WEBVTT - The Monstrefact: Alien, Part 5 – The Xenomorph Egg

0:00:03.360 --> 0:00:06.439
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

0:00:10.520 --> 0:00:12.600
<v Speaker 2>Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and this is the

0:00:12.680 --> 0:00:15.319
<v Speaker 2>Monster Fact, a short form series from Stuff to Blow

0:00:15.360 --> 0:00:24.239
<v Speaker 2>Your Mind focusing on mythical creatures, ideas and monsters in time. Today,

0:00:24.280 --> 0:00:27.960
<v Speaker 2>we continue our Alien Monster Fact series leading up to

0:00:28.000 --> 0:00:31.960
<v Speaker 2>the August sixteenth release of Alien Romulus, with a trip

0:00:32.040 --> 0:00:36.120
<v Speaker 2>back to the very beginning the xenomorph egg. In the

0:00:36.159 --> 0:00:39.960
<v Speaker 2>original nineteen seventy nine film Alien, the crew of the

0:00:40.000 --> 0:00:44.480
<v Speaker 2>Nostromo discovered thousands of strange rubbery eggs, each between two

0:00:44.479 --> 0:00:46.840
<v Speaker 2>and three feet in hide or point six two point

0:00:46.880 --> 0:00:51.680
<v Speaker 2>nine meters in height, aboard a derelict Engineer spacecraft. As

0:00:51.720 --> 0:00:55.120
<v Speaker 2>I originally discussed in the article how the Alien Xenomorph

0:00:55.160 --> 0:00:58.240
<v Speaker 2>Works back in twenty twelve for the website How Stuff Works,

0:00:58.520 --> 0:01:01.880
<v Speaker 2>the first stop in interpreting the strange stage of the

0:01:01.920 --> 0:01:05.360
<v Speaker 2>alien life cycle is to approach it as an egg.

0:01:05.720 --> 0:01:07.399
<v Speaker 2>That is to say, we have to compare it to

0:01:07.480 --> 0:01:11.679
<v Speaker 2>the amniotic eggs of birds, reptiles, and amphibians, which protect

0:01:11.720 --> 0:01:16.440
<v Speaker 2>and nourish the organism inside during its early development. The

0:01:16.520 --> 0:01:20.399
<v Speaker 2>xenomorph egg certainly contains and protects an organism the face

0:01:20.480 --> 0:01:24.280
<v Speaker 2>hugger stage of the xenomorphic life cycle. No matter what

0:01:24.360 --> 0:01:27.960
<v Speaker 2>the external environmental conditions might be, the egg seems to

0:01:28.040 --> 0:01:31.520
<v Speaker 2>keep the face hugger moist alive and possibly at the

0:01:31.560 --> 0:01:35.440
<v Speaker 2>appropriate temperature, within a vat of fleshy pulpy material that

0:01:35.560 --> 0:01:39.160
<v Speaker 2>we might compare to the yolk or dudoplasm that serves

0:01:39.200 --> 0:01:43.400
<v Speaker 2>this purpose in terrestrial eggs. But the xeno egg seemingly

0:01:43.440 --> 0:01:47.080
<v Speaker 2>evolved to not only protect a developing organism, but to

0:01:47.160 --> 0:01:50.800
<v Speaker 2>preserve it in a state of readiness. As we'll discuss

0:01:50.840 --> 0:01:54.120
<v Speaker 2>in the next episode, the face hugger absolutely depends on

0:01:54.200 --> 0:01:58.760
<v Speaker 2>host availability, and the egg patiently awaits delivery to or

0:01:58.800 --> 0:02:02.880
<v Speaker 2>discovery by suitable hosts. And this is where we consider

0:02:02.960 --> 0:02:06.760
<v Speaker 2>another possibility, one explored by the Alien RPG from Free

0:02:06.840 --> 0:02:10.440
<v Speaker 2>League Publishing. Perhaps it's not merely an egg, but a

0:02:10.520 --> 0:02:14.320
<v Speaker 2>full blown stage of the alien life cycle, an ovomorph

0:02:14.840 --> 0:02:18.600
<v Speaker 2>and an organism in and of itself. Consider the face

0:02:18.680 --> 0:02:21.400
<v Speaker 2>hugger doesn't hatch or burst from the egg like a

0:02:21.480 --> 0:02:25.919
<v Speaker 2>natural world hatchling. Instead, it's the ovomorph that opens its

0:02:26.000 --> 0:02:29.640
<v Speaker 2>four dorsal petals or lips and allows the face hugger

