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A simple reason why i don't believe the "Bishop did it" theory

posted 2 years ago by sati_84 (467)
6 replies | jump to latest

There are many-many theories on how the egg got on the Sulaco, and one of them is Bishop carried them there on company orders, and he was in on it throughout.

Never mind the logistics of this (when did he have the time to carry the egg to the dropsip, where did he hide it on the dropship, how did he retrieve it after being torn in half, and how did he stuck it onto the ceiling of a random corridor? And no, the queen had no time to do this either, but that's another story), I have a simple reason not to believe this theory.

Burke was acting alone. Plain and simple, Burke signed up on this mission to gain millions for himself and no one else. So he went with the marines to gather a specimen all on his own - and he had no support from the company. And that is why he could not reprogram Bishop or plant a special order into him, because for one, that leaves some kind of trail, and he could not afford that, and two, he is no programmer, and could not have involved anyone (like a lab techie guy) to do it.

"Yeah but Bishop is a Company android, so Burke would not have to reprogram him. He automatically does whatever the Company wants."

Except... no one at the company wanted a specimen. The board did not believe Ripley at all. They sent Gorman to be in charge because they couldn't be bothered with some missing colonists. No one saw an opportunity in this for anything - except for Burke. So no, W-Y did not want a specimen, they were skeptical of any aliens even existing in the first place, there was no such order Bishop could have followed.

I rest my case - do I have a flaw in this summary? Let's find out :-)

[–] moviechatterer (16049) 2 years ago

"Except... no one at the company wanted a specimen"

but .. that contradicts everythinhg in films 1&3

[–] sati_84 (467) 2 years ago

Right - in 1 and 3, the Company indeed wanted a specimen.

In 1, they partly deciphered the message of the beacon, so they expected the crew of the Nostromo to encounter an agressive lifeform - and they wanted them to bring it home. Mind you, this did not mean an officially sanctioned mission. We are talking about the conspiracy of a handful of people in the company - as evidenced by the fact that they sent the Nostromo, instead of an official scientific / research mission. That would have been a cost for the company, and if that mission fails to find anything, heads would have rolled. So they kept it off the books.

In 3, by the time Ripley crashlanded on the prison facility planet, W-Y was aware of what went down on LV-426. That raised eyebrows and heads all over the company, and getting an alien was back on the official menu - as evidenced by Bishop II and the "dogcatchers" they sent.

But in 2, the truth about the fate of the Nostromo was successfully kept secret. So after 57 years, no one had the chance to find out about the message of the beacon, everything was covered up, there was no paper trail, etc - as evidenced by the fact that the board did not believe Ripley. They acknowledged that the Nostromo was following an unusual route but they said it was because of "unknown reasons". So from this we know that officially, the Company does not have any information about aliens, and they think Ripley made the story up. Enter Burke, who thinks there might be something to this. Again, he cannot act in an official capacity, but sends out a team to check the area Ripley mentioned. Burke goes all in after the colony goes silent, planning to grab a specimen himself - later when they find the facehuggers in storage and the impregnation cycle becomes clear to him, he even plans the death of several people in cold blood (Rip and Newt, but all the other marines as well, as Ripley explains his "cryo failure" plan).

(continued in the next post)

[–] sati_84 (467) 2 years ago

He even confirms he is working alone on this, when Ripley first confronts him over why he sent the colonists (Newt's family) to investigate the derelict.

So the facts are the following: Burke is going in alone. He cannot be entirely sure the mission will find anything useful - something worth millions for the bioweapon division that is. So he has no reasons, means or opportunities to reprogram Bishop. And Bishop should not have a "gather a specimen" command programed in him at that point, since the company is unaware of Burke's side gig, and they don't have any reason to believe the aliens exist.

And with that, we got back to my original argument. No one could have tampered with Bishop's programming.

[–] moviechatterer (16049) 2 years ago

ah yeah , that all makes sense . It hinges on that "conspiracy of a handful of people in the company" in pt1

I concur with your "Bishop did it" theory rebuttal 👍

[–] [deleted] 2 years ago

This movie is NOT canon, or SHOULDN'T be. It doesn't matter what happens in this piece of shit.

[–] MikeCable (1879) a year ago

It is canon and has unfortunately caused a bit of a mess when we examine it deeper. Seems like everything anyone comes up with can be picked apart and found in some way to not be a 100% explanation. The Perfect Organism's recent podcast discussing all the theories was very interesting.

The one I usually stick to is that the queen was interrupted in the process of laying and had another one on the way, which she lays in a short moment while on the Sulaco. I've had chickens so I know they can hold the eggs in until the time is right to go and lay in their favourite spot.

Maybe this was when Ripley is busy getting the loader organised, otherwise I can't think of when, and we do see it laid in that odd position. It is not mentioned as happening in the Aliens treatment or shooting script of course, and is entirely clumsily added by the writer of Alien 3 to suit the needs of their story. It is somewhat plausible, but we didn't see it happen so we don't know for sure.

Why it hatched... I think it was laid 'prematurely' by not having gone through that long tube thing (I currently forget the name for it) and so 'woke up' on its own due to some fault.