Alien: Sex in space

leading from

 Making the Movie

Ridleygram of Ripley coming up to see Dallas in the observation dome for sex

a) Sex between Ripley and Dallas

a.i) In the Observation dome
There was going to be a scene where Ripley and Dallas were about to have sex in the observation dome on the top of the ship.

Ripley comes up from the deck below and says "I need relief"

He replies "Oh Jesus not now"

The audience then would realise that she's asking him to make love to her, but the shot was lost because of time pressures, and then they had decided that it would have seemed too out of place once they realised the power of the chestburster scene, as if the sex to follow would have seemed totally gratuitous.

Sigourney Weaver filmed part of the love scene with Dallas as a screen test with Ray Hassett in the role of Dallas.

In fact in one version of the script, Ripley has love scenes with two men.

As far as Ridley could see, Sigourney probably liked the idea.

1. Ridley Scott: Later Dallas is lying down and staring into space. Ripley comes up and says "I need relief." He says "Oh Jesus not now" You suddenly realize that she's asking him to make love to here. We lost that in shooting because of time pressures ( Fantastic Films #11, October 1979)p34)
2. Ridley Scott: We took out a scene where Dallas and Ripley discuss sexual "relief" because after the scene in which Kane (John Hurt) is killed when the alien bursts through him from the inside, it seemed out of place. That scene proved much more powerful, and successful than I expected, and for the sex to follow would have seemed totally gratuitous. The "relief" was to be our token attempt to answer the question about sex in space.  (Omni Screen Flights/Screen Fantasies- The future according to science fiction: An interview with Ridley Scott by Danny Peary)
3. Fantastic Film:  One draft of the script actually had two love scenes in it. Ripley makes it with two guys
   
   Ridley Scott: I liked that, and I think Sigourney liked the idea too. But the scenes came after Kane's death. and the sort of  flippancy that they had just didn't fit in with the mood at that point (Fantastic Film #12)

a.ii) Taming the relationship down

So in the film the characters Ripley and Dallas appeared to be having a sexual relationship , a decision came that it didn't seem to be going anywhere, that it was too puzzling, so it was withdrawn since they didn't need it, and it was better to keep it about business.

1. Ridlet Scott: This was interesting (48:00)because this scene at one stage had a suggestion tonally that she and Dallas have some kind of a relationship and we thought it didn't go anywhere and therefore it was puzzling, we withdrew it, we didn't need it. It was better to keep it all about business. Actually the scene we had, it was a good scene, and sometimes on reflection the innuendo of a relationship might have been been useful (20th anniversary dvd commentary )

b) Sex relationships amongst the Nostromo crew

b.i) No sex or casual space
The idea that Ridley went with would that relationships would be discouraged but the idea of casual sex would be normal for obvious reasons otherwise if he was going to have seven on board a tightly closed ship, someone was going to get left out.

The only way that mixed crews could work out on long missions is by neutralizing everyone and forbidding sex entirely, or by having free open sex for whoever wants it.

So casual relationships between male with female, male with male and female with female seemed okay in space where they were going to be locked up in a spacecraft that seemed like a big tin can for years on end.

With hypersleep, what might feel like a year could be ten years.
 
b.ii)  Dallas' other affairs
Ridley tried to instigate that there was some suggestion of that between Dallas and Lambert, and he even thought about showing a lesbian or gay relationship although that wasn't a common idea in cinema at the time

