Aliens (1986) - 10 questions

Question: It boggles my mind as to why Newt runs away from the Marines when she first meets them. She's been living alone for God knows how long and the Marines are the first people she's seen and her only thought is to get as far away from them as possible. Why on LV-426 would she do this?

Answer: Because she's a child, her family and everyone she knows has been horribly killed, and she's terrified and traumatized. She does not know trust anyone, least of all big scary Marines who are carrying huge weapons.

Question: This has been an endless point of debate among my friends and I; how sensible is the placing of the pulse rifle's ammo counter? It seems to me that it'd be very problematic since, if the operator were right handed, they'd have to turn the weapon on its side to read how many bullets they had left.

Answer: Yes you're right, the ammo counter is badly placed, but then again a seasoned marine wouldn't need to rely on it in the first place as they'd know through experience when they are about to run out.

Question: How did the first facehugger get through Kane's helmet? In 'Alien' the people searching the alien craft wore helmets, in 'Aliens', Newt's parents didn't wear helmets. Can anyone explain the discrepancy?

Answer: It burned its way through Kane's faceplate by excreting some acidic substance - that's why it appears melted. As for the helmets discrepancy between the two films, when the Nostromo landed on LV-426, the planet's atmosphere wasn't capable of supporting human life, forcing Dallas, Kane and Lambert to wear full suits. By the time Newt's family locate the derelict ship, fifty-seven years later, the human terraforming process has been running for twenty years, altering the atmosphere enough to make it breathable.

Question: When the marines are being briefed before going down to the planet, I've two questions about those that Hudson asks. A) He asks something like, "Is this going to be a stand-up fight or another bug-hunt?" By "bug-hunt" does he mean they've fought some other kind of alien enemy before? It's made clear they've never encountered the signature aliens of the movie before. B) He asks, "How do I get out of this chicken-sh*t outfit?" What exactly does he mean by this? Is he referring to his team as the "chicken-sh*t outfit" and if so, why? None of them appear in any way concerned or afraid of what danger they may be heading into. Ripley in particular seems annoyed by how lightly they're treating the whole situation.

Answer: For the first question, he means "will we be atually fighting a real enemy (will this be enjoyable) or are we just going in to wipe out some helpless creatures (like an exterminator wipes out bugs)". For the second question, he is referring to his unit as the chicken shit outfit, but he's just making a joke; a humerous reversal of the truth referencing the fact that no one is afraid at all.

Question: When Ripley takes the gun and goes to see Newt, who is then under the bed, she puts the gun on the bed. But then the gun is in the next room when the alien is attacking. Have I just mistaken this and it was placed on the table, or is this a mistake? Thanks.

Answer: Neither, it's a plot point. When Burke released the facehuggers into their room, with the aim of impregnating Ripley and Newt with aliens so that he could get them back to Earth, he took Ripley's gun and moved it outside the room before he locked them in, so that she couldn't use it to defend themselves.

Question: I'm almost certain that the first time I ever saw this film on video (I never did see it during its theatrical release) there was no mention or use of the remote mini-guns that the Marines placed outside their "sanctuary", but I've since seen those guns in action. Does anyone know if there are several cuts of the video version in circulation within North America (Canada specifically), or import versions that would be different??

Answer: In the original theatrical release, the sentry guns are mentioned in passing when Hicks inventories the weapons that survived the crash of the first dropship. This reference was deleted in the original VHS release. When the movie was first brodcast on network television, the sentry gun scenes were added (as well as some other scenes including one near the beginning involving Ripley mourning the death of her daughter). As far as I know, up until the Special Edition DVD release which also includes those scenes, that was the only version which contained the sentry gun scenes and the network (I think it was ABC) would brocast this altered version from time to time.

Question: Is the military privatised in the continuity of the films? Do they operate at the behest of the Company? Any official or generally accepted answer is appreciated.

Answer: From the books and comics, the answer seems to be that the Earth government still controls the military, but the megacorporations like Weyland-Yutani have so much influence, they can dictate pretty much what they want the govt to do with them.

Question: If the company knew about the Aliens from the start and coveted them as a bioweapon, why did it take 57 years and the reappearance of Ripley for someone from the company to make another effort to get one? In the intervening 57 years, wouldn't the company have sent someone out to the derelict spaceship wreckage?

Answer: There will certainly have been changes within the company in that time - whoever sent the Nostromo to investigate is probably no longer present. Indeed, the failure of that mission might have got them fired and caused the company to shelve the mission altogether. All the company has to go on, as far as we know, is the warning signal - that's not much to commit huge quantities of money on. With the reappearance of Ripley on the scene, carrying new information about the alien threat, and, for the first time, making it clear just what a potent weapon these creatures might be, the company looks at the idea with renewed interest.

Question: What ever happens to the female doctor that evaluates Newt? She evaluates Newt, says one line or so, then disappears forever.

Answer: Down in the tunnels, she is the soldier that says "Maybe they don't show up on infared at all." and is then grabbed and hoisted to the ceiling by an Alien. Later, Hicks looks at the controls in the APC and says "The Sarge and Deitrich (the female medic) aren't dead. Their signs are real low but they ain't dead." So she was coccooned and played host for new aliens.

Question: What specific job in the Visual Effects Department did Suzanne Benson have? It must have been important because she won an Oscar for her work, yet she isn't credited on either version of the film.

Answer: The effects were done by a company called "The LA Effects Group". She was in charge of the team that did the work for Aliens.