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Why didn't Ripley fly back to earth at the end of Alien?

posted 8 years ago by RynoII
23 replies | jump to latest

In the first one, she flies off in the escape ship. In this one she is found in suspended animation, in the ship 50 years later. Why did she choose to put herself in a suspended sleep for 50 years, instead of just flying back to Earth?

What did I miss?

[–] Corporal_Dwayne_Hicks 8 years ago

Read Alien: Out Of The Shadows.

Okay Space travelling isn't the best in Prometheus/Aliens universe even with FTL ships available.

You gotta stay in your seats until the Sulaco reaches the terminal!

[–] ErgonomicSpliff 8 years ago

Why did she choose to put herself in a suspended sleep for 50 years, instead of just flying back to Earth?

She didn't. This was explained in Ripley's dream in the hospital at Gateway Station. In the dream, Ripley correctly remembers her converstaion with Carter Burke which we never see in reality. Burke explains that the Narcissus drifted through the core systems and that it was dumb luck that a deep salvge team found her when they did, fifty seven years after the destruction of Nostromo.

No comix reading is necessary to obtain this very important bit of information from the film, itself.

[–] ttaskmaster 8 years ago

Why did she choose to put herself in a suspended sleep for 50 years, instead of just flying back to Earth?

To provide a slightly more detailed opinion (and this is just opnion, rather than anything definitively stated):

In Hypersleep, the human body seemingly requires the absolute minimum of power. This means the ship can conserve power and resources on things like light, heating, food, water and so on. It also means she won't get bored, lonely, or anything else. So this makes sense from a corporate finance perspective, a human sustenance perspective, a human emotional wellbeing perspective... I'm sure you can see where this is going.

Now - As per her final speech, she is going to to be in that ship for at least six weeks and probably longer. Six weeks alone in a single-roomed escape shuttle/yacht thing, with just beeping 1970s computers and an arsey cat for company. Wouldn't you want to skip all that?

So she probably did set course for Earth. But even the smallest manoeuvre uses precious fuel and all the little course corrections may well have left her adrift with empty tanks. The alternative is to just point and blast, with the downside being that being a couple mm off course at the start can put you a few million miles off at your destination.

Thus 57 years of drifting through several systems and back off into deep space.

[–] RynoII 8 years ago

Okay thanks. So going back to Earth would take six weeks and she wanted to pass the time by. Why did she choose to sleep for 57 years then? Why not just take six weeks? She was able to control how long she slept on the ship before, like when she first woke up, in the first movie, the same time as the rest of the crew.

So why couldn't she control her sleep for six weeks here?

[–] Corporal_Dwayne_Hicks 8 years ago

Rynoll look up Alien: Out of the Shadows like I replied.

You gotta stay in your seats until the Sulaco reaches the terminal!

[–] ttaskmaster 8 years ago

So going back to Earth would take six weeks and she wanted to pass the time by.

More about saving power, food, water and fuel.
Also, she only says she should reach the Frontier in about 6 weeks. Earth would have been further anyway and plus she was hoping to get picked up somewhere on the network. So far more to factor in than just a simple straight line.

Why did she choose to sleep for 57 years then? Why not just take six weeks?

She didn't choose it. That's just how it happened.

She was able to control how long she slept on the ship before, like when she first woke up, in the first movie, the same time as the rest of the crew.

She does not ave that control.
The ship's computer decides when it's best to wake the crew - Case in point, the crew were first woken and expected to be much closer to home. The computer woke them early in response to the company directive to go check out the signal.

So, I expect she set the ship to wake her when they drifted close enough to the network that she could then do the last bit of piloting. Obviously it either didn't wake her because they drifted off course and missed the target, or it was faulty.

[–] CGSailor 8 years ago

Six weeks wasn't to reach Earth.
The shuttle was not designed for long range interstellar travel.

Six weeks was just to reach the shipping lanes where "with a little luck" she would be found and picked up.

I joined the Navy to see the world, only to discover the world is 2/3 water!

[–] ErgonomicSpliff 8 years ago

Now - As per her final speech, she is going to to be in that ship for at least six weeks and probably longer. Six weeks alone in a single-roomed escape shuttle/yacht thing, with just beeping 1970s computers and an arsey cat for company. Wouldn't you want to skip all that?

She was going to be in hypersleep for at least ten months. Nostromo was ten months out from Earth when the crew were awakened at the beginninng of the film. They spent less than 36 hours on LV-426 before departing.

In six weeks, Rilpey stated that she would reach "The Frontier." This was not defined in the film or subsequent films but if you only watch the movies, one can assume that "The Frontier" is the farthest point at which reliable communications could be established with WY.

"With a little luck, the network will pick me up." Ripley states in her final log entry. Luck was not, apparently, on her side. She drifted through the core systems, never having been detected by the network's sensors.

[–] ttaskmaster 8 years ago

Nostromo was ten months out from Earth when the crew were awakened at the beginninng of the film.

