Giger's reflections on Necronom IV and V

Leading from

The development of Necronom iv
and 

H R Giger's Aleph inspired by Doctor Who and The Curse of Peladon?

Necronom IV

Giger talked about the idea of his biomechanoids in the documentary "Alien Evolution",  in relation to the Necronom paintings . He stated that he wanted to make something that would be somehow human but that would also be robot-like, a kind of human that is protected from all kinds of external forces, be they weapons, radiation, or whatever else.

Instead of having their bones on the inside, they have them , partly at least, on the outside like an exo-skeleton, so the idea was also brought forth in another version of the translation that they were indeed protected by a suit of bone. He mixed the ideas together, his world of bones along with technical structures, and that's how the biomechanoids came about from the interplay between the ideas of biological and the mechanical. His characters turned out to look. His characters turned out to be biomechanoids which had a robot like quality, and perhaps they were from another planet. However whatever was created was always going to be the product of the human imagination.

His view about what was personally going on in then painting revealed that the Necronom character  was dressed in a bony protective garment because of his own feelings about vulnerability and there's a newborn baby present in the tail of the creature, something that is also vulnerable.

1. Giger: These paintings, Necronom 4, 5 and earlier ones too, they came about as follows: I wanted to make something that would be somehow human, and yet, would also be robot-like, that is to say a kind of human being that is protected from all kinds of alien influences, be they weapons, or from radiation or from all kinds of things. Some kind of beings from whose appearance it's obvious that they've experienced something or other, and who in fact, instead of having their bones on the inside, they have them, partly at least, practically on the outside like an exoskeleton, and well, bones and ribs and simply all kinds of bones have always held their great fascination for me, because of their organic character and their affinity to Art Nouveau of which I am very fond , and I mixed these together, this world of bones, I mixed it with technical things; that's how these biomechanoids came about, that is from the biological and mechanical, and interplay of the two. And my characters turned out to be these biomechanoids which actually have a robot like quality, they could have been from another planet. And since I made that ET for Freddy Murer in '69, I was still interested in the idea: what it would look like, if life from outside of us, what would that look like. The idea that another civilisation , other technical possibilities, well simply, what would that look like. And of course that's so tremendously.... the possibilities are so varied and great that one has to constantly remind oneself this creature had actually come from the brain of a person from this planet, and so it is very human; it isn't possible to make anything extra-terrestrial, since everything is created in our brain and thereby remains very human. (From a report of what Giger said in his interview with Alien Evolution)
2. In the long version of Alien Evolution his words in Germans are translated into English subtitles that read "I wanted to make something that would be somehow human but that would also be robot-like, a kind of human that is protected from all kinds of external forces, be they weapons, radiation or whatever else. Instead of having their bones on the inside, they have them, partly at least, on the outside like an exo-skeleton. I mixed these together, this world of bones , mixed it with technical things, that's how these 'biomechanoids' came about from the interplay of the biological and the mechanical."       
3. In the shorter version of Alien Evolution, the man who does an English voice over during the Giger's section saying "I wanted to make something that would be somehow human but that would also be robot-like, that is to say a kind of human being that is protected  by bone. And I mixed these together, this world of bones , I mixed it with technical things, that's how these 'biomechanoids' came about, that is from the biological and the mechanical interplay of the two."  
4. Giger talked about his ideas behind the final Necronom IV painting, also take note of the fact that Giger: The reason why my work has such a bony and kind of hard character, well, that's probably some kind of search for protection. From the outside perhaps a kind of sealing oneself off or defending oneself against attack from the outside I don't know maybe these hard shapes and forms I mean these bony or protective garment or body parts or whatever, perhaps this is all kind of, I don't know, probably it's a psychological same meaning that I'm vulnerable , that I know I'm vulnerable and then through this kind of armouring I'm trying to find protection, and then I imagine a newborn baby because that's such a,  especially to humans, that is to say in the human race, the newborn are of course so incredibly delicate and so incredibly vulnerable, like almost in no other animal kingdom, the young ones usually are much stronger, less vulnerable that human newborns" (From a report of what Giger said in his interview with Alien Evolution)

