Previously, we discussed how the crew of the Nostromo had accidentally let an alien enter their vessel, and now, the creature is killing everyone. The Nostromo’s mining mission was a red herring. Its real mission had been to find this alien all along and bring it to Earth. Ash, the crew’s science officer, betrayed them. He knew what the alien was the entire time and did nothing to warn the crew. Really, this was a dumb decision, even for a robot. It would’ve been smarter to tell the crew after Kane had been killed, so they would’ve had a better idea what they were dealing with, and at least, stood a better chance of containing the thing. But space robots are devious creatures, and somehow, they always decide that letting everyone die is more pragmatic.

Ash is killed by Lambert and Parker after he tries to murder Ripley, so the Nostromo is now down to three members, and therefore, they can take the escape shuttle which only seats three people. This makes no sense considering that there were originally seven crewmembers, and given how large the Nostromo is, it wouldn’t have been that big of a deal to put another escape shuttle on the ship. Plus, they had a second vessel, the main section of the Nostromo, which they used to land on a planet earlier in the film. We know they’re not talking about this ship when discussing their plan to escape because the entire crew—not just three people—went down to the planet to find the distress signal, which is how this entire situation began. The Nostromo is described as a tugboat that pulls a larger ship behind it. But the alien has been seen in gigantic chambers inside the ship, places implied to be the mining section. So, if they took the Nostromo and left the alien on the larger vessel, they still could’ve gotten away from the creature! Anyway, they decide to grab some coolant for their “only” shuttle. I’m not sure why because Ripley doesn’t seem to need it later, but we’ve got to separate our characters somehow.

Ripley goes to start the shuttle while Lambert and Parker retrieve the coolant. When Ripley is starting this vessel, she hears a familiar sound, a meow. The cat that randomly appeared earlier is still on the ship. My first thought would’ve been, “Oh great! A distraction for the alien.”  But apparently, Ripley cares about the feline now, even though she’s shown no interest for the thing before. She goes to rescue the cat, while Lambert and Parker begin gathering the coolant, making more noise than is really necessary. Of course, the alien sneaks up on Lambert first, and here was another part of the film that aggravated me. When she sees the creature, she freezes. This is understandable. Some people freeze when they’re frightened, but Parker, the guy holding a giant gun, just stands there and keeps telling her to move. There are all sorts of weapons on this ship, and not a one of them is used throughout this entire film! Why! I know the monster is supposed to seem as intimidating as possible, but I’d like to see, at least, some of these characters try to survive before they’re slain. Parker keeps yelling like a moron and never shoots. I understand he didn’t want to hit Lambert, but at a certain point, it’s either risk his crewmember being shot, or risk her being eaten alive. One of these things is more painful than the other.

Parker’s shouting eventually gets the creature’s attention, and it turns around and kills him. Lambert remains frozen and is killed as well. Ripley hears their cries over the intercom and rushes to help them; however, she’s too late. She runs to another part of the ship, still carrying the cat, and activates a self-destruct system because every ship has to have one of those. She then runs to the shuttle, but the alien is standing around a bend in the corner of a hallway as if it knows what she’s trying to do. She drops the cat, leaving it for the alien, and tries to shut off the self-destruct system. She fails and decides she’s going to have to chance an encounter with the creature after all. She returns to the hallway leading to the shuttle and finds the cat unharmed. I’m going to say it used one of its nine lives.

The alien is gone, so she enters the craft. She leaves the Nostromo, and it explodes. Believing that the alien is dead, she begins to prepare for her cryosleep. She puts the cat in the cryochamber but doesn’t close the lid. Remember that. Then as she’s moving around, she finds the alien is on board with her, but luckily, it’s asleep. I don’t know why it’s asleep. I don’t know why it chose a gap between a bunch of hoses and pipes to take a nap, but it’s not moving, and Ripley is not dead, so the story can continue. She puts on a space suit, sits down and buckles a seatbelt, then begins pressing a bunch of buttons. She starts chanting some saying she hasn’t uttered once throughout the entire film to keep herself calm, and flames erupt around the pipes and hoses where the alien is sleeping. What possible purpose could there be for allowing open flames inside a shuttle? I don’t know, but regardless, this infuriates the alien, and it crawls out of its hiding place. Then Ripley opens the shuttle door and shoots the alien with a grappling hook. The creature is sucked into space and all it well, but I couldn’t help but notice the cryochamber was still open, and the cat was still inside. It should’ve been sucked out right alongside the alien. That’s life number two, kitty.

Ripley lets out a distress signal and enters into a cryosleep.

So, what can be said about Alien? It’s okay. There are a number of plot holes and contrivances that force the story along, but the movie is enjoyable as long as you don’t think too hard. Having watched it, I’m not sure why it’s considered a classic. It seems pretty middle of the road to me. I would have to say my greatest complaint about the movie is that it kills off Dallas too early. I’m fine with having Ripley as the lone survivor, but Parker and Lambert added little to the plot, so it didn’t make any sense for them to be the last ones slain. I suppose, there’s some logic to it. Dallas was the noblest of the bunch, so it makes sense for him to volunteer for the dangerous task of herding the alien through the air ducts and paying for it, but the plan was so silly that I had a hard time believing that a character as competent as Dallas would’ve come up with it. If you consider yourself a sci-fi connoisseur, you should probably watch the film because it’s regarded as a sci-fi classic. But personally, I don’t understand the hype, so if you decide to skip it, you won’t be missing much.