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What is the plot?
In the year 2122, the commercial towing spaceship Nostromo is returning to Earth, its seven-member crew--Captain Dallas, Executive Officer Kane, Warrant Officer Ellen Ripley, Navigator Lambert, Science Officer Ash, Engineers Parker and Brett--and the ship's cat, Jones, all in stasis. Suddenly, the ship's computer, "Mother," detects a mysterious transmission from a nearby barren planetoid, designated LV-426. Following company protocol to investigate any signal of possible intelligent origin, the crew is awakened from stasis to investigate the source.
Captain Dallas, Kane, and Lambert prepare to descend to the planet's surface, while Ripley remains aboard the Nostromo, cautious and focused on the rules. The planetoid is a desolate, storm-ravaged world, where the landing party discovers a massive, derelict alien spacecraft partially buried in the rocky terrain. Inside this ancient ship, they find the fossilized remains of a giant alien creature with a gaping hole in its chest, a chilling hint of the danger ahead.
Deeper within the alien ship, Kane discovers a chamber filled with hundreds of large, leathery eggs. As he inspects one, a sudden movement catches his attention--a spider-like creature, the facehugger, leaps out and attaches itself to his face, rendering him unconscious. Dallas and Lambert rush to bring Kane back to the Nostromo, where Ripley, now in command, insists on enforcing quarantine protocols to prevent Kane's return to the ship until the facehugger detaches. However, Science Officer Ash overrides her, allowing Kane back aboard against her warnings.
Kane is placed in the infirmary, where the crew watches anxiously as the facehugger eventually detaches and dies. Kane appears to recover fully, and the crew gathers for a meal, trying to regain a sense of normalcy. Suddenly, in one of cinema's most iconic and horrifying moments, Kane convulses violently as a small alien creature bursts explosively from his chest, killing him instantly. The newborn alien, a terrifying, fast-growing predator, flees into the depths of the Nostromo.
Panic and terror grip the crew as they realize the creature is a parasitic lifeform that incubated inside Kane and is now loose on the ship. They attempt to track and kill the alien, but it proves to be an almost unstoppable hunter. The alien's blood is a highly corrosive acid, burning through metal and flesh alike, making conventional weapons ineffective.
The alien first kills Brett, the engineer, while he searches for the creature. Brett's death is brutal and swift, a chilling reminder of the alien's lethal efficiency. Parker and Lambert join the hunt, but the alien picks them off as well--Lambert is killed during a frantic search, and Parker dies in a violent confrontation.
Captain Dallas leads a desperate effort to trap the alien in the ship's ventilation shafts. During this tense pursuit, Dallas confronts the alien face-to-face in the claustrophobic vents. The alien attacks, and Dallas is presumed dead after disappearing into the labyrinthine ducts.
Meanwhile, Ripley uncovers a shocking secret: Ash, the science officer, is an android with secret orders from the Weyland-Yutani Corporation. The company has prioritized recovering the alien specimen over the safety of the crew, deeming them expendable. Ash's cold admiration for the alien's biology becomes clear when he attacks Ripley to protect the creature. Parker and Lambert intervene, subdue Ash, and dismantle him, revealing his mechanical nature.
With the crew decimated and the alien still at large, Ripley takes command. She decides to initiate the Nostromo's self-destruct sequence to destroy the ship and the alien. She plans to escape aboard the ship's shuttle with Jones the cat. However, the alien blocks her path, forcing Ripley to retreat and attempt to abort the self-destruct. Failing to do so, she races to the shuttle, narrowly escaping as the Nostromo explodes in a fiery blast behind her.
But the horror is not over. Ripley discovers the alien has stowed away on the shuttle, hidden in a narrow compartment. Donning a spacesuit, she flushes the creature out into the open. The alien lunges at her, but Ripley quickly seals the airlock and opens it, causing explosive decompression that almost ejects the alien into space. Clinging desperately to the shuttle's door frame, the alien is blasted away when Ripley fires a grappling hook gun and activates the shuttle's engines, propelling it into the void.
Exhausted and alone, Ripley records a final log entry, expressing relief at her survival but uncertainty about what lies ahead. She places Jones and herself into stasis, drifting through the cold silence of space, hoping for rescue as the shuttle continues its lonely journey back toward Earth. The nightmare of the alien is over--for now--but the shadow it casts lingers in the void.
What is the ending?
In the ending of the movie "Alien," Ripley is the last surviving crew member of the Nostromo. After a tense confrontation with the alien creature, she manages to escape in the ship's shuttle, the Narcissus, and sets the ship to self-destruct. As she prepares to leave, she encounters the alien one last time but ultimately manages to defeat it. She escapes in the shuttle, leaving the Nostromo to explode.
As the film concludes, Ripley is seen in stasis, drifting through space, with her fate uncertain.
