Aliens: An Analysis

[OpenMaw]

Not bad for a human...

[ralfy]

Some additional points: the marines found facehugger specimens in the colony lab, which meant there was a period of time between the discovery of the derelict and the last transmission colonists sent to the company. In addition, the colony is a joint project of the company and the government. Also, the expedition later finds out that it was Burke that sent colonists to find the ship.

That implies the ff.

1. It can be assumed that both company and gov't (because the colony is a joint project of the company and Colonial Administration) immediately sent the colonists to find the ship, or at least let Burke handle the matter. Either way, both knew what Burke was doing, and both were in on any revenues that could be made on the discovery, with Burke getting his cut.

2. Given the gestation period of the alien and the number of facehuggers (dead and alive) found in the colony lab, it may be inferred that there was enough time for the colony manager to transmit their findings to Burke and the suits from the time the first "infection" took place, thus validating Ripley's claims. From there, they would not have waited for the colony to stop transmitting and send an expedition right away.

3. Given Ripley's story and whatever reports sent by the colony lab and manager, the expedition would have been been better prepared, especiallly given the potential revenues to be gained from such a discovery. They would also have come up with a much larger contingent, consisting of two teams of marines--one to secure the colony and the other to secure the ship, scientists to capture and secure all sorts of specimens, medical personnel (not just one medic) for colonists (good for around 70 families, or up to 400 people), and probably at least two ships apart, with periodic reports and updates sent to the suits.

Thus, everything hinges on the fact that facehugger specimens were found in the lab, which implies that there was enough time between discovery of the ship and the colony overwhelmed for the latter to transmit lots of information about the creatures.

[SiL]

Which means communications went down very early, possibly entirely unrelated to the Aliens, as no information was sent.

[BlueMarsalis79]

Or they communicated with a local party that never had communication with whoever organised the mission.

[SiL]

Well sure, we can pull whatever we want out of thin air.

[Local Trouble]

Or they communicated with a local party that never had communication with whoever organised the mission.

Are you thinking...

Spoiler

...the Cold Forge?

[close]

[ralfy]

If comms had gone down early (with no reason given), then that would have alarmed the company and government, and that would have taken place early on during the hearings. Also, one would think that such a large project would have backup systems, if not means to restore communications.

Meanwhile, during all that time the colonists were removing dead specimens of facehuggers and capturing live ones, and putting them in the lab for analysis. At least that's what the marines discovered, and for the time involved, we can recall what happened during the first movie.

When the marines arrived, they saw barricades, food uneaten on tables in some rooms, and Newt, which Ripley estimated stayed alive for longer than 17 days and according to Dietrich experienced "borderline malnutrition".

Again, all of these points come from the movie and don't include anything from the EU.

The implication, then, is that weeks may have been involved from the time Burke sent the colonists to the ship (did he know the location, or did many groups fan out, with one accidentally finding the ship, something that they were not able to do since the colony was set up twenty years earlier?) to the time that only Newt remained.

Did the company try to contact them only twice: when they sent them to (or ordered them to find?) the ship, and then tried to contact them weeks later, asking for an update?

[BlueMarsalis79]

Well sure, we can pull whatever we want out of thin air.

Or they communicated with a local party that never had communication with whoever organised the mission.

Are you thinking...

Spoiler

...the Cold Forge?

[close]

Well, either that, or it is just another thing to add to the list of a comedy of errors already pervasive in Aliens' plot structure.

Because when things start to go sideways you call for help even if futile, and I do not believe in the conspiracy Carter Burke version of that character some people have made up in their heads, so that leaves the possibility something happened he did not know of or it is just a massive hilarious coincidence.

[SiL]

If comms had gone down early (with no reason given), then that would have alarmed the company and government, and that would have taken place early on during the hearings. Also, one would think that such a large project would have backup systems, if not means to restore communications.

The hearings are before Burke send the colonists out. They lose communications, then send the team out.

The implication, then, is that weeks may have been involved from the time Burke sent the colonists to the ship (did he know the location, or did many groups fan out, with one accidentally finding the ship, something that they were not able to do since the colony was set up twenty years earlier?) to the time that only Newt remained.

It took the marines 3 weeks to get to LV 426. They likely left when the outbreak was in its early stages and arrived at the tail end.

Communications are lost early on, either incidental to the Aliens or as a result of their first contact with adults. Cameron gives the reason they don't immediately hail anyone in two pieces of dialogue; Simpson and lydecker (it takes two weeks and the answer is always don't ask ), and the Jordan's (let's wait to see what to call it in as).

By the time they thought to call they couldn't, wherever and why that was.

[BlueMarsalis79]

I do wonder how they could tell communications went down, I get not receiving a reply, but who asked in the first place exactly?

[SiL]

They clearly get communications and respond to them, they just don't question directives sent from head office because they get brushed off. Presumably some other banal, routine communication got missed.

Personally I like the idea that a perfect storm of shit circumstances happened, but then I'm fascinated by real life stories like that.

[BlueMarsalis79]

Although I get that, and definitely agree to a degree, but it is the sheer amount that pushes it into the unbelievable to me.

A colony even existing on that particular moon being one in of itself in my opinion. Then no clear communication of exactly what happened.

