On this day in movie history - Alien (1979 movie & books):

Alien

directed by Ridley Scott,

written by Dan O'Bannon,

based on a story by Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett,

was released in the United States on May 25, 1979.
Music by Jerry Goldsmith.

Cast:

Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm, Yaphet Kotto, Bolaji Badejo, Helen Horton, Eddie Powell.

Recommended reading:

Alien

By Alan Dean Foster.

Filmed as Alien (1979), directed by Ridley Scott.

Published by Orbit.

Published 1979.

ISBN-10: 0708816789

ISBN-13: 978-0708816783

Description:

Where was Earth?

This was not their galaxy. A strange sun lit the sky with orange rays. In their long cold sleep, the seven space travelers had left their own universe behind, and now their monitor told them that on the planet revolving below them, someone was signalling for help. By space law, they must descend, explore and render assistance. But they would carry weapons. For who could tell what being called to them – or why. All they knew was that it was Alien.

Alien: Movie Novel

By Dan O'Bannon.

Edited by Richard J. Anobile.

Published by Avon.

Published 1979.    

ISBN: 9780380466313

ISBN 10: 0380466317

ASIN: 0380466317

Description:

A Movie Novel of the film 'Alien' - a graphic novel using photographs from the film.

On this day in movie history - Aliens (1986 movie & novel):

Aliens

directed and written by James Cameron,

based on a story by James Cameron, David Giler and Walter Hill,

was released in the United States on July 18, 1986.
Music by James Horner.

Cast:

Sigourney Weaver, Carrie Henn, Michael Biehn, Paul Reiser, Lance Henriksen, Bill Paxton, William Hope, Jenette Goldstein, Al Matthews, Mark Rolston, Ricco Ross, Colette Hiller, Daniel Kash, Cynthia Dale Scott, Tip Tipping, Trevor Steedman, Paul Maxwell, Valerie Colgan, Alan Polonsky, Alibe Parsons, Blain Fairman, Barbara Coles, Carl Toop, John Lees, William Armstrong, Jay Benedict, Holly De Jong, Jill Goldston, Christopher Henn, Elizabeth Inglis, Mac McDonald, Stuart Milligan, Eddie Powell, Bob Sherman, Chris Webb, Tom Woodruff Jr.

Recommended reading:

Aliens

By Alan Dean Foster.

The Official Movie Novelization.

Published by Titan Books.

First published 1986.

ISBN-10: 178329017X

ISBN-13: 978-1783290178

Description:

In the sequel to the 1979 film Alien, Ellen Ripley is forced to return to planet LV-426, where her crew encountered the hostile Alien creature. There they discovered hundreds of eggs, and just one slaughtered everyone but Ripley. This time she's accompanied by a unit of Colonial Marines, but even their firepower may not be enough for them to survive and learn the fate of the colony known as Hadley's Hope.

Ripley is going back ... The sole survivor of the terror that struck her space comrades years ago, she now steels herself to help lead an expedition to the hell she once escaped. For on a planet far from earth, alien beings swarm, hungry for the human face, ready to make the human race their living nesting ground. Here waits the ultimate nightmare of Alien, hundreds of times stronger, more insidious, and practically invincible. Here Ripley must re-enter a world of sudden, unspeakable horror ... one that attacks without warning again and again and again.