Fun Fact: The blue laser lights that were used in the alien ship's egg chamber were borrowed from The Who. The band was testing out the lasers for their stage show in the soundstage next door.
Pretty ironic how I watch a video about mocking corporations in the youtube mega-corporation and having to watch a ton of commercials before it starts.
@@kennethpetersen8818 Thumbs up! Yeah, I used to use an ad blocker too back before I started watching YT mostly on my Roku TV. Basically, I pay for premium so I can watch on my big screen with a remote, chilling on my couch while still avoiding ads. I'm willing to pay for this luxury because I watch more YT than any other platform on my TV.
The egyptian theme also suggests me a parallel with the classic evil mummy trope: explorers desecrate the pharaoh tomp, the incur in the curse of the mummy that slowly kills them all. Kinda the plot of the movie, if you think about it.
I actually before finding this channel thought exactly that. It always struck me as a Mummy type story, also visually with the way the lines on the aliens body resembles the body wrap lines.
13:35 Actually, they DID have weapons! They are shown and mentioned when the crew set out to explore the derelict. However, when they discover that the Alien has acid for blood, they realize they can't blow it to bits without melting a hole in the hull, hence the makeshift flame thrower and electric prod.
@@mrgreensuit7379 Actually the comment was intended in good humor. However I'm more than happy to star in your documentary. I don't come cheap though;)
A lot of cobb's ideas also show up in the game Alien: Isolation, unsurprisingly as the team for that got access to all concept art during production. It's really cool to see how coherent that ended up! A lot of these design principles hold up very well there
production design is such a criminally underrated aspect of online movie discussion. the examples you shared were really interesting. it seems obvious to me now, but you made me consider the role of the designer and the impact of production design on cinema analysis. and of course, seeing the low-tech graphic design and concept art was really cool!
And weird alien potato chip flavours, Regulas slug worm flavour, Talos 3 bat flavour, Alpha Omicron Prime desert rat flavour, Caledonia 5 sea salt with prawn flavour.
Something also I thought of while watching: the opening glass lids of the cryosleep chambers also visually reckons back to the extending wings of a scarab
With some of the points made in the video I think of interest would be Rollerball (1975): corporations own the world; and Outland (1981): continuing the grungy industrial aesthetic of sci-fi right after Alien.
…Outland may arguably be considered part of the Alien universe, like Soldier (Kurt Russell) and Blade Runner…artists and concepts were shared, mostly from Jodorowsky’s Dune ‘Bible’…
Fan headcanon places Alien and Outland in the same universe... I support that idea, since most of the crew worked on both movies and because of that both movies have a very similar. artistic design.
@@pgknippel When playing the Alien Isolation game, many areas look more like the station in Outland than the Nostromo in Alien. The game makers clearly looked at Outland when extending the environments.
Awesome video. Cobb was an unsung genius. I saw Alien when I was much too young, and the only reason I kept watching was I thought the whole "human technology" absolutely convincing and believable. The Alien stuff scared me, the Nostromo pulled me back, then the alien would scare me, then the ship would pull me back. It was a tug of war between my poor 8 year old brain wanting it to be star wars and my 8 year old brain screaming IT'S FRIDAY THE 13th!!
I saw Alien on its release, R rated, in the movie theater- with my parents. I was 9... scared me almost to death. The suspense was palpable... great movie- Masterpiece.
I had the same experience. My dad rented this when I was around 7-8 and It both terrified and fascinated me and this movie set a very high standard for storytelling and movie making IMHO.
Same. I slept with the edge of my 70s bed spread pressed up to my mouth for weeks. My plan was that the face hugger hiding in the air vent would be thwarted by that thin layer of highly flammable polyester. And I was right.
I was aged 13 when I saw Alien in 1979 and as far as Star Wars and it's ilk was concerned, I lost all interest by the time I walked out of the theatre. Ever since, dystopian sci fi has been the only kind that interests me - and now, in many respects, we are living in one.
The satirical subtext in Alien should also be credited to the scriptwriter and visual supervisor, Dan O’Bannon. The story of Alien began as a comedic subplot (written by O’Bannon) in John Carpenter’s student film, Dark Star, which shares similar themes and aesthetics, with a roughneck crew working a thankless and dangerous job in space.
It's amazing how Moebius and the cartoonists of Métal Hurlant (Heavy Metal) had a major influence in art. We don't even realize it today because we have seen their influence everywhere.
Imho, Alien set design, costumes, suits quality was decades before it's time, way above anything that was made until then, and even for today's standards is top level and one of the best, beautiful, realistic, sci-fi set's ever made and is still a massive inspiration and benchmark for many artists and directors even today.
Today's movies are made by lazy producers who rely heavily on CGI and blurry background. Nothing tangible no details to see. The movie alien is a masterpiece of creativity that keeps on giving even after 40 years I keep discovering more and more interesting aspects about it.
Funny I never thought about the Egyptian influence of the Nostromo, but the block-like pattern reminded me of Frank Lloyd Wright's "Ennis Brown House" (incidentally used for some shots of Deckard's apartment in Blade Runner), which is constructed almost like a Lego set from many individual molded concrete blocks of similar geometric patterns. It does kind-of make sense that a ship of this nature might have been fitted together from individual self-contained components for bulkheads and etc.
I agree, it feels like a whole set of modular rooms that can be assembled together, I think the concept art for Star Wars' Millenium Falcon had a similar concept where the interior of the freighter could have different interior modules for cargo or passengers, or a mix of both, around that circular frame.
The best detail regarding the self destruct is that there are pinch hazard warnings on the mechanism. It’s like some OSHA inspector looked at the means in which one could blow up a spaceship and was like, that’s good and all but what if the lid falls and crushed the fingers of the user.
i think those were electro static discharge warning labels. i worked at an electronics plant and saw them daily. i like your idea too though:) but would the corp. let osha near their stuff? that would be humane XD
This is not only my favorite science fiction/horror film of all time, it is one of my favorite films in general. It is one of those movies that impacts you on a visceral level.
