ALIEN (1979) What's going on in the shuttle?

Cafe Society
21

[QUOTE=bienville]

Ditto this.

I’m surprised it took until Post#12 for the suggestion that the Alien was asleep. This had always been my interpretation. The initial grab for Ripley “scare” I had always seen as an unconscious action during a restless sleep.
[/QUOTE]

Right or wrong, this is the answer I’m going with. It makes sense - I just didn’t think the alien would take a nap. But I guess he did have a big day - being born, growing several times his original size, eating or killing most of the crew… I’d be tired too.

Thanks! I just put Aliens at the top of my queue - hopefully that’ll make sense!

22

[QUOTE=cerberus]
The sequel was fun, but had some seriously idiotic plot holes.
[/QUOTE]

Like what? I can’t think of anything too bad, just minor quibbles like not leaving even one person behind in the Sulaco.

23

The big stupid bits in the first one include the XO sticking his fucking helmet directly in the path of an opening egg. There’s also the matter of the Captain and XO both being off-ship on the same mission. Then there’s the totally fucking off the Quarantine Protocols (I know, the Science Officer was in on that).

As for the Good Sequel, well, yes, that. I’d expect some sort of fixed crew on the Sulaco, with an actual O-5/O-6 type CO, and a separate Marine structure. A Navy ship really does work better with squids - one really needs a CO, an XO, a Chief Engineer and a Master of the Boat (Some sort of CPO or higher).

I also expected the marines to have a variety of munitions for their rifles, so that when they went into the fusion reactor cooling area, that they could switch away from the armor piercing stuff to something else, like percussion rounds, or Hell, Double-Aught shot shells.

Then there was the stupid idea of not sending enough marines, and then committing all of them in one mass in one excursion. Stupid, even for a brand new space platoon leader. And then we have the sergeant going along with it. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Send in a small, fast element. And if you must deny your people their munitions, at least scratch the mission and rapidly extract them.

There were also a large volume of Invincible Ripley Scenes, where Ripley should have been torn asunder by hordes of the alien warriors.

Then there’s the matter of the drop ship’s flight crew not securing their ship - you don’t leave the drop ship unsecured in a suspect zone. At a minimum, leave the ship idling, ramp up, ready to react. Stupid. And, at least have the courtesy of granting your flight officers warrant rank or better.

And don’t start me on the mysteriously variable alien acid blood, which, depending on the scene, either burned its way through multiple decks of the Nostromo, or did much less damage on human flesh.

Thing is, in the first two movies, one can explain away much of the stupidity as company sabotage in terms of specifically setting up the people on the ground to serve as either host to the aliens or as AlienChow.

The really unforgivably stupidly rancid nonsense only really kicked in the third and fourth “movies.”

24

But if they didn’t do all that stuff, there wouldn’t be a movie.

25

[QUOTE=beowulff]
I just re-watched this movie. Still great after all these years. My take on it is the Alien hid in a pile of tubing in the shuttle. It slowly extricates itself, knowing that Ripely doesn’t have a chance. Why should it hurry?
[/QUOTE]

I do like this answer too. He’s the perfect killing machine. She’s got no where to go. What’s the hurry?

26

[QUOTE=redman]
sigourney in her tighty whities back when she was something to drool over
[/QUOTE]
“Back when”? :dubious:

27

You must also remember that in its era, it was unthinkable that all the men would bite it and only a girl and a cat would survive. I remember watching it in a group, and we were all shocked that Ripley was alive at the end (and at that, without having to be rescued by the hunky male space cavalry).

28

[QUOTE=Cervaise]
“Back when”? :dubious:
[/QUOTE]

Yeah, she’s 58 now and still lookin’ good.

She was 50 and quite yummy in “Galaxy Quest”.

29

[QUOTE=Critical1]
you are indeed looking for Aliens and make sure you get the directors cut. the studio release of Aliens was missing some very very nice footage.
[/QUOTE]
While I don’t want to start a holy war, I think that the theatrical cut is superior to the director’s cut. I’ve seen both several times. While the director’s cut does indeed include some cool footage, the inclusion of that footage makes the movie as a whole worse.

30

I’m with the walrus on this one. The director’s cut prolongs the beginning of the movie with horrible cutesy kid and parent scenes that are so terribly early eighties. Those scences aged about as well as milk left out on the counter. The scenes in the colony don’t fit with the rest of the movie and they slow everything down to a crawl. What’s more, they’re completely unnecessary. We don’t need to see Newt playing in the tunnels or her family finding the Alien eggs because later in the movie we learn all that shit from Newt herself. Also, kids can’t act. The less time they’re on screen, the better.

31

Question- did the “directors cut” restore the scenes (if they were even shot) explaining why Ripley was so attached to Newt from the moment she met her? IIRC, one of the things Ripley finds out after drifting for 57 years in stasis was that she had outlived her young daughter, hence the intense attachment to this child who had lost her parents.

32

What irritates me about Alien 9and the sequels) is not just that the humans are incredibly, irretrievably moronic, it’s that the Aliens are just magic. I mean, seriously, those things have to be demons from Hell becuse real creatures can’t do what they do. It’s not possible.

