Ideas copped for ALIEN (1979) from THE GREEN SLIME (1968)

Dan O'Bannon went on record as saying to the effect that ALIEN (1979) was the culmination of every science fiction film he and Ron Shusset had ever seen. He definitely cribbed ideas from PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES and QUEEN OF BLOOD (Mechte Nevstrachu), IT! TERROR BEYOND SPACE, FORBIDDEN PLANET, INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS and THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD. Not to mention the short stories & pulp sci-fi's which influenced those films particularly VOYAGE OF THE SPACE BEAGLE and WHO GOES THERE? (Tracing the motivations which led to ALIEN is like picking out strands of spaghetti looking for the one which is at the bottom of the plate: O'Bannon freely admitted that they ripped off everyone.) I'm seeing a few ideas in THE GREEN SLIME as well which take on a familiar ring when contemplated in relation to ALIEN:

1) Asteroid/planetoid infected with a biological menace which may not be native to its surface. (Harkens to the space jockey and just where its infestation came from, never explained and I hope they never do.)

2) Powers-that-be place scientific inquiry over common sense safety. (Ash is placed on board the Nostromo on the orders of the company's science division; the UNSC command center changes Rankin's orders to include Dr. Halvrosen in the demolition expedition, which otherwise would have been a straightforward military exercise.)

3) Infestation spread back to the ship/space station via a crew member's punctured or otherwise compromised environmental suit. (Relates to how Kane got infected and why the crew brought the creature on board the ship.

4) Outrunning a space explosion in a smallish craft vulnerable to its effects. (A common scifi plot device but it foreshadows Ripley's escape from the exploding Nostromo/refinery including the depiction of blast effects on the shuttle.)

5) A crew member knowingly violating quarantine regulations for what appear to be personal sentimental reasons which put others at risk of contamination. (Ash opens the inner hatch after Ripley says no under the premise of being concerned for Kane; Luciana Paluzzi runs right up & opens that door like they were out on a porch on a spring day just to hug her boyfriend. Which for some reason also reminds me of the cut scene where Lambert bitch-slaps Ripley -- maybe Lambert and Kane had been fooling around? Might explain why the alien ("Kane's son.") apparently has some fun with her first.)

6) It's all the science guy's fault. (Ash was programmed to help the alien; Dr. Halvrosen is a more benign character but his curiosity about the slime is what leads to it infesting Gamma 3 in the first place. He also later foolishly attempts to retrieve his "notes" at the risk to others & ultimately allowing the slime to spread from the isolated medical ward after they open the door to try and save him.)

7) It's all the commander's fault. (Dallas had to have signed off on Kane's bright idea to be lowered into a darkened bottomless hatch, and orders Ripley to knowingly violate quarantine laws even though there is a living alien being attached to Kane's face lying at his feet. Similarly, Rankin is ultimately the one who a) caused the slime to get spattered onto Halvrosen's space suit, b) manages to outrun the explosion getting the infected suit back to Gamma 3, c) orders extra power to be used in the decontamination process which ultimately causes the slime to grow at a faster rate, d) orders security to engage the slime monsters with their lasers causing them to bleed and spawn more creatures, and just for good measure e) causes the death of his best friend by insisting on going to try and fix the guidance controls all on his own with volunteers on-hand offering to help.)

8) Implied romantic affiliation between the commander and principal female character. (This idea is developed a bit more in the early script draft adapted for Alan Dean Foster's ALIEN novelization, where a personal bond between Ripley & Dallas was part of their character dynamic. An even earlier draft had a love scene between two characters in an observation dome interrupted by Kane's gutted corpse floating by the window but the idea was dropped. Luciana Paluzzi is given romantic affiliations with both of her male leads, extending the "love triangle" subplots from the earlier Gamma One films.)

9) Recreational alcohol use by astronauts in the moments leading up to the crisis. (This is a weak relationship at best and is perhaps a plot extension from the earlier Ivan Reiner scripted Gamma One quartet, specifically WAR BETWEEN THE PLANETS (1966, filmed 1964) where drunken New Year's Eve celebrations play a role in it's green colored alien menace striking. But there's champagne at the post-detonation party just before the outbreak begins; the Nostromo crew enjoy a few beers over their dinner just before the alien rips its way out of Kane, plus Brett & Parker are chug-a-lugging down in the engineering deck, an idea better conveyed in the book adaptation based on an early script draft.)