The interiors resemble a Frank Lloyd Wright Mayan Revival house one of which The Ennis house featured in Bladerunner which was Ridleys next film after Alien
I'm so glad you put this out there! In all my years being a fan of this franchise, I never caught onto the corporate-mocking satire. You just made me fall in love with this movie all over again.
The thing about the crew having toys is pretty true, actually. Touring crews for music acts do the same thing, often you'll find action figures on the consoles and such. When you're setting up in a different city every night it's nice to have some friendly tchochkes in your bag.
I remember seeing a photograph of a British Paratrooper, from the Falklands war and he had a wee Snoopy figurine mounted on his GPMG! I've even seen old discarded dolls mounted on the grill of refuse trucks. I s'pose it's just one of those little quirks that we humans have in common, I like that.
@@robanderson473 You just reminded me of a few-second long bit of video I kept seeing over the last week of a Russian soldier with a little stuffed bear attached to his tactical vest. I immediately wanted to know the story behind it. It looked like he was actually explaining exactly that, but there was no audio so I don't know.
@@furiousapplesack Ha, fancy that. It could possibly be a gift from his daughter or something like that, prior to him leaving for the front. Cool, another example of us humans sharing similar quirks and we've been doing those sorts of things for ages.
The details in the Nostromo sets are truly astounding. For example, pause at 1:38 and check out the coffee and snack station. Many bags and containers for different snacks, even separate cabinets for crackers and cookies. The table surface is littered with crushed beer cans and all kinds of crumbly bits. Also 11:04, there's coffee and a cigarette box, along with small bits of tape around the monitor with notes written on them. They didn't have Post-It Notes at that time, but the idea was already there. I could look at this stuff all day, this is a terrific history and background series!
Clarke may have written the initial short story, but he was a hired hand (hired by Kubrick) when it came to writing the novel, which was merch, more or less. Clarke was also intellectually vain and never refused a chance to show off how smart he thought he was. The movie, story aside, had NOTHING to do with Clarke, so anything he says about it is opinion, nothing more. Kubrick was far too smart to share all his intentions with a dinner party intellectual (and suspected pedarist) like Clarke. Just assume that when it comes to Kubrick movies, there are no mistakes or conincidences. He meant it all
That's awesome! I bet it was an unparalleled experience back in the day. If you don't mind me asking, what was the general reaction from the audience during/after the film? I feel seeing alien in 1979 had to have left some people utterly stunned.
@@wellyep790 It was the kind of movie you had to see again with a newbie, just to see the look on their face. Also, I think it has the best trailer of All Time.
I’d always noticed the hazard symbol in Alien, probably because it coincides with the (much older) Purina animal food logo. Its just a coincidence of graphic design but obviously familiar designs are more visually recognisable and I don’t remember the less familiar other corridor symbols in the movie. I might now having spent a few minutes looking at their meaning.
Love this movie, still with all the effects we now have in movies like Avatar, Alien 1979 is still more thrilling than anything half assed baked today.
ALIEN is one of my absolute favorite movies, largely due to the genius of Ron Cobb and H.R. Giger (RIP). The artist in me loved the attention to design and detail and it made the fantastic setting of the Nostromo feel so lived-in and so believable and the alien environments so weird. The funny thing is, I don't even like horror as a genre but I do like science fiction and I was hooked onto Alien production through fanzines before the movie came out. Well-crafted movies like this bring out the OCD in me, wanting to know more about the implied ALIEN world and characters.
Alien is my favourite film of all time. I have seen it dozens and dozens of times, and it never occurred to me that Dallas foreshadowed the revelation of the film’s true villain by placing the beer-can’s label towards the camera as Kane was dying.
Still, to this day, the greatest Sci-Fi Horror film ever made. Greatest "alien" ever conceived, with undoubtedly the most claustrophobic environments put on film! And not to mention how amazing the acting from this ensemble cast was! I will always love the original Alien more than anything that came out after it as a sequel or prequel. None of those films capture the sheer terror that Alien did. Second only, for me, to 1971's The Andromeda Strain (which is my all-time favorite film), Alien will never be topped by anything done in this fictional universe!
Thank you so much for recommending the Andromeda strain film. As a biochemist whose just finished a summer placement in a microbiology laboratory and it’s quite funny how scientifically accurate and relevant their methods are even today (at least the microbiological and structural ones, no clue when it comes to medicine and animal welfare though) it may not be the most realistic organism but it’s an incredibly cool concept came up with before we had even set foot on the moon.. The cinematography and set design was amazing. Andromeda strain is definitely up there with my favourite films now. I shall have to read the book next.
@@Jay_Johnson You're very welcome! I have always been fascinated with how this movie achieved such amazing visuals as it did, and for the most part, it did so using real world images to make the visuals look even more impressive. The movie has been criticized as being "slow", but for me, that's what makes it so incredible! Crichton always had a knack for "realism" when he both wrote his books as well and worked with the production crew to make the look of the film more believable. 1971's The Andromeda Strain will always be my most beloved movie of all-time. Bar none!
The idea about companies ruling the World had already been explored in Rollerball (1975), with a number of references in the script to the "Corporate Wars" which had led to the company-run society depicted in the film.
Great shout out for Frank in you ad break. I love Abrahamson's work. I'm a grown man, but Room had me in tears more than once. What a great movie! His debut is very good too. It's based on a real event. One pupil from a very exclusive Dublin school accidentally kills another boy during a fight. It happened outside a night club in the mid to late 90s I think. Another great video too. As Rob Ager pointed out, the brow beaten Dallas, a guy who must have 100s of missions under his belt is speaking figurativly as well as literally (although he is speaking about Ash, who isn't a man but a robot, but I digress) when he tells the complaining Brett and Parker to '..listen to the man!'. My bad, What Harry did was not Lenny's debut, that was a film called Adam and Paul, a film following a pair of Dublin junkies over the course of a day. That's a great movie too.
