# Your own Movie Theories **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 17, 2011, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766 "2011-06-17T00:47:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/141 "2011-06-24T23:40:26Z")
> [@DWMarch](#): > > Book’s story has been told in a comic called **The Shepherd’s Tale**. He wasn’t an Operative. Yes, and it was a terrible story, poorly executed by Joss Whedon’s brother. **Rhythymdvl** ’s backstory for Book is better. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/142 "2011-06-25T00:01:02Z")
> [@DWMarch](#): > > Hicks is sleeping through the drops hence he has no idea how long they take. Nah. Quite the opposite. Hicks slept through that _particular_ drop because he was bored, having done it so many times before. That’s how I always read that little bit of humor, anyway. . ---
**Author:** ![Just1Lurk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c0e974/32.png) [@Just1Lurk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just1Lurk)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/143 "2011-06-25T20:10:26Z")
**Bishop: Hero or Villain?** I watched \*Aliens \*again last night. Here’s Bishop’s time schedule: 1. Crawl down an 180 meter conduit - “Call it 40 minutes” 2. Patch in and align the dish - “An hour” 3. Prep Time: “30 minutes” 4. Flight Time: “About 50 minutes” So he gives himself three hours, plus some wiggle room. I agree with Miller that Bishop wouldn’t grossly over-estimate either the prep time or flight time - the crew would catch an obvious lie there (I don’t think the initial drop scene was supposed to represent real time, either). But I don’t think they’d call him on it if he added 10 or 15 minutes to his guess. The big question to me is, how can it take an hour to patch in and align the dish? The impression the movie gave was that it didn’t involve much more than connecting some glowing cables and entering some data on the keyboard. So let’s say Bishop doubled the alignment time and added ten minutes to every activity. That would give him two hours to get the ship down, leaving a hour to get to the reactor, descend to the nest, grab an egg, hide it, and get back. I don’t think he could do it. ---
**Author:** ![davidw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c4cdca/32.png) [@davidw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidw)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/144 "2011-06-25T20:47:09Z")
**The Lion King** is a Pan-Africanist fairy-tale that sounds like something written by Marcus Garvey. The land (Africa) is ruled wisely by benevolent lion (black man) Mustafa. But he’s betrayed by his scheming brother, who cuts a deal with the hyenas (the white man). The hyenas are allowed to over-exploit the land, they’re enforcers for Scar illegitimate rule, and ordinary lions are overworked and starving (colonization). Meanwhile, the true heir Simba is exiled to a far-away land where him comrades encourage him to forget about the past and embrace his current life (American black man). But instead, he recognizes his duty, returns to Africa, kicks the white man/hyena out of the land, and re-takes his rightful place as ruler. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2011, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/145 "2011-06-28T21:10:03Z")
> [@DWMarch](#): > > -He lies to Ripley and co. about how long the second dropship will take, claiming forty minutes flight time when we watched the first one (express elevator to hell!) take four minutes in real time with passengers and a human pilot. I just thought of something about this today that could explain this anomaly (or at least it’s a reasonable fanwank): You can’t just park a spaceship; it’s got to be in orbit, which means it’s constantly moving. So, when the Marines made their first (four-minute) drop, it makes sense they would launch the dropship when _Sulaco_ was directly over the colony (or from whatever orbital position would actually result in a mimimum flight-time for the dropship–IANARocketScientist). But there’s no guarantee that _Sulaco_ would be in perfect position when the shit hit the fan and they needed the second dropship; a ship in Low Earth Orbit (or Low LV-426 Orbit) will probably make a complete orbit every 90 minutes or so. If _Sulaco_ was halfway around the planet when they remotely launched the second dropship, that could easily account for the order-of-magnitude difference in flight times. (They could park _Sulaco_ in a geostationary orbit so it would always be more-or-less directly over the colony site, but then it would be about a hundred times farther away, so likely no gain and probably a net loss in ability to get timely support from orbit.) ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2011, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/146 "2011-06-28T22:17:03Z")
