Alien: The naming of "Little Rascal"

leading from
Lexicon
and 
Alien: The Chest Burster



a) Origins of the Little Rascal name
The name came from Gordon Caroll who said to Ridley, Ivor and others each night, usually during editing/ clipping "I can make you the perfect Martini" and it was called the Little Rascal. Ivor loved these dry Martinis and it certainly mellowed the angst of each day.

b) The creature referred to as the Little Rascal
For many years, the name was associated with the final big alien in the movie. 

Michael Seymour and Ivor Powell both remembered well. 

However in 2014, Ivor Powell would recount how he gave the name Little Rascal to the chest burster, the one that dives across the table when it bursts out of Kane's chest. 

Perhaps this was Ivor's original intention before the name was used for the third stage, the large adult version creeping around the Nostromo.  

Source quotes:
  1. FACT: The Alien itself was not entirely the world of H. R. Giger. Though the visual "look" is his, Ridley Scott got his inspiration for the final form of the monster from Giger's paintings - its evolution was a matter of committee. First it was agreed that the Alien should mature three times. Next the Facehugger was reduced from a big bird-like beast with claws to the crab-like creation seen in the film. Then, after the chestburster sheds its skin, the final monstrosity is so unlike anything seen before, the only nickname the crew could think of attaching to it was the Little Rascal (Warren Presents, Alien collectors edition, p53)
  2. Michael Seymour: The third stage (which we called the "Little Rascal) is probably not quite so clear, because right up until the very last sequence in the film, we only allow the audience to see very small parts of it - the heard and a sort of crouching version of the character. We never really see it full-length until the last few minutes of the film. So we did aim at three progressions, but that was really was a grammar for us to work to. (American Cinematographer, August 1979, p805)
  3. Ivor Powell:  I think we called the third stage the little Rascal, but the Little Rascal was named after Gordon Carroll who would each night use to mix us, he said I can "I can make you the perfect Martini" which we called The Little Rascal and it must have made. It certainly, helped mellow the angst of the day each night, and so the big alien was called after Gordon's dry Martinis. ( Alien Makers II documentary, 5:56)
  4. Ivor Powell: The little rascal as we called it, the one that dives across the table.  (Alien Q&A, Genesis Cinema, 24th August 2014)
  5. Ivor Powell: I thought of the little rascal (Alien Q&A, Genesis Cinema, 24th August 2014)
  6. Ivor Powell: At the end of each shooting day, Gordon Carroll, the American producer made, educated Ridley and I and other members, usually on editing /clipping, called his little rascal which was the best dry martini, it kept us going (Alien Q&A, Genesis Cinema, 24th August 2014)

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