But six weeks from the Frontier. I assume they'd have outposts and markers or something, as well as perhaps proper settlements of some kind or at least a shipping lane where someone might stumble upon her.

Either way, she was gonna be there a while!

[–] RynoII 8 years ago

Okay thanks. I haven't read Alien: Out of the Shadows but that novel came out 28 years after Aliens. When the script to Aliens was written, the writers never made any mention of this in the movie.

So I have to guy by Ripley's motivations in the movie, and not by a book that was written 28 years later. I am taking the movie plot on it's own accord.

Why would Ripley trust a computer to tell her when to wake up, when it's a computer? I would never put my life in a computer's hands and Ripley seems smarter than that.

[–] ttaskmaster 8 years ago

Why would Ripley trust a computer to tell her when to wake up, when it's a computer? I would never put my life in a computer's hands and Ripley seems smarter than that.

Your car will have a computer on it - ECU, ABS, adaptive suspension, engine warning sensors... You trust your life to all that.

But that aside, the Narcissus would need a LOT of food, water and power just to keep her alive without hypersleep. She needs hypersleep. But since it's not like regular sleep, requiring monitoring and controls and since there is (and can feasibly be) no-one else around to do this, she has to rely on the computer.
Besides, the computer already does a lot of the work in managing the ship. Why not trust it with this?

[–] RynoII 8 years ago

Sorry I should have been more specific. What I meant was, is that I wouldn't trust my life to a computer, if I was suppose to be put to sleep, while the computer drove a vehicle. I mean when I drive a car, I still work the steering wheel, gas, breaks, etc. I don't let it drive itself.

Sure she can trust the computer to drive the ship as long as she is awake. But why does she choose to go into a sleep without an alarm set or something? Why go into a sleep that requires the computer to know when to wake you up, without having certainty when it actually will?

And then Ripley is all sad that she missed out on her daughter's life. Well duuhhh, why are you so surprised, when you chose to go to sleep, not knowing for absolute certainty when the computer is going to wake you up?

If you are going to go into a hypersleep, while being flown around, why not have absolute certainty on it?

[–] ttaskmaster 8 years ago

I mean when I drive a car, I still work the steering wheel, gas, breaks, etc. I don't let it drive itself.

But without the car to monitor, manage and control things, you'd have a very hard time of it.
Also, you don't have as much control as you think - Even down to the car controlling how much fuel injects into the engine or what gear to select at which point. You merely give a basic instruction - The car decides exactly what that ends up being.
We won't even start with things like Cruise Control.

But why does she choose to go into a sleep without an alarm set or something?

It does have an alarm. In both this and Aliens, the computers wake sleepers when they reach their destination. Ripley just missed hers (it was a long shot that she'd hit it from there in the first place) and woke 57 years later.

Why go into a sleep that requires the computer to know when to wake you up, without having certainty when it actually will?

Because she doesn't have enough resources for weeks (and potentially months) of space travel and as you saw that's potentially decades of your life wasted on sitting around watching stars go slowly past...

Well duuhhh, why are you so surprised, when you chose to go to sleep, not knowing for absolute certainty when the computer is going to wake you up?

Clearly she has made numerous successful trips before without issue and had every reason to expect she'd return before her daughter turned 11 - Kinda like me saying "Well duuuhhh, why are you surprised that you died in a car crash or a plane crash?".
Also, it's made clear in the film that 57 years is a *very* long and abnormal hypersleep period.

If you are going to go into a hypersleep, while being flown around, why not have absolute certainty on it?

"Travelling through [deep space] ain't like dusting crops, boy.... without *PRECISE* calculations you could fly right through a star or bounce too close to a supernova and that'd end your trip real quick, wouldn't it?"
In other words, there are so many variables that, even awake, a thousand things could have thrown her off.
Besides, the Narcissus is basically just a lifeboat, not a long range ship. Might as well wonder why passengers on the Titanic hopped in their lifeboats, when there was no certainty they'd even be found, let alone when...

[–] sevenlilxenos 8 years ago

OP, Burke used the term "drifting" as the shuttle does not have FTL capabilities.

The Nostromo had been re-routed to LV426 so Ash could gather an alien specimen. Ripley estimated that at whatever speed the shuttle traveled, it would take about 6 weeks to get back to an area of space where another ship could potentially see and rescue her. There was however no guarantee this would happen. This is why Lambert stated they should "take their chances" in the shuttle.

Fortuity was not on Ripley's side as she passed through the traveling lanes of the core planets and moons that WY, and maybe others, used without being noticed. However later on, as in much later on, she was lucky enough to get picked up by some deep space salvage dudes.

Ripley was also fortunate the dudes were not shaddy (unlike say the crew of the Betty in A4) as they could have just as easily killed her and salvaged the Narcissist for whatever it may have been worth.

[–] CGSailor 8 years ago

WOW... You got some serious phobia/hangup there.

But just because "you wouldnt" does not make it a goof for all.

The problem is not the film.
The problem is YOU.

You not grasping the nature of the situation.
coupled with You and your personal hangups.

