Alien movie and TV series news website logo

What the hell was that?

Alien Movies Forum Topic

Mafetu

MemberOvomorphApril 09, 201210008 Views48 Replies
Please forgive me if this topic has already been covered but there is a scene in Alien I have always wondered about. As the Nostromo is landing we hear a shriek or a scream outside the ship and Parker (Yaphet Kotto) says "What the hell was that?" We never find out. My question is: what the hell was that? It doesn't sound mechanical to me, it sounds like an animal of some sort. WTF? Anybody know what I'm referring to?

Other discussions started by Mafetu

Replies to What the hell was that?

User Avatar
tachito
Group: Member
Rank: Ovomorph
View Profile
Good Question but I'haven't heard anything about it, I hope someone knows !
User Avatar
Spartacus
Group: Member
Rank: Ovomorph
View Profile
It was perfectly clear what it was, the scream/Growl of a Xenomorph, Taking exception to that landing. I always said, Parker had ten times better hearing than anyone else on the Nostromo. If ya wanna bigger "what the heck was that"?...go listen again, with the sound up real high TO exactly what Parker does as he finishes the line, "Can I finish My Coffee"? Now That is MAJOR REVEAL HARDLY ANYONE KNOWS ABOUT EVEN CAUSE NO ONE LISTENS PROPERLY WHILE THEY WATCH THAT SCENE. AFTER YOU'VE SEEN IT PLEASE COME BACK IN HERE AND TELL ME WHAT YOU SAW AND HEARD HIM DO, THANKS.
User Avatar
Spartacus
Group: Member
Rank: Ovomorph
View Profile
i'd even bet it's the same one that grew from bursting out of that Derelict Jockey, which would be IMPOSSIBLE for a variety of reasons I just thought of including the thing having a 4 day life cycle. lol.
User Avatar
Alien DNA
Group: Member
Rank: Ovomorph
View Profile
Now you've got me curious, just go ahead and tell what you know Spartacus. My Alien Anthology won't be here until Thursday, so I can't go watch it yet LOL.
User Avatar
draekus
Group: Member
Rank: Ovomorph
View Profile
OK, can someone give us a clip of that scene? I dont have access to my Blu ray at the moment...
User Avatar
Mafetu
Group: Member
Rank: Ovomorph
View Profile
I don't think it's perfectly clear, at least not to me. A Xenomorph? They haven't landed yet. Is it flying? Is it wandering around outside? Is it the Xenomorph who burst out of the SJ and has been moping around LV-426 for 35 years, bored out of his penis-shaped skull? Why doesn't it attack Lambert, Dallas and Kane when they step outside the ship? I'll check out the scene you mentioned. If my memory serves me correctly he says "It's the only thing in this place that's any good." At the risk of being the victim of a vicious leg-pulling I'll check it out and get back to you.
User Avatar
CantSpaceJockTheRock
Group: Member
Rank: Ovomorph
View Profile
Is that when he lets one rip?
User Avatar
darkgrafix
Group: Member
Rank: Ovomorph
View Profile
I've always assumed it was just the Nostromo straining against the landing in the harsh atmosphere. But then again it could always be a stray Xeno. Say, the size of a space jockey?!?!
User Avatar
allinamberclad
Group: Member
Rank: Ovomorph
View Profile
At the point you hear that shriek, doesn't a shot of a landing gear fill the frame - where it is apparently already under load and it gives a little further, reacting slightly with some suddenness? I believe the two together are supposed to indicate either some critical mechanical stress/failure, or other extreme issue as a result of the Nostromo touching down. Most people who have ever been around, or directly experienced, the critical mechanical stress/failure of parts under load would probably make the association. And get sweaty palms.
User Avatar
Xeno-Pwner
Group: Member
Rank: Ovomorph
View Profile
I agree with Spartacus.!
User Avatar
NoXWord
Group: Member
Rank: Ovomorph
View Profile
That noise surely adds to the mood, but I think that it is just the sound produced by a mechanical failure (structural fault and turbulence sounds). Dallas: "Hold on people, there's going to be a little bump" Shrieking sound. Parker: "What the hell was that?" and turns to Brett who reads on his gauges and answers "Pressure drop in intake 3, must have lost a shield". IMHO this explains it very easily, without the need for a creature able to shriek at 140dB or more! But I am just keeping my overactive imagination at bay.
