Nostromo Restoration Project

[fragger]

I love these guys for what they've done - restored the amazing large-scale model of the spaceship "Nostromo" from the original Alien movie.

After filming, the model was left sitting out in the open for about twenty years in a small grassy area adjacent to the carpark of some film studio complex either in Britain or in the States, I'm not sure which. These guys salvaged it and set about restoring it at closely as they could.

I love the detail in this model, made back in the pre-CG era when the effects had to be practical.

! No longer available

[Art Blade]

wow. :)

I still remember the film posters from before the film was released. And of course I watched it when it came out -- what a great experience it was. One of the best Sci-Fi films out there, at least in my book.

[fragger]

It is in my book too :-X

I just finished watching a behind-the-scenes documentary on Youtube, links below. It's in two parts, and it's long - part 1 is just under two hours in length, part 2 another 23 minutes. But it's fascinating to see the lengths they went to to make the movie, and to hear some of the stories. There are tons of production and behind-the-scenes films showing how they built stuff and pulled off a lot of what they did, and lots of unused or re-shot scenes.

I've always thought of Alien as an artist's film. It's one of those finely crafted things that's as much a w@&k of art as it is a movie. The sequels don't do much for me at all, they belong more in the action/adventure genre. They lack the convincing fly-on-the-wall atmosphere, the palpable tension, the functional set design and the just plain logic of the original. The characters are believable and familiar, not space marines or gung-ho action types, just blue-collar working stiffs - "truckers in space". It scared the daylights out of people back in its day, before the film-going public became so jaded toward such things.

And getting H. R. Giger to design the alien biology and artifacts was a stroke of genius 8)

Alien is also way more scientifically informed than its successors. There are things in the movie that would have gone over the heads of at least 99% of the film-going public, but I love that they were included anyway. One example is early in the piece when Ripley is trying to contact "Antarctica Traffic Control" after they have awakened from their cryo-sleep and think they've arrived back at Earth. Lambert, the navigator, then discovers that they are not back at Earth - instead, they are "just short of Zeta II Reticuli". Zeta II Reticuli is an actual star, and if you were approaching Earth from that direction you would in fact be approaching it from almost directly above the South Pole - hence Antarctica Traffic Control. How many people in an average cinema crowd would have picked up on that? And that's just one example.

Alien is not just one of my favourite SF films, it's one of my faves of any genre. It has a unique quality to it that's hard to define.

Behind the scenes, Part 1:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYJXaEN8F4Q

Part 2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpMDWbEsrEM

[Art Blade]

well put, I completely agree with what you said. Except that I am one of those 99%  :-()

I got at least two versions of that film on disc, I think even three. Those collector's editions with extra discs come with lots of background stuff.

[fragger]

I only picked up on that Antarctica thing because I'm into astronomy. The film makers had to know that most people aren't and would never have heard of Zeta II Reticuli, but I admire them for taking the trouble. There's another really clever and subtle plot element involving that motion-sensor device that Ash claims to have "designed", but it's a tad too long-winded to go into here.

I too have a special edition of the film which has the standard theatrical release and the director's cut. It's interesting that the director's cut is a few minutes shorter than the theatrical version. There were more original scenes removed than there were new ones put in. Scott said he prefers the theatrical version himself (I do too) but he did a director's cut because so many fans wanted to see the unused scenes. I don't know why he couldn't have just added the unused scenes to what was there already as they still would have fit, but he didn't. Maybe he felt it upset the pacing or something.

[Art Blade]

yesterday I watched most of the first part of Behind The Scenes and it was bloody addictive. It was was rather difficult to let go because it was so hard to convince myself that even I need some sleep every now and then. :-D Going to watch some more now ^-^

[Art Blade]

done watching. Some parts repeatedly  :-()

Alien, when it was new, was more than a mere film. It was a milestone, unique, it has been until today, and I am really happy to have been there at the flicks when it was released. It was breathtaking and frightening and intense like no other film before or after. It is monumental in every aspect :-X :)

[fragger]

Totally agree :) I downloaded the documentary, it will definitely be worth at least one more viewing. That Nostromo set is just incredible, I would have loved to have been able to poke around in it. In any other film there would have been a bridge set on one sound stage, a corridor set in another, and so on. But to build the whole interior of the ship in one massive, self-contained unit was, and is, a pretty rare undertaking.

I laughed at the bit where Giger said he hated worms and snakes, and shuddered. Kind of ironic when you look at his artwork...

Some considered Alien to be an attempt to cash in on the "space movie" craze that followed the release of the original Star Wars a year or two earlier, but in fact pre-production w@&k began on Alien well before anyone involved had even heard about Star Wars. The fact that the two films bear not the slightest resemblance to one another (except for being set in space) yet were both backed by 20th Century Fox should have been enough to reveal the silliness of that rumour. If it had been a cash-in job there wold have been laser battles and dogfights ::)

The success of Star Wars did help to get Alien green-lighted earlier (suits are suits) but it still would have been made even if Star Wars had never seen the light of day. Might have just taken a bit longer.

I'm glad I was around to see it in a cinema too, and when it was new. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time :-() It definitely works best as a cinematic experience.