blade runner is also up there scifi immortal wise, FX, acting, cinematography, lighting, the designs, that was an age and time in movies that is yet to be matched. godfather and 2001 and apocalypse now are also movies out of that time where really seems directors ran the shows almost into the ground at times but the art that came out is unparalleled.
I was a 'wigiter' who worked on the refinery miniature for this movie at Bray Studios near Maidenhead, England. It was my very first job in special effects. I was 19 years old and it was a wonderful experience. It was a huge miniature; about 12 feet square. A wigiter was a term used for people who applied all the tiny model kit parts to make the ship look really massive when filmed. For a kid my age, it was a real treat to work on what would become such an iconic film.
@Jordan Travelyan - While the models do look impressive, I can't help wondering what the rationale for covering the majority of the outside of a ship in wigits is. I know it's done to make the surface of the ship look interesting, but why would all those parts be on the outside of the ship where they're be vulnerable to micro-meteor damage and would be hard to repair? Also, I realize that large spaceships are complex machines, but what purpose would all those pieces even serve? I mean, the planes and ships of today aren't covered with exposed pipes, wires and machinery.
@@lurkerrekrul I've had those very same thoughts. I think 2001: A Space Odessy and Silent Running were the start of that trend. If done right it looks great if not then it looks very fake.
Well look at say the ISS for instance, it's absolutely full of widgets and whatnot and I'm sure they all serve a practical function. Sensors, cameras, solar panels, windows, exterior control panels, antenna, thrusters etc. I can imagine a ship that dwarfs such a structure having a great deal more of those widgets and accessories, some who's function we can't even imagine yet.
As someone whose spent a fair amount of time around the cramped, closed, dark interiors of various military air-frames and even some navy ships, something about those 80s sci-fi just seemed so much more real. Not that there is anything wrong with the sleek, polished, clean aesthetic, but I love that grungy, old, "smell the machine oil" style of spaceship.
I love the "space trucker" feel of the sets. It was the opposite of the clean, top of the range ships in covenant and Prometheus. The nostromo is basically a utilitarian workhorse. No frills, everything is robust and solid low tech interface. Kind of like comparing a modern naval frigate or luxury cruise ship to a bulk container ship.
You are on the right track there. That was Ridleys aim all along. I think he is the first to come up with that "dirty, used, beat-up, industrial" aesthetic in sci-fi movies. Some of the inpiration for the Nostromo's cramped, compact and claustrophobic inducing interior design came from looking at the interiror of submarines.
I remember when people complained because the Prometheus was all bright and shiny, but keep in mind that it was a brand spanking new ship, designed for exploration in style, as Weyland himself was hidden away in hypersleep; the Nostromo, however, was a heavy-duty commercial towing craft, built for heavy work, and had already seen many flights.
@FANG Perfect. We're talking about "the future" (actually the present) - where most people feel lucky to have any kind of job - even a shitty one working for next to nothing for slave-driver companies like Loc-Mart. Who would choose to do space minining? [I would've - until I saw Alien, lol! ... put me right off, and not because of the alien either - it looked like a terribly shitty job, where you sleep off years of your life for very little money ... kind of like being a space Amazon warehouse worker] They predicted this shit in 1979 - and it's all come true.
That's because that "fiction", to put it mildly, grew out of Lee Brimmicombe-Wood drug infused brain (a terrible writer), when they were writing the Colonial Marines Technical Manual, Lockmart et cetera is not mentioned anywhere else in the Alien universe.
@@kurosumomo If that's true - it's still very believable Weyland-Yutani was simply a fusion of Weyland (the national car company in the 1970s of England, Leyland) and the Japanese next-door neighbour of the production designer .. Mr Yutani! Not - "It's 2123 and the Japanese own nearly every company on Earth, and up to the outer rim of the Exelior system ..." They needed to create a company that the astronauts worked for, and did it on the back of a napkin! It's perfect what they did.
@FANG Boeing are even worse. Hence the disaster that is the 787 Dreamliner. Took a highly skilled, unionised and ethically driven workforce and gave the work to non-union thick hicks who could be bullied and had no ethics other than a pay check every month.
I agree with you. I have nothing against CGI but it's become almost a crutch for special effects in films now. When viewing a miniature in a film the human brain translates it as a tangible object lending it weight in the world the film is creating, whereas with CGI especially poorly done CGI it feels unnatural and for me at least like I'm just watching a video game with no real consequences that could occur.
@@cornflakesbaby I dunno CGI doers have its place for me, it can create vast alien worlds that models simply cannot do and it can help on the broader strokes. it just needs a good studio, and some good minds. I have seen some utterly fantastic CGI ships, landscapes and yes even aliens so I am not as down on it as most are.
In this movie particularly, despite using 'miniatures' everything looked absolutely MASSIVE. Even the drop ship looked the size of a building complex ^_^
Me too, the models in Alien and Aliens were awesome, they look different as another poster said and seem more real, although there is much less that can be done with them than CGI.
typical clueless technically illiterate set designers and director - the tech in Kubrick & Clarke's 2001 made over a decade earlier is more like what 2100 will be like (as Clarke later admitted - the date 2001 just sounded more cool).
Great stuff, I like the Nostromo being described like a real ship. In 40 years the movie has aged better than wine, perfection always does. Plus it got the best sequal of all time. Those two (TWO) movies that comprise the Alien franchise were works of art.
One of my favorite bits of "Alien" trivia is that the title of the film for many foreign language markets was something like: "The 8th Passenger (or in some countries the "Extra Passenger")...is Death!" What I'd love to know is if that title really seemed better than the word "alien" in other languages, or if whoever was contracted to handled the overseas distribution just mistook the movie for another of the low-budget B-movie horror flicks that were common at the time. Because "The 8th Passenger...is Death!" makes for a pretty good B-movie title, but doesn't quite do justice to the masterpiece of sci-fi horror that is "Alien".
Alien. Best movie ever made in my honest opinion. Saw it when I was 11 and it scared the pants off me! Incredible models, story, effects, cast and creature design. Love it!
@@patricksputnick5094 yeah, a great time to be alive...for about three hours until the xenomorph stalked us, cornered us and stuck it's pharyngeal jaw through our skulls! Good times :)
When I was a kid I built space ships out of my old broken up airfix kits, painted them white, and 'distressed' them by scribbling on them with a soft pencil and smudging it. When I was older and at art college, Martin Bower became one of my heroes - the influence of his work on Alien, Space 1999 etc. as I was growing up shaped my understanding of what a 'realistic' ship would look like, and because of that nothing CGI has ever come close to being worth my time compared to The Nostromo or a good old Eagle Transporter
Black Sunshine Hear ya buddy! Spent 3 hrs the other day watching light saber battles from the prequels. I’ve become what I used to tool on when younger...
I always thought the nostromo was the whole refinery, turns out it was just the tug boat at the front. Which explains why they were trapped in there with the alien, otherwise they’d have been lucky to ever see it again. The auto correct changed nostromo to nosy romp
phaeton01 well, even if they had the whole gigantic ship to roam around in, I still think the creature would have stuck around the vicinity of the humans. They’re it’s prey, after all. And I’m sure that thing has heat-sending pits (or something) to detect said prey.
@@stvbrsn From what I've been given to understand the major sensory organs for the xenomorph aka "the perfect organism" were located on it's back in the form of two rows of hollow horn-like appurtenances between it's, for lack of a better term, shoulder blades. These hollow tubes functioned much like wave guides to sample sound, air composition,, heat and other em spectrum's and fields as well as a variety of other environmental factors. This allowed the creature to have an unparalleled awareness of it's surroundings and it's own orientation in them. This feature is subtly reflected in the motion detectors used by the crew and the horn-like aperture on it's forward facing end. If, as has been suggested by the two most recent prequels, the version of the creature encountered by the crew of the Nostromo was the product of the David android created by Mr. Weyland himself, then, in a strange twist, the humans are, in fact, victims of a corporate blunder which occurred nearly two hundred years before they were born. This then becomes satire of the most subtle nature and a comment on corporate legacies writ large. Not a bad lesson to learn if we are wise enough to heed the warning.
8:27 The exact same interface was also used in Blade Runner, in the police spinner lift off scene, when Gaff takes Deckard from the street bar to see Bryant (a clip can be found on RUclips).