Ridley Scott will eventually tell us how the Queen was born. Right now we have the Deacon; coming soon the Mercury, the May and the Taylor.
User Avatar
Spartacus
Group: Member
Rank: Ovomorph
View Profile
Alien DNA said... Apr-09-2012 @ 1:37 PM [quote] Now you've got me curious, just go ahead and tell what you know Spartacus. My Alien Anthology won't be here until Thursday, so I can't go watch it yet LOL.[/quote] Parker, says the line..."Can I finish My Coffee"...and as he delivers the next line...which is..."It's the only thing good on this ship"...as he says it in fact...if you look and listen properly...you will CLEARLY SEE...HE DOES WHAT WE CALL A "ONE CHEEK SNEAK" AND VERY DISTINCTLY BREAKS WIND. seeing him do the one cheek sneak confirms it is not noise in the film. he is rolling one cheek back on the chair to let it go. i NOTICED it SOME YEARS AGO FIRST AFTER WATCHING ALIEN HUNDREDS OF TIMES IN MY LIFE UP TO THAT POINT, I WILL BE 50 THIS JUNE 15TH. RECENTLY I MENTIONED IT AND "RICKK" HERE A CO-STAFF MEMBER WHOM I LOVE DEARLY BUT DID NOT BELIEVE ME...SO I CLIPPED IT OUT AND POSTED ON THIS FORUM SOMEWHERE AND IT TOOK SOME WORK I DO NOT FEEL LIKE DOING RIGHT NOW, BUT I THINK HE KNOWS NOW...BECAUSE HE MENTIONED IN AN POST ABOUT ASKING RIDLEY SCOTT QUESTIONS AT AN INTERVIEW TO ASK HIM IF HE LEFT THAT IN ON PURPOSE WHICH I SAY HE DID BECAUSE IT CLEARLY HAPPENED AND HARdLY ANYONE I KNOW HAS EVER REALIZED IT BUT ME A FEW SELECT FRIENDS OF MINE WHOM I HAVE ENLIGHTENED, AND PERSONALLY i am quite proud of telling you this for that reason, so you can have a boatload of fun discovering it for yourselves.
User Avatar
Spartacus
Group: Member
Rank: Ovomorph
View Profile
MAJOR BUMP
User Avatar
Spartacus
Group: Member
Rank: Ovomorph
View Profile
MAJOR BUMP X 2
User Avatar
Frantz
Group: Member
Rank: Ovomorph
View Profile
maybe they did land on the only survivor from Prometheus ...
User Avatar
Spartacus
Group: Member
Rank: Ovomorph
View Profile
WOW, BRILLIANT, I DIDN'T EVEN THINK OF THAT...AMAZING "SPEC" FRANTZ.
User Avatar
NoXWord
Group: Member
Rank: Ovomorph
View Profile
Or maybe the Nostromo inadvertently put one of its landing struts on the detached horn that the derelict lost when it crashed on LV-426! [img]http://www.worldofstock.com/slides/PAB2182.jpg[/img] HOOOOOONK
Ridley Scott will eventually tell us how the Queen was born. Right now we have the Deacon; coming soon the Mercury, the May and the Taylor.
User Avatar
Spartacus
Group: Member
Rank: Ovomorph
View Profile
LOL
User Avatar
draekus
Group: Member
Rank: Ovomorph
View Profile
oh now I remember the sound you guys are referring to... I always thought it was just a mechanical squeal from gears/parts giving under stress. They probably used a modified animal sound to make it seem eerie. If its not that, then I'm with Frantz. They must have landed on the last survivor from the Prometheus. Man that's gotta suck!
User Avatar
jenskarlsson
Group: Member
Rank: Ovomorph
View Profile
it sounds like the sound of a machine straining to me, like metal on metal. in the novelization im pretty sure it says something about sand or dirt " getting sucked into an "intake." i dont have the exact line handy. probably one of those generic explanations thats supposed to make you imagine some vague techincal problem...
User Avatar
Spartacus
Group: Member
Rank: Ovomorph
View Profile
I'm stickin' to my guns and gonna look for some mention of it on the Quad DVD's commentaries...sure sounds like a living Xeno to me.
User Avatar
NCC 1701
Veteran Member
Group: Member
Rank: Ovomorph
View Profile
My Wife makes that noise all the time after i get back from the Beer Store i`ve heard that for years ........nothing new here
User Avatar
artyoh
Group: Member
Rank: Ovomorph
View Profile
Yeah, Spartacus, I always thought it [i]sounded[/i] like an animal shriek, but figured it was supposed to represent something tearing loose inside the landing strut or one of its' supporting components......which follows logically. If I'm not mistaken, we never hear the fully developed xeno make a shrieking sound in "Alien." The chestburster screeches just after emerging, but it isn't until "Aliens" that we hear their death rattle scream.
User Avatar
Spartacus
Group: Member
Rank: Ovomorph
View Profile
except when Hicks & the Marine Boys shoot them in ALIENS...it' the exact same sound they make, in fact, that sound bite seems the same as the sound they make when they die, in every one of the other 3 films. And in all of the video game incantations.
