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Xenomorph is a de facto word for Alien, the fictional extraterrestrial of the Alien film series and comic books. It was first used by Lt. Gorman of the Colonial Marines in the movie Aliens as a euphemism to indicate any unidentified nonterrestrial entity. Because the movies didn't give a specific name, this was adopted by the fans as a taxonomic classification for the Alien series' titular monsters. It is used only twice in the film series — in Aliens and in the special edition of Alien³. From Assembly Cut version of Alien³ as released on the Quadrilogy.

A hypothetical derivation can be assumed by the close affinity (to Xenomorph) of certain Greek words, chiefly Xenos (ξένος, stranger, alien) and Morphê (μορφή, form) — thus, "alien form".

The Aliens' physical design is credited to Swiss surrealist H. R. Giger, originating in a lithograph called Necronom IV and refined for the Alien film. The resultant entity is characterized by its large, sloping cephalon, semitransparent enclosing carapace, a long, prehensile tail, and silvery predatorial teeth. Some, including James Cameron, have referred to the Alien's appearance as "psycho-sexual". As evidenced here: *

Biologically, the Alien begins life as a lethal endoparasite and continues to slay once "born". It is known particularly for its astonishing rate of growth.

In its 1979 debut film the monster is summarized as:

A perfect organism. Its structural perfection is matched only by its hostility. ... I admire its purity. A survivor. Unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality. Quote from: Alien; Time: 1:22:31-1:22:40 (hour:minutes:seconds)

Charles de Lauzirika introduced the fake binomial name Internecivus raptus in 2003, as incorporated on the Quadrilogy DVDs. Prior to this appearance, the binomial name given in comic books, such as Aliens vs. Predator: Prey, was Linguafoeda acheronsis. Additionally, according to certain scripts of the first movie, Ash classified the xenomorph as an "encephalopod." A novelization of Resurrection identifies the Queen as Regina Horriablis.

Characteristics

Life cycle

Socially, in ideal situations, Xenomorphs are hive-minded animals with a defined caste system which is ruled by a queen. They reproduce as parasitoids and grow to full size very rapidly.Alien — Notice the comparison when the Xenomorph appears from Kane and several scenes later (approximately one-two hours), the Xenomorph was of large size. The Alien queen lays eggs that eventually release a single parasitic Facehugger when a host comes near. The Facehugger attacks the host and slides a tubular proboscis down the victim's throat, implanting an embryo within their chest — it can be theorized that the organism also somehow retains the victim's oxygen intake through this organ. The Facehugger then dies and the embryo's host wakes up soon afterwards, showing no considerable outward negative symptoms for several hours thereafter, the most common symptoms being a sore throat, slight nausea, and increased congestion — scanning for anything but the organism can bring up images of internal hemorrhaging.

This embryo may take on some of the host's traits (such as bipedalism or quadrupedalism, possibly owing to the need to adapt using indigenous wildlife as a reference for what features to retain for use in a particular environment), then over the course of about 24 hours (sometimes up to a week, in the case of some Queens) develops into a parasitoid Chestburster, at which point it emerges, violently ripping open the chest of the host — without medical assistance and surgical removal, the victim will often die as a result of major organs being torn through in the process. Within hours, the Chestburster grows to adult size. Xenomorphs are roughly humanoid with a skeletal or insectoid appearance, like an exoskeleton. It is shown that the Xenomorph has no endoskeletal structure; however the DVD collection Alien: Quadrilogy shows a skeletal structure in x-rays of a stage in its life cycle in each animated menu selection. Also, as noticed in Predator 2 it shows what appears to be a Xenomorph skull.

The adult Xenomorph is a living weapon, noted for its ferocity and deadliness in any condition. It has strong, sharp claws and a venomous blade-like tip on the end of its prehensile tail. Its mouth contains a secondary jaw at the end of an extendable, piston-like tongue. Relaxed, the tongue is relatively flaccid, but it can be made to become rigid enough to penetrate bone or body armor with the secondary jaws at its tip. It is employed almost exclusively as a weapon to incapacitate prey, usually through head trauma. Xenomorphs, once fully matured, possess great physical strength and uncanny agility.

Despite their ferocity and savagery, Xenomorphs, like any good predator, are masters of stealth. A favored method of acquiring prey is to simply wait in a dormant state until an appropriate host strays near and then drop down silently from behind. The prey is generally blind to the fact that a Xenomorph is present, due to its propensity to camouflage itself within its nest walls or the surrounding artificial environment given its biomechanical appearance. The Xenomorphs' blood is an extremely potent Molecular acid similar to liquid fluorine and is capable of dissolving on contact almost any substance with alarming speed. The creature also has the ability to spit this acid, though this seems to be a rare behavior seen only in Alien³ and Resurrection as well as various comic books and video games — it seems this is used to incapacitate prey rather than kill (although in one viewed case, it led to one victim's gruesome death).

