Giger talks about Aliens and Poltergeist 2

 leading from

James Cameron's Alien Queen

 and
Poltergeist 2

a) During the time of Aliens, Giger found himself involved in the creation of a demonic Gorgon like creature referred to as "The Great Beast" in Poltergeist 2. While Giger's designs for the film were inventive, they failed to translate through the art department of the film into anything of worth, in fact he found the puppet created from his paintings of the Great Beast to be terrible.

H R Giger, 1988

b) Later he found out that Aliens was being made without his involvement which at the time upset him, but the great Alien Queen designed together by James Cameron and Stan Winston was something that Giger could admire. Another thing to note that both Poltergeist and Aliens required the designs for large ferocious biomechanoids. If they had been successful with following Giger's design for the Poltergiest 2 Smoke Beast, one wonders which of the two creatures would have been the most talked about.

Giger's concept sketch for the Great Beast from Poltergeist

 
c) At first Giger thought that Aliens was too much of an action movie in the style of Rambo for his liking and over the years he found that he enjoyed it more and more.

The face of the Alien Queen

1. Les Paul Robey: What did you think of the changes made to the designs of your creatures in "Aliens?"
   GIGER: I thought the whole mechanization was very well done. Though, I was a little depressed because nobody asked me to work on this film. I was in Los Angeles at the time working on "Poltergeist II" and I asked around about "Alien 2." People told me they didn't know, that it was in England. For me it would be the most logical thing to work on that film. I also heard they didn't ask Ridley Scott about this movie.(Easy Reader 14th July 1988)

   
   
2. Giger:" Aliens was also terrific. I am sorry I was not asked to work on it. At first I thought, This  is like a war film,' but it is really powerful. But I didn't like the ribbed cranium of the Alien warrior, although you couldn't see the aliens very much. However I loved the Alien Queen designed by James Cameron.  " (FX magazine, July 1999)
   

   

   Alien Queen upper body from side

   
   

   
   
   
3. CFQ: What did you think of the changes made in the design of your creature in ALIENS?  Giger: I thought the mechanization was done very well. I was a little depressed because nobody asked me to work on this film.  I was in Los Angeles at the time working on POLTERGEIST II, and I asked around about ALIENS. For me it would have been the most logical thing to work on that film. I was very anxious to collaborate but nobody called me. I'd much rather have done a second ALIEN than a second POLTERGEIST because naturally I felt more related to ALIEN.  Perhaps the POLTERGEIST II people wanted to keep me away from ALIENS for fear of losing me. I inquired everywhere but no one could or would inform me about it.
4. HR Giger: That was really great, I liked the queen, it's really great. It's not I mean, it can't, it will work also without me very well (Alien Saga documentary)
5. CFQ: You received compensation, though...
   
   
   Giger: No! Nothing. They put my name in the credits as designer of the original alien concept, but I never got any money. In my contract, Fox can make as many films as they want. It's always the company's rights, and they do what they want.
   
   
   CFQ: Did you like ALIENS?
   
   
   Giger: Actually, I expected more after all the enthusiastic reviews. It's a bit too American for me—too much action. I prefer suspense. Half of the action in ALIENS would have been sufficient for one film, I think. Far too much is happening. It's a bit like RAMBO.
   
   

   

   The Power Loader

   CFQ: What about the film's art direction, especially the design of the Alien Queen?
   
   
   Giger: It's all beautifully done, everything, the designs and the way they're executed. I'm particularly fond of the robot, which is operated by Ripley— Das war ganz toll, nicht?—that yellow  monster with those pincers. The Alien Queen is also nice. She's a bit smaller in the face than my alien but my basic design was very well studied. She was frighteningly well animated. Of couse in that respect a lot has been learned in the past eight years. The facehuggers were well done, too. As far as the designs are concerned I've no criticism, only the film's pace bothers me. And I believe a lot of Europeans react like that. They would rather see a series of slow build- ups towards climaxes instead of one immense build-up towards a single climax.
   (p26, Cinefantastique vol 18, issue 4)
    

