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Aliens (1986) Plus avec IMDbPro »

The following FAQ entries may contain spoilers. Only the biggest ones (if any) will be covered with spoiler tags. It is assumed that no one who is diligently avoiding spoilers will be visiting this page in the first place.

The additional egg scene mentioned was not released until later editions of Alienand was most likely not seen by James Cameron in 1986. James Cameron had free reign from the studio to come up with his own alien life cycle for the sequel (as described in the commentary for Aliens: The Special Edition).

Ridley Scott himself has stated that he considers the original cut of Alien to be the definitive version, with the controversial transformation scene (in the Director's Cut) as a bonus for fans who had asked for it over the years. Integrating the scene from the Director's Cut into a self-consistent Alien "canon" is left to viewers who worry about such things. A popular hypothesis among fans is that "transforming" humans is a behavior the Alien falls into if a queen isn't available to make eggs.

In addition, the Alien looks to have a hive based society. With insects, there is no "Queen" egg until the workers choose to create one. It could be that the lack of a Queen compels the Alien warriors to create the right circumstances for the production of a Queen, and that the "transforming" is part of preparing a host or producing the correct food source to make a "Queen facehugger."

Another theory is that it doesn't turn people into eggs at all; the cocoons simply appear egg-shaped. James Cameron might have read the screenplay for Alien, which included the scene of Ripley finding Brett and Dallas cocooned. But as he likely didn't see the footage of it, he made the Hive/Cocoons look how he wanted, which carried on the basic idea of the aliens cocooning people for food or breeding.

Numerous behind-the-scenes pictures and documentaries of Alien show the Alien's head with ridges, but the special effects artists covered it with a gelatinous substance, causing the head to appear smooth. The reason for the different look in Aliens is that director James Cameron thought the Alien head looked more interesting with the ridges visible, so the special effects team left out the gel. But, to stay within the continuity of the saga, one could argue that Aliens are "born" with a smooth head, and that this cover falls off after a while, exposing the ridges.

According to the extras from the DVD, James Cameron didn't want to have the clear dome on the Alien's head, as he thought it would be prone to breaking, and therefore decided against it.

No official explanation is given, but theoretically he could have moved the tubes without draining the stasis fluid (which would make the Facehuggers active), drained the fluid when he had them where he wanted them to be and then hurried out before they got free and attacked him. There isn't much fluid on the ground when Ripley sees the empty stasis tubes, but since Burke's (hypothetical) draining of the tubes occurred off-screen, there could be many explanations (for instance, that he drained them in a different room). The tubes would almost certainly be too heavy to carry, but Burke could have moved them with a cart, or partially drained them. He likely loosened the lids, rolled the cylindrical tubes into the room, and let the facehuggers get out on their own.

The most likely explanation is that the stasis fluid neutralizes their acid.

According to James Cameron on the Aliens Special Edition DVD (2003) commentary, he'd previously had trouble getting visual effects right in the wider aspect ratio of 2.35:1 while working on the FX crew of Escape From New York (1981), and so for Aliens opted for the narrower and easier 1.85:1 ratio. Cameron also stated that if given the chance again, he'd film Aliens in 2.35:1.

There are several valid arguments to pose this question. In Alien, the crew of the Nostromo found the ship by homing in on its beacon. The colonists obviously didn't pick up that signal, or they would have found it. Why didn't they pick up the signal? Many people regard this as a plothole, but this is not necessarily the case. There are actually several possibilities conceivable.

1) There is an extra-source explanation: About two months before the movie Alien was released, Heavy Metal released a graphic novel version of the movie which contained many scenes later cut from the original, but restored in the "Director's Cut" version of the movie. In the graphic novel, when Dallas, Kane, and Lambert enter the derelict ship and discover the giant "Space Jockey," Dallas twists a knob near the base of the giant's chair and turns off the signal. This event also occurs in the original shooting script for Alien.

2) A possible explanation which writer/director James Cameron himself has offered in a Q&A session in a 1986 issue of the magazine Starlog: as seen in an extended scene with the derelict ship in Aliens: Special Edition, the ship is visibly damaged by volcanic activity; a lava flow has crushed the ship against a rock outcropping, ripping open its hull (Newt's parents enter through this hole). This damage has apparently silenced the signal. It would be, however, quite coincidental for this to happen precisely in the 30 years or so between the discovery of the ship by the Nostromo crew and the arrival of the colonist at LV-426, but it's nevertheless possible.

3) The signal stopped broadcasting as soon as the Nostromo's crew entered the ship (as seen in Alien). This is unlikely, as the signal was most likely meant as a warning to other visitors not to come any closer. There would be no sense in programming it to deactivate and thereby risk more visitors coming to investigate.

4) Sheer misfortune caused the colonists to miss the signal initially. They most likely approached LV-426 from the other direction as the Nostromo, so perhaps another planet or the planetoid itself blocked the signal out during landing (as a signal can not be transmitted through an entire planet consisting of rocks). There could be interference, solar wind, or other random factors preventing the signal from being registered. And while on the planet, no one may have come near enough to pick up the signal; the colony could also be too far away to pick it up (the planetoid is quite small and, again, the curvature could easily block the signal).

