Back to a Better Future: The Crucibles of Sci-Fi Cinema I Alien
What happens when the person in charge fails — and someone else has to step up? In this episode, we dive into Alien as part of our special summer series, Back to a Better Future: The Crucibles of Sci-Fi Cinema. The ship’s captain in Alien represents one of cinema’s most striking examples of poor leadership under pressure — and the film makes clear that when leadership fails, the only path forward is when others on the team rise up and do what they know to be right, regardless of rank or hierarchy. It’s a lesson as relevant in the boardroom and the home as it is on a spacecraft.
Want to explore our three prior summer series about the lessons we can learn about overcoming crucibles from film?
Check out these playlists featuring every episode of each one:
LIGHTS, CAMERA, CRUCIBLES (2022): • Beyond the Crucible: Lights, Camera, Cruci…
CLASSIC FILMS, CLASSIC CRUCIBLE LESSONS (2024): • Classic Films, Classic Crucible Lessons: A…
BIG SCREEN, BIG CRUCIBLES (2025): • Back To A Better Future 2026
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Transcript
Warwick Fairfax:
Welcome to Beyond the Crucible. I'm Warwick Fairfax, the founder of Beyond the Crucible.
Dallas is a good example of somebody that's not a strong leader. He would rather follow orders that obviously a suspect than doing what's right. He won't do the sane and sensible thing. You've got Kane who has this organism attached to him and he's just going to let Kane back on the ship and they know nothing about this organism. They don't know if it's got some virus or if it's malevolent. I mean, they don't know what's going on, but it's like, "Oh, well, let's not worry about it."
Gary Schneeberger:
Poor leadership, it's the Achilles heel of the ship's captain in the movie Alien, which we discussed this week in the second episode of our special summer series, Back to a Better Future: The Crucibles of Sci-Fi Cinema. As the movie makes clear, the only way to overcome leadership that's lacking is when others on the team step up and do what they know to be right regardless of rank or hierarchy. How can understanding that help you overcome your own crucibles? Stay tuned.
Welcome friends to this episode of Beyond the Crucible. This is our special summer series, which we have called Back to a Better Future: The Crucibles of Sci-Fi Cinema. Why do we do that? We're going to talk about why we did that. First of all, we had so much fun over the last three years that we focused, not over the last three years, over the three years, last two years, and then a couple years back. We've done three years, this is the fourth, where we focused our summer series on the lessons about overcoming crucibles that movies can teach us. And so we had so much fun doing it before we're doing it again. Guess what? We're probably going to do it next summer too.
And after we've done movies that spotlighted heroes, classic movies celebrated by the American Film Institute and last year, movies that feature really major crucible after major crucible after major crucible. In the first episode, I said you've heard of Chock Full o'Nuts coffee, that was Chock Full of Crucibles summer movie series last year. This year we're examining a film genre that's one of Warwick's favorite types of movies and that is science fiction. And the title, as I said, is Back to a Better Future: The Crucibles of Sci-Fi Cinema.
So Warwick, as we start, let me ask you this question. Why movies again? This is the fourth time, as I've said, that we've done this in our summer series. What are you hoping our listeners and viewers get from our discussions this year, these eight films that we're going through?
Warwick Fairfax:
Yeah. Gary, both you and I, we love movies and it's interesting when you look at movies from a Beyond the Crucible perspective, because most of us look at movies just to have fun and enjoy them, but it's very different than when you're looking at it, what are the crucibles? How do the characters bounce back? Do they make the right choice? And so what we love about movies from our perspective of Beyond the Crucible is that they typically portray a protagonist who is facing significant challenges that they seek to overcome. Will they be defined by their worst day? Will they overcome the crucible? Will they just do what everybody else is doing and go along? So it's a fascinating way of both looking at crucibles and learning from the characters in those movies, whether they make a good choice or a bad choice. So as you've mentioned, we've in past years looked at movies coming superheroes, sports heroes, historical heroes, significant crucibles as well as the American Film Institute's top 100 movies. So it's something we both enjoy and there's so many lessons that we can learn from looking at these movies.
Gary Schneeberger:
And it's interesting that you say, and it's true, you watch movies, we watch movies for this series much differently than we watch movies just for entertainment. And that's not to say, I think it's important to say that's not to say that this is like being at the museum of homework and vegetables. I mean, it's not drudgery to do it. It's actually quite exciting to do it, right? To be able to find those things and it shows us just how universal this concept of moving beyond your crucible is. I think that makes it more exciting even if it's different, doesn't it?
