Question about the plot to Aliens (1986)

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I just don't think the film makes any sense from the @The Rodent 's perspective.

How would sending the marines to suicide mission help WY to get the alien for themselves? If the marines die how is Burke (and Bishop) supposed to survive and bring the creature with them? Why is Burke on such a suicide mission in the first place (I suppose even company salary isn't good enough to die for)? And like @ironpony above asks why not send a proper team with a mission to capture an alien instead - it seems far more plausible plan to achieve the goal? Oh, and why worry about the ICC quarantine if WY runs the whole universe?



Movie Forums Squirrel Jumper
Well the movie is well like and is considered a critically acclaimed classic, so I assume that this is not a plot hole, as well as the first one having the same hole as to why not send in a proper team that wants to do it, etc...

But since the movie is such a classic I assuming it makes sense, and I am not seeing it or something?



That elusive hide-and-seek cow is at it again
Okay thanks. But instead of misleading all these people with deliberate misinformation, why doesn't the company just get people who are actually interested in bringing a xenomorph back?

Why mislead and trick people who are unwilling instead of getting willing people? Same with the first Alien movie. Why go through all the trouble of duping the Nostromo crew into bringing one back, instead of getting people who are actually interested in the same cause and willing to do it?
Because it's cheaper to pay an expendable grunt/gopher to most likely die than to send someone I perceive as having more worthy skills. If they fail? Lob another ignorant group at the fire. If they happen to succeed? Great. My "better" guys will safely study it.

Send the poor kids to war. Keep the well-to-do here and safe to rule the future type of attitude.



Movie Forums Squirrel Jumper
I guess, but the Nostromo failer, lead to them not being able to give it another go for 57 years. Why did they wait so long to give it another go, especially since the original people who were interested in profiting would probably be dead now. So why wait so long?

Plus since when does a rich government company mind dishing out extra cash to bring back the find of the century so to speak?



I guess, but the Nostromo failer, lead to them not being able to give it another go for 57 years. Why did they wait so long to give it another go, especially since the original people who were interested in profiting would probably be dead now. So why wait so long?

Plus since when does a rich government company mind dishing out extra cash to bring back the find of the century so to speak?


Think about the colony and what Van Lewen says to Ripley.
"We've had people living there for over 20 years, and they never complained about any hostile organism"
Basically, in the 57 years Ripley was asleep, they've planned a terraforming operation, then set out to conduct it, and after 35 years or so, they managed to get people to the planet.
Then, just over 20 years later, Ripley appears again... and using the information she gives them about the crashed ship, they can now put their plan into action.
Let's face it, they now have a whole colony of people, on that planet, hundreds of them... and now, they also have the location of the ship.
In their minds: Tadaaa!!!! Bio-Weapons! Woohoo!


Also... it took Newt's father ages to find the ship, even with the map references they were given... this was simply down the to the ship being a massive distance away from Hadley's Hope... so stumbling blindly onto the ship would have been an impossibility.
The company needed the grid references.
---
The entire thing is a huge sequence of purposefully executed plans by the Weyland-Yutani to get their hands on a bio-weapon... and do it with as little risk to themselves or their leading scientists and military.


They know where the planet is but not the location of the ship.
So, keep Ripley on ice until they can get people to the planet... get the grid references and a witness statement from Ripley... then discredit Ripley's fantastic story of weird alien creatures...


... then send in innocent people using the new information that Ripley gave them and simply wait for sh*t to happen... then send in misinformed troops with an inexperienced leader... with Ripley, a person who has experience with the creatures... backed up by one of their own suits (albeit an expendable suit) who also has a secret agenda.



Seriously, it's not that hard to understand Weyland-Yutani's motives and modus operandi.


Watch the director cuts of the movies if you can, they have a more rounded story on all this.



Going to answer the question I can see cropping up in a few minutes:


"If they've been there for 20 years, why haven't they found the ship before now?"



Movie Forums Squirrel Jumper
Oh okay then. So you are saying that only Ripley new where the ship really was then?



The answer to that... Weyland Yutani have been searching for the ship.
They send grid references to the colony all the time...


In the director's cut... one of the guys explains they get grid references all the time... and they never question them because it takes too long to get answers as to "why this grid reference?"... and they are always toldby the company "Don't ask" anyway.


So, when the colonists get a grid reference, they simply get a couple of the people, and send them out there.


The company never says "Go to this place, and look for aliens"
They just give them a grid, and tell them to check it out.


They've been doing this for 20+ years, with no luck yet.
Now, they dig Ripley up, and use her information... hey presto, within a couple weeks, they find the ship, and Weyland-Yutani's plan is now up and running.