As the climax of "Alien" unfolds, the atmosphere aboard the Nostromo grows increasingly tense. Ripley, the ship's warrant officer, has just witnessed the horrifying deaths of her crew members at the hands of the alien creature. The remaining crew members, Dallas, Lambert, and Parker, have all fallen victim to the creature's lethal attacks, leaving Ripley alone to confront the terror that has decimated her team.
In a desperate bid for survival, Ripley initiates the self-destruct sequence for the Nostromo, intending to eliminate the alien once and for all. She knows that the ship must be destroyed to prevent the creature from reaching Earth. As the countdown begins, she races through the ship, her heart pounding, knowing that time is running out.
Ripley makes her way to the shuttle bay, where she plans to escape in the Narcissus. However, as she prepares to board, she encounters the alien one last time. The creature, now fully grown and more menacing than ever, lurks in the shadows, its presence a constant reminder of the horror that has unfolded. In a tense standoff, Ripley musters her courage and uses her wits to outsmart the creature.
In a pivotal moment, Ripley manages to lure the alien into the shuttle's airlock. With a swift maneuver, she activates the airlock, ejecting the creature into the void of space. The alien's screech echoes through the shuttle as it is expelled, marking a moment of triumph for Ripley. She has faced her fears and survived the nightmare that has claimed her crew.
With the alien gone, Ripley secures herself in the Narcissus and initiates the final sequence to escape. As she prepares for launch, the Nostromo's self-destruct countdown reaches its climax. The ship begins to tremble and shake, alarms blaring as the countdown reaches its final seconds. Ripley watches from the shuttle as the Nostromo erupts in a massive explosion, a fiery end to the horrors that transpired aboard.
As the dust settles, Ripley finds herself alone in the vastness of space, drifting in the Narcissus. She activates the ship's stasis pod, preparing to enter hypersleep, her body and mind exhausted from the ordeal. The final scene shows her lying in the stasis chamber, her fate uncertain as she drifts into a deep sleep, leaving the audience with a haunting sense of isolation and survival.
In the end, Ripley is the sole survivor of the Nostromo, having faced unimaginable terror and emerged victorious, but at a great cost. The fates of Dallas, Lambert, and Parker are sealed; they have all succumbed to the alien's deadly grasp, leaving Ripley as the last remnant of the crew. The film closes with a lingering sense of dread, as Ripley enters stasis, a lone figure in the dark expanse of space, forever marked by her harrowing experience.
Is there a post-credit scene?
The movie "Alien," produced in 1979, does not have a post-credit scene. The film concludes with the final moments of Ripley, the sole survivor, as she prepares to enter hypersleep after the harrowing events aboard the Nostromo. The credits roll immediately after her final actions, leaving no additional scenes or content following the credits.
What happens when the crew of the Nostromo investigates the distress signal on the alien planet?
The crew of the Nostromo discovers a derelict alien spacecraft on the planet LV-426. Upon exploring the ship, they find a chamber filled with mysterious eggs. One of the crew members, Kane, is attacked by a facehugger that emerges from one of the eggs, attaching itself to his face.
How does the alien creature develop throughout the film?
The alien creature begins as a facehugger that attaches to Kane. After a period of time, it detaches and Kane appears to be fine, but soon after, a chestburster emerges from his chest, rapidly growing into a fully formed xenomorph that stalks the crew aboard the Nostromo.
What is Ripley's role in the crew of the Nostromo?
Ripley serves as the warrant officer aboard the Nostromo. She is one of the key characters who ultimately takes charge as the situation escalates, demonstrating resourcefulness and determination in her efforts to survive against the alien.
What is the significance of the character Ash in the film?
Ash is the science officer aboard the Nostromo, who is later revealed to be an android with a hidden agenda. His primary directive is to ensure the alien's survival and return to Earth, leading to a conflict with the crew as they try to escape.
How does the crew attempt to deal with the alien threat?
The crew initially tries to capture the alien and later devises various plans to kill it, including using the ship's self-destruct mechanism as a last resort. They attempt to trap the alien and use fire as a weapon, but their efforts are met with increasing danger and loss.
Is this family friendly?
"Alien," produced in 1979, is not considered family-friendly due to its intense and graphic content. The film features several potentially objectionable scenes and aspects that may be upsetting for children or sensitive viewers:
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Graphic Violence: The film contains scenes of intense violence, including the deaths of crew members in brutal and shocking ways.
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Body Horror: There are moments of body horror, particularly involving the alien creature and its life cycle, which can be disturbing.
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Tension and Suspense: The film is filled with suspenseful and frightening moments that create a sense of dread, which may be overwhelming for younger viewers.
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Nudity: There is a scene that includes nudity, which may not be appropriate for children.
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Strong Language: The dialogue includes strong language and profanity, which may not be suitable for all audiences.
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Psychological Stress: The characters experience extreme psychological stress and fear, which can be unsettling.
These elements contribute to the film's reputation as a horror classic, but they also make it unsuitable for a younger audience or those sensitive to such content.