No way you will see another film like this where they built nearly a whole ship. Now it is all green screen and cgi, and everyone is a model who decided to get into acting.
Nicolas Tousignant yeah! Same! The shear size of these vessels is astounding and I remember looking up schematics years ago but want to find a video like this for it. I always wondered “where is everybody else!?” Haha
Yes to everything you said. The shooting of the real life miniatures makes CGI look cartoonish. The design of the Nostromo was perfect. It looked and felt exactly like what it was supposed to be. Just enough "sleek" to be sexy and plenty of bulk to muscle out on. Hardware, grey, dark hardware, and a few warm, well lit, soft spots for the humans. Perfect. Oh, I loved the tech specs. Hardcore.
Missed the best feature of the Nostromo: a young, scantily clad, Ripley! Great vid by the way! Always liked this movie and the ship since seeing it at the theater when I was 13. Loved the dark, industrial feel it had compared to Wars or Trek. Another thing was we eventually got a sequel that didn’t disappoint. I still like the original best though, even if there’s no Space Marines.
Yeah, I think they'd be quite a long way from developing the tech required to produce an Adeptus Astartes, regardless of which chapter or legion he hails from.
First off, great video and i like the detail included, great choice for the views and shots used in the video. To everyone who ever complained about the Bits and pieces of equipment on the outside of the ship that make it look interesting and such... I do have a few major points to make: 1 - Look at every single satellite we put into orbit - They have shielding and covering Only where its needed to protect critical systems. We use smooth aerodynamic coverings on the launch to safely escape the atmosphere of the planet, once its up the Fairings are detached and return to the planet. And near earth space has millions of tiny objects floating around, its a far more projectile rich environment than the millions of miles of open space between worlds. 2 - Even the ISS has systems on the outside, quite a few repairs need to be made to these components and its far more practical to not have these systems on the outside rather than in the pressurized portions of the station. The spacewalks are dangerous because of the current suit designs most of all, Due to limitations of our technology and how much work it takes to design suits to hold the needed pressure for human life while still allowing freedom of movement. those on spacewalks still need to deal with tiny screws and such. 3 - when it comes to having pipes and other systems on the outside of highly complex systems like an ore refinery... look at all the industrial plants around the world... everything is exposed to the weather and atmosphere, which does far more damage to the systems than a vacuum. Anything in contact with the atmosphere is going to wear out more than anything in a vacuum due to the reactions with the contents of the atmosphere itself. The pressurized area is limited as it takes a lot of systems to maintain that environment, the larger the pressurized space the larger the environmental control systems need to be to maintain it. Several factors make it less optimal to have huge sections of a ship pressurized, especially when your talking a crew of 7 people to operate the ship, the Nostromo was 334 meters (1095 feet) in length, 215 meters (705 feet) wide and 98 meters (320 feet) height... you dont need huge areas of that volume pressurized for 7 people! Also look at cars, though its all hidden under a fancy shell, the main purposes of that shell of a car are to be Aerodynamic and Protect the occupant. Only when you know the environment is going to be extra dangerous do they put heavy armor on... most of the covers used over engine and undercarriage areas are thin light weight coverings usually make of plastic or a softer metal like aluminum, not steel or other much harder metals. Most of the cars engine is exposed from below and are in the Crumple zone of the vehicle, its designed to be crushed in a way to absorb the energy of the impact to protect the occupants of the vehicle. 4 - Having everything hidden under massive plates of armor makes little sense with regards to making small repairs to systems on the outside, even the ISS uses what little they can to cover and protect systems due to size and weight requirements to get it up into orbit. It costs time to have to open a panel to expose a system that you need to repair, and when your talking something nearly 1100 feet in length you talking hundreds of thousands of panels covering the ship, and if you need to find an exact one hiding a special component it could take you hours just to find it and remove the armor. And it would be impractical to have corridors throughout the haul to access the many components as it would weaken the structure and if something did break loose you now have a projectile ricocheting though the corridor damaging many other components causing far more work and can be highly dangerous to the few crew members on board. 5 - the lower decks of the Nostromo itself housed the majority of the systems the maintenance crew would need to service throughout the journey already. There corridors would give them access to a lot of the critical systems on the drive systems, power plant and life support systems... but even then there would be paths and systems that are not anywhere near where they can put these pressurized access points so to facilitate faster repairs they would be put at easier to access areas, easier to access then having to crawl through corridors in space suits. I can go on but this is already a wall of text... but suffice to say there are reasons to put things in pressurized areas and reasons to have something exposed on the exterior. but in the end its just a movie and honestly it makes it far more interesting that a Cylinder of smooth metal that the designs could be.
It's also important to note that both the dimensions and weight of the Nostromo are very similar to those of a modern aircraft carrier. That's a pretty big spacecraft.
I saw this when I was nine in the theater with only my dad, my mom was staunchly against me seeing it. I was such a sci-fi nerd after Star Wars I couldn't stay away. Yes, she was right, I had chest buster nightmares for weeks. It was worth every one, it showed me how different sci-fi films could be from each other and I loved the sets and costumes, the spooky music and the alien itself. This film was a right of passage for nerds my age, lol. Thanks, Mr. H for taking me back. 😎 I also loved Close Encounters and 2001, though it would be years before I could wrap my mind around it.
What I loved about Alien and the Nostromo especially, was the technological realism of the equipment used in it. The Nostromo had a used look but not in a battered way , unlike the ships in Star Wars ... An Elegant Simplicity... This is the value of physical miniature effects, they truly show that authenticity onscreen in a way the CGI cannot .. The Nostromo could really be a real ship we'll use in the future: A massive interstellar cargo hauling space truck ! It's one of my favourite designs. 👽💚
What gets me about both story lines (Alien and Star Wars) is that the hardware is supposed to be so robust and reliable that the people stake their lives on it implicitly. Yet it is always breaking down and requires repair which of course everyone seems to know how to do. Even princess Leah can handle a wrench and patch up a problematic hyper-drive on the fly.
Paul the Roman Yea Many like the Millennium Falcon, but it had mechanical problems because of the modified parts that Solo installed... The Nostromo interior was kind of like that But in Alien , all the components seemed to work well ... It's comedic , LOL
Well,to be honest... It did NOT have a self-destruct system. Ripley just shut the coolant units of the main reactor and that was it! But it was not meant to be used for that purpose.
@@xenomorphphantom8991 It DID in fact have a self-destruct system. It WAS a designed just for that purpose. Maybe you did not see the movie. i.ebayimg.com/images/g/NYYAAOSwCBZc4~O~/s-l1600.jpg ruclips.net/video/UYWSMe_97i0/видео.html ruclips.net/video/EO9x0y5lqD0/видео.html
the sound design is beyond belief....unmatched. If you pay attention to the background sounds during the space jockey sequence, you can hear what sounds like a baby cry in the distance, truly spooky.
Already putting that book to good work H!! BTW, the main reason i got into your channel (Hellraiser was a reason too) was your Alien stories! Great way to unwind before bed! 😊
Perfect analisys of the Space ship. Only thing maybe missing is how the ship keep the crew alive during the long cryo sleep process and how the system works. As it is an important part of the ship.
Alien. Quite possibly the greatest Sci-Fi Horror film ever made. No, it IS the greatest! In fact, it's truly one of the best MOVIES of all-time! Classic! My second favorite movie, right behind 1971's The Andromeda Strain!
Yeah, Alien is THE classic. I just watched it again recently - I still jumped. I think it's the scariest, although 2 also makes me want to hide at times.
Awesome video. Your Alien and Predator videos are what brought me to your channel a couple of years ago. I didn't realize that they had said the Nostromo was a Lockheed Martin ship. My sister works for them. I'm going to ask her about the Nostromo Project and see if she bites. Keep up the good work!
An interesting fact about the Star Wars Prequels (I-III) I read about, was that they used far more miniatures, models and sets in one Episode alone, than in the whole original trilogy (IV-VI). Which makes the criticism on "excessive use of CGI" somewhat funny. The character development, plot line and comedic fails (JarJar Stinks, army of Comedy Droids) is a different story. Yet, many many of the suspected CGI renderings were in fact miniatures. My favorite the Genosian arena with it's fantastic overall alien and organic feel. :)
Alien was the first R-rated sci-fi I had seen other than predator and Terminator but this movie Scared the ever-living fucking shit out of me and now that I'm an older man I have a tattoo of a xenomorph on my back. Full cycle.
