The Ultimate Alien Movie Franchise Quiz

TRIVIA: During the scene when the Alien descended down to Brett from behind, to get Jonesy to react fearfully to the descending Alien, a German Shepherd was placed in front of him. A screen was placed between the two, so Jonesy wouldn't see it at first, and came over. The screen was then suddenly removed to make Jonesy stop, and start hissing.

TRIVIA: According to a quote from Veronica Cartwright (Lambert) in a magazine, when the Alien's tail wrapped around her legs, they were actually Harry Dean Stanton's (Brett) legs, in a shot originally filmed for another scene entirely.

TRIVIA: In H.R. Giger's original illustrations that inspired the look of the Alien, the creature had eyes. For the movie, Giger insisted that the creature have no eyes, thus giving the bleak appearance of a cold and emotionless beast that hunts by smell.

Kane was the the Executive Officer of the USCSS Nostromo. Parker was the Chief Engineer. TRIVIA: John Hurt recalled how he and Veronica Cartwright were nearly poisoned while filming the exterior shots of the planetoid. At one point during shooting, tubes broke on their suits causing some kind of aerosol to leak into their helmets. They both struggled from fainting, but were assured it was all very safe. Hurt was less than convinced.

USCSS Nostromo's Escape Shuttle is called The Narcissus. TRIVIA: The Narcissus' manufacturer is named Lockmart; this may be a subtle homage to the real life aerospace company Lockheed Martin.

TRIVIA: Sigourney Weaver's Best Actress Academy Award nomination for 'Aliens' (1986) was the first ever for an actress in a role in an action and sci-fi movie.

TRIVIA: Despite having no acting experience before her role as Newt in 'Aliens' (1986), Carrie Henn was awarded the 1987 Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actress.

TRIVIA: The film set used for the Alien nest in the lower levels of Hadley's Hope was kept intact after filming. It was later used as the Axis Chemicals set for Batman (1989). When the Batman crew first entered the set, they found most of the Alien nest still intact.

TRIVIA: The dropship used to escort the Colonial Marine's to Hadley's Hope is called 'Bug Stomper'. Bug Stomper's logo was a screaming eagle in combat boots firing an assault rifle, with the slogan "We endanger species".

Running time for the theatrical cut of 'Aliens' (1986) is 137 minutes (2 hours 17 minutes). The special edition is approximately 17 minutes longer. TRIVIA: Sigourney Weaver was furious when she discovered a subplot involving her deceased daughter had been removed from the theatrical release of the film, as she considered it to be crucial to her character's development in the movie. The scenes dealing with this were later reinstated in the extended Special Edition.

TRIVIA: At one point, David Fincher was denied permission by the film's producers to shoot a crucial scene in the infirmary between Ripley and the Alien, where the latter menacingly closes in on Ripley. Against orders, Fincher grabbed Sigourney Weaver (Ripley), a camera and shot the scene anyway. This scene not only appears in the final cut, but also featured prominently in trailers, and many regard it as the movie's most iconic shot.

TRIVIA: Although the Alien that hatched was a rod puppet, early filmed tests used an actual dog in an alien costume. The dog was a whippet owned by one of the special effects people, which was used to be dressed up in a suit and muzzle. However, the special effects team thought the dog's movements made the Alien look rather comical, so the idea was scrapped in favor of the puppet.

Ralph Brown (Aaron) previously mentioned that during the tense production, Sigourney Weaver wasn't always easy to work with, but she apologized for being mean to him after the movie's premiere.

Dillon (portrayed by Charles S. Dutton) acted as a religious leader and preacher among the inmates, leading them in prayer and overseeing their social harmony. TRIVIA: In the novelization of 'Alien 3', Dillon notably has hair in the form of a single dreadlock on his head, despite the problems with lice at the colony.

Morse was the sole survivor, who was escorted away by Weyland-Yutani personnel after they shut down the facility. TRIVIA: 'Alien 3' (1992) was nicknamed "Skinheads in Space" by its British crew, due to its predominantly bald cast. Many of the actors were hesitant about shaving their heads for the film, but when they learned that Sigourney Weaver would be doing the same, they unanimously agreed.

TRIVIA: Although it appears that the cast spend most of the time wandering up and down endless spaceship corridors, in reality there were only two built for the film.

