History Trivia / Alien

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The presence of laser pistols. Likely due to Aliens, the franchise is typically associated with weapons like the M41A1 pulse rifle (in addition to more contemporary weapons such as the [[CoolGuns/{{Shotguns}} Ithaca 37]] and so the laser pistols have been quietly forgotten. Videogame/AliensFireteamElite pokes fun at this by implying it was part of an InUniverse small-arms fad that was quickly forgotten.

* ActingInTheDark: While everyone in the cast knew that the chestburster scene would take place (it was in the script, after all), only Creator/JohnHurt knew precisely what would happen. The rest of the cast was just told to break for lunch after Hurt fell back on the table, so the effects crew could set up the rig. Creator/TomSkeritt elected to hang around and watch the crew work, but even he wasn't sure exactly how they were going do what they were going to do. The rest of the actors came back from lunch to see the setup, but still had no idea exactly what the effect would look like or how it would be achieved. Creator/VeronicaCartwright was told "You'll get a little blood on you," but had the misfortune to stand square in the path of one of the blood jets, getting a ''huge'' amount sprayed on her, much of it right in her face, prompting her quite real cry of "Oh God!"

* ActingInTheDark: While everyone in the cast knew that the chestburster scene would take place (it was in the script, after all), only Creator/JohnHurt knew precisely what would happen. The rest of the cast was not told -- so their reactions to the scene were as genuine as possible, as evidenced by Creator/VeronicaCartwright's (Lambert) "Oh God!"

* SpiritualSuccessor: ''Alien'' was at least partially inspired by 1958's ''Film/ItTheTerrorFromBeyondSpace''. Both films involve a starship crew trapped aboard their vessel with a murderous alien.

** [[http://alienanthology.wikia.com/wiki/Alien_Anthology_Wiki The Alien Anthology Wiki]].

* TheForeignSubtitle : ''Alien, the Eighth Passanger'' in France.

** French: ''Alien, le huitième passager''

* ApprovalOfGod: On the 25th of March 2019, the North Bergen High School drama club of New Jersey staged a stage-play adaptation of ''Alien'', with a total cast and crew of 16 students and 3 teachers working off a budget of $3500. The teachers and students admitted to have cobbled the sets and space-suits out of "essentially trash" (with the Alien itself made out of a clearance-shop skeleton dolled up with machine parts, not unlike the original Alien). The stage-play became a viral sensation on Twitter and social media, even going as far as earning the approval and respect of Creator/SigourneyWeaver and Creator/RidleyScott themselves. The latter even offered to fund future matinees, such was the demand for an encore performance.

* ReferencedBy
** The [[AdventureBoardGames Adventure Board Game]] ''Lifeform'' is a WholePlotReference to the original film.
** The Creator/TaskForceGames game ''Intruder'' is clearly based on ''Film/{{Alien}}'', but occurs on a space station instead of a ship (interestingly, the space station is named ''Film/{{Prometheus}}''). It includes engineers who can build items (like Parker) and science officers who initially try to protect the alien (like Ash). The crew must either capture or kill the alien, and if they fail, they can set the space station's self-destruct system and flee in a shuttle.
** Cliff from the comic strip ''ComicStrip/BrewsterRockitSpaceGuy'' has a Xenomorph drone as a son.
** [[XenomorphXerox Xenomorphs]] are a StockShoutOut. Even to the point where [[BloodyMurder corrosive blood]] and [[ChestBurster a parasitoidic life cycle]] that starts with a FaceFullOfAlienWingWong are their own tropes.

* ShootTheMoney: {{Averted}}. The huge Space Jockey in its "pilot chair" was built by artist Creator/HRGiger for a lot of money and was used only in one scene. Then again, 30 years later [[Film/{{Prometheus}} it inspired a film of its own]]. [[ExecutiveMeddling The studio actually wanted to cut the scene for precisely this reason]], it being a big, expensive set that would only be shot once, but Ridley convinced them to keep it, arguing that it elevated the film beyond just a monster terrorizing a bunch of people.

* ImageSource: This franchise provides the page image for (those for the other films are listed on their respective Trivia pages):
** BizarreAlienBiology
** NestedMouths

* QuoteSource: SpaceIsolationHorror

** With the lacklustre-to-negative reception of the third and fourth films and the ''Alien vs. Predator'' duology -- the plans for the latter of which caused him to quit as the director of the third movie, Ridley Scott stated that he felt the Xenomorph was all played out, which was one of the reasons he went along with Damon Lindelof's rewrite of ''Film/{{Prometheus}}''. The fan disappointment of the movie's lack of Xenomorphs -- and Scott's own dissatisfaction with how subsequent directors had portrayed the creatures -- led to their inclusion in ''Alien: Covenant'', and in interviews Scott lamented ever having left the ''Alien'' franchise and expressed the intent to make at least three more ''Alien'' films. Following ''Alien: Covenant''[='=]s mixed reception, however, he reiterated his previous view that "the beast is cooked" and expressed interest in having the next film center around David and replacing the Xenomorphs with something else.
** Like Scott and James Cameron, Sigourney Weaver was unimpressed by FOX's decision to make a film based on the ''Franchise/AlienVsPredator'' crossover series, which contributed to her insistence that Ellen Ripley be killed off in the third movie. While she returned for the fourth movie and cameoed in the ''Alien: Isolation'' game, Neill Blomkamp's proposed fifth movie was what reignited her passion for the character and the franchise.
* DevelopmentHell: 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.

** Ridley Scott deliberately de-canonized ''Film/AlienVsPredator'' and ''Film/AliensVsPredatorRequiem'' with ''Prometheus'' and ''Alien: Covenant''.

