Past Tense - Cosmic Nightmares And 2122 Terrors Part IV


*rise eyebrow*

Or... Legofy it. "The Lego Movie" and sequel, plus Batman Lego film showed that you could have a feature entirely made of (CGI) Lego parts. Why not have "Star Beast" done in the same way? It would be both cute and disturbing.



There's a guy online who sells custom Lego mini-figs - Dan's Collectibles. Above is the xenomorph, the mouth opens and closes. This is a do-able thing. He also does a Predator for twenty bucks.

...that's was odd.

Like magic.

Two days ago on the 21st, I found out that this is indeed happing in a round about way. Not a doc, but a five issue comic book mini-series from Dark Horse Comics.



Cristiano Seixas has adapted Dan O’Bannon original script and with artist Guilherme Balbi and colorist Candice Han have made - "Alien: The Original Screenplay". Above is the cover.

The comic streets on April 22nd, 2020 for $3.99.

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Just because.

You perv!



Let me make this wholesome - here's a pix of Ripley with her furry friend, Jones.

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Tangent.

What did I mean by gargoyle?

Just that - a gargoyle.

The xenomorph appears in a 12th century church; Paisley Abbey in Paisley, Scotland. It was a short lived intenet viral mystery in 2013. Though it did appear back in the early days of the internet - 1997, but nobody cared then.



The '13 stir was being used as claims - proof extraterrestrials to even time travel. Nah. No discontinuity here.

Early 1990s the church was being renovated. It had thirteen gargoyles - only one was kept in original form, didn't need fixing. The rest were built from scratch. So the iconic space monster was added, imagined as a demon.

Makes sense - in one of the many aborted screenplays for "Alien3", Ripley crashed into a man-made planetoid, a huge wooden church (just go with it). She is helped to rid herself of the queen inside by an android in the closet. The place is anti-tech, the synthetic would be an abomination in their eyes. Anyhow, the xeno is found in an ancient book as... a demon. *nods*

That was the 1990 Vincent Ward and John Fasano "Alien III" screenplay. A lot of history, so many writers wrote scripts for that sequel that failed to get picked. From author William Gibson of "Neuromancer" (1984) fame to even David Twohy writer/director of "Pitch Black" (2000) and "Chronicles Of Riddick" (2004). And many more.

Stonework was done by David Lindsay as a easter egg/lark. He no longer carves stone; no more money in it. A dead trade. That's sad.

Perhaps the film was fairly new when they were carving this [no it wasn't] and if he was thinking of an alien. Perhaps the alien from the film was his idea of an alien. I’m sure he wasn’t deliberately copying the alien in the film. [That's what it is] It was just a concept of an alien.
- Reverend Alan Birss on the topic

No sir. It was deliberate, Lindsay is a fanboy.

The gargoyle isn't obvious - unless you were looking, you wouldn't notice it. As it should be.

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Easter Eggs.

These were not carried over to Quadrilogy. Didn't know about these until I did the research - the eggs surfaced. You get three, one of which is so-so from The Legacy Collection.

USCSS Nostromo's crew histories and flight plan.

Main Menu -> highlight "Scene Selection", press right; highlight right 'data screen' - ENTER.

It reveals the Nostromo departed on June 12th, 2121 at 800 hours (8am) and landed on LV-426 (Acheron) on April 1st, 2122 at 1530 hours (3:30pm). The crew info is based on Ridley Scott's original character notes.

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Ash's secret transmission to Weyland-Yutani on the xenomorph's life cycle.

Extra Features -> press down six times, highlight the 'acid hole' in the corridor - ENTER.

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DVD production credits.

Main Menu -> highlight "Extra Features", press left; highlight left 'data screen' - ENTER.

Two final pictures before I close this PT.



Here is a BTS pix of Badejo taking a break on set; filming of the fates of Lambert and Parker; coolant tanks. Yes, that's a skull under the xeno's opaque head dome. Creepy. On the right is Cobb's design of the Snark's bridge. Damn, that is beautiful - the planet with the unknown signal shown in the windows and screens.

Man this thing sure ballooned from three parts into four.

Just so you know - the next Night Of The Living Dead DVD Retrospective post is up, a three parter.

Doing this write up had me re-watching "Alien"; forty years old - still hasn't lost its bite. A genuine horror classic. Come back here on February 6th, 2020 for the first installment of "Sword And Sandal Quarter"!