Questions tagged [aliens-1986]

For questions about "Aliens", a 1986 film directed by James Cameron, immediate sequel to the science fiction classic, "Alien" by Ridley Scott. Use in conjunction with the [alien-franchise] tag.

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How would spacetraveling alians have to look like under hard sci-fi constraints? [closed]

Unless there’s some technology or science we don’t know about yet, wouldn’t any alien species that can space travel necessarily need to be humanoid. Keeping in mind the square cubed law and all this ...
max's user avatar
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In Aliens, how was LV-426 able to be colonized by humans when Xenomorphs were present there?

The USS Nostromo encountered Xenomorphs on LV-426 in the year 2122. Furthermore, Xenomorphs remained on that moon during the founding of Hadley's Hope colony in 2157. By that time, surely the ...
Frank Rendar's user avatar
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Was Lambert being transgender known before the release of Aliens?

The inquiry scene of Aliens, which has more details available in the DVD/Blu-Ray extras, shows that the character Lambert was transgender, and transitioned from male to female at birth. Was this known ...
A.Steer's user avatar
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2 votes
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Facehugger in jar -- how would that happen?

Facehuggers are generally found in one of three states; In its egg On a host's face Dead But the facehugger in the vessel reacts to stimulus -- that is, it is not dead. Is it explained how this ...
releseabe's user avatar
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Bishop explains a law of robotics after the "knife game" in which he injures himself -- inconsistent?

It seems to me that Bishop explaining to Ripley the Asimovian law which controls his behavior is not really consistent. Firstly, you could argue that the subject of the game, Paxton's character Hudson ...
releseabe's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
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Where can Alien Xenomorphs get fluorine for their acid from?

After reading this question, I commented an observation: the strongest acids we know of from Earth elements contain fluorine, such as fluoroantimonic acid (pH -23) and fluoroboric acid (pH -16) owing ...
Drakes's user avatar
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22 votes
2 answers
4k views

Was Ripley paid for her time in hyper-sleep?

In Alien, to escape the alien, Ripley sets the Nostromo to self destruct, meaning to leave via the escape in the shuttle. After killing the alien, Ripley and Jones enter cryo-sleep and are eventually ...
jim's user avatar
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26 votes
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What is this item in the movie Aliens?

There is a well-known image from James Cameron's science-fiction movie Aliens (1986) showing Ripley and Newt escaping from the queen and her xenomorphic fellows (see below). One of the two heroines (I ...
Damar's user avatar
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17 votes
1 answer
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Why weren't the marines in "Aliens" properly briefed on the cooling towers before they went in? [duplicate]

In the movie Aliens, it takes Ripley and Burke to point out that firing armor-piercing rounds inside a cooling tower is a no-go, since if one of the bullets damaged a tower, the result would be a ...
Gridlock's user avatar
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Why didn’t Ripley and the survivors nuke the derelict ship from orbit?

After taking care of the Alien Queen when she sneaks aboard the Sulaco why didn’t Ripley and the others stay in orbit and destroy the derelict ship before leaving?
Christopher's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
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Did Weyland-Yutani learn the location of the derelict on LV-426 from Ripley?

I've always assumed that Weyland-Yutani executives learned the approximate location of the derelict from the flight recorder on the Nostromo's escape pod after Ripley was rescued. I've also assumed ...
Sagierian's user avatar
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Ripley and Ash's company orders: further mysteries

Recalling this question about why Ripley didn't mention Ash (either at the company enquiry or to the Marines) it is also confusing that at the end of Alien, Ripley, after she blasts the alien into ...
jim's user avatar
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6 votes
1 answer
850 views

Which cut is the "Director's Cut" of Aliens?

Upon the release of Aliens: Special Edition in 1991, James Cameron filmed an introduction, where he stated: This is Jim Cameron. What you’re about to watch is the special edition of Aliens. I ...
Django Reinhardt's user avatar
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2 answers
669 views

What happened to the derelict spaceship after the events of Aliens?

What happened to the derelict spaceship? Did it survive the explosion of the terraforming processors?
MrSnowMan's user avatar
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Why are androids in the Alien franchise so fascinated with the alien?

Why they are so fascinated by the creature? Why do they speak of the xenomorph as being a superior life form?
MrSnowMan's user avatar
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Why do the aliens in Aliens "mostly come at night, mostly"?

