Xenomorph (Alien)

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Image:AVP Xenomorph.jpg

Xenomorph is a de facto word for Alien, the fictional extraterrestrial of the Alien films and comic books. It was first used by Lt. Gorman of the Colonial Marines in the movie Aliens as a euphemism to indicate any unidentified nonterrestrial entity. Because the movies didn't give a specific name, this was adopted by the fans as a taxonomic classification for the Alien series' titular monsters. It is used only twice in the movies, in Aliens and in the special edition of Alien³. Template:Ref

A hypothetical derivation can be assumed by the close affinity (to Xenomorph) of certain Greek words, chiefly Xenos (ξένος, stranger, alien) and Morphê (μορφή, form) -- thus, "alien form".

The Aliens' physical design is credited to Swiss surrealist H. R. Giger, originating in a lithograph called Necronom V and refined for the Alien film. The resultant entity is characterized by its large, sloping cephalon, semitransparent enclosing carapace, and long, silvery predatorial teeth. Some, including James Cameron, have referred to the Alien's appearance as "psycho-sexual". Template:Ref

Biologically, the Alien begins life as a lethal endoparasite and continues to slay once "born". It is known particularly for its astonishing rate of growth.

In its 1979 debut film the monster is summarized as:

A perfect organism. Its structural perfection is matched only by its hostility. ... I admire its purity. A survivor. Unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality. Template:Ref

Charles de Lauzirika introduced the fake binomial name Internecivus raptus in 2003, as incorporated on the Quadrilogy DVDs. Prior to this appearance, the binomial name given in comic books, such as Aliens vs. Predator: Prey, was Linguafoeda acheronsis. Additionally, according to certain scripts of the first movie, Ash classified the xenomorph as an "encephalopod."

Contents 1 Characteristics 1.1 Life cycle 2 Queen 2.1 Birth 2.2 Design 3 Variations 3.1 Upper torso 3.2 Lower torso 4 Debate 4.1 DNA assimilation 4.2 Endoskeleton 4.3 Memory Assimilation 5 Theories 6 See also 7 Notes 8 References 9 External links

Characteristics

Life cycle

Image:Don't look now!.JPG Socially, in ideal situations, Xenomorphs are hive-minded animals with a defined caste system which is ruled by a queen. They reproduce as parasitoids and grow to full size very rapidly.Template:Ref The Alien queen lays eggs that eventually release a single parasitic Facehugger when a host comes near. The Facehugger attacks the host and slides a tubular proboscis down the victim's throat, implanting an embryo within their chest. The Facehugger then dies and the embryo's host wakes up soon afterwards, showing no outward negative symptoms for several hours thereafter.

Image:Chestburster.jpg

This embryo takes on some of the host's traits (such as bipedalism or quadrupedalism), then over the course of about 24 hours develops into a parasitoid Chestburster, at which point it emerges, violently ripping open the chest of the host. Within hours, the Chestburster grows to adult size. Xenomorphs are roughly humanoid with a skeletal or insectoid appearance, like an exoskeleton. It is shown that the Xenomorph has no endoskeletal structure; however the DVD collection Alien :Quadrilogy shows a skeletal structure in x-rays of a stage in its life cycle in each animated menu selection.

The adult Xenomorph is a living weapon, noted for its ferocity and deadliness in any condition. It has strong, sharp claws and a venomous blade-like tip on the end of its prehensile tail. Its mouth contains a secondary jaw at the end of an extendable, piston-like appendage. This appendage can be rigid enough to penetrate body armor or an adult human skull, and has been illustrated to be surprisingly mobile and almost prehensile at the same time. It is often employed as a weapon. Xenomorphs, once fully matured, possess great physical strength and uncanny agility.

