From: jsbell@acs.ucalgary.ca (Joshua Bell)
Subject: Re: ALIENS 1-2-3
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 92 15:49:01 GMT
Organization: The University of Calgary, Alberta

In article <dejohn.714385608@unix1.tcd.ie> dejohn@unix1.tcd.ie (derek edward john) writes:
>   Just a few points here about aliens,
>
>1  Why in aliens when the marines go down to the planet is nobody 
>left to pilot the ship in orbit?And why so few marines?Judging by the
>shots of their ship it looked the size of an aircraft carrier at least.
>Why was nobody left behind to look after the ship.

a) Made for a bad movie, deus ex machina ending, or...
b) The marines didn't think it was anything more than a downed
transmitter. And if it was anything more, hey, we're rough, we're
tough, we don't take no shit from no xenomorph. (did I get it
right that time? ;-)

>2 Am I alone or does anybody else find the NEWT character stupid and
> unecessary a real obnoxious mcauley culkin like child actor
>whose only purpose is to go "EEEEEEEEEEE!" at every alien and serve
>as a ridiculous excuse for the plot at the end where ripley single
>handedly takes on a few thousand aliens.

Erm, she screamed just about as much as Hudson did, just her
voice is higher, so you hear it more. Yeah, thats it. Seriously
tho, she did look a good deal more mature than some of the
marines. I'm waiting for the special edition of Aliens to come
out on VHS here in Canada, as I wanna see more of this well
thought out character.

>For other obnoxious child 
>actors in cameron films cf terminator 2.The difference between
>alien and aliens is essentially the same as the difference between
>the two terminator films.Think about it.

Actually, I thought the characters of Newt and John Connor were
very well plotted and they chose good actors for them. The
characters have both been raised in a non-traditional style, gone
through a VERY severe crisis, been torn from their families, and
are now fighting to stay alive. I'd be a little stressed too.

>3 Also in aliens when the marines are about to put Burke up against a
>wall and kill him Ripley says something like "No we need him"
>Burke has just tried to kill her and Newt he cannot be trusted
>why take the risk with him?Just look what hedoes later on when he seals
>off the bulkhead door on them.Why does Ripley want him alive?

So he can face punishment on earth, perhaps? Ripley is not a
murderer in her own eyes.

>4 Im not sure about this,But in aliens there seems to be thousands of
>aliens,my qouestion is what do they eat?at most there must have been 
>about 500 settelers so what does the queen_Mother sustain herself on 
>and the thousands of aliens?The planet is completely barren.
>They must eat something as they sure have well developed mouths!

157 colonists. Minus Newt, thats 156 Aliens. Livestock is a
posibility, and hinted at in the Dark Horse 'Aliens: Newts Tale',
supposedly based on Cameron's initial screenplay.

>5 What set off this population explosion anyway?My idea is that 
>it was the new atmoshere created by the settelers which set it off,
>once the aliens had found a new set of hosts, but if each alien needs
>one host then there should only be 500 aliens which there clearly isnt.
>So where does the queen-mother appear from?

Newt's family responded to Burke's directive (dated 9-1-75 or
something), and drove to the site of the derilect. Tommy and Newt
stayed behind, Newt's mom & dad went into the derilect (which had
been ripped in half by an earthquake), and after a while Newt's
mom comes back, dragging her husband. As she gets on the radio
and sends out a call for help to the colony, Newt looks at her
father and sees a face hugger pulsing on his face... This was
filmed, and is in the Aliens SE.

Likely, when there are enough warriors/drones mature enough to
serve and protect a queen, either (1) a super-f'hugger implants
a queen embryo, (2) one of the drones mutates into a queen, (3)
the drones capture a host and cocoon them, and the cocoon
metamorphs into an egg for a super/queen f'hugger. (Choose your
lifestyle here. :)

Joshua
   _  _      "Thats a good idea!"  "I have those every once in a while."
 -(_)(_)-      "Why do you listen to me when I'm wrong?!?"
 \      /          - Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine
  |  . |      
  -____-      jsbell@acs.ucalgary.ca 
 /  \/  \     Academic Computing Services, University of Calgary 



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