Oh okay then. So you are saying that only Ripley new where the ship really was then?


Yep.
The Nostromo was destroyed... so, the beacon information on the crashed ship, and all information on the location, was also destroyed.


Once WY had gotten people to the planet, they wake up Ripley... and get as much information out of her as possible.
As it happens, she has a lot of info... so, they discredit her, make her look like a fool... fire her... and then use the info she gave them to get the colonists in contact with the alien.



Movie Forums Squirrel Jumper
Okay thanks that makes sense. However, why do they need her to go with them? To still find the ship again after they loose contact with the colonists? Couldn't they just use the information and go without her, since she already gave it to them?



They need people there already to check it for them.


I mean, after years and years, sending a bunch of highly qualified scientists out there could turn up nothing, or, could turn up a nightmare and they lose some of their best people.


Having colonists there to check everything for them, while they sit safely on Earth, is the best way for them to be sure they get what they want, at very little cost in the long-term.
Innocent people are expendable, misinformed soldiers are expendable, Ripley is expendable, even Burke who thinks he's a top guy is expendable.


All that matters to the company and the top tier corporate suits, is getting their hands on that creature, with no personal cost to themselves.



Getting rid of a loose end?


And this.
They got what they wanted from Ripley. Grid references and info on the crashed ship beacons.
Now, they can get rid of her.
As I said, they already discredited her, fired her, and took away her military standings.
Sending her back into the warzone is just a way of getting rid of her for good.


Ripley could have said no, and she won't go back.
If that happened, I'm sure WY would find another way to kill her.
As it happened, they promised her a bunch of Marines, and the promise they were going to wipe the creatures out if they did find any.
All lies of course, she actually got a ragtag bunch of misinformed troops, led by an inexperienced Lieutenant, and Burke with a secret mission to capture a creature.



Alien 3 touches on this as well when the human Bishop turns up.


Bishop: "We want to take that thing out of you and take you home"
Ripley: "How do I know you will destroy it"
Bishop: "You have to trust me"
Ripley: "No"


Bishop them immediately changes his tune, and rants about "You must let me have it! Think of all we could learn from it!!!!!!"


The human Bishop shows exactly what the company wants in Alien 3.
He lies... realises his lies didn't work... then barks out the truth that they want to study it and "learn from it".
Learn from it meaning "make weapons".



That elusive hide-and-seek cow is at it again
Also, just a very repeatable point of view, corporate owes the crew nothing ...from the corporation's point of view.

Telling the kid to drive to the corner store to pick up some milk is enough. There's no obligation to inform that kid of your plans to bake a cake, have some with breakfast cereal for the week, and finally have enough for a double white Russian that evening after the kid continually asked for every conceivable possibility of why milk was necessary to begin with.

It's never a matter of misleading or even wasting time considering whether that task is misleading or not. No. The parent just says 'go get some milk.' The kid would oblige because they were told to do so by mom.



Also, just a very repeatable point of view, corporate owes the crew nothing ...from the corporation's point of view.

Telling the kid to drive to the corner store to pick up some milk is enough. There's no obligation to inform that kid of your plans to bake a cake, have some with breakfast cereal for the week, and finally have enough for a double white Russian that evening after the kid continually asked for every conceivable possibility of why milk was necessary to begin with.

It's never a matter of misleading or even wasting time considering whether that task is misleading or not. No. The parent just says 'go get some milk.' The kid would oblige because they were told to do so by mom.


This is where Weyland-Yutani's evil is most prominent tbh.



That elusive hide-and-seek cow is at it again
Yeah. Why bother considering the needs of an ant? There's mound after mound more of them ready to line up.



Considering the mindset of Weyland-Yutani, and the nature of the Aliens themselves and their Hive Mind:


Yeah. Why bother considering the needs of an ant? There's mound after mound more of them ready to line up.


That, is a perfect analogy for the entire trilogy.



Movie Forums Squirrel Jumper
And this.
They got what they wanted from Ripley. Grid references and info on the crashed ship beacons.
Now, they can get rid of her.
As I said, they already discredited her, fired her, and took away her military standings.
Sending her back into the warzone is just a way of getting rid of her for good.


Ripley could have said no, and she won't go back.
If that happened, I'm sure WY would find another way to kill her.
As it happened, they promised her a bunch of Marines, and the promise they were going to wipe the creatures out if they did find any.
All lies of course, she actually got a ragtag bunch of misinformed troops, led by an inexperienced Lieutenant, and Burke with a secret mission to capture a creature.
But why do they want to get rid of Ripley? Since they already discredited her and took away her standings, she is no longer a threat to him, so why do they feel the need to bump her off, if she isn't now?