Corrected entry: In the extended version especially, the fact that Ripley was lost in space for almost 60 years and at the exact time when she arrives on earth the colonists find the eggs and the company loses connection to them is an unbelievably huge coincidence. In the theatrical version the timing of the events remains a bit more unclear - the colonists may have died even years ago, at any time between those 57 years time period and the company noticed that after they found Ripley and decided to communicate with them to check. But in the extended version this possibility is killed as we see the colonists' situation, and one just has to believe the above described huge coincidence.
Tailkinker
26th Feb 2013
Aliens (1986)
22nd Jun 2009
Aliens (1986)
Corrected entry: After they escape the planet, the nuke goes off, and they are back on the spaceship, where they should all be weightless, including the alien, and would be floating around on the ship, not walking around like they were on solid ground. This totally unscientific approach to the movie is annoying.
Correction: Well, you must just hate science fiction, then. Practically every sci-fi film set in space features a ship or station with artificial gravity. This is a fictional technology, as are faster-than-light drives, hibernation pods and androids made in human form, all of which feature in the Alien series of films, all of which are unscientific and all of which presumably annoy you as well. Unfortunately for your sense of scientific indignation, the use of a fictional technology in a science fiction film is not only not a mistake, it's practically a requirement.
22nd Jun 2005
Aliens (1986)
Corrected entry: In the scene where Newt and Ripley are in the room with the face huggers, Ripley tries to escape by banging a chair against the glass window full force. However, it merely bounces off. But, when one of the marines dives at the window, it smashes. How is this possible?
3rd Sep 2004
Aliens (1986)
Corrected entry: In the scene when the marines are making their first sweep of the complex and Hicks says "looks like they bagged one of Ripley's bad guys here," how do they kill the alien? If they used weapons where are they? Why didn't the marines use them when the drop ship crashed and they only had four pulse rifles with about 50 rounds each?
Correction: They say, during the survey, "looks like small-arms fire" which probably means light pistols, plus there are references to seismic survey charges, which would be small explosives. As to why the marines didn't use them - they never actually found the pistols, and it would be a little difficult to use explosives after the colonists have already blown them up.
12th May 2004
Aliens (1986)
Corrected entry: When the marines first arrive, the dropship lands for a few seconds, long enough for the APC to drive off, and no alien jumps on. When Hicks calls Ferro down again, we can see that the dropship is back in the transport's hanger. How did the alien get on board?
Correction: They are not back on the Sulaco. Putting aside the tactical lunacy of having their only means of getting off the planet up in orbit, you actually see the dropship taking off from a landing field next to the colony - other than a metallic surface, it bears no resemblance to the Sulaco docking bay.
26th Aug 2003
Aliens (1986)
Corrected entry: When Ripley goes to rescue Newt, she only uses the tracker bracelet to try and find her. Why didn't she also take along a motion sensor? It could have not only helped her find Newt quicker, but would have given her warning if there were any aliens closing in.
Correction: They only had two motion sensors on the planet. At the beginning of the final battle, Hudson has one, which was presumably lost with him, and Ripley has the other. She carries this for some time, but seems to drop it in the lift (she has it when they enter, she's lost it by the time they leave) either to help the injured Hicks, or possibly it's been damaged by acid from the alien who attacked them there. If there were no spares on the second dropship, and there's no indication that there were, then she simply doesn't have a motion sensor available to take with her.
12th May 2003
Aliens (1986)
Corrected entry: Did it really make sense for the Marines to try to search for the aliens with infrared viewers *after* setting everything in the area on fire with a flamethrower?
Correction: Of course it does - the fires are reasonably localised and given that, at that point, the marines have been unable to see the aliens directly, the next logical step is to try infra-red. The presence of the fires nearby might degrade the images to some extent, but that doesn't mean that it's an mistake to try.
21st Feb 2002
Aliens (1986)
Corrected entry: As somebody has correctly pointed out in another submission, the hangar in the main spaceship is decompressing when the doors are open, and the draft from the escaping air is what causes the mother alien to loose grip on Ripley. How come therefore, when the doors are closed again, Ripley and Newt are able to breathe in the hangar? If all of the air inside the hangar was just expelled out of the airlock door, how come the hangar has air pressure? Admittedly, the hangar is very big, but the door is like 7 or 8 metres across, and the wind blowing is strong enough to push out the alien, so the amount of air lost in the time it is open for is massive.
Correction: While a substantial amount of air has escaped, most external views give the impression that the Sulaco is a huge vessel with an enormous volume of air on board - there is no reason to assume that the hanger is totally isolated from the rest of the ship. As such, even considering the amount that escapes, there would still be a reasonable enough pressure in the hanger once the doors have been closed, enough to breathe, anyway. Also, the ship would undoubtedly carry air reserves, which ought to be automatically released in the event of a serious drop in air pressure.
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Correction: Coincidence? It's made very clear in the film that it's anything but. Once Ripley was found and told her story, Burke sent instructions to the colony ordering them to investigate the reported location of the derelict alien ship, leading directly to the infection of the colony and the death of all the colonists bar Newt. There's a pivotal scene where Ripley confronts Burke about it, angrily telling him that it was all his fault, something that he attempts to dismiss as "a bad call" on his part, shortly before he attempts to infect her and Newt by releasing the facehuggers. Rewatch the movie; the chain of events is made very clear. It's no coincidence.
Tailkinker ★