Xenomorphs can produce a thick, strong resin, previously used to build their hives and cocoon victims. The resin is made similarly to termites: the same glands that creates their viscous saliva is mixed with dead victims or dead/cannibalised xenomorphs. These materials are then broken down by spitting acid on them and molding into shape and place (this is demonstrated in the comic book 'Aliens:Harvest'.), though it shows amazing heat and moisture-retaining qualities, as seen in the hot, moist atmosphere of the hive in Aliens.

Adult Xenomorphs are quick and agile, and can run along ceilings and walls. They can survive in extreme temperatures, are well-adapted to swimming, and can survive in vacuum for unknown lengths of time. Their movement tends to be silent, and they do not radiate heat as their exoskeletal temperature matches the ambient temperature. They salivate profusely. They are extremely aggressive and persistent, while being totally devoid of fear. And although they do not demonstrate human-level intelligence as a species (either through writing, tool use, or the development of any sort of technology), their Queen appears to possess considerable acumen in its social behavior and manipulation of human technology.To prove that the Xenomorphs were of high intelligence, consider noting that in the film Alien the Xenomorph could manoeuvre itself throughout a maze of ventilation. Similarly in Aliens, notice how the Xenomorph could manipulate through a series of tunnels and underwater ducts. Through cloning in the events surrounding Resurrection (noted in the novelization), it appears that the alien's hive mind includes a collective memory that passes along even at a genetic level, and through the tests conducted on Ellen Ripley, it is revealed that the memory passed from Ripley onto the new generation of xenomorphs allows them to read and understand different languages.

Xenomorphs, in all stages of their life cycles, have shown vulnerabilities to heat, such as fire and flamethrowers, but cold temperatures are an inadequate precautionary measure — except at the extremes, such as liquid nitrogen. Since they can adapt to a vacuum and endure cold climates, it is unlikely they would be driven off by chilly conditions, but blasts of hot steam or cold air can be effective, especially when paired together. It is postulated that applying both hot & cold temperatures in rapid succession would achieve a very lethal, "cracking" effect on the Xenomorph's exoskeleton.From: Alien, and Alien: Resurrection — Theatrical Release. Chapter Nine, 0:26:18-0:26:27 (hours:minutes:seconds), respectively.

Queen

Xenomorphs have an insect-like life cycle, fairly similar to that of the digger wasp. The Queen regulates the whole hive and it is possible the hive can not survive without her. A deleted scene from Alien, which showed Ripley encountering Dallas cocooned and Brett being transformed into an egg, suggested that any member of the species could reproduce given the right circumstances. Some of the novels (while uncanonical sources) suggest that a drone can shift hormones if necessary, becoming a Queen if a hive is without one.

Queen Xenomorphs are significantly larger than the drones, approximately 15 feet (four and a half metres) tall.Sideshowtoy. URL last accessed 15th February 2006. Their body structure differs also, having twin sets of arms and being built more similarly to a Tyranosaurus Rex than a humanoid. Queens have a much larger braincase than the average adults, protected by a large crest above their heads. It also seems that they have a basic understanding of technology.Note in the film Aliens, the Queen understands that the aircraft she secretly boards will lead her to a safe place; that the forklift machine Lt. Ripley arms herself with could be seen as a danger; she also knows that if she was sent into space, she will die; when Ripley burns an egg with her flamethrower, the Queen responds by sending warriors in after her; when Ripley points her gun at the rest of the eggs, the Queen sees this as a threat and sends the warriors away in fear of her precious eggs being destroyed; she also knew how to work the elevator in escape.

Birth

It is almost impossible to determine the entire origin of the queen. When the queen or her eggs are absent, there are numerous possibilities. The queen could generate from a super facehugger, as seen in the special edition of Alien³. This animal could implant a Queen and a Xenomorph into a host. Its biological description differs too: it would be more armoured, having hooked limbs to deter removal and be stronger than the normal Facehugger to achieve its goal at any cost.Alien³ - Scenes 1-3. Theatrical release. After impregnating the host, the Facehugger would eventually die after a small period of time. Incubation could last days as the maturing Queen was a much more complex organism than her subjects and also as a way of spreading the hive to a new area (as the host carries the incubating Queen away from the place of impregnation the Queen would then be born farther away, thus ensuring new food and reproduction sources for the fledgling hive).Notice in Alien³, the Facehugger has already impregnated the Queen into Ripley at the beginning of the film. Later in the film, the same Facehugger also implants another embryo into the dog (or ox, depending on which version). Overall, the embryo in the dog (or ox) erupts first; however, the embryo in Ripley doesn't break out of her until several days later.

