What the heck is the Xenomorph doing at the end of "Alien?"

[davejames]

Yeah obviously there are tons of examples of ships being destroyed on purpose, but I was just wondering if there's ever been an actual "self-destruct" device built into one.

I know that advanced new helicopter used in the Bin Laden raid was blown up after it crashed, but I can't remember if that was by self-destruct or just a bunch of grenades...

 

[Reverend]

As has been pointed out, "scuttling" a space craft (without a handy star/planet/moon/asteroid to ram it into) would require some very thorough and deliberate pyrotechnics. With military seaborne vessels and aircraft, all you really need to do is detonate the ordinance and let it sink, or use the ejector seat and let gravity do all the work.

Not sure about top secret aircraft because...well, they're top secret, no? Still, with something as small as a helicopter then a couple of well placed C4 charges should do the job. That is assuming you don't mind the enemy capturing the remains of the tail.

Keep in mind though, that what we saw in Alien wasn't really a dedicated self destruct system (like say a series of strategically placed explosive charges that can be set to go off at a moments notice) it was little more than a safety override that caused the engines to overload and detonate (as was mentioned later in Aliens.) The most likely reason why this is prevalent in science fiction probably has something to do with needing a quick and simple way to explain to the audience that the ship will blow up on purpose. Kind of like saying "ramming speed" instead of "aim the ship at that guy, go to full speed and don't miss." Means the same thing, but the former it a useful shorthand.

 

[J.T.B.]

Yeah obviously there are tons of examples of ships being destroyed on purpose, but I was just wondering if there's ever been an actual "self-destruct" device built into one.

I don't believe so. Easier just to let the water in through systems that are already there. There are small destruction systems for stuff like cryptology and intelligence-gathering equipment, though.

I know that advanced new helicopter used in the Bin Laden raid was blown up after it crashed, but I can't remember if that was by self-destruct or just a bunch of grenades...

It was reported that thermite grenades were used there.

--Justin

 

[TremblingBluStar]

The biggest question of all, IMO, is why didn't the entire crew abandon the ship upon first seeing the full grown alien in action. At the very least, after the first few crew members bit it, the survivors should have given up trying to track the thing down to kill it and fled.

Maybe they didn't have the opportunity. I haven't seen the film in a few years. But I do recall being annoyed that the characters were sticking around when Ripley at the end is the only one with the smarts to make an escape.

 

[RoJoHen]

Maybe they had really important cargo.

 

[Tiberius]

The biggest question of all, IMO, is why didn't the entire crew abandon the ship upon first seeing the full grown alien in action. At the very least, after the first few crew members bit it, the survivors should have given up trying to track the thing down to kill it and fled.

Maybe they didn't have the opportunity. I haven't seen the film in a few years. But I do recall being annoyed that the characters were sticking around when Ripley at the end is the only one with the smarts to make an escape.

They said that the shuttle only takes three people. There wasn't enough room for them all.

 

[Admiral Shran]

^ Indeed, that explanation is offered by the movie. But that raises another problem - why wasn't the ship's escape vessel large enough to accommodate the entire crew?

Who the hell built the Nostromo? The White Star Line?

 

[Star Wolf]

Why its the corporation of the future, more powerful than any government and its Coast Guard which would forbid permission to sail. Look at Aliens a mid level executive thought he could kill a USCMC squad and infiltrate an alien to obtain what a corporate vice presidency?

 

[Tiberius]

^ Indeed, that explanation is offered by the movie. But that raises another problem - why wasn't the ship's escape vessel large enough to accommodate the entire crew?

Who the hell built the Nostromo? The White Star Line?

Honestly, I think the in-universe explanation is this:

They probably figured that the only thing that could go wrong was with the refinery, not the actual ship, and if that was the case they could easily detach it.

 

[LaxScrutiny]

A self destruct could potentially make sense..... the ship could be used to carry some high-tech or top secret stuff that if they're attacked by pirates or other corporations, they would rather have the cargo destroyed than captured. Or the ship could get infested with something and they don't want any possibility of it getting out. There are all sorts of "practical" reasons why it wouldn't be a bad idea for a ship to carry a self destruct.

True. My Volvo can be used to carry just about anything, so as a selling point, the manufacturer built in a self-destruct capability.

I had occasion to use it the other day when someone pissed me off in the parking lot. Took my spot. Arrogant bitch. When they came out of the mall to find smoking wreckage, they had a nice surprise.

 

[Reverend]

Maybe they had really important cargo.

No idea if its supported by the script or background materials but I recall the novelization saying that the cargo was mostly crude oil mined off world (Earth's wells having long since run dry) that enormous module the Nostromo was hauling was basically a robotic refinery that processed the oil during the several years long journey back to Earth.

 

[RoJoHen]

Maybe they had really important cargo.

No idea if is supported by the script of background materials but I recall the novelization saying that the cargo was mostly crude oil mined off world (Earth's wells having long since run dry) that that enormous module the Nostromo was hauling was basically a robotic refinery that processed the oil during the several years long journey back to Earth.

Oil is important! Can you even imagine the gas prices on Earth?!

 

[Reverend]

^Realisically, it'd probably only be used for plastics and other industrial uses. Given that (IIRC) the atmosphere processors ran on a fusion reactor, one would think they'd have switched over to rechargeable power cells.

