The Space Jockey's Remains

leading from

Dan O'Bannon's Original Alien 

The Space Jockey's remain

a) The source of the transmission proves to be a wrecked alien spacecraft on the planetoid described in his script as a planetissima. In one version of the early script online, it was shaped like a huge toadstool and in the version found on the Alien Quadrilogy DVD is was described as a lobster. The idea of an alien derelict ship presented itself to Dan O'Bannon through the short story and radio play version of Clifford Simak's science fiction story Junkyard, in this case the ship has it's engines ripped out by another alien race who left their engine parts behind since the organism in the tower made them forget how to operate their own engines. And the presence of a derelict spacecraft showed up in Planet of the Vampires, the derelict looked to some degree like a giant beetle, the interior was a long ribbed circular tunnel leading into a vast central chamber which also served as a tomb like environment for it's skeleton of the deceased giant inhabitant. And also it presented itself through the Hammer film Quatermass And The Pit, a film with a script writen by Nigel Kneale where a five million year old space craft is discovered in a London Underground Train Station in Knightsbridge, and inside they find the remains of its preserved extra-terrestrial pilots.

Buried ship of Westerlain, where Sarukin had secreted the red stone, the vessel is shaped like the cap of 
a toadstool. Did it initially visually inspire O'Bannon for his derelict  (from Arzach by Moebius, 1974)

Chris Foss's derelict (See Chris Foss' derelict)

b) The interior was shot full of immense holes as though the ship had been riddled with impossible corrosive acid, Dead at the controls is the skeleton of the alien pilot.   however the idea of the giant skeletal remains of an alien pilot are borrowed from Mario Bava's film Planet of the Vampires discovered in a chamber where an audio played is found that when activated plays endless alien utterances, but in Alien. the giant alien's remains bear no resemblance to the human form and are discovered seated in a control chair. One a console on the walls, there is a machine, and on it, a small bar moves steadily back and forth, sliding noiselessly in its grooves. This is where the transmission is coming from.. The original Planet of the Vampires script contained a transmitter created by the disembodied spirits on the planetoid to lure space travellers to the planet.

c) Ron Cobb did the illustration of the skeleton, which later becomes knows as the Space Jockey, and Ron's design was just perfect in Dan O'Bannon's eyes. It had a very large cranium, and four or five eye sockets, a very small jawbone with no teeth to speak of. He expected it to look horrible when it is seen in the film, but then one looks at it a bit closer and finds that it didn't have large teeth or mandibles or any other thing that are characteristic of a carnivore, and then one might begin to imagine it as some totally non-violent  herbivorous creature sailing around space

d) The transmission turns out to be an automatic recording which has been repeating for God knows how long. The question is, what killed the crew? Scrawled onto the console before the dead pilot is a symbol, a hastily scrawled triangle. Clearly he was trying to leave a message.

e) When the explorers are puzzling over the meaning of the triangle, the storm outside momentarily clears up, enabling them to see the horizon. The on the cliffs is seen is pyramid, instantly suggestive of the triangle. Is this what the pilot was trying to indicate? They go to explore it.  The idea in Alien that they discover an alien creature and the discover something else that led to a further mystery, in terms of Dan O'Bannon's version of the script where the inside of the pyramid and the derelict ship were two separate places, it was one of the more specific things that he was thinking about from Nigel Kneale's work.

sources

1. Dan O'Bannon: The source of the transmission proves to be a wrecked alien spacecraft" (Dan O'Bannon's Unseen Alien, Starburst 15, p42) 
2. In one description shaped like a huge toadstool (Dan O'Bannon's online version early Alien script) 
3. And another description a lobster (Dan O'Bannon's DVD version of the early Alien script.)
4. Dan O'Bannon: Shot full of immense holes as though the ship had been riddled with impossibly corrosive acid. Dead at the controls is the skeleton of the alien pilot "(Dan O'Bannon's Unseen Alien, Starburst 15, p42) 
5. Dan O'Bannon: The giant alien's remains bear no resemblance to the human form and are discovered seated in a control chair. On a console on the walls, there is a machine, and on it, a small bar moves steadily back and forth, sliding noiselessly in its grooves. This is where the transmission is coming from" (Dan O'Bannon's online version early Alien script)
6. Dan O'Bannon : "Ron Cobb did the skeleton - what they later call the Space Jockey - and it was just perfect. It had a very large cranium and four or five eye sockets. Very small jawbone - no teeth to speak of. Of course, I expected it to look horrible when you see it in the film, but then if you looked at it a bit closer, you'd discover that it didn't have the large teeth or the mandibles or any other thing that are characteristic of a carnivore - and then maybe you'd begin to imagine it as some totally non-violent herbivorous creature sailing around space."   (Dan O'Bannon interviewed in Cinefex 1, p64)
7. Dan O'Bannon: It turns out to be an automatic recording, which has been repeating for God knows how long. The question is: what killed the crew? Scrawled onto the console before the dead pilot is a symbol, a hastily scrawled triangle. Clearly he was trying to leave a message."
8. Dan O'Bannon: While they are puzzling over the meaning of the triangle, the storm outside clears up momentarily, enabling them to see to the horizon. There on the cliffs is a pyramid, instantly suggestive of the triangle. Is this what the pilot was trying to indicate? They go to explore it.  (Dan O'Bannon's Unseen Alien, Starburst 15, p42)
9. Dan O'Bannon admitted to the writer Andy Murray who wrote Into the Unknown about the work of Nigel Kneale "one of the things that made a big impression on me from the third Quatermass film was the idea of finding a wrecked alien space craft, and investigating inside of it, and finding the remains of the creatures. In my original screenplay when they land on the planet, they find a crashed alien space ship and they go inside and find the remains of an alien creature, in the movie they sort of just crushed two scenes together, but in my version it was two separate scenes. They find this wrecked alien space craft and they deduce that this alien creature was killed by something. Then subsequently they discover and indigenous pyramid and they go into that and find the eggs. In the script that was one of the more specific things I was thinking about from Kneale's work" (Into the Unknown, p152 )