Aliens: The Alien Warrior Heads

 

 

 

leading from
Aliens: The Alien Warrior

(still collating)

a) James Cameron thought that the translucent dome over the whole top of the head of Giger's Alien looked like a porpoise back. 

 

He thought about doing the same thing in Aliens. 

 

Then Stan Winston had Tom Woodruff sculpt up a ribbed bone like understructure that would be slightly visible through the cowl.

 

 

 

Tom Woodruff working on an alien head.
My source: https://monsterlegacy.net/2015/02/22/monster-gallery-aliens-1986/

 

b) When it was finished Cameron took a look at it.  

 

One issue that came to the surface was that the smooth surface wouldn't work with the harsh lighting.

 

With that he wanted to see the shapes of the head underneath as it moved between light and darkness. 

 

Cameron decided "This looks much more interesting the way it is."

Source: Stanwinstonschool.com

c) Since Cameron requested that they didn't put the dome on the alien head. 

 

They decided that instead this would be just another generation of alien, but slightly mutated.

1. James Cameron:... the translucent cowl covering the whole top of the head that looked like a porpoise back. We planned to do the same thing with ours and Stan had Tom sculpt up a ribbed, bone like understructure that would be slightly visible through the cowl. When it was finished, I took a look at it and said "This looks much more interesting the way it is." So we decided this was just another generation of alien, slightly mutated. (Alien: The Archive p132)
2. Tom Woodruff: He requested we don't put a dome on the head of the alien and the reason I remember being was he didn't want a nice big smooth surface that wouldn't really work with the harsh lighting he was choosing and he wanted to be able to see the shapes of the head underneath as it moved between light and shadow. (Alien: The Archive p132)