THE STAN WINSTON CONNECTION:

Stan Winston Studios has been creating visual effects for film and television for more than 30 years. Their work comprises an impressive portfolio including Predator, Jurassic Park, Terminator, Interview with the Vampire, and many others. Stan Winston Studios is based in Van Nuys, California and can be found online at stanwinston.com.

In Cinefex #27, Don Shay wrote: "Cameron recognized that certain of the scenes he had written would be impossible to achieve with a fourteen-foot mechanical artifact. Something smaller and more manageable would be required. Two options were readily apparent - a stop motion puppet or a rod and cable actuated one."

Cameron added: As a director, I find it tough to deal with stop motion. I was very happy with what was done on The Terminator, but by that point in the story we were dealing with a mechanical device and I didn't feel the look of stop motion violated anything we had already done. I was a little more worried about it with Aliens. The scenes involving the Alien Queen were very important, and what we were trying to do was create a real and believable character. Plus, when we started to analyze the types of shots we were doing we realized that most of would require fairly quick action - turns and spins and rapid strides - the sorts of moves that in stop-motion would cause so much displacement per frame that the arms and legs would end up strobing. There are things you just can't do in any other way, though, so originally the plan was to have a rod-puppet version and a stop motion version. But eventually it got down to budget and it became a choice of either one or the other. Given that, the rod and cable actuated puppet seemed more appealing for a number of reasons. One was that I had never worked with that kind of thing before and I wanted to fool around with it and see what could be done. Also I just had a feeling that with a lot of the floor effects that we'd be using - smoke and steam and that sort of thing - we'd have more flexibility with puppets we could shoot 'live' on a miniature set."

The film's effects were so cap- tivating, the Academy took notice (yes, THAT Academy ), and honored Winston and his crew's work on Aliens with their very first Academy Award for Visual Effects.

So enough with the history... lets get to the review. I will be ranking this product on a scale of 5 stars, 5 being the highest.

FIRST IMPRESSION: (5)

It's just so... Massive! "Look at the size of that thing!" was frequently heard by attendees of this year's San Diego Comic-Con, and we couldn't agree more. When interviewing the Sideshow team I commented that pictures REALLY just don't do the scale justice. And they can't when you're comparing the imagery to what you think of as the "normal" size for this kind of item. Almost every Garage kit, Model kit or action figure has featured a Queen in around the 1:12 range, when we're talking about 1:4, you have to remember, it's 1:4 of an actual full sized Aliens Queen! Many collectors have a specific size and scale ingrained in their heads and upon seeing this beauty in person, be assured, it's simply jaw dropping. If we had to describe our first impression in one word it would simply be...

Epic.

PACKAGING & UNPACKING: (unavailable)

While the packaging was unavailable at press time, one of the things we were most curious about was how do you ship something this big, and how do you protect it in transit? We sat down with members of Sideshow's creative team who had this to say: "We've developed a very special relationship with our packaging company - when you're shipping products of this scope, no one wants them to arrived damaged - so we work very closely with the designers to make sure everything is delivered as safely as it can to your home."

The Queen does have a few spindly appendages that we're told will ship packed in styrofoam, seperate from the main body, and will insert into the bust in the simplest of ways. According to Sideshow:

"Our packaging is still in the development stages, but there is sure to be something above and beyond the norm. If you are not familiar with Sideshow's "norm" for packaging, we really like to deliver the 'total package', pun intended. Nothing but the best will do, and our 2D designers are just as talented as our 3D team. Collectors who purchase the Alien Queen will certainly have fun with the extras we put inside the box, but we will all have to wait and see exactly what these goodies will be."

CONSTRUCTION: (5)

One of the most frequently asked questions about the piece is simply, "well, what is made of?" And as we sat down to chat with Tom Gilliland, Sideshow's Creative Director, we asked him just that:

"All the pieces are cast in what's called Polystone, a highly durable and extremely tough plastic material. We created a mold from the exact 1st generation silicon RTV master Stan Winston used in 1985 to create the Aliens Queen steel "rod puppet" used in several of Aliens' key FX scenes where using the full size Queen would have been impossible (noteably, the Egg Chamber sequence, and of course, the famed Powerloader battle). The final production units are assemble at a top quality factory in China where every piece, every part, every detail is checked, rechecked and, triple checked to make sure the piece that arrives in your home, meets or exceeds the customer's expectations."

