# Colette Hiller - the pilot in "Aliens" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 26, 2004, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colette-hiller-the-pilot-in-aliens/242030 "2004-04-26T04:28:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colette-hiller-the-pilot-in-aliens/242030/41 "2014-10-30T02:31:53Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > I always thought it was weird that her death scene seemed to show that the vehicle she was piloting had windshield wipers on the inside of the windshield. Note the blood being ‘shooshed’ back and forth after the alien got her. Amusing that _you’d_ be the one to notice. 😃 ---
**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 30, 2014, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colette-hiller-the-pilot-in-aliens/242030/42 "2014-10-30T03:31:28Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > …Speaking of Vasquez, I was legitimately surprised that she was the same actress who played John Connor’s stepmom in Terminator 2. Also the Irish mom in _Titanic_. Quite an actress! > **[Jenette Goldstein | Actress](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001280/?ref_=tt_cl_t7)** > > Known for: Aliens, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Near Dark [http://www.wearysloth.com/Gallery/ActorsG/6694.gif](http://www.wearysloth.com/Gallery/ActorsG/6694.gif) [http://www.empireonline.com/images/features/movie-finishing-moves/dvd-grabs/7b.jpg](http://www.empireonline.com/images/features/movie-finishing-moves/dvd-grabs/7b.jpg) [![](https://johnnycat.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/jenettanic.jpg) ](https://johnnycat.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/jenettanic.jpg) > [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > Zombie aside, for me the greatest thing about Colette Hiller’s character in \*Aliens \*was how she died. She’s of course shocked at her first site of an alien appearing right behind her in the cockpit, but does she scream & panic like a woman? Hell no! [She immediately goes for her sidearm like a true Marine would](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odE3uchCxzU&feature=player_detailpage#t=127). Just wasn’t fast enough. I always felt that was a classic ‘Cameron touch’ of realism you see in his films. See post 17. > [@squeegee](#): > > I always thought it was weird that her death scene seemed to show that the vehicle she was piloting had windshield wipers on the inside of the windshield. Note the blood being ‘shooshed’ back and forth after the alien got her. I always thought that was, ahem, arterial spurting and the alien shaking her body as it attacked her. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colette-hiller-the-pilot-in-aliens/242030/43 "2014-10-30T03:41:14Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Also the Irish mom in _Titanic_. Quite an actress! > > [Jenette Goldstein - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001280/?ref_=tt_cl_t7) > [http://www.wearysloth.com/Gallery/ActorsG/6694.gif](http://www.wearysloth.com/Gallery/ActorsG/6694.gif) > [http://www.empireonline.com/images/features/movie-finishing-moves/dvd-grabs/7b.jpg](http://www.empireonline.com/images/features/movie-finishing-moves/dvd-grabs/7b.jpg) > [http://johnnycat.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/jenettanic.jpg](http://johnnycat.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/jenettanic.jpg) She now runs a [store](http://www.jenettebras.com/about/) in Los Angeles that sells bras for women with hard-to-fit breast sizes. The motto of her store is “The alphabet starts at D.” I’m always fascinated to learn about the later-in-life careers of actors who never quite hit the big time or who leave the business. The girl who played Newt in \*Aliens \*is now a school teacher in California’s Central Valley. ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colette-hiller-the-pilot-in-aliens/242030/44 "2014-10-30T05:12:42Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > I always thought it was weird that her death scene seemed to show that the vehicle she was piloting had windshield wipers on the inside of the windshield. Note the blood being ‘shooshed’ back and forth after the alien got her. It’s her arm thrashing against the window as she dies. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colette-hiller-the-pilot-in-aliens/242030/45 "2014-10-30T05:27:37Z")
> [@Patch](#): > > It’s her arm thrashing against the window as she dies. Hmm, I see the hand, but it sure as hell looks like there’s also a mechanical arm shooshing amongst all that blood. Goddamn Spunkmeyer installed the wipers inside the cockpit. With that surname I’d expect no less. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colette-hiller-the-pilot-in-aliens/242030/46 "2014-10-30T16:50:34Z")
I always wondered if the Alien that munched on Hiller was killed in the resulting crash. That’d serve it right! ---
**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 30, 2014, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colette-hiller-the-pilot-in-aliens/242030/47 "2014-10-30T17:13:57Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > She now runs a [store](http://www.jenettebras.com/about/) in Los Angeles that sells bras for women with hard-to-fit breast sizes. > > The motto of her store is “The alphabet starts at D.” > > I’m always fascinated to learn about the later-in-life careers of actors who never quite hit the big time or who leave the business. The girl who played Newt in \*Aliens \*is now a school teacher in California’s Central Valley. I think we have a winner in the “One Hit Wonder” competition, child actress category. From her IMDB bio, this is the only acting she has ever done… ---
**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 30, 2014, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colette-hiller-the-pilot-in-aliens/242030/48 "2014-10-30T18:50:52Z")
> [@teela\_brown](#): > > I always wondered if the Alien that munched on Hiller was killed in the resulting crash. That’d serve it right! As tough as those xenomorphs are, I can’t imagine it survived THAT crash. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colette-hiller-the-pilot-in-aliens/242030/49 "2014-10-30T21:29:14Z")
I like the character. But I can’t un-hear the fact that her voice, particularly during the countdown, sounds like Lily Tomlin doing her “Ernestine” character. And now _you_ can’t un-hear it. You’re welcome. ---
**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:** [November 8, 2014, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colette-hiller-the-pilot-in-aliens/242030/50 "2014-11-08T15:57:30Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Hmm. I always thought she was going for the ejection handles. > > That makes her smart if she’d been keeping up on current events, knowing a sidearm won’t save her life. Run away and live to fight another day. > > Why she even landed in a hot zone, I have no idea. Tactically that was a stupid move. But, the Marines made a whole shipload of tactical errors. No, she was most definitely going for her pistol, and it would not have necessarily been futile. A couple well placed, point blank shots might have disabled that alien long enough for her to land. And I’ve often wondered about the exact sequence of events. I don’t think you see Ferro or Spunkmeyer from the time they first release the APC until Hicks calls for pickup outside the atmosphere processor. I assume in the interim, once they established that the colony was clear, they landed at the colony’s strip and stayed there until they were needed (which wasn’t until Hicks called). So how did a rogue alien get from hibernating in the atmosphere processor basement to the colony strip so fast? I guess thru the tunnel (which was still open then). I know, I’m over-thinking a nearly 30-year-old film… > [@squeegee](#): > > I always thought it was weird that her death scene seemed to show that the vehicle she was piloting had windshield wipers on the inside of the windshield. Note the blood being ‘shooshed’ back and forth after the alien got her. Ah, those were clearly her hands wiping her blood on the inside of the windows during her death throws with the alien. Kinda thought that was pretty obvious. > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > See post 17. Yeah I just saw that! :smack: I do that all the time with zombies… ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2014, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colette-hiller-the-pilot-in-aliens/242030/51 "2014-11-08T16:38:22Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > So how did a rogue alien get from hibernating in the atmosphere processor basement to the colony strip so fast? I guess thru the tunnel (which was still open then). I know, I’m over-thinking a nearly 30-year-old film… I always assumed there were a few aliens on patrol to alert the hive to any threats or sources of food and incubators. ---
**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:** [November 9, 2014, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colette-hiller-the-pilot-in-aliens/242030/52 "2014-11-09T02:35:44Z")
Likewise. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2014, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colette-hiller-the-pilot-in-aliens/242030/53 "2014-11-09T06:41:55Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > Hmm, I see the hand, but it sure as hell looks like there’s also a mechanical arm shooshing amongst all that blood. > > Goddamn Spunkmeyer installed the wipers inside the cockpit. With that surname I’d expect no less. Nah, that’s one of the flight controls. I love her scenes in the drop ship, but she had no business being on the ground with the back door wide open and no perimeter _after_ the gunfight under the reactor, that’s just silly. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2014, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colette-hiller-the-pilot-in-aliens/242030/54 "2014-11-09T14:28:07Z")
> [@outlierrn](#): > > Nah, that’s one of the flight controls. > > I love her scenes in the drop ship, but she had no business being on the ground with the back door wide open and no perimeter _after_ the gunfight under the reactor, that’s just silly. That’s my point. It’s not simply silly, it’s criminally stupid. That and the silly “can’t use weapons in the reactor, but they did anyway” scene: the characters acted in unrealistically stupid manner simply as an expedient to reduce the headcount to a movie-manageable number. And all that shooting in the reactor didn’t even damage it. it was the drop ship crash that set the reactor explosion in motion. I wish they’d at least maintained continuity and had the gunfight as the cause, so as not to make Gorman totally an asshole. ---
**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:** [November 9, 2014, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colette-hiller-the-pilot-in-aliens/242030/55 "2014-11-09T22:55:47Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > That’s my point. It’s not simply silly, it’s criminally stupid. > > That and the silly “can’t use weapons in the reactor, but they did anyway” scene: the characters acted in unrealistically stupid manner simply as an expedient to reduce the headcount to a movie-manageable number. And all that shooting in the reactor didn’t even damage it. it was the drop ship crash that set the reactor explosion in motion. I wish they’d at least maintained continuity and had the gunfight as the cause, so as not to make Gorman totally an asshole. Meh. Something you have to remember is that until that first attack the only one who truly knows what they’re up against is Ripley. And nobody believes her. I mean, obviously they know something happened at the colony, but the actual horror and overwhelming abilities of a swarm of Aliens is just not on the table until its too late. Once they realized they couldn’t fire their main weapons they still couldn’t (and wouldn’t) just abandon their mission to rescue the colonists which they knew for sure were there. And, again, what I said above. They still had their flamethrowers and sidearms (and Vasquez & Drake snuck in extra ammo), and at that point all they’d seen were a couple facehuggers. And like I said before, the colony was clear. They spend some time regrouping in the disabled APC outside the atmosphere processor deciding what to do, maybe an hour or so, but Ferro (the Pilot) probably was only aware of the basics of what had just happened there (that they got their asses kicked). Plus at that point they didn’t know about the tunnel connecting the processor and the colony. I’m guessing after being awoken a couple aliens made their way thru it back to the colony, and one snuck on board the dropship right before they took off. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2014, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colette-hiller-the-pilot-in-aliens/242030/56 "2014-11-09T23:07:08Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > She now runs a [store](http://www.jenettebras.com/about/) in Los Angeles that sells bras for women with hard-to-fit breast sizes. > The motto of her store is “The alphabet starts at D.” Well, I hope she’s happy, but it _is_ a loss to the acting profession. A more versatile performer would be hard to find. Most people watching T2, _Aliens_, _Titanic_, and _Near Dark_ would be surprised to learn they were seeing the same actress in those four roles. As for the death in the cockpit–I always thought the blood was being swiped around by an interior windshield-wiper! (For dealing with condensation or something, I guess.) I’ll have to watch it again. ---
**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:** [November 10, 2014, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colette-hiller-the-pilot-in-aliens/242030/57 "2014-11-10T00:52:46Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > …so as not to make Gorman totally an asshole. He always _was_ an asshole. Jenette Goldstein has a toehold in another sf franchise, too: [Jenette Goldstein | Memory Alpha | Fandom](http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Jenette_Goldstein) ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colette-hiller-the-pilot-in-aliens/242030/58 "2014-11-10T02:10:17Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > And like I said before, the colony was clear. The colony wasn’t ‘clear’, it was abandoned, and full of small arms fire damage. Not an at ease scenario. As much as I love Vasquez, her and Drake would have faced well deserved courts martial, had they survived. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colette-hiller-the-pilot-in-aliens/242030/59 "2014-11-10T04:54:24Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > I think we have a winner in the “One Hit Wonder” competition, child actress category. From her IMDB bio, this is the only acting she has ever done… She mostly just played Newt. Mostly. ---
**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:** [November 10, 2014, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colette-hiller-the-pilot-in-aliens/242030/60 "2014-11-10T14:22:26Z")
> [@outlierrn](#): > > The colony wasn’t ‘clear’, it was abandoned, and full of small arms fire damage. Not an at ease scenario. \*“Wait, it’s not secure…” “The area’s secure, Ripley!”\* [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colette-hiller-the-pilot-in-aliens/242030.md?page=2)