Warwick Fairfax:
Absolutely. There's something about movies that they're larger than life and typically the crucibles, the characters, are facing are larger than life, but that really highlights both the heroism and the poor choices occasionally that the protagonist make. So it's really a great way of highlighting some significant issues in a kind of an enjoyable way in a sense. It's a fun thing that we enjoy doing and we hope people will enjoy learning from some of these famous characters.
Gary Schneeberger:
And for you, this summer series about sci-fi cinema is particularly enjoyable because that is one of your favorite film genres. Why do you love science fiction films, not just films, but other aspects of science fiction? Why do you love them so much and what about them is particularly resonant for discussing crucibles and how we move beyond them?
Warwick Fairfax:
I've loved science fiction from a very early age, both in movies, TV shows, and indeed, books. One of the most influential science fiction films ever made was 2001: A Space Odyssey. It came out in 1968. And what I loved about that was it showed you future technologies such as space shuttles with screens on the seat in front of you, which is commonplace now in airlines, but didn't exist back in the '60s. You had talking computers, as they say, sentient computers that had intelligence. They couldn't just answer questions, they could actually almost think in a sense, and video conferencing and other technologies.
And one of these shows I was a big fan of was the original Star Trek TV series from 1966 to '69. I also read widely in science fiction novels, books by Arthur C. Clarke who wrote the screenplay for 2001: A Space Odyssey and Isaac Asimov. And so what I like about science fiction and still do is, sure, it explores future technology, which is fascinating. Like in Star Trek, it looks at warp drive, which is speeds that are faster than the speed of light, which scientists can debate whether that's possible or not, but it's fascinating to look at the technology.
But science fiction at its best explores deep societal issues like what is the future of the human race? How will it interact with other forms of life and technology? Will the human race go in a beneficial direction? And when we talk about technology, there's a lot of discussion these days about the future of AI. Is that going to be good for humanity or not? Is there a threat? Is there a danger people discuss these things? So science fiction is really a great way to look at crucibles and how do you overcome significant crucibles, whether it's existential questions like can the human race survive? Will the expansion of humans be across the galaxy and beyond will it be beneficial? Will technology get to the point where it will control humans? These are all very significant questions that science fiction explores. So it's a fun genre and is a rich ground to look at crucibles in.
Gary Schneeberger:
Which is a good one, two punch. It's enjoyable and there's crucibles, as I said at the top, right? A plenty, chock-full of crucibles for sure. And here in episode two of our summer series, we are looking at one movie that is indeed chockfull of crucibles and that is Alien, which is the 1979 movie that's been described and plays out for sure as sci-fi horror. Here's the summary of the film known in the industry as the logline.
"After a commercial space tug crew intercepts an SOS from a desolate planet, they are hunted by a terrifying parasitic alien creature that boards their ship."
I always love how loglines, it's like this expansive big two hour movie and they get it down to like a dozen or more words. Those people in Hollywood know what they're doing. And speaking to people in Hollywood, before we actually get into talking about the ins and outs of the film, in your research, you uncovered some interesting facts, interesting details about Alien. Share those with folks just to warm them up before we get talking about the movie proper.
Warwick Fairfax:
Indeed. So as we discussed, Alien came out in 1979 and this was director Ridley Scott's, one of his very first movies. Now he's done so many blockbuster movies, basically anything that the Australian actor, Russell Crowe does, Ridley Scott is the director. He did the one of Gladiator and just some other massive movies. It was also one of Sigourney Weaver's, who is the star here, plays character Ripley, it was one of her earliest movies and might be the first one when she was actually the star. And what's interesting is there was a time in maybe the late '60s, early '70s when science fiction wasn't popular, but then Star Wars came out in 1977 and then all the other studios, and I believe this movie was made by 20th Century Fox, everybody was running around saying, "We've got to make a science fiction movie." You know the way Hollywood is, you've worked there.
It's like once something comes out in as a hit, everybody wants to jump on the bandwagon. And so I think this particular studio ran around saying, "Is there anything we can make about science fiction?" And somebody said, "Well, we have this script called Alien." "Alien? Okay, great. It's ready? Let's make it." So it was sort of like, you got the script, we've got to make a movie about science fiction, let's go. So this is at the time, I think it got modest reviews, but interestingly enough, over time this has been seen as one of the top science fiction movies. So it's funny how movies when they come out, they might get so-so reviews, but later on as critics look at it in the course of examining sci-fi history and culture, they can reassess it and say, "Actually, this is a really good movie." This is one of those movies. It didn't come out with a bang, but its reputation increased over time.