The Great Beast as seen in the film Poltergeist 2

alien costume with ribbed cranium

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From Zig Zag Devil via Delville & Giger to Cameron's Alien Queen

leading from: 
James Cameron's Alien queen

1. "The Zig Zag Devil"



2. Delville's "Treasures of Satan"


 
3. "Treasures of Satan"'s transformation into "Alien Monster IV"

4. "Alien Monster IV" to James Cameron's Alien Queen
a)Realising the Alien Monster IV connection, b) Semi Spiralling Life form,
c) Queen Alien Hand Syndrome, d) The Egg Sack
e) Another big question about the design

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Alien Monster IV to James Cameron's Alien Queen

leading from: 
The Alien Queen,  

The Zig Zag Devil via Jean Delville & HR Giger to James Cameron's Alien Queen 
and 
Delville's influence on Giger

a) Realising the Alien Monster IV connection
b) Semi Spiralling Life form
c) Queen Alien Hand Syndrome
d) The Egg Sack
e) Another big question about the design

a) Realising the Alien Monster IV connection
When Giger's Alien was released in the 1980s the painting Alien Monster IV caught my imagination because I thought it could be the next stage in the Alien creature's evolution after the humanoid form that we know well from the original film Alien. In the late eighties, I found the  German edition of the book was available at The Forbidden Planet bookshop in central London , then based in Denmark Street, before the English version had been published. However soon after being made aware of this book, James Cameron made Aliens which featured a huge alien creature that was a next phase in the alien's evolution, the alien queen egg layer. At first I made no real connection between Giger's Alien Monster IV but after seeing Aliens, I realised that the painting presented something that if interpreted in a certain way could look like a very large alien laying an egg through the egg tube curling around it's back.

b) Semi Spiralling Life form
One might be led to believe that that the general form of Giger's Alien Monster IV painting inspired James Cameron to come up with the very large Alien Queen monster in his movie Aliens. The Alien Monster IV might be imagined by some to be a depiction by Giger of a creature that erupted out of the Space Jockey seen in Alien inhabiting the biomechanic environment of the derelict ship or somewhere else on the planetoid as seen in the film. However nothing in the form of an interview has been published or presented in any other form for the general public. And if James Cameron took inspiration from Alien Monster IV for his Alien Queen, he has not spoken about it directly but of course we know that he used Giger's artwork from the book Giger's Alien published in 1980. Once we have got over the fact that Giger never got to be directly involved in the creation of the alien life forms and environments in Aliens, we can acknowledge the fact that Giger was pleased with Cameron's Alien Queen and also find signs of its heritage in Giger's Alien Monster IV and the curious and questionable forms that it is composed from.

The semi spiralling form of the Alien Monster IV by H.R.Giger

Stan Winston and James Cameron's Alien Queen presents itself to the camera  
twisting semi spiralling form

c) Queen Alien Hand Syndrome
i) It was when the book The Winston Effect was released in 2006 that I was able to truly establish a confirmed connection between the hands of the Alien Queen and the creature from Alien Monster IV when decent photos of the hand sculptures were published.


ii) One can see on this creature, the hands that James Cameron used for his Alien Queen in the movie Aliens ( but the resemblance had gone from the newer version of the Alien Queen featured in the movie Aliens vs Predator) and then it wasn't easy to tell that the hands of James Cameron's Alien Queen were actually based on the hands of Alien Monster IV until photos showing the well lit sculptures of the hands were made available in a way that the public would have taken notice of them, so the public were less likely to be aware of that connection until 2006 when The Winston Effect: The Art and History of Stan Winston's Studio's was released which is when I first introduced the connection to forums devoted to Alien.

