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a sexual relationship , a decision came that it didn't seem to be going anywhere, that it was too puzzling, so it was withdrawn since they didn't need it, and it was better to keep it about business.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 )

Alien: Obvious kit sprue

leading from
Alien: Nostromo

1. Bill Pearson: A lot of insert shots were shot at the end where everyone says," Hey! Isn't that a load of kit bits and sprues?" This is the scene where Ripley ejects the Alien from the Narcissus, and there is a closeup of buttons being pushed on a control panel.
   
   One of the model makers who will remain nameless to save his blushed was standing by on the stage that evening when it was being shot. He was asked to dress around the buttons to apply some interesting detail on the panel
   
   Unfortunately the guy was not a wiggeter, but he didn't want to say no. He picked up some very obvious kit sprue, sprayed it silver and stuck it on. When I walked in the next day, I said, "what the hell is that?" I was told it was a case of you wouldn't see it on the screen, I still cringe about it now. (Sci-Fi  Fantasy Models #48, p28)

Alien: Nostromo's infirmary references Ralph McQuarrie's Death Star Corridor painting?

leading from:
Alien: Nostromo
and 

Alien: Outside the infirmary

I might wonder if it had been loosely inspired by a Ralph McQuarrie painting featuring stormtroopers in a death star corridor with a large window looking into a landing bay in the distance to the left, and what's seen through the window becomes transformed into medical equipment, within the constraints of the size of the Nostromo set with the proposed corridors

Ralph McQuarrie's painting featuring stormtroopers near
the landing bay in the Death Star for Star Wars (Early 1976)

detail from Ralph McQuarrie's painting

View of the med bay through the window

Alien: Inspired by Moebius for refinery platform?

leading from
Alien: The Nostromo

and 
Jean Giraud / Moebius' Art

a. ) A major inspiration for Ridley Scott were drawings by Moebius as featured in the comic book Metal Hurlant (and it's American counterpart Heavy Metal) that Ivor Powell introduced him to while while filming The Duellists in Dordoigne.

1. The writer of this blog recalls from memory of the Memories of Alien interview at the Empire Big Screen, 2011.

b. ) When Ridley made the sudden jump to having Nostromo's refinery platform as a large squarish shape we might ask where Ridley took the inspiration and we can see it clearly enough in this comicbook story a likely answer.

In Moebius' story "It's a small universe" a couple of star travellers travel in a smallish space craft that appears to be a squarish platform with a support pylone extending beneath to connect with the lower horizontal tube which has the cockpit bubble situated at the front of it

The first image from the comicbook story shown here reveals the vessel approaching a planet somewhere out in space and the others of it landing on the planet. This craft comes to rest with the upper rectangle floating in the water with the rest submerged.

sideview of space ship

early Ridleygram of the refinery

c. Ridley's early storyboard known as a "Ridleygram" of the refinery before the planet appears to show a wide straight platform with similar sized attachments beneath the structure held by slanted support pylon

The original Starship Enterprise

d. i. Moebius' spacecraft is most likely a general parody of the original Star Trek's Starship Enterprise, but as a small space ship and with a rectangular top instead.

ii. Star Trek art Director Matt Jefferies designed the original Enterprise, which in series creator Gene Roddenberry's first series outline drafts was named Yorktown. Jeffries' experience with aviation led to his Enterprise designs being imbued with what he called "aircraft logic". (source: wikipedia)

Alien: Possible Robert McCall inspiration for refinery platform

leading from
Alien: The Nostromo

McCall's work for Kubrick's 2001

a) Robert McCall December 23, 1919 – February 26, 2010) the artist a science fiction artist was well known for his paintings of space crafts and also his floating cities. In 1971 Robert McCall created a painting floating city featuring a floating platform with towers and spheres, (featured on the right) it's a structure bearing some similarities to the Nostromo's refinery platform, and one can ask the question if this was a possible inspiration for Ridley's refinery platform. Ridley's then first assistant director for his company Ivor Powell who became associate producer for the Alien movie is known to have been a publicist for Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey" and was very much a science fiction fan so we can postulate that he would have been in a position to be someone able to introduce Ridley Scott to Robert McCall's work.