Alien vs Prometheus is a perfect comparison to show how a bigger budget and more studio influence does not equal a better movie. Also, even if I'd never seen it, if you told me the sequel to "Alien" was directed by James Cameron in 1986 "Aliens" is exactly what I'd imagine.
Also consider this: when Kane "recovers", and just before they all go back to hibernation, Dallas suggests one final meal and adds "on me" (or words to that effect). The crew respond to this final statement with jubilation. This shows - and to me, proves - that they have to pay for the food they consume during the journey. If your office has a coffee machine, and your manager offers to get coffee for everyone, your reaction would be much more subdued - "Wow. Great. So generous. Flat black for me, 1 sugar." Whereas the Nostromo crew cheer and one person even claps - a reaction on par with your office supplying cheap biscuits and your manager says they're going to go down the street and get Krispy Kremes and cheesecake for the team. Weylan-Yutani put them on this ship, and make them pay for the food they consume during the trip. Presumably out of their pay.
I don’t think even W-Y would be that cheap. If they were, the crew would have to swipe payment cards just to open the food and beverage storage compartments. The offer from Dallas to buy everyone dinner is merely figurative. He’s inviting everyone to a celebration now that Kane is back on his feet. Of course, what they don’t realize is that it will literally be their last supper.
Awesome, man! Great photos. And amazing video as usual! Being a movie prop nerd, I had to share that the coffee grinder on the wall that John Hurt is using is a real "Krups" coffee grinder from the 70s. If you look closely it is the same item as the "Mr Fusion" from Back to the Future. I may be the only person that gets excited by these things...
In the Alien videogame from 2014, Cobb's works such as from the bridge and planetary view were used aboard the ship that the game took place upon: The Sevastopol. I didn't don't know that until I saw the concept art of tye bridge and instantly recognized it.
Everyone talks about Giger, but it's great to see Ron Cobb getting more of a mention. My brother got a book of his cartoons back around the time Alien came out which had some drawings for the movie as well (unless that was two different books?), but I've only just seen a list of other movies he worked on - most of my all-time favourites!
Alien has always been my favorite movie. I remember going with friends to the theater to see a different movie. We arrived early enough to see the last parts of Alien, we were petrified, and my girl and I were holding each other tight; sitting together in the aisle of the Century theater!
I'd like to suggest you research the cathartic old school hardware sounds and why they turn your guts at times, I will bet that will get solid attention !!!
Neat. This means Bishop in the sequel should've turned against them. It implies he's malfunctioning, and cutting himself during the knife trick further backs that up.
That would interfere with his mission: to bring the xenomorph back. IT would take the form of him collecting the facehugger sample And infecting them during hypersleep.
2:01 "Cobb said, one of the things I enjoyed most about Alien was its subtle satirical content." Straight from the mouth of the guy who did the design. Besides, satire and symbolism are not mutually exclusive concepts.
@@lemonshark69 Hence why I said, "satire and symbolism are not mutually exclusive concepts." Point is, it absolutely is satirical, and possibly also symbolic.
" When deep space exploration ramps up, it'll be the corporations that name everything, the IBM Stellar Sphere, the Microsoft Galaxy, Planet Starbucks." - Fight Club. NARRATOR. 1999
Tyler, you're the master of Alien minutia. It's how you hooked me. Beautiful work as always. You're doing the lord's work...and by "lord" i mean Space Jockey
I’ve never noticed those little signs before - as someone who’s worked in a factory myself that’s got me cracking up! In real life those symbols can be quite expressive
11:42 The 'Semiotic standard' gave me what has to be an unintentional laugh, The entrance to the computer room has that red-and-white pixelated saltire above the door, but when I saw it, what I picked up on was a "red-and-white checkerboard", the logo of the Ralston Purina company, and I was having giggles about the concept of "Purina Alien Chow".
This was one of my favorite movies growing up. I would read all movie program magazines in advance and mark the date when alien was coing on my calender, so I could record each episode on VHS tape back then. I was soooo exited for each one.
Someone may have already beat me to this, but you make a reference which has been touted for years and years, and is what is called the “Lucy in the sky with diamonds“ conspiracy. Just as John Lennon had to continue to explain to people that that title of his song was not at all in reference to LSD, but rather was a drawing his own daughter made in crayon in school and when he asked her what it was, she simply said “that’s Lucy in the sky with diamonds“. In fact, many of the lyrics are based on the characters she drew in her drawing You mentioned that HAL was a veiled reference to IBM since each letter is before IBM in the alphabet. But both Kubrick and Clark have stated that was just one of those serendipitous coincidences. Clark named it HAL as short for the kind of computer it was, a: “Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer”.
BTW- Corporations having their own armies is not a new thing- The British East India Company used to have an army of 250,000 men by the early 19th century
Great video, as ever. One thing - the notion of corporations that have become more powerful than governments was also also explored four years earlier in the 1975 'Rollerball', a subtext that was confirmed as intentional by director Norman Jewison and screenwriter William Harrison on the Blu-ray commentary track.
Just so you know - according to Arthur C Clarke's own biography 'Greetings Carbon-Based Bipeds', the reason for the name HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey, is it's an acronym of Heuristic ALgorithm. It has nothing to do with "IBM". The fact the letters HAL are 1-letter removed from IBM in the alphabet, is a pure coincidence. And it is an urban myth that this is the reason for the name.
Yeah. Kubrick said that IBM gave them a great bit of help. So he felt embarrassed by the coincidence. Had they spotted it themselves, they would have changed the name.
Balancing the crew of the Nostromo’s dichotomy of dehumanisation through employment of a faceless, apathetic mega corporation and the base, animalistic reproduction of the xenomorph is why Alien is such a masterpiece. A lot of movies nowadays would trip over themselves trying to blend them together but make it obvious enough that the audience immediately picks it up and congratulates them for the idea
When I saw the movie as a kid, I noticed that the Infirmary and the Hypersleep chambers were the only places that were genuinely *clean* on the ship, whereas everything else was dingy and used and run down. I remember thinking, “Well, it makes sense you’d want to keep those two areas in tip-top shape, otherwise you’ll die.” As for the impersonal prefab nature of the inside of the Nostromo…if you’ve ever been on a real freighter, you’d think, “That’s pretty nice, honestly.” I mean, they don’t have to share a bunk room, there’s a reasonable degree of privacy, it’s not crazy loud… Something I always wondered about was John Hurt, who is wearing a corset or something when they wake up. He’s physically the most frail, and I’ve always wondered if he had surgery or something prior to the mission, and if so, what/why?
