NotSmartEnough
Member
I gave you props, man. Look under the gif
Again, I think you are trying to connect the dots a little too much. You shouldn't watch 'Alien' and at the same time think how it ties in with 'Aliens', 'Alien3' or "Aliens: Resurrection' etc.
'Alien' was a standalone film that established a universe and lore. Cameron made his own interpretation with the sequel 'Aliens' but that doesn't necessarily mean that his interpretation applies to Scott's initial vision.
You're right, the queen concept was added in 'Aliens'. The full lifecycle wasn't explored in the theatrical cut of 'Alien', but the egg conversion bit (cut because it affected the pacing of the end of the film) was meant to be the way the species reproduced. When the queen was retconned in it was relegated to an alternative method used if no queen was available.
I think that the full lifecycle was shown on some Giger art for the alien pyramid (later replaced by the derelict), which appeared in a different form in Prometheus.