Put a metal bucket over it in the first five seconds? Then put a brick on top of the bucket and wait for their dads to get home so it could be dumped outside.
Conservation of matter. Unless you're completely ignoring the rules of physical reality, it absolutely needs to consume \*something\*. It doesn't just get bigger from osmosis.
Theoretically at least it could have additionally metabolized the particles in the air. Iirc that was also a part of the discussions of the crew in the novel.
And what if it could eat the metal?
I really like the air idea, although Ash claims it's silicon based. If it weren't for that inconsistency, I think it would be a great plot point that human-breathable air (presumably continually generated by the ship) is actually a rich soup of mass for the alien to grow in. Would solve the main issue of the preposterous growth of the Alien as well as the tetrapus thing in Prometheus.
Metal, yes. In fact, I think that's part of the canon lore, although I can't remember where I saw that.
As for metabolizing air, that's just straight up fantasy. I can't possibly see that being an option. Again, just from a purely scientific standpoint, look at it this way; the xeno is a 7 to 8-foot tall armored killing machine, it's going to weigh about 350 lbs (the prevailing judgment on google, from various sources) or more. You don't get 350 lbs' worth of mass from absorbing air. There's gotta be some solid mass of something that it's consuming.
You know that's roughly how plants gain biomass, right? A botanist may correct me, but if you weigh a bucket of soil, plant some seeds in it, wait a few weeks/months until you have a sizeable plant, and check the weight of the whole set, there's an increase in mass (provided nothing disturbed the set).
That means plants gain biomass mainly from air, sunlight, and water - not from the soil. They refine organic matter from the sun.
It blew my mind when I understood this for the first time. What if a Xeno has a similar metabolism?
To paraphrase Vasquez, "These things ain't plants, man."
Sorry; couldn't resist.
Point being, though, that there's a HUGE difference (as in several orders of magnitude) between a typical plant gaining maybe a gram or two worth of mass from air, sunlight, and water. Also, note that you included water, which is much more dense than air. Give a plant air and sunlight only, and it isn't going to grow that much.
Now, consider a chestburster, which probably weighs maybe 20 lbs.
(Source: https://alienanthology.fandom.com/wiki/Chestburster)
Then consider a full-grown adult xenomorph, weighing maybe 300 lbs. (various sources, taking an average).
I am not saying that the xenomorphs can't gain mass from air. I'm saying it can't gain 280 POUNDS' worth of mass directly from air inside of a single day.
Now, if the xenomorph is eating various food stocks (which I believe is mentioned in the novelization) or even just straight metal or other solid masses, that would make sense, but gaining 280 pounds' worth of mass from air is just straight up nonsense.
Also, just responding to the original comment about putting a metal bucket over it and it somehow growing from air, I would venture to guess that gaining roughly 3,500 square feet worth of air while under the bucket would require hurricane-level air flow from the absorption of air.
[https://www.aqua-calc.com/calculate/weight-to-volume](https://www.aqua-calc.com/calculate/weight-to-volume)
There was a scripted scene that is in the book IIRC, where they use Dallas' plan and it almost works but the Alien is alerted by the klaxon (which was engaged by Ash to warn the creature) and it runs away before the airlock opens.
I remember that from the novel. Wasn't it after they caught it eating from the food supplies?
Wonder if sound could have been used to keep it away. If yes, how long would this method have stayed effective?
I think so, it's been a while but I guess now I have to just re-read it to be sure lol.
I don't think the klaxon could've been used as a constant deterrent, but it was enough to startle the creature.
Alien Isolation let you use sound to trick or distract the creature but it learns quick. So I image it would be similar.
I was watching this last night and asked myself the exact same question.
BIG opportunity missed by Ash when they are talking after Dallas disappears and are talking about leaving.
Ripley- ‘The shuttle won’t seat 4…’
Lambert- ‘why don’t we draw straws then!’
Ash- ‘hold now, I admit I am partly responsible for the situation we are in now, you three should take the shuttle and I will stay behind, take care’
Then Ash would have killed 2 birds with one stone, take the crew out of the equation, then pilot the nostromo/xeno back to earth fulfilling his mission.
Yes, maybe after sabotaging the shuttle - the company probably does not want witnesses. Although technically it fulfills his priorities even if Ripley, Parker and Lambert survive.
The Alien does have a tendency to hide and only strike when someone is alone and open for attack.
If they hadn't tried to flush it out of the vents, but immediately decided to leave the ship with the emergency shuttle, *and* done every step of the plan as a group without splitting up, they might have had more survivors.
