Jan 12 *
This https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/3858519 is a short story by Clark Ashton Smith, published in 1932. C.A.S. is mostly known today through his connection with H.P. Lovecraft, but I have been beginning to appreciate him in his own right. I discovered him... early in the pandemic, 2020 or 2021. Well, I had vaguely known that he had existed, before then, but, whatever.
I just wanted to mention this story, because I came across some discussions online, speculating that it might have been a big inspiration for Alien. Yes, THAT Alien, the 1979 classic.
I am not sure if I agree with this or not. It is an intriguing possibility, though. It is possible to describe the story in such a way as to make people prone to say "Of COURSE it was the inspiration for Alien, you idiot! How could anyone possibly even question this?!? Why is this the first time I am hearing about this?!? Jesus Christ!"
OK, here is how I would describe it, if I were trying to see the idea that it inspired Alien.
A group of explorers in the future are on another planet. While exploring, they find a passage into some kind of large, underground complex, built by aliens who have long since died out, or have gone to some other unknown end. While exploring the complex, one of the explorers is abruptly surprised by a small alien creature that doesn't LOOK too threatening at first glance, but which pounces on him and attaches itself to his head and (upper) face. It seems to be comandeering his body for unknown, but clearly nefarious, purposes of its own. Very soon, all the other explorers are in great peril from... well, not from the exact same alien, or from a spawn of that alien, but from other, identical creatures which were also concealed in the depths of the underground complex. One by one, the explorers are subjected to extremely yucky attacks, until they are all severely yuckified except one solitary explorer, who through a combination of quick thinking and luck avoids the fate of... well, of HIS, not her, comrades. Does that lone explorer survive all the way until the end of the story? ead the story, and you'll see. (Or just ask me, I'll tell you if you want).
So, yeah, when I describe the story like that, it really sounds like it could be the inspiration for Alien.
But... well, I won't wreck the story anymore than I already have, but lots of the common ground the story has with Alien are actually pretty common sci-fi tropes. I'm not a hundred percent convinced.
One thing I'll say, and I don't think this wrecks too much of the suspense: the story takes place on Mars, not some heretofor undiscovered planet way the hell out there in the cosmos. For me, that radically changes the whole feel of the story from Alien. Part of the mystery of Alien was that not only was that planet unknown, but also we had no idea where the alien spaceship was from, at least until the recent sequels. For me, that added a lot to the mysteriousness of the setting. I guess it is possible that that was just an improvement that Ridley Scott thought up.
Another thing is that there is nothing in the short story about The Company, which for some people was one of the main scary things about Alien, maybe even THE scariest thing.
Anyway, I can see this one going either way.
By the way, I have mentioned this author here before, in some thread. He wrote another story that I DO think was probably a big inspiration for Land of the Lost, the 70s Saturday morning TV show. I'm pretty convinced about that.
Anyway. Yah. Had to share. Any thoughts?
I just wanted to mention this story, because I came across some discussions online, speculating that it might have been a big inspiration for Alien. Yes, THAT Alien, the 1979 classic.
I am not sure if I agree with this or not. It is an intriguing possibility, though. It is possible to describe the story in such a way as to make people prone to say "Of COURSE it was the inspiration for Alien, you idiot! How could anyone possibly even question this?!? Why is this the first time I am hearing about this?!? Jesus Christ!"
OK, here is how I would describe it, if I were trying to see the idea that it inspired Alien.
A group of explorers in the future are on another planet. While exploring, they find a passage into some kind of large, underground complex, built by aliens who have long since died out, or have gone to some other unknown end. While exploring the complex, one of the explorers is abruptly surprised by a small alien creature that doesn't LOOK too threatening at first glance, but which pounces on him and attaches itself to his head and (upper) face. It seems to be comandeering his body for unknown, but clearly nefarious, purposes of its own. Very soon, all the other explorers are in great peril from... well, not from the exact same alien, or from a spawn of that alien, but from other, identical creatures which were also concealed in the depths of the underground complex. One by one, the explorers are subjected to extremely yucky attacks, until they are all severely yuckified except one solitary explorer, who through a combination of quick thinking and luck avoids the fate of... well, of HIS, not her, comrades. Does that lone explorer survive all the way until the end of the story? ead the story, and you'll see. (Or just ask me, I'll tell you if you want).
So, yeah, when I describe the story like that, it really sounds like it could be the inspiration for Alien.
But... well, I won't wreck the story anymore than I already have, but lots of the common ground the story has with Alien are actually pretty common sci-fi tropes. I'm not a hundred percent convinced.
One thing I'll say, and I don't think this wrecks too much of the suspense: the story takes place on Mars, not some heretofor undiscovered planet way the hell out there in the cosmos. For me, that radically changes the whole feel of the story from Alien. Part of the mystery of Alien was that not only was that planet unknown, but also we had no idea where the alien spaceship was from, at least until the recent sequels. For me, that added a lot to the mysteriousness of the setting. I guess it is possible that that was just an improvement that Ridley Scott thought up.
Another thing is that there is nothing in the short story about The Company, which for some people was one of the main scary things about Alien, maybe even THE scariest thing.
Anyway, I can see this one going either way.
By the way, I have mentioned this author here before, in some thread. He wrote another story that I DO think was probably a big inspiration for Land of the Lost, the 70s Saturday morning TV show. I'm pretty convinced about that.
Anyway. Yah. Had to share. Any thoughts?