# Two Alien quotes-- what do they mean? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 28, 2011, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-alien-quotes-what-do-they-mean/576237 "2011-03-28T10:26:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-alien-quotes-what-do-they-mean/576237/21 "2011-03-28T17:49:28Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > Depending on the thongs, your asshole may actually be on view. 😃 I’m tellin ya-- dumb bitch! Or it could be that sulfur spewing, brimstone farting “feature” auto-correct. Can’t blame it for the thread title though. That was all me. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-alien-quotes-what-do-they-mean/576237/22 "2011-03-28T18:13:47Z")
OT, but can someone point me to a thread where the existence of a second Alien movie is justified? I never watched one of the sequels because the idea of Ripley ever going into space again (much less going out looking for another Alien) just struck me as too implausible. ETA: On topic, I always think of “assholes and elbows” as being a description of a scene where a large number of people are trying to leave a dangerous (or otherwise unpleasant) room simultaneously via a single point of egress. ---
**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:** [March 28, 2011, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-alien-quotes-what-do-they-mean/576237/23 "2011-03-28T18:19:24Z")
> [@](#): > > OT, but can someone point me to a thread where the existence of a second Alien movie is justified? I never watched one of the sequels because the idea of Ripley ever going into space again (much less going out looking for another Alien) just struck me as too implausible. I much prefer the second film to the first. Ripley’s escape ship drifts out of touch for half a century and is lost until found by a salvage crew. The rest of it is very plausibly handled, and the people don’t act as badly as they did in the original film. Highly recommended. I could easily do without any of the other sequels. Or the original film, for that matter. Watch **It! The Terror from Beyond Space** instead. ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-alien-quotes-what-do-they-mean/576237/24 "2011-03-28T19:24:17Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > OT, but can someone point me to a thread where the existence of a second Alien movie is justified? I never watched one of the sequels because the idea of Ripley ever going into space again (much less going out looking for another Alien) just struck me as too implausible. I can’t point you to a thread on the topic, but _Aliens_ justifies this just fine, I would say. Ripley, revived after 57 years adrift in space, is found guilty for the loss of the _Nostromo_ in the previous film. She does not receive a criminal conviction (it’s the company investigating her actions, not the courts), but her flight officer status is revoked. She finds her employment options now very limited. Later, after the colony on LV-426 falls silent — LV-426 being the planet from _Alien_ — she’s offered the opportunity to earn back her commission, if she accompanies a Marine expedition to the planet as a consultant. _ **If** _ she goes. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-alien-quotes-what-do-they-mean/576237/25 "2011-03-28T19:39:04Z")
Sorry, still not plausible. I’d take my chances on unemployment, followed by starving to death in the gutter. And the _Nostromo_ wasn’t insured? I call shenanigans on that one. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-alien-quotes-what-do-they-mean/576237/26 "2011-03-28T19:45:14Z")
They’re still going with or without Ripley. As the only survivor of the previous encounter, you can try to help them live through this and keep Weyland-Yutani from spreading the Alien threat around, or you can let them be thrown to the wolves and the corporation does god knows what trying to get some awesome biological weapons. If no one was going unless she went, then yeah, forget it. But I suspect Ripley has a teeny axe to grind with Weyland-Yutani and wanted to keep them from fucking up the situation any further. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-alien-quotes-what-do-they-mean/576237/27 "2011-03-28T19:49:13Z")
I’d say if Weyland-Yutani gets their mitts on an Alien, they deserve everything said Alien is prepared to dish out… Me, I’m finding the deepest hole I can, and gibbering away in the darkest corner. ---
**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:** [March 28, 2011, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-alien-quotes-what-do-they-mean/576237/28 "2011-03-28T19:52:46Z")
> [@](#): > > Sorry, still not plausible. I’d take my chances on unemployment, followed by starving to death in the gutter. They told her she wouldn’t have to go down – she could stay on the ship. Space Marines would go in and wipe them out. Ripley wanted to be in on the “wipe them out” part. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-alien-quotes-what-do-they-mean/576237/29 "2011-03-28T19:55:52Z")
Well, have it y’all’s way, I guess. The movie exists, and that’s that. Why _didn’t_ they take off and nuke the planet from orbit, btw? If they had her along for her expertise it’s a shame they ignored it. ---
**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:** [March 28, 2011, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-alien-quotes-what-do-they-mean/576237/30 "2011-03-28T19:58:15Z")
> [@](#): > > Why didn’t they take off and nuke the planet from orbit, btw? If they had her along for her expertise it’s a shame they ignored it. They wanted to – the quote’s from that movie, after all. Watch the flick. Long story short – if they could have, and did, the film would make an interesting featurette about xenomorph extermination. ---
