Alien was just Ridley Scott’s second film as a director, yet it managed to gain both critical acclaim and box office success, as well as launch Sigourney Weaver’s acting career. The movie made such an impact on American culture that it was added to the Library of Congress’s National Fim registry in 2002. Now, there’s a book from Voyageur Press that celebrates the making of this groundbreaking film.

Alien Vault is “the definitive story of the making of the film.” The book is 176 pages and comes in a nice slipcase to protect the contents inside, which is helpful because there are roughly a half dozen sleeves throughout the book that hold everything from miniature movie posters to blueprints of the Nostromo. 

The pages describe the lengthy pre-production and provide early sketches of the alien before H.R. Giger‘s xenomorph was chosen. Also of interest are the considerable number of photos from the set, which illustrate Scott’s dedication to setting the mood of being adrift and alone in space and making the movie as realistic as possible. Of spectacular enjoyment is the telling of how the chestburster scene was filmed.

In addition to photographs from the set, the book is illustrated with storyboards from production, set sketches, Polaroids, and lots of Giger drawings. There’s also an appendix that provides a guide to the ship’s passengers, arranged in the order of their deaths, with special notes about differences to the characters in the director’s cut. And, finally, the book touches on sequels to the movie, but the consideration is only a glancing one.

There are plenty of new stories about the production, not found in other material before, but I’d stop short of endorsing the book as the definitive guide, since it doesn’t contain the high level of detail and interaction with the crew and cast that we’ve come to expect from truly definitive behind-the-scenes books. Still, there are enough stories, images and extra goodies to make Alien Vault worth the price of admission.

Disclosure: Geekdad received a review copy of this book.

SXSW is a massive event, attracting tens of thousands of geeks to Austin, Texas, in mid-March. It’s really three conferences in one — Interactive, Film, and Music — in the midst of a two week non-stop party. Great ideas are shared and spread at the event, and it’s a unique chance to see the cutting edge of the three industries.

Yesterday, SXSW Film announced its first round of panels, and ours was selected along with about 50 other panel topics. To everyone who voted for us, thank you, thank you, thank you!

The panelists include myself, Nicole Wakelin, Ruth Suehle, Andrea Schwalmstolz, and Anton Olsen to talk all about the ins and outs of raising kids to enjoy geeky movies.

Here’s the panel description we submitted:

The GeekFamily Guide to the Movies

If there’s one thing geeks know, it’s movies. But how do you raise your geeky kids to watch the right movies? Join writers from Wired’s GeekDad.com and GeekMom.com blogs as they discuss the ins and out of parenting, kids and movies. They’ll tackle such difficult questions as:

• Why is the mother always dead (or die) in Disney movies?
• How young is too young to watch The Lord of the Rings?
• Should you let your 8 year old watch the Chucky movies? What if he begs really hard?
• How can you encourage your kids to make their own movies?
• How do you explain to your kid that they can not convert their mother’s car into a land-speeder?

Come share your stories and get candid advice from fellow Geek Dads and Moms! Don’t have kids? Show up and find out what may be in store for you if you ever do!

Huzzah for us! and we hope to see you there.

The bad news is that it appears that the GeekDad/Mom Interactive panel proposal — The GeekFamily Guide to Game Night — did not make it. Alas, there were thousands of entries and only 600 panels selected. There is still an outside chance we will make it in when they announce the last few panels in mid-Decmber, but the prospects do not look good.

Oh well, you can’t win them all, but our thanks to everyone who voted for us! Maybe next year.