@@ricky302v8 How's that? the umbilical moved them out, then when it detached it used jets to push them away/down. Then they briefly thrusted for atmospheric entry. They only didn't show re-docking and directional thrust to rotate the ship.
@@gracerx The 20 or 200 million (depending on which onscreen writing you believe) refinery uses thrusters to push itself away from the 50K tonne Nostromo, it should be the other way around.
A great video on the Nostromo. Highly informative lots I didn’t know about the ship it’s function capabilities. Love it. Have to agree using miniatures instead of CGI is way superior in my opinion gives that more authentic look and better all round feel. And great photography attention to detail impressive.Yes more videos on Alien Lore be great. How about the drop ship used in Aliens and that battle tank like vehicle used to transport the marines to the Hadleys Hope on LV426 in Aliens.
So .12LY/hour is stupid fast. With Proxima Centauri only 4.2LY away from us, seems hardly like much hyper-sleep would be necessary. Unless that speed would cause so many problems physiologically for someone not protected in a grav/HS bed....see this is why I love the Alien universe. They’ve fleshed it out and it makes you think. Plus Rolls-Royce making interstellar drives and Lockheed Martin producing ships in this universe also lends it a huge air of believability. Great video H 👍🏻
Wanting to let you know that I built my own version of The Nostromo from scratch since it's so difficult to find and expensive. It took a whole 12 months from April 2021 to this last April 2022 and I will soon upload a 50 minute photo-montage video as soon as I finish editing. I hope everyone likes it.
Yes! Back to your old lore videos. A breath of fresh air from the detestable news you bring us. That’s no offensive to your good self, Mr H. This period of time we inhabit is full of annoying people trying to shift agendas and crap. Can’t wait to see your next lore vids.
I loved this ship the first time I saw it but it wasn't until much later in life that I realised it was towing the refinery and the 2 weren't part of the same "ship". Its such an amazing creation and brilliant scene to watch.
Makes sense that Rolls-Royce would be providing engines for the future, it is a foresighted detail for Alien (1979) to have included. Rolls-Royce currently provides major naval engines adapted originally from older aerospace designs they had, for multiple navies; including the Royal Navy, South Korean Navy, Italian Navy, Royal Canadian Navy, Royal Australian Navy and even the US Navy. Notably the Rolls-Royce Marine Trent MT30 gas-turbine engine. Then there are a lot of other aerospace and automobile engines they produce. It seems logical that they'd continue their work in the future and shift towards starship engines if that ever gets to such a point.
Did you ever watch the movie Dark Star? You see elements of Alien in that film. Dan O'Bannon I think directed that movie while he was still in college.
@@torquetheprisoner And then both went on to make more serious "deadly alien vs blue-collar worker humans in hostile environment" movies. O'Bannon wrote Alien, Carpenter did the excellent remake of The Thing a couple of years later. Both set in claustraphobic environments. Both have scenes where the initial danger is thought to be over, when in fact, it's just beginning. Both feature lead protagonists who realise that they cannot possibly allow the creature in their respective movies reach civilization. Both have heads that get removed from duplicates of humans, which are still functional afterward. I'm not saying that Carpenter ripped off Alien, or anything like that, because he's clearly a master horror Director & storyteller in his own home right. But he and O'Bannon were university friends, and clearly had some of the same interests in their themes. Both Alien and The Thing (1982) are fantastic movies, and still better than most of the stuff being put out by Hollywood today.
CGI?!? There WAS NO CGI back then 😂 Not anything that wasn’t old school wire frame. You want CGI? That’s on their display screens. That’s about as good as it got back then 😂
Another detail they got right that many would have missed then, and even now, is at 8:43. They use the engines to get up to speed, but turn them off upon getting up to speed because they can just drift without using fuel due to there being no gravity in space.
As a fellow lover of miniatures in film and making them, it might be worth doing a series on cool miniatures and practical props in films. You could even have a good rant/ comparison with CGI reboots, sequels and remastering. The ones that immediately spring to mind are the miniatures used in Starship Troopers and the comparison of The Thing and The prequel Thing.
It fascinates me that I happen to be watching this on a Nintendo Switch and my Micro SD card is nearly half the capacity of Mother’s mainframe. I love me some retro-future. We’re far ahead in some ways and far behind in others.
They didn't need to use massive amounts of memory - because they were much more sophisticated and efficient with the way it was used. Their 2TB has the same power as our 2KTB - that's due to the genius of the way the MOTHER AI adapts its own "brain" to efficiently store (or "juggle"') the data. It doesn't need to waste time on 3D games processing either ... no "Alien Isolation" at 3800 x 2048 and 400fps with 64x anti-aliasing for THIS computer! ... ... simple tasks, such as keeping the spaceship habitable for organic life, well ... even a school calculator can do that (as evidenced by our own moon landing).
Thank you so much for doing this video, I really enjoyed it. I showed Alien to my zoomer kids who I can never normally get to keep focus on anything, for more than an hour, they were silently enthralled for the whole duration (the Shining had the same effect).
For some reason, the fact that the Nostromo's sublight engines were made by Rolls-Royce makes me unreasonably happy and more over, that the RR engines, replaced the ship's original sublight drives, because even in the future, British Engineering persists
Rolls-Royce are still doing well these days. Always been an excellent or outstanding level of quality from them. Just look at the Merlin and Griffon Engines from them in WWII, which allowed Allied fighters such as the Spitfire (in various marks/variants) and the P-51 Mustang (the American take on the Spitfire, directly designed to go beyond the earlier marks of the Spitfire, was still reliant on the British designed and built Merlin engine) Rolls-Royce, for a 21st century example, have provided naval engines for the Royal Navy among others. For instance, the new Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft-carriers/supercarriers have massive Rolls-Royce Gas Turbine Engines (specifically, the Rolls-Royce Marine Trent MT30 gas-turbine engine, a beast to say the least) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolls-Royce_MT30 Each carrier has two of them plus 4 smaller Wartsila 38 marine diesel engines (Wartsila is Finnish) Each smaller Wartsila 38 marine diesel engine provides 15,600 hp (horse power), so 15,600x4 = 62,400 hp, and the two massive Rolls-Royce Marine Trent MT30's each provide 48,000 hp; so 2 x 48,000 = 96,000 hp. Total theoretical power at maximum being 158,400 hp from the 6 engines. The Rolls-Royce Marine Trent MT30 engines are also used/going to be used on the South Korean Daegu-class Frigates (using a repackaged smaller version able to fit on smaller ships) Besides this, they are intended for the Type 26 Elite Frigates that the UK is building for British, Canadian and Australian use (the three navies will have different versions with their own class names; the UK version is sold as the City-class Type 26 Frigates, and we'll get 8 of them as far as we know, though really we ought to have a few more) The Canadians will have a version they'll call the Canadian Surface Combatant RCN, and they'll get a whopping 15 of them. Australia's version is being called the Hunter-class Type 26 and they'll be buying 9 of them. Ironic how the UK is getting the lowest number of these beauties. However, I'm guessing the UK versions will be the most heavily armed and most expensive in terms of capabilities, but that is hard to tell (the first batches always cost more money for a variety of reasons, so ours will probably be more expensive for a number of reasons including that) All seem to be getting x1 Rolls-Royce Marine Trent MT30 engine, with around 4 smaller diesel generators as back ups, though I've not looked into this for every ship. The Zumwalt-class Destroyer (USA) and the Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ship (USA) also have Rolls-Royce Marine Trent MT30 engines. Apparently, another ship to possess the highly esteemed MT30, will be Italian LHD/Landing Helicopter Dock/Light Carrier, Trieste (which has recently been launched and is outfitting) It has x2 MT30's to a design befitting the size of the carrier/LHD, and they provide her around 102,000 hp between them (this might suggest that the version on the Trieste, is slightly improved? I don't know enough about it to explain why x2 MT30's on the Italian ship provide 102,000 hp i.e 2 x 51,000 hp, while the Queen Elizabeth-class MT30's of which there are also x2, ''only'' provide 48,000 hp each. Maybe it's because the QE-class are basically twice the size of the Trieste? Not sure. I speculate that because the Trieste ones are somewhat newer, maybe they've got a slightly upgraded version?) HMS Prince of Wales [R09] was the second of the two-ships-in-class of the Queen Elizabeth-class, and has literally just over a week ago, left Rosyth shipyards for the first time, literally in September 2019. However, these things have taken a lot longer to build than Trieste - my point is that maybe they got a slightly newer version of the MT30 because they were completed before Trieste was, regardless of themselves being very new. HMS Prince of Wales [R09] had technically been completed in terms of construction well prior to 2019. Even by 2016, it was reported that HMS Prince of Wales was 80% structurally complete (construction began on 26th May 2011) She was floated out of Rosyth drydock for the first time on the 21st December 2017, and she had been fitting out ever since, until the 20th September 2019, when she left the fitting out basin for the first time. She is now on sea trials, having been anchored in the Firth of Forth before passing under the Forth Bridges and heading out to sea. While anchored for a little while in the Firth of Forth, she was undergoing her first engine and systems tests. HMS Prince of Wales is so huge that, like her sister-ship HMS Queen Elizabeth, she had to wait for the tides to change to even allow her to squeeze under the Forth Bridges, with little more than 2 metres of clearance. Proud of British engineering. Rule Britannia lol
@@ThePalaeontologist Whether Britannia rules or not may be debatable but one thing is abundantly clear from your dissertation. The resources, time, ingenuity and cost of all of the hardware you've described has but one purpose and intention. The prosecution of war and the projection of that force throughout the world. Now, please don't get me wrong, I have a great admiration for the innovations and advancements which arise from such psychotic endeavors. However, I cannot help but try to imagine what could have been accomplished if that same time and energy had been invested into creating artifacts for the ages and the advancement of mankind. Think of all of the enormous ships of the first world wide conflict. Some of those Dreadnaught's and battle wagons were of incredible size and destructive power. The opposing sides would line up facing each other and pound away for hours on end with ordnance of remarkable destructive capability. Now all of that material, man power and treasure is sitting at the bottom of the sea. The cost in terms of human lives is incalculable. Such whole scale wasting of the planets resources, by my way of thinking, is a crime of infinite proportion. So, I'll join you in raising a glass to those scientists, engineers and designers of weapons but my toast will also include a prayer that at some point in mans time on this planet we manage to outgrow the impulse to smash things and create the un-smashable, enduring objects which, after we've gone, will remain as a testament to our creative abilities.
