Over the years, discussion of 20th Century Fox‘s Alien franchise has focused largely on the title xenomorphs, but a lot of people forget that much of the runtime of the six films in the franchise (sorry, Alien vs Predator fans) takes place onboard some of the coolest spaceships in the annals of science fiction. With the release of Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant on Blu-ray, we’re ranking the Top 10 Alien Franchise Spaceships, which you can check out in the gallery below!
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Ridley Scott started the summer with a bang releasing Alien: Covenant, the follow-up to his 2012 Alien prequel Prometheus. The crew of the colony ship Covenant, bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, discovers what they think is an uncharted paradise, but is actually a dark, dangerous world. When they uncover a threat beyond their imagination, they must attempt a harrowing escape. The film stars Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup, Danny McBride, Demián Bichir, Carmen Ejogo, Amy Seimetz, Jussie Smollett, Callie Hernandez, Nathaniel Dean, Alexander England, Benjamin Rigby, and James Franco.
What is your favorite of the Alien franchise spaceships? What did you think of Alien: Covenant? Let us know in the comments below!
The Top 10 Alien Franchise Spaceships
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#10: Alien: Resurrection - USM Auriga
United Systems Military's top-secret scientific research ship finally took the xenomorphs out of the clutches of Weyland-Yutani and into the most sensible hands imaginable: Bioweapons scientists working for the military. While the interior sets were very cool, the exterior was about as generic a sci-fi spaceship as has graced one of these movies.
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#9: Alien 3 - Type 337 Emergency Escape Vehicle (EEV)
David Fincher's vision for the third film included jettisoning Ripley's hypersleep chamber off the Sulaco and onto the prison planet Fiorina "Fury" 161. Although the pod itself is only seen in a handful of shots, it made a memorable landing on the planet in what appeared to be an homage to Kubrick's "riding the bomb" shot from Dr. Strangelove.
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#8: Alien & Aliens – Narcissus
Ripley uses the Nostromo's lifeboat to escape, and the small craft winds up floating through space until a salvage crew rescues it at the start of James Cameron's Aliens. Thus, the ship served as an important linking device between the first and second films.
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#7: Alien: Covenant – USCSS Covenant
This Weyland-Yutani spacecraft has the honor of being without a doubt the largest ship in the series, with its ability to transport 2,000 colonists, 1,140 second-generation embryos, and a crew of 15. It also contains several dropships and a massive cargo transporter sled used during the action-packed climax.
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#6: Alien: Resurrection - The Betty
Before Joss Whedon created Firefly, he made a trial run at a crew of misfit space pirates in his Alien screenplay with The Betty, an aging transport ship with a scrappy design. When Ripley boards it towards the end, she declares, "This piece of sh*t is even older than I am."
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#5: Aliens - USS Sulaco
This troop transport ship for the Colonial Marines is badass. Designed by Syd Mead, its very shape was meant to resemble a gun, and it contains not only troops but dropships, vehicles, power loaders, missiles, and everything else a growing boy needs.
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#4: Prometheus – USCSS Prometheus
A Heliades-class space exploration vehicle built and operated by Weyland Corp, this design gave the Alien series a different flavor. A more sleek design than any of the military of carrier ships, it feels like a more upper-class way to travel through space. Piloted by Captain Janek (Idris Elba), it is used to ram the engineer ship at the climax of Prometheus.
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#3: Aliens - UD-4L Cheyenne Dropship
This combat-ready spacecraft carries the Colonial Marines from the Sulaco to the surface of LV-426, and also has an M577 Armored Personnel Carrier truck in its belly. This is like the Vietnam-era Huey Helicopter of the Alien universe.
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#2: Alien - USCSS Nostromo
Designed by Ron Cobb, this Weyland-Yutani M-Class starfreighter is used to haul stuff through the vastness of space. While the big stacks that look like a floating city is just the cargo carrier, the ship itself detaches itself before making its fateful trip to the surface of LV-426.
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#1: Alien & Prometheus & Covenant - Juggernaut
A croissant-shaped ship with a bio-mechanoid, asymmetrical design is discovered shrouded in an eerie fog by the Nostromo crew on LV-426. The fact that it was designed by H.R. Giger himself gives it a kinship with the xenomorph itself, as does its vaginal openings. The ship later popped up again...
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#1: Alien & Prometheus & Covenant - Juggernaut
...in Ridley Scott's Prometheus and Covenant as the space vehicle of choice for the Engineers. We got to learn the origin of the famous "Space Jockey" piloting it, and also watch the sucker crash pretty hard.
