Sigourney Weaver talks Alien 5... again...

[Solariabsg25]

ALIEN RESURRECTION:

On the off-chance that they'll invent effective cloning technology, they keep DNA samples of Ripley on ice for a few centuries, just in case..... errrrr.......

Well, considering she and the alien fell into a giant pit of fire in Alien 3, they probably just tried to salvage whatever DNA they could find. It was all jumbled together, which is why there were so many hybrid clones in all those tubes. It probably wasn't until Alien Resurrection that they were effectively able to isolate the Xenomorph DNA.

They specified that they had Ripley's DNA stored, though can we trust anyone who gets the planet's name wrong?

Much as I love Sigourney as an actress, I really wish they had left her out of 4, and told a different story. I also hated the fact that after the work Cameron did on fleshing out the United States Colonial Marine Corps, they dumped this for the United System Military, and in one-line told us Weyland-Yutani were gone (bought out by Walmart).

 

[Tosk]

They specified that they had Ripley's DNA stored, though can we trust anyone who gets the planet's name wrong?

Totally. Fiorina "Fury" 161 somehow becomes Fiori 16.

"We used blood samples from Fiori 16 on ice, where you died."

I'd love to know what kind of cloning not only brings back Ripley but somehow brings back a chestburster she was carrying at the time. Did they clone the food she had in her stomach too?

 

[Solariabsg25]

They specified that they had Ripley's DNA stored, though can we trust anyone who gets the planet's name wrong?

Totally. Fiorina "Fury" 161 somehow becomes Fiori 16.

"We used blood samples from Fiori 16 on ice, where you died."

I'd love to know what kind of cloning not only brings back Ripley but somehow brings back a chestburster she was carrying at the time. Did they clone the food she had in her stomach too?

"Sorry General, we've combined Ripley's DNA with the broccoli again!"

"Damn it! Start again, move to Clone 4!"

 

[Reverend]

They specified that they had Ripley's DNA stored, though can we trust anyone who gets the planet's name wrong?

Totally. Fiorina "Fury" 161 somehow becomes Fiori 16.

"We used blood samples from Fiori 16 on ice, where you died."

I'd love to know what kind of cloning not only brings back Ripley but somehow brings back a chestburster she was carrying at the time. Did they clone the food she had in her stomach too?

It is a bit weird to say the least, but i think the logic is that the two genomes were somehow entangled--presumably (and retroactively) the result of Engineer technology--and it took them 8 tries just to grow them as *mostly* separate organisms.

Maybe at first they tried isolating the xeno-DNA and growing the larva separately, but it's parasitic nature made that impossible, hence bringing Ripley back too.

As for the planet name...I think the title card in Alien 3 said "Fiorina "Fury" 161". Evidentially Whedon was either confused or going by memory alone and nobody bothered to check. I suppose it's possible the planet's name changed a little over the centuries, but that's being generous.

 

[RoJoHen]

It is a bit weird to say the least, but i think the logic is that the two genomes were somehow entangled--presumably (and retroactively) the result of Engineer technology--and it took them 8 tries just to grow them as *mostly* separate organisms.

Maybe at first they tried isolating the xeno-DNA and growing the larva separately, but it's parasitic nature made that impossible, hence bringing Ripley back too.

Since nobody has ever had an alien burst out of their chest and live to tell the tale, we have no idea what effect it has on the human host. For all we know, the gestation corrupts the human DNA so it's impossible to get an "only Ripley" blood sample.

 

[Solariabsg25]

Oddly enough, the much-criticised Aliens:Colonial Marines game does a ret-con that sort-of explains the cloning issue.

According to them, the chestburster feeds tendrils into the body, operating like a cancer. Now, if it does this, it's possible that the samples kept of Ripley may have included these cancerous cells, which would probably contain the DNA of both chestburster and host.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

They specified that they had Ripley's DNA stored, though can we trust anyone who gets the planet's name wrong?

Totally. Fiorina "Fury" 161 somehow becomes Fiori 16.

"We used blood samples from Fiori 16 on ice, where you died."

I'd love to know what kind of cloning not only brings back Ripley but somehow brings back a chestburster she was carrying at the time. Did they clone the food she had in her stomach too?

This is something I pieced together from the ether. Years ago, when the first film originally came out, there was a magazine article somewhere (in a Starlog? somewhere else?) that speculated that the alien's DNA in the embryo implanted by the face-hugger merged with the host's DNA to make the chest-burster. This explained for example why the adult alien was humanoid. This idea of the alien as a "macro-virus" as they called it was evidently picked up in AVP in the pred-alien.

What I got from Alien 4 was that the chest-burster in Ripley was also rewriting her DNA. Something in her body was gestating whose acid blood would normally dissolve a human. As a host, she'd likely have to be adapted at least somewhat to host such an organism. Maybe they said this in the film, maybe not. I only saw it once in the theater, so I honestly don't remember now. Anyway, the hand-wavy idea I got from Alien 4 was that all the DNA samples they had were of already combined DNA. The problem they faced was to extrapolate backwards as best they could to separate the DNA and simulate alien implantation in a human host, in order to grow a viable alien.

I may be totally off, though. Perhaps those more knowledgeable can comment.

 

[Deckerd]

I like 'hand-wavy idea'. My new expression du jour. My interpretation coincides with yours on the eighth iteration of creating a Ripley with passenger as (more or less as it turned out) separate entities. The chestbursting necessarily kills the host because of the nature of the eruption but when you think about it, it makes sense that a parasite would avail itself of all the resources available in its host. Ripley only survived because it was removed before it could kill her but maybe her hybrid nature was compounded by being a host.

