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A detail that always bugged me about Alien

 
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Cold Canuck
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 24, 2013 8:10 pm    Post subject: A detail that always bugged me about Alien Reply with quote

Why, after Parker and Lambert were killed by the Alien, did Ripley still insist on going through with the scuttle procedure?

Having just seen her last two crew mates (one of them tougher and physically stronger that her) killed, why did she not just wave bye-bye to the Nostromo as she sailed off into the sun set?

I would have thought that she would have been in full survival-mode after that, and would have made a bee-line for the Narcissus and safety (sort of).

Any ideas?
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Jens2133
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 25, 2013 5:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

It seems to me that the Alien blocks the corridor to the life boat, so Ripley has no other option than to abort the self-destruction procedure.
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joberg
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 25, 2013 6:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yep, not only blocked the way, but made its way inside the Narcissus
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Bwood
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 25, 2013 10:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

She wasn't taking any chances and wanted to obliterate any other hostile undiscovered life forms still alive on the Nostromo?
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Cold Canuck
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 25, 2013 2:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Joberg & Jens2133
What I meant was...if she hadn't taken the time to set the auto destruct, she might have gotten to the Narcissus before the Alien did and left it sucking vacuum.

Bwood: it just struck me as a little strange since she appeared to be driven by fear and shock and not so much revenge when she left her slain comrades....so why take time she obviously didn't have, to set the ship to scuttle?
A person driven by revenge and hatred WOULD have been inclined to do that, but she didn't seem to fit that mold.
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Jens2133
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 25, 2013 4:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Oh, I see...

Sorry I got that wrong. This is a fine reason to watch the film again. I hope I can come up with something more useful afterwards.

Cheers!
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joberg
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 25, 2013 4:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

O.k. got it...so your scenario is this: she knows she's the only one alive and instead of setting the auto-destruction system, she should've just bolted to the Narcissus and leave the Alien on board the Nostromo.

Now CC, you're getting all realistic and logic here Laughing It's much more fun to see revenge and the Alien getting shot into the gut, then hanging outside to finally seek refuge inside one of the engine and be a piece of crisp bacon when Ripley is finished with him

I'll go even more realistic: after the search party is back with an infected Kane into the airlock, they should've respected Ripley's rank and quarantine order; 'cause at that moment she was the most senior officer on deck. Leave them there for 45 days and see what would've happened!
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Cold Canuck
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 25, 2013 5:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Almost :-]

The fact that Dallas was in the airlock as opposed to out of communication range, made his order still valid.
Being in an airlock doesn't magically make his rank and responsibility for the crew, void.

But, you're right, I DO tend to get a little anal when it comes to legitimizing scenarios, character's behavior or lines of script Very Happy
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andy
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 26, 2013 1:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I always understood it as she did it to prevent the alien being surviving and being used by WY as a weapon of mass destruction. Of course that wouldn't have stopped them from going back to the planet where they found it to get another one, leading to the second movie of course. Still the theme in almost all of the films was that she was willing to sacrifice herself to save the rest of humanity from the alien.

Andy
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Bwood
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 26, 2013 9:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

CC, like Andy suggests, I would think she did it to prevent any chance of the Alien or it's spawn surviving to wreak future havoc in the universe. I think her mindset was more pragmatic than vengeful.
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Cold Canuck
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 26, 2013 10:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

That would make sense...it just appeared, from the rather frantic run, that she was hell-bent on getting the hell off that ship...all her shipmates are, after all, dead.
Oh, well...as was recently stated, artist license often dictates script direction :-]
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joberg
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 26, 2013 11:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

It woud've been interesting to let the Alien aboard the Nostromo while Ripley got the hell outta there with the Narcissus (then again, what is the Alien going to eat for all those long years...something that was not explained in the movie Confused ).

Then, send the marines to get it and bring it back Wink
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Brownclaw
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 11, 2013 4:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Although not strictly canon, the 1984 Argus Press computer game of the movie used the following scuttle rule.

The shuttle could not physically be launched whilst lifeforms were detected on-board the Nostromo. This excluded the Alien, of course, but did include Jones and any crew members. So you couldn't just leave the cat behind and whoosh off into space.

Interestingly however the Nostromo had no qualms whatsoever about DETONATING ITS OWN ENGINES with life forms aboard, which always seemed like a bit of a bitchy attitude for MUTHR to have Very Happy
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clutch
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 11, 2013 8:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Something about the cooling unit. After it had been off for so long, there was no way to keep the ship from blowing up.
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Cold Canuck
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 11, 2013 8:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Correct...after T minus 5 minutes, the cooling units could/would not turn back on....boom!
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phase pistol
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 11, 2013 10:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I forget where it is in the sequence, but at one point Ripley finds Dallas and Brett semi-cocconed by the Alien... on their way to becoming new Alien eggs!

Ripley incinerates them, but by that point in the plot, we can forgive her for escaping in the shuttle and nuking the ship from space... just to be sure.

Also there was no way to turn the cooling unit back on. MOTHERRRRRR! Shocked

Karl
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