The hand from H R Giger's Alien 
Monster IV (source , p 7, Giger's Alien)

The hand sculpted for James Cameron's Alien Queen ( see p82, 
The Winston Effect: The Art and  History of Stan Winston's Studio)

d)The Egg Sack 
Because of Alien Monster IV, James Cameron may well have decided to have an egg sack connecting to the back of his giant Alien Queen by deciding that the transparent tube coming in from the right  might be an ovipositor with a spore art the end, and this would make this creature huge, and if this ovipositor was part of an egg sack and connected to the Alien Monster, then this could be further developed

James Cameron's Alien Queen concept with membranous egg sack ending with an 
ovipositor and the tail incorporated into the upper part of the egg sack forming a ridge

Alien Monster IV detail.   Penile form slithering around the hips of the alien creature. Is this some 
sort of an embryonic creature with it's arms at the side within the sheath like skin or is it perhaps 
an egg tube ending with an ovipositor and at the tip is a small egg being helped out. Did this 
inspire James Cameron to give the Alien queen a translucent egg sack

e) Another big question about the design
For the Alien Queen as seen from the front along with the head design as seen from above in relation to Giger's art, see: The Spell III and the Aliens queen

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Nostromo concept inspired Battlehawk from Gerry Anderson's Terrahawks

leading from

Alien echoes

source http://davidsissonmodels.co.uk

source http://davidsissonmodels.co.uk

a) In 2010m Steven Begg revealed to David Sisson that when he worked on the design for the Battlehawk ship from the 1983 TV series Terrahawks and too inspiration from what he referred to as the 'broken  neck" design which from Earth space ship Leviathan as designed by Ron Cobb before the ship was to be named Nostromo. 

Ron Cobb's Leviathan /Nostromo concept

b) Perhaps one might also make a comparison between the way Steven Begg had drawn his Battlehawk concept with the way Ron Cobb had drawn the another concept for his would be Nostomo ship, strangely viewed from a rear angle with the rear of the ship wide open and the front can be seen in the distance.

Ron Cobb's Leviathan /Nostromo concept

Photo of the battle hawk

Photos of the Battlehawk

Source Quote:

Steven Begg: The Battlehawk was a one off design that I came up with, which was loosely based on a Ron Cobb idea for the Nostromo called a broken-neck design.The Bandai guys came over to see the models and referred to the X-Bomber but said they preferred the Battlehawk. I didn't know what they were talking about at the time but then 'Star Fleet' came out 6 months into the production of 'Terrahawks' and I was able to see it. I assure you that I was not influenced by that design in any way, in fact I didn't like it as I'm not a fan of Japanese Mecha at all. It all looks like over-engineered nonsense to me. Give me Derek Meddings, Mike Trim, Ron Cobb, any time ( source:: davidsissonmodels.co.u/)

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Alien's relation to Blade Runner

Leading from

Afterworlds of Thought

a) Nostromo crew entering the city of Blade Runner
Ridley Scott didn't think that Blade Runner had anything to do with Alien but noticed that there was a connective tissue in what he was putting into the Nostromo environment in Alien and the city in Blade Runner. Alien dealt with people who were living in close proximity to people who had Earth bound connections, and in Blade Runner, they were dealing with people who still lived on Earth who were exploring colonisation on other planets. Perhaps the city could have been one that supported the crew of the Nostromo when they returned to Earth and go into a bar off the street near where Deckard lives. So what he brought to the movie in terms of design obviously brought similarities and there were obvious comparisons to be made. Perhaps one might start to imagine that Blade Runner was happening on Earth while the crew were having their encounter in Alien, but the truth was that what would be happening in space at the time that Blade Runner is set wouldn't be advanced as Alien.

b) Similarities between Ash and Roy
Both Ian Holm as Ash in Alien and Rutger Hauer as Roy Batty in Blade Runner shared a Teutonic quality in Ridley's mind. However he didn't want to use the word android in Blade Runner because he used it in Alien and he couldn't stand the idea of using it anymore, so he chose the word "Replicant" coined by David People the script writer's daughter who was studying genetics at UCLA.

c) Talk of Earth Corporations
Another connection between two films in that they were set in a world of industrial conglomerates, and these Earth corporations were often being referred to throughout the movie.

source quotes

1. Ridley Scott:  I don't think Blade Runner has really anything to do with Alien. In a funny kind of way, it's really a contemporary film (Starlog November 1992) 
2.  Starlog: Alien Represented Dan O'Bannon and Ron Shusett's vision of the future and Blade Runner is a presentation of Phil Dick's vision. How do they match your vision?
   
