Derelict a bomber re-arming in A L I E N

i believe that cavern was supposed to be the derelict it think it was a continuity error, that cavern was MASSIVE compared to the derelict

check this out! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8X_18Qhjor8&feature=related

I think the derelict in A.1 actually overlies one of those "temple/silos" like we're seeing in prometheus, and when Kane drops through the hole, he's going into that... At least thats the only thing that makes sense in my mind, scale wise...

I was always, sort of under this impression. The only difference being I wanted the derelict to have somehow discovered this underground cavern while scouting the planet for something (What? Who cares.) It lands there, inadvertantly gets face-hugged, before the little critter bursts forth, it's able to set up the warning beacon. The original screenplay had a pyramid/silo, the movie has an uderground cavern.

I understand the continuity error, but I'm not sure that Mr. Scott meant for us to think it was in the ship. I think maybe he wanted to spawn an "unknown" alien/foreign element into our minds about why that chamber was there and if it were in the ship or not. I've seen that derelict video a few times in tha past...reminds me of the mystery of the derelict itself. I think it was well made, no mater how short or simple it is. I really can't wait to see this movie. I'm a huge fan of Giger and Scott... And I feel that him revisiting his monumental scifi epic and taking it in a different direction is something of a dream come true. Even if it does suck (which I extremely highly doubt...in fact the opposite) I will be a happy camper. If you are reading this Ridley... I say in the most humble mode... THANK YOU :-) Yes the original script/idea had the pyramid. I've seen the drawings. I'm glad Prometheus is stepping into that world. I'll have to watch it a few times in 3D IMAX all in the same night. I became obsessed with the alien design...it's all I would draw in high school. But not sure it was healthy lol. If only I could die by chestburster...

bird, I just don't see how you can be "sure" that's the innards of that ship...the stats on the screens show the "prongs" to be around 160m on one side and 170m on the other, or thereabouts: that's waaay too short to even be CLOSE to the length of what we see in A.1...

...and unless there's something specific that happens in Prom, or unless Ridley himself says that the "egg chambers" in A.1 are supposed to be in the Derelict, I'll continue to believe the "cavern/silo" idea...

[quote]Is it me, or did it seem that the "cavern" under the derelict in Alien was a little too big to be contained in the ship? Maybe they stock the armament on desolate inhospitable planets where no foreign being would think to explore... read a past post and this came to mind. Outposts...[/quote] In re watching the film many many times I have come to notice just how far the back of that cavern stretches inward toward the center top of the screen, and then on into the distance for what seems like an eternity.

Sparty, that's what we're talking about. Of course, the "egg room" background is a painting, and perhaps, due to time restraints, RS didn't have the artist "redo" it to make it more to scale, or perhaps (what I believe) the "egg room" is actually a silo/temple/chamber (as we're seeing in Prom) on the moon and the Derelict is harvesting them or something...

Harvesting? Interesting. What I meant was that the egg chamber is NOT in the ship. Of course, we cannot be certain of anything at this point. However, as Sparty was saying, the chamber seems to go on and on...which leads me to believe there is another element to the location of the derelict in Alien which may be revealed in Prometheus. Happy a master is at the helm exploring the unanswered question I've had in my mind for a long time. Since I was a boy, I thought there was something under the ship. But I've never figured out the hole Kane ventures down into and how the hole was made (by acid? by a laser? Heat?)

true dat, I have thought exactly that but not been able to express it the way you just did. as for that last question I've been stuck at "Who Knows?"... for 33+ years now!

Me too. I can't explain how psyched I am. I liked Aliens, but nothing ever scared me like the first one. But... it brought me to a new view of art. After my father realized it was Hans' art, I was brought to the dark side lol. Cheers! And after reading a few posts with some bright ideas...I'm thinking it takes two to tango in the "Chair" room.

I posted extacts from the screenplay that points to Kane going below ground. The sticking point is that Scott has rejigged the story and history to say that the derelict was transporting the eggs. It's either on this web site, or another, where someone has posted the Alien article from Starlog, where Scott states that they moved the eggs from the pyramid to the ship because od budgetary constraints on creating the whole pyramid thing.

Hmm...that's a really intersting idea. I never thought of that but LV-426 as some kind of "ammo depot" makes a certain amount of sense. Unless the derelict is a TARDIS there's no way that cavern where the eggs are could be the inside of the ship. The cavern does not seem natural as it has the same ribbed structure as the ship, and it has a technological beam/mist which covers the eggs. It's been assumed by most that the ship "crashed", but maybe it's as simple as the ship landed to reload and something went wrong as the ship was loading eggs and a xeno escaped. The idea that they'd keep such a dangerous weapon isolated on some barren planet makes sense. We humans keep our most dangerous weapons stockpiles in areas far from large population centers too. Maybe we'll find in Prometheus that LV-426 is an ammo depot for weapons developed on LV-223, and that the development and testing of those weapons is part of the "uncivilized" behavior we'll see from the SJ's.