Even if we toss in the “bioengineered super-killy lifeform” nonsense, they still get to break the laws of physics whenever it bloody well suits them. I mean, if they want to do a haunted house horror movie with magic monsters that come and eat you, fine, but be honest about it.

33

[QUOTE=EJsGirl]
Question- did the “directors cut” restore the scenes (if they were even shot) explaining why Ripley was so attached to Newt from the moment she met her? IIRC, one of the things Ripley finds out after drifting for 57 years in stasis was that she had outlived her young daughter, hence the intense attachment to this child who had lost her parents.
[/QUOTE]

Yes.

34

I haven’t watched either version in a few years, but I thought the scene you’re talking about was in the original theatrical cut. If I recall correctly, Paul Reiser is talking to Ripley and he tells her how long she’s been out for. It’s part of the pitch to get her to go along with the space marines; everybody she knows is dead so why not consult on an ill-concieved mission of death and destruction.

35

This will be my last reply to this thread until after I’ve seen Aliens. I think I already know more about the movie than I want to before seeing it. :frowning:

36

[QUOTE=Tenebras]
I haven’t watched either version in a few years, but I thought the scene you’re talking about was in the original theatrical cut. If I recall correctly, Paul Reiser is talking to Ripley and he tells her how long she’s been out for. It’s part of the pitch to get her to go along with the space marines; everybody she knows is dead so why not consult on an ill-concieved mission of death and destruction.
[/QUOTE]

He doesn’t mention anything about her family (or specifically the child) in the theatrical release, just the amount of time she’s been away. Shocking in itself, to be sure, but without the other information the impact is lessened- who knew she had a daughter, or a husband?

37

[QUOTE=cerberus]

The big stupid bits in the first one include the XO sticking his fucking helmet directly in the path of an opening egg. There’s also the matter of the Captain and XO both being off-ship on the same mission. Then there’s the totally fucking off the Quarantine Protocols (I know, the Science Officer was in on that).

[/quote]

As mentioned, these aren’t MIT educated NASA scientists. The Nostromo is essentially a tug boat in space (it was actually hauling the mine or factory or whatever it was). Watch Deadliest Catch sometime. Those guys do enough boneheaded stuff without accidently pulling in a crab that’s 8 feet tall that starts killing the entire crew.

[QUOTE=cerberus]

As for the Good Sequel, well, yes, that. I’d expect some sort of fixed crew on the Sulaco, with an actual O-5/O-6 type CO, and a separate Marine structure. A Navy ship really does work better with squids - one really needs a CO, an XO, a Chief Engineer and a Master of the Boat (Some sort of CPO or higher).

I also expected the marines to have a variety of munitions for their rifles, so that when they went into the fusion reactor cooling area, that they could switch away from the armor piercing stuff to something else, like percussion rounds, or Hell, Double-Aught shot shells.

Then there was the stupid idea of not sending enough marines, and then committing all of them in one mass in one excursion. Stupid, even for a brand new space platoon leader. And then we have the sergeant going along with it. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Send in a small, fast element. And if you must deny your people their munitions, at least scratch the mission and rapidly extract them.

Then there’s the matter of the drop ship’s flight crew not securing their ship - you don’t leave the drop ship unsecured in a suspect zone. At a minimum, leave the ship idling, ramp up, ready to react. Stupid. And, at least have the courtesy of granting your flight officers warrant rank or better.

[/QUOTE]

Well, yes. I will agree that is a bit odd to have a ship at least the size of an aircraft carrier holding only about a dozen or so soldiers, no crew and 2 dropships. According to Wikipedia, the ship is 100% automated (which makes sense). At most though it can only transport 90 soldiers (2000 frozen for 4 days) and 8 dropships. Maybe most of the ship is engine and storage and whatnot?

If I were to fanwank a guess, I would say that the Sulaco is more of a fast cargo ship with just enough life support for at most a company of soldiers. It’s designed to just get them to some hot spot and support them until a much larger force arrives in dedicated troop transport ships.

But why it wouldn’t have a small command & control crew or at least the android sitting up in space is beyond me. What would have happened if the entire crew gets killed? It just sits derilect in orbit until someone comes for it (although in Alien Resurection, the ship autopilots home to Earth if there’s trouble).

Basically you have to look past the fact that in the Alien movies, the ships are designed to be gargantuan, mostly dark, humid, and crewed with a minimal crew. You can come up with all kinds of reason why, but the real reason is because it’s creepier that way.

38

I read somewhere that the original ending had the alien talking on the radio using Ripley’s voice.

39

I love how Ripley was portrayed in the shuttle, on the edge of absolute panic but controlled and surviving by her wits and intelligence.

BTW I would also recommend reading Alan Dean Foster’s novelization of both Alien & Aliens. The books are pretty good SF tales in their own right and fill in a lot of backstory left out of the movies.

40

[QUOTE=Icerigger]
I love how Ripley was portrayed in the shuttle, on the edge of absolute panic but controlled and surviving by her wits and intelligence.

[/QUOTE]

Yeah, I like that part as well. I like how she’s talking to herself to calm herself down: “Lucky, lucky, lucky . . .”. I suppose she was referring to how close she was to the spacesuits.