“Wherever you go, even Space… there’s bound to be a gift shop” haha, that’s my favourite quote of any of your documentaries 👌🏻 But maybe the Nostromo is the gift shop? The crew gift their lives to the company? Antiwork began here, they just didn’t realise it.
Great work as always! I just filled out the form.. I chose Blade Runner, Fifth Element and Mad Max 1979 (or all 4) as these are some of my favorites and I'd like to see how you'd approach them in a series. Keep up the great work!
Great video. It's always interesting to see the background details that they put into films. One time when I was watching Alien on dvd I paused it when Ripley was pushing the self destruct buttons and it blew my mind a little bit to see the different words and symbols that they chose to put on the buttons. Ones that stick in my mind were, "Fly Agaric" (the classic "fairytale" mushrooms with the red cap with white spots), and "Yoni" which is a stylised representation of female genitalia of the Goddess Shakti in Hinduism.
@@Thenogomogo-zo3un I've heard similar remarks about ALL British vehicles, since childhood. Jokes about how in Hell, the cars are designed by the British.
I've been playing Alien isolation and I'm happy that the corporate aesthetic got carried over. There's even Japanese lettering on most of the stuff on the Sevastopol Station, despite it being owned by a rival company.
Clarke did not intend HAL to reference IBM. Clarke wrote in The Lost Worlds of 2001, “About once a week some character spots the fact that HAL is one letter ahead of IBM, and promptly assumes that Stanley and I were taking a crack at the estimable institution… As it happened, IBM had given us a good deal of help, so we were quite embarrassed by this and would have changed the name had we spotted the coincidence.”
Hi, this was great! So glad to have gotten this suggested in my feed (WTF UA-cam, you scare me!!) Suggestions: 1970s Brit UFO series and the sad but beautiful “Silent Running” (1972)
Fun Fact: The blue laser lights that were used in the alien ship's egg chamber were borrowed from The Who. The band was testing out the lasers for their stage show in the soundstage next door.
Probly where they got the lsd too.
Thought it was Pink Floyd
@@thetvbaby83c'mon lighten up
Not really fun
I never knew that, cool. I do enjoy wee tid bits like this.
Pretty ironic how I watch a video about mocking corporations in the youtube mega-corporation and having to watch a ton of commercials before it starts.
There is also irony that I never saw a single commercial because I pay for premium membership which actually is less profitable for YT.
@@KittyBoom360Pretty ironic you could have the same results with ad blocker for free and inflict more financial damage to the evil mega corporations.
@@KittyBoom360 I also didn't see a single commercial, because my browser blocks them, which is even less profitable for UA-cam.
Use adblock for your sanity
@@kennethpetersen8818 Thumbs up! Yeah, I used to use an ad blocker too back before I started watching YT mostly on my Roku TV. Basically, I pay for premium so I can watch on my big screen with a remote, chilling on my couch while still avoiding ads. I'm willing to pay for this luxury because I watch more YT than any other platform on my TV.
The egyptian theme also suggests me a parallel with the classic evil mummy trope: explorers desecrate the pharaoh tomp, the incur in the curse of the mummy that slowly kills them all. Kinda the plot of the movie, if you think about it.
I actually before finding this channel thought exactly that. It always struck me as a Mummy type story, also visually with the way the lines on the aliens body resembles the body wrap lines.
13:35 Actually, they DID have weapons! They are shown and mentioned when the crew set out to explore the derelict. However, when they discover that the Alien has acid for blood, they realize they can't blow it to bits without melting a hole in the hull, hence the makeshift flame thrower and electric prod.
They should have just blown it to bits and sealed the holes with spray foam lolz.
@@mrgreensuit7379 Yes, I'm sure that would have made a great movie. You should write a screenplay.
@@martinharris5017 Got my hands full already writing a documentary about sarcastic internet lack wits. You could have a starring role!
@@mrgreensuit7379 Actually the comment was intended in good humor. However I'm more than happy to star in your documentary. I don't come cheap though;)
@@martinharris5017 Well if you're not cheap you won't get the part. Supply and demand you see, too much supply these days!
God imagine being stuck in a space ship built by British Layland that's the true horror of the movie.
gottem
At least the Nostromo is unlikely to rust in a vacuum unlike a Rover.
The Leyland Sherpa is the worst vehicle I have ever driven!
In space no one can see you shit your pants, because the lights were all made by Lucas.
@@MrOtistetraxThe Lucas lights on the Discovery’s pods (2001 a space odyssey) seemed to work fine!
A lot of cobb's ideas also show up in the game Alien: Isolation, unsurprisingly as the team for that got access to all concept art during production. It's really cool to see how coherent that ended up! A lot of these design principles hold up very well there
Don't stop. I absolutely love the first Alien movie and everything about it. If you can uncover more hidden gems and untold stories, I'm all in.
I second that
Yeah I enjoy all that sort of thing too.👍
I agree. Almost feels as if the series has an infinite of Easter eggs.
production design is such a criminally underrated aspect of online movie discussion. the examples you shared were really interesting. it seems obvious to me now, but you made me consider the role of the designer and the impact of production design on cinema analysis. and of course, seeing the low-tech graphic design and concept art was really cool!
cobbs' work is just so cool :D
I like the idea of the ship pulling up at a spaceport to refuel and while they are waiting they all go into the spaceport shop to buy stuff
It's just an American truck stop in space.
@@interstellarsurfer Now that could be a TV show.
And there's nothing but crap for sale so they buy a plastic bird.
@@davidsummer8631 I'm sure the BBC show Red Dwarf did something like that at some point.
