From: summer@mullian.ee.mu.OZ.AU (Mark Summerfield)
Subject: Re: Alien Boxed Set Revelations
Organization: Computer Science, University of Melbourne, Australia
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 23:57:38 GMT

jdliss@unix.amherst.edu (Jeff Liss) writes:

>In showing the boxed set of Alien for a class I am teaching on the subject,
>I got to see the footage (11 mins.) that was cut out shortly before the
>theatrical release.  The stuff was interesting, and those who read the
>Alan Dean Foster novelization might think that some of it was in the movie
>that wasn't, like the scene where Ash lies about the egg in Cain's stomach,
>describing it as a malfunction of the sensor.  The most talked about cut
>is the scene where Ripley finds Brett and Dallas cocooned up and Dallas
>says, "Kill me".  That scene has an implication that I never understood
>before: Dallas and Brett are actually being transformed into eggs in this
>early understanding of the alien's life cycle (according to H.R. Giger's
>concept). It's a good thing for Cameron and producer Gail Anne  Hurd that
>this scene was cut, because when they got the idea for the mother Alien
>in the second film, it was not contradicted by this scene.

Not quite right.  Brett is being transformed into an egg, Dallas is to be the
host for the facehugger which would emerge from that egg.  I don't think there
would have been a problem even if this scene had been left in, for three
reasons:

1) The scene is in the A.D.F. novelisation, so Cameron knew, and he knew that
   many fans would know.
2) The scene *wasn't* left in, and Cameron knew it before any work was begun
   on the sequel.
3) I personally don't believe there is any inconsistency.  My understanding
   is that a normal "worker" Alien could probably produce one such egg in its
   lifetime (the accompanying information on the boxed-set extras disc is
   quite clear on the fact that the Alien does not live too long).  Presumably
   the idea would be to make one egg, capture one host, and that the product
   of that union would be a new queen to start a colony.  That is, the majority
   of aliens are produced from eggs laid by a queen, but there is a method
   for "bootstrapping" the process when necessary.  Yet another of the aliens'
   amazingly resilient survival and propagation techniques.

Bear in mind that Ridley Scott did not want the scene (or any of the cut
scenes) reinstated in the special edition; they are kept separate as items
of interest.  The reasoning for the cut, according to Scott, is that the
scene broke the rhythm of the film -- the extra length, and the slow pace
of the scene caused test audiences to become restless.  Whilst the extra
technical detail is of interest, it is my firm belief that Alien is one
of the greatest (if not _the_ greatest), *horror* movies of all time.  And of
course, to be a great horror film, the pace and timing must be perfect.
I think Scott exercised impeccable judgement.

Mark.
          --------------------------------------------------------
              Mark Summerfield,  Photonics Research Laboratory
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Melbourne  
                ACSnet[AARN/Internet]: summer@ee.mu.oz[.au] 
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