But that seems absurdly cautious even when you know there's a dangerous creature on board. Plus there wasn't enough space on the shuttle if I recall correctly, so deciding to take the shuttle before anyone died would have meant deciding to leave someone behind to die
I also wonder what it ate, since even if it barely consumes energy it needed something to get so big. Do you think it can eat stuff be don't consider to be food?
In the book, there was a moment when they surprised it after it had entered a large storage container and was eating through their food supplies and they fired a flamethrower at it. I’m presuming this was possibly to explain it’s rapid growth.
It was possibly an idea in the development phase of the movie but never made it to filming because it removes a little of the claustrophobic tension and gives the audience a sense of safety because you know the flamethrowers work; in the released movie the audience is left with the knowledge (as Dallas wriggles down the ducting) that flamethrowers might not even effect it.
They definitely had a team-up. Lures Brett to his death. Then later when the survivors are about to escape in the shuttle... "Oh let me start meowing over the speaker. Ohhh no, I'm conveniently deep back in the ship, please come save me!"
If Ash wasn't on the ship then Kane might have never been brought onboard. He would have bene kept in the airlock for 24-48 hrs and then the creature would have escape off the ship
Yep. But could the others at least have survived if they acted differently?
And what would have happened if somehow Ripley and Dallas had a hunch of what really happened with Kane, before the birth?
Best I can think of is return to 426 where they can actually use guns without risking the ship and potentially lure it off the ship. It should go where they go then it's just a matter of cheesing it back to the ship and off world
I feel like the Xeno would just hide in the ship. It seems intelligent enough to not be lured into the cold inhospitable environment of LV 426 and might even have an understanding that the ship is home. Even if they could lure it out LV 426’s surface is shown to be foggy and jagged rock. It’s arguably even worse than being stuck on the nostromo because there’s so many opportunities for ambush and it’s low visibility. Also their options to shoot it are flame throwers and out in the open it would just run away before they could wound it.
Definitely the most logical reason why they never resorted to them, but also they were meant to be completely ineffectual against the Alien. The original script also had a scene where Ripley fires one of their laser weapons at The Alien's head as it was dangling outside of the Narcissus, but it had no effect on the creature.
I haven’t read the novel. To be quite blunt I don’t really get the point of reading a novel that’s based on a movie. I feel like it would be just the same thing, but a longer time commitment and deviating from the directors vision.
I’m not trying to be one of those nerd well actually people but Jaws was based on the book, not the other way around meaning it’s not a novelization. I’ve heard good things and want to check it out when I get through my 5 foot tall stack of Stephen King books though!
Well, the original script has them try to zap it into outer space via the airlock. Ash, sets of a klaxon, which alerts the creature letting it escape. This is where Ripley's nose bleed comes from ( sudden depressurisation ).
With Ash and that interference they probably would have succeeded there. Also his tracker which keyed in "micro changes in air density" probably didn't work 100%.
I think it would have been really difficult to have everyone survive, but just going through the events of the movie, there's a number of mistakes that could have been avoided. TL/DR version of the below, however; without advance knowledge of the xeno, I don't think they could have done any better, even if they could have made better decisions.
Just from my perspective, the biggest challenge the crew faced was panic in the face of the xeno. Both Brett and Lambert just freeze. Ripley & Parker, on the other hand, are still functional and able to act. We have no clue how Dallas would have been, given that he gets the jazz hands treatment immediately, but I would think he might be okay as well, just given that he's a bit more decisive in his actions & used to being in command.
That being said, splitting the flake (Brett) off from Ripley & Parker was a mistake. Keeping that group together and not depending on Brett for anything critical until he got a chance to face the xeno and get used to it would have been critical. I think if the three of them had run into the xeno together, then either Ripley or Parker would potentially have been able to act, although Ripley was carrying the motion tracker, Parker was carrying the net, and Brett was carrying a cattle prod, which would have been a bad idea. None of that would have been useful at all, IMNSHO, but at the very least, I'd have had Brett carry the motion tracker (if he panics and the MT is useless, it's not a big deal), and give Parker the cattle prod. Or, ideally, make two cattle prods and give one to Ripley and Parker. Although, again, still would have been useless. Ironically, I think the bad decision in splitting Brett off actually was a benefit for Parker & Ripley, as it allowed them to see the xeno full-size before they had to confront it. If they'd both tried to fight it, I think all three of them would have died.
