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Alien series
Alien Quadrilogy box set
Directed by	Ridley Scott (Alien') James Cameron (Aliens') David Fincher (Alien³') Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Alien Resurrection')
Produced by	Gordon Carroll David Giler Walter Hill
Written by	Dan O'Bannon, Ronald Shusset (Alien) Walter Hill, David Giler(Alien (uncredited), Aliens, Alien³) James Cameron(Aliens) Vincent Ward(Alien³) Larry Ferguson(Alien³) Joss Whedon(Alien Resurrection)
Starring	Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	1979 - 1997
Country	United States  United Kingdom (Alien and Aliens)
Language	English
Gross revenue	$702,830,000

The Alien film series is a science fiction horror film franchise, focusing on Lieutenant Ellen Ripley (played by Sigourney Weaver) and her battle with an extraterrestrial lifeform, the Xenomorph (most commonly known as 'alien'). Produced by 20th Century Fox, the series started in 1979 film Alien, which led to three sequels and book, comics and video game spinoffs.

Sometimes included in the franchise are the Alien vs. Predator films, based on the related franchise which combine the titular aliens with the creature from the Predator series.

Contents 1 Development 2 Tetralogy plot-summary 2.1 Alien 2.1.1 Alien Director's Cut 2.2 Aliens 2.2.1 Aliens Special Edition 2.3 Alien³ 2.3.1 Alien³ Special Edition 2.4 Alien: Resurrection 2.5 Rumored sequels 3 Spin-offs 3.1 Novels 3.2 Comics 3.3 Video Games 4 References 5 Further reading 6 See also

After completing the film Dark Star (1974), Dan O'Bannon wanted to take some of the ideas (such as where an alien hunts a crew through a ship) and make them into a science-fiction horror film, at that time provisionally called Memory. Screenwriter Ronald Shusset decided to collaborate with him in the project, adding elements from other O'Bannon script, Gremlins, which featured gremlins getting loose aboard a World War II bomber and wreaking havoc with the crew. The duo later finished the script, initially entitled Star Beast, until casting around for a better name, O'Bannon noticed the number of times the word "alien" occurred in the script, and so he adopted this for the film's title.^[1] The writers imagined a low-budget film, but Star Wars's success made Fox invest $8 million on production.

In the original script, the ship has an all-male crew, including the Ripley character (though the script's 'Cast of Characters' section explicitly states that "The crew is unisex and all parts are interchangeable for men or women"), which would be played by actor Tom Skerritt, but later, character re-casting made Ripley a woman, because producer Alan Ladd, Jr., and script-doctors Walter Hill and David Giler had heard rumors of Fox working on other titles with strong female leads. ^[1] Skerritt became Captain Dallas, and Sigourney Weaver was cast as Ripley.

Swiss painter and sculptor H. R. Giger designed the alien creature's adult form and the Derelict ship,^[2] while Moebius created visual for the spacesuits ^[1] and Ron Cobb provided most of the on-set design.^[3]

The film was successful, but Fox wasn't very interested in a sequel until 1983, when James Cameron expressed his interest in continuing the Alien story to producer David Giler. After Cameron's The Terminator became a box office hit, Cameron and partner Gale Anne Hurd were given approval to direct and produce the sequel to Alien, scheduled for a 1986 release. ^[4]

Due to studio changes to Aliens, Sigourney Weaver wasn't much interested in returning to the series, so she didn't argue when producers David Giler and Walter Hill told her, in early 1990, that they were commissioning a third Alien film without Ripley, coming back with her in a fourth installment. But Fox's president Joe Roth didn't agree with Ripley's removal, and Weaver was called in for the movie. Alien³, released in 1992, had a troubled shooting, without even a finished script and having already spent $7 million when David Fincher, the third director considered for the film, was hired to lead the project. ^[5] After the film was ready, the studio reworked on it without Fincher's consensus.^[6]

While fans and critics didn't receive Alien³ well, the $103 million worldwide kept Fox interested in continuing the franchise. In 1996, production on the fourth Alien film, Alien Resurrection, begun. Ripley wasn't in the script's first draft, and Sigourney Weaver wasn't much interested, but decided to join the project after meeting director Jean-Pierre Jeunet. ^[7] The film, released in 1997, had a long production and was defined by screenwriter Joss Whedon as having done "everything wrong" with his script.^[8]

Following is a plot summary for the entire Alien series. For additional plot details, see the movies' specific pages or The Alien Universe Timeline.

