Why did the folk of Hadley’s Hope not send a signal?

[St_Eddie]

As per the thread title; why didn't someone on Hadley's Hope send a distress beacon/message once Russ Jordon got face hugged, much less once all hell broke lose?  All we're told is that they "lost communication" but you'd think someone would have sent a message of some kind.

"OMG fella just came back with a spider alien on his face. #FreakingOut! :O Send help if it's not too much trouble. Ta."

[Kradan]

My immeadite instinct would be "Burke is f**king lying!"

[SiL]

I remember working this out with SM a few years back for a story I was doing. Since the line about the comms being cut during the fighting didn't make it into the movie, we kind of have to assume comms went down independently right as shit was starting otherwise it makes no sense they didn't send something.

My head canon is that's what the maintenance team was working on as Simpson and Lydecker walked past

My immeadite instinct would be "Burke is f**king lying!"

That line came from the marines, not Burke. Burke wasn't in charge of shit.

[Kradan]

Eeh, you can always explain it by Company's shenanigans. For example, how the hell Gorman got put in charge ? Military ignorance ?

My immeadite instinct would be "Burke is f**king lying!"

That line came from the marines, not Burke. Burke wasn't in charge of shit.

"Ripley, we've lost contact with colony on LV-426" May not be accurate quote but you get my point

[SiL]

True, he said it then.

But WY isn't the only people in charge.

If the company could just do whenever, wherever, the first two films wouldn't have happened like they did.

[𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔈𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱𝔥 𝔓𝔞𝔰𝔰𝔢𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔯]

They probably thought they could handle it by themselves initially. By the time things went to pot it was too late anyway.

There's also that "it takes two weeks to get an answer out here" comment by Simpson or Lydeckker.

[St_Eddie]

we kind of have to assume comms went down independently right as shit was starting otherwise it makes no sense they didn't send something.

My head canon is that's what the maintenance team was working on as Simpson and Lydecker walked past

That we have to assume that via headcanon is rather telling that it's an issue within the narrative.  It would be pretty darn coincidental, not to mention contrived, that comms just happened to go down at the same time as the alien infestation occurred.

Eeh, you can always explain it by Company's shenanigans.

Surely the company would have made moves to acquire the alien, had Hadley's Hope sent a message.  Why would they coverup the message and pretend they never received it?  Had they recieved a message, you'd think they'd send in a team comprising of a little more than a bunch grunts (such as the scientists and dog-catchers in Alien 3).

They probably thought they could handle it by themselves initially. By the time things went to pot it was too late anyway.

I don't see why the folk at Hadley's Hope wouldn't have sent a message, regardless of whether or not they thought they could handle the situation themselves.

There's also that "it takes two weeks to get an answer out here" comment by Simpson or Lydeckker.

I'd imagine the two weeks to get an answer applied to relatively banal matters, not the discovery and infestation of an alien species.  Weyland-Yutani were extremely quick to reply to the message sent from Fury 161 and they were a bunch of lifers who found God at the ass-end of space.

[𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔈𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱𝔥 𝔓𝔞𝔰𝔰𝔢𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔯]

I'd imagine the two weeks to get an answer applied to relatively banal matters, not the discovery and infestation of an alien species. 

I kind of assumed that's just how long a radio signal takes to get to earth and back. Consider that a radio signal to Mars can take up to 20 minutes.

Also ask yourself why the Nostromo's crew never attempted to communicate with earth after Kane's death. While Ripley did attempt to contact Antarctic Traffic Control earlier while thinking they were near earth, she didn't get a response - could be range or simply that the signal was taking too long to travel to earth.

[St_Eddie]

I kind of assumed that's just how long a radio signal takes to get to earth and back. Consider that a radio signal to Mars can take up to 20 minutes.

Also ask yourself why the Nostromo's crew never attempted to communicate with earth after Kane's death. While Ripley did attempt to contact Antarctic Traffic Control earlier while thinking they were near earth, she didn't get a response - could be range or simply that the signal was taking too long to travel to earth.

