The Alien franchise has succeeded in striking fear into the hearts of fans since the release of the first film, but a Simpsons Alien parody proves that a scrapped alternate ending to the original sci-fi/horror movie wouldn't have ruined it like some fans assume. The Simpsons has a long tradition of comics based on its Halloween Special ‘Treehouse of Horror’ episodes. In one issue, the Xenomorphs cross over into the comedy genre and prove that a cut ending to the original Alien film could have worked.
In Bart Simpson’s Treehouse of Horror #7's 'In Springfield No-one Can Hear You Scream' - from Garth Ennis, John McCrea, Dave Stewart, and Karen Bates - Bart is watching an Itchy & Scratchy episode that parodies Alien. The episode scares him and sinks itself into his subconscious. That night, Bart dreams that his whole family, along with a few other Springfield regulars, have been captured and impregnated by Xenomorphs. When the aliens finally burst from their chests, they demonstrate a Xenomorph ability originally intended for the movie.
The Xenomorphs in Bart’s dream look like the normal depictions of the alien creature, except each one has the same face and voice as the person they burst from. While this version of the Xenomorph is a parody, it is eerily close to the version that was cut from the final film. Ridley Scott originally pitched a version of Alien in which Ripley fails to shoots the Xenomorph out into space and is subsequently killed. The Xenomorph would then turn to the ship's control and mimic Dallas' voice, saying, "I'm signing off." In this version, the Xenomorph had the ability to perfectly mimic the voices of humans, adding a new level of horror to its seeming intelligence and the threat it now posed to wider civilization. While fans are generally glad this ending was rejected, the Simpsons parody actually succeeds in communicating the horror of facing monsters who are able to mimic the voices of those who have been killed.
Even though it's meant to be funny, The Simpsons’ version of the Xenomorphs are in some ways even more terrifying than the originals. Xenomorphs are akin to giant, predatory bugs who exist only to replicate and kill. The Simpsons’ version of the monsters do the same thing except they also taunt Bart while leading him to a Facehugger, using the voices of their former hosts to mock him while setting the stage for his death. While making the Xenomorphs as smart as humans would lessen their terrifying appeal, having them repeat key phrases spoken by real people is incredibly creepy, especially - as with Bart's nightmare - when survivors were close to those whose voices have been stolen.
While Alien's rejected ending would have been overwhelmingly grim - as well as potentially ending Ripley’s Xenomorph-killing reign too early (though there's always cloning) - it wouldn't necessarily have been the disaster film fans assume. The Simpsons parody is funny, but it's also just the right amount of disturbing, showing that the key rejected ability from Alien is a lot scarier than it seems in theory.