Xenomorph
Xenomorphs were a parasitic species encountered by humanity from the 21st century onwards. They evidently had several "stages" in their life-cycle.
Biology[[edit] | [edit source]]
Xenomorphs went through a life-cycle, where they grew as egg-like "ovomorphs", (TV: Dalek [+]Loading...["Dalek (TV story)"]) before progressing to a "chestbuster" state (TV: Mindwarp [+]Loading...["Mindwarp (TV story)"]) and then they would mature into their final, slender black form. (COMIC: Secret Agent Man [+]Loading...["Secret Agent Man (comic story)"])
Xenomorphs secreted a resin, which when hardened, looked "knobbly, black, and [had] unpleasantly organic shapes and orifices" and was "very ugly and retro", according to Simon Frederson. (PROSE: So Vile a Sin [+]Loading...["So Vile a Sin (novel)"])
History[[edit] | [edit source]]
In 2012, deep within Henry van Statten's Vault, part of his collection was an Ovomorph. When the Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler materialised the TARDIS in the Vault and exited the box, they passed the Ovomorph, which was to their right. The duo — and Adam Mitchell — passed it by again when they left the Vault after the self-annihilation of the Dalek nicknamed "Metaltron". (TV: Dalek [+]Loading...["Dalek (TV story)"])
In 2379, in Crozier's laboratory, the Sixth Doctor once observed what appeared to be an infant, "chestburster" Xenomorph, within a look of revulsion. (TV: Mindwarp [+]Loading...["Mindwarp (TV story)"])
In 2562, Heidi Maputo used the saying "when the xenomorph hits the ventilation shafts". (PROSE: Genius Loci [+]Loading...["Genius Loci (novel)"])
In 2982, a group of students used Xenomorph resin to decorate the surfaces of their block of flats, which disgusted Simon Frederson. (PROSE: So Vile a Sin [+]Loading...["So Vile a Sin (novel)"])
In the 54th century, a Xenomorph wearing a tuxedo was present on the Stardreamer II; Captain Jack Harkness sprinted past it. (COMIC: Secret Agent Man [+]Loading...["Secret Agent Man (comic story)"])
During the War in Heaven, Agent A once wrote a report about creatures born from "life-spores". These life-spores were believed by A to either be the Enemy or an aspect thereof; they could grow into creatures which would burst out of the chests of humans and had an increasingly complex retroactive history. (PROSE: The Annotated Autopsy of Agent A [+]Loading...["The Annotated Autopsy of Agent A (short story)"])
Other references[[edit] | [edit source]]
Notably, K9 Mark 2 used the term "xenomorph" more loosely to apply to other alien beings, and, accordingly, once recommended "rapid movement in the opposite direction of the xenomorph" in reference to a Jixen warrior. (TV: Liberation [+]Loading...["Liberation (TV story)"])
As fiction[[edit] | [edit source]]
Facehuggers, on a couple of occasions, were identified as a fictional alien lifeform originating from the horror movie simply titled Alien, (TV: Greeks Bearing Gifts [+]Loading...["Greeks Bearing Gifts (TV story)"], Last Christmas [+]Loading...["Last Christmas (TV story)"]) which to Bernice Summerfield, a native of either the 25th century (PROSE: Falls the Shadow [+]Loading...["Falls the Shadow (novel)"]) or the 26th century, (AUDIO: Just War [+]Loading...["Just War (audio story)"]) was "ancient". (PROSE: The Left-Handed Hummingbird [+]Loading...["The Left-Handed Hummingbird (novel)"]) There were other films in the series, including a sequel (TV: Dreamland [+]Loading...["Dreamland (TV story)"]) and Alien vs Predator. (PROSE: Who Am I? [+]Loading...["Who Am I? (feature)"])
In 1994, in Mexico City after Ace was hospitalised, Bernice Summerfield visited her and though that the respirator attached to Ace clung to her like a facehugger. (PROSE: The Left-Handed Hummingbird [+]Loading...["The Left-Handed Hummingbird (novel)"])
In the mid-2000s, Toshiko Sato compared the hole in the skeleton of a 19th century soldier to "that bit in Alien where that thing bursts out of John Hurt". (TV: Greeks Bearing Gifts [+]Loading...["Greeks Bearing Gifts (TV story)"])
In the mid-2010s, Professor Albert Smithe noted a resemblance between the dream crabs' method of consuming their victims' brains, by latching onto their face, and the facehuggers. (TV: Last Christmas [+]Loading...["Last Christmas (TV story)"])
Behind the scenes[[edit] | [edit source]]
In the real world, the science-fiction/horror films Alien, Aliens, and Alien vs Predator, being part of the wider Alien franchise, featured Xenomorphs; while DWU sources which reference the movies never directly mention the Xenomorphs by name, they are easily identifiable through contextual clues. Furthermore, some sources go as far as to reference Facehuggers, the name given to Xenomorphs in the first stage of their life-cycles, such as in the 1993 VNA novel The Left-Handed Hummingbird, the 2006 Torchwood television story Greeks Bearing Gifts, and the 2014 Doctor Who television story Last Christmas.
Although the DWU and Alien have never had an official crossover acknowledged by the Alien side of the equation, an actual Chestburster prop was clearly visible in the television story Mindwarp, hinting at a shared universe as early as 1986. The Xenomorphs and the Weyland-Yutani Corporation continued to have cameos in DWU fiction for years to come.
A more narratively relevant crossover came in the form of The Annotated Autopsy of Agent A, which, although it did not mention the name "Xenomorph" specifically, established that the Xenomorphs were a fictional depiction of the Life-spores after the latter species became the Enemy and inserted themselves into the meta-flow of Earth's popular culture. The Life-spores were described in such a way that they were immediately recognisable to anyone familiar enough with the Alien franchise, whilst also having varying differences, such as their reproductive cycles being different. Interestingly, this meant that despite The Annotated Autopsy of Agent A featuring a species that was ostensibly the Xenomorphs, it was ironically more in continuity with stories that treated creatures from the Alien series as wholly fictional.
Other matters[[edit] | [edit source]]
In the charity anthology The Curse of Fanfic!, in the story Alien Encounter by John Peel, the Xenomorphs from Alien crossed over with Fireball XL5.
External links[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Xenomorph XX121 at Xenopedia
- Xenomorph at the Disney Wiki
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