Whether or not life exists elsewhere is exactly the kind of question that should be asked on Alien Day!
Even though technically "Alien Day" is supposed to be about the movie franchise of the same name "Alien" we thought it would be a good time to also explore the possibility of UFO's and otherworldly beings and occurrences in today's society.
Before we get this intergalactic party started, we just wanted to clear a few things up for those of you who never heard of Alien Day or heaven forbid aliens, UFO's and extraterrestrials.
Alien day is an awesome day to recognize and appreciate the fantastic world of the Alien(s) franchise. Beginning with the first film released in 1979 and spanning more than 40 years since, Alien (including the many films, books and games) has been an intense, unique and fascinating look into the question of whether other life exists in the universe.
The choice of the date itself holds meaning: 4/26 refers to the designation of the moon in the 1st Alien film: LV-426 is the name of the moon where the xenomorphs are discovered in the 1979 film by Ridley Scott.
Even though a lot of us only know about outer space, UFO's and alien creatures from another planet from movies, TV and literature, there is a VERY real possibility that we are NOT alone.
There are about 200 billion stars in a single galaxy, and it would be foolish to say that we are alone in the universe.
ARE THE ALIENS COMING IN 2022 OR ARE THEY ALREADY HERE?
Could it be that 2022 is the year that we will finally make contact with beings from another planet?
UFO watchers say 2022 could prove a bumper year, as clamor for details grows in the wake of a highly anticipated report.
But 2022 could be even more profound, experts say, as the clamor for UFO disclosure and discovery continues to grow, and as new scientific projects bring us closer than ever to potentially discovering non-Earth life.
Still, as the clamor for information has grown, so has interest from the scientific community, and in 2022 a slew of new projects will launch, specifically aimed at detecting alien life.
These concerted efforts could make 2022 “a banner year”, Leonard David, author of Moon Rush: the New Space Race, and a journalist who has been reporting on the space industry for more than five decades, said “It’s a great time to be alive.
The bottom line is something’s coming.
You can’t have that many people doing that much research and come up dry".
A frequent backdrop to any discussion of alien life is how it would affect humans here on earth. Some speculate that religions could be shaken to their core, or that there could be a mass existential crisis.
David said that extraterrestrials, however, could be aware of us and be deliberately ignoring our planet, which would represent an equally devastating blow to the human sense of self-importance. “I don’t know exactly where the Earth fits in and why we would be on the receiving end of any attention, We could be the dolts of the universe.”
Most Americans believe in intelligent life beyond Earth; few see UFOs as a major national security threat.
As an unprecedented U.S. intelligence report brings new attention to the phenomenon of unidentified flying objects, about two-thirds of Americans (65%) say their best guess is that intelligent life exists on other planets, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted just before the release of the government assessment.
By and large, the public does not view UFOs as a major threat to the country. When asked to think about U.S. national security, most Americans (87%) say that UFOs are not a threat at all (51%) or a minor threat (36%). One-in-ten say UFOs are a major threat to U.S. national security.
In general, Americans are not inclined to assume that UFOs are hostile.
When asked for another best guess, 17% say UFOs are friendly, 7% say they are unfriendly and 74% said they are neither. This pattern holds when looking only at adults who say that UFOs reported by people in the military are probably or definitely evidence of intelligent life outside Earth. Among the 51% of U.S. adults who say that military-reported UFOs are at least probably evidence of intelligent life outside Earth, 26% say UFOs are friendly, 7% say they are unfriendly and 65% say neither.
While the intelligence report has received prominent media coverage, Americans were broadly unaware of the assessment prior to its release. Most Americans (87%) said they had heard or read a little (66%) or nothing at all (21%) about the government releasing information about UFO sightings, compared with just 12% who said they had heard or read a lot about it.
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9 THINGS WE LEARNED ABOUT ALIENS IN 2021
1. UFOs ARE REAL (AND THE GOVERNMENT KNOWS IT!).
Last year was a breakthrough time for UFOs, as a landmark government report prompted the possibility of extraterrestrial visitors to finally be taken seriously by everyone from senators, to a former president, to the Pentagon.
