Egg on Sulaco

[SM]

Either way, you're asking us to accept a heavy dose of Ripley stupidity...

I'm not asking anything.

[whiterabbit]

Either way, you're asking us to accept a heavy dose of Ripley stupidity...

I'm not asking anything.

And therefor that's asking a lot of us.

However on the filming side of things, does anyone know who the actual person is that glue the egg upside down on set?

[Local Trouble]

At least the egg was concealed and motionless, thus explaining how Ripley could have missed it even after a deliberate search.  A facehugger scurrying loose around the Sulaco, on the other hand, would have presumably set off a motion tracker.

[The Old One]

At least the egg was concealed and motionless, thus explaining how Ripley could have missed it even after a deliberate search.  A facehugger scurrying loose around the Sulaco, on the other hand, would have presumably set off a motion tracker.

Not if it was, far far away it wouldn't.

Rather than a static object that would have to be in the vicinity of the Queen.
Far more easily found.

[whiterabbit]

The motion sensor was manufactured by WY?

[Local Trouble]

At least the egg was concealed and motionless, thus explaining how Ripley could have missed it even after a deliberate search.  A facehugger scurrying loose around the Sulaco, on the other hand, would have presumably set off a motion tracker.

Not if it was, far far away it wouldn't.

Rather than a static object that would have to be in the vicinity of the Queen.
Far more easily found.

Hence the ooze theory.

If the egg started out as a small blob of amorphous goo that fell out of the queen's abdomen and grew over the course of their journey back to Earth, Ripley may not have recognized it as anything more than harmless alien slime (if she saw it at all).

Conversely, why would a facehugger venture "far far away" from a potential host?  Why not just attack?

[The Old One]

Because they ran for the hills when the airlock opened, under a grating- inside a vent and voilà.

Or the Queen commanded them, as a genetic backup- hence one of them being a (potential) Queen Facehugger in the first place.

After E.R's experiences,
I don't believe anything else.

[Local Trouble]

And when the danger passed, during Ripley's theoretical search?

[Huggs]

In modern movies, it's not too much to ask for futuristic spaceships to get equipment and programs that can detect even small traces of unknown and potentially hazardous life- forms or other biological material. Back in 86, I'm guessing it either couldn't be conceived of, or was purposefully left out so another movie could be made.

In any modern film, Ripley would've done a ship-wide scan of some kind before going into cryo. That didn't happen in 86, and we can't blame the past for ideas they couldn't imagine. I've given up on that.

The thing is though, would they have been able to do anything about it regardless? How many eggs and facehugger were there? Would the facehuggers have gotten them even if they were not in cryo? They may very well have been looking at a similarly awful fate aboard the Sulaco, even had they known there were aliens onboard. Full size warrior aliens are one thing, but those facehugger are some agile and quick little buggers. All they'd need is a millisecond.

[Local Trouble]

That's the biggest flaw in the facehugger scenario, IMO.  It could even be why the filmmakers gave us an egg instead.

[The Old One]

And when the danger passed?

When the Facehuggers return, the crew's in cryosleep.
That's how I see it, ever since I heard that scuttling at the end of Aliens, and knowing the A3 intro as I do.

[Local Trouble]

Why didn't Ripley stumble upon them as she was scouring the ship?

[The Old One]

Because she didn't scour the entirety of the enormous military ship, she scoured the dropship, hangar and then went to bed.

[Local Trouble]

I had no idea that facehuggers were so cautious or elusive.

[Huggs]

Why didn't Ripley stumble upon them as she was scouring the ship?

She got lucky with the facehugger in medlab, albeit that one had been out of the egg for some time, and may have been weakened or operating slightly slower. We know from that scene, and covenant, that they are crafty little guys. And should be insanely quick. That one in Covenant covered distance and clamped onto Lope in a single blink. Had Ripley crossed paths with a fresh one like that, I don't think she'd make it, let alone even know it was there.

As for what's on film? I can now only assume it's a combination of factors. Such as:

1. They didn't think of ship-wide scans back in 86.
2. The egg or eggs were in a larval stage, and thus could not be easily found until they had matured. Of course everyone had been asleep for awhile at that point, and were basically helpless.

And thanks to cold forge, I'm starting to wonder if that fluid in Newts lungs was actually from the cryo-tube. Unless it was some sort of impact absorbing fluid that floods the tube before a crash.