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Other ancient images of the Lion couch

Part of:

The Development of Necronom IV 
&
H.R Giger's Egyptian Mysteries

a.) Various other murals unspecified showing the lion couch

 
 

 

b. ) The Mural from the Opet temple at Karnak
This scene, from the Late Period, in the Opet temple at Karnak illustrates the union of the sun god Amen-Re, as an ithyphallic Ba bird, with Osiris as a young man lying upon a lion couch. Though this drawing of the relief does not indicate it, the photographs show the probability that the youthful Osiris is ithyphallic as well.(source http://www.egyptology.com/extreme/opet/)

c. ) The Book of Abraham.
The book of Abraham is a 1835 work produced by Joseph Smith he said was based on Egyptian papyri purchased from a traveling mummy exhibition. According to Smith, the book was "a translation of some ancient records ... purporting to be the writings of Abraham, while he was in Egypt, called the Book of Abraham, written by his own hand, upon papyrus". Smith's translation of the papyri describes a story of Abraham's early life, including a vision of the cosmos. The work was canonized in 1880 by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) as part of its Pearl of Great Price. Thus, it forms a doctrinal foundation for the LDS Church and Mormon fundamentalist denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Abraham)

A portion of the papyri
considered by some to be source
of the Book of Abraham.
 (source Egypt-Pharons blogspot)

A facsimile from the book of Abraham

d. ) The Ritual Lion Bed of King Tutankhamun.

"The Lion Bed representing a lion deity. The lion was an important symbol associated with strength and virility. The Egyptians imagined that the horizon was flanked by two lions and the sun rose between them each morning.The king's body could be reborn from this bed. made of gilded wood the nose and the areas under the eyes are added in blue glass and the eyes are of clear quartz" (source)

The Ritual Lion Bed of King Tutankhamun

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The naming of the Necronom series

Leads from : 

The Development of Necronom IV

and 

The paintings that inspired the Alien 

H R Giger and Sergius Golowin

a) Introducing Giger to the Necronomicon name
 In the late 1960s, HR Giger's friend and "Spiritual Father", Sergius Golowin, a well known researcher in fables, myths, legend, and esotericism, gave a book of Lovecraft's stories to HR Giger and introduced him to the idea of Necronomicon: The Book of the Dead.  Sergius came to the conclusion that Giger's entire body of work could easily be pages from the Necronomicon. Giger actually came to admire the work of Lovecraft but states that his main influence on Giger's work is simply the name of Alhazred's grimoire

b) Giger's Necronomicon soon materialises
Sergius gave a series of paintings by Giger the name Necronom after the Necronomicon and Giger was content to use the title. Golowin had often given different names to Giger's paintings that he used. The next thing that Sergius did was to tell everyone that the walls of Giger's home were covered with paintings from the Necronomicon, which at the time was not true. However  Giger's Passage and The Spell turned Giger's walls into a Lovecraftian temple until they were moved to his museum in Gruyeres. As it went, Golowin who had often given names to Giger's paintings had decided that Giger's book of art work would be named Giger's Necronomicon and Giger was content to go along with this since he found Lovecraft's work an inspiration.

source quotes

1. H. R. Giger: While I was looking for a title for my gloomy pictures, Sergius Golowin, my spiritual father and the well-known Swiss researcher of myths, drew my attention to Lovecraft and - since the original book is only preserved in fragments -, suggested the name "Giger's Necronomicon". This title sewed not a little confusion, since Lovecraft followers thought they had at last found their Necronomicon. (Giger ARh+ p40) 
2. Tom Gabriel Warrior: The creatures in your Necronom IV and V paintings of 1976 basically represent prototypes of the later Alien creature. Do you remember the thoughts behind the Necronom? What are its origins?
   