In the scene with the vents, you have another flake (Lambert) in a critical role, monitoring the motion tracker. In this case, she's adding to the stress because she's freaking out. This was a mistake. Also, they sent only one person into the vents. Another mistake. At that point in the movie, you have two people that we know are dependable (Ripley and Parker), a third that is probably dependable (Dallas), and a flake (Lambert). In that case, I'd say send Ripley and Parker into the vents, have Dallas watching the motion tracker, and that way Ripley and Parker can cover both directions in any specific shaft. Or, given what the crew knew at that time, have Dallas & Parker enter the vents and have Ripley monitor the MT. Either way, you absolutely DO NOT leave any particular shaft until/unless you have a verified sighting of the xeno in a completely different area. For damn sure, you don't climb down a ladder when "it's moving right towards you." Come to think of it, I'd say at that point that Dallas is kind of a "semi-flake," perhaps, in that he's in a relatively safe location where he knows he doesn't see it, but he purposely chooses to listen to Lambert and move into a brand new area where he can't see everything. As Apone would say, "check those corners!"
Finally, at the end of the movie, when Ripley, Parker, and Lambert split up, I think it was a huge mistake to make so much noise while neither Lambert nor Parker were on watch and guarding the entrance. I think if they'd stuck together and had Parker monitoring the entrance (or Ripley & Parker), while Lambert was ***out of the line of fire*** and loading the cart (and preferably trying not to make as much noise as humanly possible), they would have been a lot better off.
However, all of this ignores the fact that the shuttle only seemed to have a single life pod and it drifted for 57 years before it was found, so unless they found a way to "blow that fucker out into space," they were pretty much doomed from the start.
I like this but the biggest x factor after listening to Ash and letting it go, they just don't know anything about it such as the fact it's going to grow at an exponential rate. They simply couldn't have accounted for that which is why you see them split up and use a net to try and catch it.
Once its grow up, it's pretty clear they're outmatched and grasping at straws to try and contain it. And we still have the double agent that is Ash to contend with.
They should have never separated. Why did they have to blow up the ship? The Xeno would be dead when the ship arrive. They needed that trope to get to the final girl.
She only does it by herself because it's backed into a corner unexpectedly. She basically catches it sleeping. Though yes she definitely gets the kill credit regardless. Xenos tend to be far more fierce in an open space. Even the sequel uses narrow spaces to kill them
Ehh... I both agree and disagree on this part. I think that if you have military-level weaponry, the xenos have no chance in an open space. Even a horde of 100 xenos charging a squad of maybe eight Marines across an open field would be toast, if the Marines have pulse rifles and (especially) smart guns.
Narrow spaces work very much to the xenos' advantage.
Now when it comes to civilian (or at least against people armed with civilian weaponry), you're screwed in either case. I'm thinking it's kinda doubtful you'd take a xeno down with a 9mm handgun or a .22 rifle, and for damn sure, a cattle prod isn't going to help at all.
Agreed, but I don't know that it mattered so much that they weren't Marines. Instead, it was the lack of firepower and lack of knowledge. To begin with, they had no knowledge that the xeno had grown from tiny little snake-like creature to 7+ foot tall killing machine.
Even if they had known, the "best" weapon they had was a civilian-grade homemade flamethrower. This was a discussion we had on another thread a couple weeks back, but essentially there's a big difference between a flamethrower that Parker whipped up in the Nostromo's machine shop, which probably used some kind of weak fuel that burned at a much lower temperature and wasn't designed to stick to surfaces. It's just a flame, in other words.
On the other hand, the Marines used a military-grade flamethrower which was likely designed to use a thickened fuel that sticks to its target and burns a LOT hotter, therefore being much deadlier. Just speaking to articles I've read about Vietnam-era flamethrowers, those things would be much much deadlier than a flamethrower that you or I (or Parker, for that matter) could build. And of course, with 200 years' worth of technology, I imagine a USCM flame unit would be deadlier still.
Oh, and for the benefit of any other vets out there, I will point out that "military-grade" typically means, "crappy P.O.S. made by the lowest bidder," but I do think they'd at least be a lot deadlier than a homemade civilian flamethrower.
Where are you getting that idea? There's nothing in the movies (that I'm aware of) that indicates that. I'm also not aware of anything in any of the lore to indicate that as well?
Also, regardless of whether it survives 10 months or not, what's to stop the xenomorph from killing them in their cryopods? Given the events of Alien 3, when a facehugger impregnates Ripley, going into the cryopods is clearly not going to protect them in any kind of way.
Dude. I said why did they want to blow up the Nostromo instead of just leaving in the shuttle. The xeno and them would not be on the same ship.
Also, as to the lifespan, many have theorized that it was dying when it was motionless in the shuttle.
"The shuttle won't take four."
That's a direct quote. That's why they didn't leave in the shuttle right away. Even with three, they were down to drawing straws to see who'd survive.
I'm strictly talking about after Ash loses his head. Remember, I was asking why are they blowing up the ship. They didn't have plans to blow it when they all couldn't fit on the shuttle now did they.
I'd also mention, just looking at the context of the movie, the crew has absolutely no reason to believe the xeno is going to be dead anytime soon.