Other politicians — not just Democrats — have wanted to investigate these objects. In 2020, President Donald Trump signed a law that required the Pentagon to produce an unclassified report for Congress revealing what the government knows about UFOs. While none of this confirms the conspiracy theory that the government has been hiding evidence that extraterrestrial life has visited Earth, it does acknowledge that the government has investigated unidentified flying objects — which at least some Americans interpret as evidence of alien visitations.
Former top officials and even US presidents have recently weighed in on whether the truth truly is out there.
Hillary Clinton's campaign manager John Podesta, long a follower of UFO theories, promised during her 2016 campaign that she would release classified government reports on aliens if she were elected.
Donald Trump stopped short of revealing their existence because the “Galactic Federation” insisted "humanity is not ready yet", Eshed is believed to have told the daily. The aliens insisted humans need to "evolve and reach a stage where we will... understand what space and spaceships are".
In an interview last year, then-President Donald Trump said he would not disclose - even to his family - what he had learned about aliens.
"I won't talk to you about what I know about it, but it's very interesting," he said.
Last December, the former head of the Israeli space directorate at the country's defense ministry told a local newspaper that Mr. Trump was on the "verge of revealing" the existence of an intergalactic treaty, but pulled back out of fear of inciting a "mass hysteria".
Former President Barack Obama put it more plainly in May, when he told late night TV host James Corden: "When I came into office, I asked... is there the lab somewhere where we're keeping the alien specimens and space ship? And you know, they did a little bit of research and the answer was no."
"What is true, and I'm actually being serious here, is that there are, there's footage and records of objects in the skies, that we don't know exactly what they are," Mr Obama continued.
"We can't explain how they moved, their trajectory... And so, you know, I think that people still take seriously trying to investigate and figure out what that is."
Public pressure on the US to release what it knows about aliens has been building for decades as civilian groups of so-called Ufologists argue that evidence of their existence has been suppressed by the government.
The Pentagon has been quietly gathering data since 2007 as part of the military's little-known Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program.
Money for the program came at the request of Nevada Senator Harry Reid, a Democrat who represented the region that encompasses Area 51 - the military site where conspiracy theorists believe remains collected from an alien crash in the town of Roswell have been studied since 1947.
In June, the Pentagon released a highly anticipated report on unexplained aerial phenomena (UAP), the now preferred nomenclature by some in the extraterrestrial community, which found more than 140 instances of UAPs that could not be explained.
The report came after leaked military footage documented seemingly otherworldly happenings in the sky, and after testimony from navy pilots helped to somewhat destigmatize a subject that has long been defined by conspiracy theories and dubious sightings.
For years, pilots had refused to share tales of their UFO experiences, worried of being labeled kooks or being passed over for promotion. The account of the navy pilots was given credibility, however, by leaked military footage which showed an oval flying object near a US navy ship off San Diego, and separate videos which showed triangular-shaped objects buzzing around in the sky.
Since then the Pentagon, pushed by US senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Marco Rubio, has launched a new office for reporting and analyzing UFO reports, although some in the UFO community suspect the government to be less than forthcoming with its findings.
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2. BLACK HOLES COULD BE ALIEN POWERHOUSES.
While alien hunters spend plenty of time searching for habitable planets beyond our solar system, a study published in July in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society warns that scientists shouldn't overlook nature's most extreme objects: Black holes. Because black holes can radiate up to 100,000 times more energy than a star like our sun, they may make tempting targets for alien civilizations looking to power their interstellar enterprises, the study authors wrote. To do this, aliens could use high-tech structures called Dyson spheres (giant, energy-siphoning orbs first proposed in the 1960s) to steal energy from the disc of white-hot matter swirling around a black hole's horizon, then radiate that energy outward into space. That re-radiated energy would create a distinct wavelength signature that astronomers could detect from Earth, the study authors suggested. The researchers are currently developing algorithms to search through existing telescope data in search of those telltale signatures.