10) The security crew cannot use their laser weapons due to the blood of a mature creature spawning new creatures. (Relates to how the alien's blood is acid, meaning in Parker's words "Great defense mechanism. You don't dare kill it.")

11) Causing the creature to bleed creates an emergency which ultimately imperils the whole space station. (Ash cuts the facehugger's finger and its blood almost eats through the hull; the security detail wounds the first creature with their lasers and the blood spawns an outbreak of further creatures.)

12) An emphasis on medical issues including scenes set in a futuristic "hospital" room. (This one is kind of weak, even "Star Trek" had sickbay scenes + a primary character who was a doctor. They wanted some sex appeal, cast sexy honeys and had to come up with things for them to do to justify their presence. But it seems relevant & the pivotal infestation comes when security lasers the first slime monster in their sickbay. And also raises the question of where all the wounded patients came from ... ?)

13) If even just one microscopic speck of the creature gets to Earth the green slime will take over the whole planet & exterminate humanity in the process. (This may be something John Carpenter latched onto with his 1982 version of THE THING but the parallel is still the same: If even one alien spore got back to Earth they ultimately would wipe out all life.)

14) Scenes where they search for the creature(s) in darkened cramped locations which are functional parts of the ship not intended for crew use. (An idea picked up from IT! THE TERROR BEYOND SPACE and every haunted house movie before it but still a valid parallel to Dallas heading into the air shafts with his flashlight & flamethrower.)

15) Heroic mortal sacrifice in the face of certain death for both the savior and that whom he intends to save. (Parker tries to use his flamethrower as an ineffectual club against the alien to save Lambert, resulting in his death; Cmdr. Elliot goes back to help Rankin fix the controls & buys the farm in a similar way -- being grabbed by the creature, with his agonized face figuring prominently in the picture frame as he is snuffed.)

16) The space station must be destroyed to contain/exterminate the alien threat. (A common device in modern science fiction/action fare. But in the end both films' crews elect to destroy their respective ships lest even one creature get back to Earth through quarantine.)

17) Final escape for the survivors on a small shuttle.


O'Bannon and Shusset certainly knew the film well, I think the strongest affiliations are between the crew bringing the creature on board via a contaminated suit + being forced to contain the creature(s) without making them bleed. And maybe being forced to blow up the ship at the end. Ron Shusset suggested the alien stuck inside of a person's stomach as being the device to get the alien on board but I think the parallel is valid: The creature's spore couldn't have gotten planted down Kane's throat unless the facehugger had punctured his suit first.

The presence of Ash in the ALIEN script is a departure of sorts since as I understand it he was an addition of Walter Hill and Ridley Scott at the screenplay level, which O'Bannon apparently regarded with a certain amount of scorn. Or rather the science officer's character became a robot to add a plot twist about corporate corruption ultimately being the reason for the crew going to the planetoid in the first place. THE GREEN SLIME's Dr. Halvrosen is certainly not a corrupt character, just demonstrating poor judgment during a crisis situation in the name of science similar to THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD's science specialists. But in both films it's up to the straight laced military men to contain the crisis and ALIEN's hero Ripley is referred to as a Warrant Officer (though the Nostromo is certainly not a military craft).

One other concept that seems strongly related is the idea that if even one cell of the slime gets back to Earth it would wipe out all other life forms. The concept appears to have found birth in WHO GOES THERE?, and the relevance is even verbally inserted into the film when Cmdr. Elliot refers to the first mature slime monster as "The Thing", alluding to the common shortened title of THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD. That film's creature reproduces by sprouting seed pods and feeding them blood. where John Carpenter went back to the short story &removed the need for the germination process by having every cell of the creature be a potential source of contamination.

Interestingly, Jim Wyrnorski and Allan Holzman arrived at the idea separately of Carpenter's influence with MUTANT / FORBIDDEN WORLD, produced/released before THE THING, where its creature uses its cells to infect other life forms and break them down into gobs of protein gluten for food. Though since its survivors get sprayed with intestinal gunk the "infection/contamination" angle is played down. James Cameron was part of Roger Corman's technical crew stable during that period in his career and he would pick up the idea specifically in ALIENS (1986) by having Ripley state literally that if even one alien got back to Earth through quarantine it would wipe everything out. Though Cameron contradicted himself by necessitating the presence of a queen to lay eggs to implant the spores -- O'Bannon's script with the cocooning scene implied one alien could do it all alone -- but never mind. It's still a great line.



Anyone think of any more speak up!