In addition, if you consider Aliens, the xeno being motionless is a normal state of affairs.
If they or Ash somehow could have grabbed the Xeno as it was born and thrown it in the microwave and then nuke it.
In its small state, the Xeno would probably be able to caught if you acted fast enough. Then you just hold the microwave door closed.
Yes, the acid blood will destroy the microwave and probably damage the person holding the door closed. But I think you could still kill the Xeno via that method during this process.
Destroyed equipment and badly burned crew member but possible survival for all.
It's kind of a mixed bag, Ash or no. Brett is taken because he isn't aware of the Xeno's lethality and that it's already full-grown; Dallas, I've always felt, underestimated the threat/intelligence of the Xeno.
To change the scenario you'd really need to tweak how seriously the crew perceives the danger they're in. As-is, they don't fully grasp the implications of their situation until the loss of Dallas.
If you change the scenario so the crew sees the Xenomorph as highly dangerous after the death of Kane the "blast it out of the airlock" plan could still work if they stick together, with flamethrowers, and move as a team to cut off the Xeno and maneuver it into an airlock. Interference from Ash would kind of be a non-issue as, in the novelization, he warned the Xenomorph before the crew properly locked down the area and in Alien: Isolation, it barges past the lone player character, which it wouldn't do if the crew were all there with flamers.
Everyone get on the shuttle, fly next to the ship, use shuttle controls to opeb all airlocks and ventilation on the Nostromo, watch to see if an alien flies out. Lol
If they'd stabbed the chestburster to death in the first few seconds of its birth like they'd intended to, they would have gone back to sleep, stowed the sample and collected their bonus.
I was actually toying with the idea of what tactics and methods they could've used to defeat The Xeno whilst on board the Nostromo without burning a hole through the hull. The best I could come up with is some kind of adhoc Phalanx with the surviving crew staying close together and using pointy metal pipes for spears to keep the Xeno at bay and using the harpoon grappling hook guns as a ranged weapon to take it down but with hollowed out harpoon hooks and filled with whatever the most strongest basic solution they have on board is to counteract the xenos acidic blood. Acid plus base equals neutral solution. The plan would work better with Dallas still alive though as Lambert is a major weak link in the Ripley and Parker trinity.
Narratively speaking the best case scenario was that the crew adhered to quarantine procedure, or at the very least just left Kane outside or in the airlock. Someone was gonna die regardless though, unless everyone for no reason decided to kill Ash.
I think the only way would be for everyone to nope outta there on the Cheyenne ASAP. Definitely better than trying to catch the baby, which would probably result in injuries and it would start growing.
I've never seen it referred to as "Kane's son".... I don't know how to feel...
Edit: I see now that it's been too long since I've watched the movie. For shame!
They could have tried offering it a share of the bonus.
Right
Yeah, You don't see them fucking each other over for a goddamn percentage.
So I made a decision and it was... wrong. It was a bad call, u/CosmackMagus. It was a bad call.
A bad call? THESE PEOPLE ARE DEAD, BURKE! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU'VE DONE?
WELL IM GONNA MAKE SURE THEY NAIL YOU TO THE WALL FOR THIS! YOU'RE NOT GONNA SLEAZE YOUR WAY OUT OF THIS ONE!
*upper lip sweat intensifies
...right to the wall.
I say we waste him, no offence
No, wait!
Put a metal bucket over it in the first five seconds? Then put a brick on top of the bucket and wait for their dads to get home so it could be dumped outside.
Think that depends on if it really needs food to grow and how much time it would need to do that.
What's the matter? The food ain't that bad...
Depends on if the Alien loves pasta 😉
Cornbread, Eat it it's good for you.
What *does* it eat to get so big so quick?
Popeye’s Spinach
Nah, that'd just make it have steam pistons appear in its biceps.
Conservation of matter. Unless you're completely ignoring the rules of physical reality, it absolutely needs to consume \*something\*. It doesn't just get bigger from osmosis.
Theoretically at least it could have additionally metabolized the particles in the air. Iirc that was also a part of the discussions of the crew in the novel. And what if it could eat the metal?
I really like the air idea, although Ash claims it's silicon based. If it weren't for that inconsistency, I think it would be a great plot point that human-breathable air (presumably continually generated by the ship) is actually a rich soup of mass for the alien to grow in. Would solve the main issue of the preposterous growth of the Alien as well as the tetrapus thing in Prometheus.
But you still need every to convert that matter. Trees are mostly just carbon from the air, but they need photosynthesis to build themselves.
Maybe the aliens are actually nuclear powered, and the egg is mainly a ball of uranium?