"Floating city" by Robert McCall 1971

b) The name became evident to me from reading an interview from the publicity for Prometheus in 2012, Arthur Max, chief designer for Ridley Scott talked to L'Ecran Fantastique magazine about how Ridley Scott inspired the artist Robert McCall, who produced designs for the films design work for The Black Hole, Star Trek:The Motion Picture and 2001: A Space Odyssey. But of course this doesn't say that Ridley had any actual interest in the work of Robert McCall during Alien.

1. a.) Arthur Max: "Et Ridley s'est inspiré aussi du travail d'un autre artiste tres talenteux, Bob McCall."(L'Ecran Fantastique Hors Serie no16, p24)                                                                                                                                               Googletranslater translated this as "And Ridley has also inspired the work of another artist very talented, Bob McCall" but years later would translate it as "And Ridley was also inspired by the work of another very talented artist Bob McCall"

Ridley's Nostromo storyboard

Alien: Chris Foss inspiration for the Nostromo

leading from

Alien: Creating The Nostromo

The Nostromo

a) Ron Cobb borrowed from Chris Foss
Chris Foss, before Ridley Scott dropped him from the production, had been creating many concept drawings for the design of the Nostromo.

When they needed to design the final thing, although Foss was no longer directly involved, Brian Johnson went away with Chris Foss' and Ron Cobb's designs to build the final spaceship.

While Cobb's exterior design that appears loosely inspired by Foss' work was used for the Nostromo,  one can find that features from Chris Foss' other designs found their way into the ship.

Ron Cobb's earlier Nostromo

final Nostromo sketch on yellow paper by Ron Cobb

b) Upper Thrusters and main body shape
The main M shape of the Nostromo is near enough borrowed from the vessel below left with "Fountain Line" written along the side of it's "Proton Drive" engine, while the upper engines upon the Nostromo are noticeably very reminiscent of Chris Foss' snake like space ship that's segmented like a train. However Chris Foss put this M shape  down to the shape of an aircraft part used, rather than something from his own artwork

 

Tug with enigmatic upper engines

 

 

Nostromo's upper engine intake openings

The "Fountain Line" tug

c) The Engine Intakes

A point about the design for the Nostromo is that maybe it can be said to resemble a gothic tomb.

Chris Foss had drawn numerous designs for ships with cavernous intake openings for engines, but one with the most haunting features is his design for a pyramid interior with the sloping ends of vast rectangular tunnels that taper to the rectangular mouths of these entrances.

Perhaps here we are seeing the origins of the characteristic engine intake openings.

(See Chris foss alien temple-interior for more images)

 

Chris Foss pyramid temple interior

 

 

d) Nostromo's initial colour of yellow

The Nostromo model initially went through a yellow paint scheme that Jon Sorensen acknowledged was inspired by Chris Foss' designs. 

e) Also read the section Yellow Nostromo

untitled painting by Chris Foss
used on the cover of  E.E. 'Doc' Smith's
novel "Planet of Treacher"

1. Den Of Geek: So the Nostromo's kind of 'M'-shape was just taken from an aircraft part...?

   Chris Foss: That's it. Because I've worked on so many other films where the shots are so important and so on, but on this particular one...
Ridley Scott noticed that The Who were down there making a film, and he was fascinated by all the bits and pieces that were going on with that. The Who, of course, had discovered lasers, and that's why you've got all these smoke-effects and swirl-effects, and [Scott] just couldn't be arsed about the spaceship and all that crap. So the poor sod who had to build it said 'Right, fuck that', got himself a whole load of paper, and bodged something together from the bits and pieces of a wrecked helicopter.
   (Source:  www.denofgeek.com/)
2. Ron Cobb: The truth of the matter is, as Chris said, we both influenced each other, I think I borrowed from him more than he borrowed from me. .(Ron Cobb, Den Of Geek.com Interview)
3. Wmmvrrvrrmm: Also I keep thinking about how the Nostromo model when it went through it's yellow paint scheme reminds me of Chris Foss' paintings, he has been known to paint yellow spacecrafts. I wonder if the paint scheme was inspired by his work (Alien Experience.com, June 21, 2009)
   Jon Sorenson: Absolutely correct! It was inspired by Chris Foss' designs.(Alien Experience.com, June 24, 2009)
   