3. ALIEN PLANETS MAY LOOK NOTHING LIKE EARTH.
Typically, the search for alien life begins with the search for Earth-like planets — but there may be another class of alien world that is just as conducive to life, a study published in the Astrophysical Journal in August contends. "Hycean" planets, which are up to 2.5 times larger than Earth and sport huge oceans of liquid water beneath hydrogen-rich atmospheres, could be the ideal spot for microbial life similar to the "extremophiles" that thrive in some of Earth's harshest environments (such as hydrothermal vents), the study authors said. Not only are these planets abundant in the Milky Way galaxy, but they are also incredibly diverse, some orbiting very close to their host star, others orbiting far away. Both could potentially host itty-bitty life beneath their waves, the authors wrote, meaning there may be a whole new avenue of exploration for alien planet hunters.
ALL THIS TALK ABOUT UFO'S, EXTRATERRESTRIALS AND ALIEN LIFE FORMS MAKES ME WANT TO TAKE A LITTLE BREAK AND TELL YOU A THING OR 20 ABOUT THE HORROR SCI-FI CLASSIC "ALIEN". DON'T WORRY, WE'LL GET BACK TO LEARNING MORE ABOUT 9 THINGS WE LEARNED ABOUT ALIENS IN 2021 IN JUST A MINUTE OR TWO.
Since it is Alien Day, I felt it only fair to show a little love to the great Ridley Scott and his classic "Alien".
When Ridley Scott’s Alien was released in 1979, there was no question that nobody had seen anything like it before. It’s success helped establish a franchise that has spawned several films as well as video games and other tie-ins, making it one of the most popular science fiction franchises to date.
1. Did you know that 20th Century Fox Didn’t Want to Make It?
20th Century Fox, and every other studio, initially passed on the script because science fiction was a risky investment before 1977 and no one wanted to take a chance on a science fiction film that was as grim and violent as Alien.
It still took some convincing from Ridley Scott to keep in all of the blood and gore, however, because Alien was a different kind of science fiction film than Star Wars, and that's putting it mildly.
It took the runaway success of Star Wars to give Fox the incentive to seek out science fiction scripts to produce and they revisited Alien's script and greenlit the film.
2. Alien Wasn't The Original Title.
The original working title of the film was actually Star Beast
3. Except It's In Space!
A script reader at 20th Century Fox left the note on the Alien script saying, "It's like Jaws, only in space," and this helped sell the film to the studio when they reconsidered it.
4. It's Initial Budget Was Puny Compared to Today's Films.
When 20th Century Fox approved the film, they budgeted $4.2 million for the film, which even today’s dollars would only be about $16 million. When Ridley Scott showed executives at Fox storyboards for the film, they were impressed enough that they doubled the budget, which would be about $32 million today.
By comparison, Avengers: Infinity War had an estimated budget that was more than ten times what it cost to make Alien, spending somewhere between $310 million and $400 million.
5. Much of the Design Work Came From a Failed Adaptation of Dune.
Director Alejandro Jodorowsky’s adaptation of the science fiction classic Dune never made it into production, but some of the artists and designers from the pre-production phase made it onto the team for Alien. They brought their earlier work with them, defining much of the aesthetic for the series over the next 40 years.
6. The Practical Effects in Alien Featured Real Guts.
The innards of the Facehugger Egg were procured from a nearby slaughterhouse and include cow hearts and stomachs, while the Facehugger’s insemination tube is made using sheep intestines.
7. H.R. Giger Personally Airbrushed the Space Jockey Set by Hand
Giger’s surrealist artwork was the basis for a lot of the aesthetic of the film, but he also personally airbrushed the Space Jockey set, where the Nostromo crew find the dead alien pilot of a crashed ship whose crew were the victims of the xenomorph species that inhabited the planetoid LV-426.
8. H.R. Giger’s Alien Design- The design of the Alien came from Giger’s painting, Necronom IV.
9. The Alien Doesn’t Have Eyes
Giger He thought that it would have a more cold, soulless look without them.
10. The Model of the Alien’s Head Includes a Cast of a Human Skull
The model for the Alien's head used for the close-up shots throughout the film used a cast of a human skull to help define its shape.
11. The Model of the Alien's Head Also Used Hundreds of Moving Parts
Around 900 moving parts were needed to create the model of the Alien's head.
