dunno... can't spores survive space conditions for a few hundred years or so?

Some NASA research on it... https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19850062238

We don't know how resilient the martian is and if it was buried in the ground it could have survived for much longer, maybe in the order of millions of years like the spores are estimated to under certain conditions...

Spores? We're talking about a fully functional biological organism here Vs. zero atmospheric pressure and zero breathable air. For example (just to be clear, I'm referring to the 10-15 minutes the organism was outside the space craft, trying to get back in):

"A 1965 study by researchers at the Brooks Air Force Base in Texas showed that dogs exposed to near vacuum—one three-hundred-eightieth of atmospheric pressure at sea level—for up to 90 seconds always survived. During their exposure, they were unconscious and paralyzed. Gas expelled from their bowels and stomachs caused simultaneous defecation, projectile vomiting and urination. They suffered massive seizures."

They addressed this problem in the movie. Granted I don't think they addressed it sufficiently enough to suit your idea of what can be a good explanation, but regardless I appreciate that they addressed it and didn't just glance over the topic.

When Calvin first goes into space through the communication's tower hole, one of the crew members asks how is he able to last in space and the biologists states something along the lines of: I don't know - we have never dealt with this kind of creature, maybe it is able to store oxygen for a period of time, but it likely won't last for long in the vacuum. The crew is as perplexed by the phenomenon as you are.

@Geff said:

maybe it is able to store oxygen for a period of time, but it likely won't last for long in the vacuum.

I missed that, having watched a low res poor quality copy plus being past the point of caring by then. That's a pretty weak and lazy explanation however, since it's not only about breathable air. We're talking about a terrestrial being functional in zero gravity, without air, and at god knows what ambient temperature.

Not to mention, a pet peeve I have in that most if not all alien beings have to be depicted in movies as being (or expected to be) malevolent. Ugh. It's no wonder actual alien life has never bothered with us (as far as we know.)

i didn't realise you were talking about that scene, i thought you meant before it was reanimated in the beginning, i.e. how did it survive for them to discover anyway... i understand you now

yeah, i thought he explanation was pretty rushed, but to me I'm comfortable with the crew not being able to explain it properly as they were ignorant anyway... also the martian was unusual enough and had developed quickly enough for me to suspend disbelief...

I can't think of many alien movies where they are not malevolent... [SPOILERS for old movies ahead]

• In Close Encounters of the Third Kind? Aliens were quite neutral if i remember correctly
• In Starship Troopers they were the antagonists, but humanity were the aggressors
• A.I. ... maybe towards the end? Can't remember if those were aliens, an advanced form of A.I. or an evolved earth species... I have to re-watch it... Classic movie...

I guess in most films we're still too bound in anthropomorphising aliens and giving them traits that we have (that's why i dislike giving the alien in Life a face)... It stands to reason that thinking in that way makes us see them as threats to all other species that they encounter... That is our experience as the alpha predator on our planet. We dominate every other species and environment we encounter...

It's the same with Artificial Intelligence... We're even more weary of that because we're creating it and kind of modelling it around ourselves... I think Transcendence is the only movie I can think of where the A.I. is, arguably, benevolent...

Don't forget Arrival (2016). In that film the aliens are benevolent.

But otherwise I agree with MongoLloyd-- in most films aliens are indeed portrayed as malevolent.

@MongoLloyd said:

@Geff said:

I missed that, having watched a low res poor quality copy plus being past the point of caring by then. That's a pretty weak and lazy explanation however, since it's not only about breathable air. We're talking about a terrestrial being functioning in zero gravity, without air, and at god knows what ambient temperature.

Not to mention, a pet peeve I have in that most if not all alien beings have to be depicted in movies as being (or expected to be) malevolent. Ugh. It's no wonder actual alien life has never bothered with us (as far as we know.)

The copy I watched was like a 9.0/10 for video and the audio was 8.0/10(it had a bit of that digital clipping sound made worse at high volume). Any grainy copy watched on a laptop(for example) will never engage you anyway near enough as one with the proper setup. That aside, the vacuum scene was pushing it just a little, but it didn't rip me out of the film as I had no idea what such an incredible creature would or wouldn't be possible of doing. The cell was likely transported from Mars at the same temperature as space which is roughly 2.7 Kelvin/-270 degrees Celsius and I remember them mentioning when they were warming it up that it was at a temp of at least of -200 celsius before they gradually dropped it down. That alone means it can most likely withstand the temperature of deep space for an unknown time(perhaps for the few minutes outside the ship), it seems to be a matter of Oxygen first and how it processes it internally, either way it survived being frozen solid w/o Oxygen for few million years, a billion, more? There was so precedent in this organism that bares any comparison to anything we as humans can imagine. So that scene was great imo.

