# Aliens Question: why was Bishop in a stasis pod? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 8, 2012, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-question-why-was-bishop-in-a-stasis-pod/637129 "2012-10-08T20:30:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-question-why-was-bishop-in-a-stasis-pod/637129/21 "2012-10-10T04:12:59Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > According to the _Colonial Marines Technical Manual_ part of the reason might be because of a quirk in the nature of the FTL drive—to an outside observer, time would seem to pass much faster onboard the Sulaco when traveling FTL. Hypersleep is used partially to conserve resources, but also to prevent excessive crew aging… Yeah, I remember about the reverse time dilation. Once the ship is past the speed of light the faster it travels the faster time passes onboard relative to the res tof the universe. So a trip that appears to take only a year or two for an outside observer would take decades or centuries for the crew, which is why they’re frozen. Synthetics’ have much more in common mentally with humans than they do with computers. Excessive time spent conscious, but without interaction with other sapient beings probally has extremely nasty effects on them. Effects that weren’t fully realized in Prometheus era. So after some nasty (& expensive) incidents any Synthetics onboard were required were require travel in some sort of statis along with the crew. I’m sure Bishop’s statis unit was on the same setting as the ones containing the human crew. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-question-why-was-bishop-in-a-stasis-pod/637129/22 "2012-10-10T04:19:44Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > So after some nasty (& expensive) incidents any Synthetics onboard were required were require travel in some sort of statis along with the crew. The A-2’s always were a bit twitchy. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-question-why-was-bishop-in-a-stasis-pod/637129/23 "2012-10-10T07:41:38Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > According to the _Colonial Marines Technical Manual_ part of the reason might be because of a quirk in the nature of the FTL drive—to an outside observer, time would seem to pass much faster onboard the Sulaco when traveling FTL. Hypersleep is used partially to conserve resources, but also to prevent excessive crew aging. > > (Note that while the CMTM is licensed, and very well written, this part is conjecture—no such details of FTL operation actually appear in any of the Aliens-verse movies.) How is this not shown on screen, Ripley remains roughly the same age while decades pass between the time of Alien and the time of Alien 3. In the director’s cut of Aliens, her young child grows to old age and dies while Ripley is still in her 30s. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-question-why-was-bishop-in-a-stasis-pod/637129/24 "2012-10-10T08:46:08Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > How is this not shown on screen, Ripley remains roughly the same age while decades pass between the time of Alien and the time of Alien 3. In the director’s cut of Aliens, her young child grows to old age and dies while Ripley is still in her 30s. Wasn’t she in stasis aboard a shuttle drifting along in “true” space, rather than traveling FTL? Look at it this way: Captain Kirk orders the Enterprise to go to Warp 9, and they do so long enough for a short hop, maybe out to Proxima Centauri. To us watching from Earth, the trip takes them a few minutes. To the crew, if they weren’t in stasis, they may go into the trip looking like TOS, but they come out looking like Star Trek VI. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-question-why-was-bishop-in-a-stasis-pod/637129/25 "2012-10-10T13:25:58Z")
Weyland Yutani only lets you build up Space Miles points if you ride in the pod. Bishop really wants his vacation on Altair 4a ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-question-why-was-bishop-in-a-stasis-pod/637129/26 "2012-10-10T13:39:07Z")
That’s only because Arcturus is too expensive. ---
**Author:** ![Ashley\_Pomeroy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c68b51/32.png) [@Ashley\_Pomeroy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashley_Pomeroy)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-question-why-was-bishop-in-a-stasis-pod/637129/27 "2012-10-10T18:50:58Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Or maybe he just lay there and played WoW for 19 years. Think of the lag, though, from a vessel travelling away from the Earth at faster-than-light speeds. He’d probably be kicked for cheating, because he’d be much faster than the players back on Earth. Would he? I’m trying to imagine what it would be like if a man on an FTL starship tried to play a MMORPG against players on Earth and I can’t. Perhaps somebody else can. Both assuming FTL communications and not. ---
**Author:** ![Aquadementia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aquadementia/32/555_2.png) [@Aquadementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquadementia)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-question-why-was-bishop-in-a-stasis-pod/637129/28 "2012-10-10T23:50:02Z")
I wonder why humans need the suspended animation. Maybe I just missed the explanation. I didn’t question it in the first movie, but in the second it seemed unnecessary to go to sleep for a journey of only a couple of weeks. Those ships are huge. They could easily support a crew for that long. My wank of an explanation was that even though the ships are going faster then light, they still might experience high acceleration that would keep them immobile for the entire time. So instead of putting them through the discomfort of all that it would be easier to sleep. So, even androids might be better off just staying put for the duration. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-question-why-was-bishop-in-a-stasis-pod/637129/29 "2012-10-11T00:10:51Z")
