Continuity mistake: Near the start, when Dallas is at the entrance to Mother, one of the lights to his left, the fifth one down from the ceiling, is not lit. The next shot from inside Mother looking out shows that light is now lit. This exact same thing happens a second time when Ripley is entering mother later in the movie. These two scenes must have been shot at the same time. (00:08:20 - 01:18:35)
luchadorSuggested correction: That light totally had enough time to light between the frames, because it was hidden by the sliding door for a brief moment. Lights were lit one at the time, not all at once, so this one starts to shine just a little bit later than all the others, that's it.
I consider this a valid mistake and the correction is a stretch. The lights only took about 2 seconds to light up, but she's at the door for almost 3.5 seconds after they're on and the last light did nothing. Then in the half second it took the door to open, the last light is now on.
Bishop73Trivia: In the chest-bursting scene, none of the other actors had any idea of what was going to happen.
Suggested correction: This is an oft repeated myth surrounding the filming of Alien. In reality the actors had a good idea of what was going to happen, but were unprepared for the amount of stage blood that would be used. According to Ridley Scott, he knew it would be too time consuming to clean the mostly white set and re-shoot the scene, so he captured the creature bursting from Kane's chest in one take. Veronica Cartwright was not expecting to be sprayed directly in the face with stage blood so her reaction is genuine. Tom Skerritt similarly was not expecting such a gory scene and his stunned expression when the creature first emerges is also genuine.
BaconIsMyBFFContinuity mistake: In the very beginning before anyone is awakened, there is a scene where a computer "wakes up". Between two shots of the computer's console, a coffee cup appears on the right side in the second shot.
Suggested correction: Those were two different screens, one with pieces of paper glued around him, and one is without them. There was a personal helmet in front of each screen.
Trivia: At the premiere of Alien, religious zealots set fire to the model of the alien, believing it to be the work of the devil.
Suggested correction: Myth. While this verbatim description of the vandalism that destroyed Giger's model is still bouncing around the Internet, blaming "religious zealots, " there is apparently no documented factual evidence to substantiate it. In fact, the only source for the "religious zealot" claim comes from David A. McIntee's 2005 book "Beautiful Monsters: The Unofficial and Unauthorized Guide to the Alien and Predator Films, " which has been criticized for too much opinion, bias and speculation, and too little documented fact. In actual documented accounts, the arson of Giger's models at the Egyptian Theatre is blamed simply on "vandals, " with no mention of motivation, religious or otherwise.