Paul the Roman until you figure out how to make humans stop being humans (as bashing each other to death started in the very beginning), then building weapons will continue
@@edsmale Exactly; rather to have something and not need it, than need it and not have it. Hardly as though Communist China is going to demilitarise anytime soon (notice how in their 70th anniversary ceremonies, they are pushing this idea of them being peacekeepers; pure propaganda, absolute insanity from one of the worst human rights abusing nations on the planet, using brainwashing camps and other brutal methods) China is no peacekeeper, it's just a bully calling itself a peacekeeper because that is what a lot of bullies like to do (cough UN)
This was awesome! I love alien and aliens and the more I can learn about these movies the better! Keep up the great work. I also enjoy your car videos.
Alien set the bar, still to this day. It's hard to believe that was Sigourney Weaver's breakout role. Can you imagine the story without her? To my mind, she made the movie. It was so good, it polly would have been a classic, but she and Ripley made it a cultural icon and a sci-fi masterpiece.
@@ShashankRockerYo thankyou. I can see how displacement could be just a linguistic carryover. Mass on a vessel does have relevence such as when orbiting, power needed (not really for speed) for accelleration/descelleration, internal gravity?, etc. Draught/draft is exclusively relative to depth in a liquid of a vessel so far as I know. Displacement is a similar specification in origin, but it also has relevence to laden/unladen capacities as well as raw tonnage. How many times these days do we make reference to film for example when actually referring to digital video? Sometimes it's just easier to "say" film critic, etc. than it is to change it for the sake of accuracy, all the more so in sci-fi for an audience that doesn't want to think too hard about words while watching. We get to do all that analyzing stuff on Monday morning...or 40 years of Mondays later 😉
1979 Alien, about as close to perfection as you can get, it still astounds me to this day.
blade runner is also up there scifi immortal wise, FX, acting, cinematography, lighting, the designs, that was an age and time in movies that is yet to be matched.
godfather and 2001 and apocalypse now are also movies out of that time where really seems directors ran the shows almost into the ground at times but the art that came out is unparalleled.
Ditto
Do one on the space jockey
Mendaharin Tusca keep your eyes peeled for the feature film exploring its development.
Aliens was better
I was a 'wigiter' who worked on the refinery miniature for this movie at Bray Studios near Maidenhead, England. It was my very first job in special effects. I was 19 years old and it was a wonderful experience. It was a huge miniature; about 12 feet square. A wigiter was a term used for people who applied all the tiny model kit parts to make the ship look really massive when filmed. For a kid my age, it was a real treat to work on what would become such an iconic film.
I bet more so now when you look back.did you manage to work on any other big film's mate?
Thank you for your contribution to a cinema masterpiece.
@Jordan Travelyan - While the models do look impressive, I can't help wondering what the rationale for covering the majority of the outside of a ship in wigits is. I know it's done to make the surface of the ship look interesting, but why would all those parts be on the outside of the ship where they're be vulnerable to micro-meteor damage and would be hard to repair? Also, I realize that large spaceships are complex machines, but what purpose would all those pieces even serve? I mean, the planes and ships of today aren't covered with exposed pipes, wires and machinery.
@@lurkerrekrul I've had those very same thoughts. I think 2001: A Space Odessy and Silent Running were the start of that trend. If done right it looks great if not then it looks very fake.
Well look at say the ISS for instance, it's absolutely full of widgets and whatnot and I'm sure they all serve a practical function. Sensors, cameras, solar panels, windows, exterior control panels, antenna, thrusters etc. I can imagine a ship that dwarfs such a structure having a great deal more of those widgets and accessories, some who's function we can't even imagine yet.
As someone whose spent a fair amount of time around the cramped, closed, dark interiors of various military air-frames and even some navy ships, something about those 80s sci-fi just seemed so much more real. Not that there is anything wrong with the sleek, polished, clean aesthetic, but I love that grungy, old, "smell the machine oil" style of spaceship.
They used old aircraft parts on the sets...
Spot on.
I love the "space trucker" feel of the sets. It was the opposite of the clean, top of the range ships in covenant and Prometheus. The nostromo is basically a utilitarian workhorse. No frills, everything is robust and solid low tech interface. Kind of like comparing a modern naval frigate or luxury cruise ship to a bulk container ship.
I like it. Alien isolation also has nice set vibes
Even its desigantion, "Bison class", sounds butt ugly.
I always found the Alien movies to have the best ship designs. Everything was heavy, dirty and industrial.
L.O.L., Ridley Scott said that sci-fi is mostly fantasy
@@ireneuszpyc6684 Well, he's not wrong. But space fantasy that looks right is better than space fantasy that doesn't.
Dirty and industrial means realistic...
You are on the right track there. That was Ridleys aim all along. I think he is the first to come up with that "dirty, used, beat-up, industrial" aesthetic in sci-fi movies. Some of the inpiration for the Nostromo's cramped, compact and claustrophobic inducing interior design came from looking at the interiror of submarines.
I remember when people complained because the Prometheus was all bright and shiny, but keep in mind that it was a brand spanking new ship, designed for exploration in style, as Weyland himself was hidden away in hypersleep; the Nostromo, however, was a heavy-duty commercial towing craft, built for heavy work, and had already seen many flights.
I like how Lockheed-Martin and Rolls Royce are still involved in aero space design
@FANG
Perfect.
We're talking about "the future" (actually the present) - where most people feel lucky to have any kind of job - even a shitty one working for next to nothing for slave-driver companies like Loc-Mart.
Who would choose to do space minining? [I would've - until I saw Alien, lol! ... put me right off, and not because of the alien either - it looked like a terribly shitty job, where you sleep off years of your life for very little money ... kind of like being a space Amazon warehouse worker]
They predicted this shit in 1979 - and it's all come true.
