Evidence of "Bio-Mechanoid" within Alien

The term"bio-mechanical" or bio-mechanoid" as it refers to the universe of 'Alien' comes directly from Giger himself and from Ridley Scott. Giger, in 'The Alien Saga' documentary (I mentioned in Spartacus' "I noticed that" thread) refers to his own style of art as "Bio-mechanical Art"....as Ridley has put it, "Where does technology end and biology begin?"...i.e....where do they meet?....it's all in the abiguity of what you're looking at. @Batchpool has it right to an extent..."am I looking at a xeno from an artistic point of view or a scientific perspective?" Giger's art is not necessarily relatable to what you would classicly call cyborg technology...it's less about cyborg grafting in that classic sense and more about a state where both aspects become a new, third fused function; something wholely new and different...in this understanding, you have the biological, the mechanical, and the bio-mechanical...something of a mechanical design and function that operates at a biological level...that's what I think we're meant to see in the disturbing ambiguity of Giger's work and every aspect of the alien race to whom the derelict and xeno belong. Ridley, in the DVD commentary for the 20th anniversary release, refers to the xeno as being, "a form of bio-mechanoid warfare." That's in part where that term comes from as it relates to 'Alien'. The term is meant as a description of the ambiguity that is the alien world we experience in the film. Scott apparently sees the xeno as an example where a biologically mechanical creation is designed as, in his words, "a biological stroke, a form of bio-mechanical warfare." The traditional cyborg idea isn't in play here...in other words, the grafting of mechanical technology with biological, living tissue...it's something entirely new...

@Db....the xeno is not actually a silicone based lifeform....the following exchange between Ash and Ripley bears that out: Ripley: And, uh, our guest? Ash: Umm. Ripley: Hmm? Ash: Well, as I said, I'm still... collating, actually, but uh, I have confirmed that he's got an outer layer of protein polysaccharides. Has a funny habit of shedding his cells and replacing them with polarized silicon, which gives him a prolonged resistance to adverse environmental conditions. Is that enough? Ripley: That's plenty. What does it mean? Ash: Please don't do that. Thank you. Ripley: I'm sorry. Ash: Well, it's an interesting combination of elements making him... a tough little son-of-a-bitch. That tough little son-of-a-bitch replaces its own cells with silicone to adapt to its surroundings. It isn't born of silicone the way we are of oxygen.

@centrosphere...why would you want to eradicate the one term that universally defines the artistic vision of H.R. Giger and Ridley Scott as it refers to the derelict, the Sj and the xeno in 'Alien'? It's the essence of the thing...the fundamental definition of what 'Alien' is.

I think it's simply an artistic term. I think we have read into too much, and probably considerably more than Scott. I like the idea of a third life form: 1) Biological/Organic 2)silicone/robot/metallic 3)Pure Cyborg Hybrid So you baiscally get a half DNA organic, half computer chip machine based thing able to reproduce itself by some untold hybrid method.

"@centrosphere...why would you want to eradicate the one term that universally defines the artistic vision of H.R. Giger and Ridley Scott as it refers to the derelict, the Sj and the xeno in 'Alien'? It's the essence of the thing...the fundamental definition of what 'Alien' is." As I said before _ in the thread about interestellar scenes _ my personal sense of esthetics asks for some degree of realism. That´s why I´m pursuing a more rigorous definition of "bio-mechanical". To me, "bio-mechanical" is a term that or defines some kind of "cyborg", a mix of biology (self-organing matter) and hardware (some sort of assembly), or is a tautological term. As the xenomorph clearly isn´t a cyborg, to me it´s only an organism, albeit a very singular one. Besides, I would dispute what is the "essence of the thing" here. You must remember that a movie is a complex, collective product. The original O´Bannon idea for the movie, that I would consider as the "core" of Alien properly, is silent about the nature of the xenomorph. Actually, he was inspired by the behaviour of some species of wasps that put their eggs inside living beens. Also, Giger is not a science person, he is an artist. His influences are from Salvador Dali and Ernst Fuchs _ look at this: [img]http://lila.info/wp-content/fuchs.jpg[/img] Artistic freedom can, and must, go wherever it wants to. But if we are talking sci-fi here, and not fantasy, then we should ask what kind of being the xeno is. I think the internal coherence of the "Alien" universe, where Scott brought to sci-fi the realities of an industrial society ("truck drivers in space", etc.), deserves that we develops a science-based understanding of the xeno. Of course, some persons will like this approach, some will not. As ArchEtech just said, every approach can be accused of "reading too much" into the movie. I can see that my initial proposal _ erradicate the term "biomechanical" _ is heretic to many "Alien" fans that love Giger work. BTW, I love Giger art also, and my take here is not geared to denigrate his work; I´m just asking for scientific coherence in a science-based setting for the "Alien" saga. Peace!

Just for the record: when I say that the xeno is "only an organism", it´s not depreciative. On the contrary, to me biological organisms ARE wonderful machines, and our beloved xeno shines in this pantheon.

Thanks Craigamore. I thought there was another reference to the xenos being silicon-based, but... I may have dreamed it?

No problem @Db, no prob...

I undrestand you're points @centrosphere, I do, but we'll just have to agree to disagree. As to your O'Bannon comment, let's not forget that Giger's work was the Yin to the biological Yang, you mentioned, as inspiration for his script. Not only was it a instrumental in guiding O'bannon's imagination to begin with, he's the one who showed Ridley Giger's work and made the point of saying, in so many words, this is where we must go with this. I'm sorry if my response to you was strong, but I was getting at a point.......that Giger's work played an irreplaceable formative role in the writing, conception and direction of 'Alien'. So when the artist calls his own work 'Bio-mechanical Art', it's not a term you can just throw away, because [b]you're[/b] not fond of it. As to my interpretation 'bio-mechanical', it [b]is[/b] my own critical reading, but I come at it that way, because if we simplify what this xeno is, what bio-mechanical is, in terms we can so easily understand, such as cyborg tech, because that terminology is recognizable, it then becomes too familiar, less alien and less frightening. At that point, why even watch? Why bother? All of the fun is in that tantilizingly disturbing mystery. I imagine it as something entirely new, because it's clearly meant to be....the exact details may be different....but that's beside the point. You want to understand it becuase [b]you[/b] need to rationalize it in "scientific" terms. As you yourself said, "we are talking sci-fi here". Science [b]Fiction[/b] exists to allow for what we cannot explain or understand and yet imagine, wonder at and enjoy......maybe you're not meant to know, understand or comprehend....maybe that's the point.....