Other points to consider on Burke not working alone:
One counter-argument is that the company and government simply want to declare Ripley crazy and end the investigation. That makes no sense because during the same investigation they wanted to sue Ripley for damages by referring to the loss of the ship and its "precious" cargo. Ripley even faulted them on that, implying that they are simply after money.
But the company gets nothing from Ripley because even her backpay wouldn't cover the losses, but they have one source of information that can help them not only recover that but even potentially earn large amounts of money: the flight recorder.
As shown in this thread, and ironically by showing a screen cap of what Lambert was viewing, such logs don't simply state that a ship landed and took off. It also records course or direction and location, among other things.
That means the whole board plus Ripley plus investigators had access to that. Given such, why would the company and government not bother to investigate the landing location if what was found could be potentially profitable? In which case, it would make sense for them to do so, which is one reason why Burke wasn't working alone.
Did Burke work alone because he wanted to earn everything? That also makes no sense because the idea of getting a percentage was already known even as early as the first movie. The Nostromo crew was guaranteed a percentage and not full ownership of what they discovered, and likely because they were on company time and using company assets, like the ship that they were navigating. The same would have been known also by Burke and even the Jordens and the colony manager. This was explained more than once in this thread. BTW, this takes place in the real world, including references to mineral rights and intellectual property ownership.
This can be seen in light of one counter-argument, i..e, when Burke instructed Bishop to prepare the facehuggers for transit to company labs, Burke was still acting alone because he wanted everything for himself and then rent the company labs. That make no sense for two reasons: if the company and government have "mineral rights" to the rock then that means they own everything on it, including the alien ship, so Burke can't own it all. Second, he can only monetize by using company resources, which means the bulk of revenues will still go to the company; in addition, due to the same mineral rights he can't choose another company, i.e., if there is any. Besides, he was working on company time. LOL.
Also, the company and government has a long history of monetizing and weaponizing. That is, the company developers, sells, and earns, and the government purchases and uses. This explains the special order in the first movie and references to bioweapons divisions in the second. For those who wonder if this takes place in the real world, look up "military industrial complex." And following the video first posted, you may see the same in light of even the Vietnam war and Reagan.
In which case, it makes zero sense for both not to do something as easy as ask the colony to investigate the landing site, especially given the fact that that's what Burke easily did.
There's another point that wasn't discussed: the belief that Burke handled everything by himself to prove that he worked alone, which included comandeering a military vessel and ordering a military contingent around, versus Ripley's point that the mission is under military jurisidiction. If Ripley is right, and that's implicit because Burke gives no counter except that "grunts" like Hicks aren't capable of working as the new commander, then that means that Burke was obviously not working alone. Rather, the government and company made him the point man, and then the former sent a military vessel and contingent to escort him. Both instructed the military fully about what to encounter given Ripley's brief, and was tasked to rescue colonists and their "juicy daughters" (LOL). Burke's job was to recover alien organisms and artefacts with Bishop's help.
Finally, I'll leave it up to you to consider the asides to this issue, such as Ripley's failure to raise the information on the alien ship information, as it's the only piece of evidence left that supports her case, and it was known by the board because Burke had it.
Some more things to consider, but likely not important for most:
- Arcturians vs. finding no indigenous life-forms in hundreds of world;
- the terraforming colony project owned by the company only or a joint project between colony and government, in light of the claim that the company was working independently and that the government countered it;
- transit authorities working independently of government or with the government;
- the belief that the ICC works independently or was formed by W-Y;
- "bug hunts" as "hunting" for insects and faunas (like Arcturians?), which is something that scientists and techs specializing in pest control should do and not heavily armed Marined contingents stationed in war ships; and
- the "blue collar" view of space truckers, grunts, and wildcatters, either wanting to finish their work, cash out on work and whatever they discover (except for the grunts), and retire peacefully vs. "white collar" suits who want to exploit them.
The last point can also be seen in light of the video shared by the OP, which refers to the Reagan admin.
Quote from: Acid_Reign161 on Jun 07, 2023, 12:35:13 AM"Did IQs just drop sharply while I was away?" 😑
Apparently, they did, and even across the board. Recall that the only piece of evidence that would have supported Ripley's case was known by her and the board, and yet she doesn't raise it during the hearing. Why do we know that? Because she does so only after, which is why she is shocked by van Leuwen's response about the colony being there for decades.
That also implies that she didn't engage in due diligence, i.e., research on what happened during the decades she was out, especially about the rock where they landed. Keep in mind that when one is accused of various serious crimes, and in this case at least the deaths of crew mates and the destruction of a very expensive ship, and its very expensive cargo, then one doesn't just blurt out the same storyline repeatedly (which is, ironically, what I've been seeing in this thread concerning the claim that Burke worked alone) without gathering evidence to prove one's case. And that included the flight recorder where Burke got the landing location and which the board discussed during the hearing.
That's why I kept mentioning earlier that she probably needed a lawyer. Reminds me of Burke being chummy with Ripley, and Ripley allowing it.
And what's this about a court of inquiry passing on judgment?
