ALIENS COMPENDIUM #1

DALEKS

Planet of Origin: Skaro
First Appearance: Doctor Who The Daleks 1963-1964

The Daleks were born on the war-torn planet Skaro. They were genetically created as a way to bring the Kaled people up to their ultimate mutation, a sort of accelerated evolution. Designed to survive the horrors of a war-torn world, the Daleks were created without any positive emotions: pity, compassion, empathy, love have been genetically removed from their psychological make-up. Daleks have but one purpose: to become the dominant species in the universe, and the only way to do that is to kill everything else. Thanks for the universe, there's this errant Time Lord, who has a knack of showing up every time the Daleks are up to no good.

Threat level: Well, it depends, really. Off-screen, they are this force of unremitting evil, committing every kinds of atrocities before breakfast, conquering away whole worlds like it was a walk in the park. On-screen they have been repeatedly defeated by one guy, a bunch of his friends with no weapons and no plans. Make of that what you will.





KLINGONS

Planet of Origin: Kronos (sometimes spelled Qo'Nos)
First Appearance: Star Trek Errand of Mercy 1967

The Klingon Empire was a rival power to the United Federation of Planets for two hundred years, until a catastrophe in 2293 forced them to make peace with their old enemies. By the 24th century both governments were allies.

Klingon culture is militaristic. Klingon males are expected to become warriors serving the Empire while preserving the honor of their family line and acquiring glory for themselves. To die a glorious death is the greatest honor a Klingon warrior can possibly aspire to, taking their enemies along with 'em is the icing on the cake. Klingon culture is rich in age-old traditions, and almost every level of their lives are guided by various rituals and ceremonies. Klingons certainly like pump and circumstances. Klingons are motivated by the desire to expand the empire, conquer enemies and live by a stringent code of honor.

Threat assesment: Klingons are respected and feared throught the Alpha and Beta quadrant of our galaxy. Their military prowess, devastating firepower and relentlessness make them a race to be reckoned with. Woe to any who takes the Klingon lightly. However, Klingons have not been able to defeat either the Federation or the Romulan Star Empire, which lead many to say that, while excellent tacticians, they utterly lack strategic thought on a grand scale.

MARTIANS

Planet of Origin: Mars (No, really!)
First appareance: The War of the Worlds  1898 (1953, movie version)

These beasties invaded our planet in the early fifties and quickly defeated anything we could throw at them. Including nukes. No seriously, these guys mean business. We don't know exactly why they came to Earth, though depleted resources on their homeworld certainly explains it.

With their unstoppable war machines, the Martians were winning every battle and quite possibly the war. So, what saved our asses this time?

Threat assessment: Very high. The Martian possessed advanced technology beyond anything we had up to that point. Their force field could even whitstand atomic weapons. A good thing the Martians concentrated on military hardware because their grasp of biology is not up to scratch. Case in point: it never occurrred to those bastards that Earth's atmosphere may contain organisms that the Martians never developped any imunity to. So, while trashing our military like it was nothing, the Martians died because they got sick.

NAVIGATORS

Planet of origin: Unknown.
First appearance: Dune David Lynch 1984

Technically, the Navigators are not aliens but humans who have mutated into otherwordly beings after many years of regular use of the spice Melange.

The Navigators operate under the purview of the Guild of Navigators who regulate space travel in the Galaxy. And by "regulate" we mean they hold a complete monopoly over it and no star system to star system travel is done without their supervision. They do this by folding the space between star systems, allowing ships to move from one to the other in minimum time. Since ships do not have faster-than-light capabilities, the Navigators are essential and Galactic civilisation woulld quickly fall should they stop (or prevented to) carrying out their duties.

Threat level: By nature the Navigators are not militaristic, but they have the full backing of the Imperial government should things get ugly. However, the Navigators hold the monopoly on space travel, making them one of the most important factions of the Imperium. Therefore, the Empire has a very good reason for keeping them happy. To balance this, the Navigators themselves are dependent on the spice to keep them doing what they're doing and since the drug is only harvested on Arrakis, whoever controls Arrakis controls the spice thus controls the Navigators.

XENOMORPHS

Planet of origin: Unknown.
First appearance: Alien  Ridley Scott  1979

Xenomorphs are a unique species of bio-mechanoids, discovered by accident on planet LV-456.

