Monday, November 29, 2010

PREQUEL FAN ART: SPACE JOCKEYS - UPDATED

UPDATED: What was previously believed to be Concept Art for the upcoming ALIEN Prequels turns out to be FAN ART by DOUG WILLIAMS.

Doug posts on his blog:
"I decided to start designing what I think would be a cool Alien prequel. The above are some early lunch sketches of the Space Jockey not plugged into his cockpit. I read somewhere where Ridley refered to the chair as a space suit. It got me thinking. What if the whole ship is the suit? An organic massive transport suit."
*thanks everyone who sent this to me Thanksgiving Day!

The original Space Jockey Fossil seen in 'ALIEN':

14 comments:

Jeyl said...

DANGER! DANGER!

This artwork has nothing to do with the prequel film! They originated from this artist's site!

http://pleaselookatmeneillblomkamp.blogspot.com/2010/07/both-endsburnt.html

Jim said...

Post updated.
Thanks, Jeyl

Andrew Glazebrook said...

He's posted more here last July !! http://pleaselookatmeneillblomkamp.blogspot.com/2010/07/both-endsburnt.html

morbo said...

so, Jimsmash and other Alien obsessed individuals out there, correct me if i am wrong:
according to the Alien mythology the xenomorph takes on certain biological characteristics of it's host, right? the humanoid biped, the four legged dog alien and the (dare i mention it?) pred-alien. well these illustrations of the space jockeys makes me wonder about two things: is the elongated head that is so typical to the xenomorph a characteristic from the space jockey gene pool? and do the characteristics get passed on to later generations of aliens?
do queens burst forth from a chest and thus exhibit characteristcs of their host that they pass on to their little chest bursting progeny? why do i ask? well i wonder if two alien hives or swarms or whatever they are called head in different directions will they look totally different from one another after a few queens have come and gone?
would alien queen from space jockey and alien queen born of say...a wookie...create diffrent looking offspring?
just wondering and geeking out.

Jeyl said...

@ morbo

The one thing that's always been on my mind about the Derelict spaceship was what happened to the Alien that burst out of the Space Jockey. I'll go over as much as I can fathom.

One website called http://www.alienlegend.com/, talks about a sequence where Dallas, Kane and Lambert, while on their way to the transmission decide sit down to take a breather before proceeding to the site. When they get up to leave, Ash notices something on the screen and sees what looks to be an alien fossilized in the rock. Dallas and company don't see it.

In regards to the Alien's life cycle, I'll try to take a shot at it here. Just bear in mind that I'm making a theory based on only what was written for Alien so no Queen applies. You remember that line that Lambert said "Wonder what happened to the rest of the crew?". That was actually foreshadowing a moment in the film that ended up being deleted. When the Director's Cut (badly titled since Scott prefers the Theatrical Version) was released, this deleted scene was re-integrated back into the film. It showed Brett being mutated into what appears to be an egg. So given that information, you might say that the Space Jockey alien captured each crew member of the derelict ship and mutated them into eggs that we see in that large chamber. That's kind of scary.

Jim said...

This is where it gets funky... there are a few different answers to your questions depending on which movie you like & dislike.

Here are some answers from MY perspective:

1) If you love the THEATRICAL VERSION of ALIEN:
Then the concept of the xenomorph taking on certain biological characteristics of its host does not exist.
This is debated amongst fans, but I say the concept does not exist on the screen therefore it is merely speculation.
I'm of the camp that the Alien is the perfect organism as we see it. It is what it is. It looks just as it appears. Done.

2) If you love the EXTENDED CUT of ALIEN:
Like what Jeyl posted... the life cycle goes: Egg > Facehugger > Chestbuster > Adult > Victim-Turns-Into-Egg.
This was the original idea, but abandoned in the final cut. If one is to go with this, the Queen does not exist.

"Where's the Alien that came out of the Space Jockey?"
Like Jeyl said... its dead somewhere on the ship, most likely fossilized like the Space Jockey.


