Engineer Origin & Foreign Connection

With 2012s Prometheus and its continuation, Alien: CovenantDirector Ridley Scott returned to the franchise he created in 1979 with his gothic horror in space masterpiece, AlienOpen up the universe and uncover a unique connection between the titular Xenomorphs and the mysterious “Space Jockey.” The “Pilot” appeared early in the original film, first appearing to the crew of the Nostromo as they responded to a strange transmission from the distant moon LV-426. It was a hulking extraterrestrial with an elephant-like trunk, its chest violently ripped open from the inside out at some point long ago.

John Hurt’s Kane discovers a chamber containing countless egg-like cocoons as the crew explores the derelict ship. investigation closer, A “face-hugger” pops out of one of the eggsBreaks through Kane’s protective helmet, and latches onto his face. The others bring Kane back to the Nostromo, where they dislodge the face-hugger. Soon, a new creature, the Xenomorph, bursts from Kane’s chest, hunting the crew until only Ellen Ripley is left alive for a final confrontation.

The Space Jockey from Alien

HR Giger designed the Space Jockey

The creature’s unique and memorable design made the Space Jockey a fan favorite early on. Working from initial concept art by HR Giger, the final on-screen form was designed by artist Ron Cobb, who provided an expanded backstory for the creature. According to Cobb, The pilot was one of a race of interstellar explorers and archaeologists who made first contact with the xenomorph species before they were wiped out and stranded on the planet.

The members of the Nostromo crew investigate a distress signal that leads them to a derelict space shuttle. Captain Dallas (Tom Skerritt) led two others to search the interior, where they found what looked like a giant gun turret. In it were the fossilized remains of a giant alien with what looked like an explosion that happened in its chest. This is the Space Jockey. No one knew who or what it was, but Ripley soon knew that the distress signal was a warning, and that’s when the Pasehugger attacked.

The Space Jockey is not seen again in any of the sequels. However, it has occasional appearances In non-canonical Alien comics and books, and became a favorite subject for fans and artists over the years. That all changed when Ridley Scott returned and gave a more detailed explanation of what the Space Jockey really was in the prequel movies Prometheus And Alien: Covenant.

Alien’s “space jockey” explained

The Space Jockey is an engineer

for PrometheusRidley Scott wanted to explore the engineered origins of the Xenomorphs. The film opens with the Engineers, an ancient race of tall, bald, pale extraterrestrials. They are responsible for seeding life on countless planet systems with their advanced genetic engineering technology. This technique involves the Engineers use a viscous black goo, which they use to create life and as a weapon.

Flash forward to 2089, while infected after contact with the strange goop, archaeologist Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) impregnates his girlfriend, Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace), who soon gives birth to a fully-formed creature known as a trilobite. The trilobite attacks the last surviving engineer as all hell is breaking loose for the crew of the Prometheus. As the engineer tries to escape, it turns out that the engineers and space jockeys are one and the same, reconnecting the pilot’s plan in Alien Like an exoskeletal battle suit.

at the end of PrometheusA new creature burst from the dead engineer’s chest. It is a blue-hued creature known as “The Deacon,” clearly a genetic ancestor of the Xenomorph. Prometheus Pointed out that the Engineers/Space Jockeys created the Xenomorphs. As a result, their creation wiped them out, presumably setting the stage for the events of Alien. However, one more twist arriving in Alien: Covenant Shows that this is not the engineers’ plans.

Like Prometheus & Alien: Covenant Connect

David used the Xenomorphs against the Engineers

five years later, Alien: Covenant Expanding on the backstory even further, revealing that the Xenomorphs are the creation of rogue android dude, played by Michael Fassbender. After landing on the engineer homeward after the events of PrometheusDavid concludes that humans and the Engineers are inferior to his android form. He wiped out the race and since then expanded on the genetic breakthroughs of the engineers in his quest to engineer the “perfect organism,” engineering the xenomorph.

This fulfills the central theme of Promethean mythology: Unintended consequences in the search for improvementAlthough the consequences may have been intentional with David. function in Alien As little more than a harbinger of the doom that is about to befall the characters, the Space Jockey and the mysterious race of engineers are eventually revealed to have played a key role in the central events of the franchise, though as everyone would His Dr. Frankensteins, they also finally fell victim to their own creation.

What role do space jockeys play in Alien: Romulus?

The Black Goo is back

Alien: Romulus takes place after AlienSo the first movie’s crew has already come across the Space Jockey, but it is not known what the beginning is since it was not revealed until Prometheus. As the last film showed, the Space Jockey was an engineer, and it is not body armor but the real giant status of the alien being. However, no one who saw it lived, with Ash being the only one who knew there was something to recover in the first movie, but he died without achieving his directive.

in Alien: RomulusThe crew brings a damaged droid named Ruk back to life, and a CGI version of Ian Holm (who died in 2020) portrays the droid, explaining that he prefers the xenomorph as the perfect life form to others. He introduces the “Prometheus tension.” This is where the new movie ties in with The Space JockeyBringing back the black goo that was left after David slaughtered the engineers.

The pregnant Kai sprinkled herself with the black goo, thinking it would cure her, and bad things happened. While the Space Jockey himself wasn’t in the movie, nor were any other versions of the Engineers, the black goo was the one thing that tied it all together, from Alien to Prometheus to Alien: RomulusProving that the Space Jockey was one of the most important ingredients of the Xenomorph storyline.