Corrected entry: In the scene where Bret is confronted by the alien in the landing gear bay, we see the alien 'unfolding' from a vent using backward folding bird-like legs. In every other scene the alien has forward bending, human-like legs. (01:07:30)
johnrosa
2nd Aug 2008
Alien (1979)
5th Apr 2005
Alien (1979)
Corrected entry: When Ripley is setting the ship's self-destruct mechanism she goes to a panel in the floor. In this panel there are four holes with four screws next to them. When she inserts the first screw she has to manually lift up the cylinder to activate it. It also makes a sound as it is lifted. After she inserts the screw into the second cylinder it cuts to a view in front of her. The cylinder makes the same sound as it raises, but Ripley is not lifting this one. Her arms are doing nothing. When she activates the last cylinder she once again has to lift it up manually by the inserted screw. Based on the design of the mechanism it is apparent that all four cylinders have to be manually lifted, but Ripley does not lift the second cylinder. It lifts itself. (01:35:30)
Correction: She tugs at the first, but this doesn't mean it needs her to. The second rises on it's own, making the same sound. The third is shown having risen without making the sound like the first two as she screws the last one in. She's never shown pulling the third or fourth, and the fourth is never shown rising. There's no consistency between any two of the four, so we don't know if it isn't shown exactly as it's supposed to work.
27th Aug 2001
Alien (1979)
Corrected entry: When Ripley goes down to check out how Brett and Parker are doing with the repairs, she says: "Don't worry Parker. (pause) You'll get whatever's coming to you." In the short pause between these two sentences, you can hear Ripley say something like "You have". It seems to be a wrong line which has been deleted, but not properly. (00:22:05)
6th Mar 2002
Alien (1979)
Corrected entry: In the infirmary scene where Ash, Dallas, and Ripley are looking for the facehugger that has detached itself from Kane, just at the moment when Ripley is looking under the table where Kane is lying, Dallas is empty-handed, he knocks something over and gives Ripley a fright and says sorry while at the same time holding a light in his right hand that was not there a second or two earlier. (00:47:35)
Correction: He knocks over the container when he picks up the light.
2nd Aug 2008
Alien (1979)
Corrected entry: Just before landing, Dallas orders the Navigation lights turned on and we see rows of lights lighting up on Nostromo's belly. After landing, Dallas orders the flood lights turned on and we switch again to Nostromo's unlit belly (that should already be lit up with the nav lights) and we see the same rows of lights turned on again.
Correction: The rows of belly lights are seen lit before Dallas requests "navigation lights". Immediately after the order, the four large lamps at the rear of the ship are on (making those the "navigation lights"). The ship then has a very rough landing, taking significant damage (alarms, gas leaks, failing lights), and the next exterior shot shows all outside lights have gone off. After quite a bit of time (and repairs), Dallas requests the flood lights, and the rows of small lights turn on, which makes those the "flood lights".
27th Jan 2006
Alien (1979)
Corrected entry: Ripley's nosebleed: from 1:17:16 (chapter 14: 'A Confrontation with Ash' on the '99 DVD), Ripley's nose starts bleeding, eventually very noticeably. This is almost a full minute before Ash begins attacking her by throwing her twice, which might actually make it bleed. (01:17:15)
Correction: It's just an incidental nosebleed that can occur for any number of reasons like dehydration, blood pressure, etc. In addition to the other answers, it seems the film's purpose with the nosebleed is to contrast a sweaty, bleeding Ripley against Ash, who is totally dry aside from a strange drop of white fluid trickling down his face. The juxtaposition is a signal that yes, Ash is indeed "bleeding/ sweating" this white substance as a body fluid and it hasn't just dripped or spilled on him.
Correction: Actually, Ripley's nosebleed was from when they opened the airlock on the Alien and she and Parker were caught in the decompression. That scene obviously was never filmed but the nosebleed was in reference to it. Also, in a cut scene you see Ripley and Lambert talking with Parker over the intercom where he says the Alien is right next to the airlock, apparently somewhat fascinated with a blinking light on in the door.
Correction: This would only be an error if a later scene were intended to show the moment the bleeding is caused by some physical strike, but there's no such moment (and there is the chance that her first shoving match with Ash may have had her head striking his, but it's not a certainty). Still, nosebleeds are commonly triggered by stress in people prone to them. Ripley's nosebleed begins after she learns of the special order (crew expendable) and becomes extremely distraught- and after her physically tossing Ash around (causing his head cut that later drips). She marches off, and in the passageways she can then be seen with the nosebleed.
You're really rationalizing this. Ridley Scott did not make Ridley's nose bleed to show that she's stressed out. It's inexplicable, and was the result of something cut from the film. The presence of it in the film constitutes it as a mistake.
Accidents and unintended effects are not necessarily mistakes. The nosebleed may have been intended as one thing - a reference to another scene - but became something else by that other scene's absence: a detail that helps sell the realism of the moment precisely because it does not feel contrived. Because a random nosebleed that occurs at an inconvenient time whose cause is not immediately obvious is something most people have experienced at one time or another.
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Correction: You're misidentifying one of two shots. The Alien begins above Bret inside the vent. The tail lowers to the floor first, to act as support for it's bodyweight. The tops of its feet are on the vent's floor at the entrance. Without the tail, it could not hold this position- it would just fall to the floor. It then lowers itself (using the tail), feet remaining on the edge of the vent entrance. When we see the side view of its head slowly lifting, we see its arms lower to reach for Bret. It kills him, then drags him into the vent (his body isn't found when Parker arrives). What you believe are backward knees are either the alien's ankles on the vent edge, or the lowering arms soon after.
johnrosa