12. The Nostromo’s Crew Were Decidedly Blue Collar Workers.
Instead of scientists and engineers, the producers of Alien wanted the crew of the Nostromo to resemble truckers in space so that a broader audience of working-class people would relate to them.
13. Ridley Scott’s Sons Were Stand-ins to Make the Sets Seem Larger.
Scott used his two young sons wearing space suits on the exterior shots to make everything appear much larger by comparison.
14. The Actor Who Played the Alien was Found in a Bar-Nigerian student Bolaji Badejo was sitting in a pub when one of the casting directors for Alien spotted him.
15. Harrison Ford Almost Played the Role of Dallas
Hot off his performance as Han Solo in Star Wars, Harrison Ford was a natural choice for the role of Dallas, but Ford turned it down, not wanting to do another science fiction film so soon after Star Wars.
16. None of the Characters Are Gendered in the Script
In the original script, the gender of a character was never identified, allowing the flexibility to cast men and women in any role. This resulted in all of the characters being referred to in the film using only their last names.
17. Ripley Wasn’t Originally Considered a Female Character
Despite a “unisex” approach to the characters, the writers admit that they had never thought of casting a woman for the role of Ripley. As the lead role in a science fiction film, Ripley’s competent, take charge attitude was a trope of the genre—but not for female characters, who were typically relegated to the damsel-in-distress that the heroic lead rescues at the end.
Fox’s Alan Ladd suggested Ripley be female instead and Ridley Scott loved the idea. This way, they could challenge the usual woman in peril trope that audiences had come to expect by having a damsel in distress who was perfectly capable of rescuing herself and didn't need a man to do it for her.
Sigourney Weaver’s performance as Ripley in Ridley Scott's Alien as well as its sequel, James Cameron's Aliens, blazed the trail for heroic female lead actors in science fiction and action films ever since.
18. Veronica Cartwright Thought She Was Cast as Ripley.
Veronica Cartwright originally read for the part of Ripley, played by Sigourney Weaver, and only found out that she’d been cast as Lambert when she showed up for the first day of filming.
19. The Space Jockey Prop Was Lost in a Fire.
The massive 26-foot tall prop of the Space Jockey caught fire and was destroyed when someone left a lit cigarette on the prop.
I hope someone was in the hot seat for that!
20. The Alien’s Appearance was a Closely Guarded Secret.
Before the film’s release, no publicity shots showing the Alien were ever given to the press and the Alien itself never appeared in the trailers or other promotional material. The producers wanted to shock the audience when they first see it.
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OK LET'S GET BACK TO THE 9 THINGS THAT WE LEARNED ABOUT ALIENS IN 2021.
4. ONE OF SATURN'S MOONS STILL HOLDS POTENTIAL FOR LIFE.
The methane wafting from Enceladus, Saturn's sixth largest moon, may be a sign that life teems in the moon's subsurface sea, a June study found. In 2005, NASA's Cassini Saturn orbiter discovered geysers blasting particles of water ice into space from "tiger stripe" fractures near Enceladus' south pole. That material is thought to come from a huge ocean of liquid water that sloshes beneath the moon's icy shell — but it wasn't just water the orbiter found; numerous other compounds, including dihydrogen (H2) and a variety of carbon-containing organic compounds, including methane (CH4), also appeared in the geysers.
In the new study, researchers ran a series of models to determine whether those compounds could be evidence of microbes that "eat" dihydrogen and produce methane as waste. The team found that methane-farting microbes could indeed be contributing to the planet's gassy geysers meaning life can't be ruled out on the icy moon.
5. SCIENTISTS MAY BE IGNORING ALIEN JUNK IN OUR OWN SOLAR SYSTEM.
According to Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb's recent book "Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth" (published in January by Mariner Books), the strange, cigar-shaped object 'Oumuamua — which zoomed through our solar system in 2017 — is almost certainly a piece of alien technology. In his book, Loeb argues that the object's unusual, elongated shape (unlike any known comet), extreme brightness and apparent acceleration away from the sun suggest that 'Oumuamua is not natural in origin, but a piece of alien technology — possibly jettisoned into our solar system accidentally.