This isn't Sleep as like when you go to bed at night and just need some sort of bedside alarm to wake you in the morning.

This is Hypersleep, a form of suspended animation. You have to be brought out of it by the system, you can't simply wake on your own.

The ships cannot carry enough life support for the many months and years a journey takes. A person in Hypersleep uses very little in the way of life support, which is why it's necessary.

You wouldn't?
Fine. Stay on Earth.

But just because you're afraid to fly does not make flying wrong.

Now...
Can you stop whining?
please.

I joined the Navy to see the world, only to discover the world is 2/3 water!

[–] RynoII 8 years ago

Okay thanks. So basically she doesn't have the ability to fly the ship herself and it just sort of flies around on it's own, right? How well can it reach a specific destination?

This makes more sense now.

So if going into a hypersleep was necessary for her to survive, then why was she surprised that it has been over 50 years, since that could have been a possibility?

Like when she finds out her daughter is dead of old age before her, she is really surprised, and really upset. Since sleeping for that long is a possibility, than wouldn't this be less of a surprise to her, as if she could have expected that it could have happened?

[–] ErgonomicSpliff 8 years ago

So if going into a hypersleep was necessary for her to survive, then why was she surprised that it has been over 50 years, since that could have been a possibility?

Ripley is shocked because 57 years is a very long period of time for a human to be in hypersleep.

In "Prometheus," the Earth-based crew travel to LV-223 which is in the same general area of space as LV-426, in the Zeta II Reticuli system. It takes them around two years to make the trip to LV-223 and they are in hypersleep for nearly the entire trip.

In "Alien," when MU/TH/UR wakes up the Nostromo crew, Lambert calculates that they are just short of Zeta II Reticuli and that it will take ten months to make the trip home. The shortened time frame could be representative of a better drive system or a different route due to navigational issues. Regardless, these crews were not under the assumption that they could be in hypersleep for fifty plus years, or that it could even be a possibility.

The Narcissus could be manually navigated but as has been pointed out, it was an escape launch, not equipped with the complex and powerful drive system used by the ore refinery hauling vessel Nostromo. It was going to take Ripley longer to get home anyway, but she was hopeful that her signal would be picked up after six weeks and that she would be rescued well short of reaching Earth years later.

[–] CGSailor 8 years ago

Oh Jesus H Friking Christ!

Are you really that stupid and have to be hand held and spoon fed every fricking detail explained to you?

Are you really that fraking incapable of logical thought the you cannot figure out anything for yourself?

Or are you just looking to be argumentative?

She was expecting to be found in a couple of weeks, not 57 years later. That is why she is surprised.

You really have to be spoonfed this sh!t? You that friking retarded that you cannot add two and two together and come up with 4?

I joined the Navy to see the world, only to discover the world is 2/3 water!

[–] RynoII 8 years ago

I guess I am just surprised that she expected to be found. Why doesn't the hypersleep have wake up times that the person can set though? Why does it have to be sleep forever, until someone finds you? It just seems like it's not a very good way of running things.

[–] ErgonomicSpliff 8 years ago

I guess I am just surprised that she expected to be found. Why doesn't the hypersleep have wake up times that the person can set though? Why does it have to be sleep forever, until someone finds you? It just seems like it's not a very good way of running things.

Nice trolling. Got me.

[–] ttaskmaster 8 years ago

So basically she doesn't have the ability to fly the ship herself and it just sort of flies around on it's own, right?

NO.
Re-read what you have been told.

How well can it reach a specific destination?

About as well as a bullet fired from the same distance, I expect, but with the possibility for occasional minor course corrections. It is not a fully-fledged space vessel which, as has been demonstrated, can navigate far more precisely.

So if going into a hypersleep was necessary for her to survive, then why was she surprised that it has been over 50 years, since that could have been a possibility?

Possible does not mean highly likely... and in this case it was highly unlikely. She could have expected to be out for 10 months, perhaps even as long as 2 years. Nothing like 57 years.
It's a one-in-a-million chance, really. Just like meeting an alien was 'possible', but no-one ever had.

Put it another way - Why do you think America was so surprised and horrified at 9/11, when a terrorist attack was always a "possibility"? 

Since sleeping for that long is a possibility, than wouldn't this be less of a surprise to her, as if she could have expected that it could have happened?

It was not a surprise. At this point, she had already dealt with the fact that she'd been gone that long.
However, given that people today regularly live into their 90s, it was not unreasonable (and a far more likely possibility) that Amanda was still alive and living her life somewhere, which is why she asked Burke to try and locate her.
The fact that she died aged only 66 was part of the shock, with the main hit being that Ripley had missed her whole life, had arrived too late and had failed her 11-year-old daughter.

So... question for you - WHY are all your posts "why" questions about films?
Why does Arnie do this?
Why did Denis Quaid say that?
Why, why, why?

WHY do you not actually watch any of these films yourself?

[–] sargesmash 8 years ago

An arsey cat...LMAO!

[–] marialucia1985 8 years ago

"Arsey cat" LOL