Species

Trivia: The Alien Design for Sil was done by H.R Giger, the same man who designed the Xenomorph in the Alien movies.

Trivia: Creature designer H.R. Giger personally financed the "nightmare train" sequence after the studio refused to fund it due to its high cost and short length. It reportedly cost him nearly $100,000 between paying for the props, the filmstock, the effects and the camera crew.

Trivia: Creature designer H.R. Giger reportedly came up with the way Sil is killed off at the end. In the original script, Sil is merely set on fire with a flamethrower. Giger told the studio the ending was "weak," and suggested that her head should get blown off, and then her body should be burned up, leading to the ending seen in the finished film. Giger also suggested a more elaborate final battle set in a drive-in movie theater with members of the military storming the location, but it went unused for tone and budgetary reasons.

TedStixon

Trivia: Young Sil is played by future movie-star Michelle Williams. However, she reportedly dislikes the film because she was terribly bullied by other children about being in it after it was released. It brings up too many bad memories for her.

TedStixon

Trivia: Sil's alien sound effects were primarily provided by Frank Welker. Welker is a well-respected voice-actor with over 800 credits to his name beginning in the late 1960's. He also specializes in animal and creature sound effects.

TedStixon

More for Species

Mistakes

Character mistake: Fitch, who professes qualifications in biology, genetics and biochemistry, says that they made Sil female because she's a natural predator and so she'd be more docile. In almost every species of predator on earth the females are the hunters, aggressors and killers. The males may be socially dominant but they are the 'docile' ones. There are exceptions but Fitch speaks as if female and docile are the same thing - and they definitely are not.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: This entry is so wrong, I don't quite know where to begin. The idea that all species, without exception, have the females as the aggressors and the males as docile is absolutely one of the most ridiculous things I have ever read. It is not backed up by fact in the slightest. They also did use human DNA; they added the sample of alien DNA to it to create Sil.

The posting states that there are exceptions to the rule and specifically states "almost every species." The mistake is not that a female must be "docile". It is that a scientist professing qualifications in biology, genetics, and biochemistry would make such a stupid statement, believing it to be invariably true.

However, there are exceptions; any one species makes this possible. I will start with African Lions. In Africa, the female lions are the main aggressors.

Noman ★

Suggested correction: They never said Sil was a natural predator when they created her. She was half human and half alien and it was their belief that human females are more docile (i.e. more motherly, more gentle, more empathetic, and less aggressive than human males). Although the reply to "more docile and controllable" was "you guys don't get out much", meaning that girls aren't that docile and controllable.

Bishop73

More mistakes in Species

Quotes

Xavier Fitch: We decided to make it female so it would be more docile and controllable.
Preston Lennox: More docile and controllable, eh? You guys don't get out much.

More quotes from Species

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