5) The Terra-forming process used to make the planet livable to humans would have increased the atmosphere's oxygen content, which could have caused increased corrosion on the instrumentation of the crashed ship.

Hudson comments about the mission being "just another bug-hunt" implying that the marines have encountered alien species before, as does Frost in the mess hall scene, when he reminesces about "Archterian poontang." Of course, a 'hunt' could simply mean that they've been sent on several wild goose chases with no aliens to be found, which would explain their derision in Aliens about what is probably another false alarm.

Also, under the cockpit window of the drop ship is a picture of the marines' mascot: an eagle brandishing a machine-gun and wearing boots with the slogan, "bug stompers," which implies that such is their specialty. Elsewhere on the marines' uniforms are patches with similar images of an eagle and the slogan, "We endanger species."

James Cameron revealed on the DVD commentary that he had all the actors playing marines read Starship Troopers; this is a nod to the inspiration of that book.

One possibility is Burke or other Company officals tampered with the evidence.

Most likely, however, is that the Company, who to some degree orchestrated the events of the previous film, simply lied to Ripley and used it as a way to demote her and thereby silence her about the Alien. In the novel of the film (taken from the original shooting script), Ripley comments to Burke that the evidence had been tampered with.

On a technical note, the shuttle decompressed shortly after the Alien drooled on the floor. The subsequent air displacement was strong enough to almost blow the Alien out (had it not held on), so it is imaginable that most of the drool blew out/evaporated quickly.

Also, after being adrift in space for 57 years, it's possible that the drool completely evaporated.

It is very likely that the Company did not sent another crew because they wanted to cover up the entire incident. An elaborate investigation into the disappearance of the Nostromo might have revealed that they sacrificed the crew in order to keep a specimen of the monster.

So in order to prevent the Company's legality, they may have buried the incident until there was an opportunity to have the colonists on LV-426 take a look. It has also been proposed that the colonists were sent to LV-426 with the secondary purpose of finding the Alien.

The order in which the films were released is:

1979 - Alien, 1986 - Aliens, 1987 - Predator, 1990 - Predator 2, 1992 - Alien³, 1997 - Alien: Resurrection, 2004 - AVP: Alien vs. Predator, 2007 - AVPR: Alien vs Predator: Requiem.

The chronology of the events runs:

Predator (1987), Predator 2 (1997), Alien Versus Predator (2004), Alien Versus Predator: Requiem (2004), Alien (2122), Aliens (2179), Alien³ (2179), Alien: Resurrection (2379).

Furthermore, the AvP films are based on crossover stories originating in comic books (themselves being inspired by a joke reference in Predator 2.) It is arguable that they should not be considered as a true part of the Alien timeline.

James Cameron on the DVD commentary states that the aliens in this film had been alive for a few weeks at least, and thus had plenty of time to adapt and learn.

Some viewers say that the Aliens have more than enough capacity to reason that humans are dependent on light, and thus on electric energy. Other postulate that, as Aliens introduces the concept of a Queen and therefore the Aliens as a hive species, this reduces the Aliens to mere drones with no more intelligence than a very evolved instinct. By this reasoning, the Aliens did not intentionally cut the power, but accidentally damaged some electrical conduits, probably while they were finding ways into the complex through the ceiling. The opposite view is that they purposefully located and destroyed the conduits or perhaps even a generator.

It can not be clearly deduced how intelligent Aliens are. They eventually learn to stay away from the sentry guns (in the Special Edition), but it takes them quite a number of sacrifices before they find out. This suggests they learn through a process of trial-and-error. Generally speaking, the quicker an organism learns, the more intelligence it possesses. But keep in mind that the Aliens do not appear technologically advanced, and may have no basic knowledge of power and electricity. So just like small children, they need to experience it first before they can learn anything about it. It is very much possible that they damaged a conduit by accident earlier in life, noticed how it caused the power to go out, and used that knowledge to their advantage later.

The Queen seems to display a fair ability to reason. She recognises the threat that Ripley's flamethrower poses (after some demonstration) and then calls off her warrior Aliens. She is also able to figure out how an elevator works; notice that Ripley needs to press the switch in order to go up; the Queen must have done the same to reach the platform. It is unclear whether she knew this procedure ahead of time, or if she was imitating Ripley's actions. She also appears to know how to safely hitchhike on a dropship (or was it lucky chance that she ended up safe in the landing strut bay?). If we extend this knowledge to the Alien from the first film, one might conclude that the specimen in question knew how to escape an exploding cargo ship by hiding specifically in its shuttle. Perhaps it noticed Ripley was fleeing that way, and concluded that was a safe place, or perhaps it didn't realize the threat and was merely resting in the escape craft coincidentally.