 

[RoJoHen]

You are completely ruining my fun.

 

[J.T.B.]

No idea if its supported by the script or background materials but I recall the novelization saying that the cargo was mostly crude oil mined off world (Earth's wells having long since run dry) that enormous module the Nostromo was hauling was basically a robotic refinery that processed the oil during the several years long journey back to Earth.

I remember that from the novel, too, but I believe in the movie it was "mineral ore."

--Justin

 

[TremblingBluStar]

They said that the shuttle only takes three people. There wasn't enough room for them all.

If I recall correctly, eventually there are only 3 people left. Didn't they plan on taking the shuttle then, but the other 2 were picked off while getting ready?

Regarding the deleted scene where Ripley finds the captain - what was that about? I watched it last night, and although Scott says the people were being turned into alien eggs, you really can't tell what is going on. I figured it was like what happened with survivors in Aliens, where they were kept alive for implantation.

 

[Reverend]

You are completely ruining my fun.

Well everyone needs a hobby...

They said that the shuttle only takes three people. There wasn't enough room for them all.

If I recall correctly, eventually there are only 3 people left. Didn't they plan on taking the shuttle then, but the other 2 were picked off while getting ready?

Regarding the deleted scene where Ripley finds the captain - what was that about? I watched it last night, and although Scott says the people were being turned into alien eggs, you really can't tell what is going on. I figured it was like what happened with survivors in Aliens, where they were kept alive for implantation.

It's a little hard to tell for looking but you do get a glimpse of Brett who's a bit further along and more egg like than Dallas. There was no queen in the original concept of the alien life cycle, that was purely James Cameron's invention. It still works though, especially if you retcon that one of the eggs in a queen. Makes sense if you think about it as it gives the aliens the ability to infest a population starting with just a single spore. If they are dependent on queens then a lone egg will just dead-end.

 

[Tiberius]

Given that each egg must be capable of producing a queen (they are the same species and so the genetic information for producing a queen must be in each individual), I'd say that the life cycle would go like this...

Egg hatches, produces face hugger, infects a life form.
Face hugger implants chest burster.
Chest burster develops. If other xenos are detected (pheromones in the air or some other mechanism) then certain hormones are supressed, and a normal xeno drone will develop. If pheromones are not detected, then those hormones are not suporessed. Presence of those hormones in the chest burster will lead it to grow into a queen.

You'll not that the alien in the first movie looked different to the ones in the second movie (it had the smooth covering on it's head, but the drones in the second movie had bumpy heads). This smooth covering could be the part that grows out to be that huge fan that the queen has. We never got a chance to see it in the first movie because the xeno was still a baby.

With this logic, the xeno in the first movie was a queen, which explains why it was able to lay the eggs we saw in the extended version. And this shows that a lone will not be a dead end even if they are dependent on queens.

 

[RedShirt]

To me the bigger question is: why the heck would the Nostromo, a commercial towing and mining vessel, have a self-destruct button built into it? I can kind of understand not wanting the advanced technology of the Enterprise to fall into enemy hands, but the Nostromo?

It was far from a simple button; in fact there were multiple physical safeties involved that I'm sure only authorized personnel would even know exist. I've read rationalizations somewhere that the ship was purchased by the company from military surplus (perhaps a leftover from a previous war or government-backed expansionist period) and re-purposed as a tug. Seems good enough to me. Still one of my favorite depictions of a self-destruct system in any media; the combination of electrical and mechanical interlocks always ramps up the tension at a critical point in the climax for me (as an industrial maintenance tech I always appreciate even the little things that lend a little verisimilitude to fictional technology).

The biggest question of all, IMO, is why didn't the entire crew abandon the ship upon first seeing the full grown alien in action. At the very least, after the first few crew members bit it, the survivors should have given up trying to track the thing down to kill it and fled.

Maybe they didn't have the opportunity. I haven't seen the film in a few years. But I do recall being annoyed that the characters were sticking around when Ripley at the end is the only one with the smarts to make an escape.

They said that the shuttle only takes three people. There wasn't enough room for them all.

That was never said. All we know for sure is Ripley's response to Lambert's suggestion that they abandon ship:
"The shuttle won't take four."
However, the best views I can glean of the Narcissus interior show 3 seats and 2 sleep capsules, meaning someone is going to be playing a lot of solitaire while the others sleep until they are found... and they had no idea how long that was going to take. So after Ripley decides to destroy the Nostromo she sends Parker and Lambert off to collect as much coolant as they can carry for the shuttle's air support systems, implying that those systems would be taxed without additional support even with only three people aboard. To me the presence of the sleep capsules implies a very limited long range emergency role for what would appear to be a shuttle meant only for short jaunts from point A to point B.

Makes sense if you think about it as it gives the aliens the ability to infest a population starting with just a single spore. If they are dependent on queens then a lone egg will just dead-end.

Which is why the original concept is much more terrifying to me as an audience member than what eventually evolved through the sequels.

 

[Tiberius]

That was never said. All we know for sure is Ripley's response to Lambert's suggestion that they abandon ship:
"The shuttle won't take four."

However, once Ash is dead, and there's three of them left, the shuttle becomes the best option, as evidenced by the fact that they decide to use it. Or do you think Ripley's gonna make them draw straws in the airlock?