Alien: Alone is a 2019 fan-made short film written and directed by Noah Miller and starring Taylor Lyons and James Paxton. Created as part of the Alien 40th anniversary shorts project run by Tongal in association with 20th Century Fox, the film focuses on Hope, a synthetic left behind when her vessel is abandoned by its crew. Now stranded, she discovers a live Xenomorph specimen aboard the ship and develops a deep — and possibly deadly — fascination with the creature.
Plot[]
When the crew of the commercial transport vessel Otranto abandoned ship in response to a chemical leak, synthetic Hope was left behind and has now been drifting alone for more than a year. She passes the time making what limited repairs she can to the damaged vessel, or engaging in mundane tasks such as drawing, reading or counting the rivets on the Otranto's bulkheads. Despite her efforts to maintain the ship, she realises it will eventually deteriorate beyond her capability to repair and break up, dooming her. She clings to the knowledge that her captain promised before he evacuated that someone would eventually return to rescue her.
Although she has free rein over most of the vessel, the Otranto's computer, Mother, continues to refuse Hope access to laboratory B-11a, a fact that the android considers unfair given that she is the last person remaining on board. When an electrical fire breaks out on the ship's bridge, Mother's circuits are damaged, and with the computer no longer functional Hope realizes there is now nothing to stop her accessing lab B-11a. She cuts her way inside and discovers several biological specimens stored within, all but one of which have perished. She revives the surviving specimen, a Facehugger, which immediately attempts to impregnate her. It quickly determines that she is not organic and therefore incapable of serving as host for a Chestburster, and so the Facehugger detaches and disappears into the ship's ventilation system.
Over the following days and weeks, Hope begins to study the creature, which is seemingly unaffected by the toxic chemicals that have contaminated the Otranto. She comes to view the Facehugger as a companion of sorts, while the creature itself shows little interest in her beyond being drawn to her movements on the chance she represents a compatible host. However, over time, both Hope and the Facehugger begin exhibiting signs of deterioration — Hope because her mechanical components are breaking down, the Facehugger because it is exceeding its intended natural lifespan. Saddened by her companion's impending death, Hope conducts hasty, improvised repairs to the Otranto that allow her to move the ship towards populated space, hoping that they will be picked up before they both die.
The decrepit ship survives the manoeuvre and is found by Macwhirr, who docks with it and comes aboard. Hope almost immediately overpowers him and assists the Facehugger in subduing him. Macwhirr awakes with no memory of the attack, but finds he is locked in a store room on the Otranto. Hope appears outside the door and he asks her to release him, but she refuses, suggesting instead that he accept his impending death as she has. Machwirr is then killed when the Chestburster inside him emerges.
Later, while Hope is mourning over the body of the deceased Facehugger, she is approached by Machwirr's offspring — a fully-grown Xenomorph Drone. She gazes up at the creature as it looms over her.
Cast[]
- Hope .... Taylor Lyons
- Macwhirr .... James Paxton
- Xenomorph .... James Paxton
- Voice of Mother .... Martha Vincent
Production[]
Filming for Alien: Alone took place at Laurel Canyon Stages in Los Angeles[2] and lasted four days;[3] the preceding short, Alien: Harvest, was filmed at the same facility.[2] Unlike many of the other films created as part of the Alien 40th anniversary short films contest, Alien: Alone relied entirely on practical effects work, including scale models for the various spacecraft and full-size puppets for the Facehugger, all of which were built by Raptor House Effects.[4] A total of two Facehuggers were made for the production, one a simple static puppet made of soft silicone and the other a radio-operated animatronic "hero" puppet capable of a range of leg movements and also fitted with air bladders to simulate the breathing motion of the creatures air sacks.[4]
Soundtrack[]
- Alone in Space — The soundtrack to the film by Joel Santos.
Deleted Scenes[]
- Among the footage deleted from the final cut were more scenes of Hope going about her daily routine aboard the Otranto. As an Easter egg, it was planned to have the song "Benson, Arizona" from the soundtrack to Dark Star play over some of the excised footage.[5]
- A scene where Hope disassembles Mother and uses her parts to get the computer in lab B-11a working again was dropped before filming.[5]
- More scenes of Hope interacting with the Facehugger were planned, including one where she warms a piece of metal with a blowtorch, leading the Facehugger to approach it and attempt to latch onto it. However, effects limitations meant the idea was dropped before filming,[5] and another where the creature climbs up onto her shoulder while she sits meditating.[6]
- Before firing up the Otranto's engines, Hope was to access the ship's systems to ascertain whether it will survive the manoeuvre, only to learn that there is a significant chance the vessel will break up once the engines are turned on.[5]
- Originally, the final shot was to be of the adult Xenomorph's arm reaching out to touch Hope on the shoulder, with most of the creature hidden in shadow, in anticipation of effects restraints. Several takes of this were filmed, but when the production secured the use of a Drone costume from 20th Century Fox it was decided to show the creature more clearly.[5]
Release[]
As with the other 40th anniversary short films, Alien Alone was released through IGN, becoming available from April 26, 2019,[7] as part of Alien Day.
Trivia[]
- Clocking in at a length of 12 minutes, Alien: Alone is the longest of the six anniversary shorts, exceeding the maximum length set for the contest of 9 minutes (while Alien: Ore also runs longer than 9 minutes, this is principally due to its significantly more extensive closing credits when compared to the other short films). Director Noah Miller has stated that his film originally ran even longer and was around 20 minutes in length, and has expressed interest in releasing an extended cut.[8]
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ "Tongal - Creator Interview: Director Chris Reading on the Making of Alien: Containment". Retrieved on 2019-09-11.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Perfect Organism: The Alien Saga Podcast - 110 // Alien: Harvest: An Interview with Director Ben Howdeshell". Retrieved on 2019-09-17.
- ↑ "Skewed & Reviewed - Talking Alien: Alone With Noah Miller". Retrieved on 2019-09-17.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Tongal - Noah Miller on the Making of Alien: Alone". Retrieved on 2019-09-17.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 "AVPGalaxy - In Isolation Together, An Interview with Noah Miller – AvP Galaxy Podcast #86". Retrieved on 2019-09-17.
- ↑ "YouTube - Alien: Alone". Retrieved on 2019-09-24.
- ↑ "AVPGalaxy - Fox Shares Release Order & Red Band Trailer for Alien: 40th Anniversary Shorts!". Retrieved on 2019-03-28.
- ↑ "AVPGalaxy Forums - Alien: Alone – Alien: 40th Anniversary Short Films". Retrieved on 2019-04-30.
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