Crowe

Private Tim Crowe was a United States Colonial Marine and was dispatched as part of a squad to investigate the sudden loss of communication of the Hadley’s Hope colony.

When the Marines entered the Alien Hive, Xenomorphs attacked the squad. Crowe was killed when a bag of ammunition exploded after catching fire. Crowe appears in the 1986 film Aliens and is played by Tip Tipping.

Biography

Mission to Hadley’s Hope

In 2179, after contact is lost with the Hadley’s Hope colony, a team of Colonial Marines is dispatched to investigate LV-426 along with Carter Burke and Ellen Ripley. When the Sulaco reached LV-426, Crowe exited hypersleep. Crowe helped move some heavy cargo around the hanger bay using a motorized cart. He later listened to Ripley outlining the mission.

The squad boarded the APC and dropped down into Hadley’s Hope. The Marines entered the complex and found that there had been a big firefight but there were no signs of life except for a young girl called Newt. The squad realised that all the colonists had been taken to the Atmosphere Processing Plant and the squad set off to investigate. Burke, Gorman and Ripley stayed inside the APC and kept in contact with the Marines over the radio.

The Marines entered the Alien Hive. Ripley realised that shooting with their weapons would damage the plant so Gorman ordered Apone to confiscate his squad’s ammunition and told them to switch to flamethrowers. Apone collected up all the ammunition and put it into a bag that Frost was to carry. The group found the colonists cocooned on the walls. One of them was still alive and the squad watched on as a Chestburster emerged from her. The Marines set fire to the Chestburster.

The hive’s Xenomorphs awoke hearing the commotion and the squad were surrounded. In the chaos, Frost and Dietrich were killed and Crowe went to help, not realising that Frost’s bag of ammunition was on fire. Corporal Hicks pulled Wierzbowski out of the way before the bag exploded. The explosion threw Crowe against the hive wall where he died.

Personality and Traits

Private Crowe was one of the more quiet Marines.

Weapons & Equipment

Crowe had the standard issue M3 Pattern Personal Armor with an M10 Pattern Ballistic Helmet and a Shoulder Lamp attachment. He had scrawled “THE BIRD” on his armour’s chest plate. Crowe carried an M41A Pulse Rifle as his personal weapon. As a backup weapon, he carried a Heckler & Koch VP70 sidearm.

Behind-The-Scenes

Before he became an actor, Tip Tipping was a member of the SAS (Special Air Service, Britain’s special forces regiment). Members of the SAS were also involved in training the actors to play convincing Marines.

Other Media

Aliens Novelization (1986 Novel)

In the novelization, there is a couple of changes regarding Crowe. Crowe had a colour portrait of his girlfriend on the back of armour but Apone forced him to remove it. Also, Crowe isn’t killed outright. He is instead abducted by a Xenomorph to be used as a host rather than Apone.

Aliens: Bug Hunt (2017 Novel)

Crowe appears in a short story in the 2017 anthology novel Aliens: Bug Hunt. In the story Blowback, this is a mission before Aliens where Corporal Dietrich and her squad including Crowe are dispatched to a toxic world to kill indigenous lifeforms.

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