Understanding ALIEN biology: a Discussion

I have seen so many posts regarding this subject, that I thought an open thread on just this was in order.

To begin, here is a comparison to ants, which is the best Earth based life forms that echo in the Aliens world.
Here is a cold definition of an Ant colony structure (Taken from Wikipedia on Ants):

They are known for their highly organized colonies and nests, which sometimes consist of millions of individuals. Individuals are divided into sub-fertile, and more commonly sterile, females ("workers"), fertile males ("drones"), and fertile females ("queens").

That is just basic biology.
So, if you apply that to ALIENS, then you get some interesting results.

Here, in an online article written by a man named Hugh Fisher that is very interesting at least...
ALIEN BIOLOGY ARTICLE


Now, I know, these are not real creatures. They are movie fantasy constructs, that seem to be redefined a bit from film to film. Especially in the AVP movie(s) where all known laws no longer apply, except in basic to get them out there for action purposes.

But in the first three movies for sure, there is a standard of sorts. Kind of. Getting past the first one that was just, plain, WEIRD and of course, ALIEN.

As I personally see it, The Queen needs no explanation. A "Warrior" is a good name for a "worker" or hive maker and defender, as in ants, and a "Drone" is as good a name as any for that first, domed headed guy, that shows up, pre-queen in both ALIEN and ALIEN 3. They precede a Queen and may even serve a further "male" purpose regarding her. The rest, the un-domed masses, must be "female" nest defenders.
That is the closest to reasonable I have ever come up with or understood.

I think once Alien Resurrection and AVP came along, the return to the domed headed Aliens, messes up any chance at explaining James Cameron's arbitrary removal of the domes from the "Drones/Warriors" so that it all become too weird to follow anymore.

But, since the only films in the series that seem to stick to any rules are the first three, and are the only ones to contain the REAL Ripley, they are also the only ones I respect absolutely.

Therefore, I submit this above explanation for their structures, if indeed there are any to defend.

Otherwise, all this is moot, and is in the eyes of the beholders, ie., anyone, and thier personal opinions of the Aliens.

I do indeed have a comp chart, that shows the differences, that is now lost somewhere deep within the confines of the now locked, original Aliens thread, so I need to go find it and post it here.

In that, at least, is non-arguable comparison between the versions of the "Warrior Drones" as I prefer to call them all.
Much easier, and in this company, more politically correct?
Maybe.

Anyway, hope some of you have pros, cons and more to say here.

This is a start at least.

Here is the overview chart I made:

Here are the more, movie specific charts...

(I do have larger versions, but my photobucket can't contain them)













My respects to all sources, online and otherwise, that I used in the making of these charts. Especially that of Harry Harris and his ALIENS Website. Images used by permission.

That all makes sense to me -- I'll buy it. And with Cameron's obsession with strong females, it makes sense that he would "uncap" the aliens and make them female.

CANON at last.

I'm glad the comments in the ALIENS thread stirred up some passion here to get the word out. Thanks, Les.

But I still like the HT Aliens alien. Can't wait to see how you improve upon it to make it accurate. By that time I'm sure we'll all see the differences and desperately want one.

I love you Les.

Very cool thread Les. Thanks man!

I think i'll always love the look of the Aliens from Aliens. If they took the modern day effects and revamped the overall movement of those Aliens, it would be so awesome. Still great though.

Alien biology, oh man... this is one that can go on forever!

But that's why we love our dear little aliens!

After the advent of A:R and AvP (and of course AvP2) I think the only explanation we can have for the ridge-heads is that these only occur in mature hives.
There was no old/mature hive in A:R (actually, there wasn't a true hive, since the queen -and her offspring- were basically mutations), so the warriors could not have had time to adapt to the hive and loose their cowls/domes.
Same can be said of the warriors in AvP, there was no hive, so there was no shedding of the cowl.
My point of view concerning the terms warrior and drone is to apply warrior to lone xenomorphs outside of a hive (think Kane's son and the xeno from A3), and also to other xenomorphs outside of a hive environment.
Drones to me are usually the xenos living within a hive and defending a queen, as seen in aliens.
Thus, ridge-heads would always be drones and cowlies would be warriors. This has no bearing on their unfortunately (for other species) violent and predatorial demeanor.

Now we have to wait and see how old the hive and queen in AvP2 will be (there is a strong indication that there should be a queen and hive in AvP2), and whether this will help confirm a theory or just make the aliens even more incomprehensible...

More Alien biology discussions! Always fun!

Best idea I've ever read to explain domed/undomed Aliens was that mature Aliens shed the dome to reveal the chitinous detail underneath, like a larvae. In Aliens, the only time we've seen them without a dome, that hive was established for several months. In every other movie, the Aliens were relatively newborn.

ambac said:

More Alien biology discussions! Always fun!

Best idea I've ever read to explain domed/undomed Aliens was that mature Aliens shed the dome to reveal the chitinous detail underneath, like a larvae. In Aliens, the only time we've seen them without a dome, that hive was established for several months. In every other movie, the Aliens were relatively newborn.