In order to produce a piece of this magnitude to Sideshow's stringent requirements, key research was needed to bring the project to fruition. According to Gililland:

The original molds for the Alien Queen 1/4 scale rod puppet were still in the Stan Winston archive and were used to generate the basics for the final product.  Some details were sharpened up on some sections that the SW team felt were soft on the original puppet and the pose was carefully orchestrated to really sell the essence of the Queen.  

The real highlight of the process was to literally see the final piece come together one stage at a time within the halls where the original was created.  It really felt like a homage to the process and the artists that worked on the original films effects.  In fact team leader and creative Director for SW, John Rosengrant  was a part of the original team creating the alien Queen. The Bust project came together under his leadership which added another very poignant touch to the process."

The molds were still in good shape. From these, we were able to reengineer a Queen with a visually striking pose... Because Hollywood props usually don't have to suffer the same scrutiny as say, a cherished piece in your collection, we were able to take the exact sculpt and molds from the steel rod puppet and really take it to the next level."

While we're astounded at the SPFX wizardry involved, Sideshow Collectibles has definitely spared no expense in bringing together an incredibly knowledgeable and talented team in recreating one of Hollywood's most iconic creatures.

COLOR: (4.75)

Easily earning its stars here, the shell and paintjob looks to be dead on the nut. The pigment has been replicated perfectly by Sideshow's creative team. Due to the subdued color palette used in the film, the now infamous "poor" lighting, and the highly grainy film stock, the exact color of the Queen has always been hard to nail down:

"It was important that we give it a perfectly subtle paint job. When using the insect analogy to describe the Queen, her Hive, the nest, it's easy to default to simple color of ants: black. So we started from there, by airbrushing the project with a black base, and then giving it this light blue that really gives it the kick of life. The teeth themselves are cast in a clear, polystone resin, and then the whole thing is sealed with a gloss to give it that real high-end finish," said Gilliland.

Of interest, director James Cameron even commented on the film's color in a recent online article:

"It's a grainy film. It was shot on 5294, which was Kodak's high speed stock in their transition from 5293, which was not a T-grain emulsion, to 5296, which is their new high speed emulsion, which is a T- grain emulsion. 5294 didn't have the bugs worked out of it, it's a grainier movie than T2.

Aliens was also transferred in a not super state-of-the-art transfer facility, like they have now. They have some gadgets now that can play around with the black pedestal, get the blacks sharp without the shots going grainy. I supervised the transfer, I did the color corrections from shot to shot. It was the best it could look. The other thing is that when you're transferring a film, the way the particular colorist sets his monitor at the beginning of the transfer, determines a lot about what the transfer's going to look like."

You can read the full interview here.

Sideshow Collectibles has outdone themselves in not only getting the exact filming color right, but the paint job itself is simply eye-popping, with minute areas of shading and coloring that really highlight the intricacies of the Queen. Of note, we were told the review copy we were examining did not have the final paint job on it, and the final one promises to be even more spectacular (on a personal note, we thought it looked simply perfect).

CUSTOMER SERVICE & THE ORDERING PROCESS: (5)

While at Sideshow's headquarters, we were really impressed with the highly attentive operators in the large bullpen area as they fielded calls from customers and assisted them with every possible situation. After being taken on an impressive tour of the facility, Sideshow had this to say:

"We have a great policy for all of our customers, and we are constantly taking feedback and looking for ways to improve it. Basically, we have tried to eliminate as much concern as possible that the consumer might have in ordering with us.

We heard one representative taking an order from a European customer, who went above and beyond in explaining the overseas shipping process and how and when the customer was to receive the item. He even restated the companies policy about really wanting the customer to be happy with their purchase, so if there were any problems, there was no problem in returning the collectible. From their amazing detailed products, to their thoroughly involved customer experience, it seems "above and beyond" is the m.o. of this company.

"Once you receive your item, our 30 Day Return Policy allows our direct customers to send back any product they don¹t want for a replacement or for a full refund of the purchase price," said Sideshow.