And weird alien potato chip flavours, Regulas slug worm flavour, Talos 3 bat flavour, Alpha Omicron Prime desert rat flavour, Caledonia 5 sea salt with prawn flavour.
Something also I thought of while watching: the opening glass lids of the cryosleep chambers also visually reckons back to the extending wings of a scarab
With some of the points made in the video I think of interest would be Rollerball (1975): corporations own the world; and Outland (1981): continuing the grungy industrial aesthetic of sci-fi right after Alien.
Both great movies, I love Rollerball.
…Outland may arguably be considered part of the Alien universe, like Soldier (Kurt Russell) and Blade Runner…artists and concepts were shared, mostly from Jodorowsky’s Dune ‘Bible’…
Fan headcanon places Alien and Outland in the same universe... I support that idea, since most of the crew worked on both movies and because of that both movies have a very similar. artistic design.
Love both of those - Outland defo got the look & vibe of the Alien universe.
@@pgknippel When playing the Alien Isolation game, many areas look more like the station in Outland than the Nostromo in Alien. The game makers clearly looked at Outland when extending the environments.
Awesome video.
Cobb was an unsung genius.
I saw Alien when I was much too young, and the only reason I kept watching was I thought the whole "human technology" absolutely convincing and believable.
The Alien stuff scared me, the Nostromo pulled me back, then the alien would scare me, then the ship would pull me back.
It was a tug of war between my poor 8 year old brain wanting it to be star wars and my 8 year old brain screaming IT'S FRIDAY THE 13th!!
I saw Alien on its release, R rated, in the movie theater- with my parents. I was 9... scared me almost to death. The suspense was palpable... great movie-
Masterpiece.
I had the same experience. My dad rented this when I was around 7-8 and It both terrified and fascinated me and this movie set a very high standard for storytelling and movie making IMHO.
Same. I slept with the edge of my 70s bed spread pressed up to my mouth for weeks. My plan was that the face hugger hiding in the air vent would be thwarted by that thin layer of highly flammable polyester. And I was right.
I was aged 13 when I saw Alien in 1979 and as far as Star Wars and it's ilk was concerned, I lost all interest by the time I walked out of the theatre. Ever since, dystopian sci fi has been the only kind that interests me - and now, in many respects, we are living in one.
The satirical subtext in Alien should also be credited to the scriptwriter and visual supervisor, Dan O’Bannon. The story of Alien began as a comedic subplot (written by O’Bannon) in John Carpenter’s student film, Dark Star, which shares similar themes and aesthetics, with a roughneck crew working a thankless and dangerous job in space.
"The food ain't _that_ bad, baby!.."
Parker and Brett really are the comedic element of the film. I love how Harry Dean delivers the line 'back to the ole frezzerinos. Classic!
@@davidlean1060 Right.
@@lewis7515 Answer to everything! I love Harry Dean RIP
@@lewis7515 Right !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It's amazing how Moebius and the cartoonists of Métal Hurlant (Heavy Metal) had a major influence in art. We don't even realize it today because we have seen their influence everywhere.
"a corporation so big that it could be more powerful than a government"... that ain't sci fi ... that's yesterday.
Dutch VOC. Had its own army. So did Crassus in Rome and many more…
Acting that Marx didn't exist
Imho, Alien set design, costumes, suits quality was decades before it's time, way above anything that was made until then, and even for today's standards is top level and one of the best, beautiful, realistic, sci-fi set's ever made and is still a massive inspiration and benchmark for many artists and directors even today.
Today's movies are made by lazy producers who rely heavily on CGI and blurry background. Nothing tangible no details to see. The movie alien is a masterpiece of creativity that keeps on giving even after 40 years I keep discovering more and more interesting aspects about it.
Thanks for the suits! Back then most times they were jumpsuit/overalls with a motorcycle helmet
Funny I never thought about the Egyptian influence of the Nostromo, but the block-like pattern reminded me of Frank Lloyd Wright's "Ennis Brown House" (incidentally used for some shots of Deckard's apartment in Blade Runner), which is constructed almost like a Lego set from many individual molded concrete blocks of similar geometric patterns. It does kind-of make sense that a ship of this nature might have been fitted together from individual self-contained components for bulkheads and etc.
The alien was supposed to be in a pyramid tomb as well in early scripts.
I agree, it feels like a whole set of modular rooms that can be assembled together, I think the concept art for Star Wars' Millenium Falcon had a similar concept where the interior of the freighter could have different interior modules for cargo or passengers, or a mix of both, around that circular frame.
Keep up the great work, Tyler. Love this content. Would love a Weyland-Yutani deep dive.
The best detail regarding the self destruct is that there are pinch hazard warnings on the mechanism. It’s like some OSHA inspector looked at the means in which one could blow up a spaceship and was like, that’s good and all but what if the lid falls and crushed the fingers of the user.
i think those were electro static discharge warning labels. i worked at an electronics plant and saw them daily. i like your idea too though:) but would the corp. let osha near their stuff? that would be humane XD
This is not only my favorite science fiction/horror film of all time, it is one of my favorite films in general. It is one of those movies that impacts you on a visceral level.
The interiors resemble a Frank Lloyd Wright Mayan Revival house one of which The Ennis house featured in Bladerunner which was Ridleys next film after Alien
I'm so glad you put this out there! In all my years being a fan of this franchise, I never caught onto the corporate-mocking satire. You just made me fall in love with this movie all over again.
The thing about the crew having toys is pretty true, actually. Touring crews for music acts do the same thing, often you'll find action figures on the consoles and such. When you're setting up in a different city every night it's nice to have some friendly tchochkes in your bag.
I remember seeing a photograph of a British Paratrooper, from the Falklands war and he had a wee Snoopy figurine mounted on his GPMG! I've even seen old discarded dolls mounted on the grill of refuse trucks. I s'pose it's just one of those little quirks that we humans have in common, I like that.
@@robanderson473 You just reminded me of a few-second long bit of video I kept seeing over the last week of a Russian soldier with a little stuffed bear attached to his tactical vest. I immediately wanted to know the story behind it. It looked like he was actually explaining exactly that, but there was no audio so I don't know.
