Alien totally abandoned Parker and Lambert...WHY?

[BA79]

We all know the scene...Parker dead on the floor and the bare foot/feet of Lambert hanging from the ceiling. Also, you notice the bare leg of Lambert and a badly broken toe. Yes, her pants and shoes are gone.

     Forgive my freeze-frame analysis but, I only locked the frame after that horrible scream of Lambert to try and figure out one strange thing...where is our xenomorph? Why did it just up and leave it's newest victim/s?

     Ripley was at the Nostromo's bridge with Parker and Lambert 3 decks down. They were on the ship's intercom and Ripley heard it all go down. And, it was seriously creepy when we hear Lambert's final cry. It suddenly goes up an octave or two and then...silence.

     Ripley did not even remotely get there in time to possibly hose the xeno with her flamethrower, so, why did it leave behind two bodies when it seemed intent on getting Brett and Dallas to it's "nest"? Let the discussion begin. (Or, if this topic has come up before in thousands of topics and replies from years past...sorry, that is a lot to go through. Just point me to the thread and I will read it).

[Elmazalman]

The creature leaving after concluding its business with Lambert & Parker could be a script contrivance to spare the Ripley character. If she did get there and discovered the thing, the character's outcome would be quite different.

[SM]

[Samhain13]

It got sleepy and tired after doing it to Lambert, wasn't it in the mood to take bodies anywhere.

[Huggs]

Brett was not a threat and procreation needed to start asap. Egged.

Dallas was a limited threat. He was alone in a tight space and could be easily outmaneuvered. Plenty of meat left in the rest of the crew. Egged

Ash wasn't edible and was killed by the crew. Non issue.

Parker was a threat and interfered with his happy time. Killed.

Lambert was a fun experiment and likely not worth eating/too injured by the assault to be egged. Killed.

Ripley (another human) was on her way, and possibly armed. After being attacked by Parker, it would've known they all aren't just going to sit there and die. With 2 eggs going and 2 snacks set aside, it might as well get out of harms way and prepare to ambush the last (potential) threat. Whether Ripley would've gotten the lambert treatment or been egg-morphed, we'll never know. I'm inclined to think Lambert got him riled up, as he could've killed Ripley instantly on the Narcissus, but he didn't. He was still "in the mood", and he was going to have some fun with the lady in the underwear.

[Elmazalman]

Brett was not a threat and procreation needed to start asap. Egged.

Dallas was a limited threat. He was alone in a tight space and could be easily outmaneuvered. Plenty of meat left in the rest of the crew. Egged

Ash wasn't edible and was killed by the crew. Non issue.

Parker was a threat and interfered with his happy time. Killed.

Lambert was a fun experiment and likely not worth eating/too injured by the assault to be egged. Killed.

Ripley (another human) was on her way, and possibly armed. After being attacked by Parker, it would've known they all aren't just going to sit there and die. With 2 eggs going and 2 snacks set aside, it might as well get out of harms way and prepare to ambush the last (potential) threat. Whether Ripley would've gotten the lambert treatment or been egg-morphed, we'll never know. I'm inclined to think Lambert got him riled up, as he could've killed Ripley instantly on the Narcissus, but he didn't. He was still "in the mood", and he was going to have some fun with the lady in the underwear.

It doesn't seem to matter whether the victim is alive or dead for them to be "egg-morphed". Brett was killed and Dallas taken alive - both being "egg-morphed".

[SM]

^ Yep

[Huggs]

Brett may have been killed. Ripley even said she didn't know. He was still screaming after the bite as he went up. He didn't die instantly like Parker, Clemens, etc.

He might have been injured to the point of being comatose, but still biologically "alive" enough to egg morph. It happens with massive head trauma. The Terror had an example of this.

[The Old One]

Theory: It was aware the Nostromo wasn't a safe place anymore, and retreated to the Narcissus.

[FenGiddel]

Could its later contemplative appearance outside the shuttle airlock provide some suggestion? Was it assessing the change in the ship's condition? It went there from C-Deck, instead of to A-Deck where the only living beings/prey were located.

[Huggs]

Theory: It was aware the Nostromo wasn't a safe place anymore, and retreated to the Narcissus.

I personally think it was just a hunting instinct. If they were that intelligent, the queen and her warriors would've been evacuating the hive before the atmo processor blew up in the 2nd film. But they were going about business as usual until the very end.

Ripley was making an effort to get to the narcissus before she was scared away by the alien. It could just be that the xenomorph noticed this and hid in the narcissus as some sort of ambush tactic. It's a sealed area at then end of a long corridor. If the prey comes in, it's not getting out.

Even before that, it seemed to know where it was and what it was doing in the air vents when it came after Dallas. And it waited for Dallas to come to it. And it didn't attack Brett right off either. It hid in plain sight and waited until he was close and in just the right spot. Just like it did with Ripley near the end. The warrior in Aliens didn't grab Dietrich until she was right under it.

Using the environment to their advantage is their thing. They're ambush predators for the most part. They just blend in, and they wait like a Wobbegong Shark. As for situational awareness, I have my doubts that they understand what all the bells, steam and whistles mean.

[Ash 937]

It's kinda hard to assume the xeno even killed Parker and Lambert.  Nobody knows if the head injury on Parker killed him, the guy coulda still had a heartbeat.  It's not even clear what happens to Lambert so we can't even say it was something lethal with certainty.

When Ripley stumbles on them we only see Ripley's face, not anyone else's.  Maybe she saw that they were unconscious [i.e. NOT dead] but also knew (sadly) that there was nothing she could do to help them without risking her safety too. She then decides to turn on her friends and get to the Narcissus and thus adding an extra element of tragedy to the overall story.  Her character arch however, makes a complete turn-around when she goes back to save Newt in Aliens. I think that James Cameron would agree because why else would he do this??

[SM]

They were dead.

[Elmazalman]

Theory: It was aware the Nostromo wasn't a safe place anymore, and retreated to the Narcissus.

I personally think it was just a hunting instinct. If they were that intelligent, the queen and her warriors would've been evacuating the hive before the atmo processor blew up in the 2nd film. But they were going about business as usual until the very end.

Ripley was making an effort to get to the narcissus before she was scared away by the alien. It could just be that the xenomorph noticed this and hid in the narcissus as some sort of ambush tactic. It's a sealed area at then end of a long corridor. If the prey comes in, it's not getting out.

Even before that, it seemed to know where it was and what it was doing in the air vents when it came after Dallas. And it waited for Dallas to come to it. And it didn't attack Brett right off either. It hid in plain sight and waited until he was close and in just the right spot. Just like it did with Ripley near the end. The warrior in Aliens didn't grab Dietrich until she was right under it.

Using the environment to their advantage is their thing. They're ambush predators for the most part. They just blend in, and they wait like a Wobbegong Shark. As for situational awareness, I have my doubts that they understand what all the bells, steam and whistles mean.

It came to Lambert & Parker. They didn't blunder into its waiting arms like the previous victims.

[Huggs]

Indeed.

That's why I said "for the most part".