 

[Reverend]

I like 'hand-wavy idea'. My new expression du jour. My interpretation coincides with yours on the eighth iteration of creating a Ripley with passenger as (more or less as it turned out) separate entities. The chestbursting necessarily kills the host because of the nature of the eruption but when you think about it, it makes sense that a parasite would avail itself of all the resources available in its host. Ripley only survived because it was removed before it could kill her but maybe her hybrid nature was compounded by being a host.

The fact that they seemingly had to clone her to get it pretty much confirms this. Clearly there was some genetic hybridisation going on before those blood samples were drawn.

The extent of it however isn't totally clear, because the cloning process wasn't completely successful in separating them, otherwise the newborn wouldn't have existed.

It's possible that if someone had the larva removed prior to "birth" and survived, they might display some hybrid traits. On the other hand they might die from xeno-cancer. Who knows?

My only question about the whole thing, is that if Ripley-8 was considered superfluous, a "meat by-product" according to the Captain, then why did they go to the trouble of surgically removing it? Why not just allow it to fully gestate?
Of course if they do that then there's no film, it just seems inconsistant with the idea that studying a living Ripley clone is an afterthought in all this.

 

[Deckerd]

Let's face it, there were so many problems with that film that the psychotic behaviour of the 'science' ship senior management was small beer.

 

[Reverend]

You know one of these days I'm going to get around to reading Whedon's original script to see just how far things deviated in tone and narrative.

That just seems like such an obvious oversight though, especially since they directly draw attention to it. All it would have taken slightly different dialogue. One line even! Weird.

 

[Marsden]

"Sorry General, we've combined Ripley's DNA with the broccoli again!"

"Damn it! Start again, move to Clone 4!"

But the good news is she's delicious with Alfredo sauce!

 

[Teelie]

I think of it like this: The alien grows in a host and part of the side effect is some of its DNA is transferred or combined with the host.

Depending on how the sample was stored, they might have had fragmented DNA to reassemble and had few if any complete segments to regrow the xenomorph resulting in several errors getting the DNA sorted out.

It would be like the cloning done in Jurassic Park where they had to combine the DNA partly from other animals. Clearly neither Ripley nor the xenomorphs were "pure" in their DNA reconstruction and had crossover issues even with their eighth attempt.

That's the best I can manage and that's a stretch even there to reconcile the discrepencies.

 

[Reverend]

^By that point, the human genome would have been mapped for the best part of half of a millennium. I don't think any competent geneticist would have trouble distinguishing between human and alien DNS strands.

The only thing that makes any kind of sense is that Ripley's DNA was already mutated when she was ejected from the Sulaco.

 

[Candlelight]

If Prometheus takes place in the same continuity as Predators movies... did the Engineers create the Predators too?!?!

Seems more likely that they created the Xenomorphs to wipe out the Predators.

This is my belief too. It's only human arrogance that would make them think the Xenomorphs were meant for them.

It's been a while since I saw Prometheus but did the star maps found throughout history explain why there were there? Was it implied the Engineers visited Earth throughout our past to try and invite us to LV-233? Or did they think the Predators would arrive on Earth and find the maps?

 

[Reverend]

If Prometheus takes place in the same continuity as Predators movies... did the Engineers create the Predators too?!?!

Seems more likely that they created the Xenomorphs to wipe out the Predators.

This is my belief too. It's only human arrogance that would make them think the Xenomorphs were meant for them.

It's been a while since I saw Prometheus but did the star maps found throughout history explain why there were there? Was it implied the Engineers visited Earth throughout our past to try and invite us to LV-233? Or did they think the Predators would arrive on Earth and find the maps?

The Engineers were the ones that kickstarted life on this planet billions of years ago and were apaprantly still checking up on us all through the to the last few thousand years. Even if the Predators exist in the same universe, I think the Engineers are above worrying about a race of tribal hunters. Plus for the Predator's part, war doesn't seem to be their way and I can't see the Engineers offering them much in the way of good sport.

Still, while the Xenos may or may not have been specifically designed with humanity in mind, the black goo (an apparently related, possibly more advanced technology) was clearly intended for deployment on Earth. That's kind of the point of the film.

 

[borgboy]

On the subject of the extra scenes in Aliens, I feel like learning about Ripley's daughter is incredibly essential to understanding Ripley, what she's lost, what motivates her, why the time she lost in cryosleep matters, why Newt comes to matter so much to her so quickly, and especially why the maternal bond she has with the aliens in Alien Resurrection is meaningful. It adds a new layer of depth and pathos to Ripley that makes her a deeper more developed character.

 

[Mr Light]

yeah, the first time I saw Aliens Special Edition I was totally blown away. It completely changed Ripley's character, giving her so much more depth and meaning.

 

[Hartzilla2007]

I can totally see Blade Runner co-habiting the same universe (and 'Soldier', incidentally) but Predator just feels like a poor match. It's entirely subjective of course.

Is it weird that I think that with some minor tweaking Alien could totally work in the Star Trek universe back before TNG premiered.

I can't see the Engineers offering them much in the way of good sport.

Well unless the create some good sport for them, I mean they did create the Aliens so they could probably create even more horrific things.

 

[Teelie]

^By that point, the human genome would have been mapped for the best part of half of a millennium. I don't think any competent geneticist would have trouble distinguishing between human and alien DNS strands.

The only thing that makes any kind of sense is that Ripley's DNA was already mutated when she was ejected from the Sulaco.

I assumed there was some kind of damage or deterioration of her DNA and that of the alien but it's only one of the many flaws the movie had to explain why/how they needed her DNA to get the Xenomorph DNA in the first place.