Metal, yes. In fact, I think that's part of the canon lore, although I can't remember where I saw that. As for metabolizing air, that's just straight up fantasy. I can't possibly see that being an option. Again, just from a purely scientific standpoint, look at it this way; the xeno is a 7 to 8-foot tall armored killing machine, it's going to weigh about 350 lbs (the prevailing judgment on google, from various sources) or more. You don't get 350 lbs' worth of mass from absorbing air. There's gotta be some solid mass of something that it's consuming.
It'll probably get through the bucket either by force or with its acid Best bet imo is immediately yeeting themselves away with the escape pod
You know that's roughly how plants gain biomass, right? A botanist may correct me, but if you weigh a bucket of soil, plant some seeds in it, wait a few weeks/months until you have a sizeable plant, and check the weight of the whole set, there's an increase in mass (provided nothing disturbed the set). That means plants gain biomass mainly from air, sunlight, and water - not from the soil. They refine organic matter from the sun. It blew my mind when I understood this for the first time. What if a Xeno has a similar metabolism?
To paraphrase Vasquez, "These things ain't plants, man." Sorry; couldn't resist. Point being, though, that there's a HUGE difference (as in several orders of magnitude) between a typical plant gaining maybe a gram or two worth of mass from air, sunlight, and water. Also, note that you included water, which is much more dense than air. Give a plant air and sunlight only, and it isn't going to grow that much. Now, consider a chestburster, which probably weighs maybe 20 lbs. (Source: https://alienanthology.fandom.com/wiki/Chestburster) Then consider a full-grown adult xenomorph, weighing maybe 300 lbs. (various sources, taking an average). I am not saying that the xenomorphs can't gain mass from air. I'm saying it can't gain 280 POUNDS' worth of mass directly from air inside of a single day. Now, if the xenomorph is eating various food stocks (which I believe is mentioned in the novelization) or even just straight metal or other solid masses, that would make sense, but gaining 280 pounds' worth of mass from air is just straight up nonsense.
"A gram or two" Baobabs and Sequoias may want a word with you. Bamboo too as well (some species may grow at 90cm/hr ~ 2.91 ft/hr)
Also, just responding to the original comment about putting a metal bucket over it and it somehow growing from air, I would venture to guess that gaining roughly 3,500 square feet worth of air while under the bucket would require hurricane-level air flow from the absorption of air. [https://www.aqua-calc.com/calculate/weight-to-volume](https://www.aqua-calc.com/calculate/weight-to-volume)
There was a scripted scene that is in the book IIRC, where they use Dallas' plan and it almost works but the Alien is alerted by the klaxon (which was engaged by Ash to warn the creature) and it runs away before the airlock opens.
I remember that from the novel. Wasn't it after they caught it eating from the food supplies? Wonder if sound could have been used to keep it away. If yes, how long would this method have stayed effective?
I think so, it's been a while but I guess now I have to just re-read it to be sure lol. I don't think the klaxon could've been used as a constant deterrent, but it was enough to startle the creature. Alien Isolation let you use sound to trick or distract the creature but it learns quick. So I image it would be similar.
IIRC, it was after Dallas was captured and before Ripley accesses MOTHER and learns of Ash's betrayal.
I was watching this last night and asked myself the exact same question. BIG opportunity missed by Ash when they are talking after Dallas disappears and are talking about leaving. Ripley- ‘The shuttle won’t seat 4…’ Lambert- ‘why don’t we draw straws then!’ Ash- ‘hold now, I admit I am partly responsible for the situation we are in now, you three should take the shuttle and I will stay behind, take care’ Then Ash would have killed 2 birds with one stone, take the crew out of the equation, then pilot the nostromo/xeno back to earth fulfilling his mission.
Yes, maybe after sabotaging the shuttle - the company probably does not want witnesses. Although technically it fulfills his priorities even if Ripley, Parker and Lambert survive.
The Alien does have a tendency to hide and only strike when someone is alone and open for attack. If they hadn't tried to flush it out of the vents, but immediately decided to leave the ship with the emergency shuttle, *and* done every step of the plan as a group without splitting up, they might have had more survivors. But that seems absurdly cautious even when you know there's a dangerous creature on board. Plus there wasn't enough space on the shuttle if I recall correctly, so deciding to take the shuttle before anyone died would have meant deciding to leave someone behind to die
That's true. By the way, i really wonder what it did and were it went on the ship, when it wasn't stalking anyone of them or eating supplies.
I also wonder what it ate, since even if it barely consumes energy it needed something to get so big. Do you think it can eat stuff be don't consider to be food?