BUT there was a scene, a very cliche scene that rubbed me the wrong way. That scene where they were hanging on for dear life while enduring the "space vacuum" at the blown airlock. For one, when the cabin they were in lost all pressure and they were hanging on- nope sorry wouldn't happen like that. When the airlock blew, the loss in pressure would be more attune to a massive instantaneous loss of pressure, that of like popping a balloon and nothing on the station would be able to compensate for that kind of immediate loss of pressure or temp, they would have died irl, am I correct? Ship safety protocols would "irl" be set to immediately close off the area around the breach to maintain station pressure elsewhere around the ship because anyone not in a suit would already be dead. If I could count the number of sci-fi films that have used a breached airlock for such a dramatic scene, well I suppose I could count or guess, at least 10-15 or so including TV and films that I've seen, some shows have used it multiple times. And the ultimate **WTF! **was the Asian guy still intent on holding onto her hand selfishly long after the creature was attached/wrapped around him, I know for the drama, but I would have rather that entire scene been cut because I really enjoyed the rest of the film despite it's flaws.

Sh!t I forgot to adress the Malevolent aliens aspect, got carried away on something else, but in most cases with alien flicks it seems like we always shoot first and yes of course they try to invade us for our resources. Imagine us in 10K years into the future and we're on this hazardous ball of mostly undrinkable water, the air far above 100_degree temps in Canada, the atmosphere is effectively destroyed, the air is so polluted that you need breathing masks to go outside anywhere. We're technically advanced far beyond the wildest scientists wet dreams of where we sit currently, so we can travel far and travel fast and if we found a planet perfect for supporting us and our kind , wait oops, oh sh!t, there's already plenty of "aliens" living there and they are quite scared of us and do the dumb thing, not wait and immediately see us as hostile and fire their badassest weapon at one of our ships which produces little effect, what do you think would occur at that moment? We are a people of WAR, a people of GREED, it's been in our nature since the first "guy" clubbed the first chick over the head, dragging her home to his cave and raped her, my point is, it is in our nature, we are so far from being perfect, if an alien ship had a probe watching us it would witness war after war after war after war after war. I mean, have we ever had actual world peace? I'm gonna have to make an educated guess and say no. Just repeal ALL laws everywhere in the world , the protection and the enforcement of any such laws permanently. How long would it take for us to rip ourselves apart because it's in us, it's taught out of us for most people when we are children, we are taught about "sins", about good/bad, about laws and how to deal with situations, if not taught by family and schools we would be a different people, imagine these sick sob's in ISIS or Al Qaeda sending their children off at the age of 5 to what we would call kindergarten(in normal Countries) they skip naptime and conduct roll call as they welcome you to your new AK-47 "we will teach you all how to use it, clean it, take it apart and such and most importantly teach them that killing the enemy is for god and they grow up with this within them, teach them to hate the US or for ISIS hate everyone, then go and pass it down to the next gen if they live that long.

Sorry I got way off point in saying that when it comes to our species and if we are faced with the survival or the extinction of our race and we clearly have the ability to survive despite a war , it's gonna get ugly for the folks on that planet. Malevolence is not something we have a good track record of as a whole on this planet, it's more of a very long story of blood and the mixtures of greed, power, racism and jealousy that has propelled it to happen through our history and continues as I type, I guarantee some poor sob died in the time I've spent typing this.