Despite their ferocity and savagery, Xenomorphs are, like any good predator, masters of stealth. A favored method of acquiring prey is to simply wait in a dormant stage until an appropriate host strays near and then drop down silently from behind. The prey is generally blind to the idea that a Xenomorph is present, due to its propensity to camouflage itself within its nest walls or the surrounding artificial environment given its biomechanical appearance. The Xenomorphs' blood is an extremely potent acid that is very similar to liquid fluorine and is capable of dissolving on contact almost any substance with alarming speed. The creature also has the ability to spit this acid, though this seems to be a rare behavior seen only in Alien³ and Alien: Resurrection as well as various comic books and video games.

Xenomorphs can produce a thick, strong resin, previously used to build their hives and cocoon victims. The resin is made similarly to termites, the same glands that creates their thick and gooey saliva is mixed with dead victims or dead/cannibalised xenomorphs, these materials are then broken down by spitting acid on them and molding into shape and place (this is demonstrated in the comic book 'Aliens:Harvest'.). though it shows amazing heat and moisture-retaining qualities, as seen in the hot, moist atmosphere of the hive in Aliens.

Adult Xenomorphs are quick and agile, and can run along ceilings and walls. They can survive in extreme temperatures, are well-adapted to swimming, and can survive in vacuum for unknown lengths of time. Their movement tends to be silent, and they do not radiate heat as their exoskeletal temperature matches the ambient temperature. They salivate profusely. They are extremely aggressive and persistent, while being totally devoid of fear. They appear to possess considerable intelligence, especially the Queen.Template:Ref

Xenomorphs, in all stages of their life cycles, have shown vulnerabilities to fire, flamethrowers, and the cold was an inadequate precautionary measure except at the extreme. Since they can adapt to vacuum and endure cold climates, it is unlikely they would be driven off by chilly conditions but blasts of steam or cold air can be effective.Template:Ref

Queen

Image:Anguish.jpg Xenomorphs have an insect-like life cycle, fairly similar to that of the digger wasp. The Queen regulates the whole hive and it is possible the hive can not survive without her. A deleted scene from Alien showed Ripley encountering Dallas cocooned and Brett being transformed into an egg suggested that any member of the species could reproduce given the right circumstances.

Queen Xenomorphs are significantly larger than the drones, approximately 15 feet (four and a half metres) tall.Template:Ref Their body structure differs also, having twin sets of arms and being built similarly to a T-Rex than a humanoid. Queens have a much larger braincase than the average adults, protected by a large crest above their heads. It also seems that they had a basic understanding of technology too.Template:Ref

Birth

It is almost impossible to determine the entire origin of the queen. When the queen or her eggs are absent, there are numerous possibilities. The queen could generate from a super Facehugger, as seen in the special edition of Alien³. This animal could implant a Queen and a Xenomorph into a host. Its biological description differs too: it would be more armoured, having hooked limbs to deter removal and be stronger than the normal Facehugger to achieve its goal at any cost.Template:Ref After impregnating the host, the Facehugger would eventually die after a small period of time. Incubation could last days as the maturing Queen was a much more complex organism than her subjects and also as a way of spreading the hive to a new area (as the host carries the incubating Queen away from the place of impregnation the Queen would then be born farther away, thus ensuring new food and reproduction sources for the fledgling hive).Template:Ref

Design

Image:Backlit.JPG The design of the Queen was created by Aliens director James Cameron in collaboration with special effects artist Stan Winston, based upon an initial painting Cameron had done at the start of the project.Template:Ref The Winston Studio created a test foam core Queen before constructing the full hydraulic puppet which was used for most of the scenes involving the large alien. Two people were inside working the twin sets of arms and puppeteers off-screen worked her jaws and head. Although at the end of the film the Queen was presented full-body fighting the power-loader, the audience never sees the legs of the queen, save those of the small-scale puppet that appears only briefly. In Aliens, Cameron used very selective camera-angles on the Queen, using the "less is more" style of photography. Subsequently the movie won an Oscar for Visual Effects.Template:Ref Image:Queen wiki avp.jpg It was only during the end climax of the 2004 film Alien vs. Predator that for the first time audiences could see the Queen actually running because of the CGI techniques employed to create it. By this time, CGI technology was advanced enough to show more of the queen, including showing her running and fighting. For Alien vs. Predator, the Queen's basic design was also altered to make it more "streamlined" in appearance. One of the changes was the removal of the Alien Queen's "high heel" protrusions on her legs, altering the joints so she could run faster and making the chest thinner because there was no need for puppeteers inside.

