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In the scene where Dallas is crawling through a duct and Lambert becomes hysterical as she sees the dot representing the xeno approaching his position, what could Lambert know of the appearance of the xeno currently?

I think the audience has gotten a glimpse of the creature at full growth when Brett sees it and is attacked and I think Parker also got a glimpse because he says it was "big as a man" or something -- it had against all expectation increased in size literally 100s of times from the chest-burster.

So all the uber-hysterical Lambert has to go on is what Parker said -- had I missed the Brett scene, I would still have visualized as the small creature I had last seen scurrying away. An admittedly terrible little creature but actually not something threatening to an adult human -- it could be batted away or incinerated.

It seems also that the cattle prod device Brett made assumes small size, right?

So what did the crew know of the creature when Dallas was attacked? I think all they had to go on was a brief description by Parker indicating it was much larger and perhaps he implied it was man-like in appearance?

I think the actors were responding to the big version of the xeno even though they really should not have known much of it -- I wonder if the cast was allowed to see the full-sized monster before the duct scene -- I know that brilliantly the director surprised everyone with the chest-burster scene.

releseabe
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    Presumably something that can burrow its way out of a person can bury its way into a person, so she would have reason to be hysterical regardless of size. – Eike Pierstorff Sep 16 '23 at 09:02
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    @EikePierstorff: Yes, Lambert is showing about the same level of hysteria as after the chest-burster's emerging. And certainly the creature of the size is nothing you would leave in a terrarium overnight while you went to sleep but I still get the impression somehow the actors now understood it was a much greater threat. They did know, whatever it looked like now, it had carried off Brett which the teeny chest-burster could not have done. – releseabe Sep 16 '23 at 10:30
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    They would have known that is was large as they would have read the script. – A.Steer Sep 16 '23 at 11:16
  • @A.Steer: I am not convinced that the director revealed everything in the script or did let the cast read ahead because famously the bursting scene surprised them, esp, Lambert. – releseabe Sep 16 '23 at 17:50
  • That's incorrect, Veronica cartwright read the script, knew what was going to happen and saw a mock-up of the alien, they just didn't know the specifics https://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/alien-chestburster-sequence-oral-history/ – A.Steer Sep 16 '23 at 19:40
  • @A.Steer: I do know the chest-burster scene was a surprise and so I assumed she also may not have been told about the xeno. But if she did know it grew and its roughly human body plan, then perhaps that is the reaction we are seeing. – releseabe Sep 16 '23 at 20:43

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