It remains one of the most beautifully disturbing creature designs in cinema history.
But how smart is H.R.
Giger’s Alien nightmare?
How long had the crashed alien ship sat undiscovered on LV-426, as the planet later became known?
What were all those eggs doing in its belly?
And foremost, just how intelligent is the creature we see emerge from John Hurts torso?
Its never been subject to its own culture, said screenwriter Dan OBannon.
Its never been subject to anything except a few hours in the hold of the ship.
Quite literally, it doesnt have an education.
The alien is not only savage, it is also ignorant.
What Ripley doesnt realize, of course, is that the alien has secreted itself aboard the lifeboat.
As Yaphet Kottos character Parker put it inAlien, Its got a wonderful defense mechanism.
You dont dare kill it.
Yet the aliens repeatedly demonstrate an intelligence and cunning that is far beyond that of an earthly insect.
Theyre animals, says a horrified Hudson).
Not long afterAliens release in 1986, James Cameron took to the pages ofStarlogmagazineto respond to readers criticisms.
Newt, and most of the colonists, were unarmed and relatively helpless, therefore easily captured for hosting.
Interestingly, the creature inAlien 3displays more flatly animal characteristics than the ones inAlienandAliens.
We have a feeling the alien Queen wouldnt fall for such a trick.
At any rate, Ashs words shed some fascinating light on the nature of the aliens intelligence.
Thousands of years of effort have not enabled man to eradicate other parasites, Ash says.
He has never before encountered one this advanced.
have a go at imagine several billion mosquitoes functioning in intelligent consort with one another.
Would mankind stand a chance?
As an irritated Ripley gets up to unplug Ash, he begs for a final word.
Maybe it truly is intelligent, he says.
Maybe you should give a shot to communicate with it.
[Its] a survivor, unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality.
I cant lie to you about your chances, but… you have my sympathies.