Gary Schneeberger:
Yeah. And to your point about how Hollywood loves to copy each other, it's because of the success of science fiction films in Hollywood. The only time in a James Bond film that what is at the end of the movie and "Bond will return in..." whatever the name of the movie is, the only time that that was not correct because they put, I think it was For Your Eyes Only maybe up, but at the time Star Wars was out, as you said. And lo and behold, they had one that they were going to make called Moonraker, which had been written by Ian Fleming and they swapped the movies and Moonraker came out first to capitalize on the Star Wars mania. So Roger Moore got to go to space.
All right, let's get to talking about this movie Alien and let's begin as the opening credits unfurl, we're given the setup of this film. And at first it doesn't seem all that action packed, right? There's a core of seven folks on this spaceship. It's a towing vehicle called the Nostromo and on it they do refinery work that processes 20 million tons of mineral ore and they are returning to earth. That's the screen card that goes up. You're watching that movie and you're going, "Oh boy, this isn't going to be very exciting." But that initial scene is pretty run-of-the-mill, yes, it's pretty matter of fact given what is to come and there's no hint early on of the action and/or the danger that is to come. Why is that an effective opening, especially for a film that builds itself as sci-fi horror?
Warwick Fairfax:
Yeah. So you're right, Gary. Alien starts off pretty quietly and Nostromo is this commercial towing vehicle making its way back to earth. This isn't some like battleship or like battlestar in Star Wars or any of the other... Or in Star Trek. This isn't some elite crew in this state of the art top of the line spaceship that's ever been built at the time. This is just this commercial towing vehicle. It has a crew that almost seems bored. They're pretty relaxed. They certainly don't seem to be this crack, well-trained military type of crew, iron discipline, inquiring minds here to explore space and go beyond where people have ever gone before in Star Trek terms. It just seems like this is a job that pays the bills and it's not something they're really excited about. They're going after wherever they're going, finding material, refining it, bringing it back, then they go back again. It's just this boring kind of job that somebody's got to do it.
And so there's really no hint of what's going to happen, of the perseverance, ingenuity, and courage that are going to be required. So often crucibles happen to people who seem to be unprepared and don't feel like they're heroes at all, whether it's World War II or some cataclysmic event, something happens that really tests the medal of the man or woman who's in the arena, so to speak. Some will be found wanting and others will rise to the occasion, but it's amazing how ordinary people can do extraordinary things depending on the circumstances. So yes, this movie starts off in a pretty relaxed kind of manner in which you're thinking, "Okay, we've got this towing spaceship with this pretty lackluster crew, okay, and so we're watching this movie and should we walk out? I mean, what's going on here?" It doesn't start with the bang, that's for sure.
Gary Schneeberger:
Right. And that's common in the horror film genre. Earth-based horror films tend to be sleepy towns and everybody's like, "Oh, it's just an average everyday thing going on." And then all of a sudden the horror hits. And that's what happens here. And the ship's computer starts it all off. It's called Mother and it wakes the crew up from stasis, they're onboard sleep in pods to tell them about a signal it's received. It's a beacon and the policy of the company they work for, the seven folks on this ship is that they have to go investigate it, the crew does. So the captain, whose name is Dallas and the executive officer whose name is Kane and the navigator, Lambert, go off to investigate.
Warwick, what happens in this scene that indicates the crew of the Nostromo is about to face a terrifying crucible, right? It begins to tick up from "Not much to see here" to, "Oh, there's going to be something good to see here."
Warwick Fairfax:
Yeah. So things are about to change with the sleepy, relaxed crew. They're not going to be that relaxed for much longer. So some of the crew take off in the shuttle from the main ship to investigate where this transmission is coming from. So they go land on this planet and three of them leave. You've got Kane, Lambert and Dallas. And as they're walking on their space suits on this planet, they see this weird spacecraft is like nothing they've ever seen before and they start climbing into it and investigating. So Kane hears something strange and starts investigating because, well, that's what you do in a horror movie. You see something weird and something scary and you go, "Look."
Gary Schneeberger:
And you run right toward it, not away from it.