Alien: Ron Cobb's design philosophy

leading from
Alien: The Nostromo

and 

Ron Cobb

Dan O'Bannon with Ron Cobb

a) Cobb the Frustrated engineer
As a concept designer, Ron Cobb imagined himself to be a frustrated engineer. He had lots of opinions about how certain problems could be solved using present technology or even speculating about near future technology. So when he worked on a film, he liked to take this challenge, pushing to do something interesting but with believable speculations and so design a spacecraft as though it were absolutely real, right down to the fuel tolerances, the centers of gravity, the ways the engine should function, radiation shielding and so on, and after that he would reshape the whole idea into something that would be appropriate for the film.

b) Working on the Nostromo
He was very concerned with how Nostromo might really look and how it would function while he knew that Ridley was just concerned with creating a fantastic ship, and when we are talking about the Nostromo, we are also talking about the tug in combination with its refinery in tow which in some versions of the idea was also part of the same ship. Ron understood that Ridley liked the idea of the ship being a cross between a tramp steamer and a cathedral. Ron tried to reflect this in drawings but also sneak in some little suggestions about how a ship might really work.  On the other hand, the idea of having the ship look like a gothic castle became part of the conversation to the extent that Ridley wanted the refinery towers to look like something out of Disneyland and this annoyed Ron who even thought that the idea of it being like a castle was a bit too much

The design team was being pressured a lot to bend technology to have a somewhat similar look to Star Wars, sort of half believable, but rather highly stylized - or perhaps would be romanticized. The interior of the ship looked like a deco dance hall, or a World War II bomber, and a genuine projection of what a space ship of the future might look like - or a combination of all of them.

Creating a realistic space ship was important to Ron because he found that the more realism he put into something, the more original it would look and the sense of realism would suck the audience in. A lot of time, there isn't the chance to do this and instead the work would be about recycling a lot of silly props from every idiotic movie that's ever been made. He did as much as he could and would make sketches of the interiors as seen from the outside.

Ron Cobb's yellow Nostromo

c) Coming to design inside and outside
He wasn't supposed to be designing both since at first Chris Foss was supposed to be designing the exterior of the human's ship , and this was frustrating to him because because he always designed from the skin in. One of the things he would always do is want the interior to appear to fit the exterior and eventually there was a kind of a compromise made. And soon it turned out that Chris Foss would leave and Ron would design the Nostromo. In the art department, they covered the walls with drawings, and slowly but surely, Alien emerged.

d) Concerns for realism
With the Nostromo, he went as far as to wanted a contrast smooth underside for a heat shield on the underside of the vehicle and the details on the upper part but the modeling team had to go a different direction and cover the whole things with details creating surface breakup with wiggeting to make the model more interesting.

There's a certain awkwardness of the naturalistic portrayal of the space flight, partly because most of the people involved in this film had never made one like it before. They didn't understand what they were getting into, and were put off by concepts like no sound in space, and all the gravitational effects. They didn't want to be bothered, so it's all just virtually forgotten about.

The design team were being pressured to bend technology to have a somewhat similar look to Star Wars, a style that was almost half believable, rather highly stylized and perhaps would be romanticized. Ron thought that the interior of the ship resembled perhaps a 1920s Art Deco Dancehall or even a World War 2 bomber, mixed with a genuine projection of what a space ship of the future might look like - or even a combination of all of them.

e) Ship on the backstage
Ron felt that such a thing as a space craft in the movie should take the back stage of the film, he wasn't happy about a movie that should rely entirely on their visual effects in the way that scifi movies are notorious for. A lot of effort should be expended toward rendering the environment of the spaceship or space travel, whatever the fantastic setting of the story should be, as convincing as possible but always in the background. If it were a film dealing with a story set on an ocean liner, one might expect bits of footage to explain what the ship was liked docked or at sea but it should remain in the background of the story and that would be the same with science fiction.

f) The carrying out of Ron Cobb's ideas
The look of the film kept evolving as it went along. Ron would have liked to have stuck to a particular style or approach but there were a lot of other people involved who kept changing their minds, so the ship went through many phases of design. On the whole, Ron was pretty happy with the way his ideas were eventually realised, it was fascinating for him to watch the process all the way through, even some of the set dressings. He was pleased with the things that he had a fair amount of control over, but the things that he didn't personally oversee were a little disappointing for him.

However there were always surprising contributions from draftsmen and other people who would occasionally design a set that would turn out very very well. It was a mixed bag of many styles and many approaches.

A key thing to note about the film was how everything , including in the production evolved and grew as it went along, often in unexpected ways.