The squad leader being a first timer.

Leaving not a single individual onboard the ship, just people in the dropship and the APC. Then the dropship not only being destroyed but crashing into the APC.

All of it is a bit much for me to believe without turning my brain off. So to some degree a conspiracy theory to make it a bit more believable I can understand the temptation of.

Spoiler

Not Carter Burke lying about Amanda Ripley though lol lmao

[close]

[SiL]

I'm only talking about the setup. Nobody on the ship is just for drama.

[ralfy]

If comms had gone down early (with no reason given), then that would have alarmed the company and government, and that would have taken place early on during the hearings. Also, one would think that such a large project would have backup systems, if not means to restore communications.

The hearings are before Burke send the colonists out. They lose communications, then send the team out.

The implication, then, is that weeks may have been involved from the time Burke sent the colonists to the ship (did he know the location, or did many groups fan out, with one accidentally finding the ship, something that they were not able to do since the colony was set up twenty years earlier?) to the time that only Newt remained.

It took the marines 3 weeks to get to LV 426. They likely left when the outbreak was in its early stages and arrived at the tail end.

Communications are lost early on, either incidental to the Aliens or as a result of their first contact with adults. Cameron gives the reason they don't immediately hail anyone in two pieces of dialogue; Simpson and lydecker (it takes two weeks and the answer is always don't ask ), and the Jordan's (let's wait to see what to call it in as).

By the time they thought to call they couldn't, wherever and why that was.

The catch is that Ripley provided a deposition, which means the company and government were informed about what happened to Ripley even before the hearings began. That involves a lot of time, more than enough for the suits to contact the colony after receiving the initial report from Ripley.

How did the company know the location of the ship, i.e., if the company logs indicate that they sent the colonists to the ship? Was it in the deposition?

BTW, I'm only looking at the movie and not the deleted scenes. If we include the deleted scenes, it gets even worse because it turns out that colonists were told about the location. Also, keep in mind that even though it takes two weeks for signals to reach the company, they would have sent the report right away ("don't ask" refers to not asking why they're ordered to go to the grid reference, but I'm sure the company would have been eager for even brief reports, e.g., "we found the ship" and "one of the wildcatters has something attached to his face" and "we managed to capture several live and dead facehuggers") which could have been sent immediately.

As for the Jordans waiting to see what to call in, that'd be referring to finding the ship. Given the fact that they had to return with a facehugger strapped to the dad's head pretty much invalidates keeping their find a secret.

Given all that, what happened is that for some weird reason the colony comms go down right after the Jordens arrive with a facehugger, and for some reason the company never hear from them after that and aren't bothered by the silence. (Given the urgency that the company has in acquiring such creatures and ships, and even to the point that they find their own personnel expendable in doing so, one would think that they would order the manager to give daily or immediate reports, even brief ones like the ones given above. And the two-week transmission delay refers to receiving signals, not the frequency of reports transmitted.)

That's why the expendition arrives not only late but unprepared, i.e., with everyone still assuming that Ripley's report is a hoax.

Although I get that, and definitely agree to a degree, but it is the sheer amount that pushes it into the unbelievable to me.

A colony even existing on that particular moon being one in of itself in my opinion. Then no clear communication of exactly what happened.

The squad leader being a first timer.

Leaving not a single individual onboard the ship, just people in the dropship and the APC. Then the dropship not only being destroyed but crashing into the APC.

All of it is a bit much for me to believe without turning my brain off. So to some degree a conspiracy theory to make it a bit more believable I can understand the temptation of.

Spoiler

Not Carter Burke lying about Amanda Ripley though lol lmao

[close]

The only conspiracy theory that'll work with this is that the company knew the grid reference of the ship but ordered Burke to take care of everything. For some absurd reason, colony comms fell apart even before aliens appeared. Burke, who likely is the only one who believes Ripley, then informed the company that he lost contact with the colony and must go there with an armed expedition to find out what happened. Meanwhile, the company doesn't bother to ask why Burke wants an armed expedition.

[SiL]

The colonists being given the coordinates is in the theatrical cut. Ripley confronts Burke about it.

Burke is acting alone. Nobody takes Ripley seriously, so he takes a chance sending them out to have a look. If it works, he'll get the claim.

The DC shows us the colonists leave after the inquest. Even without the DC it's clear why this would be the case - if Burke sends them first, it validates Ripley's story and all of the government bodies step in to investigate. He says as much.

He's trying to keep it low key until he can claim the find. The problem is the colonists find exactly what Ripley said they would and they all die. As Ripley points out - and Burke takes seriously - he's responsible for their deaths.

Those together explain why he never admits to sending the colonists out before they arrive. The marines aren't sent by WY, they're sent by the government. He jumps on as corporate liaison but has no real authority.

Everyone is unprepared because Burke made a "bad call" and basically spends the movie trying to profit from it while avoiding responsibility for the loss of the colony. Nobody ever took Ripley seriously but him so everyone thinks it's a routine blackout situation. She's there "just in case" because it happened to be where she said there was a space alien, but nobody really thinks it's the case.

Burke being a selfish asshole explains what we see in the film just fine.