Quote from: SiL on Sep 30, 2019, 05:00:42 AM
I find the "maybe they didn't know" angle is fairly disingenuous, and assumes a space-faring crew wouldn't have had to go through some kind of safety training to learn about emergency procedures. Every time I go on a cruise ship I learn about the emergency tenders, how they operate, what supplies they have and features they have for being found. The idea the crew of the Nostromo wouldn't know the shuttle's capabilities feels a bit of a stretch.
But it's not an emergency escape vehicle, it's a shuttle that can be used as one in a
pinch.You may see safety videos for airplanes and cruises and they stick with you because of how infrequently you're on them, but I suspect many real-life truckers don't know how to use the fire extinguishers stowed in the cabins of their trucks because the work is so routine and mundane and "nothing bad could ever happen". When you get in your car, you don't double-check that all your airbags are primed and that the car is properly tuned and that the breaks function, you just start it and go.
Quote from: SiL on Sep 30, 2019, 05:00:42 AMIf it was built for three people, there'd need to be a reason they distrusted its ability to do its job. The one the film gives is that it's not built for three -- it's built for two.
It's 100% not going to affect my enjoyment of the book or the work done on it, mind, just a fun conversation about
Quote'fixing a problem that didn't exist'.
But it's got three seats, which tells me it's built for three.
Ripley definitively says the shuttle won't handle four, but she doesn't say why. If the shuttle only has two cryotubes, then the number of cryotubes can't be the deciding factor because you should be able to just load the shuttle up with as many people as you want and stock it with air and, as Lambert puts it, "take your chances". Sure, you'd deplete the air faster, but that's the risk you take. So why can't it take four?
Perhaps, given Graham's design, it's got two main cryotubes and then a third that occupies the spare space available, comparable to a folding or "rumble seat" in a car or plane. Ripley knows the shuttle can take three because it's got three cryotubes, and the coolant is because having air is a good idea when you're in space because you don't know what might happen. They try to get the air because they think they're safe, turns out they aren't and two people die, and Ripley bugs out and takes her chances.
Quote from: Local Trouble on Sep 30, 2019, 06:12:26 AM
Quote from: Xenomrph on Sep 30, 2019, 03:21:41 AMRipley doesn't make it clear if taking the coolant for the shuttle is an absolute necessity, or merely a way of increasing their chances.
Ripley said: "We're gonna need coolant for the air support system." Did that not make it clear it was a necessity?
If the line had been "We should bring extra coolant," and didn't specify what it was for, I think you and Graham would have a point.
Yes, if they wake up and want to breathe, having air is probably a good idea - the more the better. I think reading into the word "need" is sort of semantics.