Quote sources

1. Ron Cobb: I resent films that are so shallow they rely entirely on their visual effects, and of course science fiction films are notorious for this. I've always felt that there's another way to do it; a lot of effort should be expended toward rendering the environment of the spaceship, or space travel, whatever the fantastic setting of your story should be - as convincing as possible, but always in the background. That way the story and the characters emerge, and they become more real. If you were to set a story on an ocean liner, there would be bits of footage to explain what the ship was like docked or at sea, but it would remain in the background of the story. It should be the same with science fiction. (Book of Alien by Scanlon and Gross)
2. Ron Cobb: I'm sort of a  frustrated engineer because I have lots of opinions about how certain problems could be solved using present technology or even speculating about near-future technology. So in working on a film I like to take this challenge and design a spaceship as though it was absolutely real, right down to the fuel tolerances, the centers of gravity, the way the engines function, radiation shielding, whatever.  And after I do that, I like to deal with how I can take this idea and hammer, bend and twist it into something that will be appropriate to the film. (Book of Alien by Scanlon and Gross)
3. Bill Pearson: When I met Ron, he was very adamant that they were very realistic. He wanted a heat shield on the underside of the Nostromo lander. He wanted a contrast between the smooth underside of the heat shield and the detailed upper surface. However this was not to be. Our instructions was to encrust the whole craft. When it came down, we weren't seeing a craft come through an atmosphere; there was no re-entry. Ron was concerned that it should be there if that type of action was present. Ron is very much into the believability of things. He created wonderful background histories about his designs.(Sci-Fi & Fantasy FX  #48, p27)
4. Spiky Bits: The original Ron Cobb pictures were very streamlined. Cobb had wanted the ship to look 100% feasible, with very smooth underside, like heat shields of NASA technology, but director Ridley Scott insisted on a lot of surface break-up to make the model interesting. He was shooting a horror film, after all. (SFX#6, p34)
5. Ron Cobb: I had a design for that, but it was a deep space design and they couldn't understand it. It was crazy. The lander is semi-streamlined because it has to land on planets with atmospheres, but even there I couldn't make the distinction between a deep-space ship, and a reentry shell. I had to give up being terribly accurate so the section of the ship that detaches and lands is semi streamlined, but it has got the deep space look that everybody seems to like. It looks a bit like Galactica - it's textured a bit like it. (Fantastic Films, July 1979 p30)
6. Ron Cobb: The only thing I could do to save it was that I drew the bottom of the shop as a re-entry shield and the top is sort of deep space so that it could come in belly-first. The top would be in a vacuum so it wouldn't have to be too streamlined. I haven't actually seen the model of it. (Fantastic Films, July 1979 p30)
7. Ron Cobb: So it's pretty much right off my drawings. But the platform behind: I had an idea I thought would have been a lot of fun, big cargo modules with no gravity orientation to them. It was a line of a thrust orientation and they couldn't understand that. They wanted gravity a orientated look because the lander part does - it's got a bottom and a top.
   Fantastic Film: I can see the problems you must have had in relating those concepts to people who had neither exposure to science nor SF. (Fantastic Films, July 1979 p30)
8. Ron Cobb: I was always pushing to do some interesting but believable speculations about how such a ship might might really look and how it would function. And Ridley, of course, he was interested in just producing a fantastic ship. I think he liked the idea of it being a cross between a tramp steamer and a cathedral. And so I was trying to reflect that, but also sneak in some little suggestions about how such a ship might really work. So the idea of a very realistic ship, a very believable spaceship design, was important to me because I thought it would suck the audience in. And I did as much of that as i could, I was always making a little sketch of how these interiors would look from the outside. So I was designing both. I wasn't supposed to be, but I was designing inside and out. (Alien The Archive, p32)
9. Ron Cobb: This was frustrating to me because I always design from the skin in. One of the things I would always do is want the interior to appear to fit the exterior and eventually there was a kind of a compromise made.  (Alien The Archive, p14)
10. Ron Cobb: I've always done future designs as though they're real, and I've found the more realism you put into it, the more original they look, and most of the time you don't do that you're just recycling a lot of silly props from every idiotic movie that's ever been made. We just covered the walls with drawings and, slowly but surely, Alien emerged. (Alien The Archive, p16)
11. Ron Cobb: They pressured us a lot to bend technology to have a somewhat similar look to Star Wars, sort of half believable, but rather highly stylized - or perhaps would be romanticized. The interior of the ship looked like a deco dance hall, or a World War II bomber, and a genuine projection of what a space ship of the future might look like - or a combination of all of them. (Mediascene #35, p18)
12. Ron Cobb: There's a certain awkwardness of the naturalistic portrayal of the space flight, partly because most of the people involved in this film had never made one like it before. They didn't understand what they were getting into, and were put off by concepts like no sound in space, and all the gravitational effects. They didn't want to be bothered, so it's all just kind of forgotten about.(Mediascene #35, p18)
13. Ron Cobb: On the other hand, I wanted the ship to look like a gothic castle, but resisted that approach - it might have been a bit too much. (Mediascene #35, p18)
14. Ron Cobb: We wanted to evoke a very, very scary place, almost like a Gothic castle (The Alien Legacy documentary )
15. Ron Cobb: On the whole, I'm pretty happy with the way my ideas were eventually realized. It was fascinating to watch the process all the way through, even some of the set dressings. I was pleased with things I had a fair amount of control over, but those I didn't oversee were a little disappointing. (Mediascene #35, p18)
16. Ron Cobb: Then there was always surprising contributions from draftsmen and other people who would occasionally design a set that would turn out very, very well. It was a mixed bag of many styles and many approaches. (Mediascene #35, p18)
17.  Ron Cobb:The look of the film kept evolving as it went along. I would like to have stuck to a particular style or approach, but there were a lot of other people involved who kept changing their minds, so the ship went through many phases of design. Almost everything, including the acting, evolved, and grew as it went along. (Mediascene #35, p18-19)
18. ii.) Ron Cobb : The design of the ship went through so many changes. Gordon could never make up his mind as to which design he wanted. We did hundreds of designs. Chris and I.  Finally out of desperation, when I was the only person left in London they asked me to do yet another exterior design  for the ship. I did one and Ridley and Gordon wanted this and that changed a little bit. I kept on persisting on a certain design for the lander part of the ship, the part of the ship you see most of all.  
    The other part of the ship is this vast platform which seems to be pulling along behind the lander, like a big oil refinery or something.
    
