Question: 1) If a commanding officer orders you to do something but what they ask you makes no logical sense should you still do it? I'm of course referring to Apone ordering his people to get rid of their ammo. And what are the repercussions for NOT obeying the order? 2) Why wouldn't they check for aliens coming on the ceiling? Wouldn't the ceiling ducts show up on the blueprints they looked over earlier?
Question: There were less than 200 colonists living on LV-246 at the time of the marines arrival based on the Hadleys Hope sign (pop. 158 specifically). Why then did 4 sentry guns with a total of 500 rounds each run dry killing xeno's in the tunnels? There were many more after the fact. We were told 60 families but general population counts would include everyone. And given plenty of of the colonists are still "alive", incubating, there can't have been that many aliens fully grown. Where are all these aliens coming from?
Answer: One possibility alluded to in the "Aliens: Newt's Tale" comic book is that the colony had livestock and pets which could increase the number of hosts considerably. Also the guns were set up as in pairs at two locations, firing about ten rounds a second. A single alien being detected by both guns and flailing around as it dies could expend up to 100 rounds. Depending on how tactical the aliens were in their approach, it's possible that 2000 rounds of rapid fire would kill most, but not all, of 150 xenomorphs.
Answer: It could also include medical personnel, contractors who constructed the buildings and army troops. Plus transport ships coming and going carrying relief crews and new people seeking jobs.
Question: The woman making the announcements in Grand Central Terminal in Superman: The Movie sounds a lot like the Mother computer. Could someone confirm this?
Chosen answer: No, it isn't the same woman. Mother was voiced by actress Helen Horton, who is not credited for any role in Superman, although, coincidentally, she did appear in Superman III in the minor role of Miss Henderson.
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.
Chosen 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: Right before Gorman starts briefing the Marines in the hangar, he takes his hat off and has some sort of symbol or something shaved into the hair on the back of his head. Does anyone know what this is or any details about why he would have it?
Answer: I can only guess, but it just looks like bald spots on the actor's (William Hope) head. It could have been from when his head was shaved it got nicked and hadn't grown in yet, or he had some previous injury where the hair doesn't grow there.
Question: How was Burke able to get the two facehuggers out of their stasis chambers into the the same room as Riply and Newt without becoming a host himself?
Question: I have a question regarding some of the slang used in the film. During the briefing just before the marines go down to the planet, Hudson asks, "Is this going to be a stand-up fight or another bug-hunt?" And what does Gorman mean when he says they think xenomorphs are involved? People say xenomorph is a fancy term for the species of aliens in this film series, however, it's made clear that at the beginning of the movie this is an unknown species, so that term couldn't refer specifically to them.
Answer: In addition to the other answers, I'd like to point out that xenomorph simply means strange or alien form.
Answer: It wasn't exactly an "unknown" species. "The Company," the commercial operation funding everything, knew the alien creatures existed and had wanted them as bio-weapons since the first film. It's unclear what Gorman knew but likely little more than his troops. Burke knew about the creatures and his purpose was to collect one, the same as Ash in the original "Alien." The term "xenomorph" is a general term that could be applied to any extraterrestrial non-humanoid species. Hudson is asking if they're hunting a non-sentient being.
Yeah, Gorman had no clue about the xenomorphs whatsoever. No way. The Company did, Burke is part of the Company, but Gorman isn't. He, like the others, is just cannon fodder. The term is used as you describe it though. You gotta understand that the Company itself probably doesn't know how a full-grown xenomorph actually looks like. Not until Alien 4. They just know there is alien biotech to be claimed.
Question: If the aliens cut the power in the complex, why were the lights on whilst Hudson was cutting through the floor to rescue Newt and why was the elevator working? Is this a plot hole or is there a deleted scene where they power up a backup generator or something?
Answer: He used a portable cutter to rescue Newt. The elevators could have been connected to a separate generator. Plus the power was cut off to the lights, they never said that everything was down, only the lights.
Answer: I think they just went to a different part of the complex which was on a separate generator - there probably wouldn't have been just one power source/single point of failure for the whole colony complex, and the aliens probably only cut a cable or destroyed a breaker in the lab area the marines were in.
Question: I know there's a few different releases of this film with different scenes. Has it ever been revealed how the Aliens managed to get inside the complex? Ripley states they must have missed an entrance to which Hudson replies they didn't miss anything. Is there a deleted scene, director's cut etc that shows how the aliens got in?
Answer: It's shown in the film (both versions) that the Aliens use the space in the drop ceiling to get into the complex. The drop ceiling doesn't show on the blueprints so Ripley and the Marines didn't think about it. When Ripley wonders if they missed anything Hicks replies "We didn't miss anything." Hicks is technically correct, but Ripley then says "Something not on the blueprints, I don't know." They did not account for the fact the ceiling grates aren't the actual top of the room because they made their plans based on the blueprints.
The aliens used the space above the drop ceilings to move around the complex once inside, but it is never revealed how they actually got in from outside.
Alien: Resurrection shows the aliens are happy to sacrifice one of their own to use their blood to help them escape captivity - possible something similar happened here if they knew it was worth them getting inside.
Question: Why did Ripley not yell for Newt and Bishop to hold onto something before she opened the air lock?
Answer: I wondered about this, too. Ripley may simply have overlooked doing this due the extreme duress she was under, focused on killing the creature. She intended to act quickly and save Newt if needed, but the creature grabbed onto her leg, delaying it being shot into space. Ripley may also have believed that Newt was still hiding under the grates, and that Bishop, ripped in half, was already "dead." I also think it's something of a plot hole.
I know I'm answering my own question here but when I look back at the scene, you do see her press the button that triggers the alarms before she pulls the latch to open the air luck. Probably a form of telling them what she is about to do. And looking back at the scene it's pretty obvious what she's doing, unless Newt was all of a sudden oblivious to what was happening.
Newt was not exactly oblivious, but she was a frightened child who was reacting, as would be normal for someone her age, impulsively and without much forethought. She was also unfamiliar with the ship, its operation, and probably would not know what the warning alarm was. Her instinct was to jump out of the recessed floor space to see what was happening to Ripley. I don't think Ripley turned on the alarm separately. It would just automatically go off as soon as someone started opening the hatch. It's the same as a back-up alarm on the truck.
True she's unfamiliar with the ship but even when you move to a new school or building, you're still aware of the fire alarm.
Newt had never been on the ship before and had only been there for about five minutes when the mayhem started with the alien queen. A child going to a new school might be aware of the fire alarms, but only after they are taught about safety issues by an adult and not during a panicked emergency. Newt, terrified, had no understanding of what exactly was going on when the alarm sounded or how to react to it.
Answer: 1) Of course they are supposed to obey orders. Superiors don't usually completely explain the full reason why they give a specific order, it takes too long. That's why soldiers are trained to obey orders, no questions asked. You can see what happens when soldiers don't obey orders, because they had a good reason to tell them not to fire their guns, and they got lucky they didn't hit anything that could compromise the reactor. Insubordination is a serious offense. But since these are fictional space marines we can't really know what the repercussions would be. 2) The aliens didn't come through any ducts. They were hiding in the walls, which had a similar structure and colour as their bodies (logical since they made it). The marines didn't know the aliens would be so stealthy and smart to hide in the walls. They were there for search and rescue and weren't ready to face the aliens, since they hardly knew anything about them.
lionhead
I think the second part of the question is referring to the scene where Hicks checks in the drop ceiling and finds aliens there. The poster is asking how come the drop ceiling doesn't show up on the blueprints.
BaconIsMyBFF