1.  Ridley Scott: Relationships would be discouraged, you know the idea of casual sex would be normal for obvious reasons. I thought , why not, because if you've got seven on board, somebody's going to get left out, right erm and so casual relationships, whether its male or female, male with male, female with female, seems to be o-okay, seems to be okay in space when you're (01:16:00) locked away in a big tin can for years on end, could be years, plus hypersleep, so it might feel like a year, you might be away ten years, so I tried to instigate (1:17:00) that and there was a suggestion of that with Dallas and that was the beginning with Veronica, er, ce...a.. an idea, should we infer something here, should we have an inference of 'er, you know a Lesbian or gay relationship or not. It kee... it would have been kind of interesting, today I'd probably do that, just to thicken up the er, the layers 'n the characters
   ( Alien commentary from Alien Quadrilogy DVD and Alien Anthology Blu-Ray combined)
2. Ridley Scott: I thought why not? (1:16:27 ) Relationships would be discouraged, you know the idea of casual sex would be normal for obvious reasons. I thought , why not, because if you've got seven on board, somebody's going to get left out, right erm and so casual relationships, whether its male or female, male with male, female with female, seems to be o-okay, seems to be okay in space when you're (01:16:00) locked away in a big tin can for years on end, could be years, plus hypersleep, so it might feel like a year, you might be away ten years, so I tried to instigate (1:17:00) that and there was a suggestion of that with Dallas and that was the beginning with Veronica, er, ce...a.. an idea, should we infer something here, should we have an inference of 'er, you know a Lesbian or gay relationship or not. It kee... it would have been kind of interesting, today I'd probably do that, just to thicken up the er, the layers 'n the characters
    (Alien commentary from Alien Quadrilogy DVD and Alien Anthology Blu-Ray combined)
3. Ridley Scott: If you think about it logically, the only way that mixed crews could work out on long missions is by neutralizing everyone and forbidding sex entirely, or by having free open sex for whoever wants it. Close relationships in tightly closed ships with small crews would certainly have to be discouraged. The problems that would result from some men and women pairing off and leaving other crew members on their own is obvious (Omni  Screen Flights/Screen Fantasies- The future according to science fiction: An interview with Ridley Scott by Danny Peary)
4. Fantastic Films: Was there any feeling against having women in space
   Ridley Scott:  There were a few challenges sure. "If you have women up there, how come there's no love interest?" It's a pity that the one scene we did have in the screenplay that had sex in it had to be cut. It showed that you couldn't afford to have love affairs in deep space. , if you do, you immediately have two groups aboard. The pair who are in love and the rest of the crew. That's the beginning of problems unless you are a space pioneer and settle down with your family(Fantastic Film #12)
   

c) Sex and the Alien life cycle

Facehugger on the face of Broussard drawn by Ron Cobb

c.i Ron tells his idea to Dan
The idea of the Facehugger came out of Ron's idea for this alien creature having sex with one of the explorers and then later came from Dan O'Bannon the idea of the creature being birthed by exploding through the stomach

From various impressions from Ron's own memory of the event, the conversation possibly went like this while at the time there are a large number of different words that could have been used.

Ron said "Dan, Dan, I got it, I got it, it's the solution to the whole movie"

Dan replied "What is it? How does he get on board?" 

Ron said "The monster screws one of the people"

Dan asked "What! What are you talking about?  "

Ron added "Well, jumps on his face and plants his seed in him."

Dan responded "Well, how in the hell, you know, how's that going to be, an alien impregnating..."

