Alien: The legendary sci-fi ship spent 20 years of its life in the fan’s backyard!

In 1979, Alien, Passenger 8 hit theaters and redefined horror in genre cinema. A demonic and bloodthirsty creature, the Xenomorph, will haunt all viewers who have seen the work of Ridley Scott. Created by designer HR Giger, the monster has become a mythical and essential figure of terror.

However, if we think of this hideous hermit creature movie, we also remember the spaceship in which the crew members are being murdered. his name Nostromo. Among the 1,000, the car with an identifiable shape impressed with its exterior, but also with its maze of corridors and anxiety-inducing atmosphere.

Obviously, for the scenes where we see the ship from the outside, the Alien team created a large scale model of the Nostromo, a technique often used in pre-digital sci-fi cinema. The spaceship designed by Ron Cobb and Chris Foss joined the iconic ships of the 7th art, such as the Enterprise from Star Trek or the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars.

But what happened to the Nostromo after Alien was filmed? According to the site Cracked.comHaving researched this issue, the model spent 2 decades in the backyard of a fan named Bob Burns. Living in Los Angeles, his basement has become a mecca for sci-fi and horror fans.

A former film and television producer, Burns enjoyed collecting props from movies for his personal collection. This passionate fan liked to organize a Halloween show every year with the great horror sagas of cinema. So in 1979 the choice was there! It will be an alien!

Bob Burns then contacted 20th Century Fox studios and asked for permission to produce the show. Not only will the producer give permission, but they will also send props from the film!

on an abandoned road

With its authentic creatures, decorations, costumes and props taken from the film, the Halloween show was a resounding success. 20th Century Fox was so pleased with Burns’ sci-fi and horror show that they eventually donated alien props, models and costumes for his private museum. These items are shipped direct from Shepperton Studios, England.

The problem was that Burns’ basement wasn’t big enough to hold one of the film’s biggest pieces, the Nostromo model. The vessel, delivered using a crane, was placed in his driveway in front of his house. For 20 years, the miniature remained there, delighting passers-by, neighbors and guests.

Unfortunately, time took its toll. Despite the good intentions of Bob Burns, who tried to protect the craft with waterproof tarps, the Nostromo deteriorated considerably. It wasn’t an ideal storage location, but Burns Road was a better place for the Nostromo than the 20th Century Fox industrial dump.

Nostromo regains color

Fearing that this legendary accessory was rotting forever, he used his connections to save the spacecraft in the late 90s. He managed to contact Hollywood special effects specialists Greg Nicotero and Howard Berger, who retrieved the prop and stored it in storage.

So the Nostromo remained for nearly 8 years, damaged but now dry and clean, in a storage container. In 2007, the ship fell into the hands of Prop Store owner Stephen Lane, who undertook its restoration.

After some hard work, the Nostromo was restored to its former glory, as you can see in the before/after photos above. in July 2020, The ship was auctioned by Prop Store and sold for around €430,000 to an anonymous collector. History does not say whether the latter went with the ship to visit the frontiers of space. One thing is for sure, no one can hear him scream.