Newt tells Ripley and the marines that the aliens mostly come at night. Is there any indication of why they are less likely to come during the day? I'm looking for any indications from novelisatons, ...
Wiggo the Wookie's user avatar
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Why do androids hibernate in the Alien movies? [duplicate]

The android, Bishop, in the Aliens movie hibernates with the rest of the Sulaco crew for the 17 day voyage. Does he need to sleep? Unlike the Alien movie where Ash hibernated because was merely ...
RichS's user avatar
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1 answer
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How long do alien chestbursters gestate inside human hosts? [duplicate]

In the Alien movie, Kane is attacked by an alien facehugger which implants an embryo inside him. The embryo gestates in seemingly a matter of hours to become a chestburster. ...
RichS's user avatar
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5 votes
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Why doesn't it matter if it's Arcturian?

In Aliens there is a dialogue between the marines while at 'chow time' when Frost gets called out for sleeping with a male Acturian and defends it by saying "it doesn't matter when it's Arcturian, ...
Seamusthedog's user avatar
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How long did it take from Earth (or Gateway station) to LV-426?

In Aliens (1986), the occupants of the Sulaco are in "hypersleep" for the journey, but how long did it take? When Asked how long before they would be overdue Hicks replies 17 days, presumably plus ...
Seamusthedog's user avatar
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7 votes
1 answer
289 views

Would "nuking it from orbit" have taken out the alien spaceship as well?

In Aliens, it's decided that the only safe way to be sure that the aliens in the colony township were destroyed was by nuking the area. Was the nuclear explosion powerful enough to include the ...
user avatar
7 votes
2 answers
1k views

Why is Bishop in cryosleep despite being an android?

In Aliens, it appears that Bishop awakes from being frozen. But why should he have been frozen in the first place? I can understand Ash being frozen, this was necessary to allay fears that he was ...
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11 votes
1 answer
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What was Carter Burke's job for "the Company" in Aliens?

Burke seems to be a pretty involved guy for Weyland-Yutani Corp. He acts as point of contact/liaison with Ripley at Gateway Station, sends a message to the colony on LV-426 to investigate the 'Space ...
Seamusthedog's user avatar
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9 votes
1 answer
903 views

What was the last communication from the colony in LV426 in "Aliens"?

In Aliens, Burke tells Ripley that they lost contact with the colony on LV-426 and they were sending Colonial Marines to investigate. Did the 'Company' assume that Ripley's story may be true or did ...
Seamusthedog's user avatar
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5 votes
0 answers
771 views

In "Aliens", is there anything special about the date 6-12-79?

Within the "Alien" universe, does anyone know if there is any significance for the date 6-12-79 (USA format) in James Cameron's "Aliens"? Ripley quotes it as the date Burke informs the colony on LV426 ...
Seamusthedog's user avatar
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9 votes
1 answer
3k views

In Aliens, how many people were on LV-426 before the Marines arrived​?

At the beginning of "Aliens" during Ripley's hearing she is told there are 60-70 families on LV-426 but is it know how many people in total? This would then reflect the maximum number of Xenomorphs ...
Seamusthedog's user avatar
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11 votes
1 answer
1k views

Do the synthetics/artificial persons in the Alien universe really eat?

In both Ridley Scott's and James Cameron's Alien franchise films we see the synthetic Ash drinking a milk-like substance and artificial person Bishop eating some corn bread. Do they actually process ...
Seamusthedog's user avatar
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8 votes
2 answers
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Are Avatar and Aliens in the same universe?

The obvious out-of-universe relationship between the films Avatar and Aliens is that they share a director, James Cameron. This of course doesn't mean the story-lines cohabit but there are other ...
StayOnTarget's user avatar
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44 votes
4 answers
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In "Aliens" when Bishop enters the access tunnel, why does he refuse a pistol?

Towards the end in Aliens (1986), Bishop volunteers to crawl down a narrow access tunnel to reach the uplink tower. In the scene, they cut a hole in the access tunnel and when Bishop hops into the ...
vikingsteve's user avatar
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5 votes
2 answers
4k views

Why do the Xenomorphs kill their hosts instead of using them?

I’m curious as to why the Xenomorphs from the Alien series tend to kill some of their hosts instead of infecting them with the face huggers? If they are to reproduce by using the hosts to carry out ...
Thefilmguy24's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
515 views

Timeline on LV 426 in Aliens (1986)

How long is Ripley and the Colonial Marines on LV 426 in Aliens? Ripley states that it took 1 Xeno less than 24 hours to destroy the Nostromo ship and crew and considering the fully formed nest, ...
Seamusthedog's user avatar
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0 votes
0 answers
71 views

Did Ripley age between Alien and Aliens? [duplicate]

When Ripley was in Cryo-sleep between Alien and Aliens did she age at all? The person in Cryo is still alive, reduced heart rate etc, but given that you wouldn't normally be 'asleep' for so long any ...
Seamusthedog's user avatar
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-3 votes
2 answers
2k views

How did the nuclear reactor in Aliens (1986) explode like a nuclear bomb? [closed]

According to various supplementary sources, the atmosphere processor on Acheron was powered by a fusion reactor. As far as I know, it is not physically possible for a fusion reactor to explode like a ...
Anonymous's user avatar
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41 votes
8 answers
10k views

Did the xenomorphs intentionally cut the power?