See: Alien: Inventing the Facehugger

1. Ron Shusett : "We started talking and he said "yeah, it could go on his face, it could be a creature, we don't even know what the monster looks like, it's a little creature and it jumps on his face." And I said "somehow the monster has to plant its' seed in him, but nobody will know that until it comes bursting out of his chest." (Dan O'Bannon responded):"Oh my god, i think we've got it, we've got the whole movie, nobody's ever seen anything like this" And it wrote itself within three weeks, we had the story structure completed, and it took us another three months to do the script"(Alien Saga documentary 04:17)
2. Ron Shusett : And this was not a dream, this was the subsconscious, I was very aware of that, In other words, it was not… you're mind, you're closer to your subconscious, when you're in dream state and so I woke up in the middle of the night, I was very aware of the fact that I did not dream it but my brain was churning. and I said, ‘Dan, I have it: I have the solution, the monster. " He said 'What is it?"  I said" the alien is like a crab like thing, and it jumps on his face and plants his seed inside him. And then it grows and gestates and comes bursting out of him in the middle of the movie!’ (Dan O'Bannon responded):'Oh my god, no one has ever seen anything like that" and within three weeks of that moment, the entire structure, just as you saw it, with one exception, not for now, fell completely into place. ( Executing Alien: Ronald Shusett, Cinefantastique website)
3. Ron Shusett : Dan put his finger on the problem he said, I knows what happens, has to happen next, is the creature has to get on the ship in an interesting way. But I have no idea how and if we could solve that, if can't be just it snuck in, then I think the whole movie will unfold, come in to place.  I went to sleep and I'm sure it isn't dreaming, it's a... the mind is functioning subconsciously, and in the middle of the night, so I woke up and I said, "Dan I think, i think i have an idea," and he said "what?" and I said "well, uh, the alien, the alien screws one of them" he said, "what are you talking about?"Well jumps in his face and plants the seed in "(Alien Evolution documentary, 4:57)
4. Ron Shusett: So I went to sleep and I’m sure it is in dreaming, the mind is functioning subconsciously and that sort of gives you closer access here. And so in the middle of the night, I got up and I woke up and I said "Dan, I think I have an idea". He said "what?" I said, "well, the alien, the alien screws one of them. He said "what are you talking about?" "Well, jumps on his face and plants his seed in him". And Dan had talked to me about his other movie that had something about that, so it really was somewhat derivative of that, but it was a little bit different about a giant bug that implanted their pods, like a wasp will plant its young in a spider, and let it grow there. So it was really derivative of that idea, but he’d never thought of applying it for this. And for the alien to do this to one of the humans and then in the middle of the movie would come bursting out of his chest! (Interview for Alien Evolution) 
5. Ron Shusett : So I went to sleep and I’m sure it is in dreaming, the mind is functioning subconsciously and that sort of gives you closer access here. And so in the middle of the night, I got up and I woke up and I said Dan, "I think I have an idea. He said "what?" I said, "well, the alien, the alien screws one of them."He said "what are you talking about?" "Well, jumps on his face and plants his seed in him." And Dan had talked to me about his other movie that had something about that, so it really was somewhat derivative of that, but it was a little bit different about a giant bug that implanted their pods, like a wasp will plant its young in a spider, and let it grow there. So it was really derivative of that idea, but he’d never thought of applying it for this. And for the alien to do this to one of the humans and then in the middle of the movie would come bursting out of his chest! He said, "well my God, that’s the most - nobody’s ever seen anything like it." I remember the gasp on his face. And it took us three weeks from that point to get the whole structure. "(see Alien Legacy documentary)
6. Ron Shusett: "Dan , I have the idea . I know what the monster does. The monster screws the human being. It plants the seed, grows and emerges from the body of the human - a human hybrid monster. It's in there , and we don't know until it comes out and escapes in the ship, and all during the movie, it's chasing them and changing into different forms."( Alien - The Monster of all Monster Films by Dr. John L Flynn)
    

Ron Cobb's birth temple.

c.ii)  Birth temple ritual

The alien race had two sexes of its own but they needed a third host animal to reproduce, a lower animal, equivalent of an alien cow and it is led on to the stone in the temple to be impregnated.

However the alien appears to reproduce asexually using a hosts for a spores and a chestbursters and in that case we are yet to understand what form the two different sexes that Dan O'Bannon referred to, take in this life cycle.

The small larval alien within the spore known as "the face-hugger" amounts to being an ambulatory penis that when it spring out of the sport, driven to depositing its eggs the nearest available orifice.

See: Alien: Spore to Facehugger

1. Dan O'Bannon: They have a spore that contains what amounts to an ambulatory penis, and they require a host to reproduce. And when a host approaches the spore, this things springs out and attaches itself to the host and deposits eggs in the nearest available orifice, and then it dies and falls off. (Book of Alien, Scanlon and Gross )
2. Dan O'Bannon:See, these alien beings had two sexes of their own, but they needed a third host animal to reproduce. So they'd bring in an animal, put it up on the plinth with a spore, and whammo!  Then they'd lead the inseminated animal off to an enclosure somewhere to await the birth.  (Don Shay talks with O'Bannon. Cinefex 1.p48).  

d) Sex and Ash the robot

d.i) Ash's sexuality

Ridley figures that robots if they were really sophisticated had to occasionally have the urge,

So he said to Ian Holm who was playing Ash "how do you feel about sexual drive?"

