Alternate ending for "Alien"?

[Finding Nero]

The trivia section for the movie Alien on imdb.com has a post that claims director Ridley Scott had intended for the movie to have a different ending. According to the site,

Ridley Scott is reportedly quoted as saying that originally he wanted a much darker ending. He planned on having the alien bite off Ripley's head in the escape shuttle, sit in her chair, and then start speaking with her voice in a message to Earth. Apparently, 20th Century Fox wasn't too pleased with such a dark ending.

Some users on imdb.com scoff at this and say that Scott was being facetious when he made the comment. Does anyone know if the original script for Alien had this darker ending? Or can we assume Scott was only joking?

Also, are there any opinions on whether the movie would have been better or worse if the dark ending had been used?

[Eddylizard]

No idea, but wouldn't they have been a bit screwed for the sequel? Yeah I know they probably weren't thinking that far ahead.

Wasn't there also another alternative script device where Riply was having a romance with another crew member?

I think would have been a scarier ending. The whole, they are coming to get you, angle. Frankly, I'm glad it didn't happen that way because we may never have seen the beauty of century guns.

[snopes]

Does anyone know if the original script for Alien had this darker ending? Or can we assume Scott was only joking?

I'd point out that what may or may not appear in the "original script" isn't necessarily definitive, as many ideas are typically considered and discarded well before the scripting stage of the development process.

- snopes

[BringTheNoise]

Originally Posted by Duckie Queen

I think would have been a scarier ending. The whole, they are coming to get you, angle.

I disagree. Turning the Alien from a silent killing machine to an intergalatic mimic would have totally killed it's aura for me (much like AvP did a few years ago).

[snopes]

No idea, but wouldn't they have been a bit screwed for the sequel?

No, just for Sigourney Weaver's appearing in it.

- snopes

[Silas Sparkhammer]

One source I've read said that the original ending was simply that the Alien gets aboard the escape ship at the end.

They also cut out a scene where Captain Dallas was half-devoured by alien stomach parasites, and begged Ripley to kill him. Too grisly.

Silas

[Mycroft]

I do know that Alien 3 had alternate endings. A friend of mine was invited to write the computer game, and got artwork and a script before thay started production. He also had a invite to the set, which he couldn't unfortunately make, and later on got set photos and to see a preview.
Unfortunately he couldn't keep the script (and did not eventually get the contract) but I did get to read it and there was an alternate ending where she survived.

[Troberg]

It would be such a total break with the overall tone of the movie that I find it unlikely. Ridley Scott tends to be more consistent and is not prone to "shocker endings" or "be prepared for a sequel endings".

[gopher]

Originally Posted by Duckie Queen

I think would have been a scarier ending. The whole, they are coming to get you, angle. Frankly, I'm glad it didn't happen that way because we may never have seen the beauty of century guns.

Just to be picky and a weapons/Alien geek they were "Sentry" guns.

[AliBaba]

Wasn't there also another alternative script device where Riply was having a romance with another crew member?

Right after the movie came out, I read what was, IIRC, a novelization of the screen play, and in it, Ripley and Dallas were having a sexual relationship.

But I don't remember how it ended.

Ali "you don't have to bite my head off!" Baba

[Crius of CoH]

I have the graphic novel version of Alien - by the incredible Walt Simonson! - and it had a bit where Ripley discovers the semi-living bodies of Dallas and maybe some others, hung up in "host" mode... Dallas begs her to kill them; she complies with a flamethrower. Don't recall that from the movie, though perhaps it was one of those deleted scenes.

[KirkMcD]

Originally Posted by Crius of CoH

Don't recall that from the movie, though perhaps it was one of those deleted scenes.

The scene was deleted. It's on the dvd.

This is a bit off-topic, but I've read that Giger's set designs for Alien were originally to be in the abandoned Jodorowsky version of Dune. Just more useless trivia.

[Troberg]

This is a bit off-topic, but I've read that Giger's set designs for Alien were originally to be in the abandoned Jodorowsky version of Dune. Just more useless trivia.

Yes and no. They were reworked for Alien, even though they shared a common ancestry. Then again, almost all of Giger's works share a common ancestry and theme/feel.

[Grand Illusion]

One rejected scene in Alien was where the alien comes out of John Hurt's chest and begins to sing a Vaudeville tune.

Wasn't there also another alternative script device where Riply was having a romance with another crew member?

Snippet from alternative script taken from Peter Griffin's private collection:

DALLAS
(Indecisive) Get devoured by alien...have sex with Sigourney Weaver...Get devoured by alien...have sex with Sigourney Weaver...(pause, then to alien)You must be starving! One Dallasburger coming right up!

[Wicked Tinkerbell]

Originally Posted by Grand Illusion

One rejected scene in Alien was where the alien comes out of John Hurt's chest and begins to sing a Vaudeville tune.

Mel Brooks must have been grateful for the castoff.

I much preferred it popping out of the roasted turkey's chest. No, wait...that was the 'space herpe' in Ice Pirates.

[TrishDaDish]

Wow. The only thing I remember about Ice Pirates was I was glad my best friend paid for the tickets. I saw a lot of crappy "I'll go, if you buy the tickets" movies with her.

Trish "Solar Babies, I'm looking in your direction" DaDish

[Wicked Tinkerbell]

Originally Posted by TrishDaDish

Wow. The only thing I remember about Ice Pirates was I was glad my best friend paid for the tickets. I saw a lot of crappy "I'll go, if you buy the tickets" movies with her.

Trish "Solar Babies, I'm looking in your direction" DaDish

What can I say? I like an occasional stupid movie. I am afraid of what a psychologist would say about my movie collection.

Originally Posted by snopes

No, just for Sigourney Weaver's appearing in it.

- snopes

Was not there another version-- some kind of clone-- in one of the other sequels to Alien?