Flaws of Alien. Not joking

[Kradan]

I've already created similair topic about Isolation but it took me a while to dare creating this...

...because it's really tough to come up with answer to question "What's wrong in Alien?". You know. Alien still is just unbeatable masterpiece. And only yesterday small thought appeared in my mind. It's pretty small, not really influence general experience to any degree. But it always make me shaking my head a little in distrust.

So, I'm talking about the scene right after Dallas' death when crew tries to come up with new plan and Lambert wants to use Narcissus to escape. But Ripley says that there's not enough space for them all. And in that moment i think "WTF?" So, you have f**king escape shuttle but it can't take all of the crew? Where's the logic in such case? And i'm sure that Narcissus IS escape shuttle. Firstly, because Nostromo has self- destruction feature and there's no another ways to escape in such case. Secondly, because there's cryotubes in Narcissus so it's supposed for long-distances travel.

That's the problem I have with Alien. Do you?

[SiL]

It is the escape shuttle. The Titanic also didn't have enough life boats. But yeah, it's always been a bit silly.

Meanwhile:

Ash's Head Swap.

Parker's Mysteriously Appearing Safety Pin.

Ripley's Wiggling Collar of Impending Facehuggers Falling From the Ceiling.

The Alien full-body leaving the shuttle.

The Alien full-body bouncing off the back of the shuttle.

[Huggs]

The only problems are the head switch with ash, and the shot of the alien outside the narcissus.

Other than that, it's perfection.

They could have a miniature Godzilla tap dance across the table, and it would still be a magnificent experience.

[Local Trouble]

I agree.  That's why I don't think it was designed to be a lifeboat for the entire crew of its mothership, just the standard crew of the shuttle if it were to be damaged AFTER separation.

I'm guessing that the Nostromo probably wasn't designed to be scuttled under such dire circumstances.  That is, without two working shuttles and outside of said shuttles' normal operating range.

I'm assuming that it wasn't designed to be scuttled several weeks from rescue, but rather a relatively short shuttle-ride away from a safe port.

I'm talking about within the Sol or some other inhabited system.  The Nostromo's detonation sure looked violent and scary, but Ripley couldn't have been very far away from it at the time either.  I imagine, under normal circumstances, they'd probably scuttle it a few thousand klicks away from anything or anyone just to be safe, but that's nothing in astronomical terms.

[Xenomrph]

It is the escape shuttle. The Titanic also didn't have enough life boats. But yeah, it's always been a bit silly.

Meanwhile:

Ash's Head Swap.

Parker's Mysteriously Appearing Safety Pin.

Ripley's Wiggling Collar of Impending Facehuggers Falling From the Ceiling.

The Alien full-body leaving the shuttle.

The Alien full-body bouncing off the back of the shuttle.

Does the script call the Narcissus an escape shuttle? I think the USCM Tech Manual describes it as a short range shuttle craft, not necessarily a dedicated escape vehicle.
That said, the Nostromo did have a second shuttle, although it was inoperable at the time.


Definitely agree on Ash's head-swap, it's super-janky and I'm surprised the "director's cut" didn't fix it - it feels like the sort of thing that could be fixed just by trimming a few frames off of the middle of the transition.

I'm willing to forgive the Alien bouncing off the back of the shuttle, mostly because I think it's really funny.

[bobby brown]

The facehugger supplying Kane with Oxygen in a zero oxygen atmosphere.

Does that mean it actually produces oxygen for him? a completely alien species? how convenient.

[SiL]

Does the script call the Narcissus an escape shuttle? I think the USCM Tech Manual describes it as a short range shuttle craft, not necessarily a dedicated escape vehicle.

I mean, what else would it be with cryotubes? That doesn't say short range.

In O'Bannon's script their plan is to put the Alien in the shuttle and blow the shuttle up, rather than the ship - then when the Alien looks the remaining crew Robbie throws the explosives out of the shuttle to use it to escape.

[Local Trouble]

As I indicated before, I think the cryotubes are in the shuttle to keep the crew alive in case something prevents them from returning to their mothership for a prolonged duration.

[SiL]

Which makes them lifeboats.

[Local Trouble]

Lifeboats for the standard crew complement of the shuttle, not the mothership.  That doesn't mean it's not primarily a shuttlecraft though.

[SM]

I believe it's primarily a shuttle that can double as a lifeboat.

There's no automated evac systems like on the Sulaco.

[SiL]

I believe it's primarily a shuttle that can double as a lifeboat.

Stop being reasonable, this is the internet!

[Xenomrph]

Lifeboats for the standard crew complement of the shuttle, not the mothership.  That doesn't mean it's not primarily a shuttlecraft though.

Exactly. The cryotubes could be used if, for some reason, the shuttle couldn't return to the Nostromo for a long period of time, not specifically because they had to abandon the Nostromo.

For what it's worth, I pulled up the Giler/Hill script online and did a Ctrl+F; "shuttle" comes up 14 times, "escape" comes up once. Make of that what you will.

        INT. NARCISSUS

        The shockwave hits the shuttle craft.
        Jolting and rattling everything within.
        Then all is quiet.
        Ripley unhooks herself from her straps.
        Rises, and goes to the back of the escape craft.
        Stares out through the porthole.
        Face bathed in orange light.

Interestingly, the script has Ripley using the Narcissus to literally accelerate away from the Nostromo to escape the blast radius, rather than hitting the brakes and letting the Nostromo fly away from her before exploding as she does in the movie.

I believe it's primarily a shuttle that can double as a lifeboat.

Also, this.

[SiL]

So it's basically a tender on a yacht.

[Elmazalman]

I think the Ash torso (straddling Parker) is as bad as the fake head cut.