More trivia than one would think possible.
This is from amazon.com:
Hicks was originally played by Remar, James, but Biehn, Michael replaced him a few days after principal photography began, due to "artistic differences" between Remar and director Cameron, James.
The preparation for the actors playing Colonial Marines included two weeks' training with the S.A.S. (Special Air Service, Britain's elite anti-terrorist force) and reading Robert Heinlein's novel "Starship Troopers". Biehn, Michael missed the training, as he was a last-minute replacement.
The mechanism used to make the face-huggers thrash about in the stasis tubes in the science lab came from one of the "flying piranhas" in one of Cameron's earlier movies Piranha II: The Spawning (1981). It took nine people to make the face-hugger work; one person for each leg and one for the tail.
The APC was a airport tug, de-commissioned by the local airport, with bits added to alter its appearance.
Only six alien suits were used. The appearance of hundreds of aliens is simply clever editing and planning.
The body mounts for Vasquez's and Drake's smart guns are taken from Steadicam gear.
The pulse rifles that the Marines use are made from a Thompson M1A1 machine gun with a Franchi SPAS 12 shotgun underneath.
The M-56 smart guns and the sentry guns built for the movie were designed around German MG 42 machine guns.
The helmets the Marines wear are modified M-1 ballistic helmets.
There were two versions of the "Bug Stompers" logo designed for the movie, one wearing sneakers, and one wearing combat boots as seen on the drop ship.
A lightweight dummy model of Newt (Henn, Carrie) was constructed for Weaver, Sigourney to carry around during the scenes just before the Queen chase.
The armor for the film was built by English armorer Terry English, and painted using Humbrol paints.
The camo pattern worn by the marines is actually called "frog and leaf" and its use and production has been discontinued.
None of the models or the original designs of the Narcissus (the Nostromo's shuttle) from Alien (1979) could be found, so set designers and model-makers had to reconstruct the model of the ship and the interior set from watching Alien (1979).
Bishop's Knife trick was previously in Polanski, Roman's Knife in Water (1962)
"Sulaco" is the name of the town in Conrad, Joseph's "Nostromo". See also Alien (1979).
Biehn, Michael's character gets bitten on the hand by another character. This happens to him in every Cameron, James movie he's in - see Abyss, The (1989) and Terminator, The (1984).
"She thought they said 'illegal aliens' and signed up..." said Hudson. This line (directed towards Vasquez) was in inside joke amongst the actors. Goldstein, Jenette (Vasquez) had gone to the audition thinking the film would be about illegal immigrants. She arrived with waist-long hair and lots of makeup. Everyone else was wearing military fatigues.
One of the sets was kept intact after filming. It was later used as the Axis Chemicals set for Batman (1989).
The "special edition" includes extra scenes: Newt's parents discovering abandoned alien ship on LV-426, scenes of Ripley discussing her daughter, Hudson bragging about his weaponry, robot sentry guns repelling first alien raid, Hicks and Ripley exchanging first names. Also included is a scene on LV-426 where a child rides a low-slung tricycle similar to one ridden in Terminator, The (1984), also directed by Cameron, James.
During the scene inside the APV preparing for battle, "El riesgo vive siempre!" can be seen scrawled in white across Vasquez's armor. This is Spanish for "The risky always live!"
Composer Horner, James cannibalized some of his scores from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984).
Matthews, Al, who plays a Marine sergeant in this film, was in real life the first black Marine to be promoted to the rank of sergeant in the field during service in Vietnam.
A scene on the colony before the alien infestation was deleted from the final cut.
Elements of that scene show up in later James Cameron projects. The line, "...and we always get the same answer: 'Don't ask'" was used in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). The character name "Lydecker" was used in "Dark Angel".
All the marines (with the exception of Hicks, Gorman and Ripley) use their real life first names as their characters' first names.
In both the standard and special addition VHS versions, the fifteen minute countdown at the end of the film is indeed fifteen minutes.
Ripley's (Weaver, Sigourney) daughter was played by Weaver's mother.
Director's Trademark (James Cameron):[nice cut]: a few minutes into the movie, we see Ripley lying in the cryo-tube, and then the scene fades to the picture of the earth; the earth directly fits into the silhouette of Ripley's face.
Director's Trademark (James Cameron):[feet]: When the soldiers arrive on LV426 and jump out of the armoured vehicle. See also Abyss, The (1989).
Director's Trademark (James Cameron):[feet]: When Ripley drives the APC, she crushes an alien's head under one of the wheels.
Director's Trademark (James Cameron):[feet]: close-ups of the power-lifter's feet.
Director's Trademark (James Cameron):[nuke]
A set design company offered to build James Cameron a complete and working APC vehicle from scratch, but the cost was way to high for the budget James Cameron had in mind.