The Nostromo, a towing vessel hauling an enormous ore refinery and 20 million tons of raw ore, with a crew of seven (including Captain Dallas and Warrant Officer Ripley) has set out from the mining colony Solomons on its return to Earth in the year 2122. During the return voyage, the ship’s computer (called Mother or M.U.T.H.E.R.^{[citation needed]}) intercepts a non-human transmission from the moon LV-426. Mother, according to Weyland-Yutani (“the Company”) protocol, alters course and wakes the crew from hypersleep in order to investigate the transmission.

Upon investigation of the transmission source, a derelict alien ship, Executive Officer Kane becomes infected with an alien parasite. On orders of Captain Dallas, Kane is brought back on board and treated by Science Officer Ash, who is, unknown to the others, an android. The crew members return to the Nostromo from LV-426, hoping to return to Earth as soon as possible. After a brief period, an alien emerges from Kane and proceeds to kill all human crew members except Ripley. Ash, the android, was terminated by the other crew members after his attempted murder of Ripley, an action he took in defense of the alien species.

Ripley activates Nostromo's auto-destruct sequence and escapes in the shuttle. The Nostromo and its cargo are destroyed in a series of explosions, but Ripley soon discovers that the alien had also entered the shuttle. Half-dressed and nervously singing "Lucky Star", Ripley kills the alien by blasting it out of the shuttle's airlock and burning it with the shuttle’s jets. Ripley sets the shuttle's course for Earth and returns to hypersleep.

Director Ridley Scott has stated that he did not really think that Alien required this tweaking, and that the term "Director's Cut" was used for marketing reasons only (and inconsistently as well). In the Alien Quadrilogy materials, he goes out of his way to state his preference for the original: "rest easy, the original 1979 theatrical version isn't going anywhere". He recut the film himself, only after viewing the studio's attempt to do so; a version that he felt was "too long" and ruined the film's pacing.

A brief rundown of the restored footage or cut scenes, in the order that the scenes appear:

• The Nostromo crew listening to the alien transmission
• Kane took out his weapon in the egg chamber.
• The scene in which Ripley asks Ash if Mother has analyzed the alien transmission (and in which Ash replies “No”) has disappeared. Instead we see Ripley simply playing with the computer console and sitting down while a binary sequence displays on the computer screen.
• Lambert slapping Ripley for refusing to let them bring Kane back aboard the ship.
• Some dialogue deleted during the scene where Ripley confronts Captain Dallas in the corridor over letting Ash keep the dead alien facehugger. Dallas' lines about the replacement of Nostromo's original science officer by Ash at the last minute have disappeared. This interesting deletion removes a bit of foreshadowing that all is not as it seems with the character of Ash.
• Cut of the scene where Ash leaves the infirmary after Ripley has confronted him for breaking quarantine procedures.
• A handful of shots added to Brett's death scene, including one clearly showing the alien dangling from above, and another where Parker and Ripley rush into the room just after the alien grabs Brett. As they look upward, dripping blood covers them.
• Cut of a brief sequence showing Dallas querying the ship's computer, Mother, about his odds of killing the alien, and getting no reply, before he enters the ventilation ducts.
• A new brief shot of Lambert added as the crew regroup and weigh their options after Dallas' death.
• Restoration of a portion of the film's arguably most famous deleted scene — Ripley discovering the alien's nest and the bodies of Dallas and Brett. But the Director's Cut does not include Ripley's lines to the dying Dallas ("What can I do?" and "I'll get you out of there") before, at his request, she kills him with the flamethrower.
• A quick extension of a shot as Ripley discovers the alien blocking the path to the shuttle; the alien appears staring at Jones the cat in his catbox, then it swats the catbox out of its way. This extended shot had never aired before, even on DVD.