   

   

   H P Lovecraft

   H. R. Giger: It was simply a name for a character in my paintings. Most titles were suggested to my by the writer Sergius Golowin. Incidentally, he also proposed the title Necronomicon. To him, it suited my world. I also read Lovecraft's writings, which influenced my work significantly
   
   Tom Gabriel Warrior: I didn't know that Golowin had a hand in this
   
   H. R. Giger: yes, Golowin became very important to me due to his title suggestions. I never knew what to call my paintings  (Zero Tolerance #26, p27)
3. ArtSync: Let's talk about some of your influences. How about H.P. Lovecraft—
   GIGER:Yes, Lovecraft. An old friend of mine, Sergius Golowin, a specialist in myths and fables and magic, gave me a book by Lovecraft in the late 60s and introduced me to Necronomicon: The Book of the Dead. He said the entire corpus of my work could easily be pages out of the Necronomicon. I very much admire Lovecraft, but his main influence upon my own was simply the name of Alhazred's grimoire [Lovecraft character's book of magic] — the Necronomicon. There is a funny story concerning Golowin. He used to tell everyone that the walls of my home were covered with paintings from the Necronomicon, which at the time was not true at all, but after a while it became true. Passages and The Spell turned my walls into a sort of Lovecraftian temple, but not anymore, since all those works are now in Gruyeres [Switzerland], at the museum. (ArtSync Magazine Fall 2009, p60)
4. Vice: Can you tell me about the dream behind Necronomicon your book that Ridley Scott used as the template for Alien?
   HR Giger: These things come from H.P. Lovecraft. In the ’70s I was very familiar with Lovecraft. (vice.com/ 2009)
5. Dr Blackthorn: It feels as if a HP Lovecraft renaissance is on the cards, and that people are sick of zombies and vampires in the media and need something deeper and more intelligent. Do you think the stars are aligned, and the time is right for a Lovecraft revival, and Cthulhu to rise? Obviously, your work was influenced by Lovecraft in your early days, - does his work have any influence on you today?
   HR Giger: It no longer really has an influence, since I no longer paint. But there was a period in my life, during the 1970s, when Lovecraftian ideas had a significant impact on many aspects of my work. My friend , Swiss writer Sergius Golowin, had quite a lot to do with that. His suggestions in this regard had a considerable effect on both my paintings and their titles (Bizarre magazine, p66)
   
6. La Estadea: En tu obra se advierte un trasfondo literario importante , de hecho tus pinturas evocan ciertos pasajes de la literatura fantastica.
   HRGiger: Sí es cierto, siempre he leído mucho. Mi afición por la lectura es anterior inclusio a mi pasión por le arte. Leía muchos krimis de prequeño y después empecé con Allan Poe. A finales de los sesenta conocí la obra de Lovecraft y me encantó. Un amigo escritor, Segius Golowin me sugirió que porqué no titular a mi libro "Giger's Necronomicon" si del original sólo quedaban fragmentos y así lo hice. En lost setenta también me aficioné mucho a la literatura oculista, Crowley, Levi, y sobre todo Gutave Meyrink que es de mis favoritos. En aquella época me interesaba mucho la magia, las brujas, pero por su component estético, nunca he pertenecido a sectas ni nada por el estilo, mucha gente malinterpreta mis obras, soy una persona muy normal, tanto que uno se aburriría conmigo (riras). pero en fin leo de todo, desde Philip K Dick o William Gibson a Stephen King, aunque reconozco que siento predilección por la literatura de terror.
   TranslationLa Estadea: In your work have seen a major literary background, in fact your paintings evoke certain passages of fantastic literature.
   