Variations

The Xenomorph has been portrayed in noticeably different ways throughout the films. Much of this was due to the special effects, technology and techniques used to bring it to life.

Upper torso

In the original Alien film, and sequel Aliens, they are depicted as tall, slender creatures with a roughly human silhouette and a biomechanical design. Notably, the being in the first film is far taller than those in the second. However in later films, like Alien: Resurrection and Alien vs. Predator, they are depicted as being shorter and bulkier organisms, as well as being more quadrupedal, portrayed by either the traditional men-in-suit technique for close-ups or full form using computer-generated imagery.

Originally, the Xenomorphs’ tail was roughly the length of the rest of its body with a small, almost surgical stinger-like barb on the end. From Alien³ onwards, however, the tail has grown in length and featured a knife-like blade at the tip. In Alien: Resurrection and Alien vs. Predator, the tails had also supported a fin right before the blade. This was introduced in Alien: Resurrection to help them swim convincingly, and was left intact in Alien vs. Predator.Template:Ref The tail itself is shown to be of incredible length during Alien vs Predator, easily measuring at least twice its body length, as depicted when the Grid Alien impales a Predator from a hole in the wall.

The original shooting script for Aliens featured a scene in which Lieutenant Gorman was "stung" by a Xenomorphs’ stinger. He was not killed, merely stunned, and the barb remained lodged in his shoulder, having torn loose from the Xenomorphs’ tail, much like a bee stinger. The novelisation also included this scene, though the movie itself does not.Template:Ref

In Aliens, the Xenomorph is depicted as having ridges along its cranium, while in all other films they have smooth cowls covering their skull, the logistic reason being that the cowl-less Xenomorphs in the sequel were easier to make and were more resistant to damage. In Alien: Resurrection and Alien vs. Predator, the head was shortened greatly to approximately half the original thirty-three inches. It was also made flat at the base, with little to no similarity to the original designs.Template:Ref

In Alien and Alien³, the Xenomorph has six fingers, with the index and middle fingers conjoined into one digit, ring and pinkie fingers also conjoined, and thumbs on both sides. In Aliens, the Xenomorphs are shown with five fingers, missing the extra thumb. In Alien: Resurrection and Alien vs. Predator, the aliens have four fingers. There is, however, no explanation for the fluctuating number of digits.

Lower torso

In Alien and Aliens, the Xenomorphs have legs like that of a human, with a single joint at the knee and feet roughly in the same configuration as a human. Also in Alien vs. Predator, the Xenomorphs have this same humanoid leg, though it is sleeker and more skeletal in appearance, due to the use of computer visuals rather than costumes. This is notable because the Xenomorph resembles the species from which it bred. In Alien³, the Xenomorph is born from a different animal, and therefore has a different body design, including legs more like the dog from which it was incubated. However, there was a dramatic change in Alien: Resurrection wherein the Xenomorphs which escaped from containment have avian legs with long bones in the foot and the toes used for walking. This is apparently a change taking advantage of the digital representation of the Xenomorphs rather than costumes, done to make them seem more menacing and predatory.Template:Ref The different leg and foot can be clearly seen in a forward shot in which a Xenomorph closes in on the surviving characters, who are trapped by a blocked door.Template:Ref

Image:Bye bye.jpg

It is almost impossible to tell the sex of the Xenomorph; however the Xenomorph never appears to need reproductive organs, relying on the eggs alone. In Alien: Director's Cut, the Xenomorph originally had a second method of reproduction, whereby it could transform humans into eggs, as shown when Ripley discovers Brett, Engineer of the crew ship Nostromo, cocooned in a viscous liquid.Template:Ref

In another omitted scene from the script for Alien³, these "eggs" were actually cocoons, inside of which a human was painfully transformed into a full-grown alien, which then emerges from the cocoon like a perversion of a butterfly. This non-canon "tertiary" version of reproduction bypasses queens and Facehuggers entirely.