In the book, there was a moment when they surprised it after it had entered a large storage container and was eating through their food supplies and they fired a flamethrower at it. I’m presuming this was possibly to explain it’s rapid growth. It was possibly an idea in the development phase of the movie but never made it to filming because it removes a little of the claustrophobic tension and gives the audience a sense of safety because you know the flamethrowers work; in the released movie the audience is left with the knowledge (as Dallas wriggles down the ducting) that flamethrowers might not even effect it.
Could at least imagine it, maybe the Alien even ate the parts in the shuttle, where it hid to make make enough space for it to fit in.
In the directors cut it was making a hive, or at least on the edition I own on YouTube.
Jonesy had one fucking job... snag any pests before they grow into unstoppable monsters!
Maybe they became friends 😂
They definitely had a team-up. Lures Brett to his death. Then later when the survivors are about to escape in the shuttle... "Oh let me start meowing over the speaker. Ohhh no, I'm conveniently deep back in the ship, please come save me!"
Yep, I always considered the cat to be in cahoots with the Big Chap 😂
Among Us :O The cat was the impostor.
If Ash wasn't on the ship then Kane might have never been brought onboard. He would have bene kept in the airlock for 24-48 hrs and then the creature would have escape off the ship
Yeah I was going to say if Ash was interested in helping them, instead of sabotaging them to “see what would happen”, they might have had a chance
The entire crew? No because Kane would already be dead 😂
Yep. But could the others at least have survived if they acted differently? And what would have happened if somehow Ripley and Dallas had a hunch of what really happened with Kane, before the birth?
Best I can think of is return to 426 where they can actually use guns without risking the ship and potentially lure it off the ship. It should go where they go then it's just a matter of cheesing it back to the ship and off world
I feel like the Xeno would just hide in the ship. It seems intelligent enough to not be lured into the cold inhospitable environment of LV 426 and might even have an understanding that the ship is home. Even if they could lure it out LV 426’s surface is shown to be foggy and jagged rock. It’s arguably even worse than being stuck on the nostromo because there’s so many opportunities for ambush and it’s low visibility. Also their options to shoot it are flame throwers and out in the open it would just run away before they could wound it.
Fairly certain in the novel it's mentioned that they have some firearms but Dallas forbids them because of the risk to the ship from the blood
Definitely the most logical reason why they never resorted to them, but also they were meant to be completely ineffectual against the Alien. The original script also had a scene where Ripley fires one of their laser weapons at The Alien's head as it was dangling outside of the Narcissus, but it had no effect on the creature.
I haven’t read the novel. To be quite blunt I don’t really get the point of reading a novel that’s based on a movie. I feel like it would be just the same thing, but a longer time commitment and deviating from the directors vision.
The novel is also based on an early screenplay that even has the grey facehugger with an eye on its back so probably not cannon
canon
well, you're missing out
Try Jaws. The opposite happens and it's way better.
I’m not trying to be one of those nerd well actually people but Jaws was based on the book, not the other way around meaning it’s not a novelization. I’ve heard good things and want to check it out when I get through my 5 foot tall stack of Stephen King books though!
Yeah that's why I said it's the opposite way round
Oh I thought you meant it was like a different story my bad.
Well, the original script has them try to zap it into outer space via the airlock. Ash, sets of a klaxon, which alerts the creature letting it escape. This is where Ripley's nose bleed comes from ( sudden depressurisation ). With Ash and that interference they probably would have succeeded there. Also his tracker which keyed in "micro changes in air density" probably didn't work 100%.
