Alien 3 - Pilot Light???

[SM]

Yeah but a pilot light is just that - doesn't mean they're actively producing the things.

The lead mould and piston is part of the apparatus that makes the lead sheets.

[Biomechanoid]

doesn't mean they're actively producing the things.

Clemens explanation to Ripley is in present tense. If they were not actively producing, his explanation would be in past tense.  I'm going to go with the character's communication skills were adequate enough to differentiate between past and present tense.

And you don't need the mold that was shown on film or its piston to make a lead sheet, they are made with a simple lead mill.

Producing lead sheets is "the reason" why they are keeping the "pilot light on," as Clemens explained. Unless you think he was lying to Ripley why they are keeping at least part of the facility in operation, or Clemen's figure of speech, keeping the pilot light on.

But I will say your speculation makes it more comical. Dillon and the boys are doomed to doing nothing but mopping the kitchen floor for the rest of their lives.

[SM]

It could indeed be comical - if that were in fact the case.  Which it obviously is not.

And indeed they were producing lead sheets in a whole other foundry than the one we saw in the film.

The whole tense thing could also be read as the inmates produced the lead sheets when there was 5000 of them.  The pilot light is left on with the current custodial 'staff' in case the Company needs more.  If Clemens said, 'The inmates produced' it would mean there was no need to keep the pilot light on and their presence there would be pointless.

[Scorpio]

Best explanation is WY leave a skeleton crew as they don't want to abandon the facility.

Any explanation why?  Maybe it just was not profitable to WY any more for some reason.  But they didn't want to abandon the facility for unknown reasons.

[SM]

Clemens tells us the reasons, so they're not unknown.

[Scorpio]

He explains why it went from a thousand convict facility to a crew of 25?

When does he explain this, I must have missed it.

[SM]

Yes.

[Scorpio]

At what point point in the film does Clemens explain?  Is it before he and Ripley have sex or when they are walking to the EEV?

[SM]

Perhaps read the rest of this thread where it's quite neatly laid out.

[Scorpio]

I did read the rest of the thread.

If you have the answer, please tell us.

[SM]

Enough with the trolling already.

[Scorpio]

Trolling is against the rules of the forum.  That is a judgement for the moderators to make.

[Local Trouble]

I don't remember Clemens stating a reason for it either.  Although I vaguely recall the novelization mentioning that the company mined Fury for platinum (which is dumb on its face, IMO) until the market dried up and most of the inmates were sent elsewhere, I don't think anything like that was in the film itself.

[SiL]

Clemens says to keep the pilot light on. Hence the title of the thread.

Which opens up the possibility WY was happy to leave them there in the off chance they ever needed the facilities again; presumably easier to keep it running than shut it down and restart later.

[Local Trouble]

I think he was wondering why the company suddenly reduced the population from 5,000 to 25, not why the 25 were there at all.

But Scorpio's mind works in mysterious ways, so don't hold me to that...