Thanks for a great review of the Alien movie, one of my favorite movies since I was a kid. I like this focus on icons and typeface. What i find interesting is that the typeface of the computer mother has changed from the original version! I was looking forward to you commenting on what i still think it’s the most awesome sci-fi computer typeface ever conceived. I don’t know what the typeface is exactly, but something close to this.
Yet I can’t find any video nor picture to substantiate this Google failed me. So I have to go into Dr. House mode here: my guess is that they changed it when digitizing the movie. This fits well with your observation that the computer screen suddenly turns into full hd 16:9 mode.
Today, for my college project, while I was searching for Technology Inspired fonts, I found some great fonts that Sci-Fi movies like Aliens vs. Predator, Transformers, Spider-Man, Batman are using. However, I am still confused to choose one for my project but here I am showcasing all those fonts for you to choose the best for your project.
I mean that did not exist in 1979 when the movie was released. Also, you must be born post VHS era since you being into typeface didn’t notice this. I’m sure you’ll find someone who can confirm this.Like.
Being somewhat unenthusiastic by nature I will say it’s only almost the best post in the history of the internet and only almost justifies the invention of the medium by itself.I was particularly taken with the nuclear bolt keyboard, and wonder, since the lovely shopd image contains AUM and HUM as well as PADME, is there also a MANI button, visible in another frame?The button below AGARIC FLY looks like a pleasing piece of iconography for the switch for emergency pathway lights to the campsite toilet facility. Which is of course entirely appropriate for wild mushroom munching expeditions.
In space.But overall am I right to be concerned that the emergency self destruct control panel on this ship looks so used?Like. Tremendous work! I am especially delighted by the extended analysis of the self-destruct sequence, which was always a favourite of mine (especially for the intentional humour of its ridiculous complexity). And I had no idea of the incredibly incongruous connection between this film and Blavatsky — it makes me wonder if the self-destruct is really nuclear, or instead is powered by Lemurian crystals from the Hidden Masters.Also, not enough can be said in praise of Cobb’s Semiotic Standard — it really gives the interiors of the ship such a coherent look, and is a bit of design that is both utilitarian and aesthetically pleasing.One bit of typography you mention but don’t actually identify is in the ENVIRON CTR PURGE display. Those numerals are especially notable (and wacky) — is than an existing typeface, or do you think it was custom for this display?I greatly look forward to you doing your magic with Aliens.Like.
That’s a very wrong conclusion. T is a time when something is going to happen happen (in this case “A big boom”).
T-X designates remaining time until T. Fixed “T-10” on the panel means that there will be 10 minutes until action from the moment of activation. If you listen you will notice that voice counts from 10 minutes down to 0 (you could hear that before transmitted shuttle launches for example).In the same manner, T-5 means that in the last 5 minutes until T (form the 10 minutes in former sentence) ability to stop self destruction will not be available. In other words, you can do that in first five minutes out of ten.Like.
“ This screen might be familiar to fans of Ridley Scott’s other classic sci-fi movie, Blade Runner, which has a remarkably similar screen onboard a flying police vehicle: ”It’s exactly the same graphics. In a Blade Runner documentary, (On the Edge of Blade Runner) Ridley Scott explicitly mentions this.It’s good to read about the work of Ron Cobb. In ’79 I picked up a book, “The book of ALIEN” which also shows some of the shots you show. It also includes work by Giger and Foss.Another example of Scott re-using Cobb designs is in Prometheus. If you take a look at the flight deck of the ship it looks like the ‘split level bridge’ design, P51 in Colorvision. 1Also check out the patches Cobb produced on P61 2.
Still got my “Nostromo” & US “Tri-color” patch wich you still pick up at various stores in the 80’s.0 Ridley Scott, “On the Edge of Blade Runner”1 Ron Cob, “Colorvision”, Wild & Wooly, 1980, P51.2 Ron Cob, “Colorvision”, Wild & Wooly, 1980, P61.Like. BTW all-around stellar post. “On the display above, “T minus 10 minutes” means that the ship will explode ten minutes before T. However, “T minus 5 minutes” means that the cut-off mechanism will stop operating five minutes before T.To put it another way: this sign says that the cut-off system will become unavailable five minutes after the ship has exploded. Which isn’t very useful at all.”It’s quite silly, that part of your text I quoted. I have responded to earlier, quite wrong, comment on this, with correction.