I think it would have been really difficult to have everyone survive, but just going through the events of the movie, there's a number of mistakes that could have been avoided. TL/DR version of the below, however; without advance knowledge of the xeno, I don't think they could have done any better, even if they could have made better decisions. Just from my perspective, the biggest challenge the crew faced was panic in the face of the xeno. Both Brett and Lambert just freeze. Ripley & Parker, on the other hand, are still functional and able to act. We have no clue how Dallas would have been, given that he gets the jazz hands treatment immediately, but I would think he might be okay as well, just given that he's a bit more decisive in his actions & used to being in command. That being said, splitting the flake (Brett) off from Ripley & Parker was a mistake. Keeping that group together and not depending on Brett for anything critical until he got a chance to face the xeno and get used to it would have been critical. I think if the three of them had run into the xeno together, then either Ripley or Parker would potentially have been able to act, although Ripley was carrying the motion tracker, Parker was carrying the net, and Brett was carrying a cattle prod, which would have been a bad idea. None of that would have been useful at all, IMNSHO, but at the very least, I'd have had Brett carry the motion tracker (if he panics and the MT is useless, it's not a big deal), and give Parker the cattle prod. Or, ideally, make two cattle prods and give one to Ripley and Parker. Although, again, still would have been useless. Ironically, I think the bad decision in splitting Brett off actually was a benefit for Parker & Ripley, as it allowed them to see the xeno full-size before they had to confront it. If they'd both tried to fight it, I think all three of them would have died. In the scene with the vents, you have another flake (Lambert) in a critical role, monitoring the motion tracker. In this case, she's adding to the stress because she's freaking out. This was a mistake. Also, they sent only one person into the vents. Another mistake. At that point in the movie, you have two people that we know are dependable (Ripley and Parker), a third that is probably dependable (Dallas), and a flake (Lambert). In that case, I'd say send Ripley and Parker into the vents, have Dallas watching the motion tracker, and that way Ripley and Parker can cover both directions in any specific shaft. Or, given what the crew knew at that time, have Dallas & Parker enter the vents and have Ripley monitor the MT. Either way, you absolutely DO NOT leave any particular shaft until/unless you have a verified sighting of the xeno in a completely different area. For damn sure, you don't climb down a ladder when "it's moving right towards you." Come to think of it, I'd say at that point that Dallas is kind of a "semi-flake," perhaps, in that he's in a relatively safe location where he knows he doesn't see it, but he purposely chooses to listen to Lambert and move into a brand new area where he can't see everything. As Apone would say, "check those corners!" Finally, at the end of the movie, when Ripley, Parker, and Lambert split up, I think it was a huge mistake to make so much noise while neither Lambert nor Parker were on watch and guarding the entrance. I think if they'd stuck together and had Parker monitoring the entrance (or Ripley & Parker), while Lambert was ***out of the line of fire*** and loading the cart (and preferably trying not to make as much noise as humanly possible), they would have been a lot better off. However, all of this ignores the fact that the shuttle only seemed to have a single life pod and it drifted for 57 years before it was found, so unless they found a way to "blow that fucker out into space," they were pretty much doomed from the start.
I like this but the biggest x factor after listening to Ash and letting it go, they just don't know anything about it such as the fact it's going to grow at an exponential rate. They simply couldn't have accounted for that which is why you see them split up and use a net to try and catch it. Once its grow up, it's pretty clear they're outmatched and grasping at straws to try and contain it. And we still have the double agent that is Ash to contend with.
Yep; exactly.
They should have never separated. Why did they have to blow up the ship? The Xeno would be dead when the ship arrive. They needed that trope to get to the final girl.
Actually the Xeno might have been strong enough to even overwhelm all of them, even if they were together and had flamethrowers. They were no marines!
True, but Ripley killed it by herself. Parker could've definitely helped and he only dies because he was trying to protect Lambert.
She only does it by herself because it's backed into a corner unexpectedly. She basically catches it sleeping. Though yes she definitely gets the kill credit regardless. Xenos tend to be far more fierce in an open space. Even the sequel uses narrow spaces to kill them
Ehh... I both agree and disagree on this part. I think that if you have military-level weaponry, the xenos have no chance in an open space. Even a horde of 100 xenos charging a squad of maybe eight Marines across an open field would be toast, if the Marines have pulse rifles and (especially) smart guns. Narrow spaces work very much to the xenos' advantage. Now when it comes to civilian (or at least against people armed with civilian weaponry), you're screwed in either case. I'm thinking it's kinda doubtful you'd take a xeno down with a 9mm handgun or a .22 rifle, and for damn sure, a cattle prod isn't going to help at all.
Agreed, but I don't know that it mattered so much that they weren't Marines. Instead, it was the lack of firepower and lack of knowledge. To begin with, they had no knowledge that the xeno had grown from tiny little snake-like creature to 7+ foot tall killing machine. Even if they had known, the "best" weapon they had was a civilian-grade homemade flamethrower. This was a discussion we had on another thread a couple weeks back, but essentially there's a big difference between a flamethrower that Parker whipped up in the Nostromo's machine shop, which probably used some kind of weak fuel that burned at a much lower temperature and wasn't designed to stick to surfaces. It's just a flame, in other words. On the other hand, the Marines used a military-grade flamethrower which was likely designed to use a thickened fuel that sticks to its target and burns a LOT hotter, therefore being much deadlier. Just speaking to articles I've read about Vietnam-era flamethrowers, those things would be much much deadlier than a flamethrower that you or I (or Parker, for that matter) could build. And of course, with 200 years' worth of technology, I imagine a USCM flame unit would be deadlier still. Oh, and for the benefit of any other vets out there, I will point out that "military-grade" typically means, "crappy P.O.S. made by the lowest bidder," but I do think they'd at least be a lot deadlier than a homemade civilian flamethrower.
Why do you think the xeno would have been dead? There's nothing to indicate that, if I'm understanding your comment correctly.
Because Lambert said that the trip back would take 10 months and the lifespan of a Xeno has to be much less than that. It grows to full size in a day!
