WEBVTT - The Monstrefact: Alien, Part 6 – The Facehugger

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

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<v Speaker 2>Hi, my name is Robert Lamman. This is the Monster Fact,

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<v Speaker 2>a short form series from Stuff to Blow Your Mind,

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<v Speaker 2>focusing in non mythical creatures, ideas and monsters in time.

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<v Speaker 2>In our look at the xenomorph life cycle, we finally

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<v Speaker 2>come to the horrifying face Hugger. This is the creature

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<v Speaker 2>that emerges from the traditional xenomorph egg, aggressively attaches itself

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<v Speaker 2>to the face of a human host, implants an embryo

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<v Speaker 2>in the comatose host organism, and then dies. The embryo,

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<v Speaker 2>of course, develops into a standard xenomorph, which we'll explore

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<v Speaker 2>in the next episode. There are a few different ways

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<v Speaker 2>to look at the basics of the face Hugger. On

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<v Speaker 2>one level, we can ground it in the dark surrealism

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<v Speaker 2>of hr Giger, another twist on sexual reproduction, Freudian death drive,

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<v Speaker 2>and physiology. But just as we previously face the question

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<v Speaker 2>of whether the xenomorph egg is an organism in and

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<v Speaker 2>of itself, we must also consider this with the face

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<v Speaker 2>Hugger to some degree. In HowStuffWorks dot COM's How the

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<v Speaker 2>Alien Xenomorph Works from twenty twelve, I explored the idea

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<v Speaker 2>that the face hugger might not constitute a true organism

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<v Speaker 2>at all, but would rather be a delivery system for

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<v Speaker 2>the embryo. No more an organism than a sperm cell

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<v Speaker 2>is an organism, and of course this alone is a

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<v Speaker 2>comparison worth considering. A human sperm cell is not a

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<v Speaker 2>human being, but it does metabolize sugar to produce energy, grow,

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<v Speaker 2>and move on its own to reach the egg as

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<v Speaker 2>part of human reproduction. But anyway, back in twenty twelve,

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<v Speaker 2>the face hugger also brought to my mind at any rate,

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<v Speaker 2>the male argonaut or paper nautilus, which has a detachable

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<v Speaker 2>spermatophore filled arm called a hectocautulyus that it leaves with

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<v Speaker 2>its mate. So if the xenomorph egg could be considered

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<v Speaker 2>an organism, we might consider the face hugger to be

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<v Speaker 2>its hectocodulus of sorts, only one that moves on its

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<v Speaker 2>own to seek out the host. However, there's an important

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<v Speaker 2>point to be made here, and one that I don't

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<v Speaker 2>think is properly reflected in that twenty twelve How Stuffworks

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<v Speaker 2>article that I wrote. A hectocodulus is not free swimming

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<v Speaker 2>like a sperm cell. Some creatures of the hectocodilust use

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<v Speaker 2>it as a sex organ that remains attached. In others,

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<v Speaker 2>such as with the argonaut, it detaches and the male

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<v Speaker 2>manually leaves it, with the female leaving it inside a

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<v Speaker 2>special cavity in her mantle. In the Free League Alien RPG,

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<v Speaker 2>the authors present three rival theories concerning the face hugger.

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<v Speaker 2>The first, in line with what we've been discussing, is

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<v Speaker 2>that it deposits an embryo of some sort, thus making

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<v Speaker 2>it another morph of the same species. The second idea

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<v Speaker 2>is that it deposits not an embryo, but a cancerous

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<v Speaker 2>growth that mutates into a chessbuster. This, I would imagine

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<v Speaker 2>puts it more in line with the concept of the

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<v Speaker 2>black goo in the alien universe. The third premises of

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<v Speaker 2>the face hugger is its own species in a symbiotic

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<v Speaker 2>relationship with the prime xenomorph species, and that it injects

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<v Speaker 2>bacteria into the host that leads to the development of

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<v Speaker 2>the chess burster. Part of the confusion here is due

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<v Speaker 2>to the fact that the developing embryo or chess burster

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<v Speaker 2>inside the host takes on at least some of the

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<v Speaker 2>host's genetics, be it the chessbuster we see emerge from

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<v Speaker 2>the quadruped host in Alien three, or if we're considering

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<v Speaker 2>Ash's comments in the original Alien that the xenomorph that

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<v Speaker 2>emerges from Nostromo Executive Officer Caine is essentially quote Cain's Sun.

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<v Speaker 2>And even this is not entirely outside the boundaries of

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<v Speaker 2>the natural world, as recent studies have shown that horsehair

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<v Speaker 2>worms steal genes from host organisms in order to control

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<v Speaker 2>their behavior, and we see plenty of other examples of

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<v Speaker 2>horizontal gene transfer, the non sexual transfer of genetic information

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<v Speaker 2>between genomes. But let's get back to the face hugger itself.

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<v Speaker 2>I turned to the paper Science Fiction The Biology of

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<v Speaker 2>the Alien in Alien by Armand im Curis and Mona

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<v Speaker 2>Wi Leo, published just last year in the Portland Press.

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<v Speaker 2>They classify the face hugger as a quote hoaxed attack

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<v Speaker 2>larval stage and conclude that quote unattacking larva injecting the

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<v Speaker 2>next larval stage is realistic for Earthling parasites. For a

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<v Speaker 2>natural world example of something related, they turn to Seculina Carcini,

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<v Speaker 2>the crab Hacker Barnacle, one of the parasitic Rhizocephala crab

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<v Speaker 2>castrator barnacles. One of the organism's early motes is a

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<v Speaker 2>specialized juvenile form known as a kinragon, which boasts only

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<v Speaker 2>the antennuals necessary to attach to its crab host, and

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<v Speaker 2>is otherwise a living hypodermic needle that exists only to

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<v Speaker 2>inject a cell mass known as a vermigon into the crab,

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<v Speaker 2>and the vermigon is described here by the authors as

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<v Speaker 2>microscopic and worm like. The injected vermigon then proceeds to

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<v Speaker 2>grow like roots through the host organism, branching through its organs,

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<v Speaker 2>leaving it unable to reproduce and completely controlling its physiology

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<v Speaker 2>and behavior. Absolutely fascinating and another example of how the

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<v Speaker 2>natural world is always willing to match even our most

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<v Speaker 2>bizarre sci fi and fantasy inventions. We might well think

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<v Speaker 2>of the face hugger as a kind of kentragon and

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<v Speaker 2>its reproductive payload as a vermigon, And indeed, the vermigon's

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<v Speaker 2>role in the natural world is to grow and establish

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<v Speaker 2>the adult form of the organism within the body of

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<v Speaker 2>the hosts. Only in the case of the xenomorph, that

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<v Speaker 2>final form must burst free. As we'll discuss in the

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<v Speaker 2>next Monster Fact episode, so tune in for additional episodes

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<v Speaker 2>of the Monster Fact each week. We'll be wrapping up

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<v Speaker 2>our series concerning the alien's xenomorph in the next week

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<v Speaker 2>or two leading up to the debut of the new

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<v Speaker 2>Alien Romulus film, and if there's anything new and noteworthy

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<v Speaker 2>in that film, I may do an extra Monster Fact

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<v Speaker 2>where I just chat about that a little bit. As always,

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<v Speaker 2>you can email us with feedback and requests at contact

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<v Speaker 2>at stuff to Blow your Mind dot com.

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