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Re-Animating Ash's Head
posted by tmdb65271336STAFFMOD on March 14, 2017 at 12:16 PM
I know this is a weird subject, but every time I watch Alien it bothers me. No, I'm not talking about the dodgy effect, since it's well-known that they tried mightily to produce a realistic latex head but the technology just wasn't there yet.
What bothers me is the rationale for turning Ash back on after he assaulted Ripley and tried to kill Parker. When Parker asks Ripley why they're turning him back on, her response is, "Because he may know how to kill it." Her rationalization makes no sense. For the entire length of the movie, Ash was directed by Special Order 937 to preserve the Alien at all costs. Why would he give the crew any assistance whatsoever when Ripley's demand was, "How...how do we kill it?"
Throughout the movie, with few exceptions, the crew follows a fairly logical process. Only when these processes are ignored or violated does something happen. And the filmmakers take great pains to craft a story and characters that lead to events that make sense for those characters.
Yes, Kane looks into the egg. But Kane was portrayed as an enthusiastic, even overeager explorer. Dallas makes the crack, "Yeah, that figures" when Kane preemptively volunteers to help search for the signal. Kane is the first onto The Space Jockey's Platform. He's the one eager to descend into the egg chamber. Someone like that WOULD throw caution to the wind.
When Brett is killed by himself, the crew has no idea what they're facing. They're scared, sure, but they still think they're hunting a little chest-burster. They expect to find it tucked into a hole in the wall, not morphing into a giant creature.
When Dallas is killed it's only because he's trying to act as the leader they expect him to be. There is an uneven number of crew left. If they sent two people into the air shafts, that would still leave one potential victim alone guarding the entry hatch or the airlock. Dallas decides that he has to be the only one to go in, hoping that the flamethrower and the (sabotaged?) motion detector are enough to give him the defense he needs.
Again, when Ripley sends Parker and Lambert off before entering MUTHUR's room, she's doing so because she knows Lambert needs Parker's help more than she does. And NOBODY wants Ash near them because he's exhausted all of their trust by that point.
Everything is logical, unlike so many slasher movies, and that's another reason I absolutely love Alien. Everything but that one scene. I know the answer is always going to be "exposition" but I think it discredit's the audience's intelligence to assume that we need it spelled out at this point in the movie. We know that Ash is a robot. We know that he had an order to preserve the Alien. And we don't need to know that the Alien is invincble. It's just wasted time. I'd much rather have seen them find a way to integrate the cocoon sequence into the movie--perhaps while the Alien was off attacking Parker and Lambert--than have this scene in the movie.
Had to get it off my chest. I watch Alien all the time and this is the one hitch in the movie that really annoys me.
Reply by tmdb53400018
on January 23, 2018 at 6:23 PM
I've wondered about the exact same thing. As I keep up with the film, I wonder if Parker is somehow guesstimating about the creature's size. You know, maybe he's thinking since it dragged Brett away, it must be really large -- possibly man-sized.
Dunno.
Reply by Alfred
on May 11, 2018 at 8:08 AM
That's the only thing that bothers you? There is a 'hitch' in just about every scene. I just watched Alien (Director's Cut) for the first time. This is an incredibly stupid movie. I can't believe it was so popular, even for 1979. It's a piece of crap. It was so boring to watch.
And yes, I love Sci-Fi and Horror movies. This one goes way at the bottom of the list.
Reply by sati_84
on May 11, 2018 at 9:01 AM
Care to present some, you know, arguments as to why you dislike it? What are your other "hitches"? Why do you think the movie is stupid? Etc.
Reply by AlienFanatic
on May 11, 2018 at 2:12 PM
The answer is that, yes, they did cut the scene in which Parker and Ripley watch as the Alien carries Brett into the air ducts. It's actually in the director's cut on the Alien Anthology Blu-Ray. Parker, cattle prod in hand, and Ripley run in and then look up into the rafters. They begin screaming after Brett by name then, as droplets of blood begin to rain down like the water droplets that were raining on Brett before, Parker realizes that he's being doused with Brett's blood and drops the cattle prod, screaming Brett's name one last time.
This isn't the scene from the Director's Cut, it's from one of the "deleted scenes" discs from the earlier DVD set before Ridley Scott reluctantly restored it for the Director's Cut on the Blu-ray, but it does give you an idea of what the extended sequence looks like.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFiLVrux4V8
Reply by bluersun
on May 11, 2018 at 3:14 PM
Always preferred that version of Brett's death... I also like the 'crab-walk' scene that was cut from Lambert's death. I'd like to see a version with them both inserted, but I doubt that will ever happen...
Reply by bluersun
on May 11, 2018 at 3:19 PM
What films make the top of your list? I notice that you've rated 1 film a full 5/5 stars on here... Just genuinely curious as I don't know many people who would say they love sci-fi horror but hate this...
Reply by sati_84
on November 5, 2019 at 4:16 AM
As a matter of fact, yes, they did! There is a deleted scene that shows Parker and Ripley storming into the room, looking upwards towards where the Alien is hauling Brett, and having blood pouring all over them. It was cut, but I don't think it's really necessary for Parker's statement to work: we haven't seen exactly what they saw, but we must assume they made it into the room in time to get these key takeaways from the encounter. I see nothing wrong with that.
EDIT: Damn, I did not look 3 comments up... @AlienFanatic already beat me to it.