Design

The design of the Queen was created by Aliens director James Cameron in collaboration with special effects artist Stan Winston, based upon an initial painting Cameron had done at the start of the project.Sideshow Collectibles URL last accessed 23 February 2006. The Winston Studio created a test foam core Queen before constructing the full hydraulic puppet which was used for most of the scenes involving the large alien. Two people were inside working the twin sets of arms and puppeteers off-screen worked her jaws and head. Although at the end of the film the Queen was presented full-body fighting the power-loader, the audience never sees the legs of the queen, save those of the small-scale puppet that appears only briefly. In Aliens, Cameron used very selective camera-angles on the Queen, using the "less is more" style of photography. Subsequently the movie won an Oscar for Visual Effects.Won an Oscar for Best Visual Effects. Full list of awards for Aliens. It was only during the end climax of the 2004 film Alien vs. Predator that for the first time audiences could see the Queen actually running and fighting because of the CGI techniques employed to create it. The Queen's basic design was also altered to make her more "streamlined" in appearance. One of the changes was the removal of the Alien Queen's "high heel" protrusions on her legs, altering the joints so she could run faster and making the chest thinner because there was no need for puppeteers inside.

Human-Alien/Newborn

This Alien is a genetic cross between a human and an Alien. It is first seen in Alien: Resurrection and its appearance is more similar to a human rather than the Xenomorphs. The Newborn is roughly eight feet tall. It is bright yellow instead of dark blue or black. However, the size and description may not be the same as its final evolution, as, like the chestburster, it may go through serious physical changes as it matures. The inner mouth is replaced with a tongue and the human/alien also has eyes this time. When it is first born it kills the alien queen and believes that Ripley is its mother. It is killed by Ripley when it is sucked into space through a small hole that she created in the window of a bulkhead. In the Alien: Resurrection PlayStation game, it is referred to as the Newborn, has green blood, and is invulnerable to all weapons.

Variations

The Xenomorph has been portrayed in noticeably different ways throughout the films. Much of this was due to the special effects, technology and techniques used to bring it to life.

Upper torso

In the original Alien film, and sequel Aliens, they are depicted as tall, slender creatures with a roughly human silhouette and a biomechanical design. Notably, the being in the first film is far taller than those in the second. However, in later films, like Alien: Resurrection and Alien vs. Predator, they are depicted as being shorter and bulkier organisms, as well as being more quadrupedal, portrayed by either the traditional men-in-suit technique for close-ups or full form using computer-generated imagery.

Originally, the Xenomorphs’ tail was roughly the length of the rest of its body with a small, almost surgical stinger-like barb on the end. From Alien³ onwards, however, the tail has grown in length and featured a knife-like blade at the tip. In Alien: Resurrection and Alien vs. Predator, the tails had also supported a fin right before the blade. This was introduced in Alien: Resurrection to help them swim convincingly, and was left intact in Alien vs. Predator.Notice the tails of the Xenomorph throughout Alien: Resurrection and the tails on the Xenomorph in Aliens vs. Predator. The tail itself is shown to be of incredible length during Alien vs Predator, easily measuring at least twice its body length, as depicted when the Grid Alien impales a Predator from a hole in the wall.

The original shooting script for Aliens featured a scene in which Lieutenant Gorman was "stung" by a Xenomorphs’ stinger. He was not killed, merely stunned, and the barb remained lodged in his shoulder, having torn loose from the Xenomorphs’ tail, much like a bee stinger. The novelisation also included this scene, though the movie itself does not.PlanetAVP URL last accessed 23 February 2006.

In Aliens, the Xenomorph is depicted as having ridges along its cranium, while in all other films they have smooth cowls covering their skull, the logistic reason being that the cowl-less Xenomorphs in the sequel were easier to make and were more resistant to damage.

In Alien: Resurrection and Alien vs. Predator, the head was shortened greatly to approximately half the original thirty-three inches. It was also made flat at the base, with little to no similarity to the original designs.Note the head length for that in Alien and the Xenomorphs in Alien: Resurrection.

In Alien and Alien³, the Xenomorph has six fingers, with the index and middle fingers conjoined into one digit, ring and pinkie fingers also conjoined, and thumbs on both sides. In Aliens, the Xenomorphs are shown with five fingers, missing the extra thumb. In Alien: Resurrection and Alien vs. Predator, the aliens have four fingers. There is, however, no logical explanation for the fluctuating number of digits other than the special effects designers mood at the time.

