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[pramod]

Ok, so in Alien...Ripley finds out that the Weyland-Yutani company is pretty much responsible for everything that has happened. She sees it, with her own eyes, that human life means nothing to this company, that they are evil and rotten to the core, and have broken numerous laws, just to get an alien specimen. One of their androids even try to murder her.



So you would think, once she arrives back on earth. Wouldn't the first thing she does is go straight to the police or press or whatever, and report this evil immoral corporation's schemes to the world? Or at the very least, hire a lawyer and sue their ass off?

But no, instead she acts like what they did was no big deal. In fact she even goes to a company de-briefing like a good ole' loyal employee, becomes chummy with another corporate slimeball Burke, and even volunteers to go back...on ANOTHER WEYLAND-YUTANI SPONSORED expedition back to LV-426. It seemed like the entire conspiracy from Alien was completely ignored in the sequel. Was it just bad writing?

To me that's just too huge a plot hole to swallow. Has this ever been explained in the movies, or the novels, or a deleted scene?

 

[Red Crayon Aristocrat]

Maybe what they did wasn't illegal? Super sleazy but not breaking the law.

We don't know how exactly the law works in this future society.

 

[pramod]

Even if what they did wasnt illegal in this future (i guess it would have to be a pretty frikin dystopian future where murder is legal) ....why would she still be associated at all with them? Why trust them? Why go back? Its not rational.

 

[Jezan]

I think it was a way to keep the way open to a sequel , aka. bad writing. But maybe is just the cynic way of that era's movies to show how evil big corporations could be.

 

[Red Crayon Aristocrat]

Well there was the deleted scene where she learned her daughter was dead, maybe she felt she didn't have much to live for and just wasn't motivated to fight Weyland Yutani?

Plus here's another theory, she had spent decades in cryosleep, maybe her memory was spotty and she just forgot about Special Order #937? You wouldn't forget the alien but you might forget a detail like that.

 

[Barsinister]

Her motivation to go back was to prevent the aliens from getting to earth. We don't get a real sense of time, but I always assumed that events happened quickly. If the company was to start an expedition immediately, she only had enough time to decide to go.

As to why she didn't go to the police or media? Maybe she did, but wasn't believed. That's not what the story was about. The story was about her stopping her nightmares.

 

[way more]

I think it's a cyber-punk dystopia on earth. Weyland-Yutani is a basically the government so she has nobody to appeal to.

 

[EBE]

The company didn't break any laws in the original film. And anyway, Ripley was quarantined on gateway station since her return. Plausible deniability.

 

[Scopa]

Maybe she was smart and realised that the media can’t be trusted?

As for the police, I don’t know, did she have any proof to present to them? I don’t think she did right? Maybe logs on the ship, but as soon as her ship was recovered (along with her), it would have been immediately back in the hands of Weyland-Yutani.

 

[Kadayi]

Weyland-Yutani *insert: show me the receipts.gif*

Simple. Lack of evidence. The onus would be on her to prove it and given everything bar, the escape shuttle got trashed, pretty hard to do. Basically, she's essentially regarded as a nut at the beginning of Aliens and it's only when the colony goes dark that the powers that be take her seriously.

 

[strange headache]

But no, instead she acts like what they did was no big deal. In fact she even goes to a company de-briefing like a good ole' loyal employee, becomes chummy with another corporate slimeball Burke, and even volunteers to go back...on ANOTHER WEYLAND-YUTANI SPONSORED expedition back to LV-426. It seemed like the entire conspiracy from Alien was completely ignored in the sequel. Was it just bad writing?

No big deal? Ripley is in utter disbelief during the debriefing and goes completely ham on the committee in charge. Also what makes you think that the debriefing committee was even aware of the secret plans of their own company? These people are just some low-level pencil pushers and no evil corporation worth their salt would even consider cluing them in.



How is she being 'chummy' with Burke? She pretty much loathes that sleazy guy from beginning to end. She only goes back to LV-426 in order to prove herself right and to confront her haunting fears.



By this point Rilpley doesn't have much to loose anyway. The corporation revoked her licence, so she can't even find a decent job anymore and then she finds out that her own daughter is dead.



Finally, what's Ripley supposed to do? Ripley is nothing more than a simple space trucker and suing the most powerful corporation on Earth would just be an exercise in futility. Especially considering that she has no leg to stand on, since all evidence was destroyed when the Nostromo blew up.

 

[Dark Star]

if she went to the media / police to report their crimes then maybe the company would go after her and try to kill her. Maybe the writers thought it would be a smarter choice for her just to play along with it and do the "right" thing and fight the aliens instead of the company.

 

[choco-fish]

Isn’t there a dismissive line between Bishop and Burke in Aliens about how the earlier model of Android were known to be a bit temperamental?
Plus it’s what? 70 years since the Nostramo blew up and the company squarely put all the blame and burden of proof on Ripley.

 

[TrainedRage]

No, because they wanted to franchise the films after the first was a hit. Its like what happened to the Ewoks in the new Star Wars movies. If you don't like a plot-line just don't ever address it or bring it up again.

 

[pramod]

Isn’t there a dismissive line between Bishop and Burke in Aliens about how the earlier model of Android were known to be a bit temperamental?
Plus it’s what? 70 years since the Nostramo blew up and the company squarely put all the blame and burden of proof on Ripley.