That's because that "fiction", to put it mildly, grew out of Lee Brimmicombe-Wood drug infused brain (a terrible writer), when they were writing the Colonial Marines Technical Manual, Lockmart et cetera is not mentioned anywhere else in the Alien universe.
@@kurosumomo If that's true - it's still very believable
Weyland-Yutani was simply a fusion of Weyland (the national car company in the 1970s of England, Leyland) and the Japanese next-door neighbour of the production designer .. Mr Yutani!
Not - "It's 2123 and the Japanese own nearly every company on Earth, and up to the outer rim of the Exelior system ..."
They needed to create a company that the astronauts worked for, and did it on the back of a napkin!
It's perfect what they did.
@FANG Boeing are even worse. Hence the disaster that is the 787 Dreamliner. Took a highly skilled, unionised and ethically driven workforce and gave the work to non-union thick hicks who could be bullied and had no ethics other than a pay check every month.
@FANG Sounds like Mr Weylend would like them very much.
The miniature work for the first 2 Alien movies are things of beauty.
I miss those sci-fi miniatures.
I agree with you. I have nothing against CGI but it's become almost a crutch for special effects in films now. When viewing a miniature in a film the human brain translates it as a tangible object lending it weight in the world the film is creating, whereas with CGI especially poorly done CGI it feels unnatural and for me at least like I'm just watching a video game with no real consequences that could occur.
@@cornflakesbaby I dunno CGI doers have its place for me, it can create vast alien worlds that models simply cannot do and it can help on the broader strokes.
it just needs a good studio, and some good minds.
I have seen some utterly fantastic CGI ships, landscapes and yes even aliens so I am not as down on it as most are.
In this movie particularly, despite using 'miniatures' everything looked absolutely MASSIVE. Even the drop ship looked the size of a building complex ^_^
Me too, the models in Alien and Aliens were awesome, they look different as another poster said and seem more real, although there is much less that can be done with them than CGI.
I love how the Nostromo seems to use an early version of DOS for its operating system! Brings me back! :D
Dos is boss
Definitely client terminals
typical clueless technically illiterate set designers and director - the tech in Kubrick & Clarke's 2001 made over a decade earlier is more like what 2100 will be like (as Clarke later admitted - the date 2001 just sounded more cool).
Are you sure this isn't CP/M?
Well, my high school taught us DOS on Commadore 64’s my sophomore year in 82...so it fit the times.
Great stuff, I like the Nostromo being described like a real ship. In 40 years the movie has aged better than wine, perfection always does. Plus it got the best sequal of all time. Those two (TWO) movies that comprise the Alien franchise were works of art.
Ya. Alien set the bar, to this day still. It's hard to believe that was Sigourney Weaver's breakout film. Can you imagine the story without her?
Mr H going back to his roots!
Yeah i agree, Alien (1979) is a masterpiece of sci fi terror and absolute creepiness.
It was actually a ”remake” of the old ”It! it came from beyond space”.
The nostromo detachment and landing scene, combined with the epic Jerry Goldsmith score, is probably my all time favourite effects sequence…
I completely agree older movies always look so much more real to me than modern movies.
Watch the 2004 BattleStar Galctica series. They did a great job at making war weary ships. And the storyline is incredible.
One of my favorite bits of "Alien" trivia is that the title of the film for many foreign language markets was something like: "The 8th Passenger (or in some countries the "Extra Passenger")...is Death!" What I'd love to know is if that title really seemed better than the word "alien" in other languages, or if whoever was contracted to handled the overseas distribution just mistook the movie for another of the low-budget B-movie horror flicks that were common at the time. Because "The 8th Passenger...is Death!" makes for a pretty good B-movie title, but doesn't quite do justice to the masterpiece of sci-fi horror that is "Alien".
Alien. Best movie ever made in my honest opinion. Saw it when I was 11 and it scared the pants off me! Incredible models, story, effects, cast and creature design. Love it!
For me the ships of Alien and Aliens are "more realistic" than the rest of ships of the franchise.
Remember back in the day when a xenomorph got on board.
Good times.
It was a great time to be alive and young.
Benjamin Bertrand 😆😆😆😆
@@patricksputnick5094 yeah, a great time to be alive...for about three hours until the xenomorph stalked us, cornered us and stuck it's pharyngeal jaw through our skulls! Good times :)
Also my favorite pen got melted by acidy facehugger blood. It’s still my favorite pen.
@@munstrumridcully Yeah, Ive always wondered which issue of what magazine almost ended up in that young ladys throat when that droid went bonkers.
The realism of the Nostromo played a huge part in the effectiveness of the film 👍👍
The Aesthetics in this movie, visually, are exquisite.
One of my favorite films of all time.
When I was a kid I built space ships out of my old broken up airfix kits, painted them white, and 'distressed' them by scribbling on them with a soft pencil and smudging it. When I was older and at art college, Martin Bower became one of my heroes - the influence of his work on Alien, Space 1999 etc. as I was growing up shaped my understanding of what a 'realistic' ship would look like, and because of that nothing CGI has ever come close to being worth my time compared to The Nostromo or a good old Eagle Transporter
I used to love kit bashing as a kid too. I’m 53 now and honestly, I’m thinking of getting back into it…
Glad to see I'm not the only sucka dorking out at this hour
Black Sunshine Hear ya buddy! Spent 3 hrs the other day watching light saber battles from the prequels. I’ve become what I used to tool on when younger...
the planet is round, by the way
Black sunshine? Are you a four hunnerd hosspaur mustang?
Lol i love how 2 terabytes was an inconceivable about of memory back in 1979
It's still alot if we're talking ram lol
The first hard drive my family bought was 64k and the salesman said "You'll never fill that up." Oh the quaint days of early computing.
Back then all of that 64K would have been used with pin point accurate code. Now the space is taken up by sloppy programming and junk.
This was suppose to be the year 2100
@@Syklonus I'm not surprised. My coworker writes code for our results database. He claims he puts jokes within the code.
I always thought the nostromo was the whole refinery, turns out it was just the tug boat at the front.
Which explains why they were trapped in there with the alien, otherwise they’d have been lucky to ever see it again.
The auto correct changed nostromo to nosy romp
Me too, I thought ship with domes was Nostromo...
"This is the interstellar vessel Nosey Romp calling Soup Can station docking control" I would like that film
phaeton01 well, even if they had the whole gigantic ship to roam around in, I still think the creature would have stuck around the vicinity of the humans. They’re it’s prey, after all. And I’m sure that thing has heat-sending pits (or something) to detect said prey.
@@stvbrsn From what I've been given to understand the major sensory organs for the xenomorph aka "the perfect organism" were located on it's back in the form of two rows of hollow horn-like appurtenances between it's, for lack of a better term, shoulder blades. These hollow tubes functioned much like wave guides to sample sound, air composition,, heat and other em spectrum's and fields as well as a variety of other environmental factors. This allowed the creature to have an unparalleled awareness of it's surroundings and it's own orientation in them. This feature is subtly reflected in the motion detectors used by the crew and the horn-like aperture on it's forward facing end. If, as has been suggested by the two most recent prequels, the version of the creature encountered by the crew of the Nostromo was the product of the David android created by Mr. Weyland himself, then, in a strange twist, the humans are, in fact, victims of a corporate blunder which occurred nearly two hundred years before they were born. This then becomes satire of the most subtle nature and a comment on corporate legacies writ large. Not a bad lesson to learn if we are wise enough to heed the warning.
I'd seen it 5 times before I realised it was just the ship at the front!
My grandpa helped build these bad boys back in the day.
Loved this! Thank you for the info especially about the engines.
8:27 The exact same interface was also used in Blade Runner, in the police spinner lift off scene, when Gaff takes Deckard from the street bar to see Bryant (a clip can be found on RUclips).
No way you will see another film like this where they built nearly a whole ship. Now it is all green screen and cgi, and everyone is a model who decided to get into acting.
I was always somewhat more partial to the Sullaco. Design wise i have to say i really like the huge downward thrusters on the nostromo though
Nicolas Tousignant yeah! Same! The shear size of these vessels is astounding and I remember looking up schematics years ago but want to find a video like this for it. I always wondered “where is everybody else!?” Haha
Yes to everything you said. The shooting of the real life miniatures makes CGI look cartoonish. The design of the Nostromo was perfect. It looked and felt exactly like what it was supposed to be. Just enough "sleek" to be sexy and plenty of bulk to muscle out on. Hardware, grey, dark hardware, and a few warm, well lit, soft spots for the humans. Perfect. Oh, I loved the tech specs. Hardcore.