@@furiousapplesack Ha, fancy that. It could possibly be a gift from his daughter or something like that, prior to him leaving for the front. Cool, another example of us humans sharing similar quirks and we've been doing those sorts of things for ages.
The details in the Nostromo sets are truly astounding. For example, pause at 1:38 and check out the coffee and snack station. Many bags and containers for different snacks, even separate cabinets for crackers and cookies. The table surface is littered with crushed beer cans and all kinds of crumbly bits. Also 11:04, there's coffee and a cigarette box, along with small bits of tape around the monitor with notes written on them. They didn't have Post-It Notes at that time, but the idea was already there. I could look at this stuff all day, this is a terrific history and background series!
Arthur C. Clarke stated that HAL stood for "Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer" and wasn't a dig at IBM... it was pure coincidence.
Clarke may have written the initial short story, but he was a hired hand (hired by Kubrick) when it came to writing the novel, which was merch, more or less. Clarke was also intellectually vain and never refused a chance to show off how smart he thought he was. The movie, story aside, had NOTHING to do with Clarke, so anything he says about it is opinion, nothing more. Kubrick was far too smart to share all his intentions with a dinner party intellectual (and suspected pedarist) like Clarke. Just assume that when it comes to Kubrick movies, there are no mistakes or conincidences. He meant it all
I saw Alien on opening day 1979 and about 50 more times in the intervening years. One of my top 5 favorite films.
That's awesome! I bet it was an unparalleled experience back in the day. If you don't mind me asking, what was the general reaction from the audience during/after the film? I feel seeing alien in 1979 had to have left some people utterly stunned.
@@wellyep790 It was the kind of movie you had to see again with a newbie, just to see the look on their face. Also, I think it has the best trailer of All Time.
@@wellyep790 Everyone walked out, stunned disbelief. All thought it was a fantastic movie !!!!
I’d always noticed the hazard symbol in Alien, probably because it coincides with the (much older) Purina animal food logo. Its just a coincidence of graphic design but obviously familiar designs are more visually recognisable and I don’t remember the less familiar other corridor symbols in the movie. I might now having spent a few minutes looking at their meaning.
is the hidden implication that the crew is dog food?
that symbol was also used in Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back. One of the Rebellion leaders on Hoth was wearing one.
Love this movie, still with all the effects we now have in movies like Avatar, Alien 1979 is still more thrilling than anything half assed baked today.
ALIEN is one of my absolute favorite movies, largely due to the genius of Ron Cobb and H.R. Giger (RIP). The artist in me loved the attention to design and detail and it made the fantastic setting of the Nostromo feel so lived-in and so believable and the alien environments so weird. The funny thing is, I don't even like horror as a genre but I do like science fiction and I was hooked onto Alien production through fanzines before the movie came out. Well-crafted movies like this bring out the OCD in me, wanting to know more about the implied ALIEN world and characters.
Amy Yutani was the womens first name that inspired cobb.
must say cobbs cartoons seem to be right on for todays world wich is scary.
I love that the sparking sound effect is lifted straight from Star Wars.
Alien is my favourite film of all time. I have seen it dozens and dozens of times, and it never occurred to me that Dallas foreshadowed the revelation of the film’s true villain by placing the beer-can’s label towards the camera as Kane was dying.
Yay! Best movie channel on UA-cam!
Wow, thanks!
Still, to this day, the greatest Sci-Fi Horror film ever made. Greatest "alien" ever conceived, with undoubtedly the most claustrophobic environments put on film! And not to mention how amazing the acting from this ensemble cast was! I will always love the original Alien more than anything that came out after it as a sequel or prequel. None of those films capture the sheer terror that Alien did. Second only, for me, to 1971's The Andromeda Strain (which is my all-time favorite film), Alien will never be topped by anything done in this fictional universe!
I'll have to watch The Andromeda Strain then as Alien is my favourite.
Nice to see another AS fan.
Thank you so much for recommending the Andromeda strain film. As a biochemist whose just finished a summer placement in a microbiology laboratory and it’s quite funny how scientifically accurate and relevant their methods are even today (at least the microbiological and structural ones, no clue when it comes to medicine and animal welfare though) it may not be the most realistic organism but it’s an incredibly cool concept came up with before we had even set foot on the moon.. The cinematography and set design was amazing. Andromeda strain is definitely up there with my favourite films now. I shall have to read the book next.
@@Jay_Johnson You're very welcome! I have always been fascinated with how this movie achieved such amazing visuals as it did, and for the most part, it did so using real world images to make the visuals look even more impressive. The movie has been criticized as being "slow", but for me, that's what makes it so incredible! Crichton always had a knack for "realism" when he both wrote his books as well and worked with the production crew to make the look of the film more believable. 1971's The Andromeda Strain will always be my most beloved movie of all-time. Bar none!
The idea about companies ruling the World had already been explored in Rollerball (1975), with a number of references in the script to the "Corporate Wars" which had led to the company-run society depicted in the film.
Great shout out for Frank in you ad break. I love Abrahamson's work. I'm a grown man, but Room had me in tears more than once. What a great movie! His debut is very good too. It's based on a real event. One pupil from a very exclusive Dublin school accidentally kills another boy during a fight. It happened outside a night club in the mid to late 90s I think.
Another great video too. As Rob Ager pointed out, the brow beaten Dallas, a guy who must have 100s of missions under his belt is speaking figurativly as well as literally (although he is speaking about Ash, who isn't a man but a robot, but I digress) when he tells the complaining Brett and Parker to '..listen to the man!'.
My bad, What Harry did was not Lenny's debut, that was a film called Adam and Paul, a film following a pair of Dublin junkies over the course of a day. That's a great movie too.
Alien vs Prometheus is a perfect comparison to show how a bigger budget and more studio influence does not equal a better movie.
Also, even if I'd never seen it, if you told me the sequel to "Alien" was directed by James Cameron in 1986 "Aliens" is exactly what I'd imagine.
