Alien Explorations: June 1982

Monster concept for John Carpenter's
The Thing inspired by Alien

leading from

Alien Echoes

a) Kuiper's concept beast for John Carpenter's The Thing
Before Rob Bottin was signed on to John Carpenter's The Thing, Wisconsin artist Dale Kuipers was hired to conceptualize the Thing. Kuipers envisioned a mandibled parasite that would clamp onto a victim's head to probe and analyze brain patterns to inside an exact duplication of the "host." The Thing would deposit eggs into the person's esophagus at the same time to be nurtured by the host's food intake. This is just one of several of Kuipers' concept paintings, each showing various functions of the creature. In addition, Kuipers built a model of the Thing in its final, towering form. Toy soldiers indicate the scale. (Cinefantastique, vol 13, no 2-3)

b) Comparison to The Facehugger
One might take a look a look at how this seems to be very much like the Alien facehugger concept from alien than deposits an egg down the throat of the host and becomes nurtured by the host's food intake. The story of The Thing featured an ancient derelict spaceship discovered in the Antarctic and then they find the frozen remains of the shape shifting creature.

c) Kuipers back story for The Thing
The idea that Kuiper had with about creature in The Thing was that "The Thing is a hybrid creation of a distant galactic civilization that hoped to colonize different worlds. They were not a warring species, and so developed a creature that would eradicate any hostile elements from the world they desired to inhabit. This creature was like a virus that would infect mass populaces of other worlds and result in the planet-wide genocide, thus clearing the way for bloodless dominance by its conquerers. The eradicators were sent to many worlds and suffered many different fates. The one that arrived on Earth landed in the wastes of Antarctica and was quickly frozen in a shifting lake of ice. There the terror slept in suspended animation for 4000 years" (Dale Kuipers Sketchbook See: https://www.facebook.com/The Thing Legacy)

d) Although I've seen this article decades ago and had the urge to document this for some time, the urge to finally create this page was inspired by seeing an article at http://www.blumhouse.com on October 2nd 2015,

Alien in relation to Blade Runner

leading from
Blade Runner
and

Alien:Afterthoughts

a) Nostromo crew entering the city of Blade Runner
Ridley Scott didn't think that Blade Runner had anything to do with Alien, but he noticed that there was a connective tissue in what he was putting into the Nostromo spaceship environment in the Alien production and the city in the Blade Runner production.

Alien dealt with people who were living in close proximity to people who had Earth bound connections, Meanwhile 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 Nostromo crew were having their encounter in Alien.

However, the truth was that what would be happening with space travel in the time that Blade Runner is set wouldn't be as 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 the daughter of David Peoples the script writer, who was studying genetics at UCLA.

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

source quotes

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)
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)
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)
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 )

HR Giger:The Tourist IV (Tentacled Creature)(work 492) (1982) by HR Giger references The Basket of Apples (1893) by Paul Cezanne ?

leading from

HR Giger:The Tourist IV (Tentacled Creature)(work 492) (1982) by HR Giger

a) The Tourist IV (Tentacled Creature)(work 492) by HR Giger

b) References The Basket of Apples (1893) by Paul Cezanne

c.i) One above the other with the Cezanne reversed

c.ii)

c.iii)

c.iv) On the cloth, there is a dipping curve going across the area and tthis might become the ribbed tentacles that we see here

d.i) One above the other with the Cezanne the right way around

d.ii) The food on the plate lends something of its structure to the head of the creature

HR Giger:The Tourist IV (Tentacled Creature)(work 492) (1982) by HR Giger

leading from

H R Giger's Art

a) See HR Giger: The Tourist IV (Tentacled Creature)(work 492) by HR Giger references The Basket of Apples (1893) by Paul Cezanne ?

b) See: HR Giger:The Tourist IV (Tentacled Creature)(work 492) by HR Giger references The New Gods #2, page 1 (1971) by Jack Kirby ?

c) See: Darkseid and the Anti-Life equation panel from Saga of the Swamp Thing Vol 2 #62 by Rick Veitch and Alfredo Alcala References The Tourist IV (Tentacled Creature)(work 492) (1982) by HR Giger?

Street scene for Blade Runner by Syd Mead references Erotomechanics VII (Mia & Judith) version I, (work 422) (1979) by HR Giger?

leading from

Blade Runner: Street scene for Blade Runner (1980?, film released 1982) by Syd Mead

and

HR Giger: Erotomechanics VII (work 422) (1979) by HR Giger

a) Street scene for Blade Runner by Syd Mead

b) Erotomechanics VII (Mia & Judith) version I, (work 422) (1979) by HR Giger

c) One above the other

c) The gap above is turned into the sky with even larger buildings in the distance

d) Lef woman's foot becomes the side wall of the entrance into he subway

e) Left woman's upper body becomes the signs in the distance in the centre

e) Ribbed piping going over the left woman's back and the upper part of the shell above become upper windows with the upper part of a dark building in the disance

f) The Alien head becomes the armadillo like vehicle and the container on the street

h) The part of the Alien head that becoms the armadillo vehicle

i) The end of the Alien head that becomes the street container. The space beneath becomes part of the pavement

j) The upper body and head of the woman on the right become signs

Blade Runner: Street scene for Blade Runner (film released 1982) by Syd Mead references cover of The Inspector and The Pink Panther #12 (Nov 1976)?

Leading from

The Inspector and The Pink Panther #12 (Nov 1976)

and

Blade Runner: Street scene for Blade Runner (1980?, film released 1982) by Syd Mead

a) Street scene for Blade Runner (1980?, film released 1982)) by Syd Mead?

b) cover of The Inspector #12 (Nov 1976

c) So more or less his chest becomes the left side of the vehicle and his arm on the right becomes the rear of the vehicle. The vertical stripes on his jersey become bother vertical and horizontal strips of plating