3) If you love & acknowledge behind-the-scenes info not used in ALIEN:
Apparently Ridley once said that the Alien takes on characteristics of its host. I, personally, have never read this but trust people who say they have. The thing is, there are a lot of things that were conceptually intended but never put into the film and mythos;
3a) Like the life-cycle devoid of the Queen, instead each victim becoming an egg. A

3b) The fact that the Alien looks humanoid in appearance does not derive from the idea that it takes on physical attributes (IMO) because Ridley chose the Alien from a previous existing painting by Giger entitled "Necronomicon IV".
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_rzdB5a4kLAo/TPWjYUgclrI/AAAAAAAAXAM/BpDH5t6YfmE/s1600/NecronomiconIV.jpg
Giger slightly altered the creature design for the movie, but its primarily based on this painting.

3c) Also, it was intended that the Alien had an extremely short life cycle. That it starts off more white (death of brett) and within 24 hours was bruised and black as it grew old and began dying (aboard the shuttle).

3d) The question does come into play: "WHAT ABOUT THE SPACE JOCKEY?"
Was the chestburster huge? Or was it simply able to burst from the chest cavity? The Chest hole is bigger than Kane's... but the ribs would bend & crack according to the laws of physics & Space Jockey biology. Its feesable it was a normal size alien (or larger queen??). The eggs (and facehuggers) in the Derelict are the perfect size for a human... if they were generated from a Space Jockey, wouldn't they too be to scale with them? The original intention was the eggs were the Space Jockey Crew... but then why were they being held under an electromagnetic field that reacted when broken? Its never said in the movie what they were (crew vs cargo) or where they came from (Queen or merely loaded on for transport). I believe that many of the "original intentions" simply cannot be officially accepted as official factors in the life cycle simply because they were original intentions in pre-production..

If you are to accept the original intentions, then 'a' and 'c' causes ALIENS to break from "the rules".


4) If you love ALIENS:
The life cycle does not include the Alien Director's Cut Life-Cycle of victims becoming eggs. Here, you have instead the Queen. The DOME HEAD (Alien) and RIGID HEAD (Aliens) descrepancies stem from budget concerns and supposedly the domes breaking in transit to filming. I always put the band-aid on that as the Alien grows older, and further develops, the [protective] dome shrinks down to the hard surfaced rigid head. But that's just me.


*I must break my comment in 2 due to Blogger's Comment Posting restraints.

--END PART ONE--

Jim said...

--BEGIN PART TWO--

5) If you love ALIEN 3
This is where we first see the concept applied of the Alien taking on physical attributes of its host. It's either from one of the many earlier drafts of the film, or from director David Fincher himself. I've always felt that this is where the concept was first introduced and later maintained as "official" fodder. If you accept Alien 3, you must also accept that somehow the Queen, while chasing Newt in the Sulaco's hangar, was able to lay an egg on the ceiling without an eggsack. Whuh?

The problem (my belief that its a problem) with this concept is it leads you to ridiculous versions of the Alien:
Rabbit Alien, Elephant Alien, Ostrich Alien, Predalien (:P), Gorilla Alien, Shark Alien, Gator Alien, Snake Alien, etc.

Is the Alien the Alien we knew and loved for 13 YEARS as seen in ALIEN and ALIENS... or is it more akin to a VIRUS that mutates from host to host?

I prefer it to be the perfect organism - the biomechanical ALIEN Giger Designed.


6) If you love ALIEN:Resurrection:
I'm not talking to you.

7) If you love AVP-R:
You should be whipped with a wet noodle.

*this comment (part 1 and 2) were written hasitly and not proof-read :)

Jeyl said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jeyl said...

Great followup Jim, but you're forgetting ONE MORE ALIEN FILM!

8) If you love "ALIEN 2: On Earth":
It turns out that the Xenomorph did in fact do some fooling around onboard the Shuttle while Ripley was gearing up. It apparently laid a lot of black rock like eggs that, and upon returning to Earth, managed to transform the shuttle into an Apollo spacecraft (and sometimes Gemini) complete with NASA astronauts. After the shuttle reenters the atmosphere of 22nd century Earth, the eggs manage to crash in random areas all across the world including a desert where a group of cave explorers stumble across them.