This opens the possibility that it is just the Queen that displays intelligence, and the warrior Aliens simply obey her. But the existence of a leader specimen like the Queen, and a hierarchial structure, does not automatically mean the normal Aliens are of lower intelligence. Humans are an intelligent species, and they also have a tendency to look for leader figures and hierarchial structures.

All in all, the Aliens seem to have a good capacity to learn things.

In subsequent films the Aliens are shown to have a logical reasoning ability and to understand cause and effect, and possess the ability to solve basic problems (see Alien: Resurrection and Alien vs Predator).

In order:

1) Frost: After Dietrich is grabbed, she fires her flamethrower at Frost, overwhelming him and causing him to plummet down a shaft.

2) Dietrich: She is taken by the aliens and presumably impregnated.

3) Crowe:When Frost's bag of ammunition explodes, he is in close proximity and is killed.

4) Wierzbowksi: Killed in the battle, as he gives a long tortured scream as seen from the point of view from his camera. Later on, Hudson points out that only the Sarge and Dietrich are still alive.

5) Apone: While he is ordering the ceasefire to prevent rupture of the cooling system, he is taken by an alien.

6) Drake: Before entering the APC, he encounters an alien, which he didn't notice until the last second. Vasquez shoots it with her smartgun, but it explodes and a large amount of acid splashes on Drake's face and body, thus killing him.

7) Spunkmeyer: Killed by an alien offscreen after he finds saliva when boarding the dropship.

8) Ferro: When the door opens behind her, she assumes it is Spunkmeyer. When she turns around, it is an alien, which kills her and causes the dropship to crash.

9) Hudson: After a intense firefight, Hudson is pulled through the floor and presumably impregnated or killed.

10) Burke: He tries to escape from the others and believes he has done so. A door opens behind him, revealing an alien, which presumably killed him. (In the comic book 'Newt's Tale,' as well as in a deleted scene not included in the Director's Cut, Ripley and Newt later encountered Burke in a cocoon. Ripley gives him a grenade to end his own life, but he was unable to bring himself to do it. He was therefore killed when an alien burst through his ribcage.)

11) Vasquez: After she is injured by acid, Gorman stays behind to help. Surrounded by aliens, Gorman detonates a grenade, killing both of them and taking several aliens with them.

12) Gorman: See 11 above.

{Spoilers for the next film}

Ripley, Hicks, Newt and the badly damaged android Bishop survive the ordeal. However, in the next movie, Alien³, Hicks and Newt are killed off in the opening scene. Ripley reconnects Bishop to talk to him, then she disconnects him at his request. At the end of the film, Ripley kills herself to kill the Queen embryo inside of her.

At the beginning of the film, Hudson is portrayed as a typical overconfident, arrogant jock, asking of the mission is going to be "a stand-up fight sir, or another bug hunt?" This acknowledges that either the Marines have encountered extra-terrestrials before, and have handled them easily, or that the Marines have been sent on several false alarms with no enemy, no aliens, no shooting.

During the first encounter with the aliens, Hudson's point of view about the mission changes drastically. Hudson did not expect the aliens to put up much of a fight. He also loses his composure after seeing many of his squad claimed by the aliens. He is one of the very few marines to survive the encounter.

As they set up a barricade, Hudson begins to slowly sink into a state of paranoia, even questioning Ripley's judgment and her ideas of survival. Eventually, Ripley calms him down stating "We really need you and I'm sick of your bullshit." Hudson starts to gain control of his fears.

When the aliens overrun Operations, Hudson fights without fear, constantly taunting the aliens and gunning them down at will. Suddenly, the floor panel beneath him is dislodged and a couple of aliens grab him and begin to pull him under. He frantically screams for Hicks to assist, which he does. However, the combined force of aliens is overwhelming for Hicks, who has to let go, and Hudson disappears below the floor.

Nevertheless, when he is in the middle of a situation where someone's life is in danger, he stands his ground and is very reliable. His character is basically projecting the audience's concerns and questions (much like Lambert's character in [i]Alien[i/]). He is not a coward, merely overwhelmed with emotion from the initial attack, when he is so used to being in control and dealing with lesser enemies. He ultimately dies providing cover fire while the others fall back. He was, however, so focused on the aliens coming from the ceiling that he overlooked them coming from the floor. A fair mistake, as everyone, including Ripley, completely overlooked the ceiling when originally sealing off their base.

The original version was too long for the studio, so it demanded several cuts to tighten the plot. American audiences in particular were were not expected to willingly sit through a movie of 148 minutes. So Cameron went to the cutting room again, and removed more than 15 minutes of footage. Most of this was character development of Ripley or background information about what had happened to Newt's parents. Some of the action got cut out, as well. The advantage of the Theatrical Version is that it is moves more fluidly. The Director's Cut, however, offers more depth and information. This is also the opinion of director James Cameron, who prefers the Director's Cut, (also called the "Special Edition"), believing it to be the better and more exciting version of the movie. Leading actress Sigourney Weaver also made clear which version she preferred, threatening to never shoot another Alien film if the longer Director's Cut was not released.

A detailed comparison between both versions can be found here.