Warwick Fairfax:
And of course you go and look yourself. You don't bring other people on, because why would you do that? And so he starts investigating and he goes down into this large cavernous space and he sees this murky pool with lots of eggs. And of course, what does Kane do? Well, he thinks it's a great idea to decide to walk amongst these eggs, what could go wrong. So he's doing that. So Kane decides to walk amongst these eggs and he sees something moving in one of the eggs. Something seems to be alive. Now the egg opens and an organism flies out onto Kane's helmet. So Dallas and Lambert bring Kane back to the shuttle, which then docks with the main ship, the Nostromo. So they want to bring Kane back onto the ship for medical care. Now meanwhile, Mother lets Ripley know that the transmission from the beacon is a warning and not an SOS. Now they've not deciphered the whole message. They don't quite know what that message means other than it's not an SOS. It's some kind of warning.
Gary Schneeberger:
Yeah. And this is where Ripley, right, Sigourney Weaver, who's the warrant officer, even though she's third in command, she makes a bold stand when the crew that has been investigating the beacon returns to the ship.
What does she do, Warwick, and how does the action she takes or tries to take spotlight the importance in a crucible of doing what you think is right regardless of opposition or even hierarchy because she does something very pivotal to help you through a crucible.
Warwick Fairfax:
Yeah, it's well said. So at this point, the shuttle has docked with the main ship and Dallas and Lambert, they want to bring Kane back onto the ship for medical attention, but Ripley doesn't want to let them pass the airlock. So that's an airlock and the folks in the shuttle, Dallas, Lambert and Kane, they can't get back in without somebody on the main ship opening the airlock and Ripley doesn't want to do this because she says they should follow protocol, which is 24 hours for quarantine because there's some organism that's on Kane, maybe that wouldn't be safe. And so Ripley won't open the hatch, but Dallas, that is the captain, orders that the hatch be opened and Ripley says, "No."
She understands the order, but she believes that order is wrong. And you could say if it was a military term, it's not valid, you're not following a valid order, if you will. It goes against protocol, at least for quarantine. But Ash, the science officer, he opens the hatch anyway because Ash is on the main ship. So now we see that the Kane has this organism, it's attached and wrapped around his head. It's not just on his helmet, it's just on his actual head. And so Ash and Dallas try to get it off, but they can't. And so then they make an incision into the creature and this liquid pours out and it's like acid. It just eats through the decks of the ship and they're thinking it's going to create a hole in the whole ship. And so they run around, try to stop it leaking everywhere.
And so then there's this fascinating conversation in which Ripley says to Ash that Ash let Kane and the organism in when Ripley says, "I'm the senior officer on the ship." Yes, Dallas is the captain, but he's on that shuttle, and in terms of who has to make the decision on the ship to let them in, Ripley says, "I'm the senior person." And Ripley says that Ash forgot the quarantine law, but Ash says, "Kane's only chance of survival was to bring him on the ship." And so Ripley says, "Okay, yeah, but by breaking quarantine Ash, you're risking everybody's life." And Ash says, well, that was a risk that he was prepared to take. And Ripley says, "Well, that's a pretty big risk."
Now, Ripley could have said, "Well, that wasn't your decision to make. You feel like you believe that was a risk that was worth taking but not your call, but Ash makes that decision anyway. So both Dallas, the captain, and Ash, the science officer, want to bring Kane as an organism attached back on the ship, Ripley does stand her ground against Dallas and Ash and tell them that risked the health of the crew, but she's countermanded basically. Dallas overrules her and Ash ignores what Ripley wanted to do. So this is a good example of Ripley stands up for what is right. Irrespective of the consequences on her career, or indeed how she's going to get on with her colleagues, you assume that they're going to be taking more journeys together on this towing vehicle.
What this highlights is that it's easy when those around you and who work for you are pushing the course of action just to go along. Even when you don't think it's right, it's like, look, why buck the system? This is the company line. This is what all my colleagues want to do. Let's just go along. And so you could say, look, I'm not the decision maker. It's not my responsibility, but I'm reminded of the phrase that bad things happen when good people do nothing.
So Ripley is one of those people that will stand up and do what is right irrespective of what the captain thinks or, as we'll see, what the company thinks. Ripley is somebody that will do what is right no matter what, but it would seem like she is the only one on that ship. And sadly, I think many of us will find ourselves in situations where we might think of ourselves as the only person in the company in our group, in our neighborhood that will do what is right. Sadly, it often feels like there aren't that many because most people are like, "Why fight this? We're probably going to lose. What's the point? We don't want to be the only one standing up and everybody else is going to say, 'What's your problem? Come on. Just go along. It's the easy path.'"
