ALIEN - 40 Years Old Today

[Hedji]

Happy Anniversary to ALIEN. It is 40 years old today, along with Star Wars (42), Return of the Jedi (36) and Solo: A Star Wars Story(1)

In honor of the day, I thought I'd share my small collection of ALIEN junk.







And if anyone wants to read the Graphic Novel (which messed up my brain at age 7), you can download the whole thing here: ALIEN: The Illustrated Story

[PNGwynne]

Nice collection. I didn't realize the ReAction issues were so extensive, that's a nice little playset. (I collect ReAction MOTU.)

[Klosterheim]

Very nice! There was a time that only Starlog showed anything from Alien. Aside from the huge Alien toy.

[drquest]

I don't have all of the Reaction figures, but those are super cool, as is the playset. I do really like the new graphics they put those on cards.

I have a boxed 18" Kenner Alien, and three loose complete 18" Aliens, that share the office with my wife. She's a trooper

Given the date, I thought I'd share the photo portfolio again that I got a few years ago along with a few other things.

Bunch of vintage magazines..



Here's a bunch of what I assume is promo photos for Alien that was sent to the theaters. There's a letter from 20th Century Fox included with the photos dated April 24th 1979 describing the photos stills etc... and this is directed to the theater owner.



The most interesting thing I got is this photo portfolio. 18 pages or so, with two sided full page photos. This is a very impressive book, and it's definitely vintage photos and attention to detail was used to lay it all out.

The interior mentioned that all of the photos included in this portfolio were taken within the first three weeks of shooting before the special effects were filmed. The back says the photography was by Bob Penn and this was compiled by SB International Photographic, London. I looked up Bob Penn and he was the photographer on Alien as well as Aliens and a lot of other movies. SB International was a company that processed onsite photos for movies, including Alien. http://www.stanleybielecki.com/about/

It looks like this was created even before the Alien move was released, maybe for 20th Century Fox, but I have no idea if that's true or not.

[Hedji]

Yes! I remember you posting that before, and it's great to see it again. A fabulous piece of marketing history!

[great_chandel]

I met the cast of "Aliens" 3 years ago at Comicpalooza in Houston, Texas. Sigourney Weaver was super nice (her handler's were immensely rude). It was a fight just to allow her to sign "Ripley" under her name on the "Aliens" poster (which she finally did). The late Bill Paxton was cool -- ditto with Paul Reiser, etc. Carrie Henn, who played Newt, was a nightmare to deal with. There is always one in every group -- always! Unfortunately, Lance Henriksen cancelled the event at the last minute. Fortunately, the rest of the cast (except Sigourney) all signed their names and added their famous lines in the movie (at my request).

[Hector]

LOVE your ALIEN collection! DON’T YOU EVER CALL YOUR ALIEN COLLECTION JUNK...EVER!!!

I can’t reveal mine yet as it’s being finalized. My entire man-cave will be ALIEN-themed. Will post in the Toy Room Central forum in the very near future. Here’s a preview:



Your Ben Cooper ALIEN is in way better condition than mine. I had two, but can’t find my second one. It’s somewhere in the basement. I also have the Collegeville one.

Awesome carded action-figures!!!!

Kenner ALIEN = BOSS!!!

ALIEN & Aliens...my two favorite movies of all times.

This thread gets an A+++++++++++!!!!!!