Space Jockey (Alien) For other uses, see Space Jockey (disambiguation).
The Space Jockey from The Derelict, as seen in Alien.
Space Jockeys are a fictional type of extraterrestrial life form from the Alien series of movies and games. These large biomechanical creatures may be the first victims of, and perhaps the creators of, the Xenomorphs (also seen in the Alien series). Their discovery was made in the first Alien movie, when the commercial starship Nostromo set down on an unsurveyed planet in answer to a distress call. The crew found a wrecked derelict spacecraft with one dead Space Jockey inside. It appeared to be the pilot of the Derelict craft. No other remains were found or have been discovered since. Their origins remain shrouded in mystery.
Name[]
The Alien production team, without having a proper technical term to go by, nick-named the creature found aboard the Derelict ship "The Space Jockey". H.R. Giger, who was designer of The Derelict and of the Space Jockey, originally had named it "The Pilot". It is referred to properly with the "Pilot" designation in any canon information source. The greatest amount of said information can be found in the game Aliens versus Predator 2, in which the species is collectively referred to as Pilot (in contrast to Human, Alien, or Predator). Most recently, in the novel Aliens: Original Sin by Michael Friedman, the Pilot race is referred to as the Mala'kak. It is also still referred sometimes to though as the Pilot, or the Pilot's people.
Appearances in film and media[]
The only movie that the Space Jockey pilot itself has featured in was the original 1979 Alien. Swiss surrealist artist H.R. Giger was hired on the movie alien to design the title's creature and the environment of the alien planet. The Space Jockey was one of many things he created for the film. The scene inside the Derelict's interior with the Jockey pilot was according to the writers an essential scene although the Fox production company wanted to pull it from the movie for cost reasons. Eventually the filmmakers won and the scene was filmed, the Space Jockey and interior being built full-scale by Giger.
The Space Jockeys have not appeared or been referred to in any of the subsequent films, but have been featured prominently in many of the videogames and comics series. They have made appearances in various Dark Horse Comics publications on Aliens and some readers speculate that they had some connection to the Yautja (Predators). The Bartender character in the webcomic Jack is, according to creator David Hopkins, supposed to be a Jockey, specifically the Jockey whose corpse is seen in Alien. According to the character's backstory, which was only ever addressed on the forums [1], after the pilot died, he found himself in Hell, and eventually opened a bar called "The Scab".[2] Also, in the more recent book, "Aliens: Original Sin", the Jockeys are mentioned and discussed throughout the book. Towards the end the reader learns that the Jockeys are trying to breed a group of Aliens. A parodic version of the Jockey appeared in an episode of "Captain Simian and the Space Monkeys." Instead of the telescope-like device, this fossilized Jockey was playing a saxophone.
Biological and historical information[]
Physiology[]
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Fossilized Space Jockey with ribcage bent outward.
In the novelization of Alien by Alan Dean Foster Ash describes the Space Jockeys as a noble people and hopes that mankind will encounter them under more pleasant circumstances. It also states that they were larger, stronger and possibly more intelligent than humankind. The first Space Jockey was seen in the original Alien movie as a giant humanoid corpse sitting in front of a telescope-like device aboard the derelict craft. It was fossilized, meaning it had been there for some time. The Jockey that the starship Nostromo's crew found aboard the derelict seemed to be growing out of the chair of the telescope, as if it had fused itself into it. Its rib cage was bent outward; it is evident that a xenomorph escaped from the creature, though no adult xenomorphs were encountered on the derelict.
It might be noted that Mario Bava's Planet of the Vampires (1965) had a nearly identical scenario wherein a human crew, summoned by a distress signal from a dead ship found an oversized alien skeleton dead at the controls as a result of parasitic beings.
Relation to xenomorphs and other races[]
Little or nothing is known of this race. The theory is that they are purported to have created the xenomorphs to fight an ancient war. There is some evidence to support this, the xenomorph life form being biomechanical in nature, the Space Jockey race could have created the ultimate weapon: Alien eggs would be used as "bombs" on an enemy planet and then the xenomorphs would proceed to kill the entire population as they spawned. The xenomorphs would be designed to then genetically die off, however it seems they eventually mutated and thrived even after killing their prey. The Space Jockeys were then turned upon by their own creations, being exterminated until very few remained. Only a single member of the Space Jockey race is supposed to have escaped in a freighter or warship full of xenomorph eggs, but presumably he was himself infected with a xenomorph and killed. This is most likely the one found aboard the Derelict. The Yautja bred xenomorphs for hunting according to the movie, Alien vs. Predator. Whether the Yautja had any contact or relationship to the Space Jockeys is totally unknown and purely a matter of speculation.
Technology[]
Image of the Derelict
It has been theorized by fans that the Space Jockeys can grow spaceships organically. See the article on the Derelict for more information. The cargo hold of the Space Jockey's ship was filled with eggs of xenomorph facehuggers (the first stage in the xenomorph life cycle), which were held in stasis beneath a blue mist. It has been theorized by fans that the Space Jockies created the xenomorphs because of the similarities in design between the biomechanical spacecraft and the hostile aliens, and because in the expanded Alien universe, it has been acknowledged in different literature that they were responsible. On the other hand, there is evidence within the film series itself that the xenomorph takes on attributes of the organism in which it incubates, which could also account for the physical similarities between the Space Jockey and the xenomorphs.
The novelization by Alan Dean Foster, on the other hand, states that Space Jockeys found them on LV-426, and there has been no conclusive evidence shown in the feature film series supporting that the Space Jockeys created the Xenomorph strain of alien. Clearly, however the Space Jockeys have advanced technology—enough to send messages through space over great distances. One of these reached the Nostromo, whose crew thought it was a distress call from the derelict craft. However, when they reached LV-426 and set out on an expedition to investigate, they learned that the message was intended to warn them about the Xenomorphs. It should also be noted that during the director's commentary of Alien, Ridley Scott makes a small reference to why the Xenomorphs are on the Derelict. According to Scott, his vision was that the Xenomorphs were a weapon created by the Jockeys and that the ship found on LV-426 was a transport vessel, a "battle wagon", carrying the Xenomorphs to an unknown destination. Scott also makes note that he would like to make "an Alien 5 or 6" where the audience would be privy to the home planet of the Xenomorphs, but makes no reference to whether this is the same planet that the Jockeys hail from.
Shortage of information[]
All information relating to this species is found in Alien, its sequel Aliens, and Aliens versus Predator 2. A great deal of the information in this article is considered to be either non-canon and likely fan fiction however it is generally agreed that the information is for the most part at least accurately thought through. The lack of sources on the "Jockey" creatures makes it difficult to write an article but here is all of the information gathered or guessed so far.