Yesterday was"Alien Day," a time for fans of theAlienfranchise to honor its legacy.The date of April 26th was chosen as a reference to LV-426, the moon on which the sequelAliensis set. Fans usually spend this day revisiting one of the many films that make up this sci-fi horror franchise. In honor of the long-running film series, one artist created terrifying fan art of the xenomorph re-imagined as a Sith Lord.
In many ways, aStar Wars/ Alienmashup is kind of fitting. While the two long-running franchises differ in style and tone, they both came out of the same era of film, and one wouldn’t even exist without the other. Back in the late ’70s, whenAlienwas first in development, 20th Century Fox wasn’t very confident in the idea of producing a science fiction film. However, afterStar Warscame out in 1977 and quickly became the most popular movie ever, the studio reconsidered.See, science fiction was on a bit of a decline in the 1970s. The New Hollywood Era gave birth to darker, grittier films that focused on morally ambiguous characters. Filmssuch asThe Godfather,All The Presidents Men,andTheFrench Connectionwere made in reaction to a very cynical time period, where America was still reeling from The Vietnam War, and Watergate was hardly a distant memory.
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Audiences didn’t really take science fiction seriously anymore. It seemed like a thing from a bygone era with outdated visual effects and cheesy plotlines. ThenStar Warscame out and blew everyone away. It stood out against the dreary and complicated films of the era as an optimistic and hopeful movie, where the good guys wore white and bad guys wore black, and in the end, the good guys came out on top. Science fiction was popular again and everyone was trying to cash in on it. The originalStar Warsspawned dozens of rip-offsand copycats, such as the hilariously badStarcrashand the 1980Flash Gordonfilm, an adaptation of the serials that inspiredStar Warsin the first place.
One of the more unlikely inspirations was a horror film calledAlien.While Ridley Scott’s film could not be more different thanStar Wars,it still owes its existence tothe firstStar Warsfilm. Scott’s film was a nice blend of the new age Hollywood cynicism mixed with the now popular science fiction aesthetic, as well as a great use of the then-popular “slasher” film formula. It was also absolutely terrifying and quickly became one of the most popular horror films of all time. As a result, it spawned a massive franchise that’s been around almost as long asStar Wars,with over half a dozen sequels and prequels,severalAlienvideo games, comic book tie-ins, and even toys.
One of the most memorable elements of the franchise is, of course, the alien itself. Oftenreferred to as a xenomorph, this exoskeletal, acid-bleeding extraterrestrial predator was absolutely terrifying to audiences back in 1979, and to this day its creepy smile and lack of facial features will still send shivers up your spine. The fan art was done by artist Clinton Felker, who goes by the usernamecgfelkeron DeviantArt. It depicts the infamous xenomorph wielding the signature red lightsaber of the Sith.
The xenomorph was already terrifying, so the idea of it being smart enough to learn the ways ofthe dark side used by the sithand wield a lightsaber is the stuff of nightmares. You can see more of Felker’s work on their DeviantArt page, which includes a cool speculativeLast Jedipiece that asks the question: what if Luke has fought the praetorian guards in the throne room?