"A buoy. A grid of pods for communication… Other intelligent living organisms' defunct technology or discarded technological trash," Loeb wrote. "These all are plausible explanations for the 'Oumuamua mystery — plausible because here on Earth, humanity is already doing these things, albeit on a far more limited scale." (A majority of astronomers who have studied the object favor natural explanations, calling it a cosmic "dust bunny" or just a really odd comet).
6. THOUSANDS OF ALIEN WORLDS COULD HAVE WATCHED HUMANS GROW UP.
While human efforts to find alien civilizations among the stars have only kicked off in the last century or so, more than 1,700 alien civilizations could have been watching us for thousands of years prior. According to a study published in June in the journal Nature, 1,715 nearby star systems have had a perfect viewing angle of Earth over the last 5,000 years — and more than 1,400 of them still have a clear view today.
To the aliens, the "Human Race" might be their favorite long-running reality TV program.
All of these stars sit within about 300 light-years of our planet, and 75 of them orbit less than 100 light-years away. Given that humans have been transmitting radio signals for about 100 years, any of those 75 star systems are near enough that "our radio waves would have washed over them already," lead study author Lisa Kaltenegger, an associate professor of astronomy and director of the Carl Sagan Institute at Cornell University, told Live Science at the time. Whether or not any hypothetical civilizations living in those star systems want to communicate with us is another question.
7. THERE IS NO "BEST" WAY TO COMMUNICATE WITH ALIENS.
If aliens are watching us from relatively near, what's the best way to tell them where we live? Live Science writer Joanna Thompson investigated this question in December, finding that no one method is flawless. On one hand, radio waves are a tempting way to communicate with extraterrestrials because these signals fit in a convenient gap in the electromagnetic spectrum called the "water hole" — a frequency between 1420 and 1720 megahertz that's relatively free of cosmic background noise.
On the other hand, radio waves broaden as they travel, meaning any message we send will become more diluted the farther from Earth it gets.
Laser light does not have this problem — however, laser signals require incredible precision, and are unlikely to reach any alien observers unless we target our message directly to their star system.
Both methods have their advantages — and neither are perfect.
8. OUR OWN TECHNOLOGY MIGHT BE GETTING IN THE WAY.
On April 29, 2019, astronomers detected a signal beaming toward Earth, it seemed, from Proxima Centauri — the nearest star system to our sun and home to at least one potentially habitable planet. Because the signal fell into a narrow band of radio waves that are rarely made by human aircraft or satellites, researchers interpreted it as a possible sign of alien technology. But the signal never repeated — and a study published this October in the journal Nature Astronomy explains why: The signal was actually coming from a malfunctioning computer or cellular device located near the telescope that detected it.
In the new study, the researchers looked over the 2019 data again and found several "lookalike" signals that seemed to be missing components of the so-called alien transmission; together, these signals fit a range of frequencies "consistent with common clock oscillator frequencies used in digital electronics," the researchers wrote. In other words, this alien message seems to have been a human computer on the fritz — but studying and identifying it still gives scientists valuable experience in separating real deep-space signals from Earthly noise.
9. ALIEN ABDUCTIONS COULD JUST BE LUCID DREAMS.
Lucid dreaming, in which people are partially aware and can control their dreams during sleep, could explain so-called alien abduction stories, a study from July suggests. Claims of such abductions date to the 19th century; the circumstances of the kidnappings often sound dreamlike and trigger feelings of terror and paralysis. Certain dream states are also known to produce such feelings, so Russian researchers wondered whether dream experiments could provide clues about alleged extraterrestrial experiences.
The scientists prompted 152 lucid dreamers to dream about encounters with aliens or UFOs, and found that a number of sleepers reported dreams that resembled actual descriptions of alleged alien abductions. Of those who described their dream encounters as "realistic," 24% also experienced sleep paralysis and intense fear. Such emotions often accompany reports of supposed alien abductions, and though individuals who describe being kidnapped by aliens might truly believe that what they experienced was real, these people were likely experiencing an extraterrestrial meeting while in a lucid dream, the study authors reported.
Aliens Might Already Be Watching Us
The view from Voyager 1 is a testament to the chilling, exhilarating fact that, just as we can see ourselves from the interstellar depths, others can, too.
