Ha! Okay, let's go.
First, put all of that aside; you've all had forty years to think about it and develop your own understanding and assumptions about what went down during those final, desperate scenes of the characters involved (as have I). Focus on exactly what is said in the movie, and what we see, absolutely nothing else. Tune all that out and disregard everything you read in the novel or the script.
Ripley, Lambert and Parker, up until Ash's deception is found out, are going to try to follow the plan of Dallas, which involves cornering the Alien and flushing it into space. Parker goes down to C-Deck to refuel a flamethrower, and does so without incident. The shit hits the fan however when Ash tries to choke Ripley. After that point and when Ash tells them they can't kill it, the situation becomes increasingly desperate. They now have no choice but to go and try to escape via the shuttle.
The three crewmembers are on B-Deck, walking hurriedly to the Narcissus. Ripley says 'We're going to need coolant for the air support system'.
That's all that is said about that; Lambert and Parker then go down to C-Deck to go get the coolant. In the Narcissus, we see two cryotubes, but there is never any indication that aren't more, though it is implied there are no more than three, as Ripley says that the shuttle can't take four.
Now beyond that, any thoughts about it, understandings or assumptions on what happened have been left to the viewer to develop and think about.
In both the script and the novel, the Nostromo is running out of air, and the remaining crew make the decision to collect the air cylinders and food supplies and get off the ship, taking any remaining air with them. So, it's different to the movie in that respect but regardless, my book is about the movie only.
So all that said, here are the thoughts I have about what happened and how I interpreted them for the book.
The crew was desperate, and knew they were ten months to reach Earth based on information from Lambert earlier in the movie and this is if they stay on the Nostromo with the speed and route they are going. On the Narcissus, who knows - they don't know how long they will be out there. They are acting purely on hope they will be picked up by the network, though at least one of them knows they are about six weeks from the frontier. With this huge 'unknown' hanging over them, it makes sense that if they have the choice of having more coolant as a 'just in case', if it were me, I'd go for the coolant. After all, Parker went down to C-Deck earlier without incident, right? So the risk may be worth it and asleep in a cryotube or not, it just makes sense to have the cylinders on-hand.
So that's one. I didn't think any more about what coolant the Narcissus had already, what exactly it was used for or go into any other reason why they needed the additional. All that is up to the viewer of the movie and it sounds, like me, like you all have your own thoughts based on and expanding upon what the movie explicitly shows and tells us.
Now for the cryotubes and an explanation of why I illustrate three. One; above I wrote about the Narcissus not taking four crew, so we know it will take three or less. Three in cryotubes? Two in cryotubes, with the third crewmember hanging around playing Tetris and just waiting (six weeks or longer)? Maybe they rotate shifts using the cryotubes? And why would they need to draw straws, would they do it to determine which two would stay on the Nostromo (assuming there are two cryotubes), or are they doing it to determine who gets to use the cryotubes and who gets to wait? Who knows - none of that is in the movie and it does not offer an explanation.
Two; nobody knew what was in the second locker, we don't see inside it (is it even a locker at all?). With those taken into account, it seemed like I could use the space and just go ahead and put in a third cryogenic compartment for hypersleep. Three seats in the Narcissus, three cryotubes/compartments, three crew left.
For some, it changes the end of the movie and their feelings on why the characters do what they do. Whether the viewer believes there are two or three is up to them. I cannot really do anything about that, it's out of my hands, and I'm sorry if it spoils the movie or the book for them a little. But the theme of the final part of the movie is the same whichever way you look at it - the crew were desperate and had to get away from the Alien. They had no clue how long they would be out there, and to a great extent their future as the movie progresses is more and more out of their hands and their choices and resources available to them are getting less and less. Air or no air, enough cryotubes or not, they have to take their chances and get off the ship. All I can do as an illustrator is look at what I see and what is said in the movie, and make decision knowing that whatever I decide there are always going to be those for and some against.
Quote from: SM on Sep 29, 2019, 09:26:41 AM
Indeed. The original escape-craft had only one pod.
Have you played Alien: Isolation? They used that Ron Cobb shuttle design for the Ambulance. Awesome - I would love to make a model of that.
