In 1979, the movie Alien ([1]) set the standard for science-fiction horror. The principal designer of all the major features, including the (now famous) xenomorph ([2]), was the Swiss surrealist and designer H.R. Giger ([3]), who won an Academy award for his work on this film ([10]).
Swiss surrealist and designer H. R. Giger
Giger needs no special introduction. One only needs examine his site's guest book ([4]) or some of his paintings to get a good idea about how influential this man has become in the genre of good horror fiction.
In the movie Alien, a group of space travellers, after a mysterious signal is intercepted by the ship's mainframe, lands on an unknown moon, LV-426 ([5]), and find a derelict spaceship carrying a cargo load of xenomorph eggs. The pilot of the Derelict has been dead for millions of years and has been fossilized, but the eggs are in stasis and the crew accidentally activates one, causing the infestation of the spaceship with a deadly alien life form, now named "xenomorph".
Giger was called in as an "artist in residence" to supervise and help with the artistic aspects of the film. In doing so, he kept a diary where he has collected relevant material, such as draft sketches and paintings of the various features, including the Derelict. This "diary" was augmented with photos of the movie replicas used by the production team and its contents were compiled into the book "Giger's Alien" ([8]):
Fig. 1: Cover for book: "Giger's Alien"
The book has several pre-production paintings of the Derelict by Giger:
Fig. 2: Pre-production painting of the Derelict, by H.R. Giger
Fig. 3: Pre-production painting of The Derelict by H.R. Giger.
Fig. 4: Pre-production studio model of The Derelict.
Fig 5: Post-production model of The Derelict, with various features exaggerated.
Fig 6: The Derelict sitting on moon LV-426 ("Acheron") as it was shown in the film Alien.
Fig. 7: Pre-production painting of The Derelict's bottom side, showing the three vaginal entrances, by H.R. Giger.
Giger also provides for a view of The Derelict in what appears to be its "alive" state:
Fig. 8: Pre-production painting of The Derelict (alive), by H.R. Giger.
The book also contains paintings of the Derelict's pilot and cockpit:
Fig. 9: Pre-production painting of the internal view of the cockpit dome of The Derelict, behind the pilot, by H. R. Giger.
Fig. 10: Pre-production painting of The Derelict's pilot, by H.R. Giger.
Fig. 11: Larger-than-life-size model of The Derelict's pilot, as it was shown in the movie Alien.
Several articles have appeared which tried to explain the Derelict, although none is considered canon and none manages to explain what exactly the derelict is. In addition, all the subsequent films about Alien never referenced the Derelict again, so its existence remains a mystery. Wikipedia has some interesting information on the (supposed) species ([6]) which pilots The Derelict ([7]), although little or nothing of substance is known about it.
Some interesting facts can be extracted from the book "Giger's Alien". For example:
It is clear that the Derelict was intended as a sort of an organic bio-ship. This is supported by the fact that the pilot of the Derelict is fused to his cockpit chair (Figs. 9-11), using bio-mechanical means. Hence, the entire Derelict and the pilot are one single entity. This is of course in accord with Giger's general bio-mechanical style.
The Derelict's right "arm", displays two protrusions, which in more detailed pictures in the book, appear to be either weapons or thrusters of some sort (Figs. 2-6 and 8).
The original paintings also show two additional protrusions, one on the left arm and one on the right arm, near the back side of the Derelict, which also appear to be thrusters of some sort (Figs. 3 and 5). Such thrusters could conceivably be used for rotational movement.
The orientation of the pilot in the cockpit is not clear (he could be facing forward or backwards relative to the Derelict "arms"), hence the Derelict's orientation is also not clear, although it is reasonable to assume that if the protrusion on the right arm is a weapon, the orientation must be such that the ship travels with its "arms" extending forward. This is also supported by the fact that the Derelict displays three vaginal portals/entrances on its bottom "forward" side (Fig. 7), as well as five additional ones at the front of the left "arm" (shown in the book only).
The device on top of the pilot appears to be either a "telescopic device" or some other scientific device related to the ship's controls. It is reasonable to assume that it may be either a telescope or spectroscope (or both), since it appears to be almost in contact with the pilot's eyes (Fig. 10).