** Whether the 3rd and 4th films are canon. In 2014, the ''Literature/AlienOutOfTheShadows'' trilogy of novels was officially recognized by Fox as canon to the ContinuityReboot of the franchise, but when the author of the second novel was going to disregard ''3'' and ''Resurrection'', they made him include references to them. In a 2016 interview Sigourney Weaver said that ''Alien 5'' would be set in an AlternateUniverse that "[runs] parallel" to the 3rd and 4th films, where Newt and Hicks survived.

* GodNeverSaidThat: After Neill Blomkamp and Sigourney Weaver made ambiguous comments about the fifth film being a followup to the second movie in early 2015, sites began reporting that that the fifth movie was going to finally decanonize the controversial ''3'' and ''Resurrection''-—long regarded as FanonDiscontinuity by many fans. Blomkamp eventually clarified that his statements had been taken out of context, and that the 3rd and 4th films were still canon, but concept art of an adult Newt [[FlipFlopOfGod makes the validity of that statement questionable]] - though Sigorney Weaver's statement that the fifth film would take place in an alternate timeline clears the issue.

* FanNickname:
** Xenomorph - Used once or twice in the films, among many other words, to describe the aliens in the franchise, this word stuck as the standard term used by fans. It became used to specifically refer to the films' creatures in merchandise like the comics and video-game spinoffs, and was eventually canonized when Xenomorph [=XX121=] became the official name for the creatures in the ''Out of the Shadows'' trilogy, the ''Alien: The Weyland-Yutani Report'', and the ''Film/AlienCovenant'' promotional website.
** Other names for the species used in spinoff media are "Internecivus Raptus" (Murderous Thief) and "Linguafoeda Acheronsis" (Foul-tongue from Hell, Acheron 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.

* TheForeignSubtitle:
** Various: ''Alien: The Eighth Passenger''
** Germany: ''Alien: The Creepy Creature from an Alien World''
** Greece: ''Alien, the Space Passenger''

* FanNickname:
** 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 ''Film/{{Prometheus}}'' they're called the "Engineers".
** The adult creature is sometimes dubbed "Kane's Son", after a line used by Ash.

* FranchiseKiller: Not everyone was very happy about how ''3'' or ''Resurrection'' turned out, and [[IntercontinuityCrossover mashing it up]] with ''Franchise/{{Predator}}'' hasn't done much to restore faith in the series. The games tended to do better than the films. 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''[[note]]Although unadjusted for inflation, mind you[[/note]]), and because she thought the ''Franchise/AlienVsPredator'' concept which was pitched around at the time sounded awful. They later made this spin-off as well anyway, and an even more awful sequel. Said crossover franchise has had a healthy life in video games, though. She finally signed back on with ''VideoGame/AlienIsolation'' because she thought it genuinely added something new to the franchise.

* ApprovalOfGod: On the 25th of March 2019, the North Bergen High School drama club of New Jersey staged a stage-play adaptation of ''Alien'', with a total cast and crew of 16 students and 3 teachers working off a budget of $3500. The teachers and students admitted to have cobbled the sets and space-suits out of "essentially trash" (with the Alien itself made out of a clearance-shop skeleton dolled up with machine parts, not unlike the original Alien). The stage-play became a viral sensation on Twitter and social media, even going as far as earning the approval and respect of Creator/SigourneyWeaver, screenwriter Dan O'Bannon and Creator/RidleyScott themselves. The latter even offered to fund future matinees, such was the demand for an encore performance.

* WordOfGod: Creator/RidleyScott mentions on the DVDCommentary that [[spoiler:Ash is a [[Film/BladeRunner Replicant]].]]

* CreatorBacklash: Ridley Scott has stated for years that he feels the Xenomorphs have been done to death and that he wants to move the focus of the series away from it. He attempted to start a sister series focusing on the Engineers with ''Prometheus'', but when this backfired [[CreatorRecovery he seemingly changed his mind]] with ''Alien: Covenant''. Following ''Covenant''[='=]s lacklustre reception, however, he reiterated his prior opinion regarding the Xenomorphs being "cooked" and expressed interest in having the sequel to ''Covenant'' focus more on David instead.

* CastTheRunnerUp: Creator/SigourneyWeaver was originally cast as Lambert, while Veronica Cartwright was going to play Ripley. At the last minute, their roles were switched. Cartwright didn't find out until she went to a costume fitting.

* DeletedScene:
** 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 aliens' 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, deleted because the "crab walk" Belaji Bedejo did for it looked ridiculous in the Alien suit.
** Many others, most (including the "Ripley finds the nest" scene) restored in the "Director's Cut".

** The Creator/TaskForceGames game ''Intruder'' is clearly based on ''Film/{{Alien}'', but occurs on a space station instead of a ship (interestingly, the space station is named ''Film/{{Prometheus}}''). It includes engineers who can build items (like Parker) and science officers who initially try to protect the alien (like Ash). The crew must either capture or kill the alien, and if they fail, they can set the space station's self-destruct system and flee in a shuttle.

** The Creator/TaskForceGames game ''Intruder'' is clearly based on ''Film/{{Alien}'', but occurs on a space station instead of a ship.

* ReferencedBy:

* UsefulNotes/AFIS100YearsSeries:
** AFIS100Years100Thrills: #6
** AFIS100Years100HeroesAndVillains:
*** #14 Villain, The Alien
** AFIS10Top10:
*** Science Fiction, #7

* FollowTheLeader: Creator/RidleyScott cited ''Film/TwoThousandAndOneASpaceOdyssey'' and ''Film/ANewHope'' as inspiration for the film's depicition of space, while ''Film/TheTexasChainSawMassacre1974'' inspired the horror element.

* AFIS100YearsSeries:

* BasedOnADream: Not the film series' premise, but the creatures themselves. Their design is the work of Creator/HRGiger, who took them from his nightmares.