In Aliens, the marines have fortified a position and are preparing for a last stand when the power suddenly goes out. Hudson appropriately asks, "How can they cut the power, man? They're animals!" ...
Tashus's user avatar
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8 votes
2 answers
4k views

Xenomorph Life expectancy

Is there any indication given in the Alien movies or literature of how long an Xenomorph lives for? It occurred to me that given a limited number of potential hosts ( as per the colony on LV-426, the ...
GeoSword's user avatar
  • 189
9 votes
3 answers
2k views

How did the Alien eggs get inside the shuttle? [duplicate]

The Alien queen was in the exterior landing gear space of the Sulaco shuttle in Aliens. Even if she laid eggs on that exterior space, how did those eggs enter the shuttle? If two did, as many state, ...
A Plicque's user avatar
13 votes
1 answer
3k views

What is the gestation period for an embryo implanted by a face hugger?

The facehuggers from the original Alien films are shown implanting an embryo into a host. Time elapses and we usually see other events taking place before we see the host again. When we see the ...
steelersquirrel's user avatar
6 votes
4 answers
3k views

Why did everyone on the Sulaco go down to LV-426?

In Alien, it made sense for the whole crew to land on the planetoid. The crew was relatively small (and got smaller as the story progressed) and you might expect the Science Officer (Ash) to go as ...
user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
403 views

Why would Bishop be following an order from Burke?

Why would Bishop agree to return 2 of the living facehuggers back to the company labs as per Burke's order? Bishop himself says earlier in the film to Ripley That could never happen now with our ...
Alienchick's user avatar
13 votes
2 answers
3k views

In the Aliens movie (1986), why did the colonial marines leave the pilots behind on the dropship?

After the Colonial Marines landed on the planet and determined the control building was "secure", most of the marines moved into the control building. The pilot, Corporal Colette Ferro, and her ...
RichS's user avatar
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18 votes
2 answers
4k views

In Aliens, what is the "ornament" that Drake has in these two scenes?

Watching Aliens again, I know every scene pretty well, but I noticed something new. The smartgunner "Drake" seems to have some sort of ornament / decoration. I spotted it in two scenes, once it was ...
vikingsteve's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
2k views

Why was Newt not cocooned by the Alien?

Why wasn't the little girl, Newt, not cocooned or killed by the Alien after she was captured? It's not clear why would the little girl be just resting with that alien glue in there and not be ...
metasj's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
438 views

Did anything happen to Acheron after the events of Aliens?

After the terraforming plant goes boom at the end of Aliens was that the end of the Xenomorphs on that planet or did some survive? Did the company attempt to rebuild the colony?
Doctor Two's user avatar
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7 votes
2 answers
820 views

Were Weyland-Yutani negligent or deliberately unprepared for the events of Aliens?

Ripley is convinced to go back to Acheron because she's going to be "protected" by Space Marines. This obviously didn't work out as planned and virtually the whole team is wiped out. How much did ...
Doctor Two's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
2k views

Were Vasquez and Drake lovers?

On my numerous watches of James Cameron's Aliens I had always had the strong impression that Vasquez and Drake were lovers. However comments in another question made me question if this was actually ...
Cearon O'Flynn's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
3k views

What did James Cameron mean by "Aliens" being "40 miles of bad road"?

James Cameron referred to Aliens as forty miles of bad road in the intro to the DVD Special Edition: "What you're about to watch is the Special Edition of ALIENS. I actually preferred this ...
Cearon O'Flynn's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
2k views

Do the xenomorphs attack the synthetics?

In the Aliens universe do the xenomorphs attack the synthetics? At the end of Aliens (1986), we can see a xenomorph killing Bishop the synthetic. But in this case I think that the xenomorph killed ...
creekorful's user avatar
16 votes
2 answers
8k views

How did an Alien egg get aboard the Sulaco in Aliens movie?

How did an alien egg (or facehugger) get aboard the Sulaco at the end of the movie, Aliens? We know there was one aboard because of the movie, Alien 3. The alien queen stowed aboard the dropship, ...
RichS's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
878 views

What's Vasquez's first name?

"I only need to know one thing…" And that thing is... what's Private Vasquez' first name? I can't seem to find it in any cast listing. Ripley & Hicks's first names got revealed in the special ...
Ghoul Fool's user avatar
9 votes
2 answers
11k views

How did the queen get on to the ship in Aliens?

The camera shows the back of the craft as Bishop takes off, but you don't see any sign of the queen holding on or moving up the ramp.
Deckard-B26354's user avatar