With all the hype surrounding the release of Prometheus, I thought it was time I revisited the original. I ran the 2003 directors cut on dvd, it's been a good few years since I watched it, as like Star Wars, it one of those films you can watch in your head, its so familiar. The directors cut included a few sections which ended up on the cutting room floor, most notably the scene as Ripley sets the self destruct and is en route to the Narcissus and stumbles upon Dallas, barely alive, cocooned in the shaft. The main difference in this scene as opposed to later similar scenes, is that the victims aren't carrying a chestburster in their incarceration, but as we can see from the remains of Brett, are slowly morphing into eggs. The alien is apparently using the genetic and organic material from the victims bodies to grow into a living egg. The scene finds Brett almost completely absorbed, but Dallas retains just enough humanity to appeal to Ripley to kill him. Its a gripping scene an a change of pace from the helter skelter dash through the corridors as Mother counts the minutes down to the abort sequence.
Watching this again reminded me of a magazine article I had showing the Kenner plans for the Alien toy range. The 18" figure had so distressed parents after its initial release, that it had been quickly pulled. Apparently, plans were in progress to produce a small action figure line of Star Wars like figures, but due to the adverse reception of the big figure, the plans never left the prototype stage.
The figures were obviously sculpted by the same hand who produced the first Star Wars figures, Ash, Ripley and Dallas all have a similar stupefied expression and static poses. The Alien on the other hand is equally menacing and demonic as its larger brother and sported a slide out inner jaw, activated by a button its head. The biggest loss must be the chance to own a Moebius/John Mollo designed suit-wearing figure. Whether this is intended to be Kane is hard to tell. The Alien did eventually appear as an action figure line, but greatly changed from its initial beginnings.
4 comments:
Aha - I now have to get me the director's version of that film!
I got the (utterly lavish) "making of" book a few years after Alien came out, and so knew about the missing scene that completes the Alien's life-cycle as originally intended. The omission of which disappointed me to the point of being almost angry about the later Queen Alien churning out eggs at an industrial pace or these being placed in front of trapped human victims. Made no sense whatsoever in comparison.
Prometheus I went to see last Friday with me Bruv, and is definitely recommended (even though I'm still trying to figure out a detail or two). Tho I do confess I miss the good old model spaceships, which somehow looked a damn sight more realistic than all this CG stuff. The Prometheus looks good, lot of imagination went into it, and that I think is the problem. The old Nostromo was a more limited design in that it actually had to be built. And that made it work really well.
Best
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Paul
I honestly cannot imagine what Kenner were thinking when they planned a line of action figures based on the human characters -- all but one of whom are dead or destroyed by the end of the film. Not exactly a lot of play opportunity for kids there!
Have to admit, I'm not that keen on seeing Prometheus. One of the biggest attractions of Alien for me was its depiction of a working class crew in space; these were ordinary stiffs doing a job, worried about their pay, treating each other like real workmates. Maybe the only time we ever saw that before in an SF film was Dark Star. That's been further lost with each successive installment to the point where the trailers and ads for this one show a crew composed of and looking like Hollywood actors. I just get the impression it's all become much more conventional.
I know exactly what you mean about Alien Rich. I too love the grittiness of the characters, particularly the two mechanics constantly bickering about bonuses. My favourite scenes in Alien are however those where things stand still for a while - the opening scene where the crew wake up [with the dipping bird toy in the background], the first breakfast they have together and the 'Kane' meal before it gets messy. But by far my favourite moment is where Harry Dean Stanton, whilst searching for Jonesey, cools off under falling condensation rain. Ridley Scott was brave to linger with his camera like that and it reminded me of his later rain-soaked Blade Runner. I must also mention the score, which is haunting but never intrudes during the film.
Great pics of those prototype figures Wote. That would have been one of Dallas's only ever surfacings in plastic if not the only one. Poor Tom Skerrit, he nearly made it!
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