Alien Movie Facts, Easter Eggs and hidden details

The knife trick scene was originally going to be done by Bishop (Lance Henrickson) alone. Henrickson suggested to director James Cameron to have Hudson's (Bill Paxton) hand put on top of his, and Cameron agreed. Everyone on set was told about the change except Bill Paxton.

To enhance the scale of the space jockey, Ridley Scott filmed his children in small space suits.

The blue lasers seen in the egg chamber belonged to the Who. The band was rehearsing and testing lighting gear on the neighboring soundstage and lent them to Ridley Scott, who felt it would add to the scene's atmosphere.

. The face huggers innards were made of various shellfish - namely oysters and scallops. Ridley Scott intentionally picked older, smelly shellfish from the fishmonger to capture a genuine disgust from the cast as they examined it.

For the wide shots of the Space Jockey in Ridley Scott's Alien (1979), the director used his children to stand in for the Nostromo crew members. Thus making it seem bigger on screen,

The excessive saliva pouring from the xenomorph's mouth is actually KY-Jelly.

For the Chestburster scene in Alien (1979) the effects used to achieve the scene were deliberately kept secret from the actors who's reactions of surprise and shock were completely genuine

The inside of the egg was created by stuffing the shell with sheep intestines, which were then covered in a casing of cow stomach lining.

The tendons in the creature's jaws were made using shredded condoms, and the slime effect was created using K-Y jelly.

Sigourney Weaver really did throw that perfect backwards basketball shot. It wasn't special effects, it was just pure luck.

The set of the Alien nest in James Cameron's Aliens(1986) was kept intact after filming and was later used as the Axis Chemicals Factory set in Tim Burton's Batman(1989).

The producers share the same names as the androids that Michael Fassbender plays.

. In the original chest burster scene, Ridley Scott intentionally did not tell the cast that blood would explode on to them. The shock on their faces is genuine.

Was originally titled Star Beast, until one word during a late-night writing session grabbed screenwriter Dan O'Bannon's attention. The success of Star Wars led to the movie getting greenlit after being in development limbo.

The android David is stabbed with a nail and he replies "that's the spirit!". In Bladerunner the replicant Batty stabs himself with a nail and screams "that's the spirit!" when kicked. Both films are directed by Ridley Scott.

When Carter shows Ellen Ripley a picture of her daughter Amanda Ripley. The woman in the picture is Sigourney Weaver's mother

The Nostromo captain Dallas's bio is seen in the background. Former employers are Tyrell Corporation. The Synthetic building company from Blade Runner.

Ripley asks Bishop how much time they have left. Bishop replies with plenty, 26 minutes. There's exactly 26 minutes from this moment until the credits roll at the end of the movie.

Production and theatrical cut was disliked by director David Fincher so much that in his later film Fight Club (1999) members of Tyler's gang demagnetize the VHS tapes in a video store, beginning with an entire row of Alien.

All of the crew are referred to solely by their surnames. In keeping with this practice, the cat is called Jones instead of a more traditional pet name.

: at the very end of the closing credits, as we fade to black, there is the faint sound of an egg sac opening.

The morse code picked up by PS-12 at the beginning of the film spells out the words, "Whoever wins, we lose". This is also the movie's tagline.

The names of each new android introduced in the films start with the first four letters of the alphabet (Ash, Bishop, Call, and David)

Director Jon Favreau can be seen on the next wanted poster after the sheriff rips Jake Lonergan's off the wall.

; Carrying the weight of a child in addition to weaponry proved too much for Sigourney Weaver, so a lookalike model of Newt was created for production. Carrie Henn did a full body cast, providing the "body part and the face part", while a body double provided the legs.

If you pause it at the 1:58 mark, you can see the mechanical hydraulic that was used to move the Queen Alien's head:

- when sprinklers are turned on after a fire, this metal pail is seen cracking from the sudden cooling after being heated up. This is foreshadowing how Ripley will handle the alien later on.

S (1986), Ellen Ripley is handed a photo of her daughter, Amanda, after awakening from 57 years of hypersleep. The woman in the photo is Sigourney Weaver's mother.

During the scene when the evil android David recounted his act of planetary genocide, the deployment of the genetic bioweapon was shaped like the helical strand of DNA.

You can see the grappling hook that Ripley shot at the xenomorph that got caught under the door in the previous movie.

As Brett goes to look for the cat in Alien (1979), there's a brief shot of the alien hiding amongst the chains in plain sight - but because no one really knew what the creature looked like it just appeared as another piece of equipment on the ship.

You see a employee go through a tedious process involving scanning his butt. Later you when the General enters you see him pulling up his trousers implying he went through the same ordeal.

-1997), Ripley receives a nosebleed in each of her four films.

Is is revealed that Lambert, from the first Alien film, was transgender, during a quick recalling of the deaths from the first movie

To save having to make all the hypersleep chambers, the film makers simply built half and put up a mirror to give the illusion of their being more. This is clearly visible in the far left of this picture.

When Vasquez says her iconic "Where they are" line, you can see Hicks mimic Vasquez line.

Android Ash creepily refers to the xenomorph as "Kane's son", named after the crew member Kane from which the chest-burster erupted

When David brings Walter outside and recites Ozymandias, the shot of the ledge they are on resembles the painting "The Isle of the Dead," a piece that was acquired and put on display by Adolf Hitler.

When one of the crew goes looking for Jones the cat, there's a direct shot of the xenomorph frozen still among the equipment

Hudson says he's got 4 more weeks left until he quits the corps, and his helmet art actually shows only one month left

When David releases his weapon the pods form a double helix

When David releases the weapon, the release pattern forms a DNA structure.

During the emergency scene from the solar flair. James Franco's character was killed in his hibernation pod. You can see his heart still beating as he burns alive.

General W.R. Monger imitates cupping breasts for a quick moment when describing Ginormica and shamefully puts his hands away

During the scene when Ripley and Newt are trapped in the medical lab, the set dressing hanging in frame uses at least two Shockwave toys from the 80s Transformers toy line. Could also be the Radio Shack Galactic Man, aka Shackwave, which was a cheaper version of the same toy.

Ash's computer console has a photo of the cat (with the word 'pussy' written on it) where a human might have a photo of their family or loved ones

The original alien in Alien (1979) had a skull with eye sockets in its head, but it was nearly impossible to see due to the lighting.

: when the salvage crew cuts their way into the shuttle, the speargun used by Ripley is still lodged in the hatch. Happy Alien Day!

This shot of Shaw's grave site mimics the painting "Isle of the Dead" by Arnold Bocklin

Alien (1979) famous Chestburster scene, Ash noticed something was wrong with Kane well before the humans do (0:16).