SET YOUR PHASERS FOR OUT OF THIS WORLD CUTENESS!
GET YOUR OWN CUTE AND ADOREABLE PHUNNY ALIEN XENOMORPH FACEHUGGER PLUSH
RIDLEY SCOTT'S 1975 HORROR SCI-FI CLASSIC EXPLORED THAT NOT ONLY IS THERE ALIEN LIFE ON OTHER PLANETS BUT THAT EXTRATERRESTRIALS ARE NOT FRIENDLY LIKE E.T.
LET'S CONTINUE WITH MORE INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE MOVIE "ALIEN".
21. The Alien’s Blood is Acid for a Reason.
The highly corrosive, acidic blood of the Alien capable of eating through the hull of a ship is the innovating solution to a simple narrative problem: why couldn’t the Nostromo crew just shoot it?
22. The Summer Film Shoot Was Hard on the Cast.
Filmed over 14 weeks between July and October of 1978, the set for the film sometimes reached over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. This made it unbearably hot in the space suit costumes used for the external planet scenes and Veronica Cartwright, John Hurt, and even Ridley Scott's two sons passed out on occasion, requiring the filmmakers to hire of a nurse to stand by on set to administer oxygen.
23. They Used a Dog to get Jones the Cat to React to the Alien.
Getting cats to act is hard, so getting Jones the Cat to react in fear and hiss at the Alien was a challenge. So, the film crew hid a German shepherd behind a screen and lifted it suddenly to startle Jones into reacting.
24. There Was More Than One Jones the Cat.
Four different cats played the part of Jones the Cat in the film.
25. Alien Was an Oscar-Winning Film.
Ridley Scott's Alien won the award for Best Visual Effects at the 52nd Academy Awards, as well as Best Director for Ridley Scott and Best Supporting Actress for Veronica Cartwright.
26. The Library of Congress Registered Alien for Historic Preservation.
In 2002, the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress added Alien to its list of films preserved for their historical and cultural value.
27. Ash’s Blood Included Caviar and Pasta.
When Ash is revealed to be an android added to the crew of the Nostromo sent to capture a xenomorph specimen for the Weyland-Yutani Corporation, all hell breaks loose. Ash attacks Ripley but ends up being decapitated by Parker, which produces an eruption of a gross, chalky-white substance that androids use for blood.
The design team used a mix of milk, pasta, caviar, and marbles to create the android's blood, producing nearly as alien a lifeform as the Alien itself.
28. Ridley Scott Changed the Original Ending After the Film was Shot.
Originally, the film ended when Ripley got on the escape shuttle and the Nostromo explodes. Scott had a better idea and convinced the studio to allocate extra money to shoot additional scenes for the new ending while in post-production.
29. The Space Jockey Room and the Egg Chamber Use the Same Set.
The set was used to film both scenes. The Space Jockey prop could be removed to give a different look to the set for the egg chamber scene.
30. The Who Lent the Filmmakers Their Laser Lights.
The British rock band The Who was testing their equipment at the sound stage next door while Alien's Egg Chamber scene was being filmed and the band lent the filmmakers their blue laser light to use.
31. The Alien in the Final Sequence is Nearing Its Natural Death.
While the lifespan of the xenomorph species wasn't fully established in series lore at the time, Ridley Scott’s Alien lives out nearly its entire life during the events of the film. Scott envisioned the species similar to the way insects develop rapidly in stages with high metabolisms, but short natural lifespans.
By the final confrontation with Ripley on the escape shuttle Narcissus, the Alien appears noticeably sluggish and non-aggressive relative to earlier appearances because it is already in the process of dying a natural death.
32. Ripley Was Almost Played by Meryl Streep.
The casting team initially considered Meryl Streep for the role of Ripley but decided against it. They felt that it wouldn’t be right to approach Streep, whose boyfriend at the time had just died from cancer, about taking a role in a film where everyone around her dies gruesome, horrible deaths and she is the only one to survive.
33. The Alien Egg was Originally a Hen’s Egg.
Early Trailers showed a hen’s egg instead of the iconic Facehugger egg that was used in the film.