   HRGiger: It is true, I have always read a lot. My love of reading is above inclusions to my passion for the art. I read a lot small crime stories and then I started with Allan Poe. At the end of the sixties, I met the work of Lovecraft, and I loved it. A writer friend, Segius Golowin suggested that why not title my book "Giger's Necronomicon" if there were only fragments of the original and so I did.  In the 1970s I also really much occult literature, Crowley, Levi, and above all Gutave Meyrink which is my favorite. At that time I was very much interested magic, witches, but for its aesthetic component, I have never belonged to cults or anything like that, many people misunderstood my works, I'm a very normal person, so that one is begun with me (riras). But in end I read everything from Philip K Dick or William Gibson to Stephen King, although I admit I feel fondness for the literature of terror. (La Estadea No 3, 1st August 2006)
     

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The design of the Facehugger's sculpted underbelly

leading from

Creating the Alien Facehugger

a facehugger prop made for use in the movie

sculpted facehugger's underbelly
  based on Giger's artwork. If you turn it 
upside down you may notice better it's 
similarities with the design below

Ridleygram showing
the facehugger's underbelly
based on Giger's artwork

Source of facehugger underbelly
pattern used by Ridley Scott from
Giger's Temple Passage entrance

Giger's Temple Passage entrance work 262 
from the book Giger's Necronomicon

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Moray Eel's pharyngeal jaw

leading from 

Alien: Afterworlds

Moray Eel's pharyngeal jaw

In 2007 it would be revealed to Giger through the New York times that the Moray Eel would have pharyngeal jaws just like that of the alien and Giger hadn't studied any animals for his alien creature,

(See article from www.nytimes.com/2007/09/11)

The mouth of Necronom IV in which Ridley Scott perceived double rows of teeth

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The Alien's Tail

Leading from

Creating the Alien

a) The tail built by David Watling, attached seperately.  He found it much more difficult than the head, as it was about seven feet long and had to be operated without any externam wires. He resolved the problem by examining the way in which a real tail operated and then simplifying that in order to produce the limited number of movements required. They constructed it as a real vertebra replacing the muscles with wires, and there were six hundred seperate parts involved. When it was finished it was attached to a molded fiberglass glass place which was firmly anchored inside the costume.

b) Unfortunately the demonstrations in the workshop every week showed Giger that it wasn't working properly . Every week there was a demonstration, every time David Watling used bigger handles and levers and wanted this tail to move, and it went mmmm-puff, and then it collapsed and was torn, and the Watling nearly burst into tears and then he wants to make them wait until further demonstration, and this went on week after week . Gordon Carroll was soon in despair. They thought that it Rambaldi were to do it, it would work. He was there watching and he said "That will never work", his view was that the mechanism in the tail was too heavy and would never work properly and if he had made it himself he would have made it with lightweight elements,

plan for the tail harness (source (source: http://www.proparchives.com/))

The Alien's tail 

1. Cinefex:An articulated tail, built by David Watling, attached seperately. "The tail was more difficult than the head," Watling said " as it was about seven feet long and had to operate without any external wires. The problem was resolved by examining the way in which a real tail operates and then simplifying the construction in order to produce the limited number of movements required. Basically, we used a real vertebrate construction replacing the muscles with wires. All together, there were more than six hundred seperate parts. When it was finished, it was attached to a molded fiberglass plate which was firmly anchored inside the costume" (Alien The Special Effects, p31, Titan Books,  and Cinefex 1)
2. Giger (30th August 1978, Shepperton Studios): Meanwhile, Shirley, Patty and Butler have got the Alien's two-meter (six foot) tail ready. The engineer is given the job of bringing it to life. There's a demonstration in his workshop every week, which always shows that it isn't working yet. I believe Rambaldi when he says that the mechanism in the tail is too heavy and will never work properly (Giger's Alien, p70)
3. Giger: When the tail didn't work anyway, did it. The tail, it unfortunately wasn't given to Rambaldi to do, but was left over to the other one, and  every time he showed us that he can't do it. Every week there was a demonstration, every time he used bigger handles and levers and wanted this tail to move, and it went mmmm-puff, and then it collapsed and was torn, and the other one nearly burst into tears and then he put us off until further demonstration, and that went on week after week and Gordon Carroll was in despair, and we thought, hey, that would be brilliant if Rambaldi would do that and Rambaldi was there watching too and he said " that will never work" Well it was simply much too heavy, it simply could not work, and Rambaldi said he would have made it with very lightweight elements and that kind of thing, Well , he was really good and he demonstrated it too, he got some Oscars didn't he, well yeah. (report from raw Giger interview for Alien Evolution)
4. Ivor Powell: l think we had one or two attempts at tails and heads with various people at Shepperton. We had this elaborate mechanical tail that never really quite worked. (The Making of Alien, 1:28:54)
   
