Should living Space Jockeys ever be depicted in on-screen canon/continuity?

[Pred Killer]

LOL -- yep, one's imagination can always make for fantastical thoughts and perceptions regarding so many cinema characters, etc. -- and once they're explained in too much detail otherwise -- aka as in the lackluster backstories of Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader and Boba Fett to name just a couple in Lucas's STAR WARS prequels -- it can completely strip away the wonder and intrigue of what made those characters so interesting to begin with.

I agree with many others here that if it is going to be done (which it looks like it will) -- that extreme care needs to be taken so as not to "de-mystify" the "Space Jockey" and its race.

- Jay 
Hopefully they can depict them without giving too much away.

[Pandorag]

LOL -- yep, one's imagination can always make for fantastical thoughts and perceptions regarding so many cinema characters, etc. -- and once they're explained in too much detail otherwise -- aka as in the lackluster backstories of Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader and Boba Fett to name just a couple in Lucas's STAR WARS prequels -- it can completely strip away the wonder and intrigue of what made those characters so interesting to begin with.

I agree with many others here that if it is going to be done (which it looks like it will) -- that extreme care needs to be taken so as not to "de-mystify" the "Space Jockey" and its race.

- Jay 

I usually try not to imagine too much so as to not be disapointed, it usually works well for me. For example, I keep the literature in one part of my brain, and the movies in another, classified in their own subcategories.

And you said it again, it looks like it will happen, and it's one aspect of the movie that was never exploited, so I am bracing myself.

[SM]

An inspection of the concept art done by H.R. Giger, shows that the "trunk" is supposed to be an air hose and there is a helmet surrounding the Jockey's head.






Has anyone seen this pic before?.

Have seen it.  Not sure if you're saying it's a Giger - cos it's not.

The closest we'd get to what a living Jockey looks like would be the heiroglyphs Giger actually did do - but the concept changed quite a bit to when the film was shot.

[Sebastian]

Yeah, it even says (©) David Blackwell at the bottom of it.

[Necronom IV]

Another problem I have with seeing the Space Jockeys, other than it ruining the disturbing mystery regarding their biology (or indeed perhaps lack of), is the fact that it'll take the series into the realms of mass-species intergalactic sci fi, ala Star Trek and Star Wars. No I'm not saying that'd make it childish or silly, I mean from the perspective that those franchises are based around lots of intelligent life going about space and doing their thing. A fun fantasy that totally contrasts with the total loneliness of us in our galaxy.

As someone said above, Alien's idea of space is that it's very, very empty. It's dark and dismal and "no one can hear you scream".

In the whole series we never saw another species of alien life (no I'm not regarding Predator spin-off rubbish with this). In Alien we get the impression they'd not seen alien life before, making the space jockey all the more bizarre and disturbing, whilst the xenomorphs themselves are literally something out of their worst nightmares. The derelict isn't just creepy because of it's design, it's a marvel due to their seeming disbelief that they've actually encountered an alien vessel (it may presumably not be the first time, but it certainly comes across that way, and to the viewer as well the first sight of it feels like we too are seeing an alien ship for the first time in our movie-watching lives, as if it were real).

In Aliens we admittedly get comments about "bug hunts", but never going into detail as to what that ever involved (indeed may very well have been very simple life forms). But Ripley's inquest again makes it seem all the more like alien life is effectively non-existent in their universe. Likewise Newt's father doesn't ever say it looks like a spaceship (ok, it's a weird looking one anyway, but I digress), and simply states "I don't know" when asked "what is it dad?" again implying a culture not expecting to ever encounter alien life.

In Alien3, Andrews acts with total disbelieving sarcasm to the whole idea of the xenomorph "it's an 8 foot creature of some kind, with acid for blood and it arrived on your spaceship?". Whilst Golic regards it as a dragon/deity, and disregarding his madness for a second, does suggest this is a future society that has had pretty much little to no experience with alien life of any kind before.

One of the things I do in fact cherrish about the Alien trilogy (and in thinking about this, makes me find another part of the AVP franchise I hate), is the fact that it reflects humanity as still very much like our own. A society that travels through space very, very slowly, that hasn't encountered any other (intelligent) life, that exist in the dull and dreary world we do today but merely set 200 years in the future. Space travel isn't fun, it's the black void they have to sleep through before they get to and from their bleak destinations. We're the only species flying around up there and space is just a place to work, full of emptiness and no surprises... making the discovery of the space jockey and xenomorph all the more terrifying and indeed "alien". Their experience with space exploration seemingly features an outer space not dissimilar to our solar-system; the odd Mars here and there, good for terraforming, but no intelligent life. And that's what makes it feel all the more real.

I'm not suggesting they'd treat the space jockey species with Star Trek simplicity, such as interacting and communicating with humans, but the very notion of bringing them to life physically not only takes away their creepy mystique but to me lessens the impact of discovering the xenomorph by showing an alien culture existing within this saga's universe that implies that space isn't as terrifyingly lonely as we had assumed. Even if they kill off the species, it's all too Transformers/Thundercats/Superman for my liking, and in the process of projecting that they'd likely have to anthropomorphisize them to tell an understandable narrative, which I really wouldn't want to see.

[SM]

Yeah, it even says (©) David Blackwell at the bottom of it.

Kind of a giveaway. 

A fun fantasy that totally contrasts with the total loneliness of us in our galaxy.

Giler and Hill were very against going down a multispecies Star Wars/ Trek route.  One version of the script had the Conrad quote about living and dying alone at the start.  Not sure if this was on pre-Giler/ Hill drafts or not.

I think that non-sentient lifeforms have been encountered on many occassions.  Sentient - not sure.  ECIU didn't have much trouble deciphering the Jockies signal, which one would think would be difficult without a point of reference.  I think the nonchalance of the crew would indicate that this wasn't first contact (in spite of early Star Beast drafts).

[Pred Killer]

Necro, I'd say the best bet is to (if they just can't resist putting the jocks in there), make them just as malevolent as the Xenomorphs. Make them psycho, like rip your goddamn throat out psycho. I don't see any reason for them not to, lol. They DID live around Xenos, they would have probably evolved to be very violent creatures themselves. To contain a nightmare you have to BE a nightmare. And if they have to show them, make them mysterious, like in the first film, like you barely get to see the creature itself it's always in the shadows. Give it that 'less is more' thing going on.

[deezelboy]

One version of the script had the Conrad quote about living and dying alone at the start.  Not sure if this was on pre-Giler/ Hill drafts or not.

Think it was all Hill&Giler's doing.  They started dropping the Conrad references in there once they'd got Scott, I guess presuming he was a Conrad fan given The Duellists.  He wasn't!

ECIU didn't have much trouble deciphering the Jockies signal, which one would think would be difficult without a point of reference.

Might chalk that up to the Jockey's, though.  If the warning transmission was intended for other species, they'd want it to be as translatable as possible.

Although if the Jockeys were worried about other species finding the Derelict, it does suggest that there are other space-travelling species out there.

[SM]

Good point and good point.

[JamesCameronOnline]

I thought this one was the most plausible depiction

[SM]

Horrible fat hippy...

[JamesCameronOnline]

Horrible fat hippy...

Lol, with the exception of Blackwell's drawing, I think it still beats the other versions

[Nev]

That could aswell be Giger's, considering what the egg resembles in the lower picture.

[Pandorag]

That could aswell be Giger's, considering what the egg resembles in the lower picture.

Gosh darn it, that was hard to refrain myself from writing what it looks like. 

[LargeLeader]

That's a nasty hernia he's got there.