Gary Schneeberger:
Right. And you mentioned that the other folks on the ship don't really have that same perspective, that same courage that Ripley has. And it's particularly difficult both in her case and in the cases of all of us because the actions are inactions of the guy in charge, Captain Dallas point to another critical truth about navigating a crucible, that they can get worse, much, much worse if you keep moving forward without a plan. And that's what Captain Dallas does. He allows the ship's science officer, Ash, to make a critical decision despite Ripley's growing distrust of him. How does the captain's weakness and lack of fortitude deepen the crucible they're facing? Because again, this is, as I said at the top, a lot of crucibles coming together and this one's rooted in Captain Dallas just not having the fortitude to do what's right.
Warwick Fairfax:
Yeah, it's so true. So after they're in the infirmary with Kane, they notice that the creature is gone and it's not on Kane's face. While they look for it, an organism falls from the ceiling and drops on Ripley. Now, fortunately it seems to be dead and as they're looking at it, kind of [inaudible 00:25:06] it, trying to figure out what it's made of. And Ash asked Dallas if they can bring the organism back, as in back to headquarters where they're going. And Dallas says that science matters are up to Ash as a science officer. So Ripley says, "That doesn't make sense." Dallas says, "Well, it's up to the company and we have to do what the company says." And Ripley says she doesn't trust Ash. So Dallas is just going on along with the company line, "Hey, it's really not my call. It's up to Ash as a science officer." And he's just avoiding responsibility.
Ripley meanwhile is standing up for what is right because she wants to ensure the safety of the crew, let alone those that might come into contact with the ship and the crew when the ship returns. Dallas, on the other hand, is just saying, "Yep, not my problem. I'm just doing what I'm told to do." Toeing the company line, whether that makes sense, whether it's right or not, not my problem. So Dallas is a good example of somebody that's not a strong leader. He would rather follow orders that obviously a suspect that doing what's right. He won't do the sane and sensible thing. You've got Kane who has this organism attached to him and he's just going to let Kane back on the ship and they know nothing about this organism. They don't know if it's got some virus or if it's malevolent. I mean, they don't know what's going on, but it's like, "Oh, well, let's not worry about it."
So sadly, there are too many leaders like Dallas who will not stand up for their superiors or company policy and they'll just acquiesce by basically saying, "Hey, it's not my problem. It's not my decision." And they just acquiesce. It's just so common. People often are willing to pass the buck.
Gary Schneeberger:
It's interesting. It just popped in my head in a movie called Alien, it's alien for everybody except Ripley to make strong decisions rooted in principle and rooted in courage and rooted in knowing what's going on. That's just for whatever reason, that just popped in my head.
So the next scene, Warwick, is one of the film's most horrific, most horror inducing scenes. And remember, this is a horror movie, even though it's a sci-fi horror movie. That scene happens next. Talk a little bit about what happens in that scene and why it pushes and how it pushes the plot forward.
Warwick Fairfax:
So Kane who had that creature on him, he wakes up and he seems to be fine and they're all eating a meal together. Everything's going well. They're laughing, having a good time. And as we're learning, so the spoiler alert, when things seem to be going well in a horror movie, it is not a good sign. It won't last. So enjoy it while you can. Just goad yourself, something bad is going to happen. I just know it. And indeed that is what happens. So we see that Kane seems to be ravenous. It's like he's eating way more than you would think a normal person would.
Gary Schneeberger:
Especially when he just woke up, right,-
Warwick Fairfax:
Right.
Gary Schneeberger:
... who just woke up from not doing anything.
Warwick Fairfax:
Exactly. And then Kane starts writhing and shaking and screaming. He's obviously sick. Something bad is going on here and a creature comes out of his chest and it has teeth. I mean, at this point, it's a small little creature and the creature runs away. Kane is dead at this point and they send his body off into space and they all run around now looking for the creature throughout the ship. So one moment you're having a nice meal and the next moment this weird creature comes out from this guy's chest and runs off. So it just from in a nanosecond, it goes from being a calm time to what the heck is going on here.
Gary Schneeberger:
So the alien that had affixed itself to Kane's face and then got on his face and got some probes down into his... And somehow was then in his stomach and then burst out and now he's on the loose, which is Ripley's worst fear back to, where on quarantine, they didn't listen to her. So her worst fear now has come to life. What happens next because more worse fears keep coming now?