34. The Alien Was Originally Translucent.
Originally, the Alien had a translucent body, but as the design team built a translucent suit of the Alien, Ridley Scott rejected it, suggesting instead making a dark, steely figure that could easily blend into the shadows.
H.R. Giger’s Translucent Prototype Xenomorph Costume Has Been Found and It’s Going to Auction!
35. John Hurt Was the First and Third Choice to Play Kane.
Ridley Scott had originally wanted legendary British actor John Hurt to play the role of Kane, but he had a prior commitment to film a movie in South Africa. Scott then turned to John Finch who made it to the first day of filming, but who suffered a sudden medical crisis on the set and was unable to continue in the role.
Meanwhile, the Apartheid government of South Africa had denied John Hurt a visa after confusing him with another actor—John Heard—who was blacklisted for his militantly vocal opposition to Apartheid. With his schedule open, Scott approached Hurt again for the newly open role and Hurt joined the cast.
36. The Chest-Burster Scene Genuinely Scared the Cast.
During Kane’s famous chest-burster scene, only John Hurt, who played Kane, knew the details of what was about to happen; the other actors weren’t told about the explosion of fake guts and blood that was coming.
The scene was shot in one take with four cameras capturing the genuine shock and terrified reaction of the actors, especially Cartwright's genuine horror as she was unexpectedly sprayed by a jet of blood.
Yaphet Kotto was in such a state of shock afterward that he went home and locked himself alone in a room, unable to speak to his wife for several hours.
37. Ridley Scott Instructed Yaphet Kotto to Annoy Sigourney Weaver on Set.
Yaphet Kotto has said that Ridley Scott secretly asked him to annoy Sigourney Weaver on set between takes during filming to generate tension between the two actors that mirrored that experienced by their characters. Kotto says he regrets this since he genuinely liked Weaver.
38. Scott Sought a Woman’s Perspective When Casting Ripley.
During casting, Ridley Scott asked several women in the production office to view the screen tests for Ripley to get a female perspective on the performance. Overwhelmingly, they were impressed by Sigourney Weaver’s screen presence and Weaver's screen test of Ripley's final speech at the end of the film won her the role.
39. The Slime on the Alien Egg Drips Upward.
The slime on the Alien egg just before the Facehugger bursts out at Kane in the Egg Chamber is flowing from the ground up, an effect created by placing the egg upside down and filming it from underneath.
40. A High School Drama Club Produced a Stage Adaptation of Alien and It Went Viral.
A high school production of Alien was put on by the North Bergen Drama Club at North Bergen High School in New Jersey and the story went viral. It even drew praise from Sigourney Weaver, James Cameron, and Ridley Scott, who offered to pay for an encore production.
WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO FOR ALIEN DAY? WATCH THE SKIES? MAKE A HAT FROM A STEEL STRAINER AND TINFOIL TO TRY TO COMMUNICATE WITH BEINGS FROM OTHER PLANETS?
Well, if you didn't already spend all day reading this X-tremely engrossing blog article, may we suggest an awesome way to spend the day..
Why not celebrate Alien Day with an "Alien" movie marathon?
Host your own Alien Movie Marathon!
With six different films in the franchise, watching them all sequentially could certainly take most of the day! But diehard Alien fans won’t mind! Watch the films in this order:
- Alien (1976). Starring Sigourney Weaver as Ripley, this classic sci-fi horror film has certainly gained a cult following.
- Aliens (1986). Reprising her role as Ripley, Sigourney Weaver is the sole survivor of the alien attack on her ship. This is considered by some as one of the best sequel films ever made.
- Alien3 (1992). Again, with Weaver’s character as the sole survivor (along with alien life), she must try to survive.
- Alien Resurrection (1997). Set 200 years into the future from the time the last film ended, this time Weaver is joined by Winona Ryder.
- Prometheus (2012). A 15 year gap between these two films was a very long wait! This prequel stars Noomi Rapace and Charleze Theron, centering on the idea of finding the origins of humanity.
- Alien: Covenant (2017). Another prequel, again with Michael Fassbender (who was also in Promethus) who plays an android.
Whatever you do have a cosmically awesome Alien Day!