1. It Took Over A Dozen Operators To Bring The Alien Queen To Life
Upping the ante over the original movie and going from a single alien threat to an entire horde certainly posed logistical challenges for James Cameron and his crew. Everything from men in suits to miniatures and puppets were employed to create the fluid and dynamic action sequences featuring xenomorphs climbing out of vents and ducts in the floors and ceilings before rampaging towards the Marines. For the alien queen even more impressive feats were undertaken to bring this towering creature to life. Sections of the queen were constructed separately for close-ups and models were used for a number of shots in which she tangled with Ripley inside the power loader, but some of the most impressive full shots of the creature moving around took upwards of a dozen operators in order to bring to life. It's all the more impressive given how little the effect has aged in the intervening thirty years, and proof that sometimes CGI is no match for good old practical effects - you only have to compare the creatures in Aliens to the CG underwater swimming aliens in later movies for this to be painfully obvious. What facts about Aliens have you discovered which no one else seems to know about? Why not let us know and post a comment below?