Warwick Fairfax:
They sure We do. The crew has a cat, Jones or Jonesy as they call it, and this cat sets off a sense that the team has developed to allow them to catch the alien as it moves around the ship. So they've sort of tested out this technology, it does work. When Jones sets off one of the motion sensors, Brett, an engineering technician, goes to find him and Brett encounters the alien. Well, at this point the alien is not small, it's massive and it kills him. And Ash says the creature has adapted well. Again, a bit of foreshadowing. There's a little bit of too much admiration in Ash's voice.
Gary Schneeberger:
Right, right.
Warwick Fairfax:
So Dallas then devises a plan to force the creature off the ship with an airlock. So Dallas wants to chase this creature into an airlock and then let it off into space. And so Dallas asked Mother, the computer, about alternative plans to kill the alien, but the computer seems to be unable to answer the questions. The Mother has nothing, so to speak. It's just not helpful. Its answers are like uncertain, basically, "I don't know". So then Dallas enters these air ducts with a flame thrower, but is ambushed and killed by the alien. So what this movie does a good job of is it shows you hints of violence. You'll see this creature come up behind Brett. You'll hear screams from Dallas, maybe a hint of a creature about to get him. But then it cuts away leaving a lot to the imagination, which really the best kind of horror movies is when it's your imagination that is thinking, "What exactly happened? I know he's dead, but ..." So Ridley Scott does a great job in directing this movie.
Gary Schneeberger:
So Ripley is now in charge of the ship and she has her suspicions and has had, you could tell the way she looked at them. She's had her suspicions about Ash and she has them confirmed in one of the most pivotal scenes in the movie. Let's take a look and a listen to that scene.
Movie Clip:
Ash: There is an explanation for this, you know?
Ripley: Is there really? I don't wanna hear your goddamn explanation. Ash, open the door. You open the door.
Parker: Get her up, get her up. It's a robot, Ash is a goddamn robot. Holy shit! Shit! Help me get this f...ing thing off! Oh, God. God, Jesus.
Gary Schneeberger:
Warwick, that scene, not easy to watch, very jarring to watch. That scene makes everything that has come before though makes sense, doesn't it?
Warwick Fairfax:
It really does. So with Dallas Dead, Ripley now has access to Mother and she wants to know how to kill the creature. So Ripley is now acting captain and she has access to Mother and some of the information there. So Mother says that their orders are to retrieve the creature and that the crew is expendable. So in the scene we see that Ripley confronts Ash who comes up behind her while she's reading this message from Mother and Ash says that there is an explanation and Ripley angry, she just tears off and Ash traps Ripley in a part of the ship and with superhuman strength hurls Ripley to the ground. Now Ash then forces Ripley down and gets this rolled up magazine and puts it down Ripley's throat. At this point you're wondering what's going on with Ash putting a rolled up magazine down Ripley's rote and you wonder if Ash wants to pour something down Ripley's throat.
I mean, it's the kind of thing that you would think may happen. So Parker comes from behind Ash and hits Ash with this metal tube. So when Ash's head almost comes off, we see that Ash is a robot. And then we see that Ash has been protecting the creature all along. Ripley asks Ash about the special order. Ash says it was to bring back the life form that is priority one. All other priorities are rescinded. Parker curses Ash and a company who clearly don't care about their lives. Ripley asks Ash how to kill it and Ash says, "You can't."
Now at this point, I think we see that the creature is actually within Ash. So it's a very weird thing that we see going on here. So Ash says that the creature's structural perfections is only matched by its hostility. Ash admires its purity. It is unclouded by conscience or morality. Ash says he can't lie about their chances almost smiling and says they have his sympathies. At this point they pull the plug on Ash. So it seems like Ash is being protecting the creature all along. Partly maybe it's his orders to protect the creature, bring it back for study. Maybe also the creature is within Ash, but it just seems that Ash has this admiration for this creature. It's sort of structural perfections, it's purity. And Ash admires the fact that the creature is unclouded by conscience or morality. I mean, what a thing to admire. Yeah, Ash is clearly in the camp of this very malevolent creature.
Gary Schneeberger:
Yeah. And as you were describing that, it just occurs to me, you mentioned Parker, who I don't think we've introduced yet. He's the one of the seven we haven't talked about. Parker is one of the engineers. So he's a very no nonsense kind of rough and gruff and physically intimidating guy. So that's why he takes the big metal tube to Ash and ends Ash's sentience, if you will, eventually. But with no hope of defeating the alien, Ripley decides that she has to initiate the self-destruct sequence and abandon the ship. But it's not as simple as that, Warwick. What happens next?