In Alien³ another addition was made: that of a "super Facehugger" that could impregnate two hosts with a Queen and regular embryo and was larger and darker compared to normal. This explains why both Ripley and a dog were impregnated from one Facehugger. The super Facehugger was found by some of the inmates, who thought it a type of jellyfish.

These offer an origin for the eggs that did not require a queen, which seems to have been superseded by the queen in Aliens. None of the other films—including deleted scenes—has continued with this method and it is mostly considered atypical for the Xenomorph life-cycle.

Debate

DNA assimilation

While the Chestburster was still in an embryonic stage, it was possible that it used the host's DNA to augment its own and acquire any useful traits that the host garnered through natural selection. This made sense from a biological evolutionary standpoint, since the host was adapted to its environment, taking on some of its characteristics would further adapt the newborn alien to its new environment. This would essentially make all adult Xenomorphs hybrid creatures. It was also alluded to in the first film, albeit indirectly. When Ash hears Parker's report on the size of the full-grown individual, Ash refers to it as "Kane's son."Template:Ref Another explanation could be that since the eggs seem to be produced asexually, the embryo receives some of its chromosomes from its host to allow for genetic diversity.

Alien³ furthered the debate by having an alien embryo implanted into a dog. The Xenomorphs of the first two films were all implanted in humans, and thus could walk in a bipedal fashion; they also had foot-long spines on their backs for balance and as the Xenomorph in Alien³ moved quadrupedally it did not need these. The "dog-alien", also known to fans as a "runner alien" of Alien³, was visually very different from these, theoretically because it took on some of the DNA of its canine host.Template:Ref It preferred to move in a doglike manner, often running at high speed on all four legs. This new type was far more streamlined and aerodynamic in appearance. The Runner also appears as a character in Aliens versus Predator 2.

The Xenomorphs of the fourth Alien film, Alien: Resurrection, were something of an exception, because they were far more human-like, to the point that the Alien Queen gave live birth to a "human-alien hybrid": this was because these aliens were the result of cloning experiments by the military, and were not the "true" form of the species, having been spliced with substantial amounts of human DNA. This was not as a result of the normal implantation-DNA-assimilation process.

In various comics and the Aliens vs. Predator video game series, this was taken a step further when a Xenomorph embryo was implanted into a Yautja (Predator); the result was an Alien with Predator characteristics: a "pred-alien"Template:Ref. This hybrid was bipedal, and had the basic body-outline of a Predator, having lost the elongated head shape. It also lacked the inner set of jaws characteristic of other Xenomorphs, but supported a set of mandibles reminiscent of those of the Predator. Its head also has the "dreadlocks" reminiscent of most Predators. This motif was also repeated at the end of the recent Alien vs. Predator film, largely based on the comic books and the video game series and written by the director of Resident Evil. Other comic books have shown further Alien crossovers with other species, including an enormous and heavily-built Alien born from a crocodile in one of the Batman versus Alien comics.

Endoskeleton

Another debate was that the Xenomorph contained an endoskeleton as well as its hardened exoskeleton. The primary fuel for this was the Xenomorph skull seen as a trophy in the movie Predator 2Template:Ref, as well as a clearly visible spine and the fact that exoskeletons are incapable of supporting organisms of such size.

Memory Assimilation

According to some sources (notably the unofficial ALIEN-FUZION RPG), the embryo assimilates its hosts memories up to the time of death. Under the right trigger (such as contact with a loved one), the alien will revert to the host's original mind and soul, and will even respond to the original host's name. Unfortunately, such rogue aliens are hunted down and exterminated by the hive. This also helps explain why Ripley 8 retained most of her memories, since the queen embryo may have encoded the memories into its DNA and spliced them with Ripley during the cloning process, and not due to any human genetic factor. A genetic memory possessed by the Xenomorph species is also a possibility, due either to biological evolution or genetic engineering in the far distant past. This is a purely semi-canonical speculation, but has various basis in the movies and comics.