Xenomorphs have a unique life cycle separated into three discinct forms. Eggs are layed by the Queen and remain dormant until a potential prey arrives. Eggs will open and release the Facehugger. A Facehugger is an arachnid-like creature who has but one purpose, to seek out a potential host and lay the Chestbursters' egg inside it. During this stage the Facehuggers will strangle the host if any attempts are made to remove it while maintaining its victim comatose. Once the egg is layed, the Facehugger will release its victim and quickly die, the host will wake up as if nothing happened.

Yet, for only a couple of hours before the egg hatch out, the creature, a young xenomorph dubbed Chestbursters for its ability to burst open the host's breastplate when getting out. Needless to say, this always kill the host. The Chesburster phase is only temporary, as it will rapidly grow into the adult xenomorph. By then it will have become an unstoppable killing machine.

Threat level: Are you kidding!?!? There is not threat level high enough to account for Xenomorphs. Consider yourself dead if you ever meet one and hope for the best. Who knows? You may be one of those tough bastards that can take anything the universe throws at you. Remember though that one of these almost decimated an 8-man crew, while a hive of them made mincemeat of space marines. Look, Man, there's just one Ripley OK? And she can't be everywhere at once.

JODOROWSKY'S DUNE

Coming on strong following the success of El Topo and The Holy Mountain, mystical director Alejandro Jodorowski was given carte blanche for his next project. He chose to adapt Frank Herbert seminal novel Dune.

Set in the far future, on the desert planet Arrakis where a vital resource is being harvested, the story follows Paul Atreides, a young nobleman who goes on a life-changing journey finally becoming a godlike prophet. Such a story was a shoo-in for Jodorowsky, tying nicely with his own concerns as a storyteller. I've been hearing about this project for years and now, director Frank Pavich gives us the full story of the greatest science-fiction film never made.

With his inspiration set on fire, Jodorowsky set out to assemble a mottley crew of "spiritual warriors" to help him out making the film. And he apparently chose well. For the character designs and storyboard, he hired Moebius, the famous French comic artist with whom Jodorowsky will have a fruitful partnership. For the set and ships designs, he fished out Chris Foss, a British guy noted for his sci-fi book covers. For the Harkonnens (the bad guys), he picked none other than H.R. Giger. Dan O'Bannon was selected for the special effects. For the film's soundtrack, bands like Pink Floyd and Magma (a French prog band) were added to the mix. Talk about chosing the right people for the right project.

As for the cast, you'd have seen Brontis Jodorowsky as Paul (the director's son, who was put into a grueling training program to play the part), Salvador Dali (yes, that Salvador Dali) as the Emperor, Amanda Lear (very famous in the seventies for...being famous) as his daughter, Irulan. David Carradine as the Duke Leto Atreides. Mick Jagger as Paul's rival Feyd. Orson Welles as the Baron Harkonnen (he agreed to play the part provided he could dine at his favourite restaurant every day!). European exploitation veteran Udo Kier as Pieter the Mentat. A most surreal cast for a most surreal movie.

I'm speaking for myself here, but the whole thing would have been mind-blowing, no surprise if you happened to have seen El Topo and Holy Mountain. The only way to "see" the film is to read the exhaustive storyboard by Moebius, which you can't 'cause there's only two copies left in the world. A shame, a real shame as this would have probably heralded a new era in sci-fi movies. Unfortunately, with the release of Star Wars, sci-fi movies would degenerate into the action-packed mindless absurdities we see on screen today.

So, why didn't it get made? Simple. Once the pre-prod was completed, Jodorowsky and his producer Michel Seydoux courted Hollywood for the financing, with disastrous results. Although impressed by the movie's design, the Suits were deathly afraid of a director like Jodorowsky whom they didn't understand and certainly didn't trust to make a profitable film. I wonder, though, why the pair didn't court European studios? After all, the director's two previous films where highly successful on the continent, so what gives? On the other hand, Hollywood was in the midst of its New Hollywood phase, so one wonders why directors such a Francis Ford Coppola (fresh from his successes with the two Godfather movies) couldn't have vouched for him?

The dejected Jodorowsky stayed clear of movie-making for a couple of years after that, and I certainly can't blame him. He became distressed when David Lynch released his own version of the story. Although respectful of Lynch as a director, Jodorowsky wouldn't see the film until prodded by his kids, as a therapeutic gesture. It worked, as he found the film lacking in almost all respects which allowed him to move on.

An excellent documentary about one of cinema's greatest what-could-have-beens. A must see.