Aliens: Production. October 1985

leading from

Aliens

 

Call sheet number 6

 

Monday 7th October 1985

Action today was located in Acton Lane power station, Everitt Road, Harlesden, N.W.6

It was the cocoon chamber set

The filming unit would leave the studio at 7am, travelling to the location arriving at 8am. 

They would travel in three minibuses that would leave from Timekeeper's Gate 0

The plan was to complete scene 90, and also film 92, 94, and 96.as well as video cover for scenes 95 and 97

Actors

James Remar at the time playing Hicks, and Bill Paxton playing Hudson would be picked up at 6.50, be in makeup at 7.30.

Jenette Goldstein who played Vazquez would be picked up at 6:15am, be in makeup for 7.00am. 

Al Matthews who played Apone would be picked up at 7am, be in makeup for 7.30am

Mark Rolsten playing Drake, Cynthia Scott plaing Dietrich, Tip Tipping who played Weirbowsku, and Trevor Steedman who played Crowe would get to the studio by their own means and be in makeup by 7am.  

All members of the cast listed here would be on set by 8.30am

Stunt doubles and alien performers

Meanwhile Clive Curtis who was the stunt doyble for Frost, and Denise Ryan who was the stunt double for Dietrich, with alien warriors performed by Chris Webb and Carl Toop would arrive at makeup at a time still to be announced.

Standins

There would be three utility stand s arriving at makeip for 8pm

Props.

As per script and to include dummy Pulse Guns, Smart Gun, Flame Throwers and accessories as established for troopers, practical motion tracks, Frost rucksack and repeats.

Ther would be the dead Alien eggs for dressing and Infra Red Visors

Camera

A camera to video record would also be required

The Alien Queen and Terry Gilliam's Giant Samurai?

leading from

James Cameron's alien queen
and 
Terry Gilliam

 

giant metal Samurai with flags and fan of blades sticking out from its back

Alien queen suspended by a fan of elongated resinous supports (http://www.allocine.fr/)

Alien Queen displaying six back spokes

Myself having made the connection between Cameron's Alien Queen and HR Giger's The Spell with its transformed Japanese imagery, on 30th July 2014,  I am asking myself if Cameron recognised the Japanese influence there and took the sides of the Alien Queen head curving downwards slightly in the manner of a samurai helmet and added the spikes on the back in the manner of flag poles stuck on the back of the giant samurai as in Terry Gilliam's Brazil which was released back in 1985. No one is expecting the influences particularly obvious on the screen.

close up of the head of the Samurai, the demonic angry face is on top of the helmet.

Aliens' alien queen puppet (https://www.screenused.com/)

Armor of domaru type.  With black leather lacing in katatsumadori style.

(source Tokyo National Museum www.tnm.jp)

Aliens : The design of James Cameron's Alien Queen

Leading from

Aliens: The Creature Department

 

 

 

a) See: Preproduction Alien Queen Concept Art

 Illustrations by Jim Cameron

 

b) See: Creation of the Alien Queen according to the concept drawings
Development sketches by Stan Winston and Jim Cameron



 

 

 

c) See: From Zig Zag Devil via Delville & Giger to Cameron's Alien Queen 

1. Finding the pieces,   2. The Zigzag Devil,  3. Jean Delville's Treasures of Satan, 

 4. Alien Monster IV,  5. The Alien Queen 
 

 

 

 

 

d) See: From Giger's The Spell 3 To Jim Cameron's Alien Queen

 

 

 

 

e) See: HR Giger's Spell III   

a) HR Giger's The Spell 3,  b) its connection with the Heike Crab,
c) as a homage to Takeda Shingen's head dress helmet

 

 

f) See:  Giger talks about Aliens and Poltergeist 2

 

 

 

 

g) See: Terry Gilliam's Giant Samurai from "Brazil" imprint on The Alien Queen?

 

 

 

 

h) See: HR Giger's Demon (work 513) referenced in the design of the Alien Queen's face and hood?

 

 

 

i) See: Cover art by Dan La Mountain for "Protectorate"(1985) inspired Alien Queen?

j) See: Aliens: Storyboard showing Ripley and Newt first encountering the Alien Queen

 

 

 

k) See:  Did Ralph McQuarrie's Knobby White Spider concept help inspire Alien Queen?

 

 

 

m) See: Aliens: Concept art for Alien Queen Egg Layer by James Cameron

 

 

 

 

 
n) See: Alien Queen's elbow, inspiration from James Gleeson? 

o) See: Full sized Alien Queens arms props 

p) See: Alien queen leg prop

Aliens: Giger's "The Spell III" and the alien queen from Jim Cameron's Aliens

leading from
James Cameron's Alien Queen,
and
HR Giger's Spell III

Giger's The Spell III as found in Giger's Necronomicon

The head of the Alien queen here is from a Halcyon model of the Alien queen painted by "Guyver1" (source: http://th06.deviantart.net. The painting is the head details from the multilimbed demon from The Spell III. The face patterns highlighted in yellow to form an impression very similar to the general form of the head of the Alien Queen. If Jim Cameron had used this picture for inspiration, then he reworked the impression he got from the image to make it more stylised.

