Peter Briggs on the Alien life cycle

 leading from

Alien vs Predator: Peter Briggs' script

 

 (Still collating)

N.B. Anything that Peter Briggs says about the alien life cycle is just based on what he's so far publically stated in interviews ans twitter and so what he might share as ideas in the future could always take what he has said so far in other directions and I look forwards to incorporating as much of that as possible

 

a) Interest in the Alien hive

Peter Brigg's idea about the alien life cycle went in the direction of a hive with a queen

When such a hive came about he always felt the first alien beast to appear would be a smooth headed Nostromo version. 

Then this would grab hosts, cocoon them, cocoon itself undergo a metamorphosis, pop out some eggs. 

 

The resultant warriors would do their job. 

 

 

 

 

b) Confusion about the human to spore scene in Alien

But for him the reintroduction of Ridley's sequence in Alien the directors cut muddied the waters.

It always annoyed him that the mechanism for the Alien Cocoon scene was never adequately explained. 

He found it was very clear that Brett is turning into an egg.

For him this became difficult

See also Alien: Human to Spore stage

 

 

  

 

 

 

c) Use of a queen

c.i) The alien queen

If there were any concerns about all the ways that the Alien might reproduce such as the different ways that the egg shaped spores came about, for him The Alien Resurrection line about the Queen multiple reproductive elements papers over all the gaps, too.

He was thinking about his own idea for a life cycle at some stage for Alien vs Predator.  

Peter's experience of the movie Alien Resurrection revealed that there was a whole exchange between scientists where they talk about the amount of reproductive ways that the alien queen

In the movie, when we're first introduced to a now grown up queen. It seems as if they already have an idea about what they're dealing with

General Perez says "Her majesty is a real payoff. When does it start producing?"

"Days, less maybe" replies Dr Wren

 

c.ii)  Gediman's final obaservations

There was a scene where Dr Gediman in a half crazed state while cocooned observes the adult Alien Queen that had been extracted from Ripley 8, going through a previously unseen stage of its reproductive cycle 

His words were "At first everything was normal as she layed her eggs but she started to change and a second cycle , so, so. This time there is no host, there are no eggs, there is only her womb and the creature inside. That is Ripley's gift to her, a human reproductive system. She is giving birth for you Ripley!"

 

c.iii)  What was going on with the alien queen?

This version of the queen in the film was thought to be different because the cloning procedure appeared to have messed up its DNA. 

Here it's assumed that because it has genes from Ripley, it had developed an exterior womb that would birth a seemingly fully grown creature which was the Newborn.

So where else could you take the alien queen with its ways of giving birth because of that?

Of course we don't know how if the Newborn might have further changed over time because it was killed off very soon after the birth scene.

 

 

c.iv) A future with the black goo

Now he was realising that now we have Prometheus and the black goo, which appeared to be something borrowed from Ivor Powell's unused Alien sequel treatment/script Universal-Matter. 

Where the possibilities of where life cycle could go might even be more off the wall.

At present, where does one start?

 

1. Alien Explorations: Don't really want to press you for details about Ivor Powell's Universal-Matter script, but I've got a question here to clear up. You've mentioned that it looked as if Prometheus borrowed elements from it and of course Jim Cameron was sent a copy of it. (https://twitter.com/ Jan 9 2022)

   Alien Explorations:  When Cameron did interviews for Aliens, he talked about how he rejected the 'human to egg' idea because he didn't think that the alien's biological properties could take residence in a human being and metamorphose him into an egg. (https://twitter.com/ Jan 9 2022) This had nothing to do with what Ridley had said about the 'human to egg' scene. Cameron's strange idea about the metamorphosis might be excusable if you think of the black goo in Prometheus. I wondered if you think that sounded similar to something in the Universal-Matter script  (https://twitter.com/ Jan 9 2022)

   Peter Briggs: The black goo is pretty much identical to the Universal Matter goo in Ivor Powell's script. (https://twitter.com/ Jan 9 2022)
    
   Alien Explorations: Well, of course the alien eggs never made it into Prometheus but the film's different sorts of metamorphosis were as extreme as Cameron's statement. So his understanding of the metamorphosis is used in the Alien RPG with the black goo playing a part in it to help make some sense. But I suppose the possibility might be there that some of that script went into the discussions with him about developing the Aliens script, and that's something to speculate upon perhaps. (https://twitter.com/ Jan 9 2022)
   
   

   𝙿eter Briggs:The Alien Resurrection line about the multiple reproductive elements papers over all the gaps, too. (https://twitter.com/ Jan 9 2022)
   
   

   Alien Explorations: Yes, there was that little fragment of a notion that you talked about that could erupt in different ways indeed !  (https://twitter.com/ Jan 9 2022)

   
   

   Peter Briggs: I always felt the first hive Alien to appear would be a smooth headed Nostromo version. It'd grab hosts, cocoon them, cocoon itself. Undergo a metamorphosis, pop out some eggs.The resultant warriors would do their job. The reintroduction of Ridley's sequence muddied the waters. (https://twitter.com/ Jan 10 2022)  
    

   Alien Explorations:  Perhaps if we follow Ridley's explanation about how these facehuggers eggs grow starting off as a little lifeforms implanted into the hosts by the adult alien in the Nostromo, rather that Cameron's reasons for rejecting the human to spore scene... ·it's okay for these things to grow in the Alien queen's sack very easily presuming she's being adequately fed by her hive of aliens, and so her spores/eggs in the sack will grow while feeding off whatever she's eating
   
   

   𝙿eter Briggs: If I ever get hired by Fox again, I will screw all your theories up. (Smiles, sweetly.)(https://twitter.com/ Jan 10 2022)
   
   

   Alien Explorations:Well, yes, here's to that (https://twitter.com/ Jan 10 2022)

   
   
2. Peter Briggs: The cocoon sequence if you're kind of looking at it from a canonical point of view as an overview of the whole series, the cocoon sequence in one respect given, you know, that we know about the queen alien in one respect it becomes a little difficult, but you know, but I've come up with my own life cycle when I was writing Alien vs Predator and there is that weird line people don't pick up on in, you know it's not a great film obviously but Alien Resurrection, there's the whole exchange with scientists with Brad Dourif and everybody where they talk about the amount of reproductive ways that the queen alien has, so I think that there is some latitude to kind of to sort of suggest that there's there is more than one way to skin a cat
   
   

   Aaron Percival (AKA Corporal Hicks): There is... It's very flexible I think in terms of what you can do with it, especially with things like the DNA reflex and stuff like that, which I think must be a huge benefit for writers as well in making things like that not seem too far a left fieldt

   
   

   Peter Briggs: You know interestingly we're in to sort of you know, if you're going to sort of factor in Prometheus and the black goo, it becomes even more off the wall, I mean where do you start. (History of the Hunt; An interview with Peter Briggs. AVPGalaxy podcast, July 2021)