Acheron/ LV426 in the Zeta II Reticuli - where did the nostromo land?

[Esoteric_Voyage]

this has been discussed before but inconclusively.

can anyone figure out how or where or what the nostromo landed on?

in the main system, we see a ringed gas giant, a moon, and two smaller planets that might also be gas giants.

in ALIEN we clearly see a shot of the nostromo gliding accross the screen from right to left which doesn't seem to be going towards the 3 smaller planets/moons. it seems to be going toward the gas giant.

we know it can't be the gas giant based on the type of planet or moon they landed on.

we also know this because we still see the ringed gas giant and its closest neighbor planet in the horizon of the sky in the film.

in ridley scotts story boads and other materials he clearly indicates in them as well that the ringed gas giant and its companion planet are in the sky and can't be what they landed on.

but the confusing part in all this, is in ALIEN we see the a close up of the planet's outer atmosphere as the nostromo is slowly moving, and it has a glow identicle to the ringed gas giant - a golden yellow glow.

where on earth did they land?

i find it very confusing.

[Xenomrph]

They landed on LV-426, a moon orbiting the 4th planet in the Zeta 2 Reticuli system, which is a gas giant.

[StrangeShape]

They didnt land on ringed giant cause its visible in the skyline from Acheron. They landed on a small planetoid that was behind the gas giant, thats why they were passing over it. If you look at the entire matte painting of the planet you can see one more planet than what you see in Acheron's skyline, and thats the one. A small white/blueish planetoid

[Xenomrph]

a small planetoid

Depends on which source you choose to follow.

[wmmvrrvrrmm]

Dan O'Bannon had the idea that the planetoid was a planetissima in his original script. He didn't have any idea though about which star it orbited, but it wasn't Zeta II Reticuli, that's fpr sure.

[Xenomrph]

In the movie, though, it's definitely orbiting Zeta II Retuculi, just so we don't get people all confused.

[Ghostface]

Take it away SM

[Xenomrph]

Take what away? It's a very straightforward question and it got answered.

[SM]

You know that wide shot of the Nostromo in front of ringed gas giant and 3 other planets?

Since we see that shot flipped later on from the surface, LV-426 is probably a planet not in frame in that aforementioned wideshot - possibly on the far side.  We had this discussion with a couple of Alien crew on AXP, though I don't recall the precise details.  SiL or wmmvrrvrrmm might.

[wmmvrrvrrmm]

In the movie, though, it's definitely orbiting Zeta II Retuculi, just so we don't get people all confused.

Well, in the movie, it's indefinite that it is orbiting Zeta II Reticuli. When Dan O'Bannon wrote the comment about Zeta II Reticuli into the script, as far as he was concerned it was just a known place known about galaxy and possibly 20 light years away from where the Nostromo was going by O'Bannon's  original script. When they made the film, they had no idea where the planetoid was supposed to be in the galaxy.

However the movie verbally gives the idea that they are very near to Zeta II Reticuli whether they were supposed to be or not.

Dennis Lowe, the man who created the painting of the planets had no idea where the planetoid was supposed to be in the galaxy and if it was supposed to be Zeta II Reticuli and Ridley could tell him this, he would have painted the planets in such a way that they were being lit by a binary star system but he didn't.

How this will all be in Prometheus because probably the script writers have bought into the popular idea that the planet was orbiting Zeta II Reticuli, is another matter.

[Xenomrph]

Lambert says, "Just short of Zeta II Reticuli. We haven't even reached the outer rim yet."
I'd take that to mean that that's the star they're closest to, otherwise why mention it?

[wmmvrrvrrmm]

Lambert says, "Just short of Zeta II Reticuli. We haven't even reached the outer rim yet."
I'd take that to mean that that's the star they're closest to, otherwise why mention it?

Well, as far as it went then when Dan O'Bannon was writing it, the star system was a popular place fro UFO enthusiasts and scientists to talk about because of the Barney and Betty Hill abduction case made popular back then, it is somewhere that people know about. As it goes, for Dan, Zeta II Reticuli was within The Outer rim. In that context it seems as if he were using it as a galactic marker and the Nostomo was travelling to Earth from that direction.

But if Ridley does want to make that all redundant for Prometheus, it's up to him, and I suppose that there is the element of how you personally took it is up to you to add to your experience. I think that Ridley thought nothing more of it than something mentioned amongst the verbal gobbledigook which is what he seems to have said in one of the commentaries for that scene

[Kimarhi]

You cannot land on a gas giant.  You'd simply sink through the gas toward the core of the planet where you would be heated and smushed.  Unless you had some sort of tech that would allow you to land on their inner core's.  But it'd have to be able to withstand the massive pressure, heat, and the fact that gravity is always way higher on gas planets due to their size than earthlike planets or moons.

[Xenomrph]

Lambert says, "Just short of Zeta II Reticuli. We haven't even reached the outer rim yet."
I'd take that to mean that that's the star they're closest to, otherwise why mention it?

Well, as far as it went then when Dan O'Bannon was writing it, the star system was a popular place fro UFO enthusiasts and scientists to talk about because of the Barney and Betty Hill abduction case made popular back then, it is somewhere that people know about. As it goes, for Dan, Zeta II Reticuli was within The Outer rim. In that context it seems as if he were using it as a galactic marker and the Nostomo was travelling to Earth from that direction.

But that's like saying "we're off the coast of Spain". That means the country you're closest to is Spain. You wouldn't say "we're off the coast of Spain" if you were actually closest to England.
Likewise, if the Nostromo was "just short of Zeta II Reticuli", that means that's the star they're closest to, which means that's where LV-426 is orbiting.

[wmmvrrvrrmm]

But that's like saying "we're off the coast of Spain". That means the country you're closest to is Spain. You wouldn't say "we're off the coast of Spain" if you were actually closest to England.
Likewise, if the Nostromo was "just short of Zeta II Reticuli", that means that's the star they're closest to, which means that's where LV-426 is orbiting.

Well, it seems as if everyone just thought it was a nameless star system when they were making Alien. Zeta II Reticuli would have been a place that everyone knew about rather than point out some nameless dot that no one knew anything about. Maybe it might be like talking about the coast of Spain rather than some virtually unknown island which they might have been approaching that was off the Spanish coast