Theories

According to the computer game Aliens vs. Predator 2, Xenomorphs utilized ultrasound for relatively long-distance communication.Template:Ref Xenomorph hives were built with smooth, rounded edges instead of rough, sharp edges because sound propagates better in such an environment. The skulls of Xenomorphs acted as sonic amplifiers for both boosting the transmission of messages and ensuring that incoming messages remain audible. This theory correlates with the Queen's massive head, since administrative duties would require greater transmission and receiving strength than normal Xenomorphs.Template:Ref Likewise, this correlates with the theory of telepathy amongst the Xenomorphs; drones and workers need only basic telepathy organs to receive a queen's signals, while a queen needed a more powerful ability to broadcast. Likewise, in the Earth Hive trilogy of novels, particularly sensitive humans experienced strange dreams with the impression that the Queen Mother was calling to them as well; from across the galaxy.Template:Ref However, these theories contradicted the Rogue Aliens novel, which described a portion of the Xenomorphs’ brain that contained telepathic capabilities. Also in Rogue, it was theorized that Xenomorphs that stayed further from a queen had a diminished array of telepathic lobes. These lobes were used to communicate specifically with the queen as well as others. The origins of the Xenomorphs had never been fully explained in the films, but the expanded Alien literature had stated that the Xenomorphs were bio-weapons genetically engineered by an ancient race called the "Space Jockeys". Little was known of this race except that they were purported to have had created the Xenomorphs to fight an ancient civil war. Alien eggs would be used as "bombs" on an enemy planet and then the Xenomorphs would proceed to kill the entire population as they spawned. The Xenomorphs were then genetically designed to die off, however eventually mutated and thrived even after killing their prey. It is possible that a single member of the Space Jockey race escaped in a freighter or warship full of Xenomorph eggs, but was himself infected with a Xenomorph and killed. That could be an explanation for the large, fossilized humanoid figure seen by the crew of the Nostromo in the first film.Template:Ref The expanded universe indicates that more than just one of the Space Jockey race remains alive, though their civilization is in ruins for the most part.Template:Ref

See also

• List of variations of the Xenomorph not given in the films
• Aliens (comic)
• Space Jockey
• Yautja—The alien race from the film Predator
• Genestealer from the Space Hulk game
• Zerg species from the PC-game StarCraft

Notes

References

• Alien - Released on May 25, 1979 - On-line script. Retrieved 15th February 2006.
• Aliens - Released on June 18, 1986 - On-line script. Retrieved 15th February 2006.
• Alien³ - Released on May 22, 1992 - On-line script. Retrieved 15th February 2006.
• Alien: Resurrection - Released on November 26th, 1997 - On-line script. Retrieved 15th February 2006.
• Template:Cite web
• Template:Cite web
• Template:Cite web
• Template:Cite web
• Template:Cite web
• Aliens versus Predator (computer game).
• Aliens versus Predator 2 (computer game).
• Aliens Colonial Marines Technical Manual, HarperCollins 1996, ISBN 0061053430.
• Aliens: A Comic Book Adventure (computer game) [2]

External links

• H.R. Giger online - A website about the creation of the Xenomorphs' body.
• Anchorpoint Essay - Alien information pages. Numerous information about the life-cycle of the Xenomorph.

Alien movie series

Alien | Aliens | Alien³ | Alien: Resurrection

Predator movie series

Predator | Predator 2 | Alien vs. Predator

Cross-overs

Alien vs. Predator | Aliens vs. Predator vs. The Terminator | Batman vs. Predator

Relating to the Alien universe

Bishop | Ellen Ripley | LV-426 | Nostromo | Space Jockey | The Derelict | United States Colonial Marines | Weyland-Yutani | Xenomorph | Yautja

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