After surviving the encounter with the Xenomorph that left the rest of the Nostromo's crew
dead, Ellen Ripley entered hypersleep aboard the shuttle Narcissus, believing that with
a little luck she would reach the frontier in about 6weeks.
As we would learn in the events of Aliens, Ripley, and the Narcissus, had been left drifting
in deep space for 57 years.
Needless to say this amount of time was significantly over her original estimation, so what exactly
caused Ripley to be lost in space for so long?
Was it simply bad luck, or were other factors at play?
If we consider the events of Tim Lebbon's novel, Alien: Out of the Shadows, then there
is no doubt that there were nefarious reasons behind Ripley finding herself far off course
in space for several decades.
As a constingency, Artificial Person Ash uploaded his consciousness into the Nostromo's computer,
shortly before his attempt on Ripley's life and subsequent destruction by the remaining
crew.
Now synced with MUTHUR, also aboard and controlling the Narcissus, Ash could ensure that in death,
or at least the android equivalent of death, he would still be able to carry out Special
Order 937.
This purpose became an obsession, and the Narcissus was veered off course for decades
in the hopes to find further Xenomorph specimens.
37 years after the Nostromo's destruction, Ash saw his window.
A deep space mining operation, helmed by the vessel Marion, encountered a Xenomorph infestation
on the planet LV-178, a mine settlement containing Trimonite, a rare and valuable mineral that
was being collected by the Marion's transport shuttles - the Samson and Delilah.
Both shuttles and crews inside were killed after giving host to new Xenomorph specimens,
but not before making a desperate final attempt to return to the Marion.
While the Delilah lost control and impacted on the Marion, causing irreperable damage
and deaths of the captain and first officer, the Samson was able to successfully dock via
its autopilot procedure - with the xenomorph specimens waitin on the other side.
The remaining crew of the Marion sealed off the connection to the Samson in the hopes
to keep the creatures at bay, and sent a distress signal, though due to the damage recieved
no long-range communications could be sent, and the closest vessel was the Narcissus.
Ash picked up on the signal and routed Ripley and the Vessel to the Marion, reuiniting Ripley
once more with the alien nightmare she seemed destined to relive.
Retrieved by the Marion crew, led by Chief Engineer Hooper, Ripley was awakened from
Hypersleep, initially believing she'd been rescued.
Hooper informed her of the contrary.
"You've hardly been rescued.
We spotted your shuttle on our scanners just over 15 hours ago.
You drifted in, [..] then docked at the one docking arm we had left.
Our situation - and now yours - is pretty grim.
We suffered a collision.
Lost a lot of our people.
It's knocked us out of geostationary orbit, and now we're in a decaying pattern.
We figure less than 15 days before we start burning up in the atmosphere of LV-178."
Grim news of the Marion's situation aside, Ripley also had to confront being informed
that she had been left in hypsersleep for 3 and a half decades.
I haven't aged a day, she thought.
And then she pictured Amanda, her sweet daughter who'd hated the idea that she was going awau,
even for 17 months.
"I should have been home," Ripley said, thinking of Amanda and her sad, wet eyes when she'd
watched her mother leave.
She hated herself for that.
Even though she should have been home for her eleventh birthday, and nothing that had
happened was her fault, she hated herself."
Worse still, Ripley was informed of the Xenomorph infestation, and upon accessing the computer
abaord the Narcissus, she realized who was behind the theft of all the years of her life
lost, and the possiblity of seeing Amanda again: Ash.
Despair soon shifted into survival mode, and Ripley along with the Marion's crew devised
a plan to retrieve fuel cells left on LV-178 and escape using the Narcissus, having to
eliminate the Xenomorphs aboard the Samson in order for this to work.
Ash, dissimentating himself into the Marion, the Samson, and all computers on LV-178's
settlement, was along to watch every step along the way, and made every effort to see
that a Xenomorph specimen could be attained, periodically sending status reports to Weyland
Yutani.
"Now, aboard the dropship Samson, are the five surviving crew of the Marion, plus warrant
officer Ripley of the Nostromo.
They are en route down to the mines of the planet LV178, where they hope to retrieve
a fuel cell for Ripley's shuttle, Narcissus.
I remain aboard the shuttle, docked to the Marion, which will soon burn up in the planet's
atmosphere.
I no longer have a physical body, and my voice has changed, but I exist, having uploaded
my Artificial Intelligence into the shuttle's computer.
The crew and Ripley are unaware thier journey is only necessary because I purposely drained
the Narcissus fuel cell upon her arrival.
For decades, Ripley drifted in hypersleep aboard this vessel.
Without her knowledge I steered it away from the outer rim.
After I heard the Marion's distress signal I brought her here.
My mission under Weyland Yutani's special order 937 is to return with a viable specimen
of the alien species which attacked and killed the entire Nostromo crew.
Ripley was the only survivor.
One such Alien is loose aboard the Marion, but I hope that the landing part will encounter
more and maybe even an egg.
If I succeed in transporting the creature back to earth, or Ripley as a human host of
an Alien embryo, my mission will be fullfilled.
Intelligence with a purpose."
Ash's desire- his need - for a purpose, further exemplifies the complexities of Artificial
Intelligence within the Alien Universe.
Much like David before him, his obession with the percieved perfection of the Xenomorph
led to a certain kind of madness, and any human caught in the middle would suffer for
a supposed greater good as far as the android was concerned.
Through his attempt to fufill a purpose, Ash robbed Ripley of her own, when, by all other
considerations, she should have found her way to the frontier after her experience on
the Nostromo, and should have been there for Amanda's birthday.
By interfering with the Narcissus' course, and causing Ripley to lose years to her life,
Ash could very well be the more formidable antagonist to Ripley than any greedy company
executive or any snarling space beast.
The story of Out of the Shadows was not only a part of Tim Lebbon's novel but it was also
adapted into an audio drama, produced by Audible.
I've had a lot of requests to cover the story and generally share my thoughts on it.
In short, I think the production value is top notch, and really brings the novel to
life.
There's a great voice cast- Laurel Lefkow in the role of Ripley is very close to sounding
like Sigourney Weaver, which was delightful, and Rutger Hauer, no stranger to playing murderous
androids, fills the role of Ash quite nicely.
And because it's, at least, in some ways, an audio book, it's able to cover a lot more
ground than what could be done if it were adapted into a film, which, actually, I wouldn't
mind either.
It harkens back to the old days of radio dramas, and is very creative with painting its picture
purely through audio and letting your imagination fill in the rest.
It was a great job, and a great production.
I'd highly recommend checking it out.
Have you given it a listen?
Or read the novel?
Comment below and share your opinion.
Did you enjoy it, or maybe find it too far fetched?
Or did you think it fit well into the continuity?
Let me know your thoughts.
I still have some more I'd like to cover from Out of the Shadows, so stay tuned, I'll have
another video talking about it more pretty soon.
As always, thank you very much for watching.
If you enjoyed this video, please make sure to hit the like button, and you can also subscribe
for all the latest videos from the channel.
A very, very special thanks goes out to Weyland Yutani Executive EmYaruk, part of the Patreon
Hive.
If you'd like to join the hive and support the channel, check out my Patreon page for
exclusive posts and contests.
In the meantime you can catch up with Alien Theory over social media- follow @Alien_Theory
on Twitter, and @AlienTheoryYT on Facebook and Instagram for more.
And until next time, this is Alien Theory, signing off.
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét