Just what is the role and purpose of this character? In some undefinable way he seems significant but I couldn’t tell you how.
Ship’s Cat, this was his role. Also survivor.
To provide a cat jump scare.
The cat also alerts Ripley to danger before she is aware it’s there which heightens the tension. Cat hisses, what will Ripley see when she turns around?
It’s a thing used in lots of movies. Dog growls, cat hisses at the bad thing our hero doesn’t see yet.
Jonsey is also an evolutionarily optimized predator that relentlessly stalks its prey and has no mercy; hence why the xenomorph leaves him alone out of professional courtesy. If Jones had acid for blood, an extensible inner mouth, and a prehensile tail that could disembowel a man in a single swipe, he would have killed the crew before they’d even had a chance to awaken the facehugger.
Now, just for fun, imagine a film that is a mashup of Aliens with the Colonial Marines landing on the set of Cats. “We’re on an express elevator to Hell, goin’ down!”
Stranger
“Alien would have been a much shorter film if Jonesey has [sic] been a more proficient mouse.”
I would also say that cats are an infinitely more successful parasitic life form than the xenomorph dreams of being. The xeno’s have to run about and all but beg a sufficiently large being to volunteer itself for impregnation, hide during it’s younger stages, and then continue to hunt for it’s entire lifespan before dying, unable (except for the queen) to even reproduce.
Cats, well, domestic ones, manage to do all of the above with a certain degree of ease, or may I be so bold, even flair! And then they use their wiles to get humans to aid them in almost all factors above (possible wiggle room on the reproduction, but that varies).
The xenomorphs put a lot of effort into being deadly and dangerous: and what does it get them? Nuke 'em from space!
Cats are all about wielding supreme soft power. They are the superior lifeform!
But if you are not cute and cuddly and soft your only option is to facehugger whatever comes along.
The outcome was never in question. YouTube “cats vs snakes” for examples
Hmm…
It is not a binary decision in my experience.
Stranger
They already made that movie, “The Uninvited”
The cat wanted everyone but one person to get killed by the alien so there would be more time for pets and belly rubs for him. Prove me wrong.
And please, nobody should demand the “butthole cut”
Got it in one. There are famous exploring expeditions that prominently mentioned the ship’s cat, such as Mrs. Chippy on the Shackleton Antarctic expedition, and “Unsinkable Sam”, who survived three ship sinkings including the Bismarck and two British warships that were torpedoed and sunk (he was ‘retired’ after that).
While watching the movie I thought the purpose of the cat was to set up the sequel.
Ripley and cat go into the pod hibernation thingy. They arrive at the space station and are woken up.
Surprise, there’s a little alien growing inside the cat that starts creating havoc (and breeding) on the more fertile environment of the space station. So a good title would be … Aliens.
I was quite disappointed when things didn’t go that way.
Cats are renowned for their lightning-fast reflexes (>1.5 x faster than dogs; much faster than humans). Their “escape” reflex (triggered by danger), occurs within a remarkable 0-70 milliseconds. Despite their small size, domestic (actually only semi-domesticated) cats are powerful animals with strong muscles and excellent coordination. They are one of the quickest, most agile animals on the planet.
And…they’re cute.
The Nostromo is a mining rig that happens to fly in space, it’s why everyone is always dirty.
Are cats a thing on Oil Platforms out at sea?