This point was even further solidified when a rep told a customer they'd let management know about a specific critique they had with an item - and as soon as the call was completed, the operator went to let the bosses know. It was this aura of commitment to the customer/purchasing experience, and going the extra mile, that really made Sideshow stand out in our opinion.

"We offer our pre-ordering policy so customers can reserve an item from a limited edition run. We do not charge their card until the item is prepared for shipping, which gives them better cash flow while they await their product to arrive into our warehouses. We send out two emails to the customer, reminding them of their order when the product is about to arrive. This allows customers to adjust their finances accordingly ahead of the item being charged to their card. All of this is done to ensure that the customer receives the product they want with no problems and no suprises."

"Not to mention that all of our reps are extremely friendly, and will take the time to find out the most minute details about our products at your request! Our main goal is give our customers something they will be proud to add to their collection for a lifetime. Anything other than that is simply not good enough for Sideshow."

DISPLAY BASE AND PRESENTATION: (5)

The Queen comes in a highly energetic pose that literally looks as if she's microseconds from grabbing her prey. We were especially attracted to the solid, sturdy base, which does exactly what a well made base should: it accentuates the piece without taking anything away from it. Aliens kits and statues are notorious for resting on bases that are busier than the figure(s) themselves (usually styled in some sort of Giger-esque battleground), and the choice to go with something more simple and elegant compliments the Queen perfectly.

Set into the center of the base is an area that reads, "Aliens: Alien Queen," and is painted in the famous Aliens lettering glow seen in the films opening credits and movie poster.

A NOTE ON EDITION SIZES:

The Sideshow Collectibles 1/4 Scale Aliens Queen will be of a limited edition size. By only producing a finite number of a given collectible, Sideshow increases the value where the piece is actually more valuable by the time you receive your item, then when you ordered. Like fine art, it sounds like a good investment to us. Case in point would be the recent Alien head, which sold out immediately and now fetches close to double its original price on the secondary market and online auction sites such as eBay. We here at alienscollection.com are still extremely bummed we didn't get one in time, especially as we further discussed the Alien head and discovered more about the appeal of "limited edition" collectibles:

"We were pleasantly surprised at the fantastic reaction to the Alien Head release. This piece was our introduction to the world of Alien fans, and they to us, and it has proven to be a very compatible match. We knew there was an avid community, but the unanswered question was "Is the public willing to pay top dollar for a museum quality replica, and to own a piece of movie history?" The answer was a resounding "Yes", and this gave us motivation to produce the Alien Queen. In general, our products sell out very quickly, but there is always a risk when dealing with a new license or fan base. We feel extremely proud to have been accepted by this new group of collectors."

"Edition sizes are created based on studies of the scope of the fan base, the studio's marketing of the property and general popularity of a character. We are very careful not to overproduce pieces through an inflated edition and if anything, we are more conservative than the market indicates when establishing the final Limited Edition size."

"Our company takes collector feed back seriously. We began offering pre-ordering options in response to collectors who wanted to be able to reserve their edition size as early as possible. This allows our collectors to have the peace of mind knowing that their item is reserved and they do not have to rush and place an order when it comes into stock or to bid on an auction site for it. We do not even require a down payment or a full pre-payment in order to reserve your item. Our Newsletter Members receive updates about our new products so they will be certain to make informed decisions about their purchases."

"Our company's success is directly related to the support we've received from a devoted community of collectors and fans world wide. We find that collectors appreciate our commitment to producing high quality film accurate products that allow them to relive their movie experience. As a larger audience discovers our product we feel that the quality and limited nature of the items tends to influence the value of the pieces. This fuels the secondary market value as well as the desire for other like collectibles."

You get the 1/4 scale Queen Bust, display base, and some to-be-determined extra surprises for $949. A great price for what you get. This is years ahead of anything collectors have been offered before, especially at this price. A casting this size alone would have been hundreds of dollars, factor in the piece's origins.

OVERALL: (5)

Sideshow Collectibles was vehement in their dedication in taking on this ambitious project and replicating the Aliens Queen as per the original model. In keeping consistent with their astonishingly high standards, the materials used in its construction are of the highest quality, drawing from the company's experience in creating replicas from myriad film and entertainment properties.

