Alien (1979)
Directed by: Ridley Scott
Written by: Dan O’Bannon, Ronald Shusett
Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm, Yaphet Kotto.
Significant characters introduced: Warrant Officer Ellen Ripley.
Notable universe developments: The biological processes of the Xenomorph are established (gestation, life-cycle, hematology); the secret agenda of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation is revealed.
The Nostromo commercial vessel travels through space on its way back to Earth, while its seven-person crew is in stasis. The crew consists of Captain Dallas (Tom Skerritt), Executive Officer Kane (John Hurt), Warrant Officer Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), Navigator Lambert (Veronica Cartwright), Science Officer Ash (Ian Holm), Engineer Parker (Yaphet Kotto), and Brett (Harry Dean Stanton) – and they’re employed by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation.
The crew is awakened early by the ship’s computer – Mother – when it detects a possible distress signal from a nearby planetoid. The team then follow company protocol and set out to investigate. The ship sustains some damage during landing, however, so Parker and Brett work on repairs, while Dallas, Kane and Lambert head out as a search team. Ripley and Ash remain on the ship to monitor their progress.
Working on the signal, Ripley identifies it as a warning, not a distress beacon – but Ash tries to persuade her not to communicate that information to the team on the ground. Meanwhile, Dallas, Kane and Lambert have discovered an old alien spacecraft that contains a deceased creature whose chest has apparently been violently ripped open. Kane also stumbles upon a vast number of eggs – one of which hatches and unleashes a tentacled creature that attaches itself to his face.
Upon returning to the Nostromo with the stricken Kane, Ripley refuses them entry, citing quarantine protocols. Ash overrides her decision, however, and the team assemble in the medical bay to assess the situation. Attempts to remove the creature are initially unsuccessful, and only reveal that its blood is highly corrosive and that it’s penetrated Kane’s throat with a lengthy probocis. Eventually, it detaches itself and dies. Kane seems to recover well, and with repairs completed, the Nostromo sets off for Earth once more. During a meal, however, Kane is killed by an alien creature bursting out of his chest. It then escapes and is loose on the ship.
The crew is then faced with a challenge. The creature is clearly lethal and must be defeated, but they’re unable to shoot it due to its corrosive blood. Instead, they arm themselves with a range of nets, motion detectors and flamethrowers, and set out to find the alien. Brett dies next, when he follows the ship’s cat – Jones – into a room and is attacked by the alien, which is now a fully grown Xenomorph. The remaining team decide that the best course of action is to capture the creature and jettison it into space through the airlock – so Dallas heads into the ventilation shafts to flush the alien out, but it kills him.
Since she’s now the senior officer on board, Ripley accesses the ship’s computer and discovers that Ash is, in fact, serving a different agenda. He’s been placed on board the ship to ensure that the crew pick up the creature and transport it back to Earth for analysis, since it’s the “perfect organism” and the Weyland-Yutani Corporation wishes to harness it for commercial purposes. The company view the crew as expendable in that effort and, in confronting Ash about the truth of his mission, the crew discover that he’s an android. After questioning, he’s decommissioned.
Ripley, Parker and Lambert set the Nostromo to self-destruct with a view to escaping in the shuttle – but Parker and Lambert are killed by the alien while gathering supplies. Ripley grabs Jones the cat, and tries to enter the shuttle, but the alien blocks their path. She tries to stop the self-destruct countdown, but fails. She’s finally able to slip into the shuttle and sets off for Earth as the Nostromo explodes. As Ripley begins to settle down though, she comes to realize that the alien is on board the shuttle with her, so instead of beginning stasis, she puts on a spacesuit and opens the airlock. As the xenomorph tries to cling onto the vessel, she shoots it with a grappling hook and blasts it into space with the shuttle’s engines.
Happy that the creature is finally gone, Ripley finishes her preparations for stasis and heads home.