Also consider this: when Kane "recovers", and just before they all go back to hibernation, Dallas suggests one final meal and adds "on me" (or words to that effect). The crew respond to this final statement with jubilation. This shows - and to me, proves - that they have to pay for the food they consume during the journey. If your office has a coffee machine, and your manager offers to get coffee for everyone, your reaction would be much more subdued - "Wow. Great. So generous. Flat black for me, 1 sugar." Whereas the Nostromo crew cheer and one person even claps - a reaction on par with your office supplying cheap biscuits and your manager says they're going to go down the street and get Krispy Kremes and cheesecake for the team.
Weylan-Yutani put them on this ship, and make them pay for the food they consume during the trip. Presumably out of their pay.
Parker and Brett do deserve a full share; without their work, nobody gets home!
Or a daily stipend that could be "saved up" for a special treat...
I don’t think even W-Y would be that cheap. If they were, the crew would have to swipe payment cards just to open the food and beverage storage compartments. The offer from Dallas to buy everyone dinner is merely figurative. He’s inviting everyone to a celebration now that Kane is back on his feet. Of course, what they don’t realize is that it will literally be their last supper.
anyone else notice the same coffee grinder used to make the DeLorean time machine's Mr. Fusion?
Vintage Mr Coffee!
@@Umilenyait's actually Cuisinart.
@@ianschwartz3580 Thanks for the clarification!
More alien content pleeeeease
Cant believe The Parallax View accurately predicted New York in 2022/23.
Awesome, man! Great photos. And amazing video as usual! Being a movie prop nerd, I had to share that the coffee grinder on the wall that John Hurt is using is a real "Krups" coffee grinder from the 70s. If you look closely it is the same item as the "Mr Fusion" from Back to the Future. I may be the only person that gets excited by these things...
This movie taught me that a corporation is not a person!! Awesome video, so cool to see all the creativity that goes into some of the best movies :)
I've watched this movie so many times and never spotted the beer 😂 great video, nice to learn more.
In the Alien videogame from 2014, Cobb's works such as from the bridge and planetary view were used aboard the ship that the game took place upon: The Sevastopol. I didn't don't know that until I saw the concept art of tye bridge and instantly recognized it.
Everyone talks about Giger, but it's great to see Ron Cobb getting more of a mention. My brother got a book of his cartoons back around the time Alien came out which had some drawings for the movie as well (unless that was two different books?), but I've only just seen a list of other movies he worked on - most of my all-time favourites!
The Captain STANDING in Prometheus was just ridiculous!
"Frank" (and the artist who created) the character from that Micheal Fassbender movie in the Mubi advert is a fascinating rabbithole
I wouldn't say the "company is the real monster" is hidden at all. It's very much on front street.
Yes, a new CinemaTyler Alien video!
Alien has always been my favorite movie. I remember going with friends to the theater to see a different movie. We arrived early enough to see the last parts of Alien, we were petrified, and my girl and I were holding each other tight; sitting together in the aisle of the Century theater!
Love the button designs! They have that soulless corporate look you see in modern apps. Quite ahead of its time.
I'd like to suggest you research the cathartic old school hardware sounds and why they turn your guts at times, I will bet that will get solid attention !!!
Neat. This means Bishop in the sequel should've turned against them. It implies he's malfunctioning, and cutting himself during the knife trick further backs that up.
That would interfere with his mission: to bring the xenomorph back. IT would take the form of him collecting the facehugger sample And infecting them during hypersleep.
I think you are mistaking symbolism for satire. They are not making fun of any company. They are trying to show how far reaching this company is.
2:01 "Cobb said, one of the things I enjoyed most about Alien was its subtle satirical content." Straight from the mouth of the guy who did the design. Besides, satire and symbolism are not mutually exclusive concepts.
@@lemonshark69 Hence why I said, "satire and symbolism are not mutually exclusive concepts." Point is, it absolutely is satirical, and possibly also symbolic.
I don’t think you know what satire is. Or subtlety for that matter
" When deep space exploration ramps up, it'll be the corporations that name everything, the IBM Stellar Sphere, the Microsoft Galaxy, Planet Starbucks." - Fight Club. NARRATOR. 1999
Tyler, you're the master of Alien minutia. It's how you hooked me. Beautiful work as always. You're doing the lord's work...and by "lord" i mean Space Jockey
This conceptual and set design has yet to be matched. Such attention to detail.
This movie keeps getting better and better the more I learn about it and it's creation
I’ve never noticed those little signs before - as someone who’s worked in a factory myself that’s got me cracking up! In real life those symbols can be quite expressive
I love the upside down person for no gravity, and am kicking myself for not realising that was what it was meant to be before
He really was ahead of himself. He anticipated Black Rock. A company more powerful than the US government.
Wasn't there a joke in Galaxy Quest about a needlessly complicated way of initiating the self destruct sequence?
Yes and Sigourney Weaver's character says it!
11:42 The 'Semiotic standard' gave me what has to be an unintentional laugh, The entrance to the computer room has that red-and-white pixelated saltire above the door, but when I saw it, what I picked up on was a "red-and-white checkerboard", the logo of the Ralston Purina company, and I was having giggles about the concept of "Purina Alien Chow".
This was one of my favorite movies growing up. I would read all movie program magazines in advance and mark the date when alien was coing on my calender, so I could record each episode on VHS tape back then. I was soooo exited for each one.
Someone may have already beat me to this, but you make a reference which has been touted for years and years, and is what is called the “Lucy in the sky with diamonds“ conspiracy. Just as John Lennon had to continue to explain to people that that title of his song was not at all in reference to LSD, but rather
was a drawing his own daughter made in crayon in school and when he asked her what it was, she simply said “that’s Lucy in the sky with diamonds“. In fact, many of the lyrics are based on the characters she drew in her drawing You mentioned that HAL was a veiled reference to IBM since each letter is before IBM in the alphabet. But both Kubrick and Clark have stated that was just one of those serendipitous coincidences. Clark named it HAL as short for the kind of computer it was, a: “Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer”.