The pilot's chair allows the pilot a full 360° panoramic view of the space above the derelict, using the "telescopic" device (Figs. 3,5,9,11). This is in agreement with the existence of the circular dome showing on Figs 3-5. In view of Fig. 9, it is reasonable to assume that the material of the dome is transparent to light, allowing the pilot a full view of the space outside.
The three vaginal entrances (Fig. 7) lead directly to the cockpit and are always open, which implies that the Derelict is not sealed against space vacuum. This is also supported by the fact that the pilot is directly connected to what seems a life support "breathing" tube, which is attached to his nose (Fig. 10). The previous lends support to the fact that the Derelict can survive in any environment.
Since the pilot's fossilized chest shows a sign of "chest-bursting" (Fig. 11), it follows that the pilot has fallen victim of his own cargo. The question is, what was this cargo doing there in the first place.
Detailed paintings by Giger and replicas shown in the book, indicate a meticulous placement and positioning of the eggs in the cargo bay area. In particular, the eggs are shown having been arranged in neat rows and columns next to what appear to be turrets or division barriers. These division barriers seem to be positioned directly below a strange wall mechanism which either supports the eggs or generates them:
Fig. 12: Egg chamber of the Derelict as shown in the movie Alien.
The eggs are in stasis but they are alerted to the presence of nearby life forms by a blue laser signal which emanates from one of the egg chamber walls. Since this signal emanates from one of the walls, it is reasonable to assume that it has been placed there by the Derelict on purpose. In the book, a plethora of what looks like worm or polyps-like life forms are found dead on the floor, near the eggs. They appear to be either dead facehuggers or external life forms which the eggs failed to infect.
The crew of the Nostromo went to the planet because the Nostromo's mainframe computer supposedly detected a signal from the Derelict. According to the novelization of Alien by Alan Dean Scott ([11]), this signal was a warning. In fact it was not only a warning, but once fully decoded, it included full details about the whole xenomorph cycle. Hence at some point, it appears that the Derelict is trying to warn travellers about the kind of cargo it is carrying.
The above is in contradiction with the fact that the Derelict included the laser mechanism to alert the eggs for the presence of external life forms. If the Derelict truly intended to warn space travellers about the danger of approaching, it should have also shut down any mechanisms which supported the eggs, rendering them benign. Neither could the Derelict set up the egg-alerting laser in a short time, such as the time it would take the chest-burster to come out of the pilot.
The three vaginal entrances on the front of The Derelict appear to be equipped with an elaborate and intricate network of wires and tubes which reach all the way to the Derelict's dome (Figs 2 and 7). This suggests that anything going through the vaginal entrances is noticed by the Derelict's pilot.
The above discrepancies give credence to the hypothesis that the Derelict is far from benevolent and was very likely intended as a bio-ship intended to "bombard" alien worlds with xenomorph eggs, probably in hopes of exterminating entire civilizations. This seems to be partly supported by Giger's own painting of an "alive" Derelict, (Fig. 8), in which the very ground upon which the Derelict stands appears to be receding in horror. It also seems to be supported by some pre-production models, such as that of Fig. 4, which actually show tons of piled up bones from a plethora of extraterrestrial life forms, just close to the Derelict (The little light brown dots on the bottom in front of the Derelict in Fig. 4 are skulls of alien life forms. Also in Fig. 7). These bones would naturally be the remains of any life forms which attempted to enter the Derelict, but were subsequently killed after leaving from the vaginal portals by the emerging xenomorphs.
The above lends credence to the hypothesis that the xenomorphs are a direct bio-mechanical creation of the Derelict, which is also bio-mechanical. This seems to be supported also by paintings by Giger which show egg chamber wall details, with some wall features indicating that the eggs were created by the Derelict itself and upon formation they landed nicely on the bottom of the egg chamber in neat rows and columns, arranged by the collective mechanisms of the Derelict.
An overall view of the Derelict's operation can now be hypothesized: According to the novelization by Dean Alan Scott ([11]), the Derelict has been dead since at least one million years prior to Nostromo's landing. This lends credence to the hypothesis that whether there are more like it or not, the particular device/entity appears to be amongst the oldest organisms in existence, having extensive knowledge of science and technology to the point of managing to grow itself into a self-sufficient bio-mechanical state in the form of a ship, complete with offensive weapons and having the ability of interstellar travel. As it travels, it simply "scans" entire star-systems looking for planets to infect. This could be achieved for example by scanning light sources for the presence of the spectrum of organic molecules via its telescoping device. The presence of organic molecules in star spectra usually betrays super-giant stars of class K and M, hence is a good indicator of the presence of older and more advanced civilizations around these stars. Once it finds life, it simply travels and lands on the corresponding planet, waiting for extraterrestrial life to come and examine it. In that sense, it resembles a giant spider, weaving its web on every planet it visits, akin to a giant uterus which gives birth to death.