Maybe you would like to correct that.Like. BTW, to clear up the terminology with the mission time (T minus 10, etc.): Your commenters are correct is saying that the “T” refers to an event time – in this case,.the time when the ship will explode.T.minus. 10 minutes is ten minutes prior to the explosion.T.minus. 5 minutes is five minutes prior to the explosion.So the instructions actually make sense.This usage is lift straight from the space program: times prior to launch are referred to T minus; times after launch as referred to as T plus.For example. As for the comments re imperial lbs and metric: you’re right, it would be MUCH more convenient for the US to dispense with the archaic and clumsy Imperial system and just join in using metric with the bulk of everyone else. Would save a lot of confusion.By that same token, I’m sure then that you’ll agree that it would be MUCH more convenient for the rest of the world to dispense with the archaic and clumsy languages and just join in using English with the bulk of everyone else. Would save a lot of confusion.Right?Like.
Hello Dave Addey.I’m a big fan of cinematic sci-fi and type. Put them together and you blow my mind. Thank you for your obsessive analysis.One quibble – I think it’s a mistake to assume that the green screen font is any version of the typeface City. Keep in mind that when ALIEN was created in the late 1970s the ability to display type on screen was extremely limited. This is most likely some off-the-shelf early computer terminal created for some rote task —perhaps even typesetting.Alien and 2001 both have great stories.
But they also share a brilliance of making use of practical effects — that is using contemporary techniques to relate a vision of the future.Keep up the good work, and may the force be with you.Like. Excellent effort and a very fun read. I hope you do more and get something in print – there’s definitely a book in this.To add to what’s been said, the use of ‘Father’ as a deliberate play on MU/TH/UR was used for Alien Resurrection’s computer before Moon’s.Also, the comment on the replies here about the Alien hiding in the refinery is wrong, It never leaves the tug.Finally, let’s all stop calling the Alien a ‘Xenomorph’ please. That just means ‘strange/alien shape’ and was never intended to be the Alien’s proper name.Like.
Excellent article. You might like to know that the computer graphics showing the 3D terrain on the CRT screens during the descent of the Nostromo were designed by British graphics company System Simulation, founded by architect John Lansdown. They used the Atlas computer at the Rutherford laboratory near Didcot, because it had an advanced graphics package called ANTICS and a high resolution film plotter that printed direct to 35mm film.
There’s an article about this here by one of the team, Brian Wyvill:Like. You can only comment on the quality of type reproduction in terms of late 60’s technology. Rostrum cameras using bromide film were commonplace to create backlit signage and the ‘animated’ computer text display in Alien. There were no typesetting computers then, or colour printers for that matter. Hand colouring the clear background of bromide film was a common trick I used in design school. The fuzzy helvetica of the opening sequence is an unfortunate factor of enlargement from a projection system phototypesetter, (perhaps) these were notorious for having rounded ‘sharp’ corners because of light spread through a bromide film original.DavidLike. Love all the work you put into this and I can appreciate the detail the creators put into every aspect ofthe ship.
I would imagine it would have to be that detailed given the ship and crew is the only representation we have of the world of Alien.Got another request for you: CapricaIt was a Battlestar Galactica prequel spinoff that was unfortunately cancelled, but I really loved the technology and graphics used in the show. I was really enamored with the large touch workstation computers and the graphics of the OS, but I could never find any background production information of who art directed all of that.Like. It is not true that Burma/Myanmar uses pounds: while it does not use the metric system, it has its own traditional system of weights and measures. Both imperial and metric measures are, Wikipedia says, used on government web pages, but I assume that’s a question of accommodating the outside world, including the US. (Imperial measures are often used alongside metric in the UK, too, because a large proportion of the population grew up with them and still haven’t got used to the new stuff.)Otherwise, this is perfect.Like. In answer to your comment about not knowing what will be considered futuristic in the future I call as witness Ivan Chermayeff, whose design philosophy, I believe, has the answer.
I think you can see it in play in the film examples given. The rule is simple, if design solutions come out of a correct understanding of the problem, rather than leaning on fad or fashion, then they will endure. The aspects of the Alien typography, and other examples, that follow this rule, remain ‘un-dated’ even now. The aspects that relied on the fashion of the 1970s, now look dated.Read more about Ivan Chermayeff’s way of thinking:Like. It’s interesting that despite Art of the Title’s interview with creator Richard Greenberg, and the further analysis here, that one key feature of the title sequence is not mentioned. It’s this: the letters appear one “stroke” or segment at a time, except (spoiler) the last two, which appear simultaneously and at opposing sides of the screen (A and E).The viewer is at first mystified by the appearing “bars” (segments) but long before the title sequence is complete, virtually everyone figures out that another segment is going to appear, and then another, until the whatever the title is going to be is spelled out.
But on the next to last segment, the viewer thinks, “Ok I know what this spells” and his or her eyes cannot help but look for that last segment to appear next — but it’s already there. It’s a “gotcha”.Someone, Ridley Scott or Richard Greenberg perhaps, are saying to the viewer: You think you’ve figured out what’s going on in this movie, but you haven’t.
There’s one more trick up our sleeves, and either you missed it, or you found it too late. The movie plays with this theme throughout and especially at the end.Like.