30 “Alien” Franchise Movie Facts That Will Blow Your Mind

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Gem Seddon and GamesRadar present 30 Alien Facts That Will Blow Your Mind.  Here are three of my favorites…

11. Blow its bloody head off!

In Aliens, the Marines scatter when the xenomorphs peel away from the walls, retreating to the safety of the APC. One pesky creature manages to get its sharp talons wedged into the doors; and then gets its head blown off by Hicks.

After endless takes where actor Michael Biehn struggled to get the barrel into the alien’s jaws, the crew came up with a way. They simply started with the gun in its mouth, pulled it out, and reversed the shot. Proof that sometimes the coolest tricks don’t require CGI.

5. Terminator connection

Preliminary Aliens drafts had Bishop mention that he was created by Cyberdyne Systems – the technology corporation responsible for creating Skynet in the Terminator saga. It was later switched to Hyperdyne.

One element that does remain happens aboard the drop ship. In the special edition, Hudson’s “ultimate badass” rant about the Marines’ arsenal of weapons, makes reference to a “phased plasma pulse rifle.” The weapons the Marines use are in fact, M41A pulse rifles. This line is a cheeky connect between James Cameron’s previous film, in which the T-800 asks a gun store clerk for a “phased plasma rifle.”

Bill Paxton, who plays Hudson, also appeared in The Terminator as one of the street punks at the observatory.

1. Kane’s last supper

Ridley Scott deliberately kept the actors off the Alien set while production designers and the effects crew dressed the scene for Kane’s last meal. Despite having read the script, none of the principal leads knew what was going to happen. So when the chestburster emerges from John Hurt and a stream of fake blood blasts a stunned Veronica Cartwright, her shocked reaction and scream? Completely authentic.

“Everyone was wearing raincoats,” Weaver later recalled. “We should have been a little suspicious.”

The article contains so many more interesting facts.  It’s definitely worth a read!