    
    I had a design for that, but it was a deep space design and they couldn't understand it, it was crazy. The lander is semi-streamlined because it has to land on planets with atmosphere, but even there I couldn't make the distinction between a deep-space ship and a reentry shell. I had to give up being terribly accurate so the section of the ship that detaches and lands is semi-streamlined., but has also got the deep space look that everybody seems to like. It looks a bit like the Galactica, it's textured a little bit like that.
    
    
    The only thing I could do to save it was that I drew the bottom of the ship as a reentry shield and the top is sort of deep space so that it could come in belly first. The top would be in a vacuum so it wouldn't  have to be too streamlined. I haven't seen the final model of it.
    
    
    I did these drawings, then Brian Johnson came in and he was going to build a model. He made up their minds for them. He just took my drawings and went right out to Bray Studios and built it. So it's pretty much off my drawings. But the platform behind: I had an idea I thought would have been a lot of fun, big cargo modules with no gravity orientation to them. It was a line of a thrust orientation and they couldn't understand that. They wanted a gravity orientated look because the lander part does - it's got a bottom and a top.
    
    
    Fantastic Films: I can see the problems you must have had in relating those concepts to people who had neither exposure to science or SF.
    
    
    Ron Cobb: I was intrigued by the idea of just getting things by them. I said to myself, "If I could come up with a really clever design for a big cargo ship that, in the design itself people could recognise how it works, it would really be nice to get it by the producer."
    
    
    I would sneakily insist on working all the details out , how the platform worked, why it was there and why it was attached to the other ship in the way it was.
    
    
    They couldn't understand it. In this case even Ridley couldn't understand it. He insisted on a kind of Disneyland thing, fantasy towers, which really annoyed me. As a last ditch effort I tried to redesign the towers to make them look like they actually did something. I don't know if it got done.  They became giant trash compactors almost, for compacting ore they were hauling. 
    
    
    I think that Brian Johnson will probably save the day.  He'll make them look very good 'cause it's not even explained. I'm afraid the tower, the big section behind the ship will look kind of like a castle.
    (Fantastic Films, July 1979, p30-34)