Lower torso

In Alien and Aliens, the Xenomorphs have legs like that of a human, with a single joint at the knee and feet roughly in the same configuration as a human. Also in Alien vs. Predator, the Xenomorphs have this same humanoid leg, though it is sleeker and more skeletal in appearance, due to the use of computer visuals rather than costumes. This is notable because the Xenomorph resembles the species from which it bred. In Alien³, the Xenomorph is born from a different animal, and therefore has a different body design, including legs more like the dog in which it was incubated. However, there was a dramatic change in Alien: Resurrection wherein the Xenomorphs which escaped from containment have avian legs with long bones in the foot and the toes used for walking. This is apparently a change taking advantage of the digital representation of the Xenomorphs rather than costumes, done to make them seem more menacing and predatory.From Alien: Resurrection. 0:50:32-0:55:36 - (hours:minutes:seconds). The different leg and foot can be clearly seen in a forward shot in which a Xenomorph closes in on the surviving characters, who are trapped by a blocked door.From Alien: Resurrection. 0:43:40-0:43:54 - (hours:minutes:seconds).

It is almost impossible to tell the sex of the Xenomorph; however the Xenomorph never appears to need reproductive organs, relying on eggs alone. In Alien: Director's Cut, the Xenomorph originally had a second method of reproduction, whereby it could transform humans into eggs, as shown when Ripley discovers Brett, Engineer of the crew ship Nostromo, cocooned in a viscous liquid.From Alien. 1:30:20-1:32:30 - (hours:minutes:seconds). Please note that this scene if from Alien: Director's Cut and is not included in the theatrical release.

In another omitted scene from the script for Alien³, these "eggs" were actually cocoons, inside of which a human was painfully transformed into a full-grown alien, which then emerges from the cocoon like a perversion of a butterfly. This non-canon tertiary version of reproduction bypasses queens and Facehuggers entirely.

In Alien³ another addition was made: that of a "super Facehugger" that could impregnate two hosts with, presumably, a Queen and regular embryo and was larger and darker compared to normal. This would explain why both Ripley and a dog were impregnated from one Facehugger. The super Facehugger was found by some of the inmates, who thought it a type of jellyfish.

These offer an origin for the eggs that did not require a queen, which seems to have been superseded by the queen in Aliens. None of the other films—including deleted scenes—has continued with this method and it is mostly considered atypical for the Xenomorph life-cycle.

Debate

DNA assimilation

While the Chestburster was still in an embryonic stage, it was possible that it used the host's DNA to augment its own and acquire any useful traits that the host garnered through natural selection. This made sense from a biological evolutionary standpoint, since the host was adapted to its environment, taking on some of its characteristics would further adapt the newborn alien to its new environment. This would essentially make all adult Xenomorphs hybrid creatures, and was alluded to in the first film, albeit indirectly and possibly unintentionally. When Ash hears Parker's report on the size of the full-grown individual, Ash refers to it as "Kane's son."Quote from: Alien. Chapter 22. Another explanation could be that since the eggs seem to be produced asexually, the embryo receives some of its chromosomes from its host to allow for genetic diversity.

Alien³ furthered the debate by having an alien embryo implanted into a dog. The Xenomorphs of the first two films were all implanted in humans and could walk in a bipedal fashion; they also had foot-long spines on their backs for balance and, moving quadripedally, the Xenomorph in Alien³ apparently did not need these. The "dog-alien"—also known to fans as a "runner alien"—of Alien³, was visually very different from those in the first two films, theoretically because it took on some of the DNA of its canine host.The novelisation of Rogue refer to this process as the "DNA Reflex". It preferred to move in a doglike manner, often running at high speed on all four legs. It was also born almost fully developed - much like the young of dogs. This new type was far more streamlined and aerodynamic in appearance. The Runner also appears as a character in Aliens versus Predator 2 and as a unit in Extinction.

The Xenomorphs of the fourth Alien film, Resurrection, were something of an exception, because they were far more human-like, to the point that the Alien Queen gave live birth to a "human-alien hybrid": this was because these aliens were the result of cloning experiments by the military, and were not the "true" form of the species, having been spliced with substantial amounts of human DNA. This was not as a result of the normal implantation-DNA-assimilation process.

