| Narcissus | |
| escape craft | |
| commercial | |
| 1 | |
| alloy polymer | |
| 2.52x103kg | |
| nitrogen, oxygen | |
| 20m | |
| 19m | |
| 5m | |
| 1 decks, 1 flight | |
| 20-40°C | |
Name
Narcissus is a commercial escape craft and features in the film Alien. Ellen Ripley the sole survivor of the Nostromo uses the Narcissus as a means of escape after setting the self-destruct aboard the Nostromo, the Narcissus was then discovered floating in space in the film Aliens.
In the film Alien, the Narcissus is attached to the right underside of the Nostromo and is linked by corridors to deck three's SPU Module.
Characteristics
Reference stats table.
Appearance
Appearances in the following;
Alien (film)
Aliens (film)
Alien (Board Game)
Alien (1982)
Alien (1984)
Operation: Aliens
Alien Trilogy
Variations
Alien: Isolation
Aliens: Colonial Marines
Alien vs. Predator: Arcade
Alien: Out of the Shadows
Other craft
Nostromo
UD4L Cheyenne
USS Sephora
Derelict
Military Ship
Interactions
Various
From the variations the Narcissus appears as a spacecraft that isn't launched from
the Nostromo, although retaining it's basic shape and colour. The escape craft is also
called by a different name, in Alien: Out of the Shadows it is called the Nautilus and
in Alien vs. Predator: Arcade it is just a vehicle used for escape.
Alien (film)
Warrant Officer Ripley leaves the Nostromo in the Narcissus
having set and failed to switch off the self-destruct thinking it would be unnecessary. With only less
than five minutes to spare she gets aboard the Narcissus, unknown to Ripley as the Narcissus detaches,
the Alien had boarded with her as she sets course for Earth and readies herself for stasis.
After she puts Jones in stasis she finds the Alien stirring by the air cooling pipes, on finding this
she gets into a spacesuit with the intent of flushing the Alien out of the airlock as
the spacecraft depressurizes. Once suited she hits the airlock door release and as she does the
depressurization sucks the Alien from the spacecraft only for it to catch a hold of the airlock door,
so using a small harpoon fires a bolt dislodging it from the door. As it has been expelled even though
it was still attached to the line and the gun lodged in the door she shuts the door and fires the engines
burning the clinging Alien before eventually getting into stasis for her journey home.
Continuity
Films
Narcissus features in the films Alien and
Aliens.
The spacecraft features in the opening sequence in Aliens (film)
as the spacecraft which has been floating in space for 57 years. After being salvaged, crew cut
through the escape hatch and send a scanning drone aboard, finding
Ripley and her cat Jonesy.
The final name of the Nostromo was derived from the title of Joseph Conrad's 1904 novel Nostromo, while the escape shuttle, called Narcissus in the script, was named after Conrad's 1897 novella The N**** of the 'Narcissus'.
Alien (film)
There was only one escape craft on the
Nostromo in the film and although it had its own power source and engines the crew don't use the Narcissus to descend
to the surface. In schematics of the Nostromo a further escape craft was attached under fuselage on the other side,
Concept
Brian Johnson the special effects supervisor for Alien, designed the Refinery and Narcissus drawing preliminary sketches for both, for the Narcissus these showed the spacecraft, its engines and docking hatch, Johnson also designed and made the docking clasp which held the Narcissus. In production a sliding bay door was added which would encapsulate the spacecraft in flight. Ron Cobb's concepts had been given size and a production design so minitures and sets could be designed by production builders.
On-set
Modelmakers Martin Bower and Phil Rae primarily created Narcissus minitures which would attach to the underside, production designers then constructed interiors and a full size Narcissus which was suspended on set for filming.
Production
A separate model approximately 40 feet (12 m) long, was created for the Nostromo's underside from which the Narcissus would detach and from which Kane's body would be launched during the funeral scene. Filming here also included as Ripley escaped the Nostromo before the detonation and a fly pass as the Nostromo appeared approaching LV426.
As the Narcissus prepared to launch a separate set sequence was filmed upside-down with the Narcissus lying on its back with a part of the underside scaled with the larger pieces.
Shots of Ripley appearing in the Narcissus had been produced using a monitor with a prerecorded girl being played on it from separate filming on set, this clip was played back and filmed from the underside of the Nostromo in wide shot.
Post Production
In Post Production Ridley Scott had the Narcissus minitures destroyed after filming so no models could be used in other productions, thinking that this would lower the valve of the film.
Concept
Under supervision by Pat McClung miniature effects supervisor for Aliens, miniatures were built for the various vehicles including the APC, ATV and Dropship, using reference to the film Alien for the Narcissus.
Production
Preliminary shots used cardboard models for the Narcissus and Salvage Craft as well as other models with filming occurring on weekends, the final shots for filming the scaled models used the designs from the original Alien film. A full size set for the interior of the Narcissus was built using reference to the film Alien with stasis unit and control panels.
Alien: Isolation
With the versions Ripley and Nostromo editions the Nostromo and Narcissus feature as part of gameplay in
the DLC missions Crew Expendable and Last Survivor. The crew of the Nostromo with the Alien are the characters
with separate missions, playing parts from the film.
The Narcissus features as part of gameplay in the DLC mission Last Survivor. The crew of the
Nostromo, Kane, Brett, Dallas and Ash have been killed leaving Ripley, Lambert and Parker but
contact is lost as Lambert and Parker go and collect coolant cylinders. Playing as Ripley who
starts aboard the Narcissus, who like in the film Alien, starts the level from prepping and supplying
the Narcissus, with Lambert and Parker after the coolant cylinders. After losing contact Ripley
sets off for the supplies finding Lambert and Parker dead from the alien who is still aboard, after
she collected the supplies she sets the self-destruct with only 5 minutes before detonation and
must make her return aboard the Narcissus and escape.
Differences from the film include; there is no Jonesy and the alien doesn't make it aboard the
Narcissus, and so she doesn't put on a spacesuit and expel the alien.
Timeline
The film Alien is set in 2122.
The film Aliens is set after the events of the film Alien, Ellen Ripley having killed the Alien goes into stasis aboard the Narcissus only to be found drifting in space 57 years later.
The game Alien (1984) was published in 1984 and based on the film Alien.
The board games Operation: Aliens and Alien (Board Game) and the video games Alien (1982) and Alien (1984) features the Narcissus in similiar scenarios with the film Alien.
The game Alien: Isolation is set as a continuing story after the film Alien and before the film Aliens. The DLC forms part of the film Alien.
See also
References
Citations
Alien (film)
Aliens (film)
Narcissus on-set