I know, this was way too long, but it took my focus off the damn nerve pain I'm currently feeling today, but now I have this spare bullet and I don't know what to do with, jk..sorta

@ThrillKillz said: BUT there was a scene, a very cliche scene that rubbed me the wrong way. That scene where they were hanging on for dear life while enduring the "space vacuum" at the blown airlock. For one, when the cabin they were in lost all pressure and they were hanging on- nope sorry wouldn't happen like that. When the airlock blew, the loss in pressure would be more attune to a massive instantaneous loss of pressure, that of like popping a balloon and nothing on the station would be able to compensate for that kind of immediate loss of pressure or temp, they would have died irl, am I correct? Ship safety protocols would "irl" be set to immediately close off the area around the breach to maintain station pressure elsewhere around the ship because anyone not in a suit would already be dead. If I could count the number of sci-fi films that have used a breached airlock for such a dramatic scene, well I suppose I could count or guess, at least 10-15 or so including TV and films that I've seen, some shows have used it multiple times. And the ultimate **WTF! **was the Asian guy still intent on holding onto her hand selfishly long after the creature was attached/wrapped around him, I know for the drama, but I would have rather that entire scene been cut because I really enjoyed the rest of the film despite it's flaws.

Your observation that that rapid decompression as a result of hull breach is a sci-fi trope is the correct observation. I'm willing to forgive its scientific inaccuracies for that very reason. A normal sci-fi audience is used to this kind of thing by now. You've seen scenes like this in the alien franchise, Event Horizon, Total Recall and countless other popular sci-fi movies. In my opinion, past movies have set a precedent for leniency in this regard.

I disagree with your analysis of the Asian guy (Sho, the pilot) selfishly holding on for dear life until the very end.

1) You might have missed this during your viewing, but Miranda, the securities officer, says to Sho "don't let go" and genuinely wants to save her crew mate. In the end when the alien crawls on to her arm Sho himself aggressively dislodges it from her arm sacrificing himself in the process.

2) You cannot fault Sho for "selfishly" trying to preserve himself and waiting till the last moment to let go, after all other recourse has been expended. He only let go when it was a certainty that his staying alive would compromise the safety of his crewmates. The reason for this is as follows:

You cannot look at that scene in a bubble, you have to look at Sho's characterization leading up to that scene. Earlier in the movie you see an emotional Sho watching his wife give birth to his daughter through a small screen. Later, when he is trapped in his sleeping pod he looks at pictures of his wife and child for hope. He is especially driven and desperate because his death would mean that he will never see his daughter and his daughter will grow up without a father. In this light, hanging on until the very end is an act that follows given Sho's drive for self-preservation, not only for himself, but for his daughter. And when he aggressively removes the alien from Miranda's arm it is an act of extreme self-sacrifice.

@ThrillKillz said: Sh!t I forgot to adress the Malevolent aliens aspect, got carried away on something else, but in most cases with alien flicks it seems like we always shoot first and yes of course they try to invade us for our resources. Imagine us in 10K years into the future and we're on this hazardous ball of mostly undrinkable water, the air far above 100_degree temps in Canada, the atmosphere is effectively destroyed, the air is so polluted that you need breathing masks to go outside anywhere. We're technically advanced far beyond the wildest scientists wet dreams of where we sit currently, so we can travel far and travel fast and if we found a planet perfect for supporting us and our kind , wait oops, oh sh!t, there's already plenty of "aliens" living there and they are quite scared of us and do the dumb thing, not wait and immediately see us as hostile and fire their badassest weapon at one of our ships which produces little effect, what do you think would occur at that moment? We are a people of WAR, a people of GREED, it's been in our nature since the first "guy" clubbed the first chick over the head, dragging her home to his cave and raped her, my point is, it is in our nature, we are so far from being perfect, if an alien ship had a probe watching us it would witness war after war after war after war after war. I mean, have we ever had actual world peace? I'm gonna have to make an educated guess and say no. Just repeal ALL laws everywhere in the world , the protection and the enforcement of any such laws permanently. How long would it take for us to rip ourselves apart because it's in us, it's taught out of us for most people when we are children, we are taught about "sins", about good/bad, about laws and how to deal with situations, if not taught by family and schools we would be a different people, imagine these sick sob's in ISIS or Al Qaeda sending their children off at the age of 5 to what we would call kindergarten(in normal Countries) they skip naptime and conduct roll call as they welcome you to your new AK-47 "we will teach you all how to use it, clean it, take it apart and such and most importantly teach them that killing the enemy is for god and they grow up with this within them, teach them to hate the US or for ISIS hate everyone, then go and pass it down to the next gen if they live that long.