    

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Giger's Alien Head

leading from

Creating the Alien

a) Human skulls from India

Giger requested actual human skulls so that he could them to build the Alien creature, instead of using ones made from plastic kits. The production bought him three skulls made available for medical purposes in India, Dan O'Bannon remembered that they all arrived wrapped in plastic. They were three of the most perfect and beautiful skulls that Dan had ever seen in his life. He had become slightly suspicious about their origins, since every tooth was intact with not a single filling, it was as if they were fine young healthy people who had died and it would not be until some years later that his suspicions would lead to a realisation something else about these skulls. He remembered that they cost something like $700 each because they were so fine

b) Adding the skull to the Alien head

Then Giger took one of the human skulls and jammed it into the from of the head area, riveted it into place and then started modifying it. Giger took out a hacksaw and and saws off the jawbone and then extends it by about six inches and creates a distorted jaw bone. He began to attach other fixtures and built an extension to the back of it. It was fascinating at the time for Dan that he was doing this to an actual human skull and it's presence in the construction of the alien would remain a mystery to fans for many years to come. Extending physical anatomy in various ways was something quite prevalent in Giger's artwork as well, so one might easily find extended heads, limbs and fingers and toes in many of his images. 

c) O'Bannon's realisation about the skulls

Year later it would dawn on Dan O'Bannon that the skulls would have to come from young people to be so perfect and assumed that some illegal activity had been going on there to make such things available. It was shortly after the release of Return of the Living Dead in which a character makes a comment about a skeleton farm in India based on a comment that Dan friend film director Tobe Hooper , director of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, had made, that India stopped the deportation of all skeletons for medical purposes making ever since them difficult for medical schools to get them.

d) Adding a long tongue

So it was that the creature has a big long head, and since H R Giger as an industrial designer had  the urge to give everything a function, he felt that if it had a long head, then there was space for a long "tongue" and so he gave the tongue teeth since he thought it was a very good filmic device. Ridley Scott thought that Giger's painting Necronom IV had this double row of teeth, and they expressed themselves more thoroughly in Giger's first drawings and Ridley told him to make it so that it could move and to make it somehow frightening and horrible and he did his best to do that. 