Warwick Fairfax:
So Ripley is now, again, clearly in command. You've just got Ripley and Lambert and Parker left. So Ripley says to the other two, "Okay, I'm going to go prepare the shuttle." And she's hoping to kill the creature when the ship self-destructs because they have no idea how to kill it. And she tells the other two, Lambert and Parker, to go collect some critical supplies and equipment for the shuttle for when they take off. While Lambert and Parker are gathering supplies, you see that this alien creature kills both of them. You see it's put some sharp part of itself right through Parker and then put some tentacle around Lambert. So you just see hints of that. So now alone, Ripley starts the self-destruct process, but the alien blocks her root to the escape show. And so Ripley narrowly escapes and turns back to abort the self-destruct sequence because she feels like "I'm running out of time", but she fails to return to where this self-destruct mechanism is before the override option expires.
So with only a few minutes left to evacuate, Ripley frantically returns to the shuttle and finds that the alien is gone. She takes Jones the cat with her and she boards the ship and launches it seconds before the Nostromo explodes.
Gary Schneeberger:
Right. So she's in the shuttle, ship's blowing up. End of story, right? Roll credits. Nah, come on. This is a horror film, folks. There's on jolt, one shocking surprise left. Alien still has one scary surprise left. Describe what happens next and that is indeed what happens last in Alien.
Warwick Fairfax:
So Ripley is now in the shuttle and you think all is well. Again, never a good sign, certainly not in a horror movie. So we see the main ship blow up and it blows up in a massive explosion. Ripley says under her breath, "I got you, you son of a blank."
Gary Schneeberger:
Blimp, yep.
Warwick Fairfax:
[inaudible 00:41:45]. Fill in the details. Ripley almost seems comatose. When you've gone through this crucible that Ripley has gone through and you've been running for your life and then you feel like you're finally out of danger, you just sort of sit back and take a breath and you're almost sort of numb after the whole experience. And she does feel like almost comatose from that experience. But then she sees, on the other side of the shuttle, this creature crawling around and she races to get away and she hides among the spaces. I mean, this shuttle is not big and she has an idea. So she climbs into one of the space suits and puts the helmet on and she gets like the spear gun and she comes out of hiding almost singing to herself under her breath because she has a plan and she starts pushing buttons and what Ripley does is she sucks the air out of the shuttle and then opens the airlock.
Now she has a spacesuit on, so this is obviously all planned and the creature is beginning to be sucked out of the shuttle. But before getting sucked out of the shuttle, the creature tries to hang on, it's got its tentacles on either side of the airlock, the opening of the airlock and Ripley shoots it with a spear gun and it finally lets go. So then we see that Ripley closes the airlock, puts air back in the shuttle and takes her spacesuit off. So at this point she thinks, "Okay, we're good," but not yet.
Gary Schneeberger:
Not yet.
Warwick Fairfax:
So this creature is trying to crawl back in where the rocket tubes are. And so Ripley turns on the rockets and the creature is finally blown away. So at this point, Ripley then begins to make a final report in her log and she says, the other members of the crew are dead. The cargo and the ship are destroyed and she'll reach base in about six weeks. She says, "This is Ripley the last survivor of the Nostromo signing off." Ripley hugs the cat and talks to the cat because it's the only left and says, "Come on, cat," and hugs it. And so Ripley is in a cryopod and the movie ends.
One of the interesting things to note in this movie is you do see some humanity on the part of Ripley in that Ripley goes to great lengths to save the cat and that's definitely a priority. She's not this callous cold person. She's trying to save everybody, but in the end, it's only Ripley and Jones, the cat, that survive.
Gary Schneeberger:
And what's interesting, right? That's the end of the movie, but it's not the end of the Alien cinematic universe. They've made how many sequels? They've made like three or four sequels to this movie, including some in which the alien fights the predator from the Predator movies. I've never seen any of them, but this film, this antagonist definitely has legs going forward. Sigourney Weaver comes back for at least two more movies. There's something about this idea of an alien from space that is indestructible in everything that Ash said, it has no humanity. It has no morality. There's something about that that is appealing to moviegoers, right?
