Dreamcatcher (Stephen King, 2001) – Novel
Stephen King’s 2001 alien parasite novel Dreamcatcher and its 2003 feature film adaptation boast more than a few callbacks to Alien. For one, the macro virus that causes the life form to spread is dubbed “The Ripley” by Army scientists in the novel, and its interactions with hosts bear some notable similarities to those of the Facehuggers and Chestbursters. Oh, and there is also a main characters nicknamed Jonesy. Though the callbacks to Alien clearly stemmed from a place of admiration, King would later write off the novel as one he didn’t particularly like, additionally mentioning that he was using Oxycontin while writing it.
Nik Naks “Nice Chest” Ad (2003) – TV Commercial
I have never had the pleasure of trying the British snack Nik Naks (they seem to resemble Crunchy Cheetos), but after watching this highly controversial ad for the junk food, I am very intrigued…
Firefly: S01E01 (2002) / Angel: S05E09 (2004) – TV Shows
The link between the Whedonverse and the Alien saga took some sleuthing to uncover initially, but watchful fans of Firefly picked up on a well-hidden, but highly recognizable image in the show’s pilot: the logo for the corrupt conglomerate Weyland-Yutani, AKA the Company, a major player in the Alien franchise. As the screenwriter behind Alien: Resurrection, it is no surprise that Joss Whedon was moved to include an Easter egg like this in his own work. He didn’t stop here though; Weyland-Yutani was mentioned again by name in the Angel season 5 episode “Harm’s Way,” referred to as one of the companies represented by the show’s interdimensional law firm Wolfram & Hart.
American Dad: S06E18 (2010)
Last, but most definitely not least, comes one of my personal favorite nods to Alien. American Dad remains one of the most underrated and hilarious animated comedies on TV and the episode “Great Space Roaster” is no exception. In this season six highlight, the Smith family escapes to a spacecraft after severely angering their house alien Roger by roasting him on his birthday. What follows is a hilarious take on Alien, complete with Stan Smith (voiced by Seth Macfarlane) running around the ship in Ripley-inspired underwear.
That’s it for now! I hope you all had as much fun revisiting (or discovering) these Alien pop culture moments as I did compiling them. Happy Alien Day, everyone!