The problem is that Alien 3 establishes that long distance contact is instantaneous.  Admittedly that is more of a retroactive issue with Alien 3, more so than Aliens.  Still though, even if it takes two weeks to get a response for technical reasons (which isn't how I interpreted Simpson's clearly annoyed rant about it taking two weeks to get a response), the movie tells us that the company tried to contact Hadley's Hope and didn't get a response ("communications are down"), so if Hadley's Hope had sent a message, then the company would have received it by then, two week delay or otherwise.

[judge death]

Im sure that two weeks time for replies is more a buracracy issue, the ones responsible in the company dont reply fast but take them at lowest priority and hence taking 2 weeks to get an answer.

Im sure the colony sent transmission about their situation but like in river of pain the one in charge, probably burke hide it and then just claimed: we lost contact with the colony mysteriously. Tog et the UMSC marines involved and pulled some strings to get them to send the worst platoon possible with a new rookie commander who likely obey burkes wishes easily.

[St_Eddie]

Im sure that two weeks time for replies is more a buracracy issue, the ones responsible in the company dont reply fast but take them at lowest priority and hence taking 2 weeks to get an answer.

Im sure the colony sent transmission about their situation but like in river of pain the one in charge, probably burke hide it and then just claimed: we lost contact with the colony mysteriously. Tog et the UMSC marines involved and pulled some strings to get them to send the worst platoon possible with a new rookie commander who likely obey burkes wishes easily.

This is pure headcanon and not supported by the movie itself.  Besides, why would the company opt to send the worst platoon possible?  Why would they want the marines to fail in their mission?  It's clear from the dialogue in the movie that Burke was making a gamble and didn't know whether the aliens were real or not...

BURKE: "Okay, look. What if that ship didn't even exist, huh? Did you ever think about that? I didn't know! So now, if I went in and made a major security issue out of it, everybody steps in. Administration steps in, and there are no exclusive rights for anybody; nobody wins. So I made a decision and it was... wrong. It was a bad call, Ripley. It was a bad call."

I see no reason to think that Burke is lying when he said that he didn't know if the derelict was real or not.  Also, why would any transmission sent by Hadley's Hope go directly to Burke, instead of someone higher up in the company?  I think people can jump through mental hoops trying to handwave the fact that the colony didn't try to send a message all they want but at the end of the day, it's a contrivance on James Cameron's part.  He needed for them not to have sent a message because otherwise the story he wrote would fall apart, even though it really makes no sense why Hadley's Hope wouldn't have sent a message.

[judge death]

I stick to SM´s theory: burke wanted that due to he could easily get his will through and like he said: its for the money he will get if he succeeds. Send in weyland yutani team: no bonus and money for him, as he said: the company and the other organisations will step in. Similair to nostromo its likely a attempt froma  small group which burke leads to get their hands onto the creature they found after ripley told her story and they probably did some digging.


why hide the messages: same here: to keep it to him and a small team to get the money andrights to this and the company will promotye him for this when he present them with the xeno. He thought the marines could handle the creatures and it would be easy to get his hand onto the creature and bring it with him back to earth.

His story to ripley about wiping them out was just a lie like most things he said.

[St_Eddie]

I stick to SM´s theory: burke wanted that due to he could easily get his will through and like he said: its for the money he will get if he succeeds. Send in weyland yutani team: no bonus and money for him, as he said: the company and the other organisations will step in. Similair to nostromo its likely a attempt froma  small group which burke leads to get their hands onto the creature they found after ripley told her story and they probably did some digging.


why hide the messages: same here: to keep it to him and a small team to get the money andrights to this and the company will promotye him for this when he present them with the xeno. He thought the marines could handle the creatures and it would be easy to get his hand onto the creature and bring it with him back to earth.

His story to ripley about wiping them out was just a lie like most things he said.

If Burke received and covered up a transmission from Hadley's Hope, then why isn't that established within the movie itself?

[judge death]

Is there a need to explain it and make it so obvious when its hinted at between the lines and expanded EU?

[St_Eddie]

Is there a need to explain it and make it so obvious when its hinted at between the lines and expanded EU?

It's not hinted at within the movie at all.  You're invoking headcanon and also the expanded EU does not excuse a contrivance within the movie itself.  One shouldn't need to read some obscure comic or novel to make sense of a script contrivance.