"The Aliens Queen has really stood the test of time by proving itself to be one of the absoulte coolest movie monsters ever created (noted by it's appearance in two sequels, and legions of toys, comic books and model kits), and we wanted to honor that by bringing something extra special to this project. With it's majestic size, the pedigree of the piece's origin, and its ties to the original film, and our construction process, we think we've created something fans will really enjoy adding to their collection."

Before we left Sideshow (and they had pull us away), we wanted to get some final thoughts from Gilliland, who spoke with the kind of enthusiasm you really want from the guy who's helping bring your favorite cinema icons to center stage in your collectible cabinet:

"We wanted to give this collectible something we like to call "elevated purpose" - in other words, create something that you might treat, say, a painting on your wall. At Sideshow, we really like to bring a sense of art to our collectibles, and create pieces that everyone would love to have on display in their homes."

"One of the interesting things about our products is that they appeal to a wide-range of folks - a range that extends beyond the fan base. There's an acceptable "coolness" that has made pop culture much more vogue and acceptable to the mainstream.

Fostering the mentality that the strange and unusual really is an art form in it's right. We're delivering key products into each of these areas (Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Buffy, Aliens) - and people are really having a good time anticipating what we do next. As a product developer, it's been extremely rewarding.

When asked about the future of the Aliens line, Gilliland got tight lipped, but as a grin creased his lips, he said, "we could have a few things up our sleeve."

Hope so.

CLOSING THOUGHTS:

We here at alienscollection.com hope you like your Aliens Queen Bust with as much enjoyment as we have had reviewing it. This mindblowing bust is sure to guarantee an elevated "wow" factor with it's dynamic fluid pose, solid construction, and just sheer size. It goes without saying that the bust is something that all fans and enthusiasts will want to own. It's an incredibly well made item, and with its direct connection to the 1986 film, we feel will easy be the the centerpeice of any memorabilia collection.

If you would like to place a pre-order for the Sideshow Collectibles Aliens Queen, or any of their other items, check out the Sideshow Collectibles Website.

FAN COMMENTS:

Recently displayed at the San Diego Comic-Con, the world's largest pop-culture convention, thunderstruck fans and Aliens enthusiasts alike had this to say:

"At the San Diego Comic-Con there are literally thousands of items competing for your attention.  It can be difficult deciding where you want to spend your money.  But if you collect Aliens memorabilia you know the minute you see The Sideshow 1/4 scale Alien Queen you have to have it: the pose, the paint job, the sheer size of it - oh my God!".

-Aliens Collector and Screenwriter, Alan Cross.

IMAGE GALLERY:

XENO-BIOLOGY: THE ALIENS QUEEN

Part of the appeal of Aliens for many fans was, and still is, the believeability of the "perfect, pure, organisms" the Alien creatures themselves have turned out to be. A key element in selling the audience that this universe was very real. As scary as it is to imagine, could creatures like this even possibly exist? Probably not (at least we hope), but nevertheless, fans of the films have had their share of fun and enjoyment in extrapolating as much "real world" information from the Alien universe that they can. On his website, http://www.anchorpointessays.com/, Mike Lynch has gone to spellbinding lengths to gives us the genesis and history of the Aliens Queen:

"Physical Attributes: The Xenomorph Queen is approximately four and one half meters tall, possesses an extremely powerful tail that is equal in length to the Xenomorph's height, a cranial crown that is flattened (in comparison to the adult Xenomorph) and extends approximately two meters beyond the back of the head, and possesses a second set of arms (giving the Xenomorph a total of six limbs) that are approximately one third the length of the primary arms."

"The Head: The Queen's head is strikingly different than that of the adult. At first appearance it is wider, longer and flatter than the Soldier, but a closer investigation shows that the head, itself, is actually not much different in shape than the Soldier. The Queen's head resides inside a large cranial crown that covers and extends well beyond the back and sides of the head. The head is held within the crown during idle times or dormancy. The Queen's head will extend from under the cranium when awakened - very much like a turtle. The reason for keeping the head retracted inside the cranial crown is not clear. It may be to keep the head protected, but considering the general lack of mobility the Queen has once fully developed this idea doesn't make much sense: if the Queen is not mobile, then there is no need to keep the head protected as she is unlikely to encounter danger.