Ian Holm said "great"

In a cut scenes Ripley asks Lambert "Have you ever slept with Ash?"

Lambert chuckles in response and replies "No, I'd say I don't think he was particularly interested" and in another take her words are "I never got the idea that he was particularly interested"


d.ii) Ash's sex attack on Ripley

Of course if the Ash was equipped with male genitals, they weren't built to actually function in a sexual way

So Ridley then added" rather than just beating her up, isn't it more interesting that he actually has always wanted to, and here's his opportunity but he doesn't have that part, and therefore it's a magazine"

 

d.ii) With that there there was the scene where Ash the robot suddenly attacks Ripley in a way that resembles an oral rape as he thrusts the magazine into her throat.


See: The unravelling of Ash

1. (Ash begins to put the magazine into her mouth and she struggles.) Ridley Scott: Ah, I guess this is the closest thing to seeing a robot have sex , huh . (20th anniversary dvd commentary )
2. (1:18:43 / 1:20:29) Ridley Scott: I figured that robots had to have, if they're really sophisticated, had to occasionally have the urge, 
   So I said to Ash, "how do you feel about sexual drive?". 
   He said "great".  (Sigourney laughing) ( Alien commentary from Alien Quadrilogy DVD and Alien Anthology Blu-Ray combined) 
3. Ridley Scott: I figures that robots had to have, if they're sophisticated, had to occasionally have the urge, so I said to Ash, "how do you feel about sexual drive?". He said "great". (Sigourney laughing) So I said "rather than just beating her up, isn't it more interesting that he actually has always wanted to, and here's his opportunity but he doesn't have that part"
   
   Sigourney Weaver: Oh, he doesn't
   
   Ridley Scott: And therefore it's a magazine (Alien DVD commentary, Alien Quadrilogy DVD)

e) Possibilities of Lambert's death by rape

When they made the movie, they didn't really know how Lambert died, but it looked as if she was raped by the alien beast, or so her scream over the intercom made it appear.

but there was the implication that there was a kind of sexuality to this androgynous male/female alien creature who could give birth itself  and it could also impregnate, so it was as what they could find about insects, based on a little bit of good old mother nature.

But it was as if there was some sort of dreadful ending, a terrible invasion of her body, as if it was a rape and therefore there would be an alien version of the Cartwright character, and more humanoid aliens in general on board this craft and this possibility is what Ripley now has got to destroy.


See: Alien: Death switcharounds
 

1. (1:30:08 /1:32:52 ) Ridley Scott: I mean we didn't know how she died but er, the implication that there was a kind of sexuality to this androgynous (1:33:00) male/female who could give birth itself, it could also impregnate, so it's like a , there are insects like that, we based that on a , you know a little bit of good old mother nature and erm, was that some dreadful ending, was that some terrible you know invasion of her body, a rape and therefore would there be a version of the Cartwright character. There'll certainly whatever happens, there'd be more humanoid aliens now on board this craft and that's what she's now got to destroy.
(Alien commentary from Alien Quadrilogy DVD and Alien Anthology Blu-Ray) 

2. Veronica Cartwright: All I can assume is: I got raped by the Alien. Also, those were Harry Dean Stanton's legs. If you look at the movie, he was wearing tennis shoes and blue pants. I was wearing white pants and cowboy boots. When I was the actual screen version I was very surprised.(Starlog Yearbook vol7, p33)

f) Sex in the Narcissus

In the process of making the film.

Sigourney Weaver began to explore the idea that her character Ripley could even have some sort of sexual interaction with the Alien beast when it catches her undressing in the Narcissus, perhaps it was even aroused

See: Sex and the Alien

1. Ridley Scott: They kept saying, there's no sex in this movie. I said you don't need any but there's a good opportunity here to have a little bit of, you know, hinted at sexuality, and Sigourney is certainly the person to project that. (1:42:00) (20th anniversary dvd commentary )
2. Ridley Scott: Oddly enough there's a sensuality to this whole scene, errrrrrr, partly the silence. It's, um, subtly sexual, right, or is it just me, huh. (20th anniversary dvd commentary )