When an unsuspecting victim looks closely at this black rock like egg, the xenomorph will than emerge from it's egg, kill the host and reside inside it's skull. A few minutes later, the alien will than leave the body not through the victim's chest, but through the eye-socket. It is at this stage in the Xenomorph's life cycle that it gains the ability to possess it's victims. However, you can get passed this ability if you happen to possess psychic abilities. All you have to do is stare directly into the possessed person for about 20 seconds and than that person's head will explode.

Also, this particular stage of the Xenomorph is probably the most deadliest form of the creature since it has the ability to, and I'm not sugar coating it, KILL EVERY LIVING PERSON ON A PLANET in less than two hours. One day you're in a bowling alley filled with crazy people, the next you're in an empty bowling alley with the Xenomorph trying to eat you.

However, even if you somehow manage to defeat the Xenomorph menace, always remember. ...YOU MAY BE NEXT!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecFBzIJxpLk

morbo said...

Shark Alien eh?
i have an opinion on this subject...as dorks do.
You Jimsmash , seem to back the perfect species theory...a company man...I’m cool with that. My Alien geekings stem from the mythology as it has and is developing, which is pretty sweet…certain individuals may have stumbled along the way, not mentioning any names, but by and large it’s pretty awesome (egg spitting praetorian predaliens aside). I like to think that the mythology of the Alien brood, though inspired by Necronomicon IV, is bigger than Geiger’s design. “What, what” you say… but you also say Shark-alien and I think…though you may have been being sarcastic (ostrich-alien) that you may be on to something.
A perfect being is all about adaptability. If the Xenomorph were to somehow end up in the ocean then a shark alien would be the way to go to dominate the ecosystem. Yes, yes they are so perfect that they can swim blah blah but in different alien environments different biological characteristics would be perfect and the genetic “borrowing” or whatever you call it, would keep these little beasties on top…along with the acid for blood and hive mind ect ect. I am of the mind that the Necro IV humanoid alien could have been the manifestation of the kick ass characteristics collected from a specific brood spreading out and emulating the host’s evolutionary adaptations. They reproduce fast but not fast enough to actually evolve from external, environmental influences BUT if they were to steal their prey’s adaptations, then Presto…eons of evolutionary steps yoinked in one little face hug. Now that’s perfect.
Plus I like to think that the alien as we know it has been a space jockey knock off from day one…
just to piss you off…
and wook-aliens.
CALL TO ALL ARTSY DORKS: wook-alien hybrid
One last question: are aliens naturally occurring of genetically engineered? Kidding.

morbo said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Fraser Lovatt said...

I suspected this would just be fan art because (as I said on Glazy's Facebook page*), surely Ridley Scott would use Geiger for the prequels and these are not his drawings.

*Get on Facebook, Jim Smash!

Jim said...

No, I hear you Morbo.

I'm just a Purist.

I became a crazy fan before Alien 3 came out. So for me, the taking on physical attributes came about well after I was worshipping the Alien.

Its a matter of preference, I suppose.

I'm beginning to change my tune to simply: "My favorite Alien is the one derived from a Human host"

Although I still hate that an Alien Hive would look like the 1990s Kenner Toyline, full of different variations. It greatly lessons the cool factor for me, and my love of the Creature itself.

Jim said...

Fraser, you're not the first person to tell me to get onto Facebook :)

I'm already on there with my personal life and juggling two accounts seems like too much effort... although maybe I could just kill my personal one and switch to a JimSmash.

But I've also been told by readers that they prefer to have all my thoughts contained here within JimSmash itself in the form of sligthly-more thought out posts.

But I'm open to it...

just be warned, you'd probably see FB posts of quick thoughts, comic thumbs up/downs and bitching and moaning I imagine. :)