The Director's Cut also deleted brief snippets of footage:

• Some of the conversation between Ripley and Dallas concerning Ripley's distrust of Ash
• Part of the sequence where Ripley gains entry to Mother
• Parker going through the ship alone and watching out for the alien
• An almost unnoticeable cut as the last three surviving crew members round a bend in the corridors of the ship

Found in the year 2179 after 57 years drifting in space, Ellen Ripley returns to human civilization. Upon recounting the events of the Nostromo and LV-426, she learns that a group of settlers has recently moved to LV-426 and set up Hadley's Hope, a space-colony. After dismissing Ripley’s claims as ridiculous, the Company (specifically Carter Burke) sends colonists to the derelict ship to investigate Ripley’s report of an alien species. Shortly thereafter contact with the colony ceases. In response, the Company sends Ripley, a group of United States Colonial Marines, and Carter Burke to investigate LV-426 aboard the vessel Sulaco.

Arriving at LV-426, Ripley and her companions soon discover that aliens have overrun the colony and that all settlers have died, except for a young girl nicknamed Newt. The rescue team becomes trapped in the settlement, where hundreds of aliens hunt them. Their mission is further complicated by Ripley's discovery that Burke intends to bring one of the aliens back for the Company's bio-weapons division.

Eventually, the aliens kill all those barricaded at Hadley's Hope except for those who eventually retreat to the Sulaco: Ripley, Newt, Corporal Hicks, and the android, Bishop. After a brief confrontation with the Alien Queen aboard the "Sulaco", Ripley sets a course for Earth and the crew enters hypersleep.

The Aliens Special Edition added approximately 17 minutes to this film. Several small additions to the plot were presented, including:

• Ripley has a daughter and learns of her death upon arrival at the Gateway Station.
• The events taking place on LV-426 immediately before infestation.
• Extra battle scenes involving the marines' robot sentries.
• More scenes of Newt and Ripley bonding.
• Hicks and Ripley's exchange before she goes to rescue Newt.

The movie begins with one alien facehugger emerging during the crew's hypersleep on the Sulaco. It proceeds to impregnate Ripley with an alien queen-embryo. The cover of Ripley's hypersleep-chamber cuts the facehugger, and the release of its acidic blood causes a fire on board, which leads to the Sulaco jettisoning an escape shuttle towards a penal-colony planet, Fiorina 161, inhabited only by a small number of extremely violent and dangerous offenders. The rescuers who recover the escape shuttle discover that of all the humans, only Ripley has survived the crash. Meanwhile, prisoner Murphy's dog Spike becomes impregnated with a second alien embryo by the same facehugger. (A first in the series, as facehuggers have been depicted as only being able to impregnate a single being prior to this.) Ripley is nursed back to health by Dr. Clemmens, who she develops a relationship with. After carrying out an autopsy on Newt, to make sure there is no "cholera" infection in her chest, the bodies are thrown into the prison's gigantic furnace. At the same time, Spike goes into convulsions and the alien is born. This alien is different from the previous kind, having lost the spikes on it's back and now walks on all fours. A more dangerous alien has arrived.

Upon learning about the alien on the planet, the Weyland-Yutani corporation sends a rescue ship to Fiorina 161. However, it quickly becomes clear that they only care about capturing the xenomorph specimen, not Ripley or the inmates. In these circumstances, Ripley convinces the inmates to kill the xenomorphs (including the one inside her) before the company's ship arrives. After an elaborate set-up, which required the inmates to run up and down tunnels and corridors to confuse the creature, Ripley, Dillon and Morse are chased into the furnace, where the destruction of the alien takes place. After pouring several hundred gallons of moulten lead onto the xenomorph, it still chases Ripley up to the ceiling via an extensive pipe system. Ripley activates the overhead sprinklers, which cover the alien in cold water; it then explodes from the immense pressure changes.

Using a lead smelter, Ripley sacrifices herself to prevent the company from harvesting the queen embryo from her body, saving countless human lives in doing so. Every single prisoner on Fiorina 161 is dead, except Morse, who is seen being taken by the company to an unknown location for unknown purposes.