Also, in the Batman versus Alien sequel limited series, several of Batman's villains had their DNA spliced with the aliens, including The Joker, Poison Ivy, Two-Face, and others. These aliens had visible characteristics with their DNA supplier, for instance, an enormous and heavily-built Alien that was created incorporating Killer Croc's DNA had scales, a mouth resembling a dinosaur's and green skin. These artificially created Aliens (with the exception of the Killer Croc Alien) were capable of coherent speech, albeit with an "accent."

In various comics and the Aliens vs. Predator video game series, this was taken a step further when a Xenomorph embryo was implanted into a Yautja (Predator); the result was an Alien with Predator characteristics: a "pred-alien"Predalien Information Site.. This hybrid was bipedal, and had the basic body-outline of a Predator, having lost the elongated head shape. It also lacked the inner set of jaws characteristic of other Xenomorphs, but supported a set of mandibles reminiscent of those of the Predator. Its head also has the "dreadlocks" reminiscent of most Predators. This motif was also repeated at the end of the recent Alien vs. Predator film, largely based on the comic books and the video game series and written by the director of Resident Evil. Other comic books have shown further Alien crossovers with other species.

Endoskeleton

Another debate was that the Xenomorph contained an endoskeleton as well as its hardened exoskeleton. The primary fuel for this was the Xenomorph skull seen as a trophy in the movie Predator 2Trophycase.jpg., as well as a clearly visible spine and the fact that exoskeletons are incapable of supporting organisms of such size.

Memory Assimilation

According to some sources (notably the unofficial ALIEN-FUZION RPG), the embryo assimilates its hosts memories up to the time of death. Under the right trigger (such as contact with a loved one), the alien will revert to the host's original mind and soul, and will even respond to the original host's name. Unfortunately, such rogue aliens are hunted down and exterminated by the hive. This also helps explain why Ripley 8 retained most of her memories, since the queen embryo may have encoded the memories into its DNA and spliced them with Ripley during the cloning process, and not due to any human genetic factor. A genetic memory possessed by the Xenomorph species is also a possibility, due either to biological evolution or genetic engineering in the far distant past. This is a purely semi-canonical speculation, but has various basis in the movies and comics.

Theories

According to the computer game Aliens vs. Predator 2, Xenomorphs utilized ultrasound for relatively long-distance communication.Please note that the theory of the Xenomorphs communicating via ultrasound is only explained in the Aliens vs. Predator 2 computer game. However, there is no references stating that th Xenomorphs have the ability to use this power in the films. Xenomorph hives were built with smooth, rounded edges instead of rough, sharp edges because sound propagates better in such an environment. The skulls of Xenomorphs acted as sonic amplifiers for both boosting the transmission of messages and ensuring that incoming messages remain audible. This theory correlates with the Queen's massive head, since administrative duties would require greater transmission and receiving strength than normal Xenomorphs.Notice in Alien: Resurrection the size of the Queen's head before she gave birth to the new-born Xenomorph. Likewise, this correlates with the theory of telepathy amongst the Xenomorphs; drones and workers need only basic telepathy organs to receive a queen's signals, while a queen needed a more powerful ability to broadcast. Likewise, in the Earth Hive trilogy of novels, particularly sensitive humans experienced strange dreams with the impression that the Queen Mother was calling to them as well; from across the galaxy.A series of book published by Steve Perry. ISBN 0553561200. However, these theories contradicted the Rogue Aliens novel, which described a portion of the Xenomorphs’ brain that contained telepathic capabilities. Also in Rogue, it was theorized that Xenomorphs that stayed further from a queen had a diminished array of telepathic lobes. These lobes were used to communicate specifically with the queen as well as others.

The origins of the Xenomorphs had never been fully explained in the films, but the expanded Alien literature had stated that the Xenomorphs were bio-weapons genetically engineered by an ancient race called the "Space Jockeys". Little was known of this race except that they were purported to have had created the Xenomorphs to fight an ancient civil war. Alien eggs would be used as "bombs" on an enemy planet and then the Xenomorphs would proceed to kill the entire population as they spawned. The Xenomorphs were then genetically designed to die off, but eventually mutated and thrived even after killing their prey. It is possible that a single member of the Space Jockey race escaped in a freighter or warship full of Xenomorph eggs, but was himself infected with a Xenomorph and killed. That could be an explanation for the large, fossilized humanoid figure seen by the crew of the Nostromo in the first film.From Alien. Chapters 7-9. Theatrical release. The expanded universe indicates that more than just one of the Space Jockey race remains alive, though their civilization is in ruins.From A Comic Book Adventure (computer game)

See also

Notes

References

External links

Alien series | Fictional extraterrestrial species | Villain races | Disgusting fictional characters

Xenomorph (Alien) | Xenoforme | Xénomorphe

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Xenomorph (Alien)".

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