> [@DWMarch](#): > > Ripley has never piloted a dropship though. She piloted a space rig. What does she know about military dropships 50 years newer than the last thing she piloted? She doesn’t really need to know anything about them to spot the hole in Bishop’s plan. Heck, you’ve never piloted a dropship, either, and you spotted the giant discrepancy between flight times. As a pilot, even one with an out-of-date license, Ripley’s more inclined to pay attention to things like flight times and the performance characteristics of ships she’s on. There’s no way she’d miss something like that, unless such discrepancies in orbital flights are commonplace. > [@](#): > > Hicks is sleeping through the drops hence he has no idea how long they take. He’s sleeping through the drops _now_, because he’s been on so many they’re no longer particularly interesting to him. > [@](#): > > But Bishop said flight time, not prep time. Eh, I can see “flight time” being used as short hand for, “prep, fueling, power up, system checks, launch procedure, and actual flight time.” These are synthetics, not Star Trek androids. They aren’t flummoxed by difficult verbal concepts like “contractions” or “metaphors.” > [@](#): > > Possible, although questionable doctrine if so. It makes more sense for the Marines to position their support vessel where it can actually y’know… support them. But the Sulaco isn’t a support vessel: it’s just a transport. It doesn’t do anything to support the troops. Apparently, they don’t even bother to crew it when the Marines aren’t on board. It’s questionable if its even armed. Certainly, they never mention using it for anything other than a way to and from the planet during the movie, both before the mission goes to shit, and after. > [@](#): > > I will grant that this is entirely possible. Bishop may be lacking the “elite dropship piloting” app. But the only really tricky part would be slowing down for the landing. How hard is it for the thing to fall out of the sky? I don’t know, but the pilot at the beginning sure seems pretty satisfied with herself for getting the dropship “in the pipe, 5 by 5.” The scene certainly seems crafted to give the impression that she’s doing something fairly difficult. > [@](#): > > But then he’s got no hosts to sneak the creature back through quarantine in… Good point, there. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/147 "2011-06-29T00:06:45Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > But the Sulaco isn’t a support vessel: it’s just a transport. It doesn’t do anything to support the troops. Apparently, they don’t even bother to crew it when the Marines aren’t on board. It’s questionable if its even armed. Certainly, they never mention using it for anything other than a way to and from the planet during the movie, both before the mission goes to shit, and after. Models and plans for the ship show a bunch of projections (guns?) out the bow, and at least one turret. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/148 "2011-06-29T00:13:37Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > The AI in the film _Moon_ (played by Keven Spacey) is in fact evil, has seen the scenario in the film play out many times before, and does everything it does in order to get the protagonist to kill himself (thinking he’s heroically travelling back to earth) without interfering too much with the moon station’s mission. > > I mean come on. _It’s Kevin Spacey!_. :dubious: What? If Al didn’t say anything to Sam Rockwell (he was in porn before, hence the name, that’s my theory) this iteration of him would have killed himself. Al helped him out by getting at least one of the Sam’s out of there and back to Earth. ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/149 "2011-06-29T00:25:22Z")
> [@](#): > > But the Sulaco isn’t a support vessel: it’s just a transport. It doesn’t do anything to support the troops. I always assumed that the nuclear device that would have ensured the eradication of the planets little Alien problem, well, that would have been launched from the Sulaco, so the ship would have had some part to play in the original plan to make _absolutely certain_ that the aliens were killed. I am not sure why I think the Sulaco would have fired the nuclear device. Perhaps because it was in orbit. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/150 "2011-06-29T01:57:31Z")
> [@bucketybuck](#): > > I always assumed that the nuclear device that would have ensured the eradication of the planets little Alien problem, well, that would have been launched from the Sulaco, so the ship would have had some part to play in the original plan to make _absolutely certain_ that the aliens were killed. > > I am not sure why I think the Sulaco would have fired the nuclear device. Perhaps because it was in orbit. Yeah, that’s why I said its questionable - they never say what’s going to nuke the site from orbit. It might be the dropship that has the nuke, or at least, can be re-equipped with one. It also occurs to me that there might not be a literal nuke at all: Ripley might just be suggesting they blow the fuck out of the place with conventional explosives, and is using “nuke” euphemistically. As a civilian, I’m not sure if Ripley would even know if there was a nuke on board the ship in the first place. ---
**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:** [June 29, 2011, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/151 "2011-06-29T07:02:12Z")
> [@bucketybuck](#): > > I am not sure why I think the Sulaco would have fired the nuclear device. Perhaps because it was in orbit. :dubious: … 😃 Game over, man, game over. You wins the thread. ---