Warwick Fairfax:
It really is true. Yeah. As you mentioned, you've got that movie Predator with Arnold Schwarzenegger and it is an alien-like creature. It's very malevolent and kills everybody except Arnold Schwarzenegger and he's sort of clambering over rocks and streams with kind of camouflage on. And this whole alien genre, there's quite a few Alien-like movies that come out after this. It's just sort of your worst nightmare to see this malevolent creature. You don't know what it is, where it's come from. All you know is it wants to kill you. That seems to be its mission in life. So yes, it spawned a very scary genre of movies.
Gary Schneeberger:
Yeah. All right. So we don't talk about these movies, Warwick, just enjoy the films as we said at the outset, right? We don't watch them just for entertainment. We watch them because there's crucibles in them and we want to help folks who go through crucibles, learn some lessons from these movies about how to do that. So how do the crucibles that the characters in Alien go through offer us insight into how to move beyond our own crucibles, especially, and this is important, in the face of challenging circumstances, yes, but even scary circumstances, which are definitely at play in Alien. How does this movie help us navigate our own crucibles?
Warwick Fairfax:
Yeah. Alien highlights that dichotomy between those who will do what is right and those that will not and the severe consequences that ensue. So clearly that happens here. Ripley is concerned about letting Kane back on the ship with an organism on him. She understandably and rightly wants to invoke quarantine. Dallas, on the other hand, the captain, he just goes along with a company line and supports the science officer. "Hey, it's not my responsibility. Company, they want to investigate life and maybe there's a profit in it. And besides it's not my decision, it's a science officer's decision or it's the company's decision. It's really anybody's decision other than me. Not my problem."
The other really sad thing here is the company clearly values potential profit that the creature might bring over the safety of the crew. It is clear that the crew are expendable. It's all about profit. It's all about leveraging this alien creature for some benefit of the company. They can always find other crew. So there are powerful lessons in Alien. Are we going to do what is right like Ripley or are we going to go along with a company line like Dallas and Ash do? "Hey, it's not my problem, not my responsibility. I don't have a choice. I'm just doing what I'm told to do. I'm just going to do what's expected. I don't want to make enemies with the people I work with. Certainly I don't want to make enemies with the powers of be or my bosses above me."
So are we going to do what Ripley does or do what Dallas and Ash do? Are we going to lead a company that only cares about the bottom line or that cares about people? It's often in the corporate world, you're constantly concerned about earnings per share and got to constantly increase profit. Maybe we'll have to right size, which means lay off some people, but it's just a few and hey, I don't know that I really need to do this, but if I don't hurt the quarterly profits and I don't think I can explain to the shareholders and investors and let's just do what's expedient, let's just do what's easy.
So are we going to be that kind of a leader or are we going to work for a company whose values that are completely against ours? Maybe it's like, "Well, it's a paycheck," or it might be, "This company pays really well. I just have to go along to get along and, hey, I just work here. I don't set the company values." And the challenge is you go along with one poor decision after another or you just acquiesce to them and pretty soon you've moved as we find in Star Wars from the light into the dark side.
It happens a bit like a lobster boiling step by step. And so this movie shows that our decisions on some of these powerful questions, they have significant consequences. The repercussions of our decisions might be much bigger than we realize. It's so easy to say, "Well, it's just a white lie and doesn't everybody cheat on their taxes?" And "I didn't lie. I just didn't tell the whole truth. I left out some key facts, but hey, I didn't murder anybody, right? I mean, it's not a capital crime. It's just something little." But something little eventually becomes bigger and then it becomes so big that it's too late to back out because backing out might mean loss of reputation or even worse, maybe prison. So you may think, "Oh, that will never happen to me." Well, it's easier than you think if on bad decision, one unethical decision after another in some cases, molehills can grow into mountains.
You don't want to be that person that starts off as somebody that just didn't do anything that wrong, but one poor decision after another, one acquiescing to somebody's orders after another leads you to be a person that you don't even recognize and at that point you feel like it's too late.
Gary Schneeberger:
Friends, the house lights are back on. Our feature is over for this week. Thank you for joining us for this episode of Back to a Better Future: The Crucibles of Sci-Fi Cinema. Next week we will have another film where we will discuss the crucibles there and the lessons you can learn from them. And I'm going to do it, Warwick, I'm going to ask Scott, give me a drum roll here so I can tell everybody what the next film is. Excellent. Next time we are going to talk about Terminator 2: Judgment Day and I'll leave you with this folks, just so you know, we'll be back. See you next week.
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