Great to see these videos come back. They're my favourite content from you.
Missed the best feature of the Nostromo: a young, scantily clad, Ripley!
Great vid by the way! Always liked this movie and the ship since seeing it at the theater when I was 13. Loved the dark, industrial feel it had compared to Wars or Trek. Another thing was we eventually got a sequel that didn’t disappoint. I still like the original best though, even if there’s no Space Marines.
You mean Colonial Marines of course.
That's one of the things that hooked me for the second movie.
Yeah, I think they'd be quite a long way from developing the tech required to produce an Adeptus Astartes, regardless of which chapter or legion he hails from.
I have not seen any Alien related videos in a year! Thanks for the video, though.
Weird because I did another one this week and have been doing alien videos periodically. Guess someone doesn't watch much of my content
Up until a few years ago I thought it was the whole refinery and not a separate ship.
First off, great video and i like the detail included, great choice for the views and shots used in the video.
To everyone who ever complained about the Bits and pieces of equipment on the outside of the ship that make it look interesting and such... I do have a few major points to make:
1 - Look at every single satellite we put into orbit - They have shielding and covering Only where its needed to protect critical systems. We use smooth aerodynamic coverings on the launch to safely escape the atmosphere of the planet, once its up the Fairings are detached and return to the planet. And near earth space has millions of tiny objects floating around, its a far more projectile rich environment than the millions of miles of open space between worlds.
2 - Even the ISS has systems on the outside, quite a few repairs need to be made to these components and its far more practical to not have these systems on the outside rather than in the pressurized portions of the station. The spacewalks are dangerous because of the current suit designs most of all, Due to limitations of our technology and how much work it takes to design suits to hold the needed pressure for human life while still allowing freedom of movement. those on spacewalks still need to deal with tiny screws and such.
3 - when it comes to having pipes and other systems on the outside of highly complex systems like an ore refinery... look at all the industrial plants around the world... everything is exposed to the weather and atmosphere, which does far more damage to the systems than a vacuum. Anything in contact with the atmosphere is going to wear out more than anything in a vacuum due to the reactions with the contents of the atmosphere itself. The pressurized area is limited as it takes a lot of systems to maintain that environment, the larger the pressurized space the larger the environmental control systems need to be to maintain it. Several factors make it less optimal to have huge sections of a ship pressurized, especially when your talking a crew of 7 people to operate the ship, the Nostromo was 334 meters (1095 feet) in length, 215 meters (705 feet) wide and 98 meters (320 feet) height... you dont need huge areas of that volume pressurized for 7 people! Also look at cars, though its all hidden under a fancy shell, the main purposes of that shell of a car are to be Aerodynamic and Protect the occupant. Only when you know the environment is going to be extra dangerous do they put heavy armor on... most of the covers used over engine and undercarriage areas are thin light weight coverings usually make of plastic or a softer metal like aluminum, not steel or other much harder metals. Most of the cars engine is exposed from below and are in the Crumple zone of the vehicle, its designed to be crushed in a way to absorb the energy of the impact to protect the occupants of the vehicle.
4 - Having everything hidden under massive plates of armor makes little sense with regards to making small repairs to systems on the outside, even the ISS uses what little they can to cover and protect systems due to size and weight requirements to get it up into orbit. It costs time to have to open a panel to expose a system that you need to repair, and when your talking something nearly 1100 feet in length you talking hundreds of thousands of panels covering the ship, and if you need to find an exact one hiding a special component it could take you hours just to find it and remove the armor. And it would be impractical to have corridors throughout the haul to access the many components as it would weaken the structure and if something did break loose you now have a projectile ricocheting though the corridor damaging many other components causing far more work and can be highly dangerous to the few crew members on board.
5 - the lower decks of the Nostromo itself housed the majority of the systems the maintenance crew would need to service throughout the journey already. There corridors would give them access to a lot of the critical systems on the drive systems, power plant and life support systems... but even then there would be paths and systems that are not anywhere near where they can put these pressurized access points so to facilitate faster repairs they would be put at easier to access areas, easier to access then having to crawl through corridors in space suits.
I can go on but this is already a wall of text... but suffice to say there are reasons to put things in pressurized areas and reasons to have something exposed on the exterior. but in the end its just a movie and honestly it makes it far more interesting that a Cylinder of smooth metal that the designs could be.
It's also important to note that both the dimensions and weight of the Nostromo are very similar to those of a modern aircraft carrier. That's a pretty big spacecraft.
I saw this when I was nine in the theater with only my dad, my mom was staunchly against me seeing it. I was such a sci-fi nerd after Star Wars I couldn't stay away. Yes, she was right, I had chest buster nightmares for weeks. It was worth every one, it showed me how different sci-fi films could be from each other and I loved the sets and costumes, the spooky music and the alien itself. This film was a right of passage for nerds my age, lol. Thanks, Mr. H for taking me back. 😎 I also loved Close Encounters and 2001, though it would be years before I could wrap my mind around it.
Justin Christopher A lot better than ET, which is why it had difficulty competing for the sugar n spice family oriented film goers money.
The best Sci-fi horror film ever made with Aliens coming a very close second.
" -The best- My favourite Sci-fi horror film ever made with Aliens coming a very close second."
There is no "best". It's all subjective.
@@Syklonus ... and perhaps there is.
What else would be your suggestion ?
@@ducedevlstear2471 The Thing
One of the most realistic ship from sci-fi movies
Great vid. Made me pull out the DVD again.
Alien, Alien 2 and Prometheus are all master pieces of the film industry. Very informative video.
Back to basics! Good to see you back in this lore, always happy to see your content, bro!
always awesome videos, thanks from Japan !
Totally agree! CGI makes me laugh with it's cartoony look. The tangible feel of these models when filmed is amazing.
What I loved about Alien and the Nostromo especially, was the technological realism of the equipment used in it.
The Nostromo had a used look but not in a battered way , unlike the ships in Star Wars ...
An Elegant Simplicity...
This is the value of physical miniature effects, they truly show that authenticity onscreen in a way the CGI cannot ..
The Nostromo could really be a real ship we'll use in the future: A massive interstellar cargo hauling space truck !
It's one of my favourite designs.
👽💚
What gets me about both story lines (Alien and Star Wars) is that the hardware is supposed to be so robust and reliable that the people stake their lives on it implicitly. Yet it is always breaking down and requires repair which of course everyone seems to know how to do. Even princess Leah can handle a wrench and patch up a problematic hyper-drive on the fly.
Paul the Roman Yea
Many like the Millennium Falcon, but it had mechanical problems because of the modified parts that Solo installed...
The Nostromo interior was kind of like that
But in Alien , all the components seemed to work well ...
It's comedic , LOL
Everything I have every read on line stated it was a re-purposed military ship. That is why it had a self destruct system. This is all new to me.
Well,to be honest...
It did NOT have a self-destruct system.
Ripley just shut the coolant units of the main reactor and that was it!
But it was not meant to be used for that purpose.
@@xenomorphphantom8991 It DID in fact have a self-destruct system.
It WAS a designed just for that purpose. Maybe you did not see the movie.
i.ebayimg.com/images/g/NYYAAOSwCBZc4~O~/s-l1600.jpg
ruclips.net/video/UYWSMe_97i0/видео.html
ruclips.net/video/EO9x0y5lqD0/видео.html
The sound design in this film is one of many elements that even today is incredible.
the sound design is beyond belief....unmatched. If you pay attention to the background sounds during the space jockey sequence, you can hear what sounds like a baby cry in the distance, truly spooky.
Already putting that book to good work H!! BTW, the main reason i got into your channel (Hellraiser was a reason too) was your Alien stories! Great way to unwind before bed! 😊
Perfect analisys of the Space ship. Only thing maybe missing is how the ship keep the crew alive during the long cryo sleep process and how the system works. As it is an important part of the ship.
Not information that's available.
I've seen alien atleast 200 times I absolutely love it!! Thanks for sharing and I have subscribed.