The crown is approximately two meters in length (roughly the same size as an adult soldier). As with her minions, the size of the cranial crown seems to indicate that there is a biological need for such a large structure. The most prominent theory is that due to the Queen's lack of mobility communicating with her hive-mates would become difficult in a large hive. With an enlarged cranial crown she is able to emit and receive pheromone signatures and high level sound throughout the hive. Thus making it easier to communicate with her brood. The theory of telepathy was once again applied to the the enlarged cranial crown of the Queen, but the fact that this crown only houses a head the would take up approximately one third of the overall crown would tend to suggest that the Queen's brain may not be much larger than the average adult Alien's. This is not to discredit this theory entirely, for it has been assumed that the crown is filled with nerves geared towards the detection of incoming chemical and sound based information -- these nerves could conceivably be used in telepathic reception. Though in the case of telepathy the nerves would need to be far more complex, which would suggest the necessity for larger crown.

Excerpt from Aliens: The Anchorpoint Essays, by Mike Lynch.

ALIENS QUEEN TRIVIA & FACTOIDS:

Stan Winston of Stan Winston Studios was responsible for the film's creature effects, and constructed the original 1/4 scale rod puppet along with Winston Supervisor John Rosengrant, and their team of FX professionals.

Seated next to Stan Winston on a plane ride, Aliens director James Cameron helped design the now famous Predator Hunter creature seen in all three films.

Stan Winston won the 1986 Academy Award for Best Visual Effects for his work on Aliens.

Lydecker (Acheron Colony Administrator) is an FX technique describing wire effects.

In the ending of Predator 2, if you look very closely, on the underside of the Alien trophy head, you can see a spine running along the back half. Well, that spine just happens to be a small segment of the tail from the 1/4 Scale Queen Alien puppet from Aliens.

[AVP SPOILER] Aliens actors Lance Henricksen ("Bishop") and Bill Paxton ("Hudson") have both played characters who suffer the ultimate Sci-Fi screen death hat trick of: death by Alien, death by Predator AND, death by Terminator.

Aliens actors Michael Biehn ("Hicks") and Bill Paxton ("Hudson") have shared screen time in five films: Tombstone, The Terminator, Navy Seals, The Lords of Discipline, and of course, Aliens.

The Smartgunner team of Mark Rolston ("Drake") Jenette Goldstein ("Vasquez") have shared time in six Hollywood projects, Lethal Weapon 2, "Star Trek: The Next Generation," "24," "Alias," "E.R.," and Aliens.

The role of Lt. Ellen Ripley was originally planned for Meryl Streep.

The mechanism used to make the face-huggers scuttle about in the Med lab came from one of the "flying piranhas" in one of Cameron's earlier movies, Piranha II: The Spawning (1981). It took nine people on Stan Winston's team to make the facehugger work: one person for each leg, and one for the tail.

One of the Facehugger builders on Aliens was Stephen Norrington, who went to direct Blade and The League of Extraordinary Gentleman.

In Aliens, Michael Biehn's character Hicks gets bitten on the hand by Newt (Carrie Henn). This happens to him in every James Cameron movie he's in: The Abyss, and The Terminator.

Both the Nostromo and the Sulaco have perpetual motion devices on the tables of their cafeterias.

The names Gorman, Hudson, Hicks and Frost were taken from the book, "A Bridge Too Far" by Cornelius Ryan (he also wrote "The Longest Day").

Aliens gave the planetoid from the first film a more formal nomenclature, "LV-426," and its name, "Acheron." In Greek mythology, Acheron is the river of woe and pain, in the underworld land of the damned.

Alien director Ridley Scott's original casting choice for the actor to play Captain Dallas was Harrison Ford, who had just finished playing Han Solo in Star Wars. Although Ford was not cast, he went on to star in Scott's next film, Blade Runner.

Thanks to Mike Lynch of (Aliens: The Anchorpoint Essays) for his excerpt above.

Thanks to Harry Harris (Harry Harris Aliens Collection & Archive) and Graham High for the rod puppet pic.

-Willie Goldman

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