The Alien³ Special Edition is widely considered the superior product when compared to the theatrical release. The Special Edition added approximately 35 minutes of new or alternate footage to this psychological thriller. Several positive changes to the plot ensued, including:

• A completely different opening in which Clemens finds Ripley washed up on the beach.
• The widely acclaimed and preferred impregnation of an ox, rather than a dog.
• The film now shows a more in depth perspective with the prisoners' apocalyptic, millenarian religion.
• The film now shows the temporary capture of the Xenomorph and its confinement inside the toxic waste dump. One of the prisoners sacrifices himself to lure the alien into the trap, but this random act of heroism is in vain, as the mentally ill prisoner Golic, who develops an obsession with the alien, releases it. The creature kills Golic after using him.
• The queen alien embryo now appears on a CAT scan, rather than when Ripley sacrifices herself.

Two hundred years later, around the year 2379, several United Systems Military (USM) scientists have cloned Ripley several times by using blood samples from Fiorina 161 rediscovered in the year 2356. Upon successfully cloning Ripley, whose DNA had combined with the alien species her body had hosted, the experiment successfully develops an intact alien and extracts it from her chest. In the year 2381, a small ship called the Betty, manned by smugglers, brings several kidnapped space-travelers, still in hypersleep, to a secret USM research vessel called the USM Auriga. The smugglers do not realize the reason for the kidnappings, but they later discover that the USM scientists will impregnate the travelers with alien embryos. The experiment quickly runs awry when the aliens break loose and begin killing everyone on the ship. While chaos ensues, an android named Call changes the course of the ship (previously heading to Earth as per default emergency procedures) to crash-land in an attempt at destroying the aliens on board in the process.

The Auriga crashes into Africa and explodes, presumably killing all aliens on board. The clone Ripley, Call, and the remaining crew of the Betty (Johner and Vriess) manage to escape the Auriga before it violently explodes. As the Betty descends towards Earth, Ripley and Call contemplate their next move.

It has been rumored for years that there will be an Alien 5. James Cameron, the maker of Aliens (film), started work on a story for Alien 5, but when he heard of Alien vs. Predator (film), he thought that the crossover would "kill the validity of the franchise" and stopped work on his script; however, once he saw the film, he liked it and ranked it in third place. He still has no plans to do another sequel. ^[9]

There have been a number of spin-offs in other media including a large number of crossovers within the Alien fictional universe. These include:

As well the novelizations based on the various films (including Alan Dean Foster's) there are a number of novel series:

• Aliens
• Aliens vs. Predator

Numerous comic appearances include:

• Aliens
• Alien Loves Predator, a spoof webcomic
• Aliens vs. Predator
• Aliens vs. Predator vs. The Terminator
• Batman/Aliens
• Green Lantern Versus Aliens
• Judge Dredd vs. Aliens
• Superman vs. Aliens
• Superman & Batman vs. Aliens & Predator
• WildC.A.T.s/Aliens

2006 saw the release of a brand new arcade-shooter video game based on the Alien franchise. This is called Aliens: Extermination. The plot revolves around Colonial Marines arriving on a planet infested with Aliens, who are being guarded by synthetic humans (a la Bishop, but evil). This game is a first person shooting game for 2 players.

Sega struck a deal in December 2006 with Fox Licensing with regards to their lucrative Alien film franchise. The new agreement, as detailed by The Hollywood Reporter, allows Sega to develop multiple games for new generation consoles and PCs. With a first-person shooter and a role-playing game already under development. Mike Gallo, senior producer of the Alien series at Sega, promises that the developers will go out of their way to "tie the games into the films in unique ways." He also says they'll look at source materials and the films for inspiration.^{[citation needed]} The first title is due in 2008 -- that's when Sega will be "taking licensing to the next level", he says.

