Pictured here are Private Hudson (left) and Corporal Hicks (right) in Aliens.  Hudson’s humor, personality and dialogue have cemented him as a fan favorite.  He is probably most famous for the scenes in which he loses his cool like the one described below.

The following dialogue occurs after the dropship sent to rescue the Colonial Marines crashes in spectacular fashion when a Xenomorph butchers Ferro mid-flight.

Hudson: Well that’s great. That’s just fucking great, man! Now what the fuck are we supposed to do? We’re in some real pretty shit now, man!

Hicks: [Grabs Hudson] Are you finished?

[A moment of dialogue takes place between other characters]

Hudson: That’s it, man.  Game over, man.  Game over! What the fuck are we gonna do now? What are we gonna do?

The following dialogue occurs in Halo: Combat Evolved after the dropship pilot informs a group of Marines that she is taking fire and can’t rescue them from the Covenant ship they are now trapped on.

UNSC Marine: Oh man, we’re trapped in here.  We’re screwed!  We’re screwed, man!

Captain Keyes: Stow the bellyaching soldier. Remember that you’re a leatherneck.

Both Marines freak out after realizing that their dropship will not be rescuing them.  In both scenes a superior intervenes and basically tells the frightened soldier to sack up.  The scene might not hit you over the head like some other Aliens references, but to fans of both you can definitely hear Hudson not only in the above panicked Marine’s voice, but also in others’ throughout the trilogy.

Tension builds before a dramatic “last stand” scene in Aliens as Hudson gets a lot of activity on his motion tracker and famously declares one of the better-known lines of the film.

Hudson: There’s movement all over the place!

When Chief first emerges to the surface after his first bloody meeting with the Flood only to battle more of them on the surface, Foehammer says,

Foehammer: I’m tracking movement all over the place!

I’ve heard from a number of sources that a Marine in Halo: Combat Evolved can sometimes be heard saying “Game Over!” which would be an obvious homage to Hudson.  According to a Wikipedia article on Hudson (in regards to his “Game Over!” rant), “This line of dialogue has been parodied in later works of science fiction and popular culture such as […] Halo: Combat Evolved.” [iii]

No doubt, there are other examples of Aliens dialogue echoed throughout the Halo series not documented in this article.

Take a look at the UD-4L Dropship in Aliens (left) and the Pelican dropship from Halo: Combat Evolved (right).  (In the picture, the UD-4L has its landing gear down and four missile arms unfolded.)  This is one of those no-brainer comparisons that anyone who knows anything about Halo and Aliens is likely to either have heard about or made on their own.  The aesthetic similarities are obvious, especially upon seeing both vehicles in action and in 3D.

While the UD-4L has an APC (armored personnel carrier) loaded internally in its belly, the Pelican is capable of holding various vehicles externally from under its tail-section, including the Warthog.  Both swoop in, drop the Marines off and get out of dodge.  In a cutscene from “The Ark” level in Halo 3, a Pelican snaps off of its frigate and plummets toward the construct below in almost the exact same fashion as the UD-4L deploys from the Sulaco starship in Aliens.

Pictured above are the massive warships Sulaco (left) and Halo: Combat Evolved’s Pillar of Autumn (right).  Both military juggernauts are slowly plowing through cold space as they appear on-screen for their introductory scenes.  The Colonial Marines are still fast asleep in cryo, as is the Chief.  The exterior design of the Autumn recalls the Sulaco’s in a number of ways.

First, the basic shape is mostly angular, long, rectangular and narrow.  The bow of each has a squashed hexagonal/oval shape and we see a hint of antennae protruding from the face of the Autumn, coinciding with the nest of antennae on the face of the Sulaco.  Both have their name proudly emblazoned low on the hull near the bow.

Bungie artist Lorraine McLees who designed the ship states, “I did a handful of sketches, and the guys really liked the one that was reminiscent of the assault rifle’s shape.  Marcus thought it looked proportionally small, though, so I ended up extending the ship about three hundred percent, making it longer than it was tall.” [iv]

Interesting that the preferred design chosen to be tweaked was reminiscent of Halo’s assault rifle when the Sulaco is believed to be based on Aliens’ Pulse Rifle.

An interior shot of the Sulaco.

Bungie artist Paul Russel, who crafted the Autumn’s interior designs was forthcoming when he said, “the work I did on the Pillar of Autumn came from looking at Ron Cobb’s work on Aliens.  I won’t call it anything cheesy like a ‘homage’ or anything; Cobb’s work informed a lot of what I did on the Autumn.  It was taking that future industrial look that Cobb did so brilliantly and riffing off of that, without turning it into a blatant swipe.  The idea was to show things in a really functional way.  It all looks like it fits together, and the metal is done in these gunmetal greens and pale grays-it looks like something built by human hands.” [v]

The Sulaco’s influence appears to extend further into the UNSC fleet, namely into the frigate design.  The picture of the Sulaco (top) is a miniature used during the filming of Aliens.  The UNSC frigate Aegis Fate (bottom) is as seen in Halo 3.  The most obvious shared trait is that both of their profiles look like massive guns, a characteristic the Sulaco is famous for.  The frigate also has antennae-like structures on its bow.

When the Sulaco (left) is viewed from above and the UNSC Adriatic frigate (right) is viewed from below, it’s evident that both have a three-pronged design toward the center/front.  This design consists of one main shaft flanked by two smaller arms.

The model of Apone (left) and Drake (center) are from Sideshow Collectibles.  Apone wears typical armor and uniform for Colonial Marine Infantry.  As a Smart Gunner, Drake is outfitted differently.  The UNSC Marine on the right appears in a screenshot from Halo: Combat Evolved

It’s commonly believed that UNSC Marine armor was modeled after the Colonial Marines’.  It’s my opinion that the UNSC armor is a hybrid of Colonial armor variants along with embellishments and additions from Bungie.  Let’s look at a few similarities.

The helmets of the UNSC Marine and Apone share features.  First, they have a mic that extends from the ear area to the mouth.  Secondly, they share a technological eyepiece over their right eye.  The Colonial version is an infrared sight that can be pulled down.  Thirdly, they share a built-in camera that logs their mission in video form.

The armor style of the Colonial Marines has a heavy emphasis on armor plating.   They don’t wear these armor plates tucked away in flak jackets or the like.  They lash metallic armor around themselves externally and exposed, giving their countenance something of a retro-future vibe.  As we can see, the UNSC Marines share the exact same unorthodox practice.  Not only do the UNSC Marines adhere to the principle of plated, metallic, exterior armor, but some of the plates themselves are analogous.

Apone wears greaves (leg armor) wrapped around his leg with dark straps, just as the UNSC Marine does.  Both Colonial and UNSC greaves are a single, solid piece that extends from knee to boot and offers protection for the front of the leg only.

Look at the breastplate Johnson and his fellow Marines don in Halo.  Its shape and angular form are almost identical to the huge breastplate Drake wears.  The principal difference is that the UNSC breastplate is shorter.

This was not always the case, as can be seen in this very early (pre-Halo) image.  In some cases, the farther we go back in Halo’s history, the more clearly we see Aliens’ spark.

[Continue to Part Three]