Source quotes 

1. Dan O'Bannon: The face of the thing is a real skull. He took a human skull and jammed it right on the front, riveted it in place and then started modifying it. It was such a beautiful human skull. It has been a real person, not like one of those plastic model kits, and he takes out his hacksaw and he saws the jawbone off and extends [it] like six inches. He puts an extension on it, and creates this distorted jawbone. Then he starts attaching other fixtures to it and building a new extension on the back of it. He's doing this to a real human skull. When he finally [finished] ,a cast was made of it. It was a craftsman who actually cast the rubber costume of Giger's sculpture. When they were finished casting in rubber, he used his airbrush and painted the costume the same way he does his paintings. I truly believe that that monster in Alien is absolutely unique looking. I think it is two strides beyond any monster costume in any movie ever before. (Cinescape vol 3 #9 adapted from the intervview from Fantastic Films #10)
2. Dan O'Bannon:  The face of the thing is a real human skull. He took one of the human skull and jammed it right on the front, riveted it in place and then started modifying it. (Fantastic Films #10, p14)
3. Dan O'Bannon: It was such a beautiful human skull, you know. It has been a real person, not like one of those plastic model kits, and he takes out his hacksaw and he saws the jawbone off and extends the jawbone like six inches, puts an extension on it, and creates this distorted jawbone! Then he starts attaching other fixtures to it and building a new extension on the back of it. He's doing this to a real human skull. (Fantastic Films #10, p14)
4. Dan O'Bannon:When he finally got all done, they took a cast of it  It was a craftsman who actually cast the rubber costume of Giger's sculpture. When they were finished casting in rubber, he used his airbrush and painted the costume the same way he does his paintings.
   Fantastic Films: Sounds Hairy (Fantastic Films #10, p14)
5. Dan O'Bannon: I truly believe that that monster in Alien is absolutely unique looking. I think it is two strides beyond any monster costume in any movie ever before.(Fantastic Films #10, p14)
6. H.R.Giger: I started thinking that that long skull ought to have a function too. I prefer always to have these big long heads for the monster. So if it has a long head, there's space for a long tongue. And I also gave his tongue teeth. I thought it was very good as a filmic device. (Cinescape vo.3 no.9, p22)  
7. H R Giger: It’s funny, The double teeth came when I did my first drawings. Ridley Scott told me to make it so that it could move. I hadn’t studied any animal. My instructions were that it should be somehow frightening and horrible, and I did my best. (www.nytimes.com, September 11th 2007. If the First Bite Doesn’t Do It, the Second One Will By CARL ZIMMER)
   
8. H.R.Giger: Hmm. During the last shot you can see the Alien's "tongue" slowly coming out. And always to have these big long heads for the monster, because I worked as an industrial designer.  Every object needs to have a function. So if it has to be a long head, there's space for a long "tongue". I gave his tongue teeth . I thought it was very good as a filmic device  (Film Monsters # 156, p30, /Warren Present Alien Collectors Edition, p34)
   
9. Dan O'Bannon:Three of the most perfect human skulls I've ever seen in my life. They were beauties, they must have borrowed them off a living person to get them that perfect, every tooth was intact, not a filling. I think they cost something like $700 each, they were so primo (Fantastic Films #10, p14)
10. Dan O'Bannon: There's a line of dialogue here where they talk about the skeletons with perfect teeth and he thinks that there's a skeleton farm in India. Well, in fact, when i was working on Alien. HR Giger asked them to obtain some real skulls for him to work from, to build the alien, the full size alien. And they did, and they purchased them and they brought him skulls which were wrapped in plastic just like that and they were the most beautiful skulls I had ever seen, they were like works of art, I was struck by the perfection and the teeth were all perfect, and I was told that they were ordered from India, and then sold for medical purposes but the production had bought them for Giger to use, and he took a hacksaw and cut them into pieces and put them back together, and subsequently when i was working with Tobe Hooper, who was meant to direct this film himself, we were talking about this scene. Hooper was aware also that medical skeletons were purchased from India, and he said that the eeriest thing. Tobe did did, he thinks that they have a skeleton farm in India. I thought about it a while, it was such a creepy idea that when i wrote the script, I put that in. The picture was released and a few months after the picture opened, i read a news item that the government of India had suddenly stopped the deportation of all skeletons for medical purposes, and ever since then it's very difficult for medical schools to get them. They use plastic skeletons and it may have been a coincidence or the film may have indeed come to their attention and they put a stop to it. I have a feeling, the creepy feeling that there was something very criminal going on in India. At what age does a person have an absolutely perfect skull and set of teeth? When they're young. (commentary for Return of the Living Dead) 
11.  Dan O'Bannon: - the face of the thing is a real human skull. He took one of the human skulls and jammed it right on the front, riveted it in place, and then started modifying it. It was such a beautiful human skull, you know, it has been a real person, not like one of those plastic model kits - and he takes out his hack saw and he saws the jawbone off and extends the jawbone, like six inches, puts an extension in it, and creates the distorted jawbone! Then he starts attaching other fixtures to it and building a new extension on the back of it. He's doing this to a real human skull! (Fantastic Films # 10 (US), p14)

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