   Ridley Scott: I think that these things are all interpretations of what I bring to the film. I guess the visual overlay, which is the sense of the presentation of what it's like, is therefore not really their vision of is particular future. Both films are a process of shooting through the camera with one's own taste. Therefore what one gets in blueprint or screenplay is hopefully a good story or a thrilling story or a touching story or a sentimental story, well told. After the blueprint, things are wide open for interpretations. It can be screwed up or enhanced, whichever way you like, whichever way you like to go, whoever is handling it, basically.I think that the strength of your balance in the screenplay - which in ALIEN was contributed to by Walter Hill - determines the film's outcome. ALIEN had a very sharp sledgehammer of a screenplay which drove along at an incredible pace and which had some shocking ideas about sequences and the actual thrust of the whole thing was there, but the interpretation of how you go about it is another thing.
   The concept of the future - I'm afraid when you get into these things it's always a battle because you're dealing with unknown quantities and people. A lot of people are involved when you are trying to convey an idea of what you want. It then has to be interpreted by someone else, until finally something is built and then filmed within the piece of that structure. The idea may be there for the story but the actual execution is really seldom anything like the screenplay. (Starlog November 1992)
3. Starburst: Rutger Hauer is also very impressive, was he chosen because of his role in Nighthawks?
   
   Ridley Scott: No, Soldier of Orange. I wanted somebody who is physically not "American", was apart somehow. Certainly in the film he's Teutonic and that was an instinctive choice really, to go in that direction, I somehow tried to link it with Alien, because there are certain Teutonic aspects to Ian Holm as the robot, Ash. Very efficient and that was a deliberate decision to make.
   
   Starburst: Were there any links between Ash in Alien and the replicants in Blade Runner? It maybe a case of me reading into it too much, but an aspects of Alien that I found interesting were the by the way references to the Earth corporations.
   
   Ridley Scott: There is a connection there
   
   Starburst:... and Blade Runner could very much be what's happening on Earth while the crew of the Nostromo are having their encounter with the Alien
   
   Ridley Scott: It is in a way. Except what would be happening in space at the time Blade Runner is set, wouldn't be as advanced as Alien
   
   Starburst: Did you feel a link between the two films while you were making Blade Runner?
   
   Ridley Scott: Oh sure. We made obvious comparisons. In fact, that was one of the reasons why I didn't want to do Blade Runner to start with, was because I'd just done with an android in it and that was another reason why we changed the word 'android'. I couldn't stand that word any more! it was David People's daughter who came up with the word "replicant". She's actually studying genetics at UCLA so it is a word that they use. (Starburst Vol 5, No 3, Nov 1982)
4. Ridley Scott (19:30) And er this kinda followed through on Alien because there's a, almost like a connective tissue between all the stuff I went through on Alien into the environment of the Nostromo and people living within close proximity to people who're... who still have Earth bound connections and here we have people on Earth, so almost this world could easily be the city that supports the crew that go out in Alien, so in other words when the crew of Alien come back in, they might go into this place and go into a bar off the street near where Deckard lives,, that's how I thought about that. (Blade Runner director commentary )

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Giger's Super- Facehugger

Leading from  

riddle of the alien 3 beast with 4 legs 
and
H R Giger's Art

As part of the new Alien creature's life cycle Giger also created a 'Super" Facehugger, which was based on his old Facehugger design, but this new creature evolved from one of the first scripts that had the creature swimming, and so he visualised how it would movie, the fingers would retract, so that it would crawl just under the water's surface

 

Facehugger hidden in victims chest (source: http://www.angelfire.com/)

 

study for aquatic facehugger 1990

Aquatic Super-Facehugger 22nd August 1990

Source quotes

1. Giger: I also created a 'Super' Facehugger which is based on an old design. One of the first scripts had it swimming, so i visualised how it would move: the fingers would retract, so that it would crawl just under the water's surface." (Aliens  (comic book magazin) #12, June 1993 , "The Giger Sanction" transcribed article to be found at http://weyland-yutaniarchives.blogspot.co.uk))

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David Watling

a) David Watling's Alien Head 

b) The Alien's Tail

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