James Cameron had several designers come up with ideas for the drop ship that took the marines from the Sulaco to the planet. Design after design, he finally gave up on them to come up with on he liked and constructed his own drop ship out of a model of an apache helicopter and other spare model pieces.
Bishop's Knife trick was also previously seen in John Carpenter's Dark Star (1974). Like Bishop, Boiler misses too.
Frost and Spunkmeyer mention Arcturans. In The Hitch Hiker's To The Galaxy series, various Arcturan species are mentioned.
The baby alien bursting from the colonist's chest clearly has a pair of more-or-less functioning arms. This is different from the final model infant used in Alien (1979) which originally had arms, but director Ridley Scott thought they didn't, or wouldn't, look right, so he had them removed.
When the set crews were looking around for floor grating to use on the Sulaco set design, they asked a local set design manufacturer/shop if they had anything of the sort. Indeed they did, an immense pile of old floor grating had been sitting out in the back of their shop for the last seven years. It was left there from when they tore down the set of Alien (1979).
Bishop states that he cannot "harm a human, or through inaction, allow one to come to harm." This is the First Law of Robotics as written by science fiction author Isaac Asimov.
The pouch Ripley takes onto the lift at the end of the movie is a British Armed Forces respirator haversack.
Like most films, the movie wasn't shot in sequence. But for added realism, Cameron filmed the scene where we first meet the Colonial Marines (one of the earliest scenes) last. This was so that the camaraderie of the marines was realistic because the actors had spent months filming together.
Cameron had the actors (the marines) personalize their own costumes (battle armor and fatigues) for added realism (much like soldiers in Vietnam wrote and drew things on their own helmets). Actress Cynthia Dale Scott, who plays Cpl. Dietrich has the words "BLUE ANGEL" written on the back of her helmet. Marlene Dietrich was of course the star of Blaue Engel, Der (1930) or Blue Angel. Bill Paxton has "Louise" written on his armor. This is a dedication to his real-life wife, Louise Newbury.
The JP12 Designation in the Inner Loading Lock chamber on the Sulaco was also used in Batman (1989) on the Batwing right near the missle launchers.
In the opening "breakfast" scene in Alien (1979) Ripley asks for the biscuits and Ash the android hands her a piece of cornbread, which she accepts. In this movie, when the marines are seated at a meal, the Android, Bishop, offers Ripley cornbread, which Ripley rejects by slapping it across the room and telling Bishop to stay away from her.
The MedLab door open/close sound effect is the travel pod door open/close sound effect from 2001: A Space Odyssey.
This is from amazon.com:
Hicks was originally played by Remar, James, but Biehn, Michael replaced him a few days after principal photography began, due to "artistic differences" between Remar and director Cameron, James.
The preparation for the actors playing Colonial Marines included two weeks' training with the S.A.S. (Special Air Service, Britain's elite anti-terrorist force) and reading Robert Heinlein's novel "Starship Troopers". Biehn, Michael missed the training, as he was a last-minute replacement.
The mechanism used to make the face-huggers thrash about in the stasis tubes in the science lab came from one of the "flying piranhas" in one of Cameron's earlier movies Piranha II: The Spawning (1981). It took nine people to make the face-hugger work; one person for each leg and one for the tail.
The APC was a airport tug, de-commissioned by the local airport, with bits added to alter its appearance.
Only six alien suits were used. The appearance of hundreds of aliens is simply clever editing and planning.
The body mounts for Vasquez's and Drake's smart guns are taken from Steadicam gear.
The pulse rifles that the Marines use are made from a Thompson M1A1 machine gun with a Franchi SPAS 12 shotgun underneath.
The M-56 smart guns and the sentry guns built for the movie were designed around German MG 42 machine guns.
The helmets the Marines wear are modified M-1 ballistic helmets.
There were two versions of the "Bug Stompers" logo designed for the movie, one wearing sneakers, and one wearing combat boots as seen on the drop ship.
A lightweight dummy model of Newt (Henn, Carrie) was constructed for Weaver, Sigourney to carry around during the scenes just before the Queen chase.
The armor for the film was built by English armorer Terry English, and painted using Humbrol paints.
The camo pattern worn by the marines is actually called "frog and leaf" and its use and production has been discontinued.
None of the models or the original designs of the Narcissus (the Nostromo's shuttle) from Alien (1979) could be found, so set designers and model-makers had to reconstruct the model of the ship and the interior set from watching Alien (1979).
Bishop's Knife trick was previously in Polanski, Roman's Knife in Water (1962)
"Sulaco" is the name of the town in Conrad, Joseph's "Nostromo". See also Alien (1979).
Biehn, Michael's character gets bitten on the hand by another character. This happens to him in every Cameron, James movie he's in - see Abyss, The (1989) and Terminator, The (1984).
