Anyone Ever Had a Special Interest in "Alien"?

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Just wondering if the 1979 movie "Alien" ever took off as a special interest for anyone here. I've seen the movie at least four times, but it was never a special interest. But I think my brother (whom I'm convinced is on the spectrum) developed more than just the common NT interest in this classic thriller. I love the music! It was such a groundbreaking film in the sci-fi genre, that I'm sure that many autistics became obsessed with it. But unlike the movie "Jaws," there were limitations in the pursuit of an obsession.

Like with "Jaws," I was able to buy a lot of shark related things like tee shirts, shark jaws, a few books, and there were TV shows about sharks, and I also collected over 200 newspaper articles about shark attacks, the movie, anything shark related. You couldn't do this with "Alien" because xenomorphs don't exist. I also DREW sharks all the time, while my brother couldn't draw. So his expression if "Alien" was a special interest would've been limited due to all these factors.

So ... Anyone here?

I don't think Alien, by itself, is a special interest of mine...

...but our video collection includes a lot of Science Fiction, including:

=>- Predator [1987] 
=>- Predator 2 [1990] 
=>- Predators [2010] 
=>- Alien vs. Predator [2004] 
=>- Alien vs. Predator—Requiem [2007] 
=>- The Predator [2018] ^{Has an Autistic character.}
=>- Prometheus [2012] 
=>- Alien: Covenant [2017] 
=>- Alien [1979] ^{Stick with the theatrical release, not the 2003 "Director's Cut"!}
=>- Aliens [1986] ^{Definitely go with the 1990 "Special Edition" instead of the theatrical cut.}
=>- Alien³ [1992] 
=>- Alien: Resurrection [2003] 

And I definitely look forward to adding Prey [2022] the planned additional Alien franchise film to our collection.

Hmmm...it is possible using BBcode qualifies as a special interest, however.

I see a special interest as something you can spend time on so it's not to that level. But I do have an interest in it more than most people.

The alien design, the android subplot, corporate corruption and dirty dealings, the space jockey mystery, the facehuggers and their biology.

I've seen it many times and just saw it three weeks ago.

I noticed that the entrance to the derelict spaceship resembles a certain body part. There's a lot of those themes in the movie.

klanka,

I was interested in it enough (as I'm sure many NTs were) to google if there actually exists any animal that plants an egg inside another animal which then hatches out of that animal. "Animal" means anything but a plant, so it would include insects, so I figured if any living organism acts like a facehugger, it'd be an insect. There's a type of wasp that seeks out catarpillars. It lays eggs when it stings (through the stinger) the catarpillar. The eggs lie inside the catarpillar and eventually hatch out. However, this does not kill the catarpillar. Instead, the wasp dies (I think shortly after laying the eggs), and, believe it or not (nature can be really weird), the catarpillar itself watches over the eggs. But then, the catarpillar dies when the hatchlings are old enough to fly away. I was not able to find out why the catarpillar dies.

While I do not have a special interest in Alien, I do have some of the original comic books from the 1980s. They were purchased at a local auction in boxes priced per box. They were well cared for by the original owner who bagged and boarded each. I bought all of them on a whim for $100 (5 boxes at $20 each). I seem to have luck for finding a deal on things I take a chance with. So far I have pulled out a near mint run of Alien, Predator and Alien vs. Predator comics. The lowest grade might be a 8.0 out of 10. My Predator #1 came back from grading at a 9.2 out of 10, making it a decent investment for just that one alone. The series are making a comeback, so I think I will hold onto them for a while yet.

That's interesting about the caterpillar thanks. Maybe the wasps are so small that when they hatch they don't cause too much damage?


I wouldn't mind reading those comics. Maybe there are scans online somewhere.

Here's a point of interest regarding the medical inaccuracy of the facehugger:

Most people watching the original film plus its two sequels would not know this, but the concept of the facehugger bursting through the chest actually doesn't make any sense. Think about it:

The creature deposits an egg down the victim's throat, and there's two "pipes" through which the egg can slide down: the esophagus and the windpipe (trachea). Well obviously, it's the esophagus because if it was the windpipe, the person would die, even if the facehugger is "breathing for him," because once the facehugger drops off, if the egg is inside the trachea, the person will instantly choke to death.

So it's in the esophagus. If you know something about esophageal cancer, the tumor grows inside the esophagus, eventually preventing food from getting down; it comes back up. So does drink.

In the movie, Kane is swallowing food without any problem, even though that thing is in his esophagus. When it bursts out, it's so big that we have to wonder how he was able to get food and drink down in those preceding scenes. The food never comes back up. Instead he just starts coughing and writhing.

In the subsequent Alien movies, victims are alive longer than Kane was after getting facehugged. Certainly they were eating. But they didn't suffer from feelings of food impaction and eventually regurgitation of anything they ate (which is what happens with esophageal cancer). Instead, they have no idea something's in their esophagus until it bursts out. This isn't realistic. But for a general audience, they bought it!

The second inaccuracy is where the chestburster bursts out of: the chest, breaking through the ribs, as seen in the space jockey and in I think "Aliens," but for sure the third one, where numerous people are shown with their ribs broken out.

If the egg was deposited down the esophagus, how did it end up busting through the ribcage? One can surmise that as it grew, it made its way UP the esophagus and busted through at heart level?

Only an Autistic would pick this apart and analyze so much! (I'm not a medical professional).

That is true actually.

He was hungry before he died so it can't have been in the stomach.

I suppose the only (fictional) explanation is that it is in the stomach encased in something that sends out hormones which block any feelings of fullness. Explaining the ravenous hunger

Might it have used the throat for easy access but then made a hole so it could slip into the chest cavity?



P.S. I don't care how it did it. I don't want it to do it in me!

Is there any spare room in the chest cavity?

I thought it was full with lungs and other organs

Which is why the whole facehugger-to-chestburster process isn't logical. If any egg, especially a rapidly growing one into a snake-like creature, was within the heart/lungs, the person would experience difficulty breathing and/or acute heart failure long before the thing was ready to hatch out.

However, if the writers tried to make it make medical sense in terms of anatomy and how this would affect the victim, then we wouldn't have the movie! So they had to break some medical rules to have the story.

The only thing the franchise hasn't covered is a facehugger laying an egg inside a Great White Shark. Now THAT would be something! Since the egg grows into a composite of the xenomorph and whatever species the victim is, can you imagine a "xenoshark"? Because it's half xenomorph, it could be able to breathe on land, yet still had features of a shark like a ginormous set of jaws. Imagine one of these things coming to shore and wreaking havoc everywhere. This is untapped cinema territory and would make yet another great Alien film. I'm surprised nobody's come up with this yet.

It would be a cool looking alien. I think the plot would have to be there as well though.

I knew about wasps laying eggs inside of catepillers. But I thought that the hatchlings just ate the caterpillar out (leaving its skin as a dead empty shell) but you're right. Its more involved than that.


https://youtu.be/vMG-LWyNcAs

The wasp larvae become 30 percent of the caterpiller's weight, but they still somehow avoid actually killing it. And then the caterpillar's brain is commandeered so it...protects the wasp larvae AFTER they break out of its body! Gross...but fascinating. Basically a combination of "Alien" and "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", but IRL!