Having landed on Acheron, it exterminated all life there (as witnessed for example by the tons of skulls and bones around it in Fig. 4), but one of its creations escaped its attention and infected the pilot. Seeing its own demise and prior to dying, it chose the best way to ensure that even after its death it remained as deadly and malignant as possible, by setting up a warning beacon to (supposedly) warn other species about itself, knowing that curiosity is often a universal trait and usually a bad advisor.
To conclude The Derelict's horror, Giger provides for a final mysterious painting in the book "Giger's Alien", which appears to be depicting the actual creator of the xenomorph eggs and cycle (Fig. 13):
Fig. 13: Painting of the the creator of the xenomorph cycle, by H.R. Giger.
In the middle we see the actual cycle of the xenomorph, and on top we see a horrifying creature, probably of female gender, resembling the Egyptian goddess of night, Nut ([9]) (Fig. 14):
Fig. 14: Egyptian depiction of goddess of the sky, Nut.
It is interesting that the posture of the female creature which gives birth to the xenomorph eggs is very similar to the posture of the Egyptian goddess Nut. It is also interesting that Nut was a symbol of "resurrection" and "rebirth". Finally, the most interesting aspect of this last painting, is that the general posture of the xenomorph creator resembles very much the shape of The Derelict. Beside the fact that she is of bio-mechanical nature, the eggs are emerging from her belly which nicely corresponds to The Derelict's dome, while her hands correspond to the right Derelict "arm" (indeed, the right Derelict "arm" resembles the satanist's sign (Fig. 3)) and her legs correspond to the left Derelict "arm" (the left Derelict "arm" looks like a distorted "foot"). Her posture suggests mocking or defiance of the goddess Nut (or some other such benevolent creature), as if she is able to "re-generate" or "resurrect" part of herself via the xenomorph cycle, using only technology of her own.
Based on the above, one is very tempted to conclude that The Derelict is either the male of the species or a direct manifestation of this female creature using whatever materials it has at its disposal to organically grow itself, hence the structural differences between Fig. 3 and Fig 13. Because spiders are traditionally female, the author tends to believe the latter.
Finally note that this painting is a visual description of the very warning signal which The Derelict emitted according to the novelization of the movie Alien by Alan Dean Scott.
Conclusions:
It is hard to try to psychoanalyze Giger's work, lest one desires to end up in the loony bin. Nevertheless, the inquiring mind can gain a unique perspective of the horror that lurks in his mind via his work, using careful and judicious observations. Although the above analysis is nothing but a bunch of materialized inferences and hypotheses based on a fictional object, The Derelict, for me, remains the most horrifying thing I have ever seen in my life.
Most people who have seen the movie Alien find the xenomorph itself pretty disturbing, but there is something totally and undeniably horrifying about the Derelict itself. The details shown in the sketches of the book "Giger's Alien" imply that its design and function are related to something totally and unimaginably malignant by any human standard of the definition of "malignancy". Perhaps "malignancy" is not even the right word here. The Derelict goes beyond that. It encompasses an entire system of systematic obliteration of life which goes beyond any human definition of evil. There is a certain mysterious evil repulsiveness about it, which my mind fails to grasp due to its immensity, but at the same time there is also a certain horrifying attraction for its intended purpose, which no doubt stems from our innocent curiosity as a species. The Derelict looks (and "feels") so inconceivably sinister, that it is perfectly conceivable that its canon behavior as depicted in the first Alien movie (sitting supposedly "dead" on Acheron for example) may itself have been a pretense, hence its total disappearance from all subsequent Alien movies.
I think it is good that this object exists only in our fantasies: Personally I would find it extremely disturbing to share the universe with this object. That's the genius of Giger: Being able to generate this kind of feeling and imagery with his work.
"Giger's Alien, Film Design, 20th Century Fox", by Galerie Morpheus International. (The paintings of the book can be accessed from The Little Giger database (online), by entering: Search: Books, Popup Menu: Giger's Alien and clicking: Start Search).
