist Alex Gillas and make-up artist Gary Bunn both admitted later they had gone overboard in designing the scene, and it was cut.


  • Casting Gag: Jenette Goldstein (who played Private Vasquez) originally thought Aliens was going to be a drama about immigration and showed up to audition wearing short skirt and high heels. This incident was directly referred to in a crack Hudson made about Vasquez during the briefing.

Hudson: Excuse me, did someone say 'aliens'? She thought they said illegal aliens and signed up!

  • Creator Backlash:
    • Joss Whedon was dissatisfied with Alien: Resurrection, and director Jeunet swore off Hollywood after the experience.
  • Dueling Movies: Alien: Resurrection with Deep Rising.
  • Executive Meddling: The third and fourth films were crippled by executive meddling and Alien Vs Predator was also ruined by it, due to the studio wanting a PG-13 film (the DVD version ended up being "unrated" though basically the same movie save for several seconds of minor gore restored). Note that, Joss's complaints to the contrary, the script to the fourth movie is substantially the same as the one he handed over. It's the rest of the project that got screwed up.
  • Throw It In: Ripley yelling at Parker to shut up is actually a frustrated Sigourney Weaver yelling at Yaphet Kotto to shut up because she was fed up with him talking over her during previous takes.


  1. ↑ Although unadjusted for inflation, mind you.
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