Why do you think the pilots left their aircraft open and unattended while on the colony rescue mission in Aliens? Were they not aware of the alien battle the other crew members were going through or was this just careless on their part?
I'll be honest, that's the best explanation for the gap in time that I've ever heard and makes a million percent sense as to what, where, when, and most importantly, why, and W.Y. prioritizing their field droid and crew to be mostly one track minded with only a three team crew going in. Should have been at least five teams. Would have had a better shot of actually achieving their goals, Ripley or not. But no three teams and who survives? Half a droid, three quarters of a marine, a woman, and a child?! I mean there's shitting the bed, and then there's Hadley's hope!
As long as a Xenomorph egg or embryo ended up coming back to Gateway, the mission would have been considered a complete success. Everything and everyone else, including Burke and the Sulaco itself, is ultimately expendable.
Your comment got me (over) thinking. We know that (allegedly) Bishop got an egg on board and infected Ripley in Alien 3, making the mission a success. They then used the scans from this to recreate the aliens in Alien 4. But what about “Marachek. John J… They killed him taking it off”. Presumably the company already had the medical scans from the colonists. Unless they lost contact with the colony and that data couldn’t be sent. Even so, all Bishop would have needed was to bring that data back if cloning was that good.
But I’m reading too much into it. Also we all know Resurrection makes zero sense.
I don't rewatch 3 and Resurrection very often, so my knowledge (and the Ripley/Xenomorph narrative) ends after the second movie for me.
The franchise ends after the 2nd movie (and A:CM) for me
As mentioned Resurrection is bonkers, even ignoring that, its like 200 years later in the timeline, lots of time to improve cloning.
Realistically this makes the most sense. A modern "dropship" has two pilots and a crew chief and maybe an extra crewman, like a door gunner. Even IF you had four people sitting on the drop ship, two of them are only there to drive. So that'd leave two people to "pull security." Really easy for a super stealthy "perfect organism" that doesn't show up on IR to sneak past and board the aircraft.
Yes, and considering the dropship has such a high level of automation that it can be remote-piloted by a single skilled pilot, a two-person crew isn't unrealistic.
Well Gorman declared the area secured. In general they were very undermanned for the mission, they had no reserve. However they had sentry guns they didn't even set up. The reality was they really just didn't believe Ripley, and they were too casual. I'm not sure what Gorman expected when he sent the Marines into the Atmosphere processor either. Maybe for the whole colony to just be hiding out there?
Hubris is definitely a big theme in this movie.
The mission was sabotaged from the start by Burke. He knew that asking for more resources would catch the attention of somebody higher up the Company food chain, and he wouldn't get his Finder's Fee or whatever.
The Marines dismissed Ripley's warnings as another "bug hunt" because Burke and the Company dismissed her. The fact that the Colony was empty probably led the dropship crew to drop their guard too.
All but Hicks. It's incredibly clear from the moment he comes across the firefight fallout in Hadley's Hope that he completely studied every aspect of Ripley's report and is taking the Xenomorph threat likely.
I think this comes from 2 things:
I assume somewhere in Hicks service record he survived a horrible encounter/battle/operation that he would recognise in Ripley and that her story wasn't bullshit.
He sees Burke along on the ride. He can tell Gorman is super green, and he is experienced enough to know this isn't a regular op. He knew something was wrong, and so he prepared accordingly.
Remember, Hicks is a corporal, which serves to the Sergant, which is why you see He and Apone discussing loadouts. My man Hicks ain't no fool.
Your point 1 assumption is absolutley right. His wife was a marine and got killed. He was on point on the mission that found her body. (Not quite sure what else happens, still listening to it.)
Aliens - bug hunt.
Such a great collection of stories! I thought it was epically ironic in the first story that the Captain of the team sent in by WY was told to "not take risks if safety wasn't totally assured".
Its not like I pirate audiobooks...ok I pirate audiobooks. The alien collection is just so, good..Palanx is my fav so far but only half way.
Burke.. it was Burke. He instructed Bishop to analyze the facehuggers while the marines were busy searching for survivors. He was to collect data that Spunkmeyer was bringing to the ship from the lab. He’s seen in the lab assisting Bishop. After the marines find the nest and are attacked, Hicks orders Ferro to pick them up for immediate dust off. Spunkmeyer returns while an alien enters the open drop ship. After the crash, Burke orders Bishop to prepare the surviving 2 facehuggers to be put in stasis and brought back for analysis, likely assuming Bishop’s programmed loyalty to the company and understanding that the preservation of the specimen was his primary duty.
Ferro tells Spunkmeyer to "get off the pot!"
I believe they were both supposed to be standing by for dust off, but Spunkmeyer had to use the head. I'm sure there's some kind of makeshift head onboard for emergencies, but would be uncomfortable to use and require cleaning afterwards, something any Marine knows to try and avoid. So he went to use a restroom in the facility when the call came in for pickup. During that time, a particularly curious xeno found its way onboard and drooling on the entrance ramp.
They didn't. One of the main things we've seen from the alien is being able to silently get right behind you. It could have easily crawled up the ship and in the door from the top when the pilots weren't looking directly at the door. We've also seen aliens use acid to make their own entrances, the first time we see a face hugger it sprays acid to melt through the space suit helmet. The alien could simply have made its own entrance
Poor management : simulator trained officer, hidden agenda from a key player, underestimated threats … what could go wrong???
I’ve always wondered that. Do spaceships have car keys? Or can you just walk in and fly? It seems very careless to leave your only means to exit the planet, wide open for just anything to make a home, or worse even, steal it!
Yes. Thank you 🙏🏻
I think when the ship took off, it hit some debris, that’s where the alien got on the ship
I think the bigger problem is that they left the Sulaco unattended. What's more absurd is that the Sulaco took over without a captain and crew, and it's armed with nuclear weapons, among others.
OTOH, that should lead to new material explaining the same. That is, the company and military were working covertly and quickly so that government regulators wouldn't know, so they did something like launch a ship that's about to be decommissioned (hence, no crew), activated half of a platoon that was about to go on leave, and then replaced the commander with Gorman so that Burke (with Bishop) could smuggle whatever they found to the company.
1 missing reply
I don't think the dropship was unattended. I assumed Cpl. Ferro hung out in the cockpit running diagnostics, etc while waiting for her orders to pick the other Marines up, and Spunkmeyer was carting equipment back and forth to Bishop in the colony lab, which is likely when the intruding Xenomorph snuck onto the ship.