[Well, I hate to rain on the "its a cave" parade, but the eggs are in fact meant to be WITHIN the vessel itself. Here is an image from the scene in question... [img]http://ioannis.virtualcomposer2000.com/writing/figs/eggchamber.jpg[/img] Many of you are misinterpreting the scale of the vessel. Plus, before anyone says it does not make sense because there is another "tube" area branching off away from the curve of the "boom arm", here you go... [img]http://ioannis.virtualcomposer2000.com/writing/figs/derelict5.jpg[/img] The actual look and shape of the Derelict from '79 is quite different to the one depicted in Prometheus. For some great historical info & pics on the Derelict, check out this very cool webpage, THE GENIUS OF THE DERELICT... [url=http://ioannis.virtualcomposer2000.com/writing/Derelict.html]Derelict Info link here...[/url]

you have to look at that area but FACING THE ENTIRE OTHER SIDE OF IT, IT'S OPPOSITE SIDE TO THAT ONE IS WHERE YOUR THEORY RUNS INTO SEVERE TROUBLE...IT CLEARLY STRETCHES OUT ITO THE DISTANCE ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THAT SHOT FOR MILES...WATCH THE FILM AND THAT SCENE IN IT AGAIN.

First of all the derelict and the space croissant in Prometheus are, with the exception a few minor details, pretty much identical (in size, shape, etc). Second, if you look at the 3D scan of the SJ ship that Janek and Vickers are looking at on the bridge of the Prometheus you can see the large chamber at the center of the horse shoe where the chair/cannon thing is located. As it's pretty clear both alien ships are laid out similarly remember that Kane was lowered on a cable a good distance BELOW that chamber. There is no ship down there. It's something else. In that scan you can also see that the rest of the ship is separate chambers connected by relatively small passageways, not the giant tunnels stretching off into the distance seen in the cavern. Maybe it's just me but I find it surprising that there's even any conjecture that the egg chamber is on the derelict ship. The sense of scale of that giant room the eggs are in pretty clearly indicates that the egg chamber could not fit in the ship.

Second of all, you have misinterpreted the 3D scan.... If you look closely at it ENLARGED, there is a HUGE AREA underneath ALL of the large rounded chambers within the ship that is NOT ACCOUNTED FOR. Look closely!! Also, the scale of '79 Alien was clearly MUCH LARGER in relation to now... Look at how ENOROMOUS the main chamber is. Ridley used child actors to give it this scale which dwarfs the sets in Promethues. [img]http://images.wikia.com/aliens/images/2/26/SpaceJockey.jpg[/img] There is NO reference of any kind in '79 to caves, caverns, pyramids, by ANY of the Nostromo crew. Its all about a "Derelict" ship. Nothing more. The same in Camerons followup. And Ridley had stated himself on many occasions afterward that we are dealing with A SHIP !! Sure, the orignal screenplay had some civilization of that world..but that was CUT. If anything, there is nothing but a coninuity error here due to budget contraints. And they probably could not redo all of the matt paintings. Another thing that was in the original screenplay dialogue was that Dallas makes a reference to the track mechanisms still working inside of the Derelict!! Someone had actually posted some of the screenplay at some point but I cant find it now.

I HAVE SOME PROOF TO BACK ME UP NOW, I WENT AND READ WHAT GIGER AND THE PEOPLE WHO BUILT IT SAID BACK IN 1979 ABOUT it IN STARLOG MAGAZINE #26 FROM SEPTEMBER 1979 ... EXCERPT FROM STARLOG 26 SEPTEMBER 1979... featuring Giger's own words. The Derelict In Alien, the crew of the Earth ship responds to an extraterrestrial signal, lands on an alien world and finds an enormous ship that has been abandoned, the crew of which is dead. The design of the derelict is typical Giger in its suggestion of an organic technology; most remarkably, at a single glance one is sure that it is not the product of human builders. Is the artist satisfied that his concepts were appropriately translated from his two-dimensional canvases to the three-dimensional forms seen in the film? "Mostly. Time was very short—time and * Jodorowsky's production of Dune — from Frank Herbert's modern SF classic novel—became officially defunct when the screen rights were obtained by Dino DeLaurentiis, reportedly for $1 million. DeLaurentiis' budget is undecided, as is the form of the final script. One possibility is a two-part film. Herbert is writing the screenplay. money; too short to make everything good. I'm a perfectionist. Peter Boysey built the derelict, and we worked very closely together. He was one who could understand my... my visual language. I am happy with the derelict." In still photos, there is much more fascinating detail evident on the derelict than was visible in the film. "Yes. It was filmed very dark. It's more imposing to backlight the object. It seems more sinister." The model of the entire derelict was, Giger says, "huge—about four meters. And the landscape they set it in was a whole room, the whole studio! The ship is made of plasticene and polystyrene over metal arms." The entrance to the derelict was built —matching the detail on the model—full scale on a sound stage. In the film one sees only a small section of it and the astronauts climbing aboard, but footage was shot and discarded which involved an elaborate matte painting extending to the ship's surface, and establishing that the entrance was in the curved wall between the two great tubular sections of the ship. "They did not use the matte shot because, well, it just wasn't necessary. We needed the close shot and there just was no point in showing it both ways." STARLOG/September 1979