Ripley comes face to face with Aliens Queen (from Aliens blu-ray, made from merged together stills on Photoshop)

Aliens: Storyboard showing Ripley and Newt first encountering the Alien Queen references Bed station I (work 329) (1976) by HR Giger?

 

 

 

 

 leading from 

HR Giger: Bed station I (work 329) (1976) by HR Giger

and 

 Aliens: Storyboard showing Ripley and Newt first encountering the Alien Queen

and 

Aliens: storyboard showing Ripley and Newt first encountering the Alien Queen references panel featuring golden sickle racks from "Asterix and the Golden Sickle" (1960) written by Goscinny and drawn by Uderzo, via Bed station I (work 329) (1976) by HR Giger? 

 

 

 

 

a) Bed station I (work 329) (1976) by HR Giger

 

 

 

 

 

 

b) Aliens: Storyboard showing Ripley and Newt first encountering the Alien Queen

c) One on top of the other with the Giger reversed

 

 

 

 

 

 

d) Head end of the bed becomes the alien queen's upper body

 

 

 

 

e) Bed side table that becomes the leg

 

 

 

 

 

 

f) Ribbed structure that becomes the hand

g) structure at the front of the bend becomes part of the egg sack

 

 

g) Leg area becomes the lower abdoment of the alien queen where it connects with the egg sack

 

Cover for Isaac Asimov's The Bicentennial Man" (Published 1978) by Chris Foss references Bed station I (work 329) (1976) by HR Giger ?

 

leading from

HR Giger: Bed station I (work 329) (1976) by HR Giger

and

 Cover for Isaac Asimov's The Bicentennial Man" (Published 1978) by Chris Foss

 

 

 

a) Cover for Isaac Asimov's The Bicentennial Man" (Published 1978) by Chris Foss references

Bed station I (work 329) (1976) by HR Giger (which I think references the cover of The Inspector #4 and Salvador Dali's “The Painter’s Eye” (1941)) ?

 

 

 

b) Bed station I (work 329) (1976) by HR Giger ) ?

 

 

 

c) Comparable areas

 

 

 

d) Bed leg becomes lower arm on the right

 

 

e) Central support in the bed becomes a strap going down the front of the robot

f) Bulbos rounded form at the end of the bed becomes this oval shape

Aliens: Aliens in the workroom

leading from

Aliens: Alien Warrior

 

a) Across the workroom

My source https://monsterlegacy.net/2015/02/22/monster-gallery-aliens-1986/

Source: StanWinstonSchool.com

 

 

 

b) Full body Alien Puppet

My source https://twitter.com/avpgalaxy/status/801336401186922496/photo/1

My source https://twitter.com/avpgalaxy/status/1531653545262555137

Source: StanWinstonSchool.com

My source: https://monsterlegacy.net/2015/02/22/monster-gallery-aliens-1986/

 

 

c) The Hero Alien Puppet

My source: https://monsterlegacy.net/2015/02/22/monster-gallery-aliens-1986/

My source: https://monsterlegacy.net/2015/02/22/monster-gallery-aliens-1986/

Source: StanWinstonSchool.com

Source: StanWinstonSchool.com

Source: StanWinstonSchool.com

1. Text for above image: In this never before seen image behind the scenes of the ALIENS movie, creature creator Stan Winston & his lead FX mechanic, Richard Landon, prepare the hero Alien Drone puppet for its debut on set at Pinewood Studios.
   

   
   To make the cable-actuated xenomorph puppet more maneuverable, the SWS crew loaded the cables & controllers onto a wagon so they could quickly reposition the cable-controlled Alien to perform wherever director James Cameron wanted it to.

   Unlike the slow-moving horror of the original ALIEN creature as established by Ridley Scott, James Cameron created a film in which the xenomorphs would be fast, active & dynamic.

   To achieve the range of action & mobility required by Cameron's vision, the Stan Winston Studio team created many different versions of the Aliens depending on whatever the shot called for: hero insert puppets with articulated upper torso, mechanical lips, tongue and jaw for closeups; lightweight black "Alien" leotards covered in polyfoam for stunt performers to wear in action shots; and poseable alien warrior figures for blowing up, setting on fire, running over & for stunts too dangerous for stuntmen to perform.

   In the final ALIENS film, even though Stan Winston and his team only built 12 alien suits, James Cameron managed to create the illusion of an entire alien army, and make FX history, by using every trick in the book. (https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/blog/aliens-movie-the-making-of-a-xenomorph-drone)
   

 

 

d) Working on the Alien heads

Tom Woodruff working on an alien head.
My source: https://monsterlegacy.net/2015/02/22/monster-gallery-aliens-1986/

John Rosengrant painting an aliens head
My source: https://www.theguardian.com/

e) Collections of Alien Heads

Source: StanWinstonSchool.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My source : https://monsterlegacy.net/2015/02/22/monster-gallery-aliens-1986/

 

 

 

My source https://monsterlegacy.net/2015/02/22/monster-gallery-aliens-1986/

f) Alien Suits

My source https://monsterlegacy.net/2015/02/22/monster-gallery-aliens-1986/

My source: https://monsterlegacy.net/2015/02/22/monster-gallery-aliens-1986