**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:** [March 28, 2011, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-alien-quotes-what-do-they-mean/576237/31 "2011-03-28T19:59:21Z")
The pivotal aspect in her decision is that Ripley is still having nightmares. After one such nightmare, she calls up Burke and agrees to go on the mission, after he assures her (untruthfully, it turns out) that the mission is one of extermination. This is later reflected in Newt’s nightmares and the last lines in the movie as the characters enter hypersleep to return to Earth: Newt: Will I dream? [i.e. without nightmares] Ripley: I think we both can. It didn’t strike me as improbable at all - Ripley wants revenge and thinks getting some will quiet her nightmares. The _third_ movie, though… that was useless. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-alien-quotes-what-do-they-mean/576237/32 "2011-03-28T20:07:14Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > It didn’t strike me as improbable at all - Ripley wants revenge and thinks getting some will quiet her nightmares. The _third_ movie, though… that was useless. Years later, I can appreciate the third movie on its own merits, but don’t like it as the third in the series. Hicks was awesome. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![A\_Dodgy\_Dude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a87d85/32.png) [@A\_Dodgy\_Dude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_Dodgy_Dude)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-alien-quotes-what-do-they-mean/576237/33 "2011-03-28T20:24:02Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > She’s a Buffy fan, and since Faith used that phrase regularly, wanted to seem cool. You beat me to it! Buffy: “You okay, Faith?” Faith: “Five by five, B.” ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-alien-quotes-what-do-they-mean/576237/34 "2011-03-28T21:11:21Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Sorry, still not plausible. I’d take my chances on unemployment, followed by starving to death in the gutter. My impression is that there was a whole, complex stew of motivations. I’m not sure Ripley herself understood why she was going. Some factors: PTSD–She was suffering persistent nightmares and other symptoms. To some extent, she wanted to confront her fears…or had been driven to the point of being borderline suicidal. “Families. Jesus.”–More people are (at best) in danger from the aliens, including children this time. Ripley has child issues. She has an impulse to try to save them, even if all she can do is warn people of what to expect. Dead end life–She’s blacklisted from her chosen work, stuck as a dockworker in a world where everyone she knew is dead. To some extent, she wants her old life back, and going along as an advisor is a way to get that. Vindication–She went through a horrific experience, and everyone is denying that it happened. She wants to prove that she was telling the truth. The Company is crazy–She (wisely) doesn’t trust them as far as she could throw them. She _knows_ they’re going to want to bring back samples for study. To her, that means her nightmares getting loose on Earth. To the movie’s credit, it manages to introduce all of these motivations plausibly in a very short period of time. Ripley’s decision to go along may not have been entirely rational, but it’s not unbelievable. > [@](#): > > And the _Nostromo_ wasn’t insured? I call shenanigans on that one. My take on this is that Ripley’s story was a problem for the Company; if it got out that they had planted a colony on top of a nest of hideously deadly aliens, it would be bad PR. They wanted to sweep it under the rug, and the easiest way to do that was to discredit Ripley. Painting her as a nutcase who destroyed her own ship is an attempt to do that. ---
**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:** [March 28, 2011, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-alien-quotes-what-do-they-mean/576237/35 "2011-03-28T21:17:50Z")
And besides, IQs dropped sharply while she was away. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-alien-quotes-what-do-they-mean/576237/36 "2011-03-28T21:47:27Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > They wanted to – the quote’s from that movie, after all. Watch the flick. > > Long story short – if they could have, and did, the film would make an interesting featurette about xenomorph extermination. As a matter of fact, they _tried_, except that the dropship pilot met an unfortunate end. In any case, the Marines had already managed to inadvertently damage the colony’s reactor cooling systems badly enough that their primary concern was to take off and prevent from getting nuked by the colony itself. ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-alien-quotes-what-do-they-mean/576237/37 "2011-03-29T00:41:11Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Well, have it y’all’s way, I guess. The movie exists, and that’s that. … that’s just heresy - there’s a reason why _Aliens_ is one of the rare sequel that is _better_ than the original. in a movie about aliens from outer space with acid for blood, the only implausible points that bother me are the insane growth of the alien nymphs and … well that’s it. ---
**Author:** ![Nunavut\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e95f7d/32.png) [@Nunavut\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunavut_Boy)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-alien-quotes-what-do-they-mean/576237/38 "2011-03-29T00:49:01Z")
I tell anyone who will listen that Aliens is the greatest action movie ever made. ---
**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:** [March 29, 2011, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-alien-quotes-what-do-they-mean/576237/39 "2011-03-29T00:51:12Z")
> [@](#): > > As a matter of fact, they tried, except that the dropship pilot met an unfortunate end. In any case, the Marines had already managed to inadvertently damage the colony’s reactor cooling systems badly enough that their primary concern was to take off and prevent from getting nuked by the colony itself. (sighs) I’ll explain the obvious. Of _course_ they tried. But the film was structured so that their attemot wouldn’t succeed, because otherwise there would be no movie. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-alien-quotes-what-do-they-mean/576237/40 "2011-03-29T00:52:53Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > So “square” can mean “square, as in a loser” (L7) or "square, as in “all squared up and ready to go…” (5x5) which means you’re cool and have your shit together - the exact opposite… Which is bizarre, because L7 used to be code in the New York school system for “borderline special ed.” If you didn’t know how to use tools, for example, you would say “I’m totally L7 at basic fix-it.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-alien-quotes-what-do-they-mean/576237.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-alien-quotes-what-do-they-mean/576237.md?page=3)