Alien. Quite possibly the greatest Sci-Fi Horror film ever made. No, it IS the greatest! In fact, it's truly one of the best MOVIES of all-time! Classic! My second favorite movie, right behind 1971's The Andromeda Strain!
Hell yeah 🎯
Yeah, Alien is THE classic. I just watched it again recently - I still jumped. I think it's the scariest, although 2 also makes me want to hide at times.
Thanks for taking the time to do some new vids using the new tech book to help fill it out, great work as always Mr H
YES. FInally another explained video.
Its not that I hate your face. I just LOVE the visual aids. and the cool images.
I've been fascinated by this ship since ALiEN back in 1979.
Awesome video. Your Alien and Predator videos are what brought me to your channel a couple of years ago. I didn't realize that they had said the Nostromo was a Lockheed Martin ship. My sister works for them. I'm going to ask her about the Nostromo Project and see if she bites. Keep up the good work!
An interesting fact about the Star Wars Prequels (I-III) I read about, was that they used far more miniatures, models and sets in one Episode alone, than in the whole original trilogy (IV-VI). Which makes the criticism on "excessive use of CGI" somewhat funny.
The character development, plot line and comedic fails (JarJar Stinks, army of Comedy Droids) is a different story. Yet, many many of the suspected CGI renderings were in fact miniatures. My favorite the Genosian arena with it's fantastic overall alien and organic feel. :)
Awesome stuff again dude. Glad to see a return to one of our favourite franchises ever.
Alien was the first R-rated sci-fi I had seen other than predator and Terminator but this movie Scared the ever-living fucking shit out of me and now that I'm an older man I have a tattoo of a xenomorph on my back. Full cycle.
I'm glad I'm not the only one that loves the Nostromo. I even like it better than the Sulaco.
The lifeboats are not mounted on the Nostromo itself, they're stored in the docking modules on the underside of the refinery
Plus, they actually get thrust in space correct: The engines aren't always "on." Hate that.
how do they generate gravity for the crew? the ship doesn't have any spinning ring (as opposed to 2001: Space Odyssey)
They didn't get it right when the Nostromo was undocking from the refinery.
@@ireneuszpyc6684 They said that they had artificial gravity.
@@ricky302v8 How's that? the umbilical moved them out, then when it detached it used jets to push them away/down. Then they briefly thrusted for atmospheric entry. They only didn't show re-docking and directional thrust to rotate the ship.
@@gracerx The 20 or 200 million (depending on which onscreen writing you believe) refinery uses thrusters to push itself away from the 50K tonne Nostromo, it should be the other way around.
Please do more of this type of video. Very well done.
A great video on the Nostromo. Highly informative lots I didn’t know about the ship it’s function capabilities. Love it. Have to agree using miniatures instead of CGI is way superior in my opinion gives that more authentic look and better all round feel. And great photography attention to detail impressive.Yes more videos on Alien Lore be great. How about the drop ship used in Aliens and that battle tank like vehicle used to transport the marines to the Hadleys Hope on LV426 in Aliens.
Mr H talking Alien Simply the best
So .12LY/hour is stupid fast. With Proxima Centauri only 4.2LY away from us, seems hardly like much hyper-sleep would be necessary. Unless that speed would cause so many problems physiologically for someone not protected in a grav/HS bed....see this is why I love the Alien universe. They’ve fleshed it out and it makes you think. Plus Rolls-Royce making interstellar drives and Lockheed Martin producing ships in this universe also lends it a huge air of believability. Great video H 👍🏻
Mr H, still love all your videos but the best were when you did types like this! Either way, still love you brother from across the pond!
Wanting to let you know that I built my own version of The Nostromo from scratch since it's so difficult to find and expensive. It took a whole 12 months from April 2021 to this last April 2022 and I will soon upload a 50 minute photo-montage video as soon as I finish editing. I hope everyone likes it.
Wow! 👍
That is awesome! Have you been able to post anything yet?
Total geek out ! 😂, nice to see I’m not the only one that finds all this fascinating movie history a solid part of my education and youth
Yes!
Back to your old lore videos. A breath of fresh air from the detestable news you bring us. That’s no offensive to your good self, Mr H. This period of time we inhabit is full of annoying people trying to shift agendas and crap.
Can’t wait to see your next lore vids.
I loved this ship the first time I saw it but it wasn't until much later in life that I realised it was towing the refinery and the 2 weren't part of the same "ship". Its such an amazing creation and brilliant scene to watch.
Makes sense that Rolls-Royce would be providing engines for the future, it is a foresighted detail for Alien (1979) to have included. Rolls-Royce currently provides major naval engines adapted originally from older aerospace designs they had, for multiple navies; including the Royal Navy, South Korean Navy, Italian Navy, Royal Canadian Navy, Royal Australian Navy and even the US Navy. Notably the Rolls-Royce Marine Trent MT30 gas-turbine engine. Then there are a lot of other aerospace and automobile engines they produce. It seems logical that they'd continue their work in the future and shift towards starship engines if that ever gets to such a point.
Did you ever watch the movie Dark Star? You see elements of Alien in that film. Dan O'Bannon I think directed that movie while he was still in college.
john carpenter directed it and schuset and o'banon wrote the story.
@@torquetheprisoner And then both went on to make more serious "deadly alien vs blue-collar worker humans in hostile environment" movies. O'Bannon wrote Alien, Carpenter did the excellent remake of The Thing a couple of years later. Both set in claustraphobic environments. Both have scenes where the initial danger is thought to be over, when in fact, it's just beginning. Both feature lead protagonists who realise that they cannot possibly allow the creature in their respective movies reach civilization. Both have heads that get removed from duplicates of humans, which are still functional afterward. I'm not saying that Carpenter ripped off Alien, or anything like that, because he's clearly a master horror Director & storyteller in his own home right. But he and O'Bannon were university friends, and clearly had some of the same interests in their themes.
Both Alien and The Thing (1982) are fantastic movies, and still better than most of the stuff being put out by Hollywood today.
@@torquetheprisoner Also, the basic premise for the movie can be traced back to the 1958 classic "It, the Terror from Beyond Space".
@@paultheroman6637 im so glad that riddley schot stuck to his guns getting giger to do the alien art work and set pieces.
Bravo Mr H, now this is excellent content, you do a great job! Love the alien stuff, and thank you for putting in the time for all of us!
CGI?!?
There WAS NO CGI back then 😂
Not anything that wasn’t old school wire frame. You want CGI? That’s on their display screens. That’s about as good as it got back then 😂
Another detail they got right that many would have missed then, and even now, is at 8:43. They use the engines to get up to speed, but turn them off upon getting up to speed because they can just drift without using fuel due to there being no gravity in space.
Fantastic film my favourite out of all the alien films
Your videos are fantastic. Thank you for your hard work and dedication.
Great!! Could we have more videos like this, please? How about one on the Sulaco and/or the M577 personnel carrier?
As a fellow lover of miniatures in film and making them, it might be worth doing a series on cool miniatures and practical props in films.
You could even have a good rant/ comparison with CGI reboots, sequels and remastering.
The ones that immediately spring to mind are the miniatures used in Starship Troopers and the comparison of The Thing and The prequel Thing.
Mr.H and Alien theory are the best source for everything Alien.
It fascinates me that I happen to be watching this on a Nintendo Switch and my Micro SD card is nearly half the capacity of Mother’s mainframe.
I love me some retro-future. We’re far ahead in some ways and far behind in others.
They didn't need to use massive amounts of memory - because they were much more sophisticated and efficient with the way it was used.
Their 2TB has the same power as our 2KTB - that's due to the genius of the way the MOTHER AI adapts its own "brain" to efficiently store (or "juggle"') the data.
It doesn't need to waste time on 3D games processing either ... no "Alien Isolation" at 3800 x 2048 and 400fps with 64x anti-aliasing for THIS computer! ...
... simple tasks, such as keeping the spaceship habitable for organic life, well ... even a school calculator can do that (as evidenced by our own moon landing).
@@jazzx251 Neat! ^^
This was fun Mr H, a blast from the past!
This is great to see you again this is the reason I found your Channel a long time ago haha
Thank you so much for doing this video, I really enjoyed it. I showed Alien to my zoomer kids who I can never normally get to keep focus on anything, for more than an hour, they were silently enthralled for the whole duration (the Shining had the same effect).