**Author:** ![Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spatial_Rift_47)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/152 "2011-06-29T23:19:49Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > \*\*Malcolm Reynolds: \*\*It’s of interest to me how much you seem to know about that world. > \*\*Shepherd Book: \*\*I wasn’t born a shepherd, Mal. > \*\*Malcolm Reynolds: \*\*You have to tell me about that sometime. > **Shepherd Book:** … No, I don’t. > > [Serenity](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0379786/)_was_ Book’s story. > > The part of Book was played by the Operative. It explains Book’s pull with the Alliance in earlier ‘adventures’, it explains why he turned to more metaphysical callings, and it explains why he chose to be close to Mal and crew. I don’t mean Serenity got all fancy with the timey-wimey stuff, just that for all intents and purposes, that is how Book became a Shepherd. There are four big, big holes in this theory, no matter how attractive it is otherwise. 1. Simon (with frozen River in tow) and Shepherd Book first boarded Serenity on the very same day at the Persephone space-port. That leaves precisely zero time for Mal & Co. to fight to protect Simon and River against a hypothesized Operative Book. 2. During the Operative’s one-man war against Mal, he attacked and destroyed a settlement on the planet Haven. Mal beats feet over there and finds … a dying Shepherd Book. 3. At the end of _Serenity_, Mal told the Operative that if he ever saw him again, he’d kill him straight away. 4. During _Serenity_, Mal consults Shepherd Book about the Operative chasing him. Book provides perspective, specifically that the Operative is “trouble you’ve not yet known”. ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/153 "2011-06-30T01:25:49Z")
> [@Spatial\_Rift\_47](#): > > There are four big, big holes in this theory, no matter how attractive it is otherwise. I dont think he is saying that Serenity is _exactly_ Books story, not in every detail. Its more that if the characters of Firefly were ever sitting around a campfire listening to Book tell his “story”, perhaps it wouldnt be all that different to that of Serenity. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/154 "2011-06-30T02:57:05Z")
Yeah, he’s just saying that Book is a similarly-disillusioned Operative. ---
**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:** [June 30, 2011, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/155 "2011-06-30T04:34:22Z")
I think that Ripley was just taking for granted that the _Sulaco_ would have nukes on board, because those were a standard armament for military vessels at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/156 "2011-06-30T12:35:18Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I think that Ripley was just taking for granted that the _Sulaco_ would have nukes on board, because those were a standard armament for military vessels at the time. Or, it’s entirely possible that it was said offscreen. I could see her asking for some guarantees from Burke that there is a super-contingency plan. “Don’t worry, Ripley. There will be nukes on the ship if things go really badly. We’re safe? See?” -Joe ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_In\_Black](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@The\_Man\_In\_Black](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_In_Black)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/157 "2011-06-30T16:57:30Z")
> [@Alka\_Seltzer](#): > > **Pan’s Labyrinth** - The fantasy world is the girl’s escape from harsh reality, and she has one final happy vision before dying. It’s a victory of sorts, especially as her actions mean her half brother won’t be raised by her step father. As much as I don’t want to believe it, a part of me does feel this is the case. One of the greatest movies ever. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_In\_Black](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@The\_Man\_In\_Black](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_In_Black)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/158 "2011-06-30T17:15:22Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > You’re actually arguing that Gary Oldman plays _the same character_ in every movie he’s in? Really? 😕 I know. Gary Oldman is an actor who can disappear into a roll. (also is my favorite actor). ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/159 "2011-06-30T17:23:00Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Where does this happen other than _The Sound of Music_? Clothes out of draperies: Scarlett O’Hara, Gone with the Wind. ---
**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:** [June 30, 2011, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/160 "2011-06-30T17:23:49Z")
The _Sulaco_ was definitely armed. From Wiki: \*Syd Mead, a principal conceptual designer on Aliens, first designed the Sulaco as a massive sphere, a “heavily armed cargo ship, outfitted to transport material”. \* It even looks like a pulse rifle! > **[Aliens (film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulaco_(spaceship))** > > Aliens is a 1986 science fiction action film written and directed by James Cameron. It is the sequel to the 1979 science fiction horror film Alien, and the second film in the Alien franchise. Set in the far future, it stars Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley, the sole survivor of an alien attack on her ship. When communications are lost with a human colony on the moon where her crew first saw the alien creatures, Ripley agrees to return to the site with a unit of Colonial Marines to investiga... [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766.md?page=9)