0:02:29.639 --> 0:02:33.200
<v Speaker 2>to spring forth. Perhaps indeed, it is the egg that

0:02:33.320 --> 0:02:38.200
<v Speaker 2>initially senses nearby prey and not the face hugger. We

0:02:38.280 --> 0:02:40.919
<v Speaker 2>might also look to the ropey tendrils that seem to

0:02:40.960 --> 0:02:43.959
<v Speaker 2>protrude from the bases of these eggs. Are these merely

0:02:44.000 --> 0:02:47.400
<v Speaker 2>secreted resin strands to bind the eggs in place against

0:02:47.520 --> 0:02:52.080
<v Speaker 2>environmental stress or gravitational changes, or are they tentacles that

0:02:52.160 --> 0:02:55.840
<v Speaker 2>may help sense interlopers. Are they, in fact roots that

0:02:55.919 --> 0:03:00.720
<v Speaker 2>seek nourishment to sustain their hidden organic payloads? Mainly in

0:03:00.760 --> 0:03:05.560
<v Speaker 2>the phantasmagorical concept art of dark surrealist hr Giger, the

0:03:05.639 --> 0:03:10.240
<v Speaker 2>egg's dorsal openings are sometimes manifested as a single slit,

0:03:10.600 --> 0:03:13.400
<v Speaker 2>implying not hatching but live birth.

0:03:13.960 --> 0:03:14.160
<v Speaker 1>Ah.

0:03:14.240 --> 0:03:17.799
<v Speaker 2>But there is more mystery to consider here concerning the ovomorph,

0:03:18.160 --> 0:03:21.440
<v Speaker 2>as seen in alternate cuts of Ridley Scott's Alien and

0:03:21.520 --> 0:03:24.440
<v Speaker 2>is embraced in the Alien RPG source book. There are

0:03:24.560 --> 0:03:27.800
<v Speaker 2>two known ways to wind up with the XENOMORPHAG. A

0:03:27.880 --> 0:03:30.680
<v Speaker 2>hive queen may deposit the eggs in great number, as

0:03:30.680 --> 0:03:34.480
<v Speaker 2>we see in James Cameron's Aliens, or a living host

0:03:34.800 --> 0:03:39.600
<v Speaker 2>may develop into a XENOMORPHAE. Here's how it allegedly works.

0:03:40.320 --> 0:03:43.600
<v Speaker 2>A lone xenomorph drone such as the titular creature in

0:03:43.640 --> 0:03:48.640
<v Speaker 2>the original Alien, collects hosts, incapacitates them, cocoons their bodies

0:03:48.880 --> 0:03:52.360
<v Speaker 2>with resin secretions, and then uses a barb on its tail,

0:03:52.520 --> 0:03:57.160
<v Speaker 2>perhaps a form of ovipositor, to inject them with enzymes, hormones,

0:03:57.200 --> 0:04:01.200
<v Speaker 2>and perhaps some derivative of the black Goo. The unfortunate

0:04:01.240 --> 0:04:07.000
<v Speaker 2>host then slowly transforms into a swollen overmorph themselves, complete

0:04:07.040 --> 0:04:11.920
<v Speaker 2>with a face hugger, drifting dreaming in its semi translucent depths.

0:04:11.960 --> 0:04:15.400
<v Speaker 2>With enough time and enough available hosts, the new egg

0:04:15.640 --> 0:04:20.960
<v Speaker 2>may birth a whole new hive of xenomorphic world consuming horror.

0:04:21.680 --> 0:04:24.880
<v Speaker 2>Tune in for additional episodes of the Monster Fact each week.

0:04:25.279 --> 0:04:29.080
<v Speaker 2>Our Alien series will continue here, but afterwards episodes of

0:04:29.120 --> 0:04:33.240
<v Speaker 2>The Artifact and Anamalia Stupendium shall return. Thanks to the

0:04:33.240 --> 0:04:36.360
<v Speaker 2>excellent Jjpossway for producing this episode, and as always, you

0:04:36.400 --> 0:04:39.120
<v Speaker 2>can email us at contact at stuff to Blow your

0:04:39.120 --> 0:04:49.839
<v Speaker 2>Mind dot com.

0:04:50.000 --> 0:04:52.919
<v Speaker 1>Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For

0:04:53.000 --> 0:04:55.800
<v Speaker 1>more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app,

0:04:55.960 --> 0:04:58.720
<v Speaker 1>Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.