Games include:

• Alien
• Aliens (MSX)
• Aliens (Arcade)
• Alien³
• Alien³ (Game Boy)
• Alien³: The Gun
• Alien: Resurrection (PlayStation)
• Aliens, by Electronic Dreams
• Aliens: Colonial Marines
• Aliens Online
• Alien vs. Predator (SNES)
• Alien vs Predator: The Last of His Clan
• Alien vs. Predator (Arcade)
• Alien vs. Predator (Jaguar)
• Alien Trilogy
• Alien versus Predator (PC)
• Aliens versus Predator 2
• Aliens versus Predator 2: Primal Hunt
• Aliens versus Predator: Extinction
• Alien vs. Predator (Mobile)

• The Book of Alien (by Paul Scanlon and Michael Gross, Star Books, 112 pages, 1979, ISBN 0-352-30422-7, Titan Books, 2003, ISBN 1-85286-483-4)
• Making of Alien Resurrection (by Andrew Murdock and Rachel Aberly, Harper Prism, 1997 ISBN 0-06-105378-3)
• The Complete Aliens Companion (by Paul Sammon, Harper Prism, 1998, ISBN 0-06-105385-6)
• The Alien Quartet: A Bloomsbury Movie Guide (by David Earl Thomson, Bloomsbury Publishing, 208 pages, 1999, ISBN 1-58234-030-7, as The Alien Quartet (Pocket Movie Guide), 2000 ISBN 0-7475-5181-2)
• Beautiful Monsters: The Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to the Alien and Predator Films (by David A. McIntee, Telos, 272 pages, 2005, ISBN 1-903889-94-4)

• List of characters in the Alien series‎

v • d • e Alien, Predator and Alien vs. Predator
Alien films	Alien • Aliens • Alien³ • Alien: Resurrection
Predator films	Predator • Predator 2
AvP films	Alien vs. Predator • Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem
Film characters	Bishop • Hicks • Hudson • Newt • Ripley • Ripley clone • Predator • Alien characters • Predator characters
Comics	Aliens • Aliens versus Predator • Aliens versus Predator versus The Terminator • Aliens/Predator/Witchblade/The Darkness: Mindhunter • Batman/Aliens • Batman versus Predator • Green Lantern versus Aliens • JLA vs. Predator • Judge Dredd vs. Aliens • Predator • Predator vs. Judge Dredd • Predator vs. Magnus, Robot Fighter • Superman & Batman vs. Aliens & Predator • Superman/Aliens • Superman vs. Predator • Tarzan vs. Predator • WildC.A.T.s/Aliens • Aliens/Predator: Deadliest of the Species
Novels	Aliens (Earth Hive) • Aliens vs. Predator • Predator
Alien games	Alien (1982) • Alien (1984) • Aliens: The Computer Game (Activision) • Aliens: The Computer Game (Software Studios) • Aliens (MSX) • Aliens (arcade) • Alien³ • Alien³ (SNES) • Alien³ (Game Boy) • Alien³: The Gun • Aliens: A Comic Book Adventure • Alien Trilogy • Aliens Online • Alien: Resurrection • Aliens: Thanatos Encounter • Aliens: Colonial Marines (cancelled) • Aliens: Unleashed • Aliens: Extermination • Aliens (First Person Shooter) •
Predator games	Predator • Predator: Soon The Hunt Will Begin • Predator 2 • Predator 2 (Perfect 10) • Predator (mobile) • Predator: Concrete Jungle
Alien vs. Predator games	Alien vs Predator (SNES) • Alien vs Predator: The Last of His Clan • Alien vs. Predator (arcade) • Alien vs Predator (Jaguar) • Alien vs Predator (Lynx) (cancelled) • Aliens versus Predator / Gold Edition • Aliens versus Predator 2 / Gold Edition • Aliens versus Predator 2: Primal Hunt • Aliens versus Predator: Extinction • Alien vs. Predator 2D • Alien vs. Predator (mobile) • Alien vs. Predator 3D • Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (video game)
Alien & Predator Universe	Derelict • Fiorina "Fury" 161 • LV-426 • M41A pulse rifle • M56 Smart Gun • M577 A.P.C. • Non-canon castes from the Alien films • Nostromo • Predator • Predator language • Space Jockey • Sulaco • United States Colonial Marines • USM Auriga • Val Verde • Weyland-Yutani • Xenomorph
Miscellaneous	Aliens: Colonial Marines Technical Manual • Alien Loves Predator • The Alien Legacy • Alien Quadrilogy • Alien War • Batman: Dead End • Alien 2