Swiss Made 2069

leading from:

The Development of Necronom IV,  
H R Giger's Art,
Conception of the cybermen of Doctor Who

The suit from Swiss Made 2069

a) Freddy Murer's Swiss Made 2069 as recounted by HR Giger
The painting Necronom 4 which would lated become the Alien or part of it, but it came about partly through an extra-terrestrial humanoid which Giger had already created before for a half hour film called Swiss Made 2069 by Freddy Murer, filmed in 35mm made with a very small crew and the picture was distributed in Switzerland by a firm called Nemo.

The suit from Swiss Made 2069

The story was so complicated that Giger could only recount the main story lines, there were several, none of which are told entirely. An extra-terresrial comes to Earth with his extra-terrestrials dog, The dog wears a special suit which indicated how polluted the Earth atmosphere

For this film, he created a first extraterrestrial in three dimensions. This was a figure that already had a long head with a long occiput and instead of two eyes, it had a single eye as a camera along with an extendable microphone and on its chest were two spools of tape to record with while it records everything it comes across. But he is soon arrested by security people who later take him to the hospital. All these events are seen through his camera, in a subjective way. Giger was not quite sure what went on at the end, he thought that the character died, and when the scientists turn his limbs, they discover that there is nothing there.

And the whole figure was made from polyester, it was boney and black in appearance, like some kind of armour which merged with the trunk of the body and the arms, legs,  and belly were in a kind of black leather, padded in the manner of an ice hockey suit and in this way he created an extra-terrestrials. The story was also somewhat in the vein of George Orwell's 1984 as well .

At the time he created a dog for this film, the dog was real but it wore a suit as strange as the extra-terrestrial, which Giger made from polyester. Unfortunately it disappeared when he sent it to Dali who wanted it, and wouldn't be discovered for many some to come.

Swiss Made 2069

concept art for the extra-terrestrial suit in Swiss Made 2069

The dog suit from Swiss Made 2069

Source Quotes

1. Cinefantastique: Can you tell us about SWISS MADE, the science fiction film you worked on before ALIEN?
   HR Giger: SWISS MADE was filmed in 1969 by F. Murer, with a very small crew. The picture is distributed here by a firm called Nemo. But the story is so complicated I can only give you the main lines. An extraterrestrial comes to Earth with his extraterrestrial dog. The dog is wearing some clothes, which indicate how polluted our atmosphere is. I used a real dog, and I made the clothes in polyester. With a camera the alien has instead of eyes and a tape recorder he has in his chest, he records everything he comes across. But he is arrested by security people, who take him to a hospital. All these events are seen through his camera, in a subjective way. I think he dies at the end, but I'm not sure. He is examined by the people in the hospital, but when they turn his limbs, they discover there is nothing there! It was filmed in 35mm. The story, somewhat in the vein of Orwell's 1984, is very complex. It is in fact the combination of seven different stories, none of which are told entirely! (Cinefantastique vol 9, no. 1)
   
2. HR Giger: The painting Necronom 4 which would later become the Alien or part of it. it came about partly through a monster which I had already created before for a half-hour film called Swiss Made by Freddie Murer. For that film I created a first extraterrestrial in three dimensions. That was a figure that already had a long head with a long occiput and one eye was the camera and on its chest there were two spools of tape and from that there was a kind of microphone to pull out or a kind of pull out stand. And the whole figure was made from polyester, it was it was kind of boney and black, like some kind of armour which merged with the trunk and the arms and legs and a belly they were in a kind of black leather, they were kind of quilted like for example let's say like you use for ice hockey where you have these sausages which they make so that you can bend the arms and legs and you are at the same time protected from the puck, from any hard shots of anything like, and in that of style I created this extra terrestrial.  At the same time I created a dog for this film. Unfortunately it disappeared, Dali wanted to have it and I sent it off and it disappeared. (From a report of what Giger said in his interview with Alien Evolution) 

b) Based on an earlier design
The gender of the occupant of the extra-terrestrial suit in Swiss Made seems unimportant but the creature was based on a female biomechanoid in the drawing Woman with Child from 1967. The main humanoid head has a mechanical viewing device projecting about a foot ahead of the face of the humanoid and the armour covering the upper body is based on the same drawing.

Woman with Child, 1967

c) See: Swiss Made 2069 connected with Dr Who and the 10th Planet?

d) See: HR Giger's Woman with Child, 1967 references A. Epychaob's "Des Visiteurs Du Cosmos" illustration?

d) See:  Ghost of Walter Pichler's "TV Helmet"in Necronom IV?