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Mafetu
MemberOvomorphApr-09-2012 1:18 PMPlease 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?
48 Replies

tachito
MemberOvomorphApr-09-2012 1:21 PMGood Question but I'haven't heard anything about it, I hope someone knows !

Spartacus
MemberOvomorphApr-09-2012 1:27 PMIt 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.

Spartacus
MemberOvomorphApr-09-2012 1:31 PMi'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.

Alien DNA
MemberOvomorphApr-09-2012 1:37 PMNow 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.

draekus
MemberOvomorphApr-09-2012 1:41 PMOK, can someone give us a clip of that scene? I dont have access to my Blu ray at the moment...

Mafetu
MemberOvomorphApr-09-2012 1:45 PMI 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.

darkgrafix
MemberOvomorphApr-09-2012 1:45 PMI'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?!?!

allinamberclad
MemberOvomorphApr-09-2012 1:50 PMAt 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.

NoXWord
MemberOvomorphApr-09-2012 2:09 PMThat 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.

Spartacus
MemberOvomorphApr-09-2012 2:24 PMAlien 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.

Spartacus
MemberOvomorphApr-09-2012 2:42 PMWOW, BRILLIANT, I DIDN'T EVEN THINK OF THAT...AMAZING "SPEC" FRANTZ.

NoXWord
MemberOvomorphApr-09-2012 2:43 PMOr 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.

draekus
MemberOvomorphApr-09-2012 2:47 PMoh 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!

jenskarlsson
MemberOvomorphApr-09-2012 2:49 PMit 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...

Spartacus
MemberOvomorphApr-09-2012 2:51 PMI'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.

NCC 1701
Veteran MemberMemberOvomorphApr-09-2012 3:03 PMMy Wife makes that noise all the time after i get back from the Beer Store
i`ve heard that for years ........nothing new here

artyoh
MemberOvomorphApr-09-2012 3:06 PMYeah, 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.

Spartacus
MemberOvomorphApr-09-2012 3:09 PMexcept 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.

Spartacus
MemberOvomorphApr-09-2012 3:13 PM[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]

artyoh
MemberOvomorphApr-09-2012 3:13 PMAgreed, 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."

Spartacus
MemberOvomorphApr-09-2012 3:14 PM[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7KIbStyj9g]XenoSoundBites[/url]
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