What Alien’s Xenomorph Originally Looked Like

Screenwriter Dan O’Bannon conceived of “Alien” thanks to his work on John Carpenter’s debut feature “Dark Star.” Interviewed for the 2003 documentary, “The Beast Within: The Making of Alien,” O’Bannon recounts how he came away from that film disappointed with the creature design; take a look and you’ll understand why. The “Dark Star” alien was just a beach ball spray painted like a pumpkin with webbed claws at the bottom. In other words, not at all convincing or scary, but all the crew could manage on a $60,000 budget.

O’Bannon’s idea for “Alien” was “‘Dark Star’ as a horror movie instead of a comedy” with “an alien that looked real.” However, it took a long design process before Giger would submit his master stroke. As producer Walter Hill recounted to Marc Maron, preliminary director Robert Aldrich suggested shaving a trained Orangutan and using that for the alien. If that’s the best Aldrich could come up with, it’s a good thing he didn’t end up directing the movie.

One of the artists who O’Bannon consulted was Ron Cobb, with whom he’d worked with on “Dark Star.” Cobb’s Xenomorph was a four-limbed crab-like creature, with the posture of a T-Rex, whisker mandibles, metal hooks at the hands of its arms, and spotted brown/yellow skin. Cobb’s more amphibian Xenomorph is an improvement over the “Dark Star” beach ball and Aldrich’s shaved Orangutan, but still not as scary as Giger’s design. While Cobb’s design obviously went unused, one aspect of his design did make it into the film: the alien having acidic blood.