Thanks for doing this video. Great memories
A nice totally in-depth video Mr H more of the same would be appreciated on Alien law ,it’s just a timeless franchise 😉
Getting back to your bread & butter huh? Nice! I subscribed way back in the day when you talk about Alien lore.
Class video Mr H, subscribed to your channel way back when you first broke down the Alien Covenant trailer. Love your Alien content.
Loving it keep up the awsome mr H
Amazing! I love your Explained stuff. Such nostalgia
Very cool! I'd love to see a video on the USS Sulaco.
For some reason, the fact that the Nostromo's sublight engines were made by Rolls-Royce makes me unreasonably happy and more over, that the RR engines, replaced the ship's original sublight drives, because even in the future, British Engineering persists
Rolls-Royce are still doing well these days. Always been an excellent or outstanding level of quality from them. Just look at the Merlin and Griffon Engines from them in WWII, which allowed Allied fighters such as the Spitfire (in various marks/variants) and the P-51 Mustang (the American take on the Spitfire, directly designed to go beyond the earlier marks of the Spitfire, was still reliant on the British designed and built Merlin engine)
Rolls-Royce, for a 21st century example, have provided naval engines for the Royal Navy among others. For instance, the new Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft-carriers/supercarriers have massive Rolls-Royce Gas Turbine Engines (specifically, the Rolls-Royce Marine Trent MT30 gas-turbine engine, a beast to say the least)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolls-Royce_MT30
Each carrier has two of them plus 4 smaller Wartsila 38 marine diesel engines (Wartsila is Finnish)
Each smaller Wartsila 38 marine diesel engine provides 15,600 hp (horse power), so 15,600x4 = 62,400 hp, and the two massive Rolls-Royce Marine Trent MT30's each provide 48,000 hp; so 2 x 48,000 = 96,000 hp. Total theoretical power at maximum being 158,400 hp from the 6 engines.
The Rolls-Royce Marine Trent MT30 engines are also used/going to be used on the South Korean Daegu-class Frigates (using a repackaged smaller version able to fit on smaller ships)
Besides this, they are intended for the Type 26 Elite Frigates that the UK is building for British, Canadian and Australian use (the three navies will have different versions with their own class names; the UK version is sold as the City-class Type 26 Frigates, and we'll get 8 of them as far as we know, though really we ought to have a few more)
The Canadians will have a version they'll call the Canadian Surface Combatant RCN, and they'll get a whopping 15 of them.
Australia's version is being called the Hunter-class Type 26 and they'll be buying 9 of them.
Ironic how the UK is getting the lowest number of these beauties. However, I'm guessing the UK versions will be the most heavily armed and most expensive in terms of capabilities, but that is hard to tell (the first batches always cost more money for a variety of reasons, so ours will probably be more expensive for a number of reasons including that)
All seem to be getting x1 Rolls-Royce Marine Trent MT30 engine, with around 4 smaller diesel generators as back ups, though I've not looked into this for every ship.
The Zumwalt-class Destroyer (USA) and the Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ship (USA) also have Rolls-Royce Marine Trent MT30 engines.
Apparently, another ship to possess the highly esteemed MT30, will be Italian LHD/Landing Helicopter Dock/Light Carrier, Trieste (which has recently been launched and is outfitting)
It has x2 MT30's to a design befitting the size of the carrier/LHD, and they provide her around 102,000 hp between them (this might suggest that the version on the Trieste, is slightly improved? I don't know enough about it to explain why x2 MT30's on the Italian ship provide 102,000 hp i.e 2 x 51,000 hp, while the Queen Elizabeth-class MT30's of which there are also x2, ''only'' provide 48,000 hp each. Maybe it's because the QE-class are basically twice the size of the Trieste? Not sure. I speculate that because the Trieste ones are somewhat newer, maybe they've got a slightly upgraded version?)
HMS Prince of Wales [R09] was the second of the two-ships-in-class of the Queen Elizabeth-class, and has literally just over a week ago, left Rosyth shipyards for the first time, literally in September 2019. However, these things have taken a lot longer to build than Trieste - my point is that maybe they got a slightly newer version of the MT30 because they were completed before Trieste was, regardless of themselves being very new.
HMS Prince of Wales [R09] had technically been completed in terms of construction well prior to 2019. Even by 2016, it was reported that HMS Prince of Wales was 80% structurally complete (construction began on 26th May 2011) She was floated out of Rosyth drydock for the first time on the 21st December 2017, and she had been fitting out ever since, until the 20th September 2019, when she left the fitting out basin for the first time. She is now on sea trials, having been anchored in the Firth of Forth before passing under the Forth Bridges and heading out to sea. While anchored for a little while in the Firth of Forth, she was undergoing her first engine and systems tests.
HMS Prince of Wales is so huge that, like her sister-ship HMS Queen Elizabeth, she had to wait for the tides to change to even allow her to squeeze under the Forth Bridges, with little more than 2 metres of clearance.
Proud of British engineering. Rule Britannia lol
@@ThePalaeontologist Whether Britannia rules or not may be debatable but one thing is abundantly clear from your dissertation. The resources, time, ingenuity and cost of all of the hardware you've described has but one purpose and intention. The prosecution of war and the projection of that force throughout the world. Now, please don't get me wrong, I have a great admiration for the innovations and advancements which arise from such psychotic endeavors. However, I cannot help but try to imagine what could have been accomplished if that same time and energy had been invested into creating artifacts for the ages and the advancement of mankind. Think of all of the enormous ships of the first world wide conflict. Some of those Dreadnaught's and battle wagons were of incredible size and destructive power. The opposing sides would line up facing each other and pound away for hours on end with ordnance of remarkable destructive capability. Now all of that material, man power and treasure is sitting at the bottom of the sea. The cost in terms of human lives is incalculable. Such whole scale wasting of the planets resources, by my way of thinking, is a crime of infinite proportion. So, I'll join you in raising a glass to those scientists, engineers and designers of weapons but my toast will also include a prayer that at some point in mans time on this planet we manage to outgrow the impulse to smash things and create the un-smashable, enduring objects which, after we've gone, will remain as a testament to our creative abilities.
@@paultheroman6637 Relax, it was a happy and proud reply from one Brit to another.
Paul the Roman until you figure out how to make humans stop being humans (as bashing each other to death started in the very beginning), then building weapons will continue
@@edsmale Exactly; rather to have something and not need it, than need it and not have it. Hardly as though Communist China is going to demilitarise anytime soon (notice how in their 70th anniversary ceremonies, they are pushing this idea of them being peacekeepers; pure propaganda, absolute insanity from one of the worst human rights abusing nations on the planet, using brainwashing camps and other brutal methods)
China is no peacekeeper, it's just a bully calling itself a peacekeeper because that is what a lot of bullies like to do (cough UN)
This was awesome! I love alien and aliens and the more I can learn about these movies the better! Keep up the great work. I also enjoy your car videos.
I missed these explaining videos! Especially alien/predator. Great return to for my mate mr.H
Alien set the bar, still to this day. It's hard to believe that was Sigourney Weaver's breakout role. Can you imagine the story without her? To my mind, she made the movie. It was so good, it polly would have been a classic, but she and Ripley made it a cultural icon and a sci-fi masterpiece.
Awesome job mate big love from Australia 😊😊😊😊
Fully agree,love the Nostromo? They would probably fashion real star freighters off this baby..she rocks
Thanks for this video and the commentary!
I'm struggling to see how a space vessel can have a "displacement" ...
Or a draught
@@ShashankRockerYo thankyou. I can see how displacement could be just a linguistic carryover.
Mass on a vessel does have relevence such as when orbiting, power needed (not really for speed) for accelleration/descelleration, internal gravity?, etc.
Draught/draft is exclusively relative to depth in a liquid of a vessel so far as I know. Displacement is a similar specification in origin, but it also has relevence to laden/unladen capacities as well as raw tonnage.
How many times these days do we make reference to film for example when actually referring to digital video? Sometimes it's just easier to "say" film critic, etc. than it is to change it for the sake of accuracy, all the more so in sci-fi for an audience that doesn't want to think too hard about words while watching. We get to do all that analyzing stuff on Monday morning...or 40 years of Mondays later 😉
Pretty cool. Enjoying this content. Thanks.