(a) I wanted to . . . because it started the ball rolling . . . is the first part in this ALIEN saga with COVENANT being but the latest episode . . . because it's my favourite sci-fi film . . . because I thought it would interest anyone who hadn't been born when the film was first shown on TV . . .
If the film was released in cinemas here in the UK in September 1979 it took almost three years to premier on TV - which was the only way the majority of people could see it at that time (apart from in the cinema, of course) with VCRs only available to the well-off costing about
£600 when the average weekly salary in the UK in 1982 was
£136.50 (or about a month's pay for Mr. & Mrs. Average).
. . . also the cost of the VHS tapes should not be forgotten - not cheap with
£75 each not unusual for the bigger titles !
VCRs were not commonplace / affordable until a good few years later with only 10% of households owning a machine in 1982 against 30% in 1985.
By 1990 the figure was more like 60%.
I didn't buy a SVHS player until the late '80s and that cost 750 quid reduced on sale from well over a thousand but then again my Blu-ray player cost 550 quid in 2008 reduced from 600 . . .
ALIEN first showing on UK TV - Sunday the 11th of July 1982 - right after the World Cup final in Madrid, Spain between Italy and W. Germany (Italy 3, Germany 1) with a second showing of the film two years later in 1984 !
Was one of a whole bunch of TV premiers in the '80s including JAWS, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS, SUPERMAN, HALLOWEEN, THE THING etc.
(b)
"The most generations alive in a single family has been seven. The youngest great-great-great-great-grandparent being Augusta Bunge (USA) aged 109 years 97 days, followed by her daughter aged 89, her grand-daughter aged 70, her great-grand-daughter aged 52, her great-great grand-daughter aged 33 and her great-great-great grand-daughter aged 15 on the birth of her great-great-great-great grandson on 21 January 1989." (Guinness World Records)
Not to be left out in the UK . . . our only six-generation family including their newest member makes the 103-year-old a great-great-great grandmother for the first time. Finley James Mellor was born on Christmas Day, becoming the youngest member of his clan, and the first in its sixth living generation
Connection?
ALIEN = great-great-great-granddad of COVENANT or if you prefer COVENANT = great-great-great grandson of ALIEN
Now, not really bothered if none of this is of any interest to any particular members here . . . but may just be of interest to others . . .
