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- "It looks completely different from the first one. It's more like a worm with legs...and tentacles."
- ―Chaz Standard to Jay Faust (from Alien: The Original Screenplay)
"The Alien" was a lone creature born from ship navigator Dell Broussard aboard the USSCS Snark and was responsible for the deaths of all but one crew member in just a few short hours.
History[]
When the USSCS Snark and its crew had been diverted to an uncharted planetoid to investigate a signal of unknown origin, a bizarre derelict spaceship is discovered with a gigantic petrified alien corpse inside before Broussard manages to scan the planetoid's atmosphere and locates a pyramid-like structure on the horizon. Though the crew are unanimously unsure of the pyramid's function, Standard, Broussard and Melkolis venture outwards again towards it.
There, Broussard finds a single hole at the top and opts to explore it alone by tethering downwards. At the bottom, he stumbles upon a large chamber full of objects he described as jars or urns. Upon closer inspection, one opens and a small squid-like parasite leaps out and attaches itself to his face.
Back on the Snark, the rest of the crew unsuccessfully attempt to remove the parasite from Broussard's face, discovering that its blood is an extremely corrosive molecular acid and that the objects in the pyramid were actually eggs. Eventually, the parasite detaches itself from Broussard and begins decomposing before Standard throws the dead organism out of the ship.
Broussard miraculously awakens, seemingly unharmed, but during a meal before re-entering stasis he begins convulsing as an alien creature subsequently erupts from his chest, killing him in the process before escaping into the ship. Using motion detectors, electric prods, and nets, the crew manages to corner the alien creature in the food storage room. By then, It had grown much bigger, resembling "a worm with legs...and tentacles", and escaped through an air vent, after decapitating Melkonis and absconded with his body.
While the crew makes their way to the Snark's lifeboat, Hunter is killed by the alien creature while Standard is abducted and brought to its hive. Roby later discovers a half-dead Standard cocooned in a resin who begs for Roby to kill her, to which she complies. Subsequently, the Snark is set to self-destruct by Roby who escapes into the safety of the escape ship. However, she later noticed that the Alien had snuck aboard as well. Roby dons a space suit, shoots the creature with a harpoon gun, and blasts it into space before incinerating it with the ship's engines.
Life cycle[]
An egg or spore casing as seen on the cover of Alien: The Original Screenplay issue #2.
Egg[]
- "At first, I thought they were jars, too, or artifacts anyway. But They're not. They're eggs, or spore casings."
- ―Melkonis (from Alien: The Original Screenplay)
Initially described by Broussard as jars or urns during his investigation of the pyramid, Melkonis later pointed out that the purple-colored objects were, in fact, eggs or spore casings that were able to sustain life for an indeterminate length of time. Upon closer inspection, Broussard noted that the objects appeared more organic than artificial. It reacted to his touch by opening to display something he described as spongy and irregular before he was violently attacked by the parasite within.
A parasite as seen on the cover of Alien: The Original Screenplay issue #3.
Parasite[]
- "You men stay clear. There's a parasite on him."
"Is it alive?" "I don't know, but don't touch it." - ―Captain Standard and Faust (from Alien: The Original Screenplay)
Once the egg opens, a small purple-colored, squid-like parasite violently leaps out and attaches itself to a victim's face. When the crew on the Snark unsuccessfully attempted to remove the parasite from Broussard, they learned that the parasite was responsible for paralyzing him and put him into a coma before it inserted some kind of tube down his throat to keep him alive. During this process, the parasite injects something into its victim's lung, possibly a venom or poison, causing a stain that the crew of the Snark noticed blocks M.R.I. imaging. When an attempt was made to remove the parasite, it not only resisted but bled a substance similar to molecular acid.
A parasite bursting from Broussard's chest.
- "It was growing in him the whole time and he didn't even know it!" "That thing used him for an incubator."
- ―Melkonis and Roby (from Alien: The Original Screenplay)
Once the parasite is ultimately finished with its task of impregnation, it releases its hold and dies. Following the impregnation of a host, who ultimately serves as an incubator, a new purple colored parasite gestates within, growing stronger and larger with every passing minute. While it is not clear whether it instinctively waits for the right time to attack, the parasite will cause its host to convulse while it burrows through flesh and bone, only to burst from the victims chest, trading the life of its host for its own. Once the parasite is free from its host, it quickly darts off to find a safe place to hastily grow into its adult form, usually seeking refuge places too small for larger potential predators to crawl into like air vents and shafts.
A fully grown alien a seen on the cover of Alien: The Original Screenplay issue #5.
Adult[]
- "This is all the same creature. We're seeing the different stages in its life cycle."
- ―Roby (from Alien: The Original Screenplay)
In its full adult form, the creature is
Behind the scenes[]
During a scene from the original and revised scripts that only ever appeared in the 1979 novelization of Alien, Dallas discovered "a smallish urn or vase, tan in color, glossy in aspect." As Dallas moved closer and tilted his head over the broken, jagged top, he noticed the object was empty. This concept, missing from the film, was brought to life in the original screenplay's comic adaptation.
Appearances[]
Gallery[]