It's scenes like this that actually make no sense now that I think about it. I think the conversation should have gone like this if what happened in Alien was not ret-conned:
Burke: "The unit malfunctioned..."
Ripley: "Malfunctioned??
Bishop: "Well the older units were a bit twitchy..."
Ripley: "NO there was no fucking malfunction...it was just following company orders...that our lives were expendable!"

Actually, why would she even be afraid of Bishop? Androids only follows their programming. She should be rational enough to realize the one she really has to fear is Burke.

How is she being 'chummy' with Burke? She pretty much loathes that sleazy guy from beginning to end. She only goes back to LV-426 in order to prove herself right and to confront her haunting fears.

Ok maybe chummy was the wrong word to use, but why would she even want to associate with anyone from Weyland-Yutani? I think the most unbelievable part of the whole movie for me was when she asks him "you're going there to wipe them out, not to bring back?" "Yes" "Alright I'm in". She STILL trusted these assholes?

Anyways maybe I should stop beating this dead horse. Don't get me wrong Aliens is one of my all time movies so maybe that's why I'm also so critical about any possible faults. I guess the writers tried their best to cover up this plot hole but it was still too huge in my opinion.

 

[IISANDERII]

Ok, so in Alien...Ripley finds out that the Weyland-Yutani company is pretty much responsible for everything that has happened. She sees it, with her own eyes, that human life means nothing to this company, that they are evil and rotten to the core, and have broken numerous laws, just to get an alien specimen. One of their androids even try to murder her.



So you would think, once she arrives back on earth. Wouldn't the first thing she does is go straight to the police or press or whatever, and report this evil immoral corporation's schemes to the world? Or at the very least, hire a lawyer and sue their ass off?

But no, instead she acts like what they did was no big deal. In fact she even goes to a company de-briefing like a good ole' loyal employee, becomes chummy with another corporate slimeball Burke, and even volunteers to go back...on ANOTHER WEYLAND-YUTANI SPONSORED expedition back to LV-426. It seemed like the entire conspiracy from Alien was completely ignored in the sequel. Was it just bad writing?

To me that's just too huge a plot hole to swallow. Has this ever been explained in the movies, or the novels, or a deleted scene?

Questionable motives aren’t plot holes!

 

[TwiztidElf]

Weyland-Yutani is a basically the government so she has nobody to appeal to.

This is the correct answer. There is no plot hole. WY is the media. WY is the government. WY is the judicial system. There is no authority, courts or media to turn to. WY are the authority.
Individuals have no voice. If you speak up or try and show WY in a negative light, you'll quietly *disappear*.

 

[Helen Keller the Musical]

Who would even believe her though?

 

[EBE]

We don't know from anything in the films that the company is anything but that. Any relation to earth gov is ambiguous so the answer to the missing 'problem' cant be found there.

Anyway, there aren't any inconsistencies or plot holes really. Ash and MUTHUR had a directive to deliver any alien creature or artifact to company science officers. 'Crew Expendable' does not mean Ash was given an order to kill Ripley or anyone else, or else he should have done it earlier. Rather Ripley's knowledge of the directive plus her likely unwillingness to see it carried out (ie her intent to sabotage the mission and kill the creature) caused a logic failure within Ash (his psychotic episode), thus explaining his near murder of Ripley. It parallels HAL 9000s malfunction in 2001, which Alien took inspiration from.

Upon Ripley's return any story she might have wanted to leak to the press was almost certainly blocked by her quarantine on gateway station, as I mentioned previously. Anyway, she doesn't have a strong case to make against anything. She has no evidence. It has also been 70 years since the incident occured which draws in whatever statute of limitations might exist.

Anyway pramod your last two points are easily explained.

In the first case, Ripley does burst out with anger at Burke and Bishop for their not believing her story about Ash. And second she is distrustful of both the whole way through. Bishop precisely because he follows company orders and Burke because he IS the company. How did you miss this?

 

[VAL0R]

Cameron's cut is the only cut of this movie.

 

[Doom85]

Actually, why would she even be afraid of Bishop? Androids only follows their programming. She should be rational enough to realize the one she really has to fear is Burke.

Fear isn't always rational. She was nearly killed by one android, it's understandable she would be wary of another (also, afraid is a bit much, she was more like worried). It's similar to Terminator 2 where Sarah has trouble initially trusting the T-800 even though it was with John for hours and could have easily killed him then without Sarah there to stop him*. Fear and mistrust doesn't always follow rational thinking.

*it's why I prefer the director's cut (but the regular DC, not the one with the lame 2 minute epilogue) of T2, fleshs out Sarah's character more as well as Dyson's.

 

[DiscoJer]

Remember, as part of the backstory of Aliens, Ripley was essentially blackballed by the company and unable to find any work other than operating a cargo lifter. She signed on because she wanted to get unblackballed.

And as to her suing, she doesn't exactly have any proof.

 

[gioGAF]

I'll preface this by saying that as far as I'm concerned Aliens is a masterpiece, and I am also a big fan of Alien.

I think the amount of time since the events transpired probably puts Ripley in an untenable situation. What can she really do? She has been floating out in space for 57 or so years. Weyland-Yutani could pin the unacceptable behavior on some dead individual. They could frame her as a nut case, she has no resources to fight them, there is "no evidence" and if there is they can easily make it disappear. Are there any statutes of limitation?

I do agree that Ripley volunteering to go back doesn't make sense to me as an individual, but maybe in her situation it does. Everyone she ever knew is gone, destroying the aliens that decimated her existence might be all that is left for her (no family, no job, no friends, one cat).