BTW- Corporations having their own armies is not a new thing- The British East India Company used to have an army of 250,000 men by the early 19th century
Always a great day when CinemaTyler uploads a new video! Love the Alien and Apocalypse Now videos; so good.
Your work is Double Plus good!
More Alien please !!
Always a pleasant surprise to login to find a new Cinema Tyler
so fascinating that the production took advantage of the obsession of each production crews to make a well-rounded final product
You did such a fantastic job editing this and sourcing the material. Well done.
Your videos are essential viewing for film enthusiasts Tyler. Thank you.
Great video, as ever. One thing - the notion of corporations that have become more powerful than governments was also also explored four years earlier in the 1975 'Rollerball', a subtext that was confirmed as intentional by director Norman Jewison and screenwriter William Harrison on the Blu-ray commentary track.
Cobb's illustration at 10:09 looks like the inspiration for The Bridge in the original HALO game.
Just so you know - according to Arthur C Clarke's own biography 'Greetings Carbon-Based Bipeds', the reason for the name HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey, is it's an acronym of Heuristic ALgorithm. It has nothing to do with "IBM". The fact the letters HAL are 1-letter removed from IBM in the alphabet, is a pure coincidence. And it is an urban myth that this is the reason for the name.
True
Yeah. Kubrick said that IBM gave them a great bit of help. So he felt embarrassed by the coincidence. Had they spotted it themselves, they would have changed the name.
Groovy documentary!
I always had problems watching alien because of slow pace, but maybe now I can see it different?
Balancing the crew of the Nostromo’s dichotomy of dehumanisation through employment of a faceless, apathetic mega corporation and the base, animalistic reproduction of the xenomorph is why Alien is such a masterpiece. A lot of movies nowadays would trip over themselves trying to blend them together but make it obvious enough that the audience immediately picks it up and congratulates them for the idea
There's also the use of "gaffer tape" or "duct tape" in one scene, good to see a product with such longevity.
When I saw the movie as a kid, I noticed that the Infirmary and the Hypersleep chambers were the only places that were genuinely *clean* on the ship, whereas everything else was dingy and used and run down. I remember thinking, “Well, it makes sense you’d want to keep those two areas in tip-top shape, otherwise you’ll die.”
As for the impersonal prefab nature of the inside of the Nostromo…if you’ve ever been on a real freighter, you’d think, “That’s pretty nice, honestly.” I mean, they don’t have to share a bunk room, there’s a reasonable degree of privacy, it’s not crazy loud…
Something I always wondered about was John Hurt, who is wearing a corset or something when they wake up. He’s physically the most frail, and I’ve always wondered if he had surgery or something prior to the mission, and if so, what/why?
“Wherever you go, even Space… there’s bound to be a gift shop” haha, that’s my favourite quote of any of your documentaries 👌🏻 But maybe the Nostromo is the gift shop? The crew gift their lives to the company? Antiwork began here, they just didn’t realise it.
I love how Shockwave turns up in Aliens.
So much of the concept art is featured in the game Alien Isolation. It had me grinning from ear-to-ear. Definitely play it if you haven't!
Great work as always! I just filled out the form.. I chose Blade Runner, Fifth Element and Mad Max 1979 (or all 4) as these are some of my favorites and I'd like to see how you'd approach them in a series. Keep up the great work!
Great video. It's always interesting to see the background details that they put into films. One time when I was watching Alien on dvd I paused it when Ripley was pushing the self destruct buttons and it blew my mind a little bit to see the different words and symbols that they chose to put on the buttons. Ones that stick in my mind were, "Fly Agaric" (the classic "fairytale" mushrooms with the red cap with white spots), and "Yoni" which is a stylised representation of female genitalia of the Goddess Shakti in Hinduism.
So, you're saying my home town helped to inspire the lore for one of my favourite films? Amazing!
Wonderful analysis... I'd had no idea British Leyland and Toyota inspired Leyland-Yutani, or that their logos appeared all over the Nostromo.
Driving a British Leyland vehicle from the 1970's is true horror
@@Thenogomogo-zo3un I've heard similar remarks about ALL British vehicles, since childhood. Jokes about how in Hell, the cars are designed by the British.
@@LordMondegrene I had a Marina. The gear lever came off while driving. Had an Allegro, wheel got wobbly almost fell off
@@Thenogomogo-zo3un
EVERY DAY'S AN ADVENTURE! SEE THE AUTO SHOP *AND* THE EMERGENCY WARD! WHEEE!
Ron Cobb! I had no idea. As a teenager, I devoured Cobb's work.
Fun fact: I’ve learned more about cinematography from this channel than anything I’ve ever seen.
I've been playing Alien isolation and I'm happy that the corporate aesthetic got carried over. There's even Japanese lettering on most of the stuff on the Sevastopol Station, despite it being owned by a rival company.
I love how u just used your script for the CC. (Space Truckin')
NASA's Boeing Starliner is just the beginning of this to come
Berge Emperor was a Norwegian supertanker owned by Bergesen d.y. & Co.
It was built in Japan, by Mitsui.
That concept art is so beautiful!
Clarke did not intend HAL to reference IBM. Clarke wrote in The Lost Worlds of 2001, “About once a week some character spots the fact that HAL is one letter ahead of IBM, and promptly assumes that Stanley and I were taking a crack at the estimable institution… As it happened, IBM had given us a good deal of help, so we were quite embarrassed by this and would have changed the name had we spotted the coincidence.”
The level of detail is amazing.
Kudos to this creator - I learned quite a few new facts - and I’ve seen alot of bts on Alien and its development and genesis.
This was an amazing video. I REALLY enjoyed it.
Hi, this was great! So glad to have gotten this suggested in my feed (WTF UA-cam, you scare me!!)
Suggestions: 1970s Brit UFO series and the sad but beautiful “Silent Running” (1972)
My God, Silent Running had be blubbing like a baby 😥
That HAL one removed from IBM was such a revelation, even after all theses years.
Arthur C Clarke denied it and said it was purely a coincidence