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

[Xenomrph]

To play Devil's advocate, all Lambert says is "I found it. Just short of Zeta II Reticuli. We haven't reached the Outer Rim yet." Nothing else in the film says that LV-426 and its gas giant are actually orbiting that star; it's entirely possible it's just meant as a reference marker to give the crew an idea where they are.

Just sayin'.

Which is entirely valid.

However with the complete lack of anything else to go by I'm sticking with Z2R.

Pretty much this. Evidently it's been good enough for every licensed source and the DVDs as well.

[SM]

She's indicating the star they're closest to, which is Zeta II Reticuli.

Says you.

Nobody else would know where that is in relation to anything else, because they're not the navigator and she is.

Again, says you. Just because she's the navigator doesn't mean the rest mightn't have memorized notable stars on their flightpaths. I'm not neither a pilot nor a navigator; I still remember certain countries between me and my destination when I fly overseas.

They were off the beaten track when they went to LV-426.  It wasn't on their flight path.  And Ripley instantly recognised where they weren't.

[SiL]

True dat yo indeed. May have been on another flight path, however.

Again; devil's advocate.

[SM]

I remember a line from Kane in the novelisation following his "Scan" line where he said ships sometimes come out of hyperspace ass backwards. 

[SiL]

I do so love ADF's little touches in the Alien novel.

[Xenomrph]

They were off the beaten track when they went to LV-426.  It wasn't on their flight path.  And Ripley instantly recognised where they weren't.

Well yeah, she recognized that they weren't at Earth, since that was their intended destination as far as she knew. When they came out of hypersleep and Earth wasn't there, that was a good indication that they weren't where they were supposed to be.

[SiL]

That assumes they'd come out of hypersleep just as Earth got into range.

Where's that dancing trolldad image when you need it?

[Xenomrph]

Doesn't someone ask in dialogue, "where's earth?" That would imply that they were expecting to visually see it or something.

[SM]

The navigator asks "Where's Earth."

(She should know)

It's not like it was going to be sat right in front of them.  They'd kinda notice if it wasn't visible through the front windows.  It might still be just a bright star from whatever range they're woken up from.  It's not like they sitting right in front of the LV gas giant.

[Xenomrph]

Well yeah, but what I mean is they were probably expecting some kind of visual cue that they were in the Solar system and it wasn't there, hence their confusion.

Edit-- off-topic, but did the Nostromo have sleeping quarters for when the crew wasn't in cryo? I don't recall seeing any in the movie itself.

[SM]

I'm sure there would've been possibly on B deck (if only for somewhere to root that was more comfy than the shuttle), but none were needed for the film therefore none were constructed.

[Xenomrph]

Yeah I knew one were made for the film, I just wasn't sure if any were in the deck plans or whatever.

I also wasn't sure how long the crew was supposed to be "awake". Like let's say they'd arrived at Earth as planned, I wonder what the expected transit time from "wake up" to "land at Antarctica Traffic Control or whatever" was. Obviously they had facilities for eating and the like, but I wasn't sure if there were bunks so they could spend several days in transit to Earth or something.

[SM]

The June 78 revised final script has Ripley telling them they have enough supplies for a week out of hypersleep.  From memory there's a deleted scene where Ash tells them they have a 'limited' amount of time out of hypersleep.

The deck plans that have been available for ages, are the actual set construction blueprints.  It's not like Cobb and Dilley designed the actual layout of the ship that included toilets and showers and bunks and stuff, then worked out what to build.

However unless theres another whole section of A deck that's unseen and not accessable from the foreward part, accommodations and ablutions would be on B.

[Xenomrph]

Ohh okay, I wasn't sure if the blueprints they drew up were speculatory blueprints for the whole ship (of which they did sets of what they needed) or if it was just what they did for the movie. Like if I remember right they did up full blueprints for the Millennium Falcon in 'Star Wars', although the entire ship wasn't built for the movie.

Also I'd never heard the word ablution before. Learn something new every day.

[SM]

If they ever did proper blueprints for the Millennium Falcon prior to shooting they didn't share them, as the layout has changed a number of times since the 1980s.