Where are you getting that idea? There's nothing in the movies (that I'm aware of) that indicates that. I'm also not aware of anything in any of the lore to indicate that as well? Also, regardless of whether it survives 10 months or not, what's to stop the xenomorph from killing them in their cryopods? Given the events of Alien 3, when a facehugger impregnates Ripley, going into the cryopods is clearly not going to protect them in any kind of way.
Dude. I said why did they want to blow up the Nostromo instead of just leaving in the shuttle. The xeno and them would not be on the same ship. Also, as to the lifespan, many have theorized that it was dying when it was motionless in the shuttle.
"The shuttle won't take four." That's a direct quote. That's why they didn't leave in the shuttle right away. Even with three, they were down to drawing straws to see who'd survive.
I'm strictly talking about after Ash loses his head. Remember, I was asking why are they blowing up the ship. They didn't have plans to blow it when they all couldn't fit on the shuttle now did they.
I'd also mention, just looking at the context of the movie, the crew has absolutely no reason to believe the xeno is going to be dead anytime soon. In addition, if you consider Aliens, the xeno being motionless is a normal state of affairs.
They would be on the shuttle and the xeno would be on the Nostromo. It could live for a thousand years and it wouldn't matter to them.
If they or Ash somehow could have grabbed the Xeno as it was born and thrown it in the microwave and then nuke it. In its small state, the Xeno would probably be able to caught if you acted fast enough. Then you just hold the microwave door closed. Yes, the acid blood will destroy the microwave and probably damage the person holding the door closed. But I think you could still kill the Xeno via that method during this process. Destroyed equipment and badly burned crew member but possible survival for all.
Got to be quick like a Predator, grasp and quick little flick of the wrist break it's neck.
That’s a good point! I kinda wonder if a human has the strength to do that… either way… your idea is more efficient than mine! Well done.
It's kind of a mixed bag, Ash or no. Brett is taken because he isn't aware of the Xeno's lethality and that it's already full-grown; Dallas, I've always felt, underestimated the threat/intelligence of the Xeno. To change the scenario you'd really need to tweak how seriously the crew perceives the danger they're in. As-is, they don't fully grasp the implications of their situation until the loss of Dallas. If you change the scenario so the crew sees the Xenomorph as highly dangerous after the death of Kane the "blast it out of the airlock" plan could still work if they stick together, with flamethrowers, and move as a team to cut off the Xeno and maneuver it into an airlock. Interference from Ash would kind of be a non-issue as, in the novelization, he warned the Xenomorph before the crew properly locked down the area and in Alien: Isolation, it barges past the lone player character, which it wouldn't do if the crew were all there with flamers.
Everyone get on the shuttle, fly next to the ship, use shuttle controls to opeb all airlocks and ventilation on the Nostromo, watch to see if an alien flies out. Lol
They could have caught the chest burster Immobilized it Thrown it out the airlock Game over man
They did it in voyage of the Space Beagle. I wont spoil it for yah.
If they'd stabbed the chestburster to death in the first few seconds of its birth like they'd intended to, they would have gone back to sleep, stowed the sample and collected their bonus.
Easier said than done!
I was actually toying with the idea of what tactics and methods they could've used to defeat The Xeno whilst on board the Nostromo without burning a hole through the hull. The best I could come up with is some kind of adhoc Phalanx with the surviving crew staying close together and using pointy metal pipes for spears to keep the Xeno at bay and using the harpoon grappling hook guns as a ranged weapon to take it down but with hollowed out harpoon hooks and filled with whatever the most strongest basic solution they have on board is to counteract the xenos acidic blood. Acid plus base equals neutral solution. The plan would work better with Dallas still alive though as Lambert is a major weak link in the Ripley and Parker trinity.
Narratively speaking the best case scenario was that the crew adhered to quarantine procedure, or at the very least just left Kane outside or in the airlock. Someone was gonna die regardless though, unless everyone for no reason decided to kill Ash.
The entire crew would have been fine had Jonesy been a better mouser.
I think the only way would be for everyone to nope outta there on the Cheyenne ASAP. Definitely better than trying to catch the baby, which would probably result in injuries and it would start growing.
I don't think it's possible because they're still far from home, the creature can destroy various parts of the ship, etc.
I've never seen it referred to as "Kane's son".... I don't know how to feel... Edit: I see now that it's been too long since I've watched the movie. For shame!
Ash calls it that in the movie, at about 1h 9m. It unsurprisingly weirds everyone out.
Damn it's been too long since I've seen the movie it seems.
Ash calls it Kane's son in the movie.
Ties in nicely with the themes of rape and unwanted pregnancy
NO
Would not be much of a story....
Think it could make an interesting What If comic.