> [@](#): > > I wonder why humans need the suspended animation. > Maybe I just missed the explanation. Did you read the rest of the thread? ---
**Author:** ![Aquadementia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aquadementia/32/555_2.png) [@Aquadementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquadementia)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-question-why-was-bishop-in-a-stasis-pod/637129/30 "2012-10-11T00:18:59Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Did you read the rest of the thread? I’ll tell you what I saw. > [@Ranchoth](#): > > According to the _Colonial Marines Technical Manual_ part of the reason might be because of a quirk in the nature of the FTL drive—to an outside observer, time would seem to pass much faster onboard the Sulaco when traveling FTL. Hypersleep is used partially to conserve resources, but also to prevent excessive crew aging. > > (Note that while the CMTM is licensed, and very well written, this part is conjecture—no such details of FTL operation actually appear in any of the Aliens-verse movies.) > > (Additional fun note: The Sulaco’s FTL cruising speed, as listed, works out to about Warp 9.04 in the modern official Star Trek scale—which itself, admittedly, is actually a bit pokey when you consider the distances and times traveled as stated on the show.) And I never saw no Marines Technical Manual. So I may as well question if the androids are built or used differently. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-question-why-was-bishop-in-a-stasis-pod/637129/31 "2012-10-11T01:29:33Z")
Maybe it’s SOP for everyone to be in stasis because it cuts down on paranoia and fears of sabotage/mutiny/fuck-uppery. As the captain, I don’t want some fool robot dicking around while everyone is incapacitated. I trust those lbuggers only as far as I can throw 'em. If I have to be in stasis, so should everyone else, goddernit. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-question-why-was-bishop-in-a-stasis-pod/637129/32 "2012-10-11T19:12:17Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > That’s only because Arcturus is too expensive. Ah, but worth it for the poontang! ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-question-why-was-bishop-in-a-stasis-pod/637129/33 "2012-10-11T20:21:25Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Maybe the Sulaco was sufficiently technologically advanced that it didn’t need a crew member awake for the entire trip, while the Prometheus needed someone around for maintenance and emergencies. Fanboy nit: Ash was on the Nostromo; Bishop on the Sulaco… I think \*\*Hail Ants \*\*has it right, ultimately - it fit the needs of the plot… ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-question-why-was-bishop-in-a-stasis-pod/637129/34 "2012-10-12T03:49:50Z")
Of course, Bishop’s biggest problem was that he was always playing an angle. ---
**Author:** ![FordPrefect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-question-why-was-bishop-in-a-stasis-pod/637129/35 "2012-10-12T15:54:35Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Of course, Bishop’s biggest problem was that he was always playing an angle. Heh heh. Although that ended when the queen took Bishop. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-question-why-was-bishop-in-a-stasis-pod/637129/36 "2012-10-12T17:25:11Z")
> [@FordPrefect](#): > > Heh heh. > > Although that ended when the queen took Bishop. I’m so glad you posted this, because I would not have gotten that joke in a million years! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Ostrya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/35a633/32.png) [@Ostrya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ostrya)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-question-why-was-bishop-in-a-stasis-pod/637129/37 "2012-10-13T07:23:57Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Of course, Bishop’s biggest problem was that he was always playing an angle. > [@FordPrefect](#): > > Heh heh. > > Although that ended when the queen took Bishop. > [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > I’m so glad you posted this, because **I would not have gotten that joke in a million years!** :smack: Same here! Well played! ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-question-why-was-bishop-in-a-stasis-pod/637129/38 "2012-10-13T10:58:17Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > **Real answer:** Because they needed the ‘reveal’ of Bishop being an android to be at a specific point in the story, namely after everyone awakens from hypersleep but before much anything else. I suspect this is right, but it’s not at all hard to reconcile with what we know about androids in the Aliens universe. Maybe it’s simply to extend Bishop’s lifetime. I don’t think it can be considered a real plot-hole. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-question-why-was-bishop-in-a-stasis-pod/637129/39 "2012-10-13T23:08:59Z")
> [@FordPrefect](#): > > Heh heh. > > Although that ended when the queen took Bishop. Too bad for that queen that she mistook the other queen for a mere pawn. ---
**Author:** ![FordPrefect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2012, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-question-why-was-bishop-in-a-stasis-pod/637129/40 "2012-10-14T16:54:43Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Too bad for that queen that she mistook the other queen for a mere pawn. In space nobody can hear a misogynist scream. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-question-why-was-bishop-in-a-stasis-pod/637129.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-question-why-was-bishop-in-a-stasis-pod/637129.md?page=3)