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im an alien...and this is correct about us. you guys all kick ass. i will be hanging out in your stomachs ....see you soon!!!

Great thread.

I was a Bio Major in College and I don't have a clue but it's sure fun to discuss... Insects vary so much, so may species, so much to contemplate.

ambac said:

More Alien biology discussions! Always fun!

Best idea I've ever read to explain domed/undomed Aliens was that mature Aliens shed the dome to reveal the chitinous detail underneath, like a larvae. In Aliens, the only time we've seen them without a dome, that hive was established for several months. In every other movie, the Aliens were relatively newborn.

Click to expand...

So it's like a "shield" to protect the immature brain. I think I like this explanation best -- does away with the whole male/female angle. I kind of like the aliens to be beyond such gender constrictions.

Simply awesome Les, you should write a book about this, I would definitely buy it!

Wor-Gar said:

So it's like a "shield" to protect the immature brain. I think I like this explanation best -- does away with the whole male/female angle. I kind of like the aliens to be beyond such gender constrictions.

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I have always dug that angle too. To be honest, I have disliked any gender reference brought in since ALIENS, but what can you do? It's there. Part of the continuity. SO, maybe this dome thing is a maturity issue. It would allow the AR and AVP kids in to play....
I do prefer my Aliens...ALIEN. Weird. You know...(in best Bill Murray voice) "Just not right!"

But, I am open to any interesting interpretations.

Love dem aliens!

It does simplify things to have non-gender aliens. Let the Queen be the alien-maker when no hosts abound.

Either way works. Maybe some day, someone will make a proper ALIEN sequel and explain some of these things. Of course, then there goes the mystery...

I guess at the end of the day, mystery is always best.

And the biggest mystery of all seems to be WHEN WILL SOMEONE MAKE A GOOD (Alien) GIGER ALIEN???

Wor-Gar said:

And the biggest mystery of all seems to be WHEN WILL SOMEONE MAKE A GOOD (Alien) GIGER ALIEN???

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That again!

figuremasterles said:

I have always dug that angle too. To be honest, I have disliked any gender reference brought in since ALIENS, but what can you do? It's there. Part of the continuity. SO, maybe this dome thing is a maturity issue. It would allow the AR and AVP kids in to play....
I do prefer my Aliens...ALIEN. Weird. You know...(in best Bill Murray voice) "Just not right!"

But, I am open to any interesting interpretations.

Love dem aliens!

Click to expand...

I don't like the gender reference either, but to be perfectly honest, we only refer to the Queen as a Queen because it's the only reference our puny human minds can use. We're the ones imparting a female gender on the creature, which could in fact be genderless!

If you throw in the Ridley Scott's DC of Alien it becomes even better!

I see no problem in continuity if the aliens can actually morph hosts into eggs when there is no queen available to do the job.
Makes them even more sinister and yucky!

ambac said:

I don't like the gender reference either, but to be perfectly honest, we only refer to the Queen as a Queen because it's the only reference our puny human minds can use. We're the ones imparting a female gender on the creature, which could in fact be genderless!

Click to expand...

Well, I can agree on a certain level, as understanding or debunking Aliens is sort of mythblowing, but...biology is biology, and Cameron more or less committed to it. Especially, absolutely in design. If you look good under her crotch area (and echoed in other areas on her body), her "femininity" is magnified times ten! (She even has high heels! )

Note this design sketch:





Seen from underneath, it's outright pornographic. No, The QUEEN is indeed a female. Any egg layer is a female in most biological terms. That is one of the definitions of the term.
As for a "male" I still like the Drone idea myself. A predecessor to the Queen. Makes a certain sense to me.
I am still open to other ideas. I just like those. And, Cameron sort of locked in a gender thing, as Wor-Gar said, Cameron's obsession with strong females made this a sure bet for Aliens.

Anyway, it is always open to debate though.

Man, now I REALLY want a giger Alien! Especially looking at theprop pics up close again. I found the male to female concept to be interesting, and the comparrison to ants. That's how I've always thought of them is like ants or even bees. Pretty interesting stuff.

hmm... if I understand the alien life cycle correctly. it like this:

queen - eggs - chestbuster+host - final alien.

if there is a sex angle to their biology, (which I dont really like the idea, alien sex is just... ) then its more likely determined during chestbuster+host stage. I dont have any particular proof for that assumption except that alien seem to adopt the form of the host creature, dog alien in AR, and humanoid alien in A1 and A2. So perhaps the host's sex also determine the sex of the alien.

I do think, however, its more likely aliens are non-sex repro creatures. for a very vicious creature, they are heavily depended on host creature to continue their life cycle. If there was only one host and one egg, and one alien was hatched (like in A1) there would be no chance for that particular alien to continue the alien life cycle if they are required to mate to continue the lifecycle. So it makes more sense to me that each and every alien has the ability to become a queen if there is no pre-existing queen. otherwise, the lifeline dies completely.