LV-426

Infobox fictional planet
name = LV-426
colour = #696969

---

imagesize = 250px
caption = The mountainous terrain of LV-426 with the derelict spaceship viewable in the background as seen in "Alien".
universe = "Alien"
type = Moon
locations =
creator = Dan O'Bannon
and Ronald Shusett
genre = Science fiction, Action, Horror

LV-426 is a fictitious planetoid appearing in the films "Alien" (1979) and "Aliens" (1986). It has also been referred to as "LB-426."cite video|people=James Cameron (writer and director)|title=Aliens|medium=DVD|publisher=20th Century Fox|year=1986]

Description

In the context of the films' plots, LV-426 is a planetoid in orbit around a gas giant called Livinum, in the Zeta II Reticuli system, 39 light-years from Earth, lying beyond the "Outer Rim". LV-426 has 86% of Earth's gravity. In "Alien" the atmosphere consists mostly of nitrogen and methane, but by the events of "Aliens" the atmosphere has been altered due to terraforming by human colonists.

Source materials differ widely on the diameter of the planetoid: A figure of 1,200 km is given in "Alien",cite video|people=Dan O'Bannon, Ronald Shusett (writers) and Ridley Scott (director)|title=Alien|medium=DVD|publisher=20th Century Fox|year=1979] while the "" (a supplementary book to "Aliens") gives a figure of 12,201 km.cite book|author=Brimmicombe-Wood, Lee|title=|year=1996|pages=pp.159|id=ISBN 0-06-105343-0] In "Aliens" LV-426 is described as "a rock" with no indigenous life. In Alan Dean Foster's novelization of "Alien", the travel time between LV-426 and Earth is given as ten months. In the novelization of the film "Aliens", also by Foster, the travel time is given as only three weeks.

Appearances

"Alien"

In "Alien" the crew of the "Nostromo" lands on the (unnamed) planetoid in response to a signal, which they discover is emanating from a mysterious derelict spacecraft on the surface. They find the remains of an unknown alien creature on the ship as well as a chamber filled with strange eggs. A creature emerges from one of the eggs and attaches to a crew member's face, implanting him with an Alien embryo which later kills most of the "Nostromo"'s crew.

According to the book "Giger's Alien",Fact|date=May 2008 in an early version of the script the Alien eggs were to be housed in a separate architectural structure, shaped in the form of a massive pyramid.

"Aliens"

LV-426 is the primary setting of the sequel film "Aliens" (1986). In the film, during the 57 years since the events of "Alien" the Weyland-Yutani Corporation has established a terraforming colony there, making it habitable with the aid of an enormous, fusion-powered atmosphere processor. The terraforming colony is named "Hadley's Hope." The colony is destroyed when the atmosphere processor suffers critical damage during the events of the film, causing a thermonuclear explosion.

year=2003]

"Aliens vs. Predator" computer game

LV-426 also appears in the computer game "Aliens versus Predator". In the game's story the derelict ship has survived the explosion that occurred in "Aliens", and the Weyland-Yutani corporation has established a new colony, atmosphere processor, and research facility on the planetoid dedicated to studying the derelict ship and its contents. All of these are destroyed ten years later during another Alien infestation when an unnamed Colonial Marine disables the atmosphere processor's cooling systems, causing another explosion.fact|date=July 2008

See also

*Space Jockey (Alien)

References