Jeez... that's a lot of venting, but I appreciate it and I admire your cynicism. That being said, I can see that in part of your own statements you are inadvertently mirroring the exact people you are cynical of. I think it was Noam Chomsky who said that governments who go to war tend to paint their enemy as sub-human scum whose views and values are discordant with the views and values of rational society. It is easier to kill people when they are strangers and freaks, they might as well be "aliens", as you put it. I'm not equipped to deal with this topic because as an American I'm subject to the same information as you are and I share a similar lack of empathy towards ISIS and Al Qaeda as you do, so I'll end there.

What I can talk about, however, is how evolution ties into aggressive War-ring and greedy behavior. It has been speculated by evolutionary-psychologists that all current human tendencies and behavioral traits have been chosen for by evolution. People tend to be overly cynical about evolutionary traits and pick out only the bad ones, but evolutionary traits not only include the negative traits like aggressive territorialism and competitiveness, but also positive traits like empathy and altruism. These positive traits do give a survival benefit as it's easier for organisms to survive long enough to pass on their genes if they are in a collaborative group. Ironically, it is believed that even religion has been chosen for by evolution; throughout history religions have tended to have a focus on creating families. Having not only a family, but a larger collective group in the form of a religious group gives offspring a significant survival advantage.

The movie addresses the issue of evolution, but again stereotypically only focuses on the negative traits. Calvin must kill in order to survive. This is important because while it would be nice to speculate that aliens might live in some kind of utopic society without wars and violence, it is also a possibility that aliens are subject to the same evolutionary motivators as humans are.

Does a tardigrade count?

@Geff said:

They addressed this problem in the movie. Granted I don't think they addressed it sufficiently enough to suit your idea of what can be a good explanation, but regardless I appreciate that they addressed it and didn't just glance over the topic.

When Calvin first goes into space through the communication's tower hole, one of the crew members asks how is he able to last in space and the biologists states something along the lines of: I don't know - we have never dealt with this kind of creature, maybe it is able to store oxygen for a period of time, but it likely won't last for long in the vacuum. The crew is as perplexed by the phenomenon as you are.

I agree. That was the part that terrified me the most about Calvin. The crew just didn't have enough information about it to be able to kill Calvin because Derry didn't have enough time to study Calvin fully before Calvin became aggressive and started attacking everyone.

The op is acting like exposure to a vacuum would make you explode, it's space, the difference between space and sea level is 1 atmosphere... Also there are already a myriad of creatures who can hold their breath for 15 - 20 minutes, whales, turtles, dolphins. I imagine if you put a dolphin in space it wouldn't instantly die from whatever mythical ailment you reckon it will so you are just acting like a troll or an idiot. 'nuff said?

Now come back with an attempt at wit so I can confirm you're one of the muffins who ruined the IMDb - that way I get to increase my ignore list and we both walk away happy.

@krashd said:

The op is acting like exposure to a vacuum would make you explode, it's space, the difference between space and sea level is 1 atmosphere... Also there are already a myriad of creatures who can hold their breath for 15 - 20 minutes, whales, turtles, dolphins. I imagine if you put a dolphin in space it wouldn't instantly die from whatever mythical ailment you reckon it will so you are just acting like a troll or an idiot. 'nuff said?

Now come back with an attempt at wit so I can confirm you're one of the muffins who ruined the IMDb - that way I get to increase my ignore list and we both walk away happy.

Not everyone is a troll. Maybe the op has a limited knowledge about science stuff.

@krashd said:

The op is acting like

Please, please, please, put me on your "ignore list," binky. It would be an honor to be ignore listed by such an imbecilic turdling.

I trust even with your limited abilities, you are capable of using a simple interweb search engine. You might wish to avoid further embarrassment and take a gander at the actual effects on complex organisms that a lack of atmospheric pressure has.

One atmosphere might sound like a small amount to a human being with a lump of pumice for a brain, but in reality, no complex terrestrial organism has ever survived exposure to space-like conditions.

Considering lack of gravity, lack of atmospheric pressure, lack of breathable air, not to mention extreme low temperature in deep space, maybe you should stick to the fantasy genre.

Dude, it's an alien. The Alien from 'Alien' has acid for blood for God's sake.

This movie is not science fiction, it is fantasy, the alien can do what the hell it wants. It has withstood high temperatures, so it's likely it can withstand low temperatures as well.

Who goes to watch a movie with the belief they are going to discover real alien life lol? Get real!

Oh geeze, don't even get me started on the blasting of the blowtorch inside the spacecraft ;-)