"She thought they said 'illegal aliens' and signed up..." said Hudson. This line (directed towards Vasquez) was in inside joke amongst the actors. Goldstein, Jenette (Vasquez) had gone to the audition thinking the film would be about illegal immigrants. She arrived with waist-long hair and lots of makeup. Everyone else was wearing military fatigues.
One of the sets was kept intact after filming. It was later used as the Axis Chemicals set for Batman (1989).
The "special edition" includes extra scenes: Newt's parents discovering abandoned alien ship on LV-426, scenes of Ripley discussing her daughter, Hudson bragging about his weaponry, robot sentry guns repelling first alien raid, Hicks and Ripley exchanging first names. Also included is a scene on LV-426 where a child rides a low-slung tricycle similar to one ridden in Terminator, The (1984), also directed by Cameron, James.
During the scene inside the APV preparing for battle, "El riesgo vive siempre!" can be seen scrawled in white across Vasquez's armor. This is Spanish for "The risky always live!"
Composer Horner, James cannibalized some of his scores from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984).
Matthews, Al, who plays a Marine sergeant in this film, was in real life the first black Marine to be promoted to the rank of sergeant in the field during service in Vietnam.
A scene on the colony before the alien infestation was deleted from the final cut.
Elements of that scene show up in later James Cameron projects. The line, "...and we always get the same answer: 'Don't ask'" was used in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). The character name "Lydecker" was used in "Dark Angel".
All the marines (with the exception of Hicks, Gorman and Ripley) use their real life first names as their characters' first names.
In both the standard and special addition VHS versions, the fifteen minute countdown at the end of the film is indeed fifteen minutes.
Ripley's (Weaver, Sigourney) daughter was played by Weaver's mother.
Director's Trademark (James Cameron):[nice cut]: a few minutes into the movie, we see Ripley lying in the cryo-tube, and then the scene fades to the picture of the earth; the earth directly fits into the silhouette of Ripley's face.
Director's Trademark (James Cameron):[feet]: When the soldiers arrive on LV426 and jump out of the armoured vehicle. See also Abyss, The (1989).
Director's Trademark (James Cameron):[feet]: When Ripley drives the APC, she crushes an alien's head under one of the wheels.
Director's Trademark (James Cameron):[feet]: close-ups of the power-lifter's feet.
Director's Trademark (James Cameron):[nuke]
A set design company offered to build James Cameron a complete and working APC vehicle from scratch, but the cost was way to high for the budget James Cameron had in mind.
James Cameron had several designers come up with ideas for the drop ship that took the marines from the Sulaco to the planet. Design after design, he finally gave up on them to come up with on he liked and constructed his own drop ship out of a model of an apache helicopter and other spare model pieces.
Bishop's Knife trick was also previously seen in John Carpenter's Dark Star (1974). Like Bishop, Boiler misses too.
Frost and Spunkmeyer mention Arcturans. In The Hitch Hiker's To The Galaxy series, various Arcturan species are mentioned.
The baby alien bursting from the colonist's chest clearly has a pair of more-or-less functioning arms. This is different from the final model infant used in Alien (1979) which originally had arms, but director Ridley Scott thought they didn't, or wouldn't, look right, so he had them removed.
When the set crews were looking around for floor grating to use on the Sulaco set design, they asked a local set design manufacturer/shop if they had anything of the sort. Indeed they did, an immense pile of old floor grating had been sitting out in the back of their shop for the last seven years. It was left there from when they tore down the set of Alien (1979).
Bishop states that he cannot "harm a human, or through inaction, allow one to come to harm." This is the First Law of Robotics as written by science fiction author Isaac Asimov.
The pouch Ripley takes onto the lift at the end of the movie is a British Armed Forces respirator haversack.
Like most films, the movie wasn't shot in sequence. But for added realism, Cameron filmed the scene where we first meet the Colonial Marines (one of the earliest scenes) last. This was so that the camaraderie of the marines was realistic because the actors had spent months filming together.
Cameron had the actors (the marines) personalize their own costumes (battle armor and fatigues) for added realism (much like soldiers in Vietnam wrote and drew things on their own helmets). Actress Cynthia Dale Scott, who plays Cpl. Dietrich has the words "BLUE ANGEL" written on the back of her helmet. Marlene Dietrich was of course the star of Blaue Engel, Der (1930) or Blue Angel. Bill Paxton has "Louise" written on his armor. This is a dedication to his real-life wife, Louise Newbury.
The JP12 Designation in the Inner Loading Lock chamber on the Sulaco was also used in Batman (1989) on the Batwing right near the missle launchers.
In the opening "breakfast" scene in Alien (1979) Ripley asks for the biscuits and Ash the android hands her a piece of cornbread, which she accepts. In this movie, when the marines are seated at a meal, the Android, Bishop, offers Ripley cornbread, which Ripley rejects by slapping it across the room and telling Bishop to stay away from her.
The MedLab door open/close sound effect is the travel pod door open/close sound effect from 2001: A Space Odyssey.
