Alien 3: ADI's Super Face-Hugger

 leading from 

ADI's Alien Life Forms

 

 

Garry Pollard working of the Super Face-Hugger

 

a) The idea for the creature

HR Giger had been evolving his idea for a Super Face-hugger around late August 1990, but ADI would design their own version of the creature and build it

It was supposed to be the a new strain of Face-Hugger, presumably one that would implant the seed of the queen.

Eventually ADI would even go as far as calling it the Queen Alien Facehugger , and that it was armour plated because it carried royalty in the form of the Queen embryo.

It was bigger than the regular face-hugger, had translucent webbing between the fingers and was heavily armoud with plates and spines.

Garry Pollard is known to have sculpted the piece as can be seen in the photo above

See also: Alien 3: Giger's Super Face-hugger

 

 

Close up side view of the Super Face-Hugger

 

Close up side view of the Super Face-Hugger 
(Science Fiction Filme und praktische Effekte on Facebook March 27th 2022

side view of the Super Face-Hugger 
(Science Fiction Filme und praktische Effekte on Facebook March 27th 2022

 

b) Creation

It was cast out of urethane and had an armature inside built to look like bones.

It was articulated so that you could put it into any position, but it was never meant to be seen alive.

Despite the considerable expenditure of effort, nothing of this creature survived the final cut

Underside of the Super Face-Hugger

 

Underside of the Super Face-Hugger 
(Science Fiction Filme und praktische Effekte on Facebook March 27th 2022

 

Overside of super face hugger 
(Science Fiction Filme und praktische Effekte on Facebook March 27th 2022

 

 

 

c)  Painting the creature

Gino Acevedo would paint the final screature mode

Underside of Face Hugger after being painted by Gino Acevedo

 

 .

The last image shows artist Gino Acevedo proudly showing his paint job.

d) As seen in Alien 3 extended edition

Although cut from the theatrical release, the Queen Alien Facehugger could be seen in the extended edition of Alien 3. 

It would found on the trolley in the abattoir after the ox had been found dead and had been transported in on it., and its own dead form would be held up by one of the prison inmate named Murphu

1. Pollard @garypollardsculptor busy on the Queen Alien Facehuggerfor ALIEN3.
   This was ADI’s addition to the Alien canon: an armored facehugger that carried royalty in the form of a Queen embryo.
   The last image shows artist @gino.acevedo proudly showing his paint job. This image has been circulated on the web as an unidentified crypto species. Can’t fool you, can they? (https://z-p42.www.instagram.com/p/CKoj1rYjgPL/)
2. Super Facehugger sculpted for Alien 3  (https://z-p42.www.instagram.com/p/B1D0PRwj2T2/)
3. Once designed were approved, the ADI team began producing the various representations of the alien's lifecycle.  Among them  was the face hugger, a major player in the both of the previous films. ADI developed an entirely new concept for a sequence in which a dead face-hugger was to be found, thus explaining a Ripley's impregnation with a queen embryo. "We had designed and built what we call the super face-hugger" said Woodruff. "It was supposed to be a new strain of face-hugger. presumably one which would implant the seed of a queen.  It was the bigger than the regular face-hugger, had translucent webbing between the fingers, and was heavily armored with plates and spines. It was cast out of urethane and had an armature inside built to look like bones. It was articulated so that you could put it into any position, but it was never meant to be seen alive." Despite the considerable expenditure of effort, nothing of the Super Facehugger survived to the final cut. (Alien the Special effects, p114 , (Articles originally published in Cinefex magazine)
4. It was a queen facehugger that was armor-plated to look like it carried the embryo of a queen alien, and we got to redesign it. I think Gary Pollard sculpted that as well.
   Yeah, he did. (Aliens 3 commentary subtitles. I haven't listened to see who was saying what)
   
5. Guten Morgen auf Fiona 161 werte Effektionisten.

   Hier seht ihr den Superfacehugger in seinen Details für ALIEN 3 (1992). angefertigt von Gary Pollard.

   In seinem bisher unveröffentlichten Interview (der Teil eines Projektes ist, welches nunmehr Gestalt annimmt) sagte er darüber:

   "Die Modellierung des Queen Facehugger begann mit ein paar Skizzen von Alec Gillis. Ich habe an Alec Gillis die Frage weitergeleitet. Seine Antwort:

   "Giger reichte seine Entwürfe von Zürich aus ein, aber Tom Woodruff und ich wurden gebeten, ebenfalls unsere Entwürfe einzureichen. Das führte später dazu, dass Giger uns gegenüber böse wurde, was sehr bedauerlich war. Sogar bei ALIENS (1986), an dem Giger nicht beteiligt war, betrachteten wir uns als Verwalter der unglaublichen Designs, die er geschaffen. Aber wenn ein Regisseur nach deinen Ideen fragt, gibst du sie ihm. Wir baten um den Vermerk "Alien-Effekte entworfen von", während Giger den Vermerk "Original Alien entworfen von" erhielt, um deutlich zu machen, dass wir nicht versuchten, Gigers brillante Arbeit zu schmälern."

   Die Skizzen waren für mich als Künstler ideal. Sie waren herrlich locker, zeigten aber den Weg. Ein krabbenartiges Gehäuse mit Ventilen an den Seiten. Ich durfte sie interpretieren und ein paar eigene Details hinzufügen, ein erfreulicher Prozess."(Science Fiction Filme und praktische Effekte on Facebook
   March 27th 2022)(Facebook translation

   Good morning on Fiona 161 worth effectists. Here you can see the Superfacehugger in his details for ALIEN 3 (1992). Conducted by Gary Pollard. In his previously unreleased interview (part of a project that is now taking shape) he said about it: "Modeling of Queen Facehugger started with a couple sketches by Alec Gillis." I forwarded the question to Alec Gillis. His answer : "Giger submitted his drafts from Zurich, but Tom Woodruff and I were asked to submit our drafts as well." This later led to Giger getting angry at us which was very unfortunate. Even in ALIENS (1986), in which Giger was not involved, we considered ourselves as administrators of the incredible designs he created. But when a director asks for your ideas, you give them to him. We asked for the note "Designed by Aliens Effects", while Giger received the note "Original Alien designed by" to make it clear that we weren't trying to belittle Giggers' brilliant work. " The sketches were ideal for me as an artist. They were wonderfully loose, but showed the way. A crab-proof house with valves on the side. I was allowed to interpret them and add a few details of my own, an enjoyable process.)