TRIVIA: The money General Perez passes to Elgyn as payment for trafficking their human test subjects, portrays the face of producer Bill Badalato. The prop money was handed out to the cast and crew after the film was finished shooting.

TRIVIA: In the novelization of 'Alien Resurrection', 'Ripley 7' had metallic silver teeth, just like regular Aliens. However, this was dropped from the film.

'Alien Resurrection' (1997) is set 200 years after 'Alien 3' (1992). TRIVIA: The 2005 novel 'Aliens: Original Sin' by Michael Jan Friedman is a direct sequel to the film, continuing the stories of Ripley 8, Call and the other Betty survivors beyond the events of the movie.

TRIVIA: Joss Whedon has commented on his dissatisfaction with 'Alien Resurrection' (1997). Fans had speculated that the finished movie deviated from his original script in some fatal manner, however he put such rumors to rest. His dialogue, action and plot were essentially intact. However, he had written with a playful, tongue-in-cheek tone, which didn't work when the director decided to "play it straight." Eventually, Whedon created 'Firefly' (2002) and 'Serenity' (2005), which was also about a group of pirates on an old space ship, and captured the tone he had aimed for in this movie. He said that he never realized the similarities with the Betty and her crew until someone pointed it out to him. As irony would have it, the series was shot on the same stages at Fox Studios where 'Alien Resurrection' was filmed, with the Serenity built over the pit that was dug for the underwater scenes.

TRIVIA: During the briefing on the ship, Holloway and Shaw make a big to-do about the hieroglyphs from different civilizations being an invitation from the Engineers to eventually find them. However, more than likely, the Engineers were originally trying to warn humanity to stay back from the planet where the Black Liquid broke loose. Much like the message in Alien (1979), it wasn't an SOS signal but a warning.

TRIVIA: The androids' names in the Alien films follow an alphabetical pattern: in 'Alien' (1979) it's Ash, in 'Aliens' (1986) and 'Alien 3' (1992) it's Bishop, in 'Alien: Resurrection' (1997) it's Call and in 'Prometheus' (2012) and 'Alien: Covenant' (2017) it's David.

Previously referred to as 'Ultramorph' in the screenplay, the production team later nicknamed it 'Deacon' due to its pointed head, which gave it the appearance of a Catholic mitre.

TRIVIA: Charlize Theron was originally cast as Elizabeth Shaw, but had to decline the role due to scheduling conflicts. Later, another change in schedule freed Theron to do the film, thus allowing her to take the role of Meredith Vickers, as Noomi Rapace had already taken the role of Shaw.

'Prometheus' is predominantly set in the moon LV-223, not LV-426. However, both moons revolve around the planet Calpamos. TRIVIA: The original plan for exterior shooting was to film in Morocco but this was moved to Iceland as the Arab Spring uprisings in North African Arab nations made things unpredictable.

TRIVIA: A scene establishing the crew of the Covenant going into cryosleep was released as a prologue webisode titled 'Alien: Covenant - Prologue: Last Supper' (2017). Though it was not included in the theatrical cut, footage from the scene is prominently featured in the theatrical trailer, and the full scene is found among the special features on the Bluray edition.

TRIVIA: Earlier drafts of the script had the incoming transmission be a prayer, but the filmmakers felt that was "too corny." So they changed it to a John Denver song.

TRIVIA: The Neomorph's physiology and body structure was inspired by the real-world bodily autonomy of the Goblin Shark. Its teeth are able to come forward when attacking prey to do more damage by pointing directly out allowing for a better grip.

It was Walter who lost his hand after protecting Daniels from a Neomorph. TRIVIA: Unlike David, Walter speaks with an American accent. While this was no doubt done in the film to help distinguish the two characters for the audience, in-universe it could possibly be explained by the two synthetics different origins-David was a unique model created personally by Peter Weyland (who was British) as a son and successor, whereas Walter is a mass-produced commercial model.

Whilst stranded on Planet 4, David kills Shaw and begins using her as a specimen in his ongoing genetic experiments. TRIVIA: Shaw's mutation in 'Alien: Covenant' is similar to the art of a 1974 portrait done by H.R. Giger of his girlfriend Li Tobler called 'Li I'.