User Avatar
Spartacus
Group: Member
Rank: Ovomorph
View Profile
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7KIbStyj9g]XenoMorphSoundBites[/url] [b]around the 16 second mark of this thing you can hear the identical sound.[/b]
User Avatar
artyoh
Group: Member
Rank: Ovomorph
View Profile
Agreed, it is very similar to the death rattle we hear in the rest of the movies/games......which is really weird in light of the fact that we never heard exactly that sound again, in "Alien."
User Avatar
Spartacus
Group: Member
Rank: Ovomorph
View Profile
bump
User Avatar
Spartacus
Group: Member
Rank: Ovomorph
View Profile
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7KIbStyj9g]XenoSoundBites[/url]
User Avatar
Spartacus
Group: Member
Rank: Ovomorph
View Profile
more like 14 or 15 second mark
User Avatar
Mafetu
Group: Member
Rank: Ovomorph
View Profile
Okay, now I've GOT to check out the one cheek sneak.
User Avatar
Spartacus
Group: Member
Rank: Ovomorph
View Profile
@ Mafetu Thanks...lmao.
User Avatar
"thereyouareJonesy"
Group: Member
Rank: Ovomorph
View Profile
its just as Noxword said or rather quoted from the film, they lost a shield going into the atmosphere of a turbulent planetoid. The other option seems a bit comical to me. The Xeno/SJ/David whatever makes its way to the projected landing site of the Nostromo only to be squished ! or after developing wings flies into it...SPLAT !
User Avatar
Not_my_intention
Group: Member
Rank: Ovomorph
View Profile
i always thought it sounded like an elephant and yeah its the ship landing not a xeno..... you guys were joking about that right? i hope so.
User Avatar
ParkerdrankNattiLight
Group: Member
Rank: Ovomorph
View Profile
@Spartacus [quote]Now That is MAJOR REVEAL HARDLY ANYONE KNOWS ABOUT EVEN CAUSE NO ONE LISTENS PROPERLY WHILE THEY WATCH THAT SCENE. AFTER YOU'VE SEEN IT PLEASE COME BACK IN HERE AND TELL ME WHAT YOU SAW AND HEARD HIM DO, THANKS. [/quote] I have NO IDEA how I missed that this long! Thanks!
User Avatar
Mafetu
Group: Member
Rank: Ovomorph
View Profile
@ Spartacus Just saw the cheek sneak. Wow. So freakin' loud! I can't believe I missed it before! It's hysterical!
User Avatar
Spartacus
Group: Member
Rank: Ovomorph
View Profile
lol ya see im not really that crazy after all.
User Avatar
Kane77
Group: Member
Rank: Ovomorph
View Profile
@artyo [i]..I always thought it sounded like an animal shriek, but figured it was supposed to represent something tearing loose inside the landing strut or one of its' supporting components......which follows logically. ..[/i] I´ll stick to this one..it may [i]accidently[/i] sound [i]similar[/i] but makes no sense at all. How could a Xeno scream so loud, that the crew would hear it at all ,particular in that HUGE noise of the landing..theres even the heavy storm outside. impossible. its more logic ( to the story, too) when they damage the nostromo by landing and get stuck ( as they do).. cheers
User Avatar
CanadaPhil
Group: Member
Rank: Ovomorph
View Profile
You are all wrong! If you look closely when Dallas, Kane and Lambert are descending from the landed Nostromo, you can CLEARLY see that a woman has been crushed beneath the left front landing strut. Only her skrawny legs are sticking out and she is wearing striped stockings and has a pair of Ruby Shoes on! They landed on the Wicked Witch of Zeta-Reticuli !!
User Avatar
NoXWord
Group: Member
Rank: Ovomorph
View Profile
This actually makes more sense than a lot of other stuff I read on the web, especially on AVPgalaxy
Ridley Scott will eventually tell us how the Queen was born. Right now we have the Deacon; coming soon the Mercury, the May and the Taylor.
User Avatar
TheRealBishop
Group: Member
Rank: Ovomorph
View Profile
If memory serves me right it was a hull breach.

Are you an avid Alien fan looking for a dedicated online community of likeminded fans? Look no further! Create your own profile today and take part in our forums and gain XP points for all the content you post!

Join the discussion!
Please sign in to access your profile features!
(Signing in also removes ads!)



Forgot Password?
Scified Website LogoYour sci-fi community, old-school & modern